The O'Malleys

[Delilah O'Malley]

Delilah sat on her fainting couch, flipping through a magazine. She was still upset about the surprise her parents had sprung on her. She loved her parents with all her heart but since Tabitha had been born things had changed. Delilah was especially irritated now, as she had to abandon her favorite reading spot since they had moved in and Tabitha had taken over the bay window downstairs.

There was a knock on the door to her room. She barely glanced up before turning her attention back to the magazine in her hands.

[Rebekah O'Malley]

"Delilah?" Rebekah knock on her daughter's door. There was no answer. Sure she was in there but still pissed about the events of the week she opened the door and stuck her head in. Delilah was there, so she came in, shutting the door quietly after her. She came and sat on the end of Delilah's fainting couch.

"Honey, I know you're mad but you have to understand where your father and I are coming from." She said. When Delilah said nothing in reply she continued. "I don't know what it is about Tabitha that you dislike but I want you to try and get along with her, if for no other reason than to make your father and I happy. Tabitha really looks up to you Delilah, yet you blow her off all the time. It's ridiculous." She said, her voice coming across much sharper than she had intended but she had reached her breaking point, which was a lot for Rebekah who was the calmest member of their family.

[Delilah O'Malley]

When Rebekah said it was ridiculous Delilah's head snapped up from her magazine. She saw how serious her mother's expression was. She set the magazine down on her end table and looked her Mom in the eyes. "I'm sorry. She's changed everything though. Dad's so different with her!" She said, realizing her arms were crossed and that she looked like a small child throwing a fit and she uncrossed them. "I just don't know how to even try to talk to her, Mom." She paused, realizing that for the past few years, she really had acted like an ass. "I'm sorry, but if it makes you and Dad happier, I'll try."

[Rebekah O'Malley]

"You're right hun. He is different with her. He's awkward." Rebekah laughed. "He doesn't know how to connect with her. You know how long it's been since you were little and she's grown up faster than you too, so he's had a hard time adjusting." Rebekah smiled and took her daughter's hand. "It's all we're asking for hun." She smiled. She was so proud of her daughter. "Now your dad is insisting on decorating a little before the Cullens come over. I think you grandfather is rubbing off on him when it comes to get-togethers." She laughed and shook her head.

[Delilah O'Malley]

"Now that's a scary thought." Delilah replied when her Mom said that her Grandfather was rubbing off on her Dad. Her Grandfather was the center of a large group of vampires in Canada. He was a very old vampire and often had huge get togethers. Delilah had been the center of many of these after she was changed too, as her grandfather tried to find her a proper man to marry, but they always turned out to be sleazy.

"We better get downstairs before he gets carried away." She said, shaking her head and getting up so they could head downstairs.

[Rebekah O'Malley]

Rebekah laughed as she and Delilah left her room. "At least he's not trying to marry you off to some," she paused and began to mock her own father's voice, "nice young man." She laughed and shook her head as they walked downstairs. The last of her and her husbands things had been put away in their large master bedroom on the ground floor so the living room was now clear but when they came to the last step of the stairs they were assaulted with the scent of fresh flowers.

"Umm, don't you think you've overdone it on the flowers dear?" She asked her husband with a wrinkled nose.

[Tabitha O'Malley]

"Please. Like it will matter once that dog has been in here." Tabitha snapped with an eye roll. "It's going to take us a week to get the smell out. I can't believe he's coming too. This is ridiculous!" She ranted as she hung a new painting they had gotten in the living room. "I don't even know why I bothered to vacuum!"

[Rebekah O'Malley]

"TABITHA! THAT IS QUITE ENOUGH!" Rebekah shouted. "The Cullens are our guests and Jacob is a part of that family and if you refer to him as a dog one more time I guarantee you, you will regret it." She was furious with Tabitha's attitude since they had moved. "I understand shapeshifters take on a strong smell of their animal but that is no excuse to act like they are any lesser because of it. I know you've been raised better than that!" Rebekah continued, walking towards her youngest daughter.

[Ardal O'Malley]

Within seconds Ardal was between his wife and youngest daughter. "Let's just calm down." He put his hands up to both of them. "Tabs that is not appropriate and you know it." He said, looking Tabitha straight in the eyes. Then he turned to his wife. "Bekah, love, it will be all right. She knows better than to speak like that when the Cullens are here." He said, sounding more confident than he felt. He was worried about how Tabitha was going to act. "Right Tabitha?" He asked, without looking at her.

[Tabitha O'Malley]

"I-I'm sorry." Tabitha said, looking at the floor. "Yes, I know better." Her mother had never taken such a tone with her and it made her immediately regret what she had said. She was just so frustrated with this move to Forks. When the Cullens were there the rest of her family was going to be surrounded with others of their own kind, just like it always was. There would be everyone who was changed into a vampire and then even her mother would have another half vampire around. Once again she would be an outsider. She was fed up with being an outsider.

[Delilah O'Malley]

"Hey Tabs, you wanna go for a walk with me?" Delilah jumped in. She had rarely seen her mother so upset and wanted to give her and their dad a few minutes to themselves. She turned to her parents.

"We'll be back in a few okay?" Delilah said, barely waiting for Tabitha to answer as she began to usher her younger sister out of the living room through the front door.

[Tabitha O'Malley]

Tabitha nodded and headed out the door with Delilah. After they had walked into the woods near the house a little she broke the silence.

"I'm sorry D. I just, this is still all so new to me." She stopped. "It's just everywhere we are, I'm always an outsider. At least back home Mom is the only one of her kind too. But here there's even another half vampire." She bit at her bottom lip. "I just don't know how deal with it." She looked back up ad Delilah. "And I really want to impress you D and I just feel like I'm a nuisance and it sucks!" She blurted.

[Delilah O'Malley]

"Tabs, calm down." She pulled her sisters face up by her chin so she could look into her eyes. "You are not a nuisance." Delilah closed her eyes. She felt like such an ass. It was just that Tabitha was such a surprise to the family that it caught them all off guard and Delilah had been an only child for a century and suddenly she wasn't.

"I'm sorry Tabs. I have been so unfair to you and I'm sorry, so, so sorry." She shook her head, ashamed at her own actions towards someone who looked up to her like Tabitha did. "I was being a spoiled brat. Plain and simple. You deserved to be treated better by your older sister."

[Rebekah O'Malley]

Rebekah looked at Ardal, tears filling her eyes. "I have never in my life." She said, unable to see through the tears that had built up in her eyes. "I-I-" She shook her head. "Oh Ardal, what have I done?" She sobbed.

[Ardal O'Malley]

Ardal smirked and shook his head. "You told them what they needed to hear. And for once you beat me to it." He chuckled. He pulled his wife to him and hugged her. "There's nothing to get upset about. They're not going to love you any less for losing your temper. How many times did I yell at Delilah when she was younger and she still loves me." He kissed Rebekah's head and then stepped back from her to look her in the face.

"So you lost your temper, so what? It's going to be okay. D will take Tabitha for a short walk and talk to her and when they come back it will be like it never happened. Trust me, I'm the one usually doing the yelling and lecturing remember?" He kissed her.

[Rebekah O'Malley]

Rebekah smiled. Her husband had a way of making her smile or laugh even when that was the last thing she felt like doing, even after all these years. "You're right." She kissed her husband. "I guess I just surprised myself a little there." She had just been so upset with how the girls were behaving especially on a day where they were having another family over to introduce themselves and hopefully make some new friends.

It was unusual to run into another vampire family that chose to settle down like they had, especially far away from Rebekah's father. He lived in a part of Canada though that was more populated with vampires and humans were rarely seen, unless they were on the verge of becoming a meal. While her husband, children and parents were vegetarian the rest of the vampires they knew were most definitely not.

"Is there anything else we need to do to get ready?" She asked, taking a look around the house.

[Ardal O'Malley]

"No love, I think Tabitha and I got it all." He pulled his wife to him and wrapped his strong arms around her. "There's nothing to worry about. Delilah has had classes with the Cullen kids all week and she trusts them, and you know she doesn't just trust anyone." Well that and she was always a pretty good judge of character, even without using her ability. Ardal thought.

He was so proud of his eldest daughter. He knew parents weren't supposed to have favorites but he did. Delilah was so much like him, even in her ability and he cared for her so much. He tried to make up for his favoritism of Delilah by buying things for Tabitha, not because he thought it was appropriate or would work but just because he had no idea what to do.

[Tabitha O'Malley]

"I'm sorry too D. I don't mean to act hatefully. I'm just frustrated. It's hard to be the only one of your kind and NEVER fit in." She lunged and hugged her sister. "I just need a reminder once in a while that I'm being a brat." She stepped back. "You just have to remember that just because I look like I'm in my late teens and that I'm a quick learner and everything but I'm still only 6."

Tabitha had everything pretty well under control until she was upset or frustrated, then she had a hard time trying to control her temper and emotions, probably like any other young child. It was another reason she was frustrated. All the half vampires she knew, granted that was only her Mom and what she had heard of this Cullen girl, were always so calm and had always been that way, so why did she find it all so hard to control?

"I suppose we better get back. The Cullens should be here any moment." She said, checking her diamond watch Ardal had bought her.

[Delilah O'Malley]

Tabitha's hug caught her off guard and knocked her back a step. "I know." Delilah said, but it was hard to remember when Tabitha was pitching a fit that she was so much younger than she appeared. "Yeah we better get back." She agreed.

"You'll be fine." Delilah assured her little sister as they made their way back to the house. "We all lose our temper once in a while, so you needn't feel like an outsider." She hoped that made Tabitha feel a bit better, though it was true that everyone lost their temper occasionally she knew that Tabitha struggled with hit more than the rest of the family, but she was sure, or rather she hoped, she would learn to control it better soon.

[Rebekah O'Malley]

Rebekah and Ardal waited for the girls to come back. She occasionally went to the kitchen to check that the food was already for those who would be eating dinner.

Rebekah breathed a sigh of relief when the girls returned to the house. They were both smiling and seemed to be in great moods.

"Girls I'm really sorry about losing my temper."

[Delilah O'Malley]

"What are you talking about?" Delilah asked her mom, winking. She knew Rebekah was stressed and that most of it was her and Tabitha's fault. They deserved to be yelled at. Hell they deserved more of an ass chewing than they got to be truthful. Delilah was just surprised that it was her mom that lost her temper and not her dad. He wasn't quick it anger but compared to her mother he was.

When she saw the surprised look on her mom's face she smiled. "It's cool." She glanced at Tabitha and looked back to her mom. "We're cool."

[Tabitha O'Malley]

"Yeah what are you talking about?" She asked, helping to illustrate that she and Delilah had made amends. She nodded in agreement when Delilah said they were cool. Tabitha was pretty well ecstatic that she and her sister were finally on the same page.

"Do you need any help with Dinner mom?" She practically skipped to the kitchen. She had felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders after her talk with Delilah.

[Ardal O'Malley]

Ardal worked hard to keep from laughing at the confused look on his wife's face when his daughters acted like they had no idea what Rebekah was apologizing for. He hugged his wife with one arm.

"See what did I tell you?"

"We've got dinner. Well your mother has dinner under control." His tastes didn't seem to fit a normal person's palette anymore, as he proved one nigh in an attempt to be romantic and cook dinner for Rebekah which turned out to be a complete disaster. "I think you girls better get changed. The Cullens should be here any minute."

After the girls headed upstairs to their rooms to change he turned to his wife.

"I think it's a good thing we've moved away from your parents." He shook his head. Since when was a dinner such a formal occasion? He asked himself.