4 Months later

"There's so many people here," said Edward, poking his head out of a flap in the draughty marquee. He pulled his head back in quickly, his breath still coming from his mouth in warm plumes, a visible sign of the cold fall day. He scratched his head comically, a caricature of confusion. "I don't remember booking a funfair?"

"We didn't," replied Bella, "the people of Greenburgh did. Somebody decided that today was as important for the town as the summer fair and all that stuff magically appeared."

"Wow." Edward stuck his head out of the flap again, keeping it out for longer this time. His words were muffled through the canvas as he reported on what "There's a hot dog stand, a carousel, some ponies…."

Bella zoned out and turned her attention back to her little cue cards. Edward had improved dramatically since his breakdown with the counselling, the anti-depressants and their lifestyle changes slowly taking effect. Recovery, however, was a long slow process so they had made the decision that they would stand up on the makeshift stage together but that Bella would deliver the speech.

"Bella!" Edward was excited now. "The concrete mixer has arrived!" Cue cards forgotten Bella stuck her head out of the flap just below Edward's in time to see a huge red truck with a slowly rotating load of concrete on the back.

"It's big," breathed Bella.

"It is," said Edward. They both observed silently as it reversed carefully across the cleared ground of what would be their factory. Huge dark slashes in the ground marked the holes that had been dug for the foundations. The concrete would fill them up, make them new and start to provide a base for the future. With the truck in location a man in a hard hat and a high visibility vest got out and started aiming the spout toward the newly dug foundations. "This is it," he said, "this is what everyone has come to see." He turned to Bella, a new found angst in his eyes. "I'm scared Bella," he said. "There are people out there just waiting for us to fail."

"Don't worry," replied Bella. She too had seen Jessica and Mike as well as a few ex business partners in the crowd. Instinctively she grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight. "I've got enough determination today for both of us."

Bella stood nervously at the side of the makeshift stage as Eric, a DJ from the local radio station got the crowd worked up. It was cold and she was wrapped up in a smart winter coat but she clearly couldn't bear to let go of her precious little cue cards and her fingers were starting to turn blue. Frowning, Edward took the cards out of her hand, slipping them into the pocket of her coat. He took her hands in his, rubbing them to try to get some heat back into them. She rewarded him with a smile. As the DJ segued from general chat to a preamble about Cullen Industries and the benefits that the new plant would bring to the local area Edward put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. She seemed grateful for the gesture, resting her head against his shoulder in a moment of quiet contemplation before the crowd burst into applause, indicating their turn to get onto the stage.

"Ladies and gentleman," she began, clear and confident. Edward's heart almost burst with pride as he looked out over the crowd and saw her commanding the attention of all. When they had been waiting the crowd had seemed like a seething blur of colour but as it stopped to listen to Bella he could finally make out detail. Renesmee was near the front, sitting on Charlie's shoulders. Charlie's friend Sue was by his side, smiling, one hand hovering near Renesmee's leg to make sure she didn't overbalance and fall over in excitement. Esme was a few rows back from the front with a friend. Since Carlisle had passed away the old bats she had lunch with had actually rallied and her social life was better than ever between the tennis club and various charitable causes. He could see Alice standing beside Esme and searched the crowd for Jasper, finally finding him at the back of the field, well beyond where the crowd petered out, walking back and forward with baby Kai in his arms. Bella had filled him in on what had happened in bits and pieces over the last couple of months and he was pleased to see them happy.

He scanned the crowd again, finally finding Emmett who was looking thoughtfully at Edward rather than at the show on the stage. He lifted his hand, waving it in greeting. Emmett smiled back, nodding his head to indicate that he approved of what they had done. Rose stood in front of him and he had his arms tight around her. The difference in their on again, off again relationship had been stark since Alice had finally dashed all hopes that they would ever be together. Rose had somehow always been aware that Emmett wasn't present with her, that he wouldn't or couldn't give one hundred percent to their relationship. Without the spectre of Alice their relationship had evened out, the highs of lust filled evenings and the lows of Rose's jealous tantrums evened out until a loving, mutually respectful relationship was nurtured. As Bella had commented, Rose was still a bitch, but with Emmett finally fully invested in things the volatility that had made her difficult to be around in the past had all but disappeared.

In a flash Bella's speech was over and the crowd cheered. The fairground rides burst back into life and the crowd started to move again. Bella stepped off the makeshift stage and although her chin was tilted strongly as he pulled her close he could feel her shaking.

Edward shut the bedroom door behind him, sitting down on the bed and pulling his laptop out from where he had stashed it under the bed. He knew he was alone, Charlie still had Renesmee at the funfair and their house warming party wasn't due to start until this evening. Still, he felt a flash of guilt as he turned the laptop on. It seemed to take forever to boot up but finally he was online, clicking on his new favourite website.

The brunette was there, bored and beautiful, dressed in a corset that pushed her breasts up, matching panties and thigh high hold-ups. She lay on the edge of a bed inspecting her nails. Suddenly aware that she had a customer she sat up, smiling into the webcam.

"Good evening," her accent was vaguely Eastern European. "What can I do for you tonight?"

"I want to see you standing up," he said. "I want to inspect you from every angle."

"Of course," she purred. She got to her feet and slowly turned three hundred and sixty degrees so that he could inspect every inch of her beautiful body. The full breasts that were pushed up so high you could almost see the tops of her nipples. The creamy expanse of thigh between the tops of the hold ups and the scalloped, lacy edging of the barely there panties. The curve of her bottom and her hips, the way that her long thick hair cascaded down her back. Finally the inspection was over and she was back facing the camera. She played with the lacy edging her panties, giving him tantalising little glimpses into the contents. His cock was a hard as a rock, knowing that he had paid for this and that she would do anything that he asked.

"Bend over," he said, his voice hoarse, mouth suddenly try. "Take your panties off slowly."

She did as he said, bending over so that her bottom virtually filled the screen, pulling down her panties so slowly that when her pussy finally appeared a gasp of pleasure escaped from his mouth. She hopped up onto the edge of the bed and onto all fours, spreading her cheeks with her hands so that he could see everything. A hand snaked back between her legs, rubbing her clit, pleasuring herself in front of him. He reached into his boxer shorts and finally touched himself, his hand pistoning up and down his cock as he watched her. She turned around again, lying on her back, legs spread for the camera. A second hand joined the party and she slipped a finger inside herself as the other continued to work her clit.

Suddenly it was too much knowing that she was just down the corridor. He got to his feet, pushed his boxer shorts down to the floor and ran down the corridor with his erection bobbing comically until he was in the guest bedroom with her.

"Bella!" As he entered the room the sight of her on the bed with her legs spread was even better than the view from the webcam.

"Sir," she said, still keeping up the Eastern European accent, "this is highly irregular."

"Fuck irregular," he said. "I need you now."

"Guys?" Edward's voice rose above the low level buzz of voices in the large kitchen diner. When only a few people turned their attention to him he tapped the side of his wine glass with a spoon until everybody in the room turned to face him. Bella was surprised, she hadn't been aware that Edward was going to make a speech. She set down her glass of white wine on a side table and watched him.

"Guys," he smiled at the crowd of assembled friends and family. "Thank you all so much for coming to our little house warming party."

"Little?" Emmett chimed in. "You've got a freaking caterer!"

"Thanks Emmett," replied Edward, smiling and looking at ease in a white casual shirt unbuttoned at the neck and rolled up at the sleeves. "I'm sure that everybody in this room is happy to eat something a little bit more sophisticated than chips and nuts." The crowd laughed. "As you all know both Cullen Industries along with Bella and myself have had a few difficult months." Nobody in the room made a sound. "The concrete pouring ceremony today marked the start of a new era for Cullen Industries whilst the purchase of this new smaller home, halfway between Forks and Greenburgh means a return to our roots for us. We thought that we were reaching for the stars but all that we gained were material goods and enemies. Having to give up those material goods has actually been one of the best things that has happened to us.. We can now see what is important. Friends, family, loyalty and love; a lot of things that I feel in this room tonight." A murmur of appreciation went around the room, as infectious as a Mexican wave. "Have a great night."

"Toast," shouted Esme in a surprisingly firm voice. Everybody in the room obeyed, lifting their glass as she declared the toast, "to Edward, Bella and Renesmee."

As the crowd started chatting again Edward walked over to Bella and took her in his arms.

"I meant every word," he whispered in her ear. "We're better together and we're going to make our joint CEO role work no matter what."

"You two," snorted Renesmee, standing off to the side in a pink party dress, hands on her hips. "Get a room." Bella raised an eyebrow at Edward, she wasn't quite sure whether Renesmee knew what the phrase meant, another symbol of the strange mix of things that made up a modern tween.

"Come here," said Edward. Renesmee did as he asked, worming herself in between them and bear hugging first Edward then Bella.

Bella held her daughter, breathing in the scent of floral shampoo from her blonde curls. Edward moved in behind her, pressing himself against her back and putting his arms around them both. It was in that moment, surrounded by friends and family and love that she finally felt genuine happiness. Edward liked to joke that it had been seeing Bella fall from the pedestal that he had put her on that had kick started their sex life again however Bella knew that it was more than that. It had taken nearly losing everything for them to unite again as a team, as a family. They had lost a lot of those material things but now that she knew what was most important in life she was never going to let it go.

Authors Note:

Well, it's been a rollercoaster ride. 100,000 words, thirty six chapters, 9 months of my life and my first piece of full length fan fiction is finally finished. Would I change anything? Of course I would! A story is a living, breathing thing and if I wasn't publishing this on a weekly basis I would probably have written and rewritten it indefinitely until I got it perfect.

The difficulty with fan fiction is that everybody already has a stake in the characters and the story. I've annoyed Edward fans by pairing Bella with Jacob. I've annoyed Jacob fans by having her stay with Edward. In short, everybody has an opinion on the "perfect" character and any deviation from that is criticised. If every author on FF listened to that criticism then the fiction on this site would largely be generic and samey rather than experimental and diverse.

Thanks firstly to Alison JG for solid beta work. Thanks also to AliciaW68 for trying to warn me that my ideas are going to generate abuse! Both are my first point of call for bouncing ideas off. Thanks to the guys who have been with me since the start, reading and reviewing. I had intended to reply to all reviews however I gave up about halfway through when I took the conscious decision to ignore rude/ abusive comments and concentrate on the story.

I'm taking a break from posting for a while but I'm already working on another, very different, piece so if you like what you have read put me on alert and see what you think. I'm also on TWCS under the same name and I'm going to debut some original work on there in the near future.

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