Hello again!

I'm back with another chapter, and just like always, this one turned out way longer than I anticipated. Maybe I just need to come to terms with the fact that the chapters are probably all going to be a bit chonky! I always forget how... verbose Edward is. he always has so much going on in his head, I end up with 12 page docs for some of his chapters!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one :D

EPOV

In the weeks after our drive to Forks, Bella and I had gotten to know one other better. We texted back and forth almost daily, mostly whenever she had questions about Maria. While there were conversations about other things, our messages remained focused on Bella getting to know more about her sister.

So many more similarities between the twins had been brought to light that the quip about keeping count had become an actual inside joke. If another parallel was discovered, we would now simply text back 'Tally' and we knew what it meant.

They had many similar likes and dislikes. Their favorite meal was both lasagna and neither of them liked bananas because they felt chalky when they ate them. They both wore the same brand of perfume, though in slightly different floral scents. Both hated electronic dance music, and Bella was a little embarrassed to admit that her guilty pleasure music was also classic country and western. She said she played Patsy Cline while she cleaned her apartment sometimes. They both graduated at the top of their year in high school, Maria being the valedictorian at our school and Bella being the salutatorian at hers.

One of the oddest parallels we'd uncovered so far was that both of them had had their first kiss playing spin the bottle in eighth grade. Bella had told me hers had been with a boy named Mike Newton, who's now married to her friend Jessica we ran into at the grocery store in Forks. Bella said it was incredibly awkward and it still made her uncomfortable every time Mike brought it up, which was more often than either she or his wife would like. Maria's had been, of course, with me. We'd been playing it in the basement of our friend's house during a birthday party and when the bottle almost landed on the boy sitting next to me after Maria had spun it, she quickly grabbed the bottle and pointed it at me. Before I knew it, she'd planted a kiss directly on my lips.

Besides our nearly daily texts, we'd also started meeting up before the sessions on Mondays at the coffee house she liked, down the block from the college campus, and then I'd drive her home once the session had ended. On these nights, we tended to not talk too much about Maria, or anything too heavy, knowing that the group discussions could get a little draining. It was during these moments when I got to know more about Bella.

I discovered that she was an especially focused reader. If Bella was absorbed in a book, I would literally have to shake her shoulder to get her attention. She would drink almost anything caffeinated but had a weakness for anything sweet with whipped cream on top, and she made indecent sounds when eating anything chocolatey. She had a particular lopsided smile she made whenever she thought something was ridiculous, where the right side of her mouth raised slightly higher and a dimple in one cheek. She talked about the people close to her in such a way that only made me want to count myself amongst their numbers more. I could see her passion for her job, the kindness and compassion she had for all her students lit up her face every time she started talking about it. Though apparently, if she had any other job she'd want to be a baker. I'd texted her 'tally' later that night, telling her how Maria had always said that if she wasn't a lawyer, she wanted to be a chef.

It felt like even though we met under extremely unusual - some may say absurd - circumstances, we may have truly started to become friends. One of the downsides of being best friends, then romantic partners, with the same person since infancy was that you didn't have an extensive circle of buddies to hang out with, or pals to call when you needed someone to talk to. Maria had been the more outgoing one of us and most of our friendship circles had been friends she had made and brought me into. For the first time in my adult life, I felt like I could say I made a friend.

I only hoped Bella felt the same.

It was incredible how fast time passed once routines developed and things started to feel a little more normal. Before I knew it, almost a month had flown by and it was nearing the end of October. There were fewer and fewer days of sunshine, and the nights were getting longer. While I had had my fair share of freezing temperatures having lived in Chicago for so many years, I'd forgotten how wet Fall could be in the Pacific Northwest. Everything felt damp all the time.

Feeling more at home lately, I had started to spend more of my time working on the piano in the library. For years I had been composing on my keyboard and computer set-up, and I was still using that to lay my final tracks. But there was a certain nostalgia that washed over me when playing the instrument I grew up learning to play. It felt like discovering something I have loved all my life for the first time again.

I was sitting at the piano on a Thursday afternoon, needling out a melody for a story scene in the new game where Count Dracula confronts the man who kidnapped and murdered his wife after a bloody battle, when my mother walked slowly into the library. I wouldn't have ever described my mom as a sheepish or shy woman, so her nervous body language instantly set me on edge.

Putting my pencil down, I turned to face her. "Mom, are you okay?"

"Yes, Darling. I'm fine," she waved off. "It's just, I have done something you probably won't like."

I was perplexed, yet suddenly full of dread. "What is it?" I asked with trepidation.

Mom turned and gracefully sat in one of the armchairs by the glass wall that faced the backyard, still worrying her hands.

"So, you may not be aware, but I had lunch with Carmen today, and she asked how you were. You know, it's been so long since she and Eleazar have seen you."

"Okay," I said, drawing out the word until it sounded like a question.

"Well, I told her you were good. That you'd settled back in here, and that you'd started going to a counseling group and it had really been helping you. And then I may have said that you'd been doing much better since you'd been spending more time with Bella." She winced as said the last part.

"Mom," I groaned lowly. I didn't want to chastise her, but I could feel my ire rising.

"I know. I'm sorry," she apologized, throwing up her hands in surrender. "But I had to tell her, Edward. She asked if you were dating someone, and I couldn't lie to her. She's my oldest friend, and I've never kept secrets from her before."

Mom was obviously very upset over what she's done, or maybe it was fear about how I would react. I certainly wasn't happy. I'd wanted to leave the decision of when and how to share the news of her existence with the Di Nali's up to Bella, but it looked like that plan had already been thrown out the window. I'd wanted to give her as much control over this entire situation as I could, after the way I handled the beginning of it.

I didn't know how I was going to tell her that the cat was already out of the bag.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to remember that I shouldn't be upset with my mother. One of the things Angela often talked about in the group sessions was that we were the only ones who could actually affect our emotions, and we shouldn't put the blame on other people for our raw or overwhelming feelings. Other people and their actions may trigger us, but at the end of the day, we are the ones in control.

What was happening wasn't really Mom's fault. Sure, she knew I wasn't going to tell Carmen and Eleazar until Bella wanted to. But I also couldn't blame her for being a good friend and not lying to Carmen. It was a tall order to try and keep something like this quiet. It was a highly unusual set of circumstances, and we were all doing our best in navigating the rocky waters.

"Please don't be mad at me," my mother begged. "It was an honest slip. I would never have said anything on purpose. But as soon as I said anything, I knew I had to tell Carmen the truth."

Sighing deeply, I got up and went to sit in the armchair next to the one my mother had sat in. "I'm not mad, Mom," I said tenderly, taking both of her hands in mine. "Did I wish it had happened in a different way? Yes. But I don't blame you."

"That's not all, unfortunately," she sighed, her head hung. "Carmen would like to meet her."

I tried not to clench my hands around hers, where I still held them. Taking a deep breath, I tried to remind myself of everything I'd just thought about - I am the one in control. Only I can make me angry. Yada yada yada.

"No," I said firmly. "I'm sorry, but that's got to be Bella's choice."

Mom's face softened and she nodded her head. "Of course, it should be, Darling. But I thought, maybe you could ask her if she would come to lunch or dinner on the weekend and meet them."

"Mom," I drew out, a little exasperated. "I don't know how comfortable Bella will feel about that. The one time I did mention Carmen and Eleazar, she said it would probably be incredibly overwhelming to meet them. Not only because meeting Maria's parents would be a huge step, but I don't think she wants to upset them with how similar she and Maria can be."

"Don't worry about Carmen and Eleazar. They will most likely have a hard time meeting Bella, no matter what. But Carmen said she wants to meet her, so I have to take that at face value and believe she'll be ready for it. You shouldn't hold back bringing it up with Bella just because you're afraid of their reactions."

"You're right," I sighed. "I'm just worried it's too soon and it will end up upsetting them and Bella."

"Unfortunately Darling, that's not really something you can control," said Mom, patting my arm. "No matter how soon you think it might be, Carmen wants to meet her, and if Bella agrees, it will be happening. And no matter what you hope for otherwise, it will most likely be upsetting."

I hung my head in my hands, weaving my fingers into my hair, and groaned into my chest in frustration. "I know. I just… wish there was something I could do."

My mother ran her hands over my hunched back in comfort. "What if you invited Bella to come over here? That way she, Carmen and Eleazar are all on neutral ground. Either can leave whenever the situation becomes too much to cope with."

It wasn't a bad idea. Bella wouldn't have to feel pressured to behave a certain way in the home of her twin's adoptive parents, and my in-laws wouldn't have to be painfully reminded of their lost child as her carbon copy is brought into their family home.

I could even pitch it as 'hanging out at a friend's place' if she needed some convincing. The thought of having Bella in the home I grew up in gave me a warm feeling that bloomed from my chest. I pictured her sitting in one of these chairs while I played her a song I'd written. She'd been asking me to play her some of my work, and while I showed her a few clips on Youtube from the previous game I'd worked on, she didn't really get it. I could play her one of my composed music pieces; maybe the lullaby I'd had stuck in my head for weeks.

"Your father and I would love to meet her too," Mom continued in a hopeful voice. "From everything you've said, she sounds like a phenomenal young woman."

I could feel my panic rising again, though I couldn't pinpoint the exact reason it was happening now. Perhaps I had just reached my limit once again? One thing I had noticed since I'd been going regularly to the counseling sessions with Bella was that I had a better grip on my, sometimes extreme, mood swings. Or at least I was better at realizing what was happening and finding healthier ways to deal with it.

I wanted to jump up, but instead, I took a deep breath and stood. "I'll talk to her, Mom. I promise. I just… I'm going to…" I wracked my brain trying to think of an excuse to leave before I had a panic attack in front of my mother. "Go for a drive," I said finally, then quickly made my way out of the library, down the hall, and out through the front door.

~oOo~

I didn't know where I was driving for a while. It wasn't until I found myself passing a sign that was both familiar, and yet entirely foreign to me that I realized where I was. Bella had talked to me about her school, mentioning the name, and I may have been a stalker later that night and looked it up. I remembered the distinct logo of a tree, whose twisted branches made up the shape of a brain, with the Latin words Crescente Et Discendi Simul - Growing and Learning Together - wrapped around it. I'd even looked up where the school was on a map.

I guess there was a part of my brain operating while I was driving around on autopilot, and it had apparently decided I needed to talk to Bella straight away. Not that it was an entirely bad plan, I just wished I knew why I seemed to need to have these tough discussions in person.

While I'd inadvertently seemed to gather enough information about Bella's school to get myself here unconsciously, I hadn't seemed to pay enough attention to what time their day actually finished. There looked to be a P.E. class of elementary school-looking kids on a field to the right of the large main building, and idling outside the front of the school was starting to make me feel like a creep. It was only just after two o'clock, and there was no way I could wait out here in my car without coming across as a predator.

As I drove around the corner the school sat on, I saw what was obviously a staff parking lot and quickly pulled in. Perhaps I could wait here until I see Bella come out with whoever was going to drive her home today? I found a park at the back of the lot, furthest from the building, but still with a view of the closest door, and grabbed my phone from where I'd thrown it on the passenger seat.

E: Can you message or call me as soon as you can after school? I really need to talk to you

There was no way I would just surprise Bella as she left the building if I could help it, but I thought it best to leave out that I was currently sitting in my car outside her work for when I could better judge her reaction.

It took nearly fifteen minutes of staring at the black screen of my phone, waiting for it to light up with an incoming message, to realize I wasn't going to get a response until classes were over and I needed a distraction. Scrolling through my recent playlists on the dash screen, I found the one I'd made as inspiration for the latest game, with lots of brooding string and piano pieces mixed in with some interesting electronic music mixed in, that seemed to fit my mood perfectly. Pressing play, I turned up the volume and lost myself in the pulsing rhythms that wove through each of the pieces on the playlist.

I don't know how long I sat there, waiting for a ding from my phone to interrupt the stream of dramatic music, but I was suddenly shocked out of my musing by a sharp rap at my window. Jumping, I saw a smartly dressed blonde woman, probably in her forties, with a polite but formal smile on her face; a man in a security uniform standing behind her with his arm crossed.

I turned off the stereo and rolled down the window. "Hi. Yes?" I asked.

"Hello, sir," she said in a high, girly voice that didn't entirely match her serious demeanor. "Can I ask what you're doing here?"

I sat up straighter, feeling nervous. "Oh, sorry. I'm, um, waiting for a friend." It almost sounded like a question.

"Sir, you'll need to wait around at the entrance parking lot if you're waiting for a student to get out. This is the staff parking."

Her assumption that I was here waiting for a student puzzled me for a moment, but I guess I just looked like some clueless dad to her.

"No, my friend is a staff member. Bella Swan? Isabella?" I said in a hurry, quick to dispel her ideas about me.

Suddenly, the woman's posture changed. Where before she was stiff, displaying an air of authority, now she seemed more personable, and her smile turned friendly.

"Miss Swan?" she reiterated, her already high voice going up an octave. "How do you know her?"

"Oh," I said, feeling stumped. It felt like a pretty ballsy question for a complete stranger to ask, and the look in the woman's eye made me slightly uncomfortable. But I also knew that a school would want to know that anyone who showed up on campus wasn't a danger to the students or staff, and I would have to give them some kind of explanation beyond being 'friends' with someone there.

I hadn't expected to have to answer a question like that though, especially not to one of Bella's co-workers. I didn't know what Bella had or hadn't shared of her personal life with the people she worked with, but I would think it was safe to assume she wouldn't want me to say anything too personal. Bella struck me as a fairly private person, so I highly doubted she'd talked about her grief counseling or being adopted and sudden surprise birth sisters in the staff room.

Trying to make my explanation descriptive enough to belie the woman's worries, yet vague enough to not give anything too personal away, I said, "She's a relative of my late wife." I only hoped she didn't pry too much more.

The woman's eyebrows shot up and her smile returned. "Your late wife?" she asked, her childlike voice sounding suddenly out of place. She turned around to the security guard and waved him off before she took a step closer to the car, leaning further down so we were almost at eye level. The new angle offered me a straight look down her blouse, and I'm pretty sure she knew that.

"Um… yeah," I said hesitantly.

"And are you an out-of-work teacher looking for a job, like Miss Swan was when she came to us?" she asked, her tone a little too flirty.

Now I was definitely uncomfortable. "No. I'm a composer."

"A composer? Well, isn't that fascinating?" The woman was quiet for a moment, regarding me. All I could do was give her a tight-lipped smile and hope she picked up on the uneasiness I was trying to mask.

Suddenly, her smile brightened. "My name is Heidi Hunt. I'm the principal here at Evergreen Academy. Would you ever be interested in teaching a workshop for students in our music program?"

"What?" I asked, dumbfounded at this woman's abrupt change of topic. That was so far in the opposite direction of what I thought she was going to say next.

"We love to have experts and professionals run extra-credit workshops for students, especially if they can show students how they could channel their passions into their future careers."

"Oh. No, I've never thought about it before."

"I'm sure there's a lot you could teach them. It's not every day they would get to meet an actual composer." Heidi sounded like a door-to-door salesman, hoping to convince me whatever gadget she was spruiking would change my life.

"I don't really know what I could ever teach them that they wouldn't already be learning in music class," I said, shaking my head. "I mostly just fulfil whatever brief the client gives me."

"Well, there's your workshop!" Heidi exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "How to create music to fulfill a client's brief."

Not knowing what to say to her, I just stayed silent, giving her a polite smile. I was hoping she would tell me it was okay to stay and wait for Bella and then just leave me here, but that looked less than likely. Even if she told me I had to leave, at least it would end this awkward interaction.

"Why don't I take you inside and show you somewhere you can wait for Isabella, and we can talk about what a workshop could look like?" She said eventually when it was obvious I wasn't going to say anything. "You never know, you might change your mind."

The indecision I felt was tearing me apart. The urge I felt to find out more about her was gnawing away at me. I wanted to uncover every morsel of knowledge about her, like a truffle hunting pig. Yet, I knew that even just coming here was a huge violation of Bella's trust, and that going any further could be crossing a line I may not be able to come back from.

It has to be HER choice! I scolded myself.

I wasn't going to go in there, but it didn't look like Bella's boss was going to leave me alone out here. Heidi had a look in her eye that I recognised from some of the clients I'd worked with; like an idea had sparked and they weren't going to let it drop.

With a resigned sigh, I opened the car door. "How about we chat out here while I wait to hear from Bella?"

"Sure!" Heidi said brightly, stepping back to let me get out.

"What was your name, by the way?" she asked as she looked up at me with what I'm sure she thought was a coy smile, her hand on my arm.

"Edward Cullen," I told her civilly, trying to lean away from her without being outright rude.

While Heidi explained the innovative education initiatives the school had implemented, and the college-style, credit-based class delivery that gave students control over every part of their education, I was trying to type out a message to Bella.

E: Please don't hate me! I was driving around thinking about something I need to talk to you about and I swear it was unconscious, but I kind of ended up outside your school. Then I was thinking in my car in the staff parking after I messaged you earlier, and your boss came out. And now she's out here trying to convince me to run a workshop at the school. I'm really sorry, and I really hope you don't think I'm a stalker and planned this or something!

I hoped she saw it before she saw me, otherwise, she might not let me even explain myself before she cut me completely out of her life.

It surprised me how intrigued I actually was by what Heidi was suggesting, though. As we discussed what a workshop I might run could look like, she was in what I could only describe as 'full Principal mode'. Her pitch was air-tight, using a bunch of academic and statistical jargon that left me feeling incredibly inspired to impart my knowledge and skills to the next generation. And I had to admit, it did sound like a pretty cool idea. It was something that I would have killed to be able to do back in high school when I loved music but had no idea what I could do with that passion. If I'd been able to do something like the workshop Heidi was proposing, I would have found my calling a lot more easily.

During our discussion, while the topic stayed professional, Heidi remained a little too… close. She would laugh a little too enthusiastically at a joke, or touch my bicep in a reasonably innocent way. Nothing that raised a red flag, but a flag was definitely clipped to the hoist at the bottom of the pole. At one point, the bell rang and while I thought she would need to make her goodbyes and head back inside to attend to something, she didn't. In fact, Heidi practically ignored the bell, standing facing me with her back to the school.

Not long after the bell had rung, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. Fishing it out, I saw I had received a response from Bella.

B: Oh no! I'm coming!

I didn't know what she meant the 'oh no' to be about, but my heart rate jumped a little. Was it the fact that I was here, or that I was talking to her boss? Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long to find out, because about a minute later I saw the door leading out to the parking lot open and Bella popped out. She quickly looked around, spotting Heidi and me at the back of the lot and started at a jog towards us. Today she was wearing navy jeans and a dark green sweater, but she didn't have a coat which made her look underdressed for late October.

"Hey," Bella said, a little breathless, as she bounced up beside me and flashed Heidi a polite smile. "Hello, Heidi."

"Good afternoon, Isabella," Heidi said, her tone much more formal now that Bella was there. "Did your last period go well?"

"Yes," said Bella, a lot more warmth in her voice. "We got some good work done mapping out their verse narrative poems, and a few even started blocking out a few stanzas."

"Excellent," Heidi said with a clap of her hands, then turned to me. It was like she expected me to say something, but I had no idea what it would be.

We stood in an awkward, silent stalemate - Bella and I not wanting to say anything in front of Heidi, and Heidi seemingly reluctant to leave.

"Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Edward. And do please think about my offer." The last bit was said in the same slightly inappropriate tone that made my skin crawl a little, but this time with a raised eyebrow that I'm sure was meant to emphasize the double entendre of her words.

Trying to remain professional, I flashed her a polite smile and said, "Nice to meet you, too."

As Heidi began making her way back to the school building, Bella turned to me with her own unsure smile. "Hi," she said again.

I smiled nervously back at her. "Hey. I'm so sorry I just turned up like this."

Her face softened then. "It's okay, Edward. Whatever it is you want to talk about must be really bugging you."

That brought the reason for my impromptu visit rushing back into my mind. Running my hand through my hair anxiously, I couldn't help but wince a little. I knew prevaricating wasn't going to do me any favors, but I was worried about how bringing up Carmen and Eleazar would go.

"Yeah. Um, do you think we could go somewhere to talk about it?" The parking lot of her school was not the place to have such a private conversation, even if we were sitting secluded in my car. "I can drive you home afterwards, as well."

My request must have made Bella more concerned about what I had to say because the little crease between her eyebrows she got when she was puzzled returned. I half expected her lip to disappear between her teeth.

"Oh, yeah. Okay, that's fine." She seemed a little hesitant. Probably worried I needed to talk about some new terrible, life-changing thing. "I'll have to get my stuff, but I'll only be a few minutes."

"Alight. I'll wait here." I said, thumbing over my shoulder to indicate that I would stay right where I was, next to the car. Bella nodded and headed off quickly back towards the building. She was only gone for around five minutes before she was coming back out, this time with a tall blonde man. I remembered that she said she worked with her close friend, Jasper, and usually rode with him to and from school. He had a serious look on his face as he stared at me, but when Bella said something and he looked down at her, his face softened.

"Edward, this is my friend Jasper," she introduced us when they reached me. "Jasper, this is Edward."

"Hey man," Jasper said, reaching out to shake my hand. "It's good to meet you."

He had a Texan accent, but it wasn't that strong anymore. Bella has told me that he'd been living in Seattle since moving here for college. That's where they met and became friends. And dated. I shut that line of thinking off quickly. It wasn't any of my concern who Bella had a romantic history with.

"Hi," I replied, shaking his hand in return and trying not to feel awkward about where my mind had drifted. "It's good to meet you, too. Bella's talked about you a lot."

"All bad things, I'm sure," he chuckled, though he sobered quickly. "Hey, I'm sorry about everything you've been going through. I know it's been tough on Bella, but I'm sure it's been hard on you too. I can't even imagine what it would be like to lose someone like that, especially someone you'd known and been with basically your whole life."

I didn't know how to respond to that. Was I supposed to say thank you? I hated it when strangers said they were sorry. What did they have to be sorry about? It was one of those annoying little things that niggled at you after someone you love dies and everyone around you starts treating you differently.

"Yeah," I said, trying to say anything so I didn't seem rude to one of Bella's oldest friends. "It's been… crazy."

"I hope y'all get some more answers so it doesn't nag at you for the rest of your lives. There are just way too many why's, hows, and what if's, and it's been twistin' Bella up." Jasper rubbed Bella's shoulder in comforting support. It was a familiar gesture, that showed how long they had known and cared about each other. However, while it showed his deep affection for her, it was a brotherly love.

A humourless, breathy laugh bounced out of me. "Yeah, I've been feeling a little twisted over it all, as well."

Jasper was about to say something else, but before he could, Bella jumped in and cut him off. "Alight, Jazz. Edward said he'd drive me home today, so I'll see you in the morning. Message me when you're leaving yours?"

Shaking his head at her, he laughed. "Don't I always, Miss Subtle?"

Bella let out a genuine laugh and I could feel the broad smile forming on my face in response to the sound. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I'll see you tomorrow," she said as she pushed him playfully to make him start walking in the other direction.

"Bye!" Jasper called over his shoulder before he made his way over to a dark blue Toyota on the other side of the parking lot.

"Sorry about him," Bella chuckled once he was out of earshot. "He was curious about you, but I told him introductions had to be brief."

"You didn't have to do that," I said softly, a small frown on my lips. To cover up my pensiveness, I moved to open the passenger door for her. "Shall we?"

Bella smiled warmly at me. "Thank you," she said as she moved past me to get in the car.

~oOo~

Within less than five minutes of the quiet drive, I realized that this was not a conversation I wanted to have in a crowded coffee shop. When I suggested we just drive threw a Starbucks and then find somewhere to park, Bella seemed more than happy to agree. She probably sensed my anxiety, because I could sense it like an aura around myself. It was like we were on the precipice of a big change. The two worlds that I had so far successfully kept separate were about to collide.

After we had gotten our drinks, where Bella had grumbled when I refused to take her money, I drove us to a park we had passed and pulled into an open spot at the back. A line of trees blocked one side of the car, though we had a view out onto the playground and a playing field beyond, where a team of some sort were running drills. The classical music that had been playing earlier was still down low, and now that the engine was off, we could hear the frenetic violin and horns of Mussorgsky's Night on a Bald Mountain. The ominous music, while quiet, was making my anxiety rise, so I turned the stereo off. All that was left then was the ticking of the car as it cooled and the nearby sound of children as they played.

"Can you just talk to me, please!" Bella said suddenly, breaking me out of my mental spiral. "This suspense is so much worse than whatever it is, I'm sure."

She was right. The healthy thing to do would be to have an open and honest conversation. That's what we were encouraged to do in our grief group, so at this point, we'd had a fair amount of practice. A conversation involves clear communication and attentive listening.

"My mom unintentionally told Maria's mother, Carmen, about you," I said in a rush. Before I continued, I took a deep breath to prepare myself. "And now she would like to meet you."

"Oh," was all she said, her voice so soft I could barely hear her.

"I'm really sorry you didn't get to decide when to tell them," I apologized. "My mom said that your name just slipped out when they were talking about me, and then Carmen wanted to know if I was dating someone again. She's her oldest friend and Mom couldn't lie to her."

Bella remained quiet, staring out the front window to the playground beyond. Children were swinging off the equipment and chasing each other around, their parents bundled up against the cold, standing off to the side in huddles.

I had come to realize that Bells was like me, and she needed time and quiet to process things. It was actually something we had in common, and that she and Maria did not. It seemed that once again, where they were not the same, they were polar opposites. Maria had always preferred action; to bring something up, then hash it out until she had worked everything through. But like Bella, I too needed time to let things sink in, to let them percolate inside my brain until I was able to talk about it.

After a few minutes of quiet, Bella finally spoke. "What did Carmen say?" she asked, casting a questioning look my way.

I thought back on everything Mom had said about her conversation with Carmen. "Not much, I don't think. My mom didn't mention anything specific. She just said Carmen would like to meet you. I can ask, though, if you'd like to know."

"No, you don't have to do that," she shook her head. "I just… Do you think she was upset?"

I softened at her question. Here I was thinking that she'd be mad that the Di Nali's had found out before she'd wanted them to know, but she was more worried that Carmen was distressed after finding out her adopted daughter had a long-lost identical twin.

"I don't know," I said in as soothing a voice as I could. "Mom didn't say anything, but I can imagine she probably was a bit. It's a lot to find out, as we know."

"Yeah," Bella whispered, before falling quiet again.

"Hey." I tried to gently draw her attention. "You don't have to do it yet if you don't want to. If you're not ready to meet them, then they'll just have to wait until you are. It's up to you, Bella."

She didn't look at me, just continued to stare out the window at the playing children. "That's not really fair to them though, is it?"

"Don't worry about them," I stressed. "This is about what you want."

Bella huffed. "But it's not just about me! They're Maria's parents. Heck, they could have ended up being my parents if things had been different the day we were adopted! I'm sure they still want to know everything about their daughter, including who I am. Just because she's not alive anymore doesn't mean she's not the centre of their world."

Her voice had lost the harder edge it had begun with by the end. It made me wonder if she was thinking about her son, gone before he'd even arrived. I was struck by the sudden thought that this was the same for everyone Bella shared blood with - lost to her before she'd even been able to meet them.

"I just don't want you to feel pressured," I said in resignation.

"Well that's ridiculous," said Bella with a sober laugh. "I'm not going to lie and say I don't feel kind of pressured, but this is something I was always going to have to do. I mean, if the roles were reversed I'd hope Maria would go and meet my family. And this was something I was going to have to do eventually, so it might as well be now."

As much as I wanted to try and argue her out of it, I had to ask myself - Who was I protecting? Was it Bella, or was I actually protecting myself?

"If you're sure." I tried to say it with confidence, but it still ended up sounding a bit like a question.

"I'm sure, Edward. Trust me."

This time my voice held confidence. "I do trust you."

Bella smiled warmly at me, then sat up straighter in her seat. "So, what's the plan?" she asked.

"Well, my mom thought maybe you'd like to come over to our house to meet them on the weekend? You know, offer a neutral ground of sorts."

She stopped to consider this, her lip once again disappearing between her teeth. A sure-fire sign she was nervous, anxious, or in deep thought, and at this moment it was probably all three.

"Okay," Bella finally said, with a small nod. "I-I think that could work."

I could tell that even though she was sure of her decision, she was still incredibly worried about what this meeting would mean. Wanting to diffuse the heavy tension that had settled around us from the moment we got in the car, I flashed her one of the crooked grins that I knew Maria always found charming.

"How about this, I can pick you up in the afternoon on Saturday and take you over to my parents, then we can hang out there for a little while before Carmen and Eleazar come over for dinner? You might feel a bit more comfortable there, and I can help distract you until they arrive. I could even play you some of my pieces."

Bella's smile was real now, and the shine had returned to her deep brown eyes.

"Well, now I have to go."

There we go! We're finally going to have Bella and Edwards lives crossing a bit more. What do you think is going to happen when she meets Carlisle and Esme? And what about Alice?!

Please leave me a review, I love to hear what you're thinking :D

Until next time, Lovelies!