My very first fanfic, well the first that i'm uploading anyway. It's AU, and starts when Bella is born, still all the same couples and the Cullens are still vampires. I've written 3 chapters for this story so far, and i'm planning on uploading the following two in the next few days. If I get enough reviews, I'll write more and upload more^^ So please READ & REVIEW! Thank you, kisses

Chapter One - Memories

Finally the day had arrived that I would go to high school. Carlisle and Esme's 'children' would join me in two years time, pretending to transfer from another school; for what would be their I-don't-know-how-manieth-time through high school. I wasn't supposed to know about what they really were, but letting Esme baby-sit me for Charlie was never Carlisle's best decision.

My mother, Renee, died when she gave birth to me. There was a time in my life that I absolutely hated myself for that, but I've learned to live with it and make sure that what ever I do would make Renee proud of me. When I was born, Charlie was at a loss. He had no idea how to take care of himself let alone a baby. Luckily for him, that's when Carlisle and Esmee Cullen moved into the manor, whose grounds ran up to our back door. Charlie was having problems with going to work and taking care of a little baby, hating to put me in a day care centre. When Carlisle and Esmee came over for the first time and Esmee offered to baby sit it was a gigantic load of Charlie's shoulders. That was how I happened to grow up around vampires without even knowing it. At times something weird would happen, like when I was four years old. I don't remember a lot of what happened that day; I just have this vivid image stored in my memory. Two blood red eyes looking at me hungrily as if I was lunch instead of a four year old just returning from her first day at primary school on the hand of Esmee.

Another incident from when I was nine I remember much better. This time I returned from school on my own, Charlie had told Esmee that I was old enough to ride to school on my bike by myself. I was very proud of myself at the time, though I was one of the last kids that got dropped off and picked up from school. As I entered through the Cullens' kitchen door I looked around for Esmee. She usually had a tray of cookies on the counter ready for me to attack but this time there was no Esmee and no cookies. Curious I walked into the living room, seeing a strange man sitting in a chair across from Carlisle and Esmee.

"Hey Esmee, is everything okay?" I had asked. The strange man had his back towards me; otherwise I would have immediately seen his blood red eyes. I heard someone take in a deep breath and then the strange man spoke.

"I know you two are vegetarians but I must say I'm very pleased that you brought me an appetiser," I didn't know what the man meant cause there was no food on the table, Carlisle and Esmee didn't even seem to have offered him a drink.

Since the moment I walked in Esmee had a look on her face that I could only describe as deep fear, Carlisle looked a little calmer but not by a lot. Both their bodies seemed tense and ready to run. Quicker than I had ever seen her move, Esmee was standing at my side.

"Bella honey, why don't you go upstairs and work on your homework in Edwards' room? I'll be up in a sec to give you a hand," Esmee had said, her voice urgent as she basically pushed me towards the stairs.

I had gone upstairs like Esmee had told me to and when I went home a couple of hours later the strange man had gone and neither Esmee nor Carlisle ever brought him up again.

By that time I had met one of Carlisle and Esme's 'children', Edward, though they had introduced him as an old friend that stayed over for longer periods of time. The first time I met Edward he didn't stay long and every time I was at the house he would leave as soon as it wouldn't seem rude to do so. He had seemed weird to me, though he was incredibly handsome and it was hard for me, even as an eight year old, to keep my eyes of him.

When I was twelve I finally learned the truth about Carlisle and Esme and their so called 'friends'. It was the first time I met Emmett, apparently he had not been warned about me being in the house and kind of flipped out when he smelled me. I had been in the 'guest room', which of course really was Edwards room, trying to study for a test I had the next day but not really getting anything to stick in my head. I heard Emmett's booming voice roar from the ground floor of the house.

"Who is here?!" he shouted loudly, as I heard him run up the stairs, apparently following my sent. I quickly picked up my things and hid in the walk-in closet, Esme had gone out for a minute to buy some groceries and Carlisle was at the hospital. I hoped that the strange yelling voice wouldn't find me in the closet but of course that was a stupid thought. Within seconds the closet door was kicked open and a giant man, though strangely kind and huggable looking, sought my eyes.

"Who are you?!" his voice boomed through the little space I was in. At first I was at a loss for words, I had never seen him before in this house and he was asking who I was? As if he had a right to just barge into Carlisle and Esme's home and start asking questions. He was the one who didn't belong there. As I realised this I got both more scarred and more controlled over my own actions.

"Don't you mean, who are you?" I returned the question, which caused an awkward look to cross the man's face. "I practically live here and I've never seen you before, so tell me who you are or get the hell out!"

This seemed to catch the man of guard, and while he tried to figure out what was going on Esme, luckily returned home. She soon, too, stood in the doorway to the walk-in closet, looking at me, more like scanning me for injuries.

"Come here Bella," Esme said as she held her hand out for me. I took it but stayed in the closet, not wanting to pass the strange man. "Move Emmett."

Emmett still didn't understand what was going on but dazedly moved from the room back to the living room.

"I'm sorry Bella, I didn't know Emmett was stopping by today," Esme told me as she guided me, down the stairs, towards the kitchen where she had placed her groceries. She handed me an apple to eat, though I wasn't hungry.

"Esme, who is he?" I asked. It wasn't the question I really wanted to ask, but I figured it was a good place to start.

"His name is Emmett and he's an old friend like Edward, remember him?" Esme stated simply, like nothing strange had happened. "Emmett? Why don't you come in here and introduce yourself properly," Esme called to the living room, more ordering than asking Emmett to come into the kitchen.

It took a while but eventually Emmett entered the kitchen grudgingly and sat down at the end of the counter.

"Hi," he said, clearly still not sure what was going on. "Uhm, I'm Emmett."

"Hey," I responded not quite sure what to say to this guy. "I'm Bella."

"I'm sorry if I scarred you earlier Bella," Emmett said, his face showed me that he meant what he said, but I still had questions.

"It's okay, I wasn't that scared," I lied. "How did you know I was inside the house anyway?" I wanted to take advantage of the guilty feelings that were apparent on his face. At the question his eyes quickly glanced to Esme's, it went so fast that I didn't catch the look she returned to him.

"Oh, uhm," he started. "I saw your stuff at the door," I knew he was lying, first of all I had entered the house through the back door and second of all, all my stuff was upstairs where I had been trying to study.

"None of my stuff is anywhere near the door," I informed him, letting him know that I had just caught him in a lie. "All my stuff was upstairs with me, I don't leave my stuff just lying around everywhere," I told him briskly. "So now really tell me, how did you know I was in the house, let alone where exactly? The upstairs walk-in closet is not a normal place to start looking for trespassers you know."

"You are very observant and smart," Emmett said, not answering my question. I raised my eyebrows at him questionably, he choose to ignore me for a minute to talk to Esme. "How have you been Esme? I'm sorry we didn't tell you we were coming, we were hoping to surprise you."

"I guess you got quite the surprise yourself," Esme said, quickly glancing towards me before she returned to look at Emmett.

"Hello! I'm still here you know!" I shouted at Emmett, if there was one thing I didn't like it was being ignored when I asked a question. "I'm not going anywhere until you answer my question you know." I noticed Emmett swallowing heavily, desperately hoping for Esme to save him from little me.

Esme only smiled at him, clearly wondering how he was going to get himself out of telling me the truth.

Emmett settled on a partial truth. "I smelled you all down the stairs, honestly child when was the last time you bathed," he snapped at me, apparently forgetting that he was talking to a twelve year old little girl. I let out a little yelp and ran towards Esme's arms.

"Emmett!" Esme scolded him. "Go to your room, right now!" Emmett's face was covered with sorrow, he hadn't meant to hurt me but he had not known how to get rid of a curious little girl that was too smart for her own good. He quickly walked out of the kitchen and out of sight.

"Calm down Bella, it's alright. That wasn't very nice of Emmett and it was certainly not true, you do not smell bad," Esme soothed me with her musical voice, which quickly calmed me down.

"What did Emmett mean by we? He said that they were coming, who are they?" I asked, my curiosity returning.

"I assume he meant his wife Rosalie," as soon as Esme said it a smile crossed her face. "We haven't seen them in a long time."

"Esme?" I asked tentatively.

"Yes, Bella?"

"How did Emmett know I was in the closet?" I asked the question quietly, hoping that Esme would be truthful with me.

"You're not going to let that go, are you?" Esme asked in return. I shook my head. Esme sighed deeply. "I'll tell you tomorrow, okay. It's time for you to go home, Charlie will be wondering where you are soon."

I thought about it for a minute and then decided I could trust Esme to tell me the next day. "Okay, see you tomorrow," I said before I hopped off of Esme's lap and bounded up the stairs to get my books and jacket from Edwards closet.

The next day I raced back to the big house, I rode my little bicycle as fast as I could but it still wasn't fast enough for me. During the past night I had had several dreams and a nightmare. The nightmare had been with me since I was four, coming and going with time. It was a simple nightmare, two blood red eyes followed me everywhere I went, no matter how fast I ran they would always be right behind me until the moment I woke up, sweating and breathing fast. But this night it had been a bit different, instead of waking up to end the nightmare; all of a sudden Emmett and Edward appeared in my dream. They stood between me and the eyes, their backs toward me, growling at the eyes, defending me from the eyes. I woke up calmly and well rested.

As soon as I reached the house, I dropped my bike on the ground not feeling the need to set it up right; I quickly bounded through the kitchen door. I heard voices coming from the living room and decided to silently see who it was. I silently pushed the door ajar and saw five people sitting in the living room. Esme and Carlisle were there, so was Emmett and next to him was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She must be Rosalie I decided, I stared at her for a moment, her long blond hair was amazing, and everything about her mesmerized me. I bet with myself that she got that reaction where ever she went and promised myself to never show her how she made me feel. Then I realized that Edward was there, too, when had he gotten there? He never showed up unannounced. When I was sure I could walk into the room with confidence and the ability to not stare at Rosalie's beauty, I grabbed a piece of fruit from the kitchen counter (the cookies had been traded in for healthier foods when I was ten) and walked into the living room. I took a seat between Esme and Carlisle even though there was no room there.

"Hi Edward, what brings you to town?" I asked in my most innocent of voices.

"I just felt like dropping by, how are you Bella?" he said eyeing me questionably.

"I'm fine, thank you, just very curious as always."

"Yes," he said. "That does seem to be a constant with you. What are you curious about at the moment?"

"Oh, a lot of things. But mostly I'm very curious about Emmett's explanation of what happened yesterday," I said looking at Emmett, raising my eyebrows at him again. "Did you know that he tried to lie to me yesterday; and then when I didn't believe him he became very rude." At that I heard a low growl escaping Emmett's throat.

"Yes," Edward said. "I had heard something like that." He softly chuckled at Emmett's reaction.

"Bella, sweetheart," Esme started. "It's not very nice of you to make Emmett embarrassed."

"I know, I'm sorry Esme," I said not really honest about the sorry part. "But you said you would tell me what happened, right? So I can't wait to hear it."

"Don't you want to know who this is first?" Esme said indicating Rosalie.

"I already know who she is. You told me yesterday, that is Rosalie, Emmett's wife. Though I don't understand why someone as beautiful as she, married someone like Emmett," I said looking from Rosalie to Emmett and back to Rosalie again. At this point Rosalie started laughing and soon Edward joined in, while Emmett seemed to be getting more annoyed with me by the second.

"Edward, Rosalie, Bella be nice," Carlisle said in his strict voice, though he too had a smile across his face. "We're not here to make fun of Emmett."

"I'm sorry Carlisle," I said, turning back to Esme so she could start explaining.

"Uh oh," she stumbled over her words. "I might not be the right person to explain this to you Bella; after all it wasn't me who found you in the closet." She quickly eyed Emmett, who looked as much at a loss for words as he had the day before.

"All right, I'll try to explain this to you Bella," Carlisle finally said after it had been quiet for over a minute. "You must understand that we will never hurt you, no matter what the popular stories say." I didn't understand where Carlisle was going with this, of course they would never hurt me, and they were as close to me as Charlie, basically my stand-in-parents. I nodded so Carlisle knew that I understood. "We are not like other people, Bella. Actually, we are nothing like other people," I still didn't understand where Carlisle was going with this, but I let him continue nonetheless. "That is because we are not human," now this was something I wanted to react to but I didn't know how to. How could they not be human?

"Then what are you?" I asked still clueless.

"We are vampires," Carlisle whispered. "Remember what I said, we will never hurt you," he added quickly as he realized that some of the better known folk's tales about vampires came to my mind.

"Right," I said, not believing what Carlisle had told me. "And I'm a mummy."

"Bella," Carlisle said seriously. "You said you wanted to know how Emmett knew that you were here yesterday and that you were in the closet. We are vampires, and all though we do not drink human blood, we can smell them."

I didn't want to believe Carlisle; vampires were monsters, blood sucking, human killing, night crawling monsters. Suddenly I remembered the strange man from a few years ago. He had never seen me and there was no food in front of him, yet he had thanked Esme and Carlisle for bringing him a snack. It was now that I realized that he had meant me. I must have turned even paler than usual because soon Esme asked me if I was alright.

I nodded my head in response and finally took a bite from the apple that had been in my hand since I entered the room. While I chewed on the apple, I realized I wasn't afraid of the Cullens. They had never hurt me, the opposite even, they had always taken care of me when others hadn't or couldn't. Then, too, the dream from the previous night came back to me.

"Who do the blood red eyes belong to?" I asked looking at Edward. He looked confused at the question.

"Which eyes do you mean Bella?" he asked me.

"The ones from my dream, at least that's where I keep seeing them. But I know that I saw them here once, when I was much younger."

"Aro," Carlisle explained to the others, he clearly remembered that incident much better than I did. Then he explained it further for me. "That was a vampire, too, though he does not live according to our ways. He does feed on humans."

I knew I should have been extremely scared at that moment, but I felt perfectly save. I took another bite out of the apple and thought about my dream again. Emmett and Edward had protected me from the blood red eyed vampire.

"You saved me from him," I said as I looked at Edward.

"What do you mean Bella?" Edward asked.

"In my dream, last night, you and Emmett protected me against the blood red eyes. You were never there before, but for some reason last night's nightmare was different from the nightmare I have had for years. Instead of running from the eyes until I woke up, you two showed up and stopped the eyes from following me."

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