AN: Hello all! I know these first few chapters have seemed more slice of life than anything but I just wanted to lay the groundwork and background for just how into the role they wanted for Bella she has given in.

Also thank you for your feedback and I look forward to continuing the story.

Flashback

"It seemed best for us, love. I want only for you to be safe." Came Edward's gentle answer.

All Bella could think about was how much she had NOT missed high school.

End Flashback

The gentle monotone chime of their bell drew Bella's attention back to the present. She wasn't sure when they'd stopped using the obnoxious one from her day but she was thankful as Rosalie had said how painful it was to hear.

She counted to fifty in her head to give herself time and then as carelessly as she dared started shoving her tablet, cellphone and notebook into the medium sized deep blue Michael something tote purse Alice had given her this morning to match the outfit she currently donned:

A cream knit sweater with the same blue trim and a plain above the knee skirt as blue as her purse. Her hair had been slicked back into a low pony tail; a silk scrunchie to tie it back. She also had on a pair of thick tights that made Bella feel unbearably hot and chunky black platform loafers.

These had been her favorite part of the outfit since it was the first pair of nonheels that Alice had given her to wear outside of the running shoes she work for hunting.

The tights have to be thick or they'll think it's weird you aren't cold Alice had said when Bella gave pause to getting dressed that day after seeing them on the dresser by her bed.

Bella knew Alice was right; but they'd spent most of their time in Ithaca this last decade sequestered and without having to be 'human' and Alice had taken to dressing Bella in dressed or work out skirts; so the leggings felt out of place.

She reminded herself to move at a snails pace and made sure she was in the middle of the pack to finish stuffing her purse and standing while the teacher spoke over the teenagers busy chatting.

"And remember class it might only be art, and this is only the end of the third week but do the reading. The first quiz comes up and *someone* always ends up surprised it's not just asking you to draw pictures." Her name, Bella thought, was Ms. Sanders. It was the only class Bella took without one of her 'siblings' at her side as none of them were particularly interested in art the way Bella had become.

She was grateful none had decided to join her. An odd sense of sanctuary had started to surround her little desk there in the art room.

"Isabella, right?" A soft tap on her shoulder before she had reached the end of the row cause Bella to turn and seek where voice had come from. A blonde girl much taller than Bella, wearing a volleyball jersey, held out the pencil she had left at her desk. "You forgot this."

"Oh! Thanks." Bella smiled up at the girl after a nanosecond of shock; taking the pencil and dropping it into her open purse hanging from the crook of her elbow. This was the first time anyone had bothered to try and start a conversation with her, even if it was just to return a pencil. "And you are?" She pushed on despite the strong urge to melt into the crowd and find one of her family members. Edward had said it would be best for them not to appear as rude and standoffish as their family had last time they were in forks.

"Jeannie." The tall blonde responded, in step with the slow footsteps Bella wasn't even aware they'd started taking. "You just moved here right? Your dad's the dr and your siblings are all here too." Bella nodded, a friendly smile still in place as they made it out to the hallway and had started towards the cafeteria. She could smell Alice nearby and nearly took it as her cue to leave however she didn't want to appear rude and continued down the hall with the taller girl.

"Yeah, we were in New York before this. Is it always this gloomy?" She probably looked ridiculous trying to fight off an amused smile at the fact that nearly a century later she was asking the same questions about the same town, as if she had never been. Her sister's scent getting stronger Bella knew it would be seconds before she interrupted them.

"Unfortunately, yes. It-" she wouldn't get to hear the end of the sentence since Alice linked arms with her. "Isabella! There you are. We just found a table we don't think anyone eats at. Sorry to interrupt, I just was worried she wouldn't find us. This one's always getting lost." Alice smiled and laughed in a tone that was final and Bella nodded along, waving goodbye to Jeannie as she was steered into the familiar double doors; only to be ushered straight through and towards the parking lot at an almost faster than would be normal.

"Alice said the sun is going to be coming out soon." Edward's voice came from inside of his car, engine already running.

"Oh, right the sun." Bella said lamely, moving to walk around the back of the car to the open passenger door while Alice slid into the back seat where Jasper already was.

"I CALL BELLS" Emmett bellowed his strong arm wrapped around her to pull her up into his car before she or Edward could protest. A sound of consignment from Edward was all the confirmation needed before her purse was tossed into the open passenger door of Edward's car and the door closed.

"I swear Em, she's not going to disappear before we get back to the house." There was a smile in Rosalie's voice as she watched her overgrown child husband toss is favorite sibling into the backseat. " I know you haven't seen her in two years but we've all been here for two months."

She laughed, settling into the back seat of the open top vehicle. " I don't mind. I like riding in Priscilla." Priscilla was the name Emmett had given his newest addition to the seemingly infinite collection; a vintage Volkswagen type 181 painted what seemed an impossible dark shade of black. Everything on her was blacked out including the cover he refused to put on the car.

They sat in comfortable silence for the short drive until Rosalie noticed Bella zoned out and turned in the seat to start complaining about her schedule. "I don't know why I let them talk me into high school every time. I have a freshman lit teacher who looks like he descended from the old crone who taught us when we were here the last time."

Bella nodded, only half paying attention to the conversation "it's an entirely new generation of people, but nothing is different.." it was the first time that it had hit her what their existence truly meant. She had been walking around most of the first two weeks fully expecting Mike Newton or Angela Weber to run into her in the hall or see Jessica Stanley waving her over at lunch to ask if Bella wanted to go to Port Angeles to check out some new thrift store.

"Did you see that the flagpole still leans left like it always has?" Bella shook herself from her thought process and forced what she hoped was a light hearted laugh. "Maybe you can tilt it back the other way Em, so it's straight up."

Emmett laughed and nodded "I've wanted to the last four times we were here; but Eddy says to just leave it so they don't start wondering how it got fixed." They had just come up the driveway and were walking into the living room where the rest of the coven were lounging.

That made a lot of sense to Bella. "He's right though, especially since this is supposed to be our sophomore year.. I hadn't thought of that."

"I find that I'm always right, love. the flagpole again? One day he'll just give into his impulses and do it." Edward placed a gentle hand on the small of Bella's back, already guiding them towards the back door to where their cottage lie in the forest.

"Camping anyone?" Alice's suggestion earned a laugh from the group as Bella stepped out the door.

"We can catch up with you, we need to straighten up the cottage." Edward said, his hand falling ever so slightly lower causing Bella to bite her lip to side the smile forming.

"Gross! We all know what the means Eddy boy! I for one am leaving now to get out of earshot." Emmett's voice grew quieter with the sounds of their coven each leaving in pairs to hunt as they walked inside their home.

Bella didn't even have time to giggle at her brothers childishness before she was being pulled into Edward's arms, one wrapping around her to pull her in and the hand of the other reaching so his pointer finger could tilt her face up for a slow kiss.

Bella hummed in approval her arms reaching up to wrap around the back of his neck and going up on her tip toes to push herself closer. Their feet shuffled as he let go of her with the hand under her jaw to pull her thick locks free from the ponytail Alice had pulled it back in.

"I do so love the way your hair just tumbles out of these every time." He murmured against her mouth before running his mouth down her cheek to follow the curve of her jaw and throat.

Bella whined softly; her arms loosening their grip to give him the space he needed to continue what he was doing.

Their walk to the bed had been led by Edward, his back towards the bed as Bella followed obediently, lost in the sensation of his kisses and caresses. Unable to restrain herself, and still the youngest by far of their coven, in a fraction of a second Bella had shoved him down on the bed on his back and climbed over top of him. From her new position. Straddling him she put his hands on his hips and had begun to unbutton the sweater she was wearing when gentle but firm hands stopped her.

"Isabella," Came Edward's gruff but firm tone from beneath her. He started to sit up, his hand on her back to support her and ignoring the small groan she emitted when this new angle gave her a taste of the friction she had begun to crave. "We talked about this." Just as quickly, she was under him, Edward nestled between her legs which were bent at his hips. She began squirming, back arching to pull his hovering frame down to her.

"Yes but, just this once?" She was embarrassed by the pitiful tone in her voice. It had been an eternity since she had taken any semblance of control in the bedroom.

"Let's just take our time, love there is no rush." As he spoke one hand at a time found hers in a familiar action taking one of Bella's in each and lacing his fingers with hers, pushing them gently into the mattress.

Bella fought hard to beat back the wave of rejection she felt washing over her. They'd had this same conversation so many times. 'There's no rush' was his kind way of saying he thought she was too frenzied too impulsive and out of control.

'It's not your fault love, newborns always tend to be more frenzied both in feeding and other areas of their life. It's all so new.' He had said to her.

She hadn't realized she'd stopped reacting at all to his mouth on her throat and his erection grinding into her. He pulled back to look down at her, concern on his face.

"Isabella?" One hand let go of hers, caressing the side of her face gently.

"I think I'm hungrier than I realized." She spoke softly, her nearly onyx eyes dull as she picked up her free hand to gently push at Edward's chest. Like she knew he would, he let himself be disentangled from and only nodded in agreement. He got off the bed and had begun saying something about catching up with the rest of their family but it was lost to Bella who instead took off before he could finish the thought.

He wouldn't follow her when she got this way. 'You just needed to vent while you hunted. I can see you're already feeling better' he would say when she returned.

Venom stung her eyes as she ran, an ugly feeling of frustration and rejection sitting heavy in her gut, blurring her vision slightly. She ran until she came across some small deer grazing, easily taking one down and making a mess of her sweater in her emotional haze as she fed. She had been following a second one, stilly hungry in her frustration, when a faintly rancid smell stopped her in her tracks and raise the proverbial hairs on the nape of her neck.

Werewolf.

But that didn't make any sense to her. She was nowhere near the treaty line Carlisle had shown them (her) a month ago when they first hunted. Every thought in her brain screamed to turn and run for her husband, but her instincts had her rooted to the base of a tree with her back to the trunk; crouched low in her loafers and a snarl on her face. She could hear the beastly dog shifting routes as her scent undoubtedly was picked up quickly.

She had discarded her previous kill more carelessly than she normally would have and the pause in its gait Bella took to mean it had come across the animal and took that as her cue to the dart further into the Forrest.

Edward would come for her. She was sure of it, or Alice would at the very least when she could no longer check in on Bella given her proximity to the beast that had heard her take off and started pursuing her.

AN: I also just wanted to take a second to say that this is definitely a slow burn, hurt comfort sort of story the further along into the plot I plan out since I hate when the attraction is so instant or history/trauma is overlooked sometimes in stories for the sake of the end game.

Don't get me wrong there will be moments of fluff or victory but we are talking about nearly a century of essentially indoctrination of Bella that she's going to be questioning as the plot continues and I feel that there's a lot to unlearn for her and a lot of hate for Paul to get over, as well as them even realizing they have more in common than previously thought.

hopefully I'll see you all at the end and please enjoy