It is the weekend before my final exams, and my dad is driving us to the Cullen house. I have done about as much studying as I can manage, and decided that I could do with a break. Said break I would employ to intervene with the plans for my graduation party. I have heard my dad talk on the phone with Esme a lot lately, and have a feeling that the vampires are trying to turn this into a way to big thing.

When dad has parked his police cruiser on the driveway he first goes to admire the progress on Emmett and Rosalie's house. We have kept him away for some weeks to avoid suspicion of just how fast the construction went, instead finding excuses to meet at my place until the basic skeleton of the house was finished.

While I let a proud Emmett give the tour, I watch Peter and Charlotte who are laying the plumbing and electrics, something they have apparently done before for their own ranch in Montana. Rosalie barges in halfway through with a stack of catalogues to show Charlie what furniture she has picked for the nursery, to be put in when the plastering and floors are finally done. Dad patiently listens to everything and admires her growing baby bump.

Once we finally make our way into the main house we are able to start discussing the party plans. Since I do not enjoy loud music parties I had asked if we could make the occasion a cookout, which both my dad and the vampires had enthusiastically agreed with.

Esme and dad are the co-commanders of general logistics, making sure everything is thought of and arranged. Peter and Garrett are going to put up tarps and terrace heaters so we can comfortably sit outside. Kate and Charlotte have teamed up on decorations. The three Cullen/Hale siblings are covering food and drinks, with Emmett doing the meat and grills, Rosalie the side dishes and Jasper the drinks.

I have only been given the task of passing my exams, so we actually have something to celebrate.

Carlisle has claimed the unenviable task of keeping things within the boundaries of reason, which has proven difficult.

For example, last week he was displeased to find an unexpected addendum to his lab notes. Jasper, taking his task of procuring drinks very seriously, had roped Emmett, Peter, Kate and Garrett into running some experiments on how vampires on a processed blood diet react to alcohol. It turns out that they can in fact drink alcohol and can definitely get drunk.

Apparently for a civil war or revolutionary war era officer it was not uncommon to knock back half a bottle of undiluted whiskey in one evening. However, after being sober for a century or two that built up alcohol tolerance is severely diminished. Sadly I did not get to see this in person, but all of Jasper, Peter and Garretts drunken antics were later on described to me in glorious detail by Kate who had had the sense to go slowly with her drink.

Emmett, for once the responsible one as he did not want to risk angering his pregnant wife again, had had a hard night trying to keep his family under control until they sobered up. Somehow they managed to avoid detection, until Jasper supplied his somehow meticulous notes to Carlisle's research to prove vampires are able to safely consume alcohol.

The resulting lecture was very lengthy. As most invitees were, at least according to their paperwork, under twenty-one (including Jasper himself, who correcting for human food intake should physically be just after his 20th birthday), Carlisle ordered that the party should be alcohol free. He took over the task of procuring drinks himself, and instead made Esme assign Jasper responsibility over the music.

Jasper sulked for a day or so, and I along with him as I really wanted to see firsthand how the lot of them are as drunken idiots, but we were cheered by Peter and Garrett promising to sneak in some liquor to spike the punch with.

At present we are discussing the guest list.

In addition to the assorted vampires I would like to have a select few of my human classmates there, like my friend Angela and her boyfriend Ben. We did not hang out much anymore since I got sucked deeper and deeper into the supernatural world, and she got busier with a boyfriend in her life and preparing for college. As she will be moving out of state for college I want to make sure we have a proper goodbye though. She is the one human other than my dad I would have truly missed after becoming a vampire.

Emmett and Peter convinced me to invite Mike, Jessica, Lauren and Tyler as well. They had heard all the stories about them, particularly about Tyler nearly running me over with his van and then repeatedly insisting I was going to prom with him. Apparently that necessitates some pranks that the men want to set up. Jasper is glad to help, because since his heroic rescue of Lauren from her boyfriend's car she has been incessantly trying to seduce him whenever he shows his face in town. Hearing that I was glad to invite them and gleefully joined the prank planning committee.

One invite that was sent out early was to Renée and Phil, so they would have enough time to sort out their travel arrangements. It had been over a year now since I last saw my mom, and while my feelings about her have been growing increasingly complicated the more I started to rely on Esme as a second mother, I looked forward to seeing her again a lot. When she called to explain that "She was so sorry but Phil really has a very important game that week" so neither of them could attend the graduation party, and also not the graduation ceremony the day before, it was disappointing. Deep down however, I was not truly surprised.

Thus the number of human attendees would be rather low. I would have liked to have some of my old friends from the Quileute tribe there, but not enough to insist on finding a space to host the party that is not Cullen land. With vampires in attendance they would likely not be allowed or willing to go anyway, even on neutral ground.

Dad was very happy though when I gave him permission to issue a general invitation to all our acquaintances on the reservation. He didn't know that I knew none of them would accept, and was happy that I wanted to include them. Consequently he is now rather miffed that his old friend turned down our hospitality.

"When I last talked to Billy Black I mentioned the party and that he could expect an invitation, but he immediately insisted that nobody from the tribe would come."

"It's okay dad.", I tell him. "You know how they get about the Cullen family."

"Well it's not right!", he says empathically. "I attended the graduations of all Billy's daughters and Leah Clearwater, and I will go to Jacob's if that boy ever gets his head together long enough to finish school. Now my only child is graduating and he can't put his petty grudges aside to share this moment with me. Even when we lost Harry this year and he knows how important he is to me."

He frowns. "He also got really weird about the fact that the party is a cookout, made some funny comments about what I thought you lot would be eating."

On the other side of the room, I see Carlisle form a contemplative expression. When dad later excuses himself for a toilet break, he quickly waves the rest of the family together and whispers : "It had not occurred to me to inform the tribe about our change in circumstances. We really should explain the effects of the processed blood diet to them, especially considering Rose's condition. If her child were born and the wolves run into her without understanding what they see it could end in disaster."

Jasper nods, eyes wide. "Let's not shake things up before the party though, or they might cause a scene while the human guests are present."

"All right.", Carlisle concedes, "A few more weeks should not hurt, and then I will go talk to them with Esme and Emmett. We should not overwhelm them with a larger number, and the tribe is most familiar with us three. Other than Rosalie, but I first want to carefully explain her situation now that the pregnancy is showing."

Thus all plans are settled.

I graduate with good grades and the cookout is a blast. Some of my favorite moments are Emmett and Jasper roping Garrett into another of their hot dog eating contests, gossiping with Rose, Kate, Charlotte and Angela around a campfire, setting off many pranks on my less desirable human guests, and seeing how proud both my human father and vampire parents are of me. My absolute favorite moment is slow dancing with Jasper under the starry night. I rather wanted to kiss him and am getting increasingly frustrated with the glacial pace we are moving at, but I don't want to push him when still in the fallout of the whole Alice episode.

All too soon the party is over, and it is time for the vampire delegation to go visit the reservation. I barely manage to remain awake for their return, but stubbornly insist on staying up to hear the outcome together with the rest. The findings are worrying.

"They seem to be more upset with this diet than our previous one.", Carlisle relays to the rest of the family. "Even when I explained how our control is now so much better as to make it near impossible to accidentally kill a human." He points at Peter, Charlotte and Garrett who are standing together. "It didn't even matter to them that so far three human drinkers have happily converted to this diet with no sign of going back to human hunting."

"And then there is Rosie.", Emmett growls. He seems to need too much focus to keep his anger in check to be able to explain further, so Carlisle takes over.

"They consider the fetus an abomination. I gave every rational argument about why we should not have to fear about the control of the child, but they are convinced that it will murder all of Forks the moment it leaves the womb."

"That's it, I'm officially done with the lot of them.", I say. "The tribe was there for me when I really needed friends after Edward left, but this goes too far. Their grudge against you is one thing, but they can't go after an innocent child."

Rosalie smiles at me gratefully, and Emmett seems to calm down a fraction. Jasper slips an arm around my shoulder and I happily lean back in his embrace.

"One more thing.", Carlisle says. "When I mentioned we have some guests staying for an extended visit, the current alpha wolf Sam Uley complained that they had smelled a strange vampire on the eastern border of their territory some time ago. I know you are all very respectful about the treaty line, but could you perhaps have crossed it accidentally before you knew the exact parameters?"

The new joiners all shake their heads. Peter even snorts. "We could smell the wolf stink miles away. Also we came to Forks from the southeast, not the direction of the tribe lands."

Carlisle frowns. "Then I want to investigate what vampire did go there, though we will have to be careful not to further upset the wolves."

All news relayed, I finally go to sleep while the vampires plot. In the morning I eventually make my way back to the living room where the rest of the family is congregated. A large map of the area is spread across the dining table, which Peter and Garrett are marking information on with Carlisle and Rosalie pitching in their specific knowledge of the area. I believe I recognize the borders of the Quileute territory, but there is also a radius drawn out around Forks Police Station.

After all the happiness of the past couple of months it is a rude awakening to suddenly be consumed with cares. Though whatever happens, we will face it with the whole family together.