A/N: With this, I hit the "complete" button...*sniff sniff*...I am a little sad and a little excited about that. This is the first story I've completed in a loooong time, and I can not thank y'all enough for sharing this with me!
Final shout outs to G and L, my RL besties, whose proofreading skills are mad and whose support means everything to me! ;)
Giant props to the hubs for being super understanding and putting up with my vicious Twilight obsession!
I own...a new package of poster markers and an awesome new sweater...
I do not, nor will I ever, sadly, own...anything officially related to Twilight....
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Epilogue
Alice
"Get him, Rose!" I yelled, cupping my hands over my mouth like a megaphone.
Rosalie took off running toward Emmett, who was doing a little victory dance that was a little too obnoxious for me. Edward and Jasper cleared out of Rosalie's way, jumping from in front of an unsuspecting Emmett just as Rosalie approached. Emmett didn't know what hit him as Rosalie slammed into his side, knocking both of them into the wet sand.
"Dammit, baby!" Emmett whined, "What the hell was that for?!"
Rosalie stood up and brushed the sand off her backside and then her hands.
"Don't you know it's not polite to gloat, Emmett?" She asked, smiling. "And watch you mouth!" She pointed her finger in his face when she said that last part.
Rosalie sauntered back toward the middle of the makeshift field, her hips swaying just a bit too much and picked up the football that was laying on the ground, making sure to poke her ass up a little higher than necessary.
"Come on, Daddy C," she called to my dad, "it's time to teach your baby boy a little lesson!"
Dad laughed and waved to the boys to get back into position. Rosalie and Dad were playing against Edward and Emmett. Poor Jasper was acting as the referee, standing to the side and making sure everyone, meaning Emmett, played fair.
Rosalie crouched down, the ball in her hands, with Dad behind her, his hands readied to take the ball when she tossed it to him. Emmett mimicked Rosalie's stance while Edward stood a little ways back, ready to run.
"So, you think I'm going to let you get away with that little stunt, do you?" Emmett asked, an evil glint in his eye.
"Oh, Emmett," Rosalie sang, "that's not the only trick I have up my sleeve."
With that, Rosalie shook her shoulders just enough that the neck of her tank top fell slightly forward, revealing to Emmett a nice view of her cleavage.
"Ha ha," Emmett chuckled. "You act like I've never seen those before. I'm afraid you're going to have to do better than that, babe."
"What?" Rosalie asked innocently, looking down at her own chest, "Oh, you mean these?" She shook her boobs at him enough that his eyes kind of glazed over and his mouth dropped open a little bit.
Rosalie picked that moment to toss the football between her legs and into Dad's waiting hands. She had stood up and was running off behind Emmett before he knew she was gone.
"Jesus, Em!" Edward yelled. "What's the matter with you?!"
"Go long, Rose!" Dad called, taking a step backwards and preparing to pass the football to Rosalie.
Edward took off running toward Dad while Emmett finally moved to make a go at Rosalie. When he got close enough, Rosalie reached down to the hem of her tank top and jerked it up to her neck, taking her bikini top along with it. Emmett froze, eyes wide, mouth open.
"Come on Rose!" Jasper called, covering his eyes with his hand. "Was that really necessary?!"
"Go Rose!" "That's the way, dear!" "'Atta girl!" Bella, Mom, and I shouted from the sidelines.
Edward turned to see what the commotion was about and Dad closed his eyes while he passed the football in the air.
Rosalie let her top fall back down and easily caught the pass, making a run for the two orange cones that made up the goal posts. She crossed the line without any of the men on her heels.
She spiked the ball into the sand, just as Jasper called, "Time! Game over!"
Rosalie laughed hard, "Take that, Cullen!" She pointed at Emmett, who was still standing where she left him.
Rosalie jogged over to where Jasper was standing, trying his best to not look at her, and slapped him on the shoulder, laughing, "Thanks for the inspiration, Whitlock!"
Jasper's mouth gaped open and he looked back and forth between Rosalie and myself, stammering, "What?...I didn't...Alice, I swear I never....huh?"
"It's okay, Jasper," I called to him. "I told her about how you helped Bella beat Emmett at arm wrestling, that's the inspiration she's talking about..." I waited for my words to register. Suddenly a look of understanding crossed my sweet husband's face and he nodded, finally laughing along with the rest of us. "Now, come here," I said, "and take Annabelle for a while. She misses her daddy."
"Yeah," Bella called to Edward, "these two are dying to go swimming!" Bella gestured to the twins sitting in the sand hole in front of her.
"Carlie! Masen!" Edward called, and two copper colored, curly heads bobbed up out of the hole. Edward knelt to the ground and held out his arms. Carlie and Masen climbed out of the hole and ran into their father's arms.
Emmett walked over and fell onto the sand next to Rosalie who was finished celebrating for now and had gotten to work helping their daughter, Josie, build a sand castle.
When Josie saw her cousins in the water, she looked at Emmett and said, "Me, too, Daddy?"
Emmett reached out and gently tugged on one of Josie's blonde pigtails and said, "Sure thing, baby doll!"
Rosalie crawled into the beach chair between Bella and Mom, reaching into the small cooler and pulling out a bottle of water. The four of us and watched as the Cullen men (yes, we all call Jasper a Cullen man, too) took to the ocean with the children.
"And to think," Mom said wistfully, "two years ago, I thought I might never have any grandchildren."
The girls and I laughed at that. The vision I had gotten on Rosalie and Emmett's wedding day was of the three of us- Rosalie, Bella and me- all pregnant at the same time. I couldn't see when it would happen, just that it would. So, when I first had my own suspicions that I might be pregnant, I called a 'Cullen Women Meeting' at my house.
"So, here's the deal," I said that night as we three sat around my dining room table, "I have good reason to believe that someone in the room is pregnant."
Rosalie darted her eyes around the room, looking anywhere but at me. Bella's cheeks grew their typical shade of red, and she bit her bottom lip.
"I think that the lucky lady, whomever she is, should just come clean about it so we can all get excited!" I said, laughing on the inside.
I looked at Rosalie. She stared back at me. I looked at Bella. She tried to look back, but knowing her blushing cheeks were giving her away, she was having a hard time.
I took a deep breath and then something I wasn't expecting happened. We all three, at exactly the same moment, cried, "It's me!"
"What?" The chorus continued.
"You?" We all pointed at one another.
"Yes!" The three of us squealed.
The men only thought they were tough. Having all three of us pregnant at the same time had made for some interesting moments.
At family dinners, one of us would order something, only to get it and decide it was nauseating.
The guys made countless midnight runs for milkshakes and ice cream and peanut butter cookies.
Rosalie made Emmett stop wearing cologne, and Jasper had to change his hair products like five times because the smell of everything he used made me gag.
Poor Bella had the worst of it, though. As if she weren't uncoordinated enough already, being pregnant with twins made her klutz factor triple. She couldn't see her feet at all by five months, and the last month she stayed in the recliner in their living room, only getting out to take a bath and pee.
Of course, the pregnancies were nothing compared to the day that all three of us went into labor within hours of one another.
Bella was scheduled for a cesarean three weeks before her due date, as is the case with most multiple births. The rest of us were in the waiting area while Bella was prepared for surgery, when my water broke. I was taken into a room and before I could be completely admitted, Rosalie fell into a chair with contractions.
The twins, Carlie Marie Cullen and Edward Masen Cullen, Junior, were the first to arrive. They were obviously the smallest of the bunch, but they both had Edward's hair and Bella's brown eyes.
Annabelle Esmerelda Whitlock was born next, a short three hours later. She had spiky black hair like mine- Emmett said that she looked like a pixie Eskimo- but she had Jasper's nose and chin.
Josephine Lilian Cullen made her grand entrance just forty-five minutes after Annabelle. She had blonde fuzz on her head and when she scrunched her tiny face up, you could see the slightest hint of dimples on both her rosy cheeks.
In the two-and-a-half years since Rosalie had come into the picture, so much had changed. Our family had grown by leaps and bounds, and none of us had ever been happier.
And as I sat on the beach, with the sun going down, I looked around and realized I had a strong sense of deja vu. I closed my eyes and thought back to the first clear vision I had of Emmett and Rosalie and their future.
The women- me, Rosalie, Bella and Mom- sitting on the beach.
The men- Jasper, Emmett, Edward and Dad- in the ocean with four of the most beautiful children in the world.
The sun setting over the water. The football and the orange cones. The picnic baskets, the coolers and the blankets.
I opened my eyes and found that the scene before me was an exact replica of the one in my head.
The Cullens, all of us, together. Happy. Complete.
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End Notes: The End.
Poll still up to take your ideas for the next one...
See you soon...
:) ~cb