A/N: Extremely AU and a product of my imagination. Considering this is a triad pairing there will be mention of slash, but nothing graphic. Also, I am not aware of the education system in USA, but for the sake of my story, please believe that though Bella has graduated she has a few months to go before she leaves for university. Also, in my story, vampire mating is like imprinting. It is at first sight and both the persons involved feel a sort of pull towards the other. Thank you for reading and I hope you like it.

Also this is divided into two parts. The other part will be posted in a few days.

X-X-X

"Hey dad" my voice sounded hesitant to even my own ears "So, like you already know, I am leaving for Alaska in a few months, for school, and I know that I have not spent much time with you over the years…. so I was wondering if I could come for a visit to meet you…. in Forks." I could evidently hear the cringe in my voice as I spoke out the dreaded word 'Forks'. "I mean it is okay if you are busy, I understand that I have not given you much of a notice, so yeah, call me when you get this."

I sighed, shutting my eyes tight, as I left the voicemail for Charlie to respond back to. It was a Sunday; no doubt he was out fishing and had conveniently forgotten to take his phone with him, like he did so every Sunday. Now I would have to wait for him to reply back to my message, and that was good as well as bad. Bad because the suspense was truly killing me, and I didn't want to spend the remaining entire day worrying of what Charlie would say, whether his answer would be a gruff, not giving a peek into his emotions, 'sure Bells' or a sort of apologetic 'sorry Bells, but I have plans'. Either way I didn't think I would mind much. I know it sounds rude, but after seeing my father only for two weeks a year my entire life, spending a lot of alone time for the both of us was a scary and uncomfortable thought. It had been an impulsive decision on my part to go to Forks voluntarily, something I never thought I would have agreed to in this life. But coming back to the point, his forgetting his phone at home, forcing me to leave a voicemail was also good as it gave me the time to push these thoughts of impending doom to the back of my mind.

I didn't know if this was the correct thing for me though. Graduating high school was a big step, and now that I knew that I was leaving for UAA, Alaska in a few months time, I wanted to make the best of the time I had remaining. I knew that I would never get this time to spend with Charlie again. A part of me knew this that it had been unfair for Charlie. That he had got the short end of the stick for all these years with Renee winning my custody and a small part of me also felt guilty for what had happened early last year. My move to Forks had all been set and the only thing remaining had been to actually pack my bags when once again things as I knew it had changed. Early last year Renee had been engaged to a baseball player named Phil and they had made all these elaborate plans of roaming the country together after their wedding, and hearing of these plans I had offered to move to Forks to live with Charlie. It had been a hard decision to make but I had been happy to do so, and even Charlie had been ecstatic to hear that I was moving in with him, or at least that was what he kept insisting every time he called, but then all of a sudden Renee and Phil had called it quits. I did not know the actual reasons of so, but from I had heard through Renee's tears, it was something to do with a child, or at least that was part of the reason. Phil wanted to have his own children someday in the future and Renee was adamant on not having any. She insisted that she was done with that period of life and would not agree to go back to it. That had been a dead end in their whirlwind relationship, and so to console and look after a heartbroken Renee, I had made the tough call of telling Charlie that I was not moving in with him and was continuing to stay in Phoenix. Charlie was upset beyond words, something I had never seen before or expected to see from the man, but he pretended to understand that Renee needed me more. And so, now that I had the time before my world as I knew it changed forever, I wanted to spend some time with Charlie and know how it felt to bond with your father.

I was sure it was going to be awkward and uncomfortable with the both us being extremely similar in our attributes. Neither of us liked to be the centre of attention and rather preferred to spend quality time in our own company, the classic quality of being an introvert. But on the positive side I knew that Charlie would never hover, he knew how that felt.

"Bella," Renee's voice called out, as she stood by the door of my bedroom, something I had not even realized till now "Baby, are you sure about this? Forks is different….. It is boring. If you want to spend time with Charlie, I am sure I can convince him to come here like he did when you had that brief rebellious period close to your thirteenth birthday and refused to go to Forks, or you could go for a holiday together. Remember we were thinking of going to LA two years back. I am sure that you would love to revisit California. You were so young when we lived there with your Grandma Marie. I don't think you even have any memory of it…., Yes, you could do that. I will go and call Charlie right this moment." She said excitedly, taking a step out of the door.

"Mom," I sighed, trying to convince her of something when she had made up her mind, was at times like banging your head in a wall. It just didn't make sense and was of no use. Her steps halted as she turned to look at me. "That would be really unfair to Charlie." She opened her mouth to interrupt, but I put my hand up, telling her to let me finish "I can't ask him to leave his life and join me for an impromptu vacation, one that he may not even want to take. I want to spend time with him, and so it only fair that I go to where he lives, and I know that it is boring. I spent a few weeks of my life for close to twelve years there, remember? And it is only a matter of few weeks, two or three weeks at max." I ended with a shrug, trying to downplay the turmoil that I was currently going through.

She nodded her head walking out of the room, not looking convince but agreeing for now. I knew that she would make another attempt to change my mind soon, but I would not be persuaded. I had made up my mind….. Unless of course Charlie said that he had other plans and could not host me there for a few weeks.

Yeah, I would cross that bridge when I came to it.

"Renee," I called out from my room, hearing her bang the pots and pans in the kitchen in her attempt to prepare dinner. She was a terrible cook, who had the misguided belief that she was just innovative in her cooking and sometimes, or in her case more often than not, inventions don't turn out like she wanted them to. "Do you want to catch a late night movie today? We can grab dinner on the way."

She responded in kind, always eager to go out and have fun, and off we were, forgetting everything about me visiting Charlie in Forks. Something told me that I would have enough time in the future to ponder over it.

X-X-X-X-X-X

"Calm down, Bella" I spoke to myself aloud, in a futile attempt to calm my nerves down "He is just your father. No need to be this conscious."

"Bells," Charlie waved his hand in air, trying to get my attention as I walked out of the flight that had just landed in the small airport at Port Angeles. I cringed at the man's excitement at seeing me, before braving a smile on my face, and facing the situation in front of me.

I loved my dad. I just had to remember that.

"Hey Cha… dad," I corrected myself before I could be at the receiving end of a disappointed look from Charlie. Having lived with Renee for what could be considered most of my life, I had never developed the habit of referring to Charlie as 'dad'. It was not an automatic reaction, just I needed to get it in my head that Charlie preferred to be called dad instead of by his name. Renee was the complete opposite in that sense. From when I was probably eight or nine, she preferred for me to call her by her name instead of mom. She was not ashamed of me, she had made sure to clarify that when I had brought it up when she had started to insist of it at first, but it was just something that felt comfortable to her. Whatever, it was not like that one word made much difference, at least not to me. She was my mother and I knew that she loved me. I only called her mom on two occasions, one when I was annoyed by something she had done, or on the rare occasions when I wanted something from her.

"Bells," he nodded his head in reply, giving me an awkward one armed hug, before leading me towards his cruiser once I had confirmed that 'yes, this was all the baggage I had on me' as he had awkwardly looked at the small suitcase I had with me.

"Are you sure that will suffice?" he asked, once I was seated and had my seatbelt buckled in. "You are here for three weeks, right?"

I nodded my head, giving him somewhat of a shrug "I am not heavy-maintenance, and I can always buy what I need, if I run out of something."

He nodded his head in reply giving me a gruff 'Of course', before shifting in his seat and starting the hour long drive to Forks.

I stared outside the window, not knowing of what to say to the man. Well, I could ask him about baseball, wasn't that what he always saw on the TV on the rare days that I had stayed with him.

"So Bells, how is Renee?" he started the conversation, much to my surprise.

"She is good," I said "Well, you know how she is. She is learning how to knit online these days, anything to keep her occupied and excited to live life." I said with a small laugh "But dad, I am really happy that you are letting me stay with you." I said, trying to show how sincere I was of this.

Mere hours after I had left him that voicemail, Charlie had called, assuring me that he was extremely happy that I was coming to visit him and I could stay for as long as I wanted to. I had been dreading his call for nothing as on the contrary he was extremely excited to see me, and had already started drawing out plans for us to spend time together.

"You are always welcome Bells. It is your house too." He said with a kind of finality in his voice that I had never heard before.

I gave him a small genuine smile in return.

"And what about that baseball player she was engaged to?" he asked, steering the conversation once again in that direction.

"Phil," I responded hesitantly "Nothing that you don't know. They ended it, and she has not seen him or been with anyone new since."

He murmured an 'oh' but I could clearly hear the hope in his voice. He was still waiting for her to come back to him. I shook my head with a sigh. I just couldn't understand how Charlie was still in love with Renee after all that they had been through. She had left him with their two month old daughter more than eighteen years back, and had never even looked back, but Charlie still held a candle to her.

I could not imagine how someone could love another to this extent. This encompassing never ending love was an enigma for me…. probably because I had never been in love myself.

It was not as if I had not tried. For a brief period in high school I had even gone out on dates with the random guys who tried to ask me out or did not want to be single any longer so found my presence convenient, but it had never worked out. I had nothing in common with them. My tastes and hobbies were boring for them, and similarly I found their mannerisms and style of talking in acronyms childish. I just didn't care what YOLO or LMFAO meant to be honest.

It had all made me feel like probably I was born in the wrong generation, and so was doomed to be alone.

"Bells," Charlie's voice pulled me out of my thoughts "We have reached Forks."

Huh! I had not even realized how quickly the past one hour had passed by. I got out of the cruiser, stretching and relaxing my cramped up muscles, before looking towards the house that Charlie lived in. It was still exactly the same, like it had been on every visit of mine. Everything from the structure to the paint was indeed the same, I recognized.

I guess Charlie just didn't like change.

Charlie offered to take my suitcase up to the room which had always been mine on my stays with Charlie, and I slowly followed inside the house, taking in the sight of everything that was, not much to my surprise, just the same. The four mismatched chairs at the table with one slightly pulled out like always, the yellow faded counters and the same old couch in the living room welcomed me in, as I cringed and frowned at the multiple photo frames that were hanging on the walls. It was as if Charlie had decided to embarrass me as much as possible as there was every awkward photo of mine hanging on these walls- me with braces, me with pigtails showing my mud stained hands to the camera, me with two front teeth missing grinning widely, me in my awkward middle school phase, me in my….. you get my point. Every photo that I would be happy never to see again in my life was hanging on these walls, for the world to see.

"It is like walking down memory lane, isn't it?" Charlie asked, making me turn and look at him.

He looked mildly proud of this fact as I managed to gulp and nod in reply "It is great dad."

He gave me a wide smile in return as I walked towards the kitchen to grab myself something to eat. Something possibly healthy like a fruit….. or frankly even a pop tart would do at this point of time. I was Hungry with a capital 'H'.

I opened the fridge in Charlie's house hoping to find something edible but imagine my surprise when the only thing that possibly could be consumed from that Fridge was cold Beer and a box of leftover Fish fry. I frowned as I took in the sight of the bare fridge before turning to search the shelves of this house, and yeah nothing there too.

Did the man even eat at home? Even TV dinners were not stocked in his house; forget anything that could be cooked from scratch. The only thing I could find was coffee, and that was also after some effort on searching through the kitchen.

I reluctantly took out the fish fry from the fridge and sighed as I decided that this would have to do, before walking out of the kitchen with the box in my hand.

"Hey Cha… dad," I called out, watching him sitting on the couch staring at the idiot box in the room, completely engrossed in the game going on. I did not even try to figure out which sport he was currently watching. It was not like I had any knowledge of it to comment or add my valuable input to.

"Oh, this is Harry Clearwater's famous fish fry," he told me excitedly as I sat next to him on the couch.

"It is good." I said, half asking half telling. I was just not much of a fan of anything fried or heavy in calories for that matter.

"So dad, where do you eat? Your fridge is…."

He interrupted my sentence with a nervous chuckle "Yeah about that… umm, I am not much of a cook. I have burnt toast in the past. I generally eat at the diner, you know the Forks Diner, and once a week Mrs. Cullen drops in a casserole, and even Sue Clearwater, Harry's wife, she often sends baked goods or Fish fry for me to eat."

I nodded my head at that, before a question rose in my head, confusing me "Umm, who is Mrs. Cullen?"

He turned to switch off the TV before once again giving me his complete attention "Oh, you would not know of them. Bells, the Cullens moved here from Alaska three years back. Dr. Cullen is one of the best doctors in the country and because his wife prefers the small town life, they moved here to Forks. He is one of the best doctors we have witnessed in here and it is a matter of honor that he chose to move to Forks. Anyways, they have five adopted children, all adopted during their teenage years and came from troubled families or something, I am not sure of it, but nonetheless they are the most well behaved children I have seen in my life, after you of course," he added instantly "If I remember clearly, their younger two children should be of your age. I have not seen them in town recently though."

"Wow," I said with a surprised look on my face as soon as he was done talking. I had never heard Charlie talk this much in one go in his life, and had never heard him say so much in someone's favor at that. It was bewildering. "So, why does she send you food?"

"About that," he coughed nervously "Almost a year back, I met Dr. Cullen in the hospital, regarding a case. We got talking and I told him of my routine visits to the diner as I was inept of cooking. The next day surprisingly he and his wife dropped in to give me a casserole. I refused at first, but they insisted that with so many people in their house they always make more than necessary and it was not a problem at all. They insisted that I should have home cooked food at least once a week and needed the salads in my diet too. It was a friendly gesture on their part, Bells, and over time they have made a routine of it. At times one of their children comes to drop in or mostly Dr. Cullen and Mrs. Cullen come themselves. They are very lonely, Bells. No one really talks to them in town and this is their way of extending the olive branch so to say."

I nodded my head in response. I felt bad for the man. He had to rely on the kindness of others for a simple thing like healthy home cooked food. If I moved here last year like planned, maybe I could have cooked for him.

"But why doesn't anyone talk to them?" I asked surprised at this fact. If they were as good as Charlie wanted me to believe, why wouldn't anyone talk to them?

He scoffed "People are prejudiced here in town. Some are downright jealous of their money, while the others of on the reservation hate them without any fault of theirs. Apparently those old stories of theirs mention something about them or something. Billy never gives me a real answer to it. It is ridiculous though."

I nodded my head in agreement "Aren't people prejudiced everywhere."

He gave me his agreement before looking at me with a serious look on his face "Bells, I know you would never treat anyone unfairly, but still if you come across them, don't judge them from their physical appearance like all the other teenagers of Forks. I would like it if you behaved cordially with them. They are good people."

"Of course dad," I said "I have no reason to judge anyone, and no matter how neurotic or harebrained Renee is, she made sure that I knew from the first day of my life that it wrong to judge a book by its cover. First impressions are often misleading, she would say."

He nodded his head in surprise, mumbling a 'yeah'.

He once again switched on the TV, silently signaling that our conversation was over as I got up from the couch and washed the now empty box of fish fry, and then retired to my room to freshen up. Charlie had in a sweet gesture cleared a section of the shelf in the bathroom for my essentials and I quickly unpacked my bag, placing everything at its correct place before deciding to take a quick shower. Once I was done with my shower and had changed into my pajamas I sang to myself as I towel dried my hair. I was a pathetic singer to be honest, but hey, I could have won any contest that judged bathroom singers.

"Bells," Charlie called out from outside the locked door of my room "I am calling for Pizza. Anything specific topping or type that you prefer, or should I call for my regular?"

"Anything will do," I shouted from inside the room, my voice muffled by the towel that was currently drying my hair. Pizza was Pizza in my opinion, and when it came to Pizza I was the least fussy person to exist.

Once our pizzas had arrived, Charlie called for me to join him in the living room and the both of us sat in silence, watching a baseball game on the TV, munching on the pizzas that Charlie had ordered.

"Hey dad," I said, heading towards my room for the night "I would like to cook from tomorrow, if it is okay with you." I instantly added, hesitantly "I used to cook for Renee back home and I am a decent cook…."

"Sure, that would be good." He interrupted me with a smile.

"Okay," I said cheerfully, before adding "I don't know where the Forks grocery is though."

"I can drive you there tomorrow before I leave for my shift at the station."

I nodded my head in answer as I walked towards my room to spend the night. Day one of my three week long stay was now over.

X-X-X-X-X-X

"What else do I need? What else do I need?" I mumbled to myself, my eyes on the list in my hand as I walked down the aisles of the grocery store. I had already picked up all the basics that I could remember of, but I was still thinking of recipes in my mind that I could cook and would be liked by Charlie. He needed to eat healthy, and that was going to be my aim for the next few weeks. Actually I could even try to teach him some basic recipes that he could easily make after I left from here. I smiled at this thought that had passed by mind.

Suddenly in my inattentiveness, I banged into something really hard and really cold and stumbled back two steps from the force that I had been hit with.

"I am so sorry," I apologized as soon as I looked up and noticed that instead of hitting an ice cold brick wall in the middle of nowhere, I had banged into a woman, a strong woman but indeed a woman.

"Oh no dear," she spoke softly "It was my fault. I should have seen where I was heading."

I smiled at the caramel haired woman in front of me. She was extremely good looking and well dressed at that. She was pale skinned, paler than me which was a rare sight, and her eyes were golden. She did not look a day older than probably twenty five.

How could anyone have golden eyes? I had never seen anyone with golden eyes before.

Possibly they were contact lenses.

"I have never seen you before in town." She questioned, her tone was more of curiosity than of being meddlesome.

"Yeah," I said with a nod "I am visiting my father who lives here- Charlie, Charlie Swan."

The smile on her face widened for some reason hearing me say that I was Charlie's daughter.

"Isabella?" she asked politely.

"Just Bella," I said with a small nervous smile.

"Chief Swan talks so much of you," she told me, the fondness visible in her eyes "He was telling Carlisle, my husband, about you and that you were coming here for a few weeks. He was just so happy. He is so proud of you, dear."

"That's good to hear," I said, shifting on my feet in nervousness. I didn't like being the centre of attention, and hearing that Charlie had been talking about me was nerve wrecking.

"Oh," she said with a slight laugh "I am Esme Cullen. I forgot to introduce myself."

I recognized the surname from my conversation with Charlie last night and gave her a smile, trying to convey how thankful I was for her politeness and niceness towards Charlie.

"Charlie has told me about you." I said, being as friendly as I could. I was not good with people in general, and preferred to stay closer to my books instead.

Her surprised look told me that she had not expected that, but she nodded her head in reply.

"So, I should get back to my shopping," I awkwardly pointed towards the list in my hand "Charlie is waiting outside for me."

As soon as we had reached the only grocery store in Forks, Charlie's phone had rang and he had ushered me inside, telling me to quickly take whatever I needed. His phone call was apparently important and could not be missed. He was also extremely punctual about his work timings, and could not afford to be late. His work was his life and had become his family too, after Renee had left with me all those years back.

I was just thankful that despite of that he had offered to drive me to and fro to the grocery store. I would have had to walk otherwise, with all those heavy bags in my hands.

I shuddered at that thought. Charlie's house from here was a good few miles away, and with my coordination issues, I did not have the stamina to boast of.

She smiled at me once again, as if silently telling me to 'go ahead', and I did exactly that, heading towards one of the other aisles to grab the last of the things that I needed.

"Esme," called out a strong yet soothing voice, making me turn and look at the owner of that voice. It was curiosity, I deduced, as I had no other reason to stop and stare at strangers, but this stranger was indeed worthy of the staring. He was tall, almost making me feel like I was a kid staring up at an adult and I was 5.6, and had the prettiest honey blond hair that I had seen before in my life. They were messy and fell down to his chin. His eyes too were the same shade of golden like Esme, but the thing that grabbed my attention the most was the fact that there was almost an aura of calmness surrounding him. I felt relaxed in his presence, which was a first for me. I had always been flustered and nervous in the presence of strangers, and more so if said man was good looking.

Almost as if he could feel eyes on him, the said stranger looked up, and our eyes met for a brief second, enough to stop me in my tracks. It was as if I could not move from the sheer intensity with which he was staring at me. I could feel the tingles of shock passing through my body, but instead of being uncomfortable or painful, these tingles were more of pleasure and need. The way his eyes looked over me, eyeing me, felt good instead of feeling uncomfortable, like I would have felt in any other normal situation on any other normal day.

I could feel my face turn red from the embarrassment I was currently feeling, and I quickly averted my eyes, turning them to look at the shaded tiles in this grocery story. My eyes though had other plans as they kept looking up to see more of the stranger man. His clothes were expensive and rare for somewhere like Forks, and I quickly put two and two together to come to the conclusion that he was probably one of the adopted children. He did not look much older than me, probably nineteen or twenty.

He growled at the lack of eye contact between us, or maybe that was just my wishful thinking, the sound sounding more seductive than animalistic. What was wrong with me? Normal people did not growl, and I had never found animal like mannerisms attractive before.

"Was that…..." Esme trailed off, staring in shock at her son, who stood like a marble statue in front of her.

I almost had the urge to go and touch him, to see if everything was alright, but I pushed that thought aside. I did not even know the man. I did not need to make a fool of myself, even more than I already had with the embarrassing staring that I had had on.

"Bells," Charlie's voice came closer to where I stood "Have you taken everything you needed?"

I mumbled something that sounded like 'Yeah', taking a few deep breaths in to calm myself down.

"So, actually the thing is…." Charlie stumbled on his words, rubbing the back of his neck. I almost told him to 'spit it out', but stopped myself before I could lose my mouth filter. I was sure he would not appreciate the frankness that Renee did. "I need to leave for Port Angeles urgently. Something has come up…. and….."

"Chief Swan," Esme interrupted. I had not even noticed that she was still standing there laying a witness to my conversation with Charlie, but her son was surprisingly missing from beside her side.

Huh! I had not even noticed him leaving, and a part of me felt strange for missing him.

Yeah, it was official. I was going crazy.

"I could give Bella a ride to your house," she added "It is on my way, as you know."

"Are you sure that it would be no problem?" Charlie asked hesitantly, but I could hear the hope in his voice.

Esme smiled "Of course not."

Charlie nodded his head, turning to look at me, and I quickly nodded my head in answer. I could understand that he would not have left me stranded here unless it would have been something urgent, and I was glad that at least I didn't have to walk back to Charlie's house. That would have been dreadful.

With one last look, Charlie soon exited the grocery store, and I saw his cruiser leave the parking lot a minute or two later. I checked out the items I had bought, and waited for Esme to finish. With having as big a family as she did, her cart was filled with much more things than mine, and it took her a few more minutes longer than mine had.

Once we were done with our grocery shopping, we each took our respective bags in hand, and walked towards the parking lot towards Esme's car. I followed Esme's lead in searching for the car that was hers, and my eyes widened in surprise when I noticed a Black Mercedes standing there for her. It was rare to see such a new, well maintained car in Forks, and to spot a Mercedes was even rarer than that.

She giggled, probably taking in my surprised expression. How rich were these Cullens?

"This is my husband's car. He has an off today, so I took his car and left before he could oppose. He is very particular when it comes to his cars. My entire family is actually" She said still giggling.

I noticed the plural in her sentence, but decided against bringing it up. It was really none of my business to know of how they spent their money. I smiled at her as we sat in the car, and she started driving towards Charlie's house.

"Can I roll down the windows, if you don't mind?" she politely asked, and I just shrugged in return.

I felt her take a sigh of relief as soon as the windows were rolled down, but ignored it. My mind was at the moment on a completely different planet, it seemed. A planet that was also inhabited by her son, whose presence on said planet in my head was a complete mystery to me.

"So, before in the store, was that your son?" I asked, a few minutes into the drive, trying to keep the extreme curiosity out of my voice, but from the squeak in my voice, I don't think I was very successful.

"Yes, that was Jasper," she whispered, almost as if she had expected this question to be brought up. "He had a very rough past." she continued "He was one of the last of our children to join our family and was not used to our lifestyle in the beginning. He is adapting much better now though."

I nodded my head, an 'oh' escaping my mouth. I didn't know why she was telling me, a complete stranger, all of this, but nonetheless it made me feel like she trusted me with the knowledge of her family.

"So Bella," she turned to look at me "Chief Swan told me that you are moving to Alaska for school?"

I nodded my head "The University of Alaska Anchorage"

"What is your major?" she asked, the admiration evident on her face.

I sighed. I hated to answer this question, because I did not have an exact answer to it. "I have not yet decided on it. It is undeclared as of now."

She nodded her head in reply, giving me a confused look "But why Alaska, If you don't mind me asking. Haven't you grown up in Arizona? Won't that be too much of a climatic change for you?"

I gulped before replying. I had been asked this question several times by now and had a fixed answer too thought about.

"I wanted a change. I wanted to see and experience a world other than what I was used to. I feel that growing up means having the ability to welcome change, and so, I know it sounds crazy and impractical, but I felt like this would help me in finding who I was as a person, coming out of the comfort zone, so as to say."

I waited for the expression of sheer lunacy to appear on her face, like it so often did when I told people that I had chosen to go so far away from home, but it never did. Instead she just smiled and told me that she understood.

"What about your children?" I asked, a few minutes later "Charlie told me that they are the same age as me."

She nodded her head "Emmett is the oldest and Rosalie is just a few months younger. They both graduated the year before and are currently staying in Boston. Rose is attending college, while Emmett works as a Mechanic there. They also got married a few months back," she paused, probably waiting for my judgmental stare, which never came. I knew that this was shocking news, even for Phoenix levels. They had been raised as adopted siblings, but the way Esme spoke of them, it was clear that she and her husband were supportive of their decision, and so what difference would an opinion of someone who has never even met them make. "Jasper is also the same age as them," she then added "but is taking a gap year as he is not sure of what he wants from life yet, and I have a suspicion that he will have to make several life changing decisions ahead. Alice and Edward, my younger two are also at home as of now. They have just graduated and are thinking of what they want from life, they haven't applied to any school as of now, so I guess they too are taking the year off."

I nodded my head in reply, not knowing of what to say ahead. She drove the rest of the short distance in silence, and soon parked outside Charlie's house.

"Thank you Mrs. Cullen," I said, getting out of the car and talking my bags.

"It was my pleasure and please call me Esme," she said with a smile "See you around."

I just smiled back and nodded my head as she drove her car out of the driveway. It felt strange meeting her, almost like I had known for much longer than a few minutes. I shook my head at this strangeness as I walked inside the house. I had a lot of cleaning and cooking to do, before I could even consider to this house to be habitable enough. Renee often said that I had an OCD when it came to keeping the house organized, and would just not give up until everything was neatly in place.

Sigh! I guess I had a lot of work in front of me.

X-X-X-X-X-X

The next few days passed by agonizingly slow. I cleaned the house from top to bottom, cooked several healthy meals, did the laundry that was severely neglected, and even bonded with Charlie, like I had originally planned to do.

We had gone to the diner in Forks once for dinner, where he had introduced me to Cora, the waitress who could not stop flirting with him, but Charlie was completely oblivious to her attempts at flirting. Charlie had told me stories of my childhood, and once again had mentioned how happy he was that I had given him this chance to get to know me. He had asked about my high school experiences and what I was thinking of doing ahead in life. We had spoken of Renee and what her reaction had been when I had told her that I was thinking of moving to Alaska. He had even begrudgingly asked me if I had had any boyfriend before and whether I was interested in anybody, to which my response had been, 'no dad, sorry to disappoint you, but I have no love life to ramble on about.' I had never even had a boyfriend that could be considered anything like a boyfriend, before. It was more like I had boyfriends in the literal sense- friends who were boys. I know it is sad.

The day after our diner incident, Charlie had taken me to La Push, the reservation nearby, to meet his childhood friends Billy and Harry and their families. I had known of Jacob as a child and had faint memories of playing with him in the sand, making mud pies, but now he was a completely unrecognizable seventeen year old, unlike any seventeen year old I had ever seen before. He was huge and heavily muscular, as he towered over his girlfriend Leah, who was coincidentally Harry's daughter. She was not overly friendly towards me, but I had a feeling that that held true for everyone that she didn't know that well. Jacob on the other hand covered up for her with his friendliness, and introduced me to his group of friends, who he fondly referred to as 'pack'. They were close to ten or twelve of them, and I had spoken to a woman named Emily for a while. Charlie and I had even stayed back for dinner, followed by a bonfire held on First Beach, wherein Billy had recited their old legends. Charlie had heard them several times over the years of his friendship with Billy, but this had been my first time, and it had been mesmerizing to say the least. I had found myself getting lost in their stories.

Charlie had even taken me fishing on the weekend, but had soon come to the conclusion that fishing and I were not really suited for one another when I had been bored out of my mind half an hour into our expedition. I had even thrown back the poor fish in the water when he was not looking. He had just shook his head and sighed at the end of the day, promising to never take me fishing again.

The doorbell suddenly rang, bringing me out of my thoughts and back to the present. Charlie was at the station, and in his absence or actually even in his presence, no one really visited his house uninvited, and I quickly got up from the couch, putting the book that I had been reading aside, and walked towards the front door to see of who it was.

Probably some neighbor who needed something, or rather just wanted to see the mysterious daughter of Chief Swan who had come to visit him. In the past few days I had had several people unabashedly stare at me wherever I went. It was awkward, and it was extremely ridiculously weird.

I opened the door to see three people staring back at me. Before I could even react or take in their appearances, I was huddled into an embrace by someone who was freakishly strong, and equally cold.

"Umm, hello" I stumbled back, once I was out of the death grip and could breathe once again. Who was this tornado who had decided to hit into me?

"Bella, hey" said the girl standing in front of me. She was short, like really short, and had short black hair that was pointed upwards, in every direction it seemed. Surprisingly she too had the same golden eyes like Jasper and Esme.

"I am Alice Cullen," she grinned at me "And these are my brothers Edward and Jasper," she said, pointing towards the two men standing a step behind her. My heartbeat quickened. I had not even realized that Jasper was here. It felt silly to crush on someone who I barely knew, but it seemed like my heart was in no mood to listen to my sane advice.

"Sorry about that, I was just excited to meet you," she said, not apologetic at all, as she walked inside the house, uninvited at that.

"Please do come in," I muttered under my breath, sarcastically, and looked up when I heard someone chuckle.

His eyes too were the same shade of golden, but were still lighter in a way. His hair was a weird shade of bronze and completely unkempt, almost as if he had never seen a comb in his life. Our eyes met, and once again everything in this world other than the both of us lay forgotten. I could feel electricity pass through my body, and it felt like he was searching into my soul.

I shivered involuntarily from the intensity that lay in his eyes. I felt naked under his glare, even though I was completely clothed.

"Yes, I knew it!" Alice's voice resounded through the room, breaking the trance we had been in.

I turned to look at her, noticing in my peripheral vision the nod that Edward had given Jasper, who looked relieved for some reason.

My face was red from embarrassment, and the tension in the room could be cut with a knife.

"Umm, did you… did you need anything?" I asked Alice, busying myself with cleaning the already clean counters. It was a reflex, Renee had said, which I used whenever I wanted to avoid eye contact.

"Esme wanted us to give you this," said Jasper, extending his hand ahead to give me a box of cookies I had not even noticed that he had in his hands before. At the confused look on my face, he elaborated "She had made extra and thought of sending some for you and the Chief."

I shivered as our hands touched one another, electricity once again passing through every pore of mine. I took a few deep breathes in, trying to calm myself down, before I felt a layer of calmness flow over me. It was unlike anything I had felt before in life, and I reveled in it.

"Can I get you something?" I managed to speak out. I don't know why I was this nervous. My hands were shaking, and I could feel that something had just occurred between me and Edward, and earlier between me and Jasper. I don't know what it was, but I just know that it was something, something important.

I looked from Jasper to Edward and back to Jasper. Both of them were staring at me with such intensity that I had never seen before in anyone's eyes. It scared me, as much as it made me happy. It was a frightening… frightening thought.

"No," Alice was the one to answer my already forgotten question "So Bella, isn't your full name Isabella?" she asked, and I was glad for the distraction. I needed it at the moment.

I nodded my head, concentrating on keeping my eyes at her. I could not look at the other two at this point of time or I don't know what I would do from the nervousness coursing through me.

"I have always found Isabella to be a mouthful," I said with a short laugh. It was no secret that I was not much of a fan of my full name.

"Bella suits you," said Edward, his voice soft and melodious "You are indeed very beautiful."

I blushed at the compliment as I looked down at my lap. I had always been quick to blush, but never had anyone affected me this much before in my life.

"So Jasper," I said, as we all sat down in the living room. Me and Alice on the couch and Jasper and Edward took to the two armchairs in the room. I had offered them to sit, when I had realized that they were in no hurry to leave. Sure, I had my book to get back to, but that would have to wait for now.

At the moment I needed to talk of something, or I would definitely go mad by the silence that was present in the room. I had never been the kind to fill silence with nonsense chatter, but at this point of time, I would gladly talk about anything, even the freaking weather of Forks that was never changing.

"Esme was telling me that you are yet to decide where you will be heading for school ahead?" I asked, trying to keep my voice as normal as possible.

He nodded his head "I want to study history, but I am still confused if that is actually what I want from life. I am not even sure if I want to go to college for that matter. I keep changing my mind several times on it."

I nodded my head in reply. I could understand. I too did not have any set goal in life. I had decided the school which I would be going to, but other that I was yet to decide of what I really wanted from life. I did not want to hurry up, only to later on regret my decisions in life.

"What about you and Alice, Edward?" I asked, turning to look at Alice, but making sure not to meet Edward's eyes. I did not want to get lost in them again. I did not think I could bear to do so.

"Music," said Edward instantly, surprising me "I am not sure if I want to teach or anything, but let's see."

"Fashion designer," said Alice, but my attention was on Edward once again.

"Do you play any musical instrument?" I asked, curiosity evident in my voice. I had always been attracted to men who could play a musical instrument. There was something about them that just pulled me in.

"I play the piano" he said, looking a little smug about it.

"Wow! That sounds great." I commented, truly meaning it "I always wanted to learn how to play the piano but never really got the chance to do so." I shrugged at the end. Growing up, I had been the one to manage Renee's finances, and knowing how little her savings were, I could never really get the nerve to ask her to pay for piano lessons on the top of all her other expenses. I had planned to babysit the children in the area and earn money for them myself, but something or the other always kept coming up.

"I could teach you how to play if you want." Edward offered.

"Will you?" I asked hopefully.

He immediately nodded his head, gaining a big smile from me in return. It felt strange though. I did not even know the guy, yet it felt perfectly normal to accept piano lessons from him. I blushed at that thought.

What was wrong with me? How could I find Jasper and Edward both attractive at the same time?

I was not in middle school, and definitely did not change crushes by the hour.

"The known world by Edward P. Jones," Jasper questioned, picking up the book that I had been reading "Isn't this based during the period of the Civil war? I think it even won the Pulitzer Prize."

I gave him an embarrassed nod "Yeah, I too like reading about history, and yeah it did win. I even liked reading War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. I think reading about the past events is beautiful in itself. You get to learn about a reality completely different from the one you live in."

He grinned at me, mumbling something that sounded like 'A girl after my own heart', making me blush once again.

Did I blush this much in Phoenix?

"The Civil war is personally even one of my favorites," he said "If you want any recommendations I have shelves filled with historical fiction and even autobiographical novels. I would love to help."

"That would be great, thanks" I said shyly.

"So Bella," Alice said, jumping lightly in her seat. She sure was one overexcited weird girl "Do you like shopping?"

I frowned, not knowing how to answer this question without disappointing her "Umm, not really. I know my size and am quick to pick up whatever I need. I just don't understand the concept of wasting hours in a mall, trying and contemplating over what would suit you or not, when you could get done with the same thing in like fifteen minutes. Just pick up what you like, try it out and leave. Why confuse yourself by adding those hundred other options?"

She stared at me in shock, almost like I had confessed to her of being an axe murderer, as I looked at Edward and Jasper who were both laughing loudly. I just shrugged in my defense.

"But," Alice pouted "That is so unfair." She folded her arms together, similar to a toddler throwing a tantrum, the mental image of which made me laugh. I covered my laugh with my hand, so as to not seem rude.

"So now that it is confirmed that you don't like shopping," Jasper started "May I ask what your hobbies are?"

I blushed at his politeness, but answered nonetheless "I like reading, as you already know. I like cooking too, and consider myself a decent baker. I know they are boring interests but I guess I am a boring person for that matter." I finished with a shrug.

"I don't think reading can ever be considered to fall under boring." Edward commented in his same soft voice. I thought of asking him if he sang too. For some reason I felt that he had the voice to compliment a good singer.

"So, what do you both like to do?" I asked.

"I read" said Jasper "And play video games with our older brother Emmett, and we also go camping as a family whenever possible."

"Wow, really?" I asked, surprised to hear that.

He nodded his head "Do you like camping?"

I gave out a laugh "I have two left feet. I would rather not take the risk of going camping. I don't need any more trips to ER, thank you very much."

They smiled, understanding that I was joking before Edward turned serious once again "You should come with us for a hike once. There is this beautiful meadow, a short distance from here, and don't worry about hurting yourself, we would never let anything happen to you."

I gulped. I could hear the sincerity in his voice. I also didn't miss the 'we' in his sentence.

"That is very sweet of you," I said with a hesitant cough "I will surely think about it."

"That is all we ask." Said Jasper, sharing a look with Edward that seemed much more private than what two brothers would share.

They could not be together, could they? Apart from that one look they had not given any indication of them being together. Still, their body language and the way they were sitting, their hands almost touching the other was a little questioning.

I felt my heart drop at this thought. If Rosalie and Emmett could be together, what's to say that Esme and Dr. Cullen would oppose to them being together.

Maybe they were being nice to me and I was the one over assuming stuff here, by crushing over them.

"Darlin," Jasper softly called out to me, surprising me with his choice of endearment "You look sad. What is going on in that pretty head of yours?"

I shrugged. It was beyond silly. I had no right to make assumptions here. Even if they were together it was none of my business, and even if they were not, what is the guarantee that either of them would like me in that sense. Hadn't I faced rejection before in Phoenix?

"It is nothing." I said with a nonchalant smile. I was just being silly, and it was not like I had come here looking for a love interest. Okay, maybe I could work with a fling, but then again when had I been that lucky to find the correct guy?

Jasper looked ready to oppose, but before he could Charlie entered the room, using his key. I had not even realized that this much time had passed since my three guests had arrived.

"Hey dad," I said with a bright smile, glad for the distraction.

"Bells," he gave me a nod, before looking at the others in the room "Edward, Jasper, Alice- what are you three doing here?"

"We wanted to meet Bella," Alice was the one to answer "Esme told us about her. Oh, she has also sent chocolate chip cookies for you."

All thoughts of conversation were then forgotten as Charlie rushed to the kitchen, behaving like a man who hadn't fed in days, and starting munching on the cookies.

Wow…. the way he was eating without even chewing them first was definitely strange. I guess I would have to take the recipe of it from Esme.

"Charlie," Alice bounced in her place "Carlisle wanted to invite you and Bella for dinner tomorrow. I was just about to mention it to Bella when you entered."

"Sure Sure," said Charlie, completely engrossed in eating his cookies. I don't even think he heard what Alice had said. She was sure sneaky in her ways.

"Great," said Alice, giving me a wide smile as she turned to look at me.

I raised an eyebrow at her in question. Why hadn't she told me of this before? I did not believe for a second that she was about to tell me at the exact moment when Charlie entered.

"We should get going now. Bye Bella. See you tomorrow." She said, taking both the boys hands and walking towards the front door.

I felt my stomach drop at the sight of Edward and even Jasper leaving, but ignored it.

Like I said before, it was strange, and even abnormal.

I sighed as I walked towards the kitchen to prepare dinner. I was excitedly waiting for, as well as dreading tomorrow. The next twenty four hours would sure be difficult to pass.

X-X-X-X-X-X

"So, this is where the Cullens live?" I asked through wide eyes, looking at Charlie. The mansion, there was no other word that could correctly describe it, that stood before us was huge. It was covered throughout with glass windows and looked directly out of a magazine, somewhere where possibly some celebrity would live.

"Yeah," he nodded his head, not looking as surprised as me "Apart from being a doctor, Dr. Cullen also inherited the money of his ancestors or something. I did not bother to listen to gossip going around."

I nodded my head at that, taking in the information. Charlie hated to gossip, and I had always found that an admirable quality about him.

It was unusual that the Cullens would choose to live in a small place like Forks though, instead of living in somewhere like New York or Los Angeles. But maybe, they really liked the small town life, as unimaginable as that sounded.

We slowly walked towards the front door, but even before we could ring the bell, it was opened by Esme, who gave us a wide smile and ushered us in.

"I heard your cruiser enter the driveway," she clarified; looking at the questioning look on my face of how she had known that we had arrived.

"Chief Swan," who seemed like Dr. Cullen welcomed us in at the beautifully designed foyer of their house. He too was pale and shared the same golden eyes like the other members of his family, no surprises there, and another unusual thing, he didn't look a day older than possibly twenty five, and that was me being generous. It was hard to believe that the man was in his late thirties, or a father of five teenagers, even if they were all adopted.

"Hello Bella, I am Carlisle." He said offering his hand ahead, which I took, only to realize that it was extremely cold, almost like he had just taken his hand out of the freezer. I tried a nervous smile as I took my hand back.

Strange!

After exchanging the basic pleasantries, the both of them led us to their living room, the way to which was from a curved staircase, at the end of the staircase was a beautiful, elegantly decorated room with the latest furniture and most beautiful showpieces that I had ever seen in my life before. It was pristine in its appearance, and I was completely taken aback by the look of it.

"Your house is very pretty." I told Esme, as we sat on the white sofa set present in the room. I was afraid of ruining it with my clumsiness, and sat almost on the edge of it.

She smiled a kind wide smile "Thank you. I designed it myself."

"Really," I gave her a shocked glance "This is indeed beautiful."

She nodded her head "I tend to decorate and design every house that we live in. It is a hobby of mine, and Carlisle is sweet enough to let me have my fun." She finished with a small chuckle.

Carlisle kissed her forehead once, a gesture that looked much more intimate than any passionate kiss could, and I quickly diverted my eyes, taking in the sight of the other artifacts in the room.

"Oh yes, I forgot," said Charlie gruffly "You moved here from Alaska, correct?"

Carlisle nodded his head "Yes, Denali to be precise."

Charlie nodded his head in reply, and Esme soon left to get something from what seemed to be the kitchen.

"Hey Bella," said Alice, skipping into the room.

"Alice," I said with a smile. She was too hyper for my dull self, sweet, but indeed over enthusiastic.

"Where are Jasper and Edward?" I asked, trying not to sound as curious as I felt. My heart was beating loudly in the anticipation that I would be seeing them again soon. My hormones were driving me out of my mind, it seemed.

"Oh, they had some errands to run for Esme. They should be here in say twenty seconds" said Alice, her expression way too smug for my liking.

As soon as she had ended her sentence, the door to the house banged open, and exactly twenty seconds later, the both of them entered the living room.

"Wow, you are way too precise." I said, looking at Alice, who just smirked in return.

I dared not look at either of Edward or Jasper. I could not lose control here and make a fool of myself. They must be joking in private of the crazy girl who was fascinated with them and kept staring at them.

I tried to look everywhere except at them, but failed miserably, as my eyes kept going back to them, without any choice of mine.

"Hello Bella," Edward called out, followed by Jasper. I smiled at the both of them in greeting, pretending to talk to Alice instead. She was talking to me about Alaska and her experience of living there, while I half heartedly nodded my head.

My eyes kept going back to them every few seconds though. They were sitting opposite Charlie and were discussing something to do with the hospital in Forks. Either way, around them my head always turned to mush, making it impossible for me to concentrate.

I blushed as I looked from Jasper to Edward and back to Jasper. They were both beautiful in their own way. While Jasper had the ruggedly handsome look to him, Edward was more cute than sexy….. Not to say that he too wasn't sexy.

I turned red at my trail of thoughts, trying to look for any sort of distraction in room.

"Wait" "Is that blood on your shirt?" I spoke out, before I could stop myself. Jasper's shirt it seemed had a drop of blood lying on it, just below the collar. It was not a very big noticeable spot, but it was shining on the light colored shirt of his.

The room visibly tensed at my question, something that didn't go unnoticed by me, before Jasper chuckled hard.

"Of course not," he said through his laughs "why would I have blood on my shirt? It is possibly just red sauce or paint. I was trying my hand at painting in the afternoon."

I nodded my head in embarrassment. Of course, why would anyone have blood stains on their shirt, unless they were hurt?

I once again looked at him, trying to find out if he was hurt, but he looked perfectly fine on inspection.

"Dinner is ready," said Esme, breaking the tension that had formed in the room.

The rest of us quietly and quickly followed her to their dining room and seated ourselves on the chairs. Surprisingly, as soon as I had taken my seat, Jasper sat on one side and Edward on my other.

I gulped at the nervousness that I could feel, and once again was thankful for the calmness that suddenly passed over me. I had no idea of where it was coming from, but it was appreciated, that much was for sure.

Charlie and Carlisle once again started talking about sports with Edward and Jasper joining in when they felt like adding something. I concentrated on the lasagna on my plate instead, and replied when asked a question by either Alice or Esme.

I was taking a bite of my lasagna, when I noticed another weird thing. None of the Cullens were eating; at least it looked like that. They were twirling their food around in their plates, eating only when it seemed absolutely necessary. I took a look around, maybe I was wrong but it sure seemed like that.

I made a quick mental note of all the weird things that I had noticed about this family in the past few days.

All of them had the same golden eyes, which were sometimes lighter sometimes darker.

They were all pale, paler than me.

Both Carlisle and Esme looked young for their age.

They did not eat.

Jasper had a blood stain on his shirt, he could deny it all he wanted, but it still looked like a blood stain.

They were all cold.

I shuddered at the last point. Something was niggling at the back of my mind, trying to jump out of its hidden place. I had heard of these exact 'qualities' before.

'Cold' 'Does not eat' 'Pale'….

Where had I heard it?

Maybe in some movie… no, that was not it.

Was it in a book…..no, not in any book…..

Where was it….

I forced my mind to concentrate and try to remember.

I had heard someone talk of these exact 'qualities'.

'The legends,' this revelation hit me all of a sudden. Majority of the Quileute legends were about their tribe and how they had descended from wolves, and about a man named Taha Aki and his third wife, but there was a brief mention to their mortal enemies- the cold ones.

They were cold, pale and drank blood.

They were vampires.

I looked up, my eyes wide in fear.

It was surely a long shot….. but shit, was I in the presence of five vampires?

A/N: I know a lot of questions are left unanswered, but they will be answered in the second part, which will be posted soon.