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The Cullen home was mostly, if not always, quiet.
To the human eye, the million dollar structure was beautifully perfect, like the family that lived in it.
To the Cullen's eyes, it was anything but. They could see cracks in the stairs, dust in the corners of the white painted dry wall, and scratches at the slightly weathered edges of their furniture. They could hear wind sliding through the tiles on the roof and the tiny legs of insects crawling on their dark wooden floors. They had built it from scratch when they found that there wasn't a house in seclusion for them to buy in the Forks area. They lived in the middle of the forest, where, temporarily, they could fully be themselves.
Esme was sitting in a chair in her unnecessary kitchen, posture straight and head down, slowly reading through one of Carlisle's medical books, her light golden eyes looking over the words curiously. Her flipping the pages was the only sound that went through the first floor of their home. She had thought about asking Edward to play the piano for her, knowing he wouldn't object to it, but left her son to himself. He was at one of the grand windows near the living room, his posture perfect like Esme's and the rest of his family, looking out towards the forest around his home.
Edward could hear Carlisle and Alice before he saw the grey BMW sedan pull off of the gravel and onto their driveway. Alice's thoughts were a haze of excitement and pride, a flash of a brunette he'd only seen twice before flashing through her mind before she masked it with a map of Washington. It caught his attention quickly.
His sister ran up the stairs, leaving the front door open for Carlisle to follow through before stopping beside Edward. He didn't move; just stood there watching the still trees. Although he wasn't looking at her, he was listening to her thoughts.
"They still live with their old servants, who probably know so much of Rucastle's past life-"
He pulled his eyebrows together, marble skin wrinkling, giving in to his sister. "You're quoting Sherlock, why?" He asked, looking down at her. She was smiling, pretty white teeth on show, and pale pink lips twitching in happiness.
"Because I wanted to see if you were listening." She said simply.
He hummed. "I am."
Carlisle, after greeting his wife, walked towards the couch in their living room. "We went to the station, Edward."
Edward walked away from Alice, restraining himself from asking her to show him the girl again. Instead he asked Carlisle why they went to the Forks police station. None of them had ever thought about walking into that kind of establishment.
The blonde moved his shoulder up once. "Alice wanted me to go with her and visit the chief."
"And to meet his daughter." She spoke, suddenly sitting on the coffee table in front of Edward who had moved to sit beside Carlisle.
He hummed, his elbows leaning forward to rest on his jean clad knees. "That's the girl Alice has seen?"
Alice rolled her eyes. "She's not just a girl, Edward. She's your mate. Do you have any idea how special that is?"
He sat up straight, looking into his sisters eyes as he thought carefully. His sister tilted her head to the side, "Her name is Stella."
Alice thought of Stella, the image of her looking out the window in Charlie's office coming up in her thoughts. She went through what she remembered of the seventeen year old girl; her mannerisms and how detached she was of the idea of letting Alice give her a tour.
Edward stilled, the slightly blurry image projecting into his own mind. When Alice had these visions of him with a girl, a human girl, he disregarded them. It was one of multiple possibilities. There wasn't any way possible that he'd willingly branch out from his family to interact with a complete stranger, a human one at that. It was too much risk, but when he saw her that resentment melted into something he'd never felt.
She was a brunette, her eyes a lighter shade of green than anything he'd ever seen before. The picture Alice was showing him wasn't enough for him. He wanted to see her in front of him, wanted to see how tall she was and what her voice sounded like. Edward stood up, blinking away the image and disconnecting himself from Alice's thoughts. The short girl frowned, following his movements with her narrowed eyes.
Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper walked in from their hunting trip. Emmett moving to sit on one of the couches while Rosalie moved towards Esme and Jasper sat himself next to Alice.
Emmett pulled his nose up at the tension in the room. "What's going on?" He asked, big hands throwing the T.V. remote from his left to right palm.
"Edward won't accept the fact that his mate is human," Alice huffed, kicking the foot of the couch in front of her. Jasper ran his fingers down her arm in an attempt to calm her, his attempt failing when she turned her head away from him.
Edward shook his head, avoiding their eyes. "Her being human isn't the problem," he said. After a moment he shook his head. "Well, not the main one."
Alice stood, placing her dainty hands on her small hips. "Then what is the problem? From what I've seen-"
"Alice, the probability that she's even my mate isn't likely." He sighed, agitated. Stella's picture showed up in his head again, but he forced it out of his mind.
Within a second she was in front of him, trapping him in the corner to the right of the spiral stairs. "Explain why I've seen her for three months, Edward. Since the first day we moved into this town, that girls' face is the only one that's popped up in my visions and it's been driving me crazy." She pushes a finger against his chest roughly. "The fact that I saw her and she wasn't a figment of my imagination means something. You cannot disregard everything I say."
When Edward didn't say anything, she shook her head, disappointment in her eyes. "You'll see tomorrow."
Emmett watched, eyes widening just a fraction. The Cullen family barely fought real fights. The closest thing the burly vampire could relate this to was when he'd challenged Jasper to a wrestling match in the woods and lost. He hadn't spoke to the blonde for nearly a week before Esme made them reconcile.
Edward shook his head, a light scoff escaping him before he walked up the stairs to his room.
He would later wish to have believed in her.
~ THANK YOU FOR READING THIS! You all are amazing and I'm impressed at how patient you all are. Also, thank you for 18K views. That's absolutely stunning. I really appreciate it.
