A/N: This story is part of a series called Tale of Years, which is a collection of 100% Canon-Friendly prequels to Twilight (or rather, Midnight Sun, since they're all in Edward's POV). You don't need to read them all in order, but they will read better that way.

Stephenie Meyer owns the Twilight Saga and its universe. No profit is made here and no offense intended.

Chapter One - Family

"…and remember, even if it looks like a long stretch of cloud cover, cloud formations can change. Keep checking every couple of minutes."

"I know, Edward."

"And if someone cuts themselves accidentally, don't inhale before you hold your breath. Exhale first."

"I know, Edward."

"And if that doesn't work, just run out. Now, I have a few excuses that have worked in the past, and-"

"Edward Cullen!" Rosalie hissed. "I'm two years old, and I've done this before! I am perfectly capable of making it through a school day without you breathing down my neck. Now back off!"

I pursed my lips, holding back the ungentlemanly insult that came to mind. The day promised to be nice and rainy, but I was still concerned. Up until now, I had always been able to keep a watchful eye on my new sister. We had spent the last two years attending Athens High School, and I had always managed to be in most of the same classes as Rosalie. I had always driven her to school and driven her home. I had always sat with her at lunch. I had always been the one keeping an eye on the thoughts around us, and on the weather. And when the human boys drooled over her, which they always did, I had always been there to scare them off. She had never once gone to school without her overprotective brother- a role which I had naturally taken to.

But today we were beginning a new chapter in our lives. Rosalie and I were driving to our first day of classes at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga campus. She had whined and pleaded with Carlisle for weeks, and he had finally agreed that she could choose a different major from me. I was starting over as Biology major, with the pre-med emphasis like before. And this time, I was beginning to hope I might actually be able to attend medical school, or at least graduate college for the first time. I might have done so in our last location, but having Rosalie join our family had made it necessary for us to move and start over again in a new home. And everything had gone well... so far.

But Rosalie was sick of me hovering over her all day long, and she had finally gotten her wish. Her major was Mechanical Engineering, which meant that we would hardly have any classes together- in fact, we probably wouldn't even be in the same building most of the time. We would only have one class in common today: English Literature at one o'clock. I had almost opened my big mouth about having shared that class before with Royce King, but I had stopped myself just in time. Nobody wanted to bring that up. And besides, Rosalie would have transferred out of the class just to spite me.

I parked the car and we got out, heading towards the academic buildings. As we walked, I began scanning the thoughts of the students and professors as we passed by them. As I had expected, most of them were male, and most of them were staring at Rosalie and her new dress.

She had picked it out months ago, and had waited to wear it until her first day at college. Esme had insisted that she dress modestly, and they had finally agreed upon a dark blue day dress with sleeves and a double collar. The neckline was quite high, but the dress itself was cut in the silhouette style that was so popular these days. I frowned at the thoughts rising from our fellow students.

"Did you really have to wear that dress?" I growled under my breath.

"Why? What are they thinking?" she whispered back, stepping further away from me. I hated it when she did this. She liked to pretend that she didn't even know me, which increased her appeal in the eyes of our classmates; a girl whose brother was always hovering didn't get as much attention. I sidestepped back to her and gave her a playful, brotherly shove, making sure that some of the young men were watching. It looked like I had my work cut out for me in my role as the overprotective big brother. Did she have to make it so difficult, though? It's not like she ever let the boys get too close – the harmless flirtation stage was her favorite, anyway. She knew that she could never actually get involved with any of the humans, but that didn't stop her from playing the game.

"I'm sure you can figure it out," I muttered back to her.

"I suppose you would have preferred me to wear slacks," she sniffed.

"Don't be absurd. Come on, there's your building up there."

At least she was letting me walk her to the Engineering building. As we approached the entrance, a middle-aged man with unkempt hair converged on the door alongside us.

There she is. "Ah, Miss Cullen, I presume? I'm Dr. Preston, chair of the Engineering Department. It's quite a pleasure to meet our first female Engineering major." He shook her hand vigorously, and I sighed in relief. His thoughts were quite benign; although he found her attractive, he was mostly looking forward to learning how a woman had ended up in his department. He was also assuming that her cold hands meant she was nervous. I was impressed to see that he expected her to be of above average intelligence, and was eager to see if she would end up being the star student. He wouldn't be disappointed.

Rosalie favored him with her most winning smile. "Thank you, Dr. Preston. It's a pleasure to meet you, as well. Will you be teaching the eight o'clock lecture?"

"Yes, yes. Please, allow me." He opened the door for her, and Rosalie glanced back at me briefly, mentally bidding me farewell until one o'clock. I nodded to her and continued on to my own building.

My first class was Biology I, which I had now taken four times between the University of Rochester and my various high schools. I slipped into a seat near the back of the auditorium, just as the professor walked in and began droning. I halfheartedly checked the minds around me for any sign of danger, and then combed through mental cacophony on campus until I found Rosalie's mind again.

Her lecture had also just begun, and she was taking notes at a sufficiently human speed. At least she had taken my advice one this one point: I had warned her not to study ahead, so that the class would be more enjoyable. Boredom was always the bane of our existence, due to our expanded intelligence and our tendency to repeat classes. Anything that alleviated that boredom was a good idea.

Everyone in my class turned the first page in their syllabus, so I turned mine as well, keeping my attention on Rosalie. It wasn't that I didn't trust her, exactly. But it didn't hurt to be cautious, and I would be a fool not to use my mind-reading to keep tabs on my sister on her first day. I was proud that she was remembering to write slowly, and that she wasn't raising her hand too often. She was, unfortunately, attracting the attention of her classmates already. They couldn't be expected to ignore the only girl in the room, after all. I noted with annoyance that she had chosen to sit in the front of the auditorium, instead of the back. I focused my gift several feet behind her, grazing the minds of the other students. It seemed half of them were already in love with her; nothing new there. I checked anxiously through her entire lecture hall, looking for more unsavory minds. It wasn't that she couldn't defend herself, of course. Human men were no longer a danger to her. But there were situations – much like the one that had caused the end of her human life- which would inevitably lead to Rosalie revealing too much about her abilities. And that was a danger.

Satisfied that there were no threats in Rosalie's class, I turned my attention back to my own- briefly. After a few seconds of tedium, I mentally roamed the rest of the building, focusing in on a junior-level genetics class upstairs. Ah, that was better. I picked up my pencil and started taking notes from the Biology lecture, leaving my mind happily upstairs.

.

.

.

At 12:58, I slid into the seat beside Rosalie in our English class. "So, sis, how's it going so far?" I asked politely, at human volume. There were already several students sitting around us.

"Fine, thanks." Don't call me that. And don't pretend you weren't watching me the whole morning.

I frowned innocently. "Me?" I said under my breath. "I just checked occasionally. I gave you some privacy- honest." It was true. I had only been watching her a mere 47% of the time. I was rather proud of my self-control.

Her eyes narrowed. I'm sure. "I love the Engineering classes so far," she continued aloud. "What about you? What do you think of Biology?" This is what, the third time?

"Fourth," I muttered as the professor walked in. I sighed in consternation when I saw Romeo and Juliet under his arm. Not again.

"Good morning, students. My name is Dr. Walker, and this is English Literature 101. We'll begin our semester with a little bit of Shakespeare…"

I tuned him out, focusing on my sister's mind as it wandered as well. Rosalie wasn't in the happy mood I was expecting her to be in on her first day. In fact, she seemed to have deflated quite a bit since we had parted ways earlier this morning. She was remembering bits of the lectures she had sat through this morning; that didn't seem to be the problem. She truly seemed to have enjoyed the learning material.

At that moment, I heard rushed footsteps coming our way down the hall. Another classmate was about to join us, and she was hurrying because she knew she was late. I frowned at her thoughts.

I think I got the bleeding stopped. Of course I would get a huge paper cut on my first day...

"Blood in four seconds," I whispered quickly. Rosalie and I both inhaled deeply and brought our hands up to our faces, assuming a posture that made us appear bored, but which enabled us to block our noses. The girl entered the room and scurried to take the seat right in front us. The paper cut wasn't bad, and it was almost done bleeding. However, she was still fiddling with the blood-stained handkerchief, filling the room with a sweet aroma. Why did she have to sit right there?

I peeked over at Rosalie. Her eyes were darkening slightly, but she was fine. My sister had the best control in the family, excluding Carlisle, of course. He was proud of his daughter, and I was too… though I was also a little jealous. My control still wasn't back to where it had been before my 'rebellious years', as I now called them. I winced at the pain in my throat, envious of the lesser pain that my sister was experiencing. Over the next few minutes the burn slowly receded as the girls' cut sealed off, and as the dots of blood on her tissue dried up.

"Excuse me, Mr.….?" I looked up, finding the professor standing in front of my desk. This was a much smaller class than I liked to be in.

"Cullen," I said, moving my hand away from my face and expelling part of the breath I had taken before the girl entered the room.

"Mr. Cullen. Are you quite all right? You don't look well."

"I'm fine, thank you, sir." He moved on. I was relieved I wouldn't need to inhale again.

He's right, Edward. You look awful. Rosalie was looking at me with sympathy- quite a rare thing, coming from her. I looked at myself in the mirror of her mind; she was right. My eyes weren't lightening like they should, now that the girl's blood had already dried. And I didn't exactly have dark circles under my eyes yet, but I looked exhausted. You should go hunting tonight.

I shook my head, pointing to my eyes. I had already explained to Rosalie the importance of not hunting during the first week of school. We had purposely had our last hunt well over a week ago, in order for our eyes to darken about halfway to black. This way, the first impression we made on our new classmates and professors would have a more human appearance, than it would if our eyes were completely golden. I wanted to get through the whole first week- we would be exposed to all the new humans at least twice by then- with this brownish color. After everyone had met us a couple times, they would be much less likely to be disturbed by, or even notice, our strange eye color.

Suit yourself. Masochist. Rosalie's mind began to wander again, thinking back to some of the conversations she had overhead in her Engineering class this morning. Two boys in the back had been whispering about her. At first they had been commenting on her beauty, and then they had been speculating as to why a girl would want to go to college at all.

"Especially when she looks like that," one of them had said admiringly. "Wonder how many diamond rings she's turned down by now?"

"Maybe that's why she's here," his fellow had commented. "Maybe she doesn't want to get married."

"Maybe not. Or maybe she can't have babies or something. Still, I might see if she'd like to go out on Friday night."

By the way that Rosalie kept repeating the last line of conversation in her head, I could tell that this was what had been bothering her. Not the part about the one boy wanting to ask her to out- the part about not wanting to be married, and especially the part about not being able to have children. I knew it was a sore spot for her, and I was careful not to respond to her thought. She would hate it if she knew I had overheard that.

.

.

.

After we parted ways, the rest of the day continued without incident. I met Rosalie back at the car, frowning when I saw her expression.

"I'm fine," she muttered as she got in and yanked the door out of my hands. I don't want to talk about it.

We drove in silence, Rosalie furiously concentrating on the material she had learned at school today. As soon as we got home, she zipped out of the car, calling for Esme. Our mother appeared at the front door, her expectant smile fading when she saw Rosalie's face.

"I need to talk to you," Rosalie muttered as she headed for the woods. Esme glanced over to me, and I just shrugged. She knew I wouldn't share anything that wasn't my business to share. So she just ran into the woods, as well.

Edward, I left some cookies in the oven. Would you take them out in four minutes? Esme thought as she ran.

I entered the house, alone, wrinkling my nose at the odor coming from the kitchen. I was sure I was the only vampire in the world who came home to his "mother" baking cookies. She had joked about it this morning; how normal mothers like to have fresh cookies waiting for their children after their first day of school. It looked like the joke was going a bit far, but I knew how much she liked to pretend. And she would no doubt be taking them to some homeless shelter later on, or send them into work with Carlisle. I smiled, holding my nose for the rest of the four minutes as I waited.

After I had gotten the cookies onto their cooling racks, I headed outside to get away from the smell. Carlisle was splitting wood out in the backyard. He waved to me when I came out.

"You look like a lumberjack," I said, nodding toward his flannel shirt.

He grinned, making a show of wiping the "sweat" off of his brow. "We haven't had a nice fire in awhile. And seeing your mother in there with her apron, making cookies, well… I thought I'd do something human myself."

He wasn't fooling me. "Smell drove you outside too, then?" He nodded, laughing. But his smile quickly faded. "So, what's Rosalie upset about today?" he asked quietly, nodding toward the woods.

I just shrugged again, like I had when Esme had asked. When Rosalie had been a newborn, I was more willing to share her tumultuous thoughts with our parents. But now that she had herself well under control, I really had no business doing so. I knew how much she hated her lack of privacy, and keeping her secrets was the least I could do.

"I'm sorry, I forgot. Well, I'm sure Esme will have some words of wisdom for her. So, how was your first day?"

"Dull," I said honestly. "But I found some other classes to listen in on. Did you know they've developed a vaccine for yellow fever?"

Carlisle's eyes lit up. "No, I didn't. Tell me everything about it."

I sat down on the grass while my father continued chopping the wood, chattering about everything I had learned in my own classes, as well as the twelve others I had listened in on. After a while, Esme and Rosalie returned. Rosalie finally nodded in greeting to Carlisle, who gave her a concerned smile, and then she entered the garage; we wouldn't be seeing her for the rest of the day.

I wish I could be of more help, Esme was fretting as she watched her daughter. I think about it, too. But I have two beautiful children now, and such a wonderful husband. How can I say that I understand?

We had these problems with Rosalie more and more often, it seemed. She had adjusted well to her new life, but after two years, she was still mourning the loss of her human future in a way that none of us ever had. And since vampires rarely "get over" things, it was a distinct possibility that we would be dealing with this dynamic for the rest of eternity. We tried to get out of the house as often as could, in order to satisfy Rosalie's social appetite. But no matter how much we went out, she was always dwelling on what she had lost. She was often thinking about her friend, Vera, and the baby boy that had taken on an angelic role in Rosalie's mind. She envied everything about Vera's life: her humanity, her husband, and her baby. Rosalie often wondered what the baby would look like now, and if Vera had been able to have another child. I thought she genuinely missed her friend, sometimes. But usually Vera's life merely served as the shining, impossible dream that Rosalie would never have. On her most bitter days, it was the life that Carlisle had stolen from her. This was utter nonsense, of course, and Rosalie knew it. She would have died if Carlisle hadn't come along. But she needed someone to blame, and though it had been a while since she had accused him out loud, Carlisle was keenly aware of her bitterness towards him. They loved each other as father and daughter, but there was a strain between them that he and I had never experienced.

I glanced over at my father now. Carlisle was totally confused, and uncomfortable with approaching Rosalie himself; he was hoping Esme would confide in him later today. He was disappointed with how Rosalie was reacted to her first day, and, as usual, feeling guilty that he had changed her at all.

Esme was remembering the baby that she had lost, and wishing that Rosalie could find some joy. Her daughter had warmed up to her in the last two years, and she had Rosalie's confidence. But Esme was also wishing- as she often did during times like this- that Rosalie and I would put our differences aside and fall in love. Oh! I'm sorry, Edward. Never mind. She quickly switched over to thinking about her plans tonight; she was taking the cookies to a food bank.

Rosalie was reliving the conversation she had overheard, yet again. It appeared that sometime after our English class, she had overheard another one which had bothered her: a nursing student bubbling over with the news that she and her husband were expecting a baby. As if on cue, Vera and her baby appeared in her mind, surrounded by an aura worthy of the Madonna and Child. It's not fair, Rosalie thought as she turned her wrench a little too hard, warping the bolt she was tightening on the frame of Carlisle's car. That should have been me. It was going to be me.

I rolled my eyes. Rosalie had learned the hard way what kind of man her fiancée had been. How could she possibly think that she would be happy if that future had panned out? She would only have repeated Esme's fate. And I simply didn't understand my sister's obsession with babies. What did it matter if she couldn't produce a tiny, squirming human?

I did understand her longing for a mate, however. I had been feeling a bit sorry for myself, before Rosalie had come along. I had wondered if I would ever find the kind of love that my parents had. And then Rosalie and her tragic story had come along, reminding me how very rare real love was. It made me all the more determined to never settle for less. Which, of course, would make it all the more impossible to ever happen.

It was ironic, really. Both of my parents saw Rosalie and me as the two most "eligible" vampires in the world, and the two most beautiful. But it was quite likely that we would live together in the same coven forever, never finding love. We certainly weren't going to find it in each other; even Esme realized now that it was never going to happen. But, for better or for worse, I loved my sister, and we both loved our parents. If I had to be stranded in eternal bachelorhood forever, I wouldn't want to be stranded with any family other than this one.