A/N This story is set after Bella graduates from university. She comes home to forks for the summer and meets someone who'll change her life forever.

Chapter One

Pullman, Washington had only two things that would ever interest Bella Swan. The first thing was the Washington State University she'd just earned her degree from and the second was the bus depot that would take her back to her beloved Forks. After a few hours on a strangely empty bus she could see her Charlie's police cruiser waiting at the depot. Bella had told him she could get her own ride but like most single fathers, he was over protective of his only daughter.

Bella waited patiently at the end of the bus and let the other four passengers exit ahead of her before she finally stumbled out into the parking lot.

"Whoa! Easy Bells, you're gonna hurt yourself. Are you awake?" Charlie asked while simultaneously grabbing her bag with one hand and hugging her with the other.

"Hey Dad, yeah I'm fine." Bella said hugging her father back. "Uhm where's your uniform?" She asked.

"Oh," he said sheepishly. "I have some bad news, Bells. I've been called up to Seattle to testify in a major court case. I was one of the arresting officers. Stupid trial is going to take weeks." He added shaking his head.

Bella sighed. "How long to you have to be gone?

"Hopefully no more than a few days." Charlie said.

"Well that's not so bad. Actually, I'd like the alone time. I can kind of get to catch up and stuff ya know?" Bella tried to hide her disappointment.

Charlie had less than two hours to get Bella settled in before he was to meet his carpool up to Seattle. He apologized repeatedly and left her standing in the kitchen with her bags and a totally free afternoon on her hands. After an hour of checking out the house and storing her stuff in the little closet Bella was out of things to do and decided to use Charlie's truck to wander around town.

Nothing much really seemed to have changed since she'd been gone. Mostly little things like new stop lights or renovated store fronts. It was comforting to her, oddly enough. Soon Bella found herself heading out of town and down some old familiar back roads. What she really wanted to see the most was the shore of her favorite lake. She parked the truck in the empty parking lot and wandered down to the waters edge where she found that same old rock and perched on it easily. Bella stared out at the water so long she lost track of time and was brought out her trance by a strange voice.

"Excuse me?!? Excuse me?? Is that your pick up in the parking lot?" The voice was strangely hypnotic to Bella and when she turned to see who was talking she slipped off her perch and landed flat on her ass.

"Dammit!" Bella said under her breath.

"Hehe are you okay?" The womans voice was behind Bella now.

Bella was embarrassed, "Uh yeah, happens all the time with me."

"Well if that's your pick up the lights have been left on." The woman said while offering Bella her hand.

Bella looked up and what she saw stole the very breath right out of her chest. Standing in front of her was the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen in her life. She had long flowing blonde hair that was shaping her face perfectly. Her eyes were such a light shade of brown Bella could have sworn they were almost yellow. The blonde hair fell on feminine shoulders that lead down to long thin marble arms. At the end of one of those arms was her still out reached hand.

"Here, let's get you out of sand, shall we?" She said while motioning again for Bella to take her hand again.

Bella grabbed the womans hand and was pulled to her feet with what looked to be the least amount of effort on the blondes part.

"I'm Rosalie, by the way." The blonde stated. "So is that your pick up or not?" She asked looking quite impatient.

"Yeah, it is. Sorry I'm Bella and I just got back into town and must have lost track of time. I just haven't seen the lake in so long and…" Bella stammered away.

"Right. Let's save the life story for the second date, okay?" Rosalie said while shifting her weight and placing her hand on her hip.

"Sorry." Bella offered.

"Uh huh. Let's go check the battery so we can get out of here." Rosalie said and turned to walk back up to the parking lot.

Bella couldn't help but notice how Rosalie carried herself. It was like poetry in motion. She walked without hardly touching the ground. Bella wondered how long Rosalie had been out here on the beach because when they'd touched hands Rosalies were so cold, like she'd been out in the water but she was dry as a bone.

Once they got up to the truck it was obvious that the truck battery was dead. The lights were on but faded to only a sliver of light.

"Shit!" Bella yelled. "I swear I have the worst fucking luck!!"

"Leaving the lights on isn't bad luck, it's bad management." Rosalie said smugly.

Rosalie was regretting offering her help now. She didn't think her one good deed of the year would turn into an hour long discussion on whose fucken truck it was in the first place. Maybe her sixty years as a Vampire were finally starting to erase all traces of her humanity. She'd always hoped it would happen sooner or later but something about this clumsy little human was making her pine for her own long lost mortality.

"So can you jump me? I mean jump my truck? I mean jump the batteries? Or whatever you call it?" Bella asked oblivious to her influence on the breathtaking Vampire.

"Yes." It was all Rosalie could say without bursting into laughter, something she hadn't done in a really long time.

Rosalie pulled her red sports car up to Bella's truck and lifted the hoods on both. She knew that jumping the batteries like this wouldn't be good for her cars electrical system but figured she'd have to help now. Rosalie hooked up the connectors and before she realized what she'd down she accidently touched the two live ends together. There was a huge spark and the jumper cables burst into flames. Bella freaked out instantly and started yelling like a wild woman.

"Shit! Fuck! Oh my God your hands are on fire!!" Bella was practically running in circles.

"I'm fine! I'm fine! It's okay!" Rosalie yelled and showed Bella her untouched hands then threw the smoking jumper cables out into the sand.

"I saw your fucking hands on fire!! I'll call an ambulance!" Bella went for her truck to get her phone. Her hands were too shaky to dial properly. She turned back to check on Rosalie but she was already in her car peeling out of the parking lot.

Bella stood there with her jaw hanging open trying to go through what had just happened. She knew she saw Rosalies hands on fire. She knew the entire cables had melted but there wasn't a single burn on Rosalies hands. And why did she leave in such a hurry? Bella walked over to where the smoldering cables lay and tried her damnedest to figure it out.

**I haven't written chapter two yet but am really looking forward to taking a stab at it tomorrow. Thanks for reading. You guys rock!!**