I didn't give this chapter the same amount of review I usually give things so you may see a typo (or twelve). Point them out if you care enough (if you don't, that's fine too).

A feminine hand snaked out from under a threadbare comforter, blindly smacking at a TV tray being used as a nightstand, in search of the ringing landline. Her searching hand finally grasped the phone and put it up to her ear—after almost dropping it twice—as her other hand pushed the covers away from her face.

"'Lo?" She struggled to listen to the familiar voice on the other end of the line, mind still foggy with sleep. "Uncle Charlie?"

At his confirmation, she was suddenly wide awake. "Uncle Charlie, what's wrong? Did somethin' happen?"

Her sudden panic was replaced with confusion, the quickly shifting emotions causing her slight accent to thicken. "You called me at," she paused to glance at her alarm clock before continuing. "At three in the mornin' to tell be that Bella broke up with her boyfriend?"

After a quick apology for forgetting the time difference, her uncle recounted the break-up that had occurred a few months ago. "He did what?" she growled. If the break-up hadn't been bad enough to hear about, how Bella was handling said break-up was much worse.

Her uncle sighed heavily. "I just don't know what to do anymore."

"Don't worry, Uncle Charlie. We'll get our Bella back."

"How?" Charlie asked. "I've tried everything I can think of but she doesn't show the slightest interest in anything. Anna Lee, she barely says two words to anyone."

Anna rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "I'll talk to Mrs. Emma when I go into work today, see about gettin' a few days off to come up there. I'm due some vacation time anyway. You think Bella's up for some company?"

"I'm willing to try anything at this point, but I don't see how a visit from her favorite cousin could hurt."

"I'm her only cousin, Uncle Charlie. It's not like I've got a lot of competition."

"Bella absolutely adores you, you know that."

"I'm pretty fond of her too." She stifled a yawn.

Charlie apologized again for the early hour and they hung up after a few more awkward pleasantries—small talk not an ability the Swan family possessed.

Anna's shoulders slumped as she looked at the clock. There'd be no point going back to sleep now when she needed to be at work by 5:30am. She sighed and forced herself out of bed.

The bell over the door gave a half-hearted jingle as she walked into the general store.

"Be with you in a minute!" she heard the owner call.

"It's just me."

"Oh. Mornin', Anna Lee. I'm in the back room."

Anna slowly made her way to the little room in the back of the store that was used as an office, straightening shelves as she moved through the displays. She leaned on the doorframe, watching Mrs. Emma fill out paperwork. Emma Darcy was a soft-figured woman with short blonde hair who seemed to perpetually look somewhere north of middle aged. "If you're orderin', we need more nabs."

"Nothin' new there."

"Heard on the radio this mornin' that we might catch the tail end of a nor'easter. We should stock the usual storm provisions."

Anna's boss didn't look up from her forms. "I'd like a count of what we already have before I—" She stopped as a scrap of paper was placed in front of her. "I should have known you'd already taken stock." Emma pushed her paperwork aside as she looked at Anna. "There's somethin' goin' on with you. Pull up a chair and tell me about it."

"It can wait."

"Whatever it is, it's more important than orderin' nabs. Now sit your behind down and tell me what's goin' on."

Anna pulled up a chair and told Emma everything that her uncle had told her earlier. "Can you believe that? He took Bella—the very definition of a city girl—out to the woods to break up with her. And then the bastard left her out there! That girl couldn't find her way out of a paper bag and anybody that's met her knows it!" She sighed. "And now Uncle Charlie says she's doin' a damned fine impression of a zombie."

"It doesn't sound like it was the healthiest of relationships to begin with. Whether your cousin realizes it or not, I think she's better off without him."

"You and me both."

"You should go."

"Of course I'm goin'. I was just hopin' you'd give me a couple days off to do so."

Emma waved her hand at the remark. "Take all the time you need. You go and help Bella through this."

"Thank you." The tension in her shoulders eased. "I didn't want to quit, but…"

"But family's more important," her boss finished. "I understand, probably better than most. When I was only a little older than you, I quit a good-payin' job to help my sister get back on her feet. Though, she'd been married to her bastard. Still, Bella needs all the support she can get after a relationship like that. She's fragile now. And if that town's as small as this one, she can't just ignore him."

"I think Uncle Charlie said they were in the same class. And school starts again in a couple of days."

"Poor thing." Emma winced in sympathy. "What are you goin' to do if you run into him?"

"Oh, nothin' you wouldn't do, I'm sure."

They shared a grin, the sadistic kind of grin that only the family of a wronged woman could make.

"If you leave now, you can make good time." She pulled Anna into a warm hug. "You just let me know if you need anything, even if it's just a listenin' ear. And you let me know how she's doin'."

"I will."

Esme Cullen stood in line at the grocery store, as she did every Thursday afternoon, buying food for a family that wouldn't eat it. She smiled politely at the cashier and pulled her checkbook out of her purse, a folded piece of paper carefully wedged between the pages. It was a quick sketch of Bella with Alice's neat cursive underneath, "Bus station, 4:50pm. She'll need a ride."

She wasn't sure why Bella would be at the bus station, but she trusted Alice. If Alice thought that she needed to be there to pick up Bella, she would be. Luckily, she had just enough time to get the groceries into the car and get to the station.

She pulled into the station with barely a minute to spare, immediately searching out Bella. Her phone vibrated, alerting her to a text message from Alice, "Buy a magazine."

Esme wasn't expecting much of a selection, but just as she was about to give in and buy a tabloid, she spotted a title that she'd been unable find in any of the stores in Forks.

This was why she didn't doubt Alice.

Even after paying for the magazine, she still hadn't spotted Bella. Esme was considering trying to track her scent when a muttered curse caught her attention. A petite brunette stood by the payphone, emptying her pockets in search of change.

Esme breathed a sigh of relief. Bella was fine—stranded at the bus station, but fine. Bella then tilted her head back to look at the sky for a moment, giving Esme a good look at her face. A face that, while remarkably similar, did not belong to Bella. Esme had Alice's sketch out in an instant, comparing it to the doppelgänger. While this young woman could have easily been Bella's long-lost twin, at second glance Esme picked up on the small details that she had overlooked in her concern for Bella's well-being. They had the same build, the same bone structure, the same dark hair and chocolate eyes. But where Bella's eyes held an overabundance of warmth and curiosity, the stranger's gaze was sharper. More knowing. She had the sudden thought that a smile from her would be hard-won. Her clothing was also much more casual than anything Esme had ever seen Bella in—jeans, scuffed boots, and a T-shirt she couldn't read the logo on at this angle.

Perhaps she was related to Bella.

The girl's sharp gaze finally rested on Esme and she moved toward her, a dollar bill clutched in her hand. "Excuse me, ma'am, do you have change for a dollar?"

Esme fought down a smile at the unexpected accent, greatly reminded of Jasper. She was sure that he would be thrilled to hear a voice from home—human though it may be. "I think the smallest I have is a five, dear. Will that do?" She reached for her purse.

"Oh, no, no." the girl protested. "I just need change enough for the payphone."

She frowned. "I'm afraid that won't help much. That phone hasn't had a dial tone since the eighties." Esme watched the girl's shoulder's droop and quickly offered her cell phone as an option. "Here. Why don't you use mine?"

"I couldn't. I'll just…" She trailed off, unsure. "I'll just wait. My uncle knows I'm here."

It seemed that a relation to the Swan family wasn't such a far-fetched idea. "I insist."

The unnamed Swan was still hesitant. "If you're sure you don't mind? My bus got in a little earlier than I thought it would."

"No trouble at all, dear."

"Thank you." She held the borrowed phone as though it was made of spun glass instead of nearly indestructible plastic. Carefully dialing her uncle's number, she listened to it ring continuously for a few minutes before ending the call. "Uncle Charlie really needs to get voicemail."

"No answer?" Esme asked, even though she'd heard for herself clearly enough.

"No." She handed the phone back to its owner. "Thanks anyway."

"Your Uncle Charlie was supposed to pick you up?"

"Yeah."

"This Uncle Charlie of yours wouldn't happen to be Charlie Swan, would it?"

"You know Uncle Charlie?"

Esme chuckled. "I think everyone in town knows Chief Swan."

"Right." A slight flush covered her cheeks. It appeared that blushing easily was a family trait.

"When was he expecting you in?"

"Seven."

"Why don't I give you a ride into town?" Esme couldn't stand the thought of Bella's cousin waiting at the bus station for another two hours. Any number of terrible things could happen to a young girl waiting alone in an isolated place. She shuddered. "I'd hate to think that you were stranded out here."

The hesitance was back full-force. "I wouldn't want you to go out of your way."

"It's not out of the way at all. In fact, I have to pass by the sheriff's office to get home whether you ride along or not."

Bella's cousin bit her lip as her eyes darted around the nearly deserted station.

"I'm Esme. Esme Cullen."

"Annabelle Lee Swan. Anna." It was an automatic reaction if Esme had ever heard one. And clear that neither Swan girl cared for their first name.

"My daughter Alice is in Bella's class." She noticed how Anna relaxed slightly at the mention of her cousin's nickname and continued on, hoping to put the girl at ease. "Alice just loves her, you know. They used to have a sleepover every weekend. I hope they get back to that. It's always nice to have a house filled with laughter." She eyed the duffle bag slung over her shoulder. "Is that all you have?"

Anna nodded, still seeming a little anxious.

Esme guided her to the car, keeping up a steady stream of chatter until they were well on their way back to town. "You and Bella should come over for dinner one night. Only if you have time, of course. I don't mean to intrude on your visit. Oh, Alice would just love that. She really misses Bella. All of the kids do, really. It's understandable—" She broke off to answer her phone. "Speak of the devil. Yes, Alice?"

"Pull back!" Alice demanded. "She's going to be part of the family, yes, but we're not there yet. You're still a stranger to her. She's not like Bella. Anna's a little… standoffish. Like Jasper before he was officially a Cullen. You can't ju—say something mom-like!"

No longer surprised by Alice's sudden insights in the middle of conversation, she did as ordered, blandly replying, "Yes, Alice. I got your favorite cereal. The same kind I've been buying for three years now. I know what I'm doing."

"Phew! One crisis averted. She's annoyingly suspicious for a human. Seriously. She's making this much harder than it has to be. Oh! Say something mom-like again!"

"Yes, I remembered your toothpaste," she told Alice with a tired sort of patience. "I'm not senile yet. Though it seems that even if I'd forgotten, the note you hid in my purse would have jogged my memory."

"Sorry about the lack of warning," Alice apologized. "But if I'd told you beforehand, Edward would have found out and Edward could not be the first Cullen she met. Nothing good came from that. Nothing. Three dozen ways that scenario could go and none of them good. But I think everything will work out now. I hope. She's hard to predict." She paused. "Well, it might not be smooth sailing, but the happy ending is still happy for everyone involved. Though you're about to find out why you needed to buy a magazine at a bus station. Just remember not to press so hard with her. Kid gloves until further notice, okay?"

"I think I can manage that." Esme ended the call, her attention drawn to Anna who was glancing warily from Esme to the backseat. "Is something wrong?"

"Were you pickin' someone up?"

"I'm sorry?" The vampire was unsure when the girl's faint amusement over cereal and toothpaste had shifted into apprehension.

"From the bus station," Anna clarified, voice steady despite the near panic Esme could sense from her. "Were you supposed to pick up someone from the bus station?"

Ah, that explained the need for a magazine. "No, nothing like that. I was buying a magazine."

"From the bus station?"

Esme slowly reached into her purse for the newly purchased magazine, handing it to the human. "I've searched Forks over, but no one else sells my favorite magazine. As much as I love Designing Home, I'm not driving all the way to Port Angeles for it. I don't know why a bus station carries a magazine catering to those interested in interior design, but I've decided not to question it."

Anna relaxed as she smoothed her hand over the cover of the magazine.

And another crisis averted. It was time to put the kid gloves on. Esme kept up a light—and mostly one-sided—conversation concerning interior design and the magazine she was so fond of, glad that she'd picked a title she recognized. By the time they reached the sheriff's office, Anna was tentatively offering an occasional opinion.

Anna was quick to gather her things when they pulled up the curb. "Thank you for the ride, Mrs. Cullen."

"It was no trouble at all, dear." Esme replied, waving off her concern. "And call me 'Esme'. I don't like how old 'Mrs. Cullen' makes me feel."

The newest Swan shot her a polite smile that didn't reach anywhere near her eyes as she opened the car door.

"And I was serious about having you and Bella over for dinner. And Charlie is more than welcome as well. Just think about it, okay?"

Anna was already out of the car and shutting the door. "Okay. Thanks again, Mrs. Cullen."

Esme watched as she disappeared into the sheriff's office and sighed. "I'm too young to feel this old."

She pulled back onto the street and headed home, hoping that Alice would share a few more details about the newest addition to Forks.