I don't own anything in this (but I'm sure you all knew this.) And if your own personal muse descends on you please review. If it doesn't than just read and enjoy.

The Storm Rolls In

The grey cloud cover that was only found in the Olympic peninsula was a shade darker than it normally was on an ordinary fall day. A storm was coming, something fiercer than the constant drizzle that the inhabitants of the peninsula expect on a day to day basis. Off the coast, flashes of lightning streaked across the deep purple clouds; and concussions of thunder rolled with the waves off the ocean.

For most of the inhabitants it was nothing but a signal to pull out a heavier coat, and maybe an umbrella. For some other residents it was a good excuse to stay inside on a quiet Saturday afternoon. But for one particular inhabitant it meant something else all together.

It was the end.

And it was the beginning.

But more than anything, it was frightening.

In a few short hours a person, a girl, but not an ordinary human would be coming. And with her everything would change; not necessarily for the better. But like so many storms that rumble through a person's life this one contained a silver lining.

The small girl whose thoughts were focused more on a girl she'd never met and less on the approaching storm leapt from the tree on which she'd been perched for more than an hour, landing with a grace seldom seen outside of the ballet. Scanning the empty forest around her she walked in a lazy gait towards an imposing manor hewn from the forest.

"It's going to be a horrible storm." She announced in a low sullen voice as she shut the door behind her. Lately she hadn't trusted herself to talk about anything besides the most superficial topics around her family. Now it was the weather, she couldn't even trust herself with music, movies, and current events. Nope, just the weather, that made things simpler.

A taller man with immaculate blond hair rounded a corner to the entry way with a questioning smile on his lips "Does that mean that your visions…"

He was cut off when the short raven haired girl shook her head solemnly "I still only see her." She replied simply with another shake of her head. "I don't get it Carlisle. Two solid months and the only visions I ever seem to have anymore are of her. I can tell you her eye, hair, and skin color. I can tell you that she might be the clumsiest person in the world. Hell, I can tell you when her time of the month is."

"And she is human, as far as you can tell." Carlisle asked placing a reassuring hand on the shorter girls shoulder.

There was no response.

"Alice, is she human?" Carlisle's voice had a firm edge to it, but he was by no means angry with his daughter. He looked into the Alice's eyes; they were shallow, glassy, motionless, and instantly he knew she was having another vision.

A few seconds passed like hours before she blinked her eyes and shrugged off what she'd just seen. "No," she said in a detached voice, "She's a siren."

Carlisle recoiled internally without ever showing it. "You're sure?" He asked running a hand slowly through his hair. This information was not good news for anyone; a siren running around Forks could easily disrupt the delicate peace agreement that was in place. If it still beat, Carlisle's heart would have started racing; and if his adrenals still worked, his body would have been flooded by all the adrenaline his body could produce and then some.

"I'm positive." Alice squeaked, shifting her eyes to the ground. There were parts of that last vision that she needed to keep to herself. It was something she couldn't tell anyone, not yet. It didn't even make sense to her, not a lot at least. There were feelings that she couldn't explain, images without context, and thoughts that made no sense.

In other words: she was screwed. She didn't know why she was only having visions of this mystery girl, neither did Carlisle. But they've gotten longer, and more detailed, as the days and weeks passed. The last one had been the shortest one of her in almost three and a half weeks. It was also the simplest, by far. The mystery girl, whose name was one of the few things Alice didn't know, walked carefully through a crowded terminal with one bag in tow behind her and a second smaller one hanging from her shoulder.

She was coming, and judging by the dark clouds and the torrent of rain beating the large plate glass windows it was going to be very soon.

"She'll be here before the storm lifts." Alice said making her way quickly out of the room. She padded up the stairs as quickly as her inhuman speed would allow.

Not knowing just how soon her vision would come to pass.

~~**~~**~~**~~

"Delta Airlines flight one-twenty-two service to Atlanta now boarding first class at gate twelve. Flight twelve boarding first class." The PA system blared through the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, barely audible above the thousands of people milling through the domestic arrivals gate.

In the hordes of people absorbed in their own little worlds; no one in the entire airport noticed an average teenager, with an average duffle bag, and wearing average clothes. And yet everyone knew that something was not quite right around them. Nothing that wouldn't be attributed to pre-flight jitters, homesickness, excitement over a vacation, let down of coming home from on, or the dread of yet another business trip. Everyone felt it, but no one cared.

All except for the one average girl that no one gave a second look to. She recognized what it was, because it was a part of her, some hidden power that she didn't even began to comprehend. Her shoulders were hunched as maneuvered her way through the crowds of angry passengers. A sudden storm had come up throughout the western part of Washington, delaying or canceling most flights. Only a handful of flights, like Delta one-twenty-two, were able to get take off clearance; and that was only if they were able to take off in the next few minutes.

The PA system blared again as the average girl made her way to the baggage carousel. "The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only, there is no stopping in the red zone."

"Of course, what else would the white zone be for?" The girl grumbled as she readjusted her duffle on her aching shoulders. After the five hour flight from Phoenix with a layover in San Francisco Bella Swan was irritable.

She had to traverse most of the baggage claim before finding the giant scrolling LED sign that read "Southwest Flight 833 PHX to SEA." She gave a heavy sigh and saddled up to the rest of the passengers who were eagerly awaiting their luggage.

One by one, the other passengers of flight eight-thirty-three picked their bags off of the giant revolving carousel.

Except for Bella, hers was the last bag to come around the carousel. A simple black rolling suitcase with three bright orange zip-ties to flag it as it came around. Breathing a sigh of relief that her only suitcase hadn't been lost by the Airline, she hefted it on to the white linoleum floor, and pulled out the telescoping handle.

She started following the signs to the main exit where her ride was waiting for her. I suppose he's more than my ride. She mused moving wearily through the throngs of people trying to book hotel room for the night. Every experienced traveler knows when an airport is going to get shut down due to weather, and the purple and black clouds coming in was about as close to a bright neon sign as nature gave.

Bella exited the terminal while the PA boomed behind her "The National Weather Service has issued a severe storm warning for the Seattle area through ten A.M. October twelfth. As a result the FAA has grounded all flights out of Seattle Area airports and has rerouted all incoming traffic to Spokane International. We apologize for the inconvenience."

"Looks like I got lucky for a change." She mumbled sarcastically stepping into the frigid wind and the cold rain. Lucky is a relative term.

She grabbed the light windbreaker out of her carry-on bag, instantly wishing that she had something heavier within easy reach. Setting her carry-on down on the wheeled suitcase, Bella shrugged on the light coat shivering as she looked around the loading zone.

Charlie had to be around her somewhere, she knew it. He was after all her father, and that means that nothing is more important than his baby girl, right?

He wasn't holding a sign, or waving like an idiot, or running up to great her; instead he causally walked up the sidewalk through the few stragglers who remained outside in the increasing rain waiting for their rides or one of the few cabs still around.

"Bella!" He called when he was a few yards away. "I heard the announcement and thought your flight didn't land." Not normally an excitable person, Charlie couldn't help but feel a bit overwhelmed when he saw his only daughter for the first time in what felt like a century.

"Hey, Ch…dad," Bella responded keeping herself from calling her dad by his first name at the last second. "Turns out I'm allowed one lucky break in my life." Charlie's enthusiasm was turning out to be quite contagious.

Neither father nor daughter were completely in touch with their emotions, and weren't overly open in their affections. A quick around the shoulder hug was all the duo could manage. The mood around them tensed up immediately, completely full of awkward silence. They both looked around, not knowing what the right thing to stay at a time was. Bella chewed a little on her bottom lip, noticing how little her father had changed in the years since she had last seen him. His black hair was beginning to grey around the temples and there were a few

"So…umm…Where's the car?" Bella stuttered tucking a strand of chestnut hair behind her ear.

"Oh…ya, it's right over there." Charlie gestured to a very vague place in the nearest parking lot. "Here, let me take those." Charlie said reaching for his daughter's wheeled suit.

"Oh, thanks but I got it." She said taking up her luggage again, suitcase in one hand and her overnight bag around her still aching shoulder.

The walk to the car was less awkward then the moments in front of the large automatic glass doors. The rain was extremely cold but nowhere near cold enough to turn into slush anytime before the early morning.

"Here, I'll put those in the back." Charlie said, popping the trunk of the Crown Victoria. "You get in and try and get warm." While he may not be father of the year material, but he certainly knew what to do when someone was freezing.

"Th-th-thanks," she managed through chattering teeth. The now soaked brunette managed to work the door handle and slid into the dry, but still cold police cruiser. A few moments later Charlie joined her, his heavy police overcoat now drenched from the heavy rainfall.

"It's a long ride to Forks, just to warn you." Charlie said, starting the engine and pulling out of the parking lot. Bella settled into the bucket seat, shifting uncomfortable as the pain in her shoulders got worse.

Not to self, grab some Tylenol. Bella thought as she closed her eyes trying to make the drive bearable. If Forks has a decent doctor in town I think I'll make an appointment.

~~**~~**~~**~~

"Does she know she's a siren?" Carlisle calmly asked, looking at his adopted daughter as he continued drumming his fingers lightly against the arm of his chair.

"I don't think so, but she is well aware that she's not normal." The raven haired pixie responded. She came up to her room with the very clear intentions of being alone to sort through the confusing visions she'd been hiding from everyone.

Carlisle had other ideas. As much as he wanted to respect his daughter's obvious desire to be alone and under normal circumstances he would. Too bad this wasn't a normal circumstance. A siren was one of the things that weren't supposed to exist out of mythology and lore. "You have to tell me all that you've seen. Everything, no matter how small." He demanded in a voice so calm and even that it came across more as a plea.

Alice knew better, she didn't have a choice. She would tell him all she knew, just not all she felt. At the same time what she felt could be more important than what she knew, but her confusion and embarrassment that came with the visions she'd experienced told her to keep them to herself.

She inhaled deeply, thankful that her body no longer betrayed her emotions, "I've seen a lot and most of it was everyday stuff: eating breakfast, sitting in class, brushing her hair…"

Watching her shower, her thought interrupted her but only for a fraction of a second; but at that instant she was grateful that her telepathic 'brother' was out hunting.

"I get a lot of her sleeping too." Alice continued pushing her mental slip up to the very back of her mind.

"And how do you know she's a siren?" Carlisle asked again completely motionless in the door frame.

"I don't know," The pixie responded, closing her eyes, "I see the way people respond to her, guys mainly, and there's this sort of magnetism about her."

"And how does she look?" He pressed, finally getting some decent information from the spiky haired girl in front of him.

Incredibly beautiful, was Alice's first thought, "Average," was the only word she trusted herself to say out loud without betraying the maelstrom of emotions that surged through every fiber of her stiff body.

She went rigid again, another vision unfolded just beyond the glassy liquid topaz eyes. Carlisle took immediate notice, concerned over what his daughter was seeing beyond those hazy eyes.

"She's here."