Welcome :)

Well, here it is. The second home for Stay.

All of the chapters are up and linked over on the side down there; beneath the disclaimer and the summary. Once I get the one-shots and outtakes written, those will be posted too. Until then, for now, it's just the main story.

Enjoy, leave me comments if you so wish and have fun! :)

Don't forget to check out the links I have listed here too. Especially the Spoilt Rotten blog if you haven't already; it's full of wonderful and amazing girls and TSO is the one that convinced me to start this blog to begin with. So go and show them all some love.

<3 Crimson

Epilogue

*Bella*

"What are you still doing here?"

I looked up, blinking rapidly as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, to see the redhead I'd hired three months ago standing in front of me with her hands on her hips and her head tilted to the side.

"Huh?"

"Your man is coming home today!" Leslie laughed, throwing her arms out to her sides and shaking her head incredulously at me. "Get out of here!"

I quickly looked at the clock on the computer screen at my elbow and sat up straight in the chair, my eyes wide.

"Oh my God!" I exclaimed, shoving the papers covered in numbers from the past month into the right folder and jumping up. "I have to go!"

"Yes, you do. I'll close," she said, quickly rounding the long counter and shooing my hands away. "You go."

I grinned at her and hugged her tightly before grabbing my purse and cell phone and running out of the store with a promise to see her in a few days.

It was the middle of May and Edward was finally coming home from his movie shoot in Canada. I had so many things planned, so many things that I needed to do before he came home and I was already running fifteen minutes late.

I hurried out into the street in the middle of rush hour, quickly dialing in the right number and pressing the phone to my ear as I crossed the street and made my way over to the parking lot.

I'd settled in to California as best as I knew how. I still wasn't used to the attention and driving on the five-lane roads terrified me, but I was adjusting as best I could. Being here for four and a half months or not, it was still taking a hell of a long time to get used to this shit.

I missed Rosalie and Angela more than I thought possible but we had worked out a system for our phone calls. Every Friday night before they went out, they'd get together at Angela's house and I'd call in to talk to them for about an hour. They'd tell me all about what wasn't happening in our little town and kept me updated on the gossip that was apparently running rampant about me and Edward. I missed our Friday nights with a passion.

Emmett had moved out to New York to be with Rosalie in March and Edward had taken up calling to harass him regularly. I found it highly amusing – especially since Emmett hadn't let off of Edward for chasing after me. Rose, however, didn't appreciate any of it. And she wasn't all that fond of Edward still, either. He'd quit being an actor initially, yes, and she was rather peeved that no one had told her about how I'd made him go back until we were in a rousing game of Uno.

She hadn't been very happy about that, either. But between Emmett and myself telling her that no matter how much she bitched about it, it wasn't going to change anything, I think she was finally starting to get it.

Seth called me regularly and always asked when I was going to send him a ticket so that he could come and visit us. Sue was still loving the bookstore and my father was… my father. Nothing much had changed with them and I missed that more than anything.

Edward and I had already made arrangements to go back and visit for the fourth of July weekend and I couldn't wait.

Alice and Jasper had made the move in February and she'd helped me out a lot when it came to finding everything that I could possibly need. She'd even gone so far as to rent two storefronts and say that I could have the other one that she just accidentally happened to purchase at the same time.

Yeah, because Alice Whitlock is someone who does anything accidentally.

But I hadn't had the heart to turn her down when she batted her eyes at me and said that it would be her welcoming gift to me. Plus it was in a really perfect spot. I was now ten times busier than I could've ever imagined being and while my head wasn't anywhere close to being above water when it came to finances, at least I was drawing customers.

Plus, it kept my mind busy while Edward was away.

I visited him as often as I could, but it wasn't easy and we didn't get nearly enough time with each other for understandable reasons. Instead of frustrating the hell out of both of us, we stuck to long ass phone calls as many times a day as we could and I threw myself into the bookstore.

I'd hired four of the best employees I could've ever asked for and let Alice and Tanya drag me out to Rodeo Drive whenever they felt the need.

Which was really fucking often.

Tanya – whom I'd met almost immediately after landing with Edward in January – was a sweetheart. Sure, she had expensive taste and had lived in Hollywood a bit too long, but she had easily accepted me and had kept me entertained when Edward had to catch up on everything he'd missed during his visit to "make things right" with me.

Jeannie had gleefully tortured him with multiple interviews and photo shoots and anything and everything that she could think of that he'd missed. I think she just liked stressing him out as much as he'd stressed her out.

As much as I'd love to tell myself that everything in my life was perfect, it really wasn't. Edward and I argued over stupid shit when we were stressed – like why neither of us had made the bed that morning or why one of us hadn't called when we were supposed to – and we were constantly being photographed or hounded by someone as we left the condo. Edward was splashed on the cover of so many tabloids that claimed he was cheating on me almost weekly that it wasn't even funny anymore. A few months ago, I'd even read that they'd gotten hold of Jessica Stanley for a comment on me and now it was altogether very possible that all of Edward's fans really hated me. I might've had a few on my side before the article came out, but after she told the horribly skewed version of the premiere she attended, I was officially the bitch that was trapping Edward into a relationship. It was absolutely amazing how many times I could be pregnant without looking the part.

It wasn't easy being in this kind of a relationship, but we always knew what was important at the end of the day.

Us.

Even if I forced him to sleep out on the couch or he wouldn't let me apologize to him no matter how long I sat on the other side of the room staring at him and fighting off tears – I may have wanted his forgiveness but I wouldn't force it from him – we were both fully aware of how much we loved each other.

We were no different than any other couple out there in the world and just because he was Edward Cullen didn't mean a damn thing to me. So there were tens of thousands of girls claiming to be in love with him upon first sight and he had to kiss and have sex scenes with actresses ten times prettier than I was, but he still left socks on the floor and he still burned things when he tried to cook.

Most importantly, he still came home to me.

"Alice, are they ready?" I asked, cradling the phone against my shoulder as I shook my keys out of my purse and unlocked my car.

Yes, I had my own car. It was something that I was still getting used to; I missed my truck like one of my arms had been cut off. But since I refused to have anyone cater to me and drive me around to wherever I wanted to go just because of who I was dating and our condo was too far away from the store, Edward had insisted on buying me a brand new car.

A silver Volvo that looked eerily familiar to the rental he'd had while in New York that he used more than I did when he was home. He had a gorgeous car in the parking garage of our building and he chose to use the damn Volvo.

I didn't understand men at all sometimes.

"Yep! They should be at your door when you get home," she chirped. "And you've given me inspiration to make an entire line for this so thanks!"

"As long as these pieces are one-of-a-kind," I stated, flopping down into the seat and throwing my purse into the passenger seat.

"I gave you my word. Now get going; you're late."

She hung up on me and I sighed, rolling my eyes as I jammed the keys into the ignition and slammed the driver side door. I dropped the phone into the passenger seat as well, hastily backing out of my parking spot and pulling out onto the road.

I made it back to the condo in record time, speeding into the parking garage and pulling in next to Edward's Aston Martin before I grabbed my stuff and jumped out of the car. I ran to the elevator and hopped on as the doors immediately opened, leaning back against the wall and blowing out a deep breath.

I always felt anxious and nervous whenever he returned from being away for longer than a few days. He'd had to go to France for some damn thing that Jeannie had roped him in to at the end of February and the store had just opened so going with him wasn't an option. By the time the week had ended, I was almost bouncing off the walls waiting for him to walk through the door.

I hated being away from him for long periods of time. I knew that it was going to happen and I was mostly okay with it. After the first few days without him, though, it started to get really hard. I'd go to work wearing one of his shirts or I'd shower and use the extra bottle of his shampoo I'd bought just for that purpose.

It was insane how much I missed him when he was gone.

And he'd been gone for almost two months this time. The two visits I'd managed hadn't nearly been enough to quench my need.

I practically ran off the elevator when the doors opened, skidding to a halt when I saw the telltale pink and silver striped boxes leaning against the door. Dancing a little, I grabbed them and unlocked the door, slamming my way inside and kicking the door shut behind me.

I put my purse on the small end table near the door and dropped my keys into the bowl on top of it, hugging the boxes to my chest as I flicked the lock and danced into the bedroom. I turned the light on and toed off my shoes, setting the boxes on the bed before shaking the top off of the first one.

I grinned, picking up the midnight blue silk and lace corset to hold it out in front of me. I'd asked Alice to let her imagination run wild with it – which would normally scare the shit out of me on any other occasion – and it had worked to my advantage.

Squirming excitedly, I set it back in the box and grabbed the other one, shaking the top off of that one and pulling out the floor length off-the-shoulder dress of the same color as the corset. Biting my bottom lip, I grinned and held it against me before dancing out of the bedroom and into the bathroom.

I couldn't wait for him to get home.

~*~

I stood in the center of the living room with my bottom lip in my teeth as I heard his key in the door.

The corset and matching thong were surprisingly very comfortable and the dress looked pretty damn good on me. I'd managed to curl my hair without burning myself – as I'd so often done in the past – and had managed to walk around in the heels Alice had buried in the bottom of the dress box without killing myself.

Everything was perfect and he was home.

I held my breath as the door opened and clasped my hands in front of me, watching as he dropped his keys in the bowl with mine and let all of his luggage fall from his shoulders and onto the floor. He was looking down at all of it and I could practically hear him cursing it in his head. He finally shook his head and I watched as he reached up to run his hands through his hair.

"Bella?" he called out, stepping over his luggage.

I bit down on my bottom lip a little harder to keep from calling out to him and had to bounce on the heels of my feet a little to keep from running over to him and throwing myself into his arms.

"Bell—"

He finally looked up and his hands fell from his hair as his eyes met mine across the room. I watched the slow smile spread over his lips and released my lip from my teeth, twisting my hands together.

"Hi," I said softly.

"Hi," he said just as softly, his lips twitching to the side.

We stood there, both of us smiling like idiots for a few moments before he crossed the room in three easy steps and had me in his arms and his lips against mine. My hands immediately went to his hair and I opened my mouth to his, pressing myself against him and moaning quietly.

And there it was. That spark, that amazing jolt that I always got when we were reunited to let me know that I was exactly where I was supposed to be. He was my home, he was my life and no matter how far apart we were or how long it took to get us together again, it would always feel like this.

"I missed you," he mumbled, "so fucking much."

"Me too."

He placed his hands on my face, gently tipping my head back so that I could look up at him. I grinned, untangling my hands from his hair and dragging them down his chest, resting on his stomach as his thumbs circled my cheeks.

"You are absolutely gorgeous," he whispered, shaking his head slowly. "And I don't know how the fuck I survived without you for this long."

I reached up and grabbed one of his wrists with my hand, turning my head and placing my lips on his palm.

"It wasn't a piece of cake for me, either," I whispered, placing one more kiss against his palm before turning my head again and leaning my cheek into it. "You're…"

I reached up with my other hand and placed it on his cheek, feeling my eyes water for absolutely no fucking reason.

"Hey, hey, hey," he whispered, leaning down and resting his forehead against mine. "None of that. I'm home, I'm here…"

"Thank God," I breathed, wrapping my arms around his neck and capturing his lips with mine again.

His arms quickly wound around my waist and he pulled me tight against him, his hands splaying out on my back. His tongue traced my bottom lip and I immediately opened my mouth to his, our tongues meeting and twisting together. I felt his hands curling into fists around the back of the dress and smiled, breaking away from him.

"Not that I mind," he breathed, licking his lips, "but why are you so dressed up?"

"I wanted to look nice for you," I said softly, kissing his bottom lip gently. "I missed you."

"Oh, Bella, you have no idea," he whispered, shaking his head and breathing out a laugh.

"Maybe a small one."

"Mm, yeah, okay."

I laughed and stepped up, kissing him again.

"Make love to me, Edward," I whispered against his lips.

He moaned softly, his hands tightening in the fabric at my back before he released me. I reached out a hand to him and he grinned, shaking his head as he placed one arm behind my back and the other underneath my knees, lifting me up. I squealed, laughing and quickly wrapping my arms around his neck, burying my face against his throat as he walked towards the bedroom.

And the distance meant nothing. The time apart meant nothing. The tabloids and their skewed visions of what they thought they saw between us meant nothing.

Here, this moment and all the ones that were just like it, meant everything. We were Edward and Bella and we'd managed to overcome everything that had been thrown at us up until this point. We weren't perfect and we never would be, but we were exactly what the other needed and nothing was ever going to get in the way of that.

And that was the way we were always going to stay.

~*~

*Edward*

I leaned against the doorway of our bedroom, my arms crossed over my chest as I watched Bella's body move with each deep breath she took. The light from the hallway behind me was shining directly on her, illuminating her bare back and still curly, messy hair, her pale skin standing out against the black silk of the sheets I wasn't aware I'd owned before tonight. One of her arms was curled underneath her and the other was held out at her side.

I'd been under that arm a few minutes ago. I'd had her gloriously wrapped around me and pressed into me and the rest of the world had simply ceased to exist to me.

I smiled softly, leaning my head against the doorjamb as well and crossing my ankles over each other.

She was still here. She was waiting for me when I came home in a dress – with one of the most amazingly constructed matching corsets underneath it – that made my mouth water because she loves me and missed me just as much as I'd missed her.

The past month without her had been one of the worst I'd ever had to deal with. I'd known that it was going to be hard, but only seeing her twice since March had been something close to torture. And then not being able to really spend much time with her while she was there had me almost begging her to let me quit.

Bella was so much more to me than the career path I'd chosen and I'd gladly throw my hands in the air and be done with all of it if she'd let me. If she wanted to go back to her largely private life in New York, I'd gladly follow her. I'd get a regular job – maybe go back to school to become the doctor my father had always wanted me to be – and I wouldn't regret a single second of it.

I didn't need the glitz and the glamour and the polished sheen I'd had slapped on me every time my presence was requested at a red carpet event. What I needed was Bella in my life and if that meant leaving all of this behind, I'd do it.

But she still wouldn't let me. She said that she was adjusting, she was getting used to how everything worked and she loved the bookstore. She didn't want to leave and she'd reminded me that once this movie was finished, we had plenty of time together until the promotion for the movie needed to start picking up.

Then I was going to fucking get on my hands and knees to beg her to come with me when I needed to fly out of the state for any damn reason. She had an amazing team at the bookstore and they were more than capable of running things for a few days.

Pushing myself off the doorjamb, I padded over to her sleeping form and carefully slid onto the bed, leaning down and pressing light kisses against her perfect shoulder blades.

I leaned over her, bracing each of my hands on the sides of her and began to make a slow trail with my lips down her spine, stopping at the small of her back when I heard her breathing start to get heavier.

"Mm," she mumbled, taking a deep breath.

I smiled, trailing my lips back up and gently kissing the back of her neck once I'd reached it, pushing her hair out of the way and slowly letting my hand drift down the path my lips had.

"Edward," she breathed, slowly turning over onto her back.

I quickly kissed the length of her collarbone, making my way down as my hand trailed lightly over her stomach, making small patterns on her smooth skin and absolutely fucking elated at the way her muscles contracted at my touch.

Her breath caught in her throat as my mouth made its way to her breasts, kissing them thoroughly before I took one of her nipples into my mouth.

"Oh," she whimpered, one of her hands making its way into my hair and curling into a loose fist.

I switched sides, my hand reaching up to cup her other breast as I gently used my teeth on her nipple.

Her back arched and she brought one of her legs up, placing her foot flat on the mattress as her breath continued to accelerate.

I smiled, flicking my thumb over her other nipple and very satisfied when I heard the low moan sound out of her throat.

"Yes," she breathed, her fist getting tighter in my hair before I moved back up to her neck.

"I love you, Bella," I whispered into her ear, slowly climbing on top of her and easily settling in between her legs.

"I love you too," she breathed out, her back falling onto the mattress as her other hand joined the one in my hair.

I ran my hand down her upraised thigh, slowly grinding my hips against hers as she threw her head back into the pillow.

I trailed my fingertips over the back of her thigh, slowly moving my hand in between her legs and listening as she moaned and whimpered underneath me, her hips thrusting up against mine when my fingers danced around her center.

"Please," she whispered, one of her hands trailing from my hair and down my back to rest on the waist band of my boxers. "I need you."

I turned my head, placing soft, slow kisses against her jaw line as I slowly ran one finger up and down.

Her hips bucked into my hand and I smiled, gently nipping at her jaw line as I finally slid two fingers inside of her. She moaned, throwing her head back into the pillow and moving her hips in sync with my hand.

"More," she moaned, her hand pulling at my boxers.

"Patience, love," I whispered into her ear.

"Ran out of that," she breathed, her thumb hooking into the waist band and slowly pulling them down.

I laughed against her neck, moving up and capturing her bottom lip in between mine. Her mouth opened and I quickly met her tongue with mine, speeding up the movement of my hand and gently flicking my thumb against her clit.

She moaned loudly, arching her back as her hips continued to move against my palm. She had one side of my boxers down, abandoning them as she wrapped her arms around my waist and dragged her fingernails down my spine.

I moaned into her mouth, loving the way that she seemed to lose control with me, and shifted my hips against hers. This only elicited another loud moan from her, her fingernails digging into my back as her hips started to move a little faster.

"It's so good to be home," I whispered, pulling away from her and leaning down to rest my forehead on her chest.

Her hands immediately dragged up my back, her fingernails leaving delightfully painful trails until she finally dragged them into my hair and pulled just enough to have me getting impossibly harder against her.

If that was at all possible.

"I never want to be without you again," I whispered, tilting my head to drag my lips across her collarbone again.

I felt her clench around me and moved my hand a little faster, my thumb rubbing over her clit as her back arched off the bed again. Her moans became louder, interrupted only by my name falling off of her lips as I felt her burst around me.

She collapsed back into the bed, her chest heaving and her eyes closed tightly as I moved my hand from in between her legs and grabbed her upraised knee. I quickly slid my boxers down my legs and kicked them off, placing feather light kisses against her chest. Shifting myself just enough, I wrapped one arm around her knee and slowly slid into her, my eyes rolling back in my head at the mere feeling of being inside of her again.

Tight, warm, completely sheathed and fucking happier than hell about it, I was exactly where I always needed to be. I was home; even after all this time and the months apart, Bella was still home to me.

"Oh, Christ," I moaned out, leaning down to bury my head in her hair.

"Don't you dare stop," she breathed out, still gasping for air as she shifted her hips up to mine and moaned.

I slowly started moving my hips with hers, one of my arms still wrapped around her knee as the other anchored me above her.

"Look at me," I breathed, leaning up and moving my hips faster. "Bella, open your eyes and look at me."

Her hips matched my pace and her eyes slowly opened, meeting mine as her mouth fell open in a loud moan.

And there was nothing fucking sexier than having her eyes locked with mine while she did that. I leaned down, my hips working against hers as I fused my mouth to hers and tightened my grip on her knee. I felt her heel digging into my side, looking for purchase somewhere and quickly moved it over my shoulder, bracing my other hand on her other side.

She broke away from me and threw her head back into the pillow, the broken moan sounding out of her throat only driving me to go that much faster.

"Edward," she moaned, one of her hands grabbing onto my shoulder and the other curling into a fist in the bed sheets. "Faster."

I moaned at her words, my eyes rolling back into my head again as I did as she asked, the familiar tightening and coiling starting in the pit of my stomach.

"Bella," I moaned out, crying out hoarsely when I felt her intentionally squeezing her walls around me.

If she kept doing that, there was no way in hell that I'd be lasting as long as I wish I could.

And God knows I never wanted this to end. This was where I always wanted to be.

I threw my head back, grunting and moaning loudly when she started shaking beneath me, her breath sobbing out of her chest as her fingernails continued to dig into my shoulder.

"Look at me," I demanded again. "Bella, look at me."

She tilted her head up, her eyes snapping open and meeting mine once again, her breathing still labored and her lips parted.

"I love you, Bella," I whispered, hissing in a breath and reaching up to run my hand down her thigh, gently kneading her skin.

“I-I love you too,” she moaned, her fingernails digging into my shoulder. “Oh, God.”

“Keep your eyes on me,” I demanded, thrusting into her with every word. “I want to see you.”

“I’m almost… Edward, I’m so…”

“Yes,” I whispered, digging my fingertips into her thigh and bunching my fist into the bed sheets by her head. “With me, Bella, come with me.”

I kept my eyes on hers, uncurling my hand from the bed sheets and blindly searching for hers before linking our fingers together and squeezing her hand, raising them above her head.

She started to close her eyes and I increased the tempo of my thrusts, making them sharper and slightly harder until her eyes snapped open to meet mine again.

“On me, Bella,” I breathed. “Your eyes on me.”

“I’m…”

“Yes,” I whispered again, untangling our hands.

I dragged it down her arm, over her shoulder and sides and finally in between us, my thumb easily finding her clit and eagerly rubbing against it.

The sounds that escaped her throat as her hips started to buck against mine caused every little thought in my head to disappear, the coil releasing and bursting forth as I felt her clench down around me, her back arching off the bed and both of our eyes closing.

I collapsed on top of her as her back hit the mattress again, our chests working against each other as we breathed heavily. We were still connected and there was absolutely no way that I wanted to move from her, from this spot, from exactly the way we were right now.

I turned my head into her shoulder as my breathing calmed and placed gentle kisses on her neck and up to her cheek, barely grazing the side of her mouth as she continued to breathe heavily.

“You okay?” I whispered, bringing one hand up to place it on her opposite cheek.

She nodded, turning her head to press her lips against mine. She reached up to place one of her hands on the back of my head and I felt her breathing start to even out again.

“I’m fucking perfect,” she whispered, breaking away for a second before kissing me again.

I laughed, sucking on her bottom lip before propping myself up on my elbows and looking down at her. She smiled lazily up at me, reaching up to frame my face in her hands and run her thumbs down my cheeks.

“I’m so in love with you, Edward Cullen.”

I grinned and I swear that I could feel my heart getting just that much bigger, as if it was going to make just that much more room for her in there.

As if my heart wasn’t completely hers to begin with.

“And I,” I whispered, bending down to kiss her again, “am so in love with you, Isabella Swan.”

“I don't ever want to go that long without seeing you again.” She brushed her nose against mine before kissing me once more. “I don't ever want to leave your side again.”

“Marry me,” I whispered.

My eyes widened and I watched as hers did the same, both of us completely freezing and staring at each other.

Had I really just said that? I hadn’t meant to.

I knew it was going to happen eventually and I knew that one day, I was going to marry this girl.

I just hadn’t anticipated proposing to her while I was still connected with her.

I didn’t even have a ring. I didn’t have a ring and all of the ideas I’d had when I thought of proposing to her hadn’t happened.

No rose petals, no candles, no chocolate dipped strawberries; none of that was present. In fact, I’d just woken her up by practically jumping on her and now, while I was still comfortably inside of her, I’d just proposed marriage to her.

“Bella…”

“Yes,” she breathed.

I blinked at her.

She just said yes.

She said yes.

We were engaged.

We were going to get married.

I was going to spend the rest of my life gloriously tied to this woman in every single possible fucking way.

“Yes,” she said again, her voice stronger. “Yes, Edward, yes!”

I laughed, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and pulling myself down to her, fusing my mouth to hers and rolling us onto our sides.

“You wanna be with me forever?” I whispered against her mouth.

“Longer than that,” she whispered back, her lips curving underneath mine as she tangled her hands in my hair. “So much longer than that.”

I laughed again, running my hands over her back and trying to pull her as close to me as possible.

Not that we could really get that much closer, but it was worth a shot.

“I’m yours, Edward,” she whispered, kissing me again. “I’m completely yours.”

I buried my nose in her neck and kissed her shoulder, thinking that the smile on my face wasn’t going to ever go away.

And I was perfectly okay with that.

“How are we going to tell everybody that this was how it happened?” she asked softly.

I laughed again, shaking my head and looking back up at her.

“We make something up.”

She bit her bottom lip and looked up at me from underneath her lashes before throwing one leg over my hip and pulling me close to her. I moaned breathlessly when her action caused me to move even deeper inside of her.

“Better get on that,” she whispered, rolling on top of me and slowly starting to move her hips back and forth over mine.

I quickly grabbed her hips, throwing my head back into the pillow behind my head and closing my eyes tightly.

And even as we both reached our releases again, all I could think about was how this woman was going to be mine for the rest of my life. I was going to be waking up to her, falling asleep with her and making love to her whenever the hell we both wanted it.

I knew that it wasn't always going to be peaches and cream and it wasn't always going to be the way it was now, but I knew that it would be worth it.

She was my life and she was here to stay.

The End.

Back

Thirty Seven

*Edward*

"You are a thousand times worse than Jasper could ever even think about being!"

I groaned and turned on my side, reaching out with one arm to find cold sheets next to me instead of the warm little body that should've been there.

"Fuck you," I grumbled. "Where's she?"

"She had errands to run and left me here alone with you."

He plopped onto the bed next to me and I groaned in pain, quickly wiggling my arm out from underneath him and opening one eye to look up at him.

"I hate you."

"Mhmm, I know," he said conversationally, leaning back against the headboard and crossing his arms over his chest. "And like I said, you're worse than Jasper could even aspire to be."

"Where the fuck were you all night anyway?" I grumbled, rolling onto my back and covering my face with my arms. "Bella and I were up until four."

"I don't need to hear about your sexcapades."

Oh, if only that were true.

"You were put on this earth to torment me, weren't you?"

"Yes."

"What do you want?" I whined. "Emmett, I've got a shit ton to do today."

"You are not still in California. You are in New York, patching things up with your woman and really, you have nothing to do today."

"Shouldn't you be packing something?"

"Packing's done."

"What?"

"Yep. Everything that she needed packed is done. She's just tying up all her loose ends or some shit like that."

"Oh."

"I, unlike you, have actual plans," he continued, his voice light and, if I wasn't mistaken, extremely fucking happy.

"What plans do you have? You don't know anyone!"

"I know Rose."

I slowly lowered my arms from my eyes, opening both of them to look up at him and see the shit-eating grin on his face. Like he'd just won the fucking lottery or some shit.

I knew that look.

"Oh my God," I moaned, shaking my head and turning my back to him to pull the pillow over my head. "You two hated each other, I thought. How did this happen?"

"Hey, I saved your ass from the fishing line, bro. Some thanks would be nice."

"Get out of my bed," I groaned, doing my best to smother myself with the pillow.

"I was supposed to wake you up three hours ago."

"Well, I'm up. Now will you get out?"

"Yes, because Rose will be here in about an hour to pick me up and I need to get ready."

"Now who's pathetic?"

I ended up on the floor when Emmett pushed on my back, successfully hitting my head on the buckle from my belt that I'd left on the floor last night.

"Oh I hate you so much," I mumbled, rubbing the back of my head.

"I know this. We're all doing dinner tonight. Her father and step-mother and Rose and Angela and Ben want to say goodbye to her."

"Okay," I grumbled, still rubbing the back of my head as he peeked over the edge of the bed and grinned down at me. "What?"

"You are beyond whipped."

I glared at him.

"You learn what's important real damn quick when you fuck up," I grumbled, sitting up and resting my elbows on my knees.

"She actually handled it pretty well, you know. She didn't freak out like I figured she would've."

"She's stronger than you give her credit for."

"I'm finding that out." And then his hand was on my head, roughly shoving it back and forth. "Grow some balls, though. Damn. She was still telling me to pack when she got off the phone so she was obviously going back to you."

I roughly shoved his arm away and glared up at him again.

"I didn't hear from her for an entire day, Emmett. I was running out of options."

He sat up, shaking his head as he crawled off the bed and smirked at me.

"You need to have some faith in her, too, man."

With that, he walked out of the room and left me glaring after him. Bella and I had had this discussion last night and I was aware of that. She had every right to be upset that I was the one who immediately thought that she'd blow everything out of proportion and it was something that I promised to work on.

It wasn't easy trying to rid my brain of the natural responses that the other girls had when I'd dated them. Yes, Bella was different in all the right ways, but after an entire year of this happening with most of my relationships, it was really hard to let go of it.

But I'd meant it when I said that the possibility of actually losing her had put everything into perspective for me.

I'd told her that I wasn't doing more than one movie a year and after a lot of arguing about it, she'd finally agreed to it. She'd countered with opening her own bookstore and hiring enough people that she could really trust to run the store so that she could still travel with me when she wanted to even though I half-heartedly insisted that she didn't need to.

She insisted on meeting Tanya, which I wholeheartedly agreed with and I promised to stay as far away from Victoria as possible once Bella had confided that she was uncomfortable around her.

It wasn't such a huge sacrifice to begin with.

We still had a long way to go and we knew that everything was going to be different again once we were back in California, but we felt stronger this time. I'd felt connected and tied to her before, but after last night, it was all so much more.

We'd gotten everything out in the open and even though we might not have liked certain points of the entire conversation, at least we were fully aware of how we each felt about everything.

She didn’t like the crowds and wasn't sure she could ever really get used to them. I didn't like how she downplayed everything she felt when she knew it would hurt my feelings.

They were small things, but now we both knew everything. They were things that we could work on over time and we could do it together.

"Edward?" I heard her voice float through the doorway and immediately looked over the bed.

She was standing in the doorway, one hand running through her hair and the other on her hip as she looked around the room. She was wearing a simple white t-shirt and a pair of old torn jeans, but she looked perfect.

"Bella," I breathed, grabbing onto the edge of the mattress and pulling myself up.

Yeah, all right, I spent all of last night and a good portion of this morning with her, but I'd woken up without her. And hell, every time I saw her, it was like a weight had been lifted off of my chest and I was… well, whole again.

She smiled over at me, tilting her head before walking over and draping her arms over my shoulders.

"Why were you on the floor?"

"Emmett," I grumbled, grabbing her around the waist and hugging her tightly.

She laughed softly and buried her face in my chest, her arms tight around my neck.

"My house is up for sale," she said quietly, resting her cheek on my chest and absently trailing her fingertips up and down my spine.

"Is that a good thing?"

She nodded, backing away to look up at me and smile.

"It's a very good thing."

I leaned down and kissed her softly.

"Sue and my dad are going to take my truck tonight after dinner so that nothing happens to it," she continued when I pulled back from her, "and Angela said she'd check on the house if you wanted her to. Just to make sure that everything is okay while we're gone."

"It probably wouldn't be a bad idea, huh?"

She shook her head and I reached up to brush hair off of her forehead before placing a small kiss there.

"What about the things you had left in your house? What did you do with them?"

"There's a thrift store down the road." She shrugged a shoulder and stood up on her toes to kiss the bottom of my chin. "They were more than happy to take a chair and my television."

"When did you have plans of flying out?" I asked softly.

"I made arrangements this morning for us to leave on the twelfth. Rose and Angela want me to go out on Friday and I'll need a few days to recover from that."

I nodded, already mentally trying to figure out what it is that I could do for an entire night. She deserved to have one more night out with her girlfriends before she disappeared to California with me.

"You're coming with us," she whispered, leaning up to kiss me softly.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded, smiling at me.

"It's the last chance we'll all get to be together on a Friday night. You've gotta come with us."

"All right."

She smiled and kissed me again, her eyes shining brightly up at me as she bounced up on her toes a few times. I laughed and shook my head at her before sucking in a deep breath and briefly pressing my lips together.

"I know that you've answered this already, but Bella, are you sure?"

She reached in between us to grab the sides of my face, bringing my head down so that we were nose-to-nose.

"I want to start our life together, Edward," she said softly, "and I want to do it as soon as possible."

I slid my hands down her sides, grabbing onto the back of her thighs and lifting her up. She quickly wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck, our eyes locked the entire time as we moved and shifted.

"I love you, Bella," I whispered, leaning forward and brushing my lips against hers.

"I love you too."

We'd said it more times than I could possibly imagine in the past twenty-four hours and every time, I still got a small thrill running down my spine from it.

"Shower with me?"

She smiled and nodded, kissing me softly.

"I already took one this morning but I guess I can never be too clean."

I laughed and kissed her again, carefully starting to walk towards the bedroom door with her in my arms and my lips on hers.

As long as I didn't run us into the wall, we were good.

"Oh, seriously?" Emmett screeched from the bottom of the stairs as I walked us into the hallway. "At least wait until I'm out of the house!"

"My house," I managed before walking into the bathroom. "Do what I want."

Bella laughed and reached out, slamming the door behind us.

Oh yes. This was a damn good way to start out the day.

~*~

Bella pulled up to the huge pale yellow mansion set back off of the road a few hours later and I gaped up at it, completely awestruck that something like this existed in Lake George, New York.

It had to be at least three stories high with a wrap around balcony on the second floor, long windows extending from the bottom floor to the second with crystal chandeliers clearly visible through them. I could see Rosalie and Emmett in the living room, wrapped up in each other and probably still arguing with each other because he was literally squirming in her arms.

He was gone by the time Bella and I had gotten out of the shower and since we'd only been wrapped up in one very large towel, it was probably a hell of a lot better that way.

"She lives here alone?" I managed, looking wide-eyed over at Bella.

She laughed and nodded, shrugging as she turned the truck off and opened her door.

"Rose likes the finer things in life."

"Well then I have absolutely no idea what the hell she sees in Emmett," I grumbled as I opened my door and stepped onto the snowy driveway.

It had started snowing when Bella and I had been in the shower earlier and while the news had said that we weren't expecting any big snow storms anytime soon, the ground was already covered in a thin blanket of it. I didn’t even want to think about what would happen if it got any worse out.

Bella laughed and rounded the front of the truck, coming up next to me and linking her fingers with mine as she led me up the walk and towards the intricately detailed front door.

"I honestly didn't think they'd even get to this point. You should've heard them, Edward, I swear to you," she laughed again, shaking her head. "They made me want to swear off children."

I looked over at her, raising an eyebrow as I quickly shook my hand from hers and wrapped my arm around her waist.

"You still feel that way?"

She smiled and shook her head, standing up on her toes to kiss me quickly.

"No."

"Good," I mumbled, kissing her again. "Because I want babies and I want babies with you."

"When the time's right."

I nodded and smiled, backing away from her to brush the end of my nose against hers.

"Not tomorrow."

She laughed again and shook her head, kissing me once more before placing her hand on the doorknob and twisting.

"Not tomorrow."

I followed her into the open room and followed her lead as she toed off her shoes and hung up her coat on the rack beside the door. They were clearly oblivious to our arrival and when I heard Emmett moan, I closed my eyes tightly.

"Please, dear God," I whispered, looking up at the ceiling.

Bella looked behind her and pressed her lips together in an attempt not to laugh before reaching out and grabbing my hand in hers.

"Hi guys!" she shouted, leading us further into the room.

They both jumped and stopped attacking each other but didn't move from the other's arms. Rosalie looked annoyed, glaring at me while Emmett just looked like an idiot.

A happy idiot, but an idiot with a comically large grin on his face despite the situation.

"I see all was forgiven," Rose said coolly, finally stepping away from Emmett to incline her head regally in my direction.

I inwardly sighed and squeezed Bella's hand, watching as Emmett made himself very comfortable on one of the cream colored couches behind him.

"Don't you dare start," Bella said quietly, pointing to her with her free hand. "It was a misunderstanding."

She sniffed before turning on her heel and storming into the kitchen. Sighing, Bella shook her head and stepped up on her toes to kiss my cheek gently.

"I tried telling her, Bella," Emmett said casually, draping one arm over the back of the couch and shrugging his shoulders. "But she wouldn't listen to me."

"She's never listened to you, Emmett," she sighed, shaking her head again. "Why would she start now?"

"You don't wanna know."

He wiggled his eyebrows and I felt the shiver pass through Bella and into me before she kissed my cheek again and disappeared after Rosalie.

Shaking my head, I slowly made my way towards Emmett, sitting down on the couch next to him and looking around suspiciously for anything resembling a spool of fishing line.

"You're safe. I made her promise that she wouldn't try to kill you tonight. Threatening you, however, is completely allowed."

I glared over at him and he shrugged innocently, grinning.

"It was the most I could do."

"Which also means that it was probably the very least that you could do, right?"

"She's very persuasive!"

"Mhmm," I mumbled, smirking and shaking my head as I leaned back on the couch and closed my eyes. "I'm sure she is."

"Enjoy your shower?"

"Very much, thank you."

"You can't really still be tired, Edward."

"You weren't woken up by an annoying older brother comparing you to your brother-in-law, were you?"

"I can't wait to tell everyone about this."

I heard him clap his hands and rub them together and I rolled my eyes, opening them and leaning forward to rest my elbows on my knees.

"I did what needed to be done," I finally said quietly, sparing him a glance. "And it worked out for the best."

"You're still so beyond whipped that I'm gonna be talking about this for years to come."

I reached up and rubbed my forehead with my fingertips, shaking my head and sighing heavily.

"I really hate you."

"Yeah, I'm used to that."

We both looked up when the front door opened and I tensed even more – if at all possible – when I saw Angela and Ben walk in, snow in their hair and laughter on their lips.

If Rose hated me, I didn't even want to think about what Angela thought of me right now. Sure, she offered to check on the house while we were gone, but it was probably just in favor to Bella. I hadn't heard much of her side since arriving, but I could only imagine that she would be about as happy to see me as Rosalie was.

"Ben! Dude!" Emmett exclaimed, jumping off the couch and walking over to them.

I didn't know how they knew each other already, and shook my head to clear it. That wasn't something that I was really all that concerned about at the moment.

I swallowed hard and wiped my suddenly sweaty palms off on my jeans before standing up.

"Rose, it was a damn misunderstanding and nothing happened! Stop this!" I heard Bella yell from the kitchen.

I heard Emmett and Ben talking about something involving sports as they continued to stand in the doorway and I looked down at my feet, not willing to look over at Angela to see the purely disgusted look on her face.

Maybe I should've stayed home. This was for Bella and I didn't even ask if I was included in all of this. I could've made a few calls that needed to be taken care of before we went back to California. Or, hell, I could've called my mother. Anyone, really. I even would've called Jeannie back to listen to her scream at me for my dumb ass running off on her if it meant that I didn't have to be the ass who ruined a goodbye dinner for my girlfriend.

"Hey."

I jumped and looked over to see Angela standing next to me. I swallowed hard and offered her what I hoped was a smile.

"Hey."

"You all right?"

I looked over her head when I heard something slam in the kitchen and sucked in a deep breath.

"I didn't do anything wrong, Angela," I said quietly.

She placed a hand on my arm, rubbing up and down as she smiled softly and nodded.

"Rose likes to make things worse than they are, Edward. She'll get over it."

I nodded and licked my lips.

"She's a little bitter about Bella leaving, but she knows that it's what's best for her. I really hope you weren't expecting an easy road when it came to her."

"And how do you feel about it?"

"She's happy." Angela nodded and smiled again, squeezing my arm before dropping her hand. "And that's all I'd ever want for her."

I quickly wrapped my arms around her shoulders and hugged her tightly.

"Thank you," I whispered into her ear.

"Shit, Bella, look at this!" Rosalie exclaimed.

Of course she'd walk in right at this very moment. Why would I expect anything differently?

I sighed heavily and backed away from Angela, reaching up and running my hands through my hair as I stared down at my feet again. I should've just stayed home.

"Are you being serious, Rosalie?" Bella seethed. "It's Ang!"

"And he's all…"

"He's thanking me for not being a massive bitch," Angela said easily and I watched her out of the corner of my eye as she smiled innocently at Rose. "No harm done."

"I don't understand you!" Rosalie exclaimed and I looked over at her to see her throwing her hands in the air. "There were pictures…"

"Of him walking down the damn street, Rose! It's not like they caught him making out with her!" Bella exclaimed, reaching up with one hand to rub her forehead. "Can we not talk about this anymore?"

"I just don't get it!"

"I didn't do anything!" I exploded, throwing my hands out at my sides and finally turning to face her. "I spent the night with a friend!"

I'd had enough. This was bullshit. She was accusing me of something that didn't even concern her and she was trying to make Bella see her side. I did not travel all this damn way to find out that Bella really was the perfect fucking woman for me just to have it turned around on me by Rosalie.

This was my future she was trying to destroy and I wasn't going to deal with it anymore.

As if the media and paparazzi weren't enough to make it a big damn deal to begin with, now I had to contend with Bella's best friend about all the doubts that she had? I wasn't dating her, thank God, I was dating Bella. And Bella was the only one that had had enough faith in us not to freak out on me like she said she wouldn't.

"An ex-girlfriend!"

"Who spent the whole damn night talking about some other guy's ass! You weren't there; you don't know what the hell happened so you have no right to make any kind of accusations!"

"You're an actor! You can baffle her in bullshit and she won't know the difference until someone shows up on your doorstep claiming to be pregnant with your child!"

"Rose, come on," I heard Emmett say from behind me.

"I flew all the way over here and quit my fucking job for her! Why the hell would I even think about someone else?"

"You quit?" everyone but Bella and Emmett echoed.

I kept staring at Rosalie, my blood close to boiling and my hands clenched into tight fists as I swallowed hard.

"Yes, I fucking quit because it wasn't worth losing her over it! If my job cost me the best thing that's ever happened to me then I wanted no part in it! So don't fucking tell me that I'm just an actor," I sneered at her.

"I didn't…" she started and I vaguely registered that she didn’t look as pissed off anymore.

It didn't matter to me right at the moment, of course, because she'd done a really good job at pissing me off.

Fuck, I don't know how Bella – and now, my poor brother – put up with her.

"No, you didn't know because you didn't even give me the fucking chance to explain anything," I seethed. "You just assumed that I was the asshole that thought I could actually do something like that to her."

"Edward, I'm…"

"I really don't want to hear it," I grumbled, turning on my heel and starting towards the front door.

I bypassed a rather shocked looking Ben and Emmett and barely resisted the urge to turn around and punch whoever it was that grabbed my wrist before I was able to make it to the front door.

Spinning around, I relaxed minutely when I saw Bella with her bottom lip in between her teeth and a slightly scared expression on her face.

"Come on," she said quietly, her voice shaking slightly as she tugged on my hand.

Guilt creeping into my chest as she turned and hooked her hand in mine, I followed her back through the living room and down a hallway that led to a staircase. We were both quiet as we walked up them and then down another hallway. I continued to follow her as we made it to a set of sliding glass doors and out onto the balcony I'd seen from the front. She pulled me out and closed the doors behind us as I walked to the railing and leaned against it.

It was still snowing and freezing and here we were, out on the balcony in nothing but our sweaters and my diminishing temper.

I closed my eyes tightly when she stood off the side.

Great. Scare her off, why don't you? Christ, I'm an idiot sometimes.

"Bella, I’m sorry," I said softly.

I heard her footsteps crunching on the snow and swallowed hard when I felt her hand on my back.

"Don't be," she whispered back, resting her head against my shoulder.

I quickly turned and wrapped her tightly in my arms, burying my head into her neck and tangling one of my hands in the ends of her hair.

"I didn't mean to scare you."

"I thought you were gonna hit me," she laughed into my chest, burying her nose into my shirt.

I swallowed hard and shook my head fiercely, fisting my hand in her hair.

"I'm sorry."

"You really need to stop apologizing for things that you didn't do," she said softly as she tilted her head and rested her chin on my shoulder.

"Well, I'm sorry for yelling at Rose, then," I said quietly, reaching up with my other hand to cradle the back of her head.

"Don't be sorry for that either," she laughed, pressing a small kiss against my ear. "That was pretty fucking hot."

I forced out a laugh and squeezed her tightly, taking a deep, shaky breath.

"This isn't turning out to be such a good night, is it?"

"It'll get better," she said confidently, nodding and kissing my ear again. "Just calm down a little and we'll go back in."

"Maybe I should've stayed home."

"If you stayed home, I stayed home."

"This is your dinner."

She shrugged and I smiled, shaking my head and taking a deep breath.

"You're here and I go where you are. So if you hadn't come tonight, then I wouldn't have either."

I huffed out a breath and shifted her in my arms, quickly capturing her lips with mine and curling my fingers into her hair. Her arms wrapped around my neck and I pulled her against me, tilting my head and kissing her more forcefully.

I pulled away when I felt her shiver in my arms and rested my forehead against hers, slowly opening my eyes.

"I really do love you so much, Bella."

She stepped up and kissed my bottom lip softly before stepping back down and cupping her hands around the back of my neck.

"Ditto."

I laughed and shook my head, kissing her one more time before standing up straight and sighing.

"I guess we should…"

I looked over at the door and trailed off when I saw Rose standing on the other side, her hands crossed in front of her and her eyes pleading as they met mine. Bella craned her neck around to find out what had stopped me and I watched as Rose held her hands up in surrender.

Bella turned back to me, dragging her hands down from my neck to rest on my chest.

"Let her talk?"

I looked down at her and ground my teeth together, nodding stiffly at her.

"Go inside," I said softly, relaxing my jaw and leaning down to kiss her forehead.

"You can't kill her."

"I won't."

But I smirked at the thought. Maybe just a little strangulation… that really wouldn't be all that terrible would it?

"I mean it!"

"I promise," I laughed.

She huffed a little and smirked at me, shaking her head before stepping up to kiss me softly. She turned back towards the door and slid it open.

"Bella, I'm sorry," Rose said quickly. "I'm just…"

Bella merely nodded and reached out to grab Rose's wrist in her hand.

"I'm not the one you really need to apologize to."

With that, she slipped by Rose and walked inside, leaning back against the opposite wall and wrapping her arms around herself. I watched as Rose took a deep breath and stepped outside, sliding the door closed behind her. She turned completely towards me, her hands tangled around each other and her eyes darting from the floor of the balcony to my face.

I raised an eyebrow at her, crossing my arms over my chest and waiting as patiently as I could.

And it really wasn't fucking easy, either. My patience with her ran out about the time she accused me of cheating on Bella with Angela of all fucking people.

"I didn't know," she started. "And I don't ask before I accuse most of the time. Bella's like my sister and you're… were an actor. It's like an instinct to protect her from you."

"She doesn't need protection," I ground out through my teeth. "She's strong enough on her own."

"I know that," she snapped, dropping her hands. "You have a sister. How'd you feel when she met her husband?"

All right, she had a point. I'd immediately disliked Jasper upon first sight. He was too blonde, too much of a smart ass, doted on Alice too damn much. She needed someone who was going to put her in her place when it was called for; not someone who was going to bow down and kiss her feet each time she walked in the room. But he balanced out her excitable side and it was obvious to everyone within a six mile radius that he loved her. And I really couldn't argue with something like that.

I nodded my acknowledgement and watched her force herself to relax.

"I know she loves you and you obviously love her more than I gave you credit for." I could almost hear her swallow her pride as she said, "I'm sorry."

I nodded again, letting my arms drop to my sides and hooking my thumbs into my jean pockets.

"Thank you."

She nodded before quickly turning on her heel and sliding the door open again.

And I wanted to throw myself off the balcony when I saw Charlie standing next to Bella in the hallway.

I definitely should've stayed home.

"Edward," he greeted, nodding his head at me. "Mind if we have a few words?"

Sure. What the fuck. I'll just stay out here for the rest of the night and freeze my ass off while everyone airs their personal opinion of what I didn't do that was so incredibly wrong.

"No, sir," I mumbled, my shoulders falling as I leaned back against the railing and stared down at my feet.

He stepped out onto the balcony and I looked up when he held out his hand and offered my jacket to me.

Fuck, he'd had this planned. And it was going to take a while if he was handing me my coat.

"Thanks," I said as I took it from him and quickly slung it over my shoulders.

I looked up as he slid the door closed to see Bella still standing against the wall, a small and what was probably meant to be encouraging smile on her face.

It terrified me.

"I want you to know that I'm not happy about this," he stated gruffly, looking out at Rose's snowy backyard. "Bella moving out to California is probably one of my worst nightmares."

"I'm gonna make sure that nothing happens to her, sir."

"If I didn't believe that, Bella would be in a jail cell in Albany where you couldn't get to her, Edward." I twisted my lips to the side and watched as he huffed out a deep breath. "But you seem to make her pretty happy so…"

He turned to me then and I held my breath, gripping tightly onto the railing of the balcony in preparation… just in case he shoved me off and made the decision a hell of a lot easier for Bella.

"Take care of her or I will hunt you down."

And with that, he turned and opened the door, walking back into the house and out of my sight. I started breathing again, gaping at the spot he'd just been standing in as I lightened my hold on the railing and closed my eyes tightly.

I flinched when I heard another set of footsteps crunching in the snow and held my breath again.

I couldn't take much more of this.

"Breathe, please," I heard Bella's soft voice say from in front of me.

My eyes popped open and I quickly grabbed her shoulders, pulling her against me and burying my face into her neck as she laughed and wound her arms around me inside of the jacket.

"Is anyone else going to verbally attack me tonight?" I grumbled.

"No," she said quietly, still laughing as she rubbed her hands up and down my back. She tilted her head and kissed my neck. "Sorry."

"It's okay."

"You ready to go back inside? I think dinner's almost done and Seth has been yelling for me to get downstairs since they showed up."

I stood up straight, raising an eyebrow as I looked down at her.

"Who's Seth?"

"My step brother," she smiled, moving her arms from my jacket to reach up and frame my face with her hands. "No one to worry about."

I huffed and leaned down to kiss her once again.

"No one is safe anymore," I mumbled against her lips.

"I'm safe," she mumbled back, her hands slowly threading back through my hair. "And you're safe."

I smiled, sucking her bottom lip into my mouth and tracing it with my tongue.

"And that's all we really need to know," I whispered, breaking away from her momentarily.

"Mhmm," she hummed, sliding her tongue in between my lips and effectively cutting off any further conversation between us.

"Really? On the balcony? In the snow? Bella, you don't even have a damn coat on!" Emmett exclaimed.

I groaned and pulled away from her, closing my eyes and resting my forehead against hers.

"I hate you," I breathed.

"Yes, I'm aware of this. But dinner's done and Seth's talking about Uno later so… move it!"

Bella laughed, kissing me once before moving her hands from my hair and grabbing one of mine.

"You've got me for the rest of your life, Cullen," she smirked as she pulled me back into the house. "Give everyone else a night."

And with those words, the night was immediately just… perfect. I hadn't been verbally assaulted by Rosalie when I walked in the house, her father hadn't threatened me if I didn't make her happy and Emmett hadn't interrupted a kiss that had the potential to melt away ten different kinds of stress.

Because right now – this moment right now – was the official start of my life with Bella.

And there wasn't a damn thing that anyone else could say or do that would make this feeling – this feeling of being home and complete – go away.

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