hallelujah

The ivory was like silk underneath his fingers.

He felt her gentle presence behind him but he didn't lift his head from the movement.

It was almost like he had been drowning and then led to dry land.

He could feel the weight shift beside him on the piano bench. Her left hand lifted onto the keys and laid out a gentle cord. He followed with his own, his eyes finally rising to meet hers.

"Since when?" he asked quietly.

"Since forever," she murmured, placing another cord onto the keys.

He followed suit once again with his right hand. Seconds passed and he brought out another set of notes. Alexis let her hand fall to rest on her thigh as the music trickled into the air.

It was a song that he had composed in his head a long time ago. A song that had been stewing in his dead dead brain for such a lengthy time.

Her voice lifted along with the beat of the notes. A soft hum that was replaced by words. Words of beauty, words of love.

He found himself staring at her, topaz on sapphire. And he was unable to look away.

"Macie sounds better than I do. I sound like a dying chicken."

He suddenly laughed out loud, the sound like bells to her. But it startled her so much that she almost laughed too.

"You should do that more often," she murmured.

"It feels strange," he admitted. "But I have missed it."

He had missed a lot of things that she was starting to make him feel once again.

"You're looking like you have never met parents before."

He grimaced in her direction before his eyes peeled onto the road ahead of them. "Well, it's the second time."

She got the picture. "Well, you have already met my moronic brothers. Beware, they will razz you. But my mom, I think she'll like you a lot."

He wondered if that was even possible. The last parent he had met had barely put up with him and then couldn't even look at him after he had gotten his daughter killed.

He felt the car turn and suddenly they were pulling up a long driveway. They came to a tiny cottage, still elegantly decorated with Christmas lights that shined with color and with beauty.

He got out of the car first once his blond companion parked the tracker. He jogged around the front and opened her side door before she even had a chance to unclasp her belt.

"Well, thank you," she smiled, obviously surprised. "Always a gentleman."

Edward cracked a small smile before slipping his gloved hand through hers. They walked up the icy sidewalk together, Alexis teetering dangerously on her high heeled boots.

"Are you serious? Why in the world did you wear those?!"

"Hey, they look nice! And they have sharp heels so I can kick my brothers under the table whenever they make a crack."

Edward shook his head before wrapping an arm around her shoulders. They managed to make it up the front walk and to the stairs before neither took another icy slip that they had been so close to doing before.

Alexis reached out an arm and knocked on the rough cut maple. She unhinged the side lock and stuck her head in, calling out for her family.

"Mom?! Joe?!"

"In here, Al!" came the familiar voice of her brother.

Alexis stepped in first, Edward following her close behind. Or, it actually worked as to where she tripped over the threshold with the pointy boots of hers and Edward managed to catch her before she careened to the floor.

"A girl who can play the violin so beautifully cannot walk a straight line," Edward sighed, righting her.

"That's it! These boots are coming off!" She cried, yanking them right off of her feet and tossing them into the corner.

"Al, do you ever learn?" They both looked up to see her giant brother Joey standing in the doorway to the kitchen, arms crossed and a woebegone expression on his face.

Alexis rolled her eyes and gently slapped his arm. "You wanna talk clumsy? Hmm?"

"Aw, shut up."

"Edward, you remember my moronic brother Joey. Joey, Edward."

Joey held out a hand to which Edward shook. He had taken off his gloves and Joey perceived the cold from the winter.

"Always nice to see you again, Edward. How are you putting up with my baby sister?"

Edward smiled and brushed his shoulder against Alexis's. "She's a joy to put up with."

"Oh, dear," Alexis moaned, clapping a hand over her eyes.

"Alexis?"

A woman that resembled Alexis to the T came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her a dish towel. Her dark blond hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail like her daughter's and it had streaks of silver through it. Her eyes were more like diamonds than sapphires and her build resembled her daughter's as well. They could have been about an inch of each other's heights.

"Hey, Mom," greeted the younger Bowen. "Mom, this is Edward Cullen. Edward, this is my mom Laura Bowen."

Laura's lovely features broke into a warm smile that made Edward feel for just a solid minute that maybe everything was going to be okay.

"So nice to finally meet you, Edward," she said. "Alexis has told us much about you."

"Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Bowen," he greeted, delicately shaking her hand. "Alexis has told me so much about you too. She said that you were the one that got her into the violin."

Laura let out a laugh. "Nah, pretty much I just opened up a magazine of different instruments and told her to point to something pretty. She pointed to the violin and it's all history from there."

"Mom!"

And it went from there. Dinner was served soon after, a meal of stuffed chicken, mashed potatoes, and candied yams. Edward chewed it slowly, managing to swallow every bite without difficulty. He reminded himself to go hunting once he returned home.

"So, Edward. Can I be nosy and ask you a little bit about yourself? Besides what Alexis has told me?" asked her mother about half way through the meal.

He caught Alexis's sea like gaze from the corner of his eye before he allowed himself to relax.

"Sure. What do you want to know?"

"Like your family. Brothers and sisters?"

The corner of Alexis's mouth turned up before Edward answered. "I have two sisters and two brothers. We are all former foster kids that my parents adopted. My father Carlisle is the head of the ER at Grant Memorial Hospital."

"Dr. Cullen is your father?" Alexis's other brother Zack's eyebrows went up. "He's a nice guy, I liked him."

"Zack was screwing around in football practice and he fell and cracked his leg open. He had to get taken to the emergency room because he started to bleed a lot," Alexis said, leaning an elbow on the table. "For someone than can toss me around like a rag doll, he sure is a clumsy oaf."

"Says you, little Miss Tinkerbell," shot back the larger Bowen.

"Break it up, you two," laughed Laura. "Go ahead, Edward."

"No, it's fine," Edward said, actually enjoying the sound of their arguing. It reminded him of those rare moments caught at home when they weren't thinking about hiding themselves and adapting to other places to avoid being discovered.

"The oldest is Emmett, and then Rosalie and Jasper who are biological twins. Then Alice and then me."

"So you're the baby of the family?" smiled Laura. "Just like Alexis."

"Oh, Mom..."

Edward's cold hand found her warm one under the table and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"How do you think the dinner is going?"

"I don't know, darling," smiled Carlisle, not lifting his eyes from the book he was reading. "I'm sure Edward will tell us when he gets home."

Esme shook her magnificent head, her topaz eyes almost glittering in the late evening light. "I doubt it."

It was then when the door opened. Both of the Cullens looked up to see their physically youngest child step through the front door and remove his jacket.

"Hello," he said, turning back towards them once the coat was resting safely among the others on the pegs.

"How did it go?" asked Esme, unable to help herself.

"It went well," said Edward. "Alexis's family is...beautiful."

"Everyone was there?" asked Carlisle.

"Yes, her mother and her two brothers were all there. The meal was nicely done. I did go hunting just a little while ago though. But they were nice people and they have a lot of love there."

"It sounds wonderful," Esme smiled.

"It was," their son confirmed with a true smile. "It really was." Carlisle and Esme smiled back. "Good night, you guys."

"Good night, sweetheart," Carlisle whispered as he gently passed by them in his bid for the stairs.

Edward climbed the stairs slowly, his thoughts burrowing around his head. Her voice was there once again.

You did good today.

I miss you.

Soon, you won't.

And how can I not?

Because you are falling in love with that girl.

Awww! Edward's in love again!

So if there is anyone out there that is still interested in this story, this chapter is about a six month jump forward. It's right after Christmas but not before the new year. Edward has finally met Laura, Alexis's mother and her other brother Dillon. They of course have been finally dating for a while and their relationship is growing, even though it's slow.

I do intend on having Alexis finding out that Edward is a vampire soon. Maybe the next chapter, I'm not sure yet.

If there is anyone out there, please review and leave me your thoughts. Anyone? Hmm?

~~~ooo~~~