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EPOV

I followed Charlie's cruiser and ran along side it through the forest. I was scared to leave Bella's side for even a moment. I wished I could have gone with her in the cruiser. Charlie was worried about Bella's lack of enthusiasm for graduation, which he considered a big event in life. I felt really sorry for him. If we are not able to defend Bella then he would loose her very soon and once again I felt it was all my fault. Had I never met Bella nothing like this would have ever happened to her. I guess fate cannot be helped. I decided there was nothing to be gained by worrying about the past. I should try to focus on the future and what we could do. As we neared the house I heard the booming voice of Emmett. As Charlie parked the cruiser I pretended to come from the direction of the house opening the door for Bella.

"The kid must have been looking out for her. Wonder why he didn't join us for dinner. Come to think of it he never eats with us."

"Good evening Chief Swan. Sorry for not joining you for dinner today. Esme had a special graduation meal planned for us so I had to be with them."

Charlie grunted at me.

"See you in the morning Bells. Edward."

He nodded his head at me and turned around and drove off. He was thinking of his fishing trip tomorrow at least he forgot about the dinner invitation I had refused.

"Oh Bella" I hugged Bella to my side. Even the short separation from her during her drive here was difficult for me to bear now.

"Edward" She rose on tip toe and kissed my lips. I returned the kiss with equal enthusiasm.

"There you are kiddo." Emmett raced down the front steps enveloping both of us in a bear hug.

"Emmett, it's so good to see you!" His thoughts were full of how much he had missed both Bella and me.

"When Rosie told me that you were in trouble I had to come little brother. I couldn't let you fight a whole army of vampires without me."

As usual he was excited by the prospect of a fight. He was calling Rose Rosie again that meant things were better between them too. I was so glad he was back.

"In case you are wondering I can't keep grudges that long Edward. I was going to come sooner or later but I wanted Rosie to miss me to value me. I was scared she wouldn't love me anymore. I want to talk to you about that later bro. Don't want to go into all that with Bella here. I don't want her to worry. I just couldn't stay away bro knowing Rosie, you, Bella and the family were in trouble." His mental thoughts were still in agony but he put up a big smile for Bella. I nodded at him that I understood. Emmett had a heart of gold. And I knew how much he cared about both Bella and me.

"How have you been little sis?" Emmett ruffled Bella's hair.

"Careful, I had the best hairdresser from Paris do my hair. Don't mess it before the party." Emmett lifted his eyebrows at me.

"And who was that?" He thought it was Alice. I grinned.

"Edward Cullen of course." Emmett burst out laughing. He patted my back.

"Well I guess I owe you. Doing that course did have its benefits didn't it? Your hair does look good little sis."

I was sure I had a stupid grin pasted on my face. I didn't mind his teasing this once. I was even proud of my work.

"Hey get in here. I can hear a car turning into our lane."

The little pixie was all business ushering us inside. We'd barely made it in when there was the noise of our classmates getting out of the car. They were all surprised at the size of the house but did not seem to have any suspicious thoughts about us. So I tuned them out and focused on listening to anything out of the ordinary. I was worried about a sudden attack from Victoria.

I heard Bella and Alice greet everyone. I never moved from Bella's side. Everyone seemed to look around and take in the party atmosphere that Alice had created. They did seem a bit uneasy but after a while they seemed to adjust to their environment and the natural fear humans felt around us was forgotten.

When the wolves arrived there was a bit of tension but it soon eased when Bella greeted them. It was the first time they had set foot in our house. Jacob raised his eyebrows up at me.

"No crypts blood sucker? Or do you keep them in the dungeon under the house?"

Bella laughed. It was good to hear her laughter after the tense day we had endured. I smiled at him.

"Sorry to disappoint you we don't have any of those here. We are just a regular family you know."

"Regular family my ass" He thought at me before verbally responding.

"What a pity, I was looking forward to regaling stories of the leech lair to my father."

"Well you can still entertain Billy. I'm sure he thought the same as you and would be surprised to hear the normalcy of it all." It was Bella who responded.

Just then I heard Alice have a vision. What followed was total chaos and mayhem. But we managed to get away from the humans to Carlisle's office. Jacob was livid to hear that an army of vampires were after Bella. Alice's latest vision told us that they would be coming to Folks. To our surprise he said the wolves would assist us. Jasper was very enthusiastic since with their help this whole fight would be won without much difficulty. It was only Bella who was upset and feared for the safety of us all. It was decided that Jasper would coach us on how to fight newborns and it was with much lighter hearts that we returned to the party.

I finally let myself relax and take in the atmosphere around me. Carlisle, Jasper, Emmett and Jacob were busy talking about the newborns in the corner. Alice was flitting around talking with everyone and making sure they were comfortable. She dragged Bella along with her and to my surprise Bella had a small smile pasted across her face. She rolled her eyes from time to time looking in my direction when Alice went overboard in her enthusiasm. I stood in the corner watching everyone.

Esme was busy playing hostess and to my surprise Rosalie was helping her. Both of them seemed to be enjoying themselves. I focused on Rosalie hoping to judge her reaction to Emmett's return since Emmett was still worried. She was looking at Emmett from time to time and was very happy to have him back. I heaved a sigh of relief. Emmett had nothing to worry about and I was glad that things were returning to normal between them. I caught glimpses of other memories of another period in Rosalie's thoughts. Girls in ball gowns, gentlemen of my era escorting them, laughter and music from long ago. Rosalie sighed. Then she saw me watching her. "Edward I miss home. You remember don't you? All the parties my parents used to throw."

I remembered attending many social gatherings her family hosted. I had even danced with Rosalie on occasion and after I realised that she had more than a passing interest in me I had not asked her to dance. She had been very hurt by it and when Royce King showered his attentions on her she had gladly accepted them. I realised that this was the first time we had actually thrown a party this big. We had had to entertain guests from time to time to keep up appearances but we never held huge gatherings of humans at our house. If there was an occasion we could not simply ignore we would get it catered else where. I realised how much both Esme and Rosalie enjoyed this party. Esme seemed to thrive with the attention everyone paid the house and the decorations. Even though she hated human food she was happily making sure everything was in order at the buffet table we had set up.

A warm touch on my hand brought me back from my thoughts.

"You look thoughtful. What's wrong Edward?" I pulled Bella to my side and held her closely.

"Nothing love, it's just that we have never thrown a party this big at our house. Everyone is enjoying themselves. Specially Esme and Rosalie."

"Is she ok Edward?" I saw Rosalie look at us I knew all the vampires and the werewolves could hear us. Rosalie seemed surprised that Bella asked about her wellbeing.

"She is thinking about all the balls her parents used to throw with beautifully dressed men and women dancing and eating. She is missing her old home." I thought it was ok sharing this with Bella. I wanted her to understand the different societies we had come from.

"I think she would like to dance Edward. I remember Alice mentioning about how all of you love dancing. Why don't you ask Emmett to dance with her and we can join them?" I was surprised at Bella's kind gesture specially since she hated to dance and I could tell from Rosalie's thoughts that she never expected Bella to be this thoughtful.

"May be I should try to get to know your human a bit better. I would love to dance Edward. Can you ask Emmett for me? I'm scared that he would refuse me if I ask."

I walked up to Emmett and asked whether he would join us with Rosalie for a dance.

"Sure bro, Rosie would you like to dance."

"I thought you'd never ask monkey man."

Rosalie practically fell into his arms and all of us joined the others in the dance floor. I could see the happiness in both their minds. After we had several dances Alice came into drag Bella off to the buffet table.

Esme was waiting for them at the table. I didn't protest since I had noticed that Bella had not eaten well at the dinner with Charlie. I haven't seen Esme this happy in a long time. She was enjoying herself encouraging the kids to try out some of the food that was served. She had ordered from a very prestigious catering firm in Seattle. She was still worried that the food was not good enough. Her thoughts were on how she used to cook when she was human. She decided she should get Bella to taste the food to see whether it was ok.

"Come on I'm not going to be able to eat all this Esme I have a small stomach." Bella was making her excuses.

"Just try a little of everything honey, we just want to make sure they are all edible." Esme was trying her best to coax Bella.

Emmett walked to the table to watch Bella eat. I was not the only one fascinated with how humans ate their food.

"My my little sis, you really do stuff in a lot of food for such a tiny thing."

I could tell Bella was a bit offended by this joke. She held the plate full of food that Esme had given her with everything on the table.

"Emmett would you like to try the salmon? It's delicious."

Before Emmett could respond Bella held something that looked very orangish pink in his face. He made a face but had to eat it since some of the humans were watching this exchange.

Emmett took a bite and to my surprise ate the rest of it.

"It does taste great"

"Here bro try some"

Before I could protest Emmett stuffed some of the pink stuff in my mouth. I was just about ready to puke when I caught the taste of it. It did smell like fish but to my surprise it did not taste like dirt, it tasted like fish I didn't know from where I got that memory but for a second I felt myself transported back in time to my mother's dinner table. The pink stuff was there in front of me and we were sitting down eating. The memory disappeared as fast as it appeared but I was shocked that I remembered it at all. Without even realising it I had swallowed the pink flesh.

"It really is good Emmett."

I smiled at him and really meant it. I was feeling very happy with the memory of my past and was surprised to see the look of disbelief in the faces of all the vampires around me. Bella touched my hand.

"Are you ok Edward?" She was concerned. She knew that we found it difficult to eat human food.

"Yes love, I'm better than ok. I just remembered how my mother used to make salmon for dinner." A nostalgic smile spread across my face and the others too had similar smiles on their faces. My thoughts were interrupted by Jacob's.

"How did you do that bloodsucker? I thought you didn't eat?"

"We don't actually. But today is a special occasion. Want to try some of the salmon Jacob?"

That was the only invitation needed the wolves made it to the table and started gulping down stuff on the table. Esme watched and served them. "This is how teenage boys should eat Edward. Not tiny pieces of salmon." Esme was thinking at me. I heard myself laugh in response.

"Bella, can you take me to the bathroom? The one downstairs is occupied." Lauren came up to Bella.

"Sure." I watched them leave to go upstairs. I saw through Lauren's eyes that Bella took her to Alice's bathroom. At the door to the bathroom Lauren turned and faced Bella. Her next thoughts had me rushing towards Alice's room but I waited right outside. I wasn't sure whether it was proper for me to just walk in.

"Bella, I want to talk to you as a friend. Jessica told me that you are intimate with Edward."

"Yes. What's that got to do with you?" I loved Bella's response.

"Well, Jessica told me how inexperienced you are. She also had trouble pleasing Mike and Conner and I helped her. I could help you. I can join you and Edward and show you how to please a man."

Holy shit! Was she suggesting a threesome? I couldn't believe it. I saw Bella's shocked look in Lauren's mind. I was rooted to the spot. What has the world come to? Her next thoughts were more disgusting. "I'm sure I could make Edward Cullen beg for more when I suck him. He wouldn't know what hit him. He would leave this poor excuse of a girlfriend in a heartbeat. Conner said I was the best he had had."

"No thank you." Bella was furious. I could see it in her face. But Lauren's next words made Bella cringe.

"Well do you honestly think he would be interested in a brown mouse like you? He's just in it for fun. Wait till he really has a taste of what it's really like to be with a real women. He's just using you to practice. He will leave as soon as he finds another distraction. I'm sure he's interested in me."

I saw Bella's eyes fall and she hugged herself together like I'd seen her do in Charlie's and Jacob's mind when I was away. I realised the word 'distraction' was what got to Bella. It was the same as what I had said to her when I left her. Oh god. I was just about to charge in when Rosalie walked in. "Let me."

"Interested in a piece of shit like you?" I saw both Bella and Lauren stare at Rosalie in surprise.

"Let me enlighten you. Bella is the only girl Edward has ever been interested in. And if I am not wrong he plans on proposing to her very soon if he had already not done so?"

She turned to look at Bella. Bella nodded her head yes.

"My brother has better taste than to get interested in the likes of you or any other. Bella is everything he ever wanted. I have seen many beautiful and accomplished girls throw themselves at him but he was never interested in anyone. It was as if he was waiting for Bella, his true soul mate." "This is absolutely true Edward and I should have realised this earlier without holding a grudge against you all this time."

"As regards to their sex life, which by the way is of no concern of yours I can tell you that they are having a fantastic one. I have witnessed it with my own eyes. Bella I'm sorry once again for my intrusion of your privacy that day." "I'm so sorry Edward, you don't know how sorry I am." She thought at me while apologising to Bella again. This time I could see that she really meant it.

"You have no hope of ever matching her in beauty. I'm just beginning to see the beauty in her. She's beautiful as a person inside and out."

"I don't have to listen to these insults." Lauren walked out of the room in a huff. When she saw me her face fell, she knew I had heard everything.

"I'm sorry Edward." I was surprised at Lauren's apology and even felt sorry for her but her next thoughts had me thinking again. "Guess I'll never get to see his dick." Of all the…..I couldn't even finish the sentence in my thoughts in my shock. I shook my head. I couldn't believe what kind of crazy thoughts these human girls were having. I was so glad my Bella was not like them. I made my way inside Alice's room to make sure my angel knew how much I loved her.

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