A/N: Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! This is my first attempt at writing anything. You guys are so great! I don't really want to inflate the word count of the chapters by responding to reviews in author notes, but I would be more than happy to respond to PMs

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of its characters. The story and characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. Also, I apologize for any errors. I don't have this story beta'd (mostly because I am unsure of how to even go about doing that), so the errors are my own.

Chapter 4: The Flight

While Isabella slept in Esme's arms the rest of the vampires in the cabin gathered around to discuss plans for what they were to do when landing. Alice took the lead.

"So Rose and I will go and get her everything she will need for her new room. We should also get her some new clothes." At Esme's upturned eyebrow Alice continued, "Yes, I know she has clothes but they aren't exactly suited for a human child to wear in a rainy climate." Esme looked to Rose and noted that while she didn't look thrilled to be accompanying Alice on yet another shopping trip, she didn't look completely opposed to the opportunity either.

"That sounds good," Esme responded after evaluating Rose. "We should also take a trip to the grocery store."

"I can go," Carlisle volunteered, "I am well versed in human nutrition, and I should be able to get all that we need. Edward if you don't mind, perhaps you can join me? It would be nice if we could see what other people get their children."

Edward nodded, "Of course, Carlisle, I would be happy to help."

"I have some things I need to get as well," Emmett stated in a surprisingly hushed tone. He proffered a list from his pocket that contained what looked to be various camera and computer parts. When the family looked at him skeptically, for it was rare for Emmett to actually plan anything, he shrugged, "What? I told you that I was going to make sure we capture every moment. Also, I don't think our little Bella will like some of the games I have for my xbox. I need to pick up some things that she will like as well. Oh and movies, I should get her some movies!" He took a pen from his pocket and scribbled a few more items to the end of his list.

Esme could not have been more proud of Emmett at that moment. She was the first to respond to him, "I think that is a wonderful idea Emmett. I am sure that Aro and Suplicia will appreciate your thoughtfulness. Also, it was good of you to think of ways to entertain Isabella. Alice," she turned toward Alice, "Would you and Rosalie mind picking up anything you think would be useful? I am sure you already know what she likes to do for fun." Esme said the last part with a smirk.

Surprisingly, it was Rosalie who responded, "We would be happy to pick some things up Esme." She looked from Esme to the sleeping girl in Esme's arms and gave a brief smile and then turned to Esme again, "So what is the story here? What are we going to tell people about the sudden presence of a five year old in our lives?"

Carlisle was the one to respond, "I was thinking that we could say that she is Esme and I's niece. Perhaps the daughter of Esme's youngest sister?"

"I think that would work," Jasper spoke for the first time since boarding the plane. "She does resemble Esme." At this Esme felt a jolt of happiness. Something about being linked with the little girl in her arms made her heart warm. Jasper, feeling her emotion, gave her a smile and continued; "Now the next issue I think is more complex. What reasoning do we give for her visit? I don't think that it is common to leave little children without their parents for long periods of time."

"That is more difficult." Carlisle agreed, "I wonder if we should say that her mother is ill. This would also allow humans to infer that some of Isabella's aloofness toward them is caused by worry for her mother. It may also keep them from trying to engage her in too many activities."

"While I understand your reasoning, I do not like the idea of pretending that her mother is ill. I don't think Isabella would be okay pretending that was the case." Esme responded.

"I think we are making this too difficult." Rose responded in her usually snappy fashion. "Why don't we just say that she is visiting? The humans don't have to know that she just met us. For all they know, she is perfectly comfortable staying with us without her parents."

"But she isn't comfortable with us." Esme responded sadly.

"Yet, she isn't comfortable with us, yet." Emmett whispered excitedly. "Give us one week with her and we will be like her second family."

Alice broke in after Emmett, "We should just say she is visiting. That is the best course of action." Alice looked as though she wanted to say more but stopped herself. She grinned enigmatically and said, "Little Bella will be waking up soon," she gave Emmett a wink as she used his new nickname for the girl, "and I believe that she will be wanting some lunch. I'll go get her something from the back." She then flitted away.

"Well, you should never bet against Alice," Carlisle said with a chuckle, "we shall simply say she is visiting."

At that moment, Isabella started to stir in Esme's lap. Esme rubbed soothing circles on her back softly and waited for her to wake. A few moments later she was greeted with sleepy looking honey brown eyes. They were still slightly puffy from crying but she did give a brief smile. "I am sorry Mrs. Cullen, I" but Esme cut her off, "No need to apologize, sweetheart. You have had a very difficult day. And please, call me Esme." She smiled gently at the girl, who smiled back.

"Okay; Esme. Do you know when we will be arriving?"

At this Esme chuckled to herself. Yes this little girl was raised like royalty and her speech certainly proved that, however, it didn't stop the fact that she was essentially asking, 'are we there yet?'

"We are about half way to Seattle, and then we will have about a three hour car ride to our home in Forks."

The little girl giggled and almost every vampire aboard the plane turned to the angelic noise and smiled. "You actually live in a place named Forks? Is that not what you use to eat?"

Esme chuckled at the girl's curiosity, "You know I never really questioned the name, but you are right, it is rather silly." She said while gently poking the girl's stomach.

"My Papa told me that the United States would be full of surprises." At the mention of her father the little girl seemed to deflate. Esme, not wanting to lose this moment with her quickly picked up on that train of thought.

"I think you will like it in the states. We have lots of fun and exciting things to do and try. You will have lots of fun; I will make sure of it."

Isabella seemed to perk up a bit and continued to ask Esme question after question about what sorts of things they would do and what the US was like. Esme was surprised at how quickly the girl had warmed up to her. She was thrilled that Isabella seemed to be comfortable with her enough to carry on a conversation. No doubt this was Aro and Suplicia's influence. She knew that they must have spoken to young Isabella and told her that there was nothing to fear. It was a testament to her love for her parents that she trusted them so implicitly. Isabella seemed to find an end to her line of curiosity and looked thoughtfully up at Esme. She then whispered, "You remind me of Aunt Dora and Aunt Di. Mama and Papa were right about you." She then flushed at her admission and looked away from Esme. At that moment Alice arrived with a plate of food.

"Here you are princess, I am sure that you are hungry."

Isabella looked at the plate and then at Alice and grinned, "Thank you, Alice." She started to eat her food and then turned to look at Alice, "You do not have to call me princess," she said shyly.

"Oh I know I don't have to, I just want to." Alice stated dramatically, which caused Isabella to release a small giggle. Alice beamed that she got the little girl to giggle and continue, "So if you don't want me to call you princess, whatever will I call you?"

After a couple of bites Isabella looked back to Alice, "My name, silly."

"But everybody can call you Isabella; I want to have a special name for you."

Isabella continued to giggle at Alice's antics and pointed out. "But everyone can also call me princess."

Alice slumped and looked as though she was in deep thought, then before she responded Emmett swept in and boomed, "Alice, you already know we are going to call her Bella."

Isabella, instead of being frightened by Emmett's sudden appearance, giggled all the more at the two of them. She looked to Emmett and smiled before saying, "I like Bella, and no one has ever called me that before. It is much better than princess." She scrunched up her nose as if she smelt something unappealing when she uttered the last word.

Emmett beamed and pumped his fist in the air and then he addressed Bella, "So Bella-bear, what do you like to do for fun?"

The little princess continued to answer both Emmett and Alice's questions while she finished her meal. Esme sat next to her contemplating the last statement the girl expressed to her. 'What did she mean, she reminded her of her Aunt Dora and Aunt Di?' Esme wasn't sure if she wanted to be compared to the other two queens of the Volturi. Yet when she thought back to the goodbyes shared with the two women, she did notice how Isabella seemed to cling to them. Perhaps it was a good thing to be compared to them.

As if reading her thoughts, which he probably was, Edward approached as Isabella was finishing her lunch. "So, Bella," he said with a slight smirk for using her new nickname, before looking at her sincerely, "Would you mind telling us about your family?"

Esme began to chastise Edward in her thoughts for being so callous to the child. She didn't need to be reminded of what she lost this morning. But before she could tell Isabella that they could talk about it later, Isabella began to speak.

"What would you like to know about them?" At this, the rest of the Cullen family, with the exception of Rosalie, had come to gather around to show the girl she was listening. Esme knew that Rosalie was listening intently as well; she just didn't outwardly want to show any interest. Esme thought she would need to talk to her if the behavior persisted. Isabella seemed to be very observant and would most likely notice and be affected by Rosalie's coldness.

"Well we got a chance to meet your mother and father, but we didn't get a chance to meet your aunts and uncles. What are they like?"

Bella's eyes seemed to brighten at this and she launched into her descriptions, "Well first there is Uncle Marcus. He is very quiet, but he loves to play the piano. He has been teaching me. He also has a vampire gift; he can see relationships between people. That's why he says he knows that he is my favorite uncle." She stopped briefly to giggle and smile at the memory. Then Emmett interrupted,

"Is he your favorite?"

She gave Emmett a pointed glance that Esme assumed she picked up from Suplicia, "Mama says it's not polite to have favorites. It can hurt people's feelings."

"But you do have a favorite." Emmett responded with a conspiratorial grin.

She grinned sheepishly and continued without answering the question, "Uncle Cauis is skilled at strategy. We play chess together. Aunt Dora and Aunt Di are the best. Aunt Dora plays with me in the garden and Aunt Di reads to me. She has the best voices; I could listen to her read to me for hours. Aunt Dora was the one who gave me my puppy, Pocio." Her eyes glazed briefly as if in memory, and Alice chimed in.

"Will you tell us about it?"

"Sure. I always wanted to have a pet, and I begged Mama and Papa to get me one for my birthday. But they did not wish for me to have one. One day, a week before my birthday, my Aunt Dora woke me up and told me I would not be attending my lessons. At first I was disappointed because I really enjoy Uncle Marcus's lessons, and he was going to be teaching me history that day, but my Aunt Dora always has the best surprises," She trailed off with a grin. "Then she took me to our special place in the garden and waiting for me was Pocio with a purple bow around his neck. She said he was the most intelligent of dogs and would be a good protector. We spent the rest of the day playing with him."

"What did your parents say when they found out she bought you a dog?"

"I am not sure if I heard all of it but I did hear something about she just thought they did not want me get a dog for my birthday, so as long as the dog was not a birthday present she thought it was okay." Bella looked up at Alice with innocent eyes and said seriously, "I do not think they agreed with her. They started talked really fast and Mama put her hands on her hips and gave Aunt Dora the glare," she said as her eyes widened in seriousness.

"But they let you keep him?"

"Yes, but I do not believe they were happy with the decision. The puppy had to stay with Aunt Dora and Uncle Cauis. Mama also said something about Aunt Dora's wrapping and my fingers, but I didn't understand. Aunt Dora did not wrap Pocio, she just put a bow on him. I do not think that counts. Maybe Mama wanted her to have wrapped him properly?" She shrugged her shoulders at her last statement.

Alice chuckled heartily as did the rest of the Cullens knowing that Suplicia surely meant that she thought Athendora was wrapped around Isabella's finger and was therefore spoiling the child.

Edward chimed in again after the laughter subsided. "So, what about the rest of your family?"

"Well Felix, Demetri, and Alec, they are members of the guard and are like my big brothers. We play lots of games together. They are all really strong. Alec, can create a mist. We always win when we play hide and seek against the others. I think it is because they are afraid of the shadows he creates."

The Cullens glanced at each other knowing full well that Alec's gift robbed people of their senses. It was a frightening gift and more frightening that the "gift" was used on a child.

Carlisle cut in, "Did the mist not affect you at all?"

"Nope," Isabella said happily. "His mist does not scare me." She said with the bravado of a typical five year old.

"So you can still see in the mist?"

"Yes, why wouldn't I be able to see?" She cocked her head to the side while staring curiously at Carlisle.

"Never mind, dear. Please continue telling us about your family." He nodded encouragingly.

Isabella looked suspicious but continued after another brief glance at Carlisle. "Heidi, my big sister likes to go shopping with me. She always takes me to get gelato after. I've spent the most time around humans with Heidi. And Jane is my other sister," her eyes misted at her name, "I miss Jane the most. "

At that, the small girl stopped talking and hung her head.

Alice took Bella's hand and spoke gently, "Thank you for telling us about your family, Bella. I look forward to hearing more about them." She gave her hands a small squeeze and continued, "So, I see that this plane is fully stocked! How about we watch a movie together? By the time it finishes we should be landing."

At the promise of a way to make time move faster, Bella's eyes lit up. "Okay! What should we watch?"

"Whatever you want… princess." Alice said with a wink.

Bella paused at the pet name and then smiled when she realized Alice was joking. After picking out a movie, she looked up sheepishly up at Esme. As if by instinct, Esme reached out her arms toward the girl and she crawled into Esme's lap and settled in to watch the movie. Esme's heart soared. She now knew that this precious angel loved her aunts very much and that she, herself, reminded her of them. Esme couldn't be happier. She had thought that Isabella was going to shy away from her and her family, but the opposite appeared to be true. She had opened up to them just as they had with her. She knew they were going to all be changed.

About half way through the movie, Isabella fell asleep in Esme's arms again. "I knew she was going to do that," Alice smirked.

"She is a remarkable child. Can you believe that Alec's gift does not work on her?" Carlisle said, clearly wanting to return to the earlier conversation.

Esme smiled at her husband, he was always fascinated by learning new things. She could see that spending time with this child was going to be exciting and new for him.

"I cannot hear her thoughts either." Edward added to the conversation.

Carlisle looked to be in deep thought. "Jasper, can you feel her emotions?"

"Yes, but only when she is feeling something strongly. I didn't feel any emotion from her during her talk about her family until she mentioned Jane. I felt so much sadness. If I didn't know she was human I would have thought she was a vampire, her emotion was that strong. I was able to cheer her up though. Well actually I am not sure if it was me or Alice who lifted the sadness," he said while smiling fondly at his wife.

"Well, this is certainly unexpected. I never thought I would see the day that Jane Volturi won the heart of a child," Carlisle mused.

Carlisle's musing was cut off by the captain announcing their descent and subsequent arrival into Seattle. Alice had managed to arrange transport from the private runway to the parking garage where their cars were being kept. Alice turned and spoke, "Okay everyone, you have your list of things," she smirked while eying Emmett. Clearly, she was still amused about him creating an actual list. "Let's go shopping!"

Esme smiled at Alice and turned to Jasper, "Would you mind coming with me to take Isabella home?"

"Of course, Esme. How about you let me carry her?" Esme narrowed her eyes but Jasper continued, "I only ask because it may look strange to the humans that you are able to carry a sleeping child for a long distance. Most humans of your stature," he said while looking uncomfortable, "would not be able to do so."

"You're right of course, my apologies Jasper."

Jasper swooped in and picked Isabella up gently from Esme's lap. She stirred briefly in his arms and then settled when Jasper whispered, "Go back to sleep, darling."

When they arrived at the car Esme sat in the back with Isabella and Jasper set to drive them home.

'Home,' Esme thought. She couldn't wait to take Isabella home.

a/n: up next, Bella spends time at home with the Cullens.