AN: So as I mentioned before I am not a huge fan of the Twilight movies, however I sometimes check out a few scenes of certain characters to get inspired for my chapters. And while doing this I happened to watch a scene about Jasper, for the first time in English. I was shocked! It is so funny how his voice is all manly and deep in English because in German he's the total opposite, calm slow speaking and a soft voice and that was all I knew of him so far. I think I have to overthink my whole idea of him xD

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Chapter 16: Time to meet the Cullens

The next days passed in routine and peace. During the mid of week Hermione's Furniture arrived, but Carlisle told her he wanted to wait until the kids are home, so one of them could help him putting things together. Hermione protested, since Alice would need her own room when she came back but Carlisle assured her that the room would be done in no time.

One morning she got up and found that her room already had wall paneling and painting. Later she discovered that this was Esme's entertainment during the night. It occurred to the witch more and more that she was the only one ever sleeping in this household.

She spend a lot of time outside of the house. Something she never would have done at Hogwarts, but she liked the foggy weather and the nature right in front of their door.

On Thursday it was raining too much to be outside and she didn't feel like studying a lot. But she discovered something in the living room. Someone here had a thing for gaming and an unprotected Playstation. If anyone would have told her that she would be playing video games during a school-week, she would have laughed about it. But one and a half week without friends her age and too much free time could peak new interests. She didn't find any games to it but one disc was inside the console, the game was about fighting off undead, zombie like enemies and collecting notes. Not her thing and a little ironic but after a while she felt, that she got a little addicted to the task of completing tasks. When Esme came back home from shopping she turned the evil thing off and made Hermione help her putting things away in the kitchen.

Only when she woke up on Friday morning she felt her stomach turn. She didn't waste a thought about this before but on this morning she realized it was Friday and she would meet the other Cullens. And even though Carlisle and Esme were nothing but nice towards her, she really didn't look forward to meet them. She felt bad for this, it was a bad character trait to not want to meet the people that take you in so kindly, but she had a feeling that she would have trouble fitting in and she really didn't want to go through this. If she could stay alone with the two adults she would have been just happy. But asking them to send the other Kids away, probably was no option.

Somewhat nervous she got ready for the day. Breakfast was eaten in no time and she tried to focus on some of her textbooks, it was a hopeless mission. Around 11am, Carlisle walked into the living room to check on Hermione. "Are you alright there?" He asked a little worried when he caught her staring holes into space. She didn't hear him enter, as usual. Shaking her head she tried to get her head free and focus on the vampire.

"ugh yeah. To be honest I am nervous and can't focus on study." She admitted, slamming her book shut and getting up from the place on the soft carpet she laid on to read.

Carlisle walked over to her and sat into one of the armchairs, leaning forward he placed his elbows on his knees and folded his hands in front of him. "There is really no reason to be scared. They are all really nice and I am sure they will be happy to have you here. Every single one of them."

Hermione couldn't really believe that. They sounded just too damn perfect. This would be so awkward.

Carlisle could feel how this didn't make her feel better the slightest. "How about we run away and just won't be here when they get home?" He offered. Surely this would make her interested.

And it did. Her eyes instantly were shining with hope of escape. "What do you mean?" She tried to sound skeptical but failed hard, it was impossible for the doctor to overhear her longing to follow through this plan.

"How about you and I go out for a little and when we come back they will be already here. It gives you a little more time to mentally prepare and them time to come home before being confronted." This seemed like the better approach in his opinion anyway. When they got home everyone would be a little stressed and it would be an awkward introduction. Better make them meet when everyone settled in.

Hermione didn't need to hear anymore, she was absolutely down for this. "Where do we go?" was all she needed to know.

…

"How could you keep this from us?" Rosalie spat furious.

"How could they do this without asking us first?" Edward complained

"You betrayed us Alice, you made us go to Italy on purpose." Rosalie again

"This Family only works when we are all honest with each other" Edward again.

Alice lost patience. Especially since she already knew that everything would be okay in the end, this whining felt so pointless. Although she had to admit right now she wasn't sure how the end was supposed to turn out good. Their parents and their newest addition already were the enemy for Rose and Edward.

"Is she a cool one?" Emmett asked. And Alice had to smile. You always can count on Emmett to be free of prejudice. At least one of her siblings didn't only think about his own good first. Rosalie and Edward stared in disbelief at their brother, while he wasn't sure what he did wrong. "What?" he asked innocently and Alice hugged him briefly. This was the first nice response she heard about the news of a new addition to the family, during the hole flight back home.

"I don't know what she is like." Alice decided to only respond to useful questions from now on, which crossed Rose and Edwards questions out, so she spoke facing Emmett. "But I saw that she is a lot younger than we are." A shocked gasp from Rose, told Alice that she got the wrong idea so Alice continued "and she is none of our kind!" she said annoyed. She knew this wasn't as obvious to the others as it was to her but Rosalie's reaction was an insult towards Carlisle, even if she wasn't aware of it. But Alice' last declaration, caused the blond woman to look up surprised.

Exactly the response Alice hoped for and she planned on keeping the general mood set on curiosity until they reached home. This goal would have been accomplished a lot easier with Jasper's help, but he had his own private mission right now.

He and Bella sat a few seats away, since Edward was set on questioning Alice. Jasper used the chance to separate the human girl and solve a whole different issue. Okay Rose and Edward were mad, because Alice didn't tell them as soon as she knew. But they already know that his wife has reasons to keep information and reveals them at given time and as soon as their anger dies out they will remember that. Now Bella was another case, as soon as Alice told them about it he felt an incredible wave of Jealousy from her and this needed to be solved before they got home.

Sure it wasn't Jealousy at first. First there was surprise, then there was nervousness, fear and then it turned into Jealousy. Maybe his brother was oblivious to his lovers moods, but he wasn't and he would handle this without much drama.

Bella kept turning around to get a look on Edward. She was a little upset that he just let her go with Jasper that easily and also somewhat uncomfortable. They never spoke much so far. Sure Jasper was always around when she was with the Cullens, but they never really were alone before.

"So do you want to tell me what is going on in your head or do I have to ask uncomfortable questions?" Jasper asked right away, maybe Edward was a fan of digging around but he surely wasn't. Somewhat shocked Bella's head went from staring at Edward to staring at him.

"What do you mean?" She asked a little more harsh than was normal for her. Her brown eyes betrayed her immediately. They showed guilt.

"Did you forget that I not only can manipulate emotions, which I wasn't doing during the whole vacation by the way – so don't try to blame anything on me, but also can feel them?" A lopsided smile appeared on his face. This wasn't only the first talk they ever shared in private this also was the first time he caught her angry. This would be fun once she was one of them, he imagined the fights between her and Emmett would be quite a show.

"Stop…..No messing with my head!" she complained and he instantly held his hands up in defense. He didn't intend on meddling around here, he really just wanted to talk this out before it leads to any more issues.

"We can talk through this step by step if you are okay with it" he made it sound like a compromise but they both knew it was none. "You were as surprised as everyone, understandable." He started without waiting for response.

"You were not." She accused him, although less angry than before. "I guess Alice told you?"

He shook his head slowly. "She didn't. At least not the whole story. All I knew was that Carlisle is bringing someone home with him. I did not know that she will become a permanent part of the family." He spoke in a low voice. Not like the talk could be kept secret from the rest of their group, but at least from the rest of the passengers.

This answer seemed to make Bella think. "Then why aren't you mad? It will change everything." She tried to whisper, but was still to angry to keep her voice low.

"Alice and I were the last ones to join the family, so I can't say this for sure, but as far as I know, someone joining the family never really changed all that much. We just became stronger as we were when we were alone."

Bella stared at him with a skeptical expression on her face.

"What I mean is. Carlisle will still be Carlisle no matter what. And he is what makes the family work together. Esme will love no one less because there is one more and Emmett will still do stupid, crazy, funny things. Edward will still be crazy about you and spy on our thoughts. It's not like everything will be different."

The young woman laid back in her chair and thought for a moment, visibly touched by his words and convinced to overthink the matter.

Jasper felt safe to continue "so I guess that explains the part, where you felt sad." He could hear that his siblings stopped arguing and were listening to their - supposed to be private - talk. Thankfully Bella seemed unaware of this fact.

"The part that worries me and that I don't understand is why do you feel jealous?" as soon as he spoke the words he felt guilt radiate from her. But this probably was a good thing. He knew Bella was a good person, and feeling guilty about something she knew wasn't right to do, showed just that. He didn't keep speaking, instead waited for her to form an explanation in her head.

Then she finally answered. "I just…..I thought I would be the next one to become a part of the family. And…" she stopped and resorted her thoughts "And I am already around for so long and am still not fully accepted. But Carlisle was only there for three weeks and comes back with someone that is instantly a part of you…..That just seems so unfair." She didn't like herself speaking those things out loud, she didn't like the person she became through this and he could feel it as if those were his own emotions.

He cleared his throat, even though there was no real need for it, it was more a sign that was supposed to tell others to pay attention to him. Something that already worked quite well in his human life and still did it's magic now. "We should get a few things straight here." His voice sounded strict. "You are already a part of the family. You are Edwards world and my sister and none of the others will tell you otherwise." His words were nice but his voice sounded like he was giving instructions and Bella didn't dare to say a word until she felt he was done, she didn't even dare to breath too loud.

"Whatever makes you think you wouldn't be fully accepted by us, only is in your head, believe me." This one sounded angry and for a few seconds Bella felt sorry for saying anything like that, since it obviously hurt him…..hurt them. Ashamed she stared to the floor

"And of course she get instantly accepted in our family. Just as we accepted you and as Alice and I got accepted. This is nothing you have to fight for. If you need it, if you need a family and if you are willing to try and be a better version of yourself, then Carlisle will give you a home." Anyone who listened, couldn't miss the certainty he had in his own words. "If she is with us now, then there probably was a reason behind it, a reason why she needs us." He turned his head to look at his siblings scolding. They all were pretty caught by his words as well and he felt understanding bloom in both Rosalie and Edward.

Bella pulled a hand through her hair. "I…..You….." she tried to transform her emotions into thoughts. "I am sorry. I never really saw it like that…..how could I not see this?"

Jasper looked out of the window "Maybe this is a chance for you." He peaked Bella's curiosity. "She's mortal just like you, maybe this gives both of you a better connection among us, than anyone else could have with her."

This actually sounded nice. She could share things with her, that she just couldn't share with any of them. They could eat together. She wouldn't be the only one who has to sleep in the house anymore too and she finally could talk with someone about all the awkward little things that came with living with vampires. This made her look forward to the whole thing.

Jasper was very pleased with the change in mood-set he got from both Bella and his siblings. As he felt Bella building up excitement to meet the new girl he felt done with his task "good" he said satisfied and squeezed her hand briefly. She smiled at him

"Thank you" she felt a lot lighter now.

Alice watched how everyone came down from their anger and started thinking about everything in a calmer way. She was proud of her mate. Jasper did a great job. So in the end he was the missing puzzle piece to make everything be okay, just as he always was in her world.

The rest of the trip home was considerable quiet. Everyone was more or less busy with their own thoughts. That means everyone was busy with their own thoughts and Edward was busy with everyone else thoughts. But Jasper was happy that no one felt negative about the meeting that was ahead. At some point during the drive home Bella fell asleep, which was probably a good thing considering Emmett's driving-style.

When they finally reached their home and pulled their cars into the garage, Jasper couldn't disentangle his own nervousness and excitement from those of his siblings. Everyone was curious and wanted to meet her now. Until Edward mixed in a feeling of malicious joy. "She's not here" he announced with an evil grin. And everyone let out a groan of disappointment, except Bella who let out a yawn instead.

When they entered the house through the garage, Esme was already waiting for them and they had a million questions, but Esme send them on a quick hunting trip right away, before answering any.

…

Carlisle was more than pleased with his plan. He went to take Hermione out for some ice-cream and they tried to talk about what to expect of the meeting, but they got interrupted by a call on Carlisle work phone. There was an animal attack and he had to go there. He wanted to bring Hermione back home first but she insisted on coming with him. "I really would like to see how you work!" she said, interest burning in her eyes. And even when he told her, that she wouldn't see much since there was no way he would her get a look on a dead human, she kept pleading to go with him.

He thought this was a bad idea but it turned out pretty well. She got really curious about all different kind of things and the officers working at crime scene took care of the girl while Carlisle was busy working. She asked them questions about everything and anyone and they had fun answering all of them. "What you are going to take our junior detective away, Doctor Cullen? They asked when it was time to leave.

There was still time so they went to a museum one of the policemen, told her about. Nothing he ever would have considered interesting for a child, but Hermione managed to proof him wrong once again. She totally forgot about her fear of meeting his children. Once they were done with the museum a rumbling of her stomach reminded Carlisle that she had to eat something for dinner.

They went to the towns most famous diner and met Charlie there. He greeted them and Hermione didn't hesitate to ask if they can sit with him, since he seemed kind of lonely in her opinion. Charlie felt obviously startled by this and Carlisle didn't feel close enough to the man to sit with him but none of the man dared to resist the wish of a young girl. A long awkward silence followed and got broken when Hermione ordered her meal. Apparently Charlie felt like he couldn't let this silence come up again. "So my policemen were pretty impressed by you earlier today." He addressed Hermione. They chatted away a while Carlisle and Charlie about the case and Hermione and Charlie about the possible career of a detective. And even though it was clear this wasn't for her she kept her interest up during the whole conversation.

"Can you do me a favor Doctor Cullen?" Charlie ask and he could nearly see how uncomfortable this made him.

"It's Carlisle for you. And yes of course how can I help you?" He was curious. Chief Swan usually wasn't someone to ask for favors.

"When the kids get home today, can you send Bella home?" he sounded tired and sad. "I know she likes being at yours and I know she and Edward are inseparable and you like having her around but hell I haven't seen my own daughter for good two weeks. Her mother already is threatening to come here."

Hermione could hear that the man was hurt but she couldn't really understand why.

Carlisle however could. He feared to fail at his newly won task as a father and to lose something he just was happy to have back. He was scared that Bella was at their place so much because they had a more healthy family life. And he had Carlisle's whole sympathy in the matter. He decided to talk with Bella later, so she would spend some time with her father in the future. She probably still would have eternity with them, but she only had her father now. "You are absolutely right chief Swan. I would have sent her home to you either way. Don't worry about it."

Hermione ordered a big piece of cake for dessert and finished it in an unhealthy short amount of time. "How can you eat so much, girl? I wish my daughter had such an healthy appetite!" Charlie was staring in disbelief as Hermione contemplated to have another piece.

She only now noticed that this maybe seemed odd to people who didn't know her and blushed a little. She looked apologetic at Carlisle, since he had to pay for her hunger. "It's just…uhm….the boarding school I attended until now always provided a wide range of meals…..I am just used to it I guess." This wasn't a great excuse for it, but she never before felt bad about her eating habits.

Carlisle chuckled "Don't overthink it. Eat all you want." He didn't want to have to worry about two of his girls not eating enough. It made him happy that Hermione was no issue when it came down to that.

When everyone was full and happy, they said their goodbyes and left the diner into different directions. Hermione didn't waste a thought of the threat ahead until they reached the house.

"Do I really have to go in there?" Last time she was that nervous, she had to face Snape after melting a cauldron.

Carlisle gifted her the warm soft smile, that she already acknowledged as typical for him, and put a hand on her head. "It will be okay. This might be a little tough right now, but tomorrow everything will already be easier." Hermione wasn't convinced. "Take a deep breath and just see it like pulling off a Band-Aid. We get it over with and then you wont have to worry about it anymore."

She will wasn't feeling better but had to laugh anyway. Unmistakable what the man's job was. They left the car and as they reached the door that connected Garage and house, Carlisle could already hear that they all were gathered in the living room.

They walked into the house and he took Hermione's jacket to put it away. "We are home." He said, being well aware that they already knew, it still felt like this would be more natural from Hermione's point of view. "come on" he told her and put a hand on her back to lead her to the living room. He could feel her nervousness in every breath she took and really wished he could make this easier for her but this was just one of the situations in life you had to get done. Like meeting your girlfriends parents or having to speak in front of class.

They entered the Living room and Hermione saw…a lot of unknown faces there. They were sitting in the living room. Well most of them were sitting. He caught a beautiful blond woman standing behind one of the couches. "Uhm…..hello?" She mumbled not knowing who to look at she just turned her head to look at Carlisle. He gave her an encouraging smile and squeezed her shoulder lightly as he came to stand behind her.

Hermione tried to take in the different faces as Carlisle introduced her and told them how he met her. There was the blond woman. She was tall and just looked perfect. She probably was very beautiful already before she became a vampire. She looked positively surprised, but Hermione couldn't be sure there. In front of her sat Esme who had a tenderhearted smile on her lips. Next to was a girl that looked younger than the rest. This must be Bella, since she was the only one without the foreign golden eyes. Her expression was rather neutral, which just made Hermione more nervous than she already was. Holding her hand and sitting next to her was a boy with bronze hair. His face looked a little as if he was in pain and Hermione wondered if this was somehow her fault. She felt sorry but suddenly his mouth formed a silent laugher. Did he laugh about her? Does she have cake on her face? Why is he laughing? Trying to not fall into complete panic she moved on to the next face. On one of the armchairs was a bulky guy. He was taller than the others and looked like someone who worked out daily. He had a nice encouraging smile on him, just like Esme's and as Hermione looked at him he gave her a thumbs up that made her giggle. On the second couch was a pretty young woman with short dark hair. She was the most adorable Person Hermione ever saw and she waved her fingers at her when she looked at her. Hermione waved back in a shy manner before moving on to the last one, a young man with longer blond hair. He sat very straight and smiled at her.

As she was done taking in the different people she listened to Carlisle speaking. "I know that this is no decision I am to make on my own. So see it as a trial for all of you. I just want that you take time to get to know each other and then all of you can speak your mind about how we keep going with this." He ended his speech. What now should she say something? She was nervous, they all were so much older and so much prettier and probably could her hear heart beat out of her chest.

Jasper thought his siblings nervousness was nerve killing earlier, but the waves he got from the young girl were worrying. So he decided to take some action before things got any more weird. He was a little angry at Edward for using his gift on her right away, he knew by the way he laughed when she entered the room. "Hello Hermione. Nice to finally meet you, Alice already told a little about you."

"He….hello!" Hermione stuttered. When he mentioned Alice, the adorable woman next to him smiled jumped up, walked over to her and gave her a quick hug

"Nice to meet you finally in person. I am Alice" she explained with a sweet smile and Hermione was out of words. She smelled so good too. It took her a few seconds to get her thoughts back together before she was able to respond

"Thank you for letting me sleep in your room and for the welcome gift!" Hermione found her voice again. She wanted to get this off her chest ever since she came here.

The bulky guy suddenly was next to her. Hermione was sure he was sitting in the chair a second ago. He lifted her up in a bear hug "Nice, Dad got us a kiddo sister! " he exclaimed and put her back on her feet. "I am Emmett. If you get bored by the others, I am the funny one!" this made her smile and Emmett found that he liked her smile a lot. "The beautiful lady over there is Rosalie." He explained

"Welcome in our family" was the contribution of Rosalie, much to everyone's surprise. She was smiling now as well and Hermione thought she would like her, she seemed cautious and polite. Attributes Hermione liked in people.

Her eyes wandered to the brown haired girl who was giving a wave now too. "Hey, I am Bella. The non-vampire around here. Glad to have an ally now!"

Hermione had a moment of understanding. "Oh Bella, I already heard a lot about you. I met your dad today. Glad to get a face to the name." Hermione felt bolder now.

Edward laughed out loud now. "Seems like your dad has some questions for you later." He told Bella before turning to her "Nice to meet you Hermione. My name is Edward." His voice was very calm and somehow icy, but it had a pleasant sound. If it wasn't for the disturbing laughing before she would be sure he's a nice guy, but now she wasn't so sure how to feel about him. He shot her an amused look, and Hermione still wondered why.

Now she met everyone and Carlisle was right, it already was easier. She felt less heavy. "Thank you that you let me be here." She announced into the room before Carlisle pulled her a little closer and placed a soft kiss on her hair. "I am proud of you and you survived." He joked.

"So you are a real witch?" Emmett asked excited. Rosalie slapped his chest "Emmett!" she scolded.

"it's fine" Hermione giggled. "Yes a real witch. So you are a real vampire?" she asked cocky and earned a laugher from the rest of the family.