Three weeks was enough. Three weeks was all it took. I didn't even need all twenty one days. Within minutes, I had completely memorized him. Every inch of him. And now that the time had passed, I would never forget a single detail of his. The slight arch in his eyebrows, the way his lips moved when he moaned my name, how amazing his body felt against mine, everything. The feeling of completion was overwhelming. I never knew how much of him I was missing until I had it, and now that it was mine, I knew that it would never end. So when the two of us decided it was time to return home, I wasn't as disappointed as I would've thought. Sure, I'd have less time with him, but he would still be mine at the end of the day, so I really wasn't losing too much.

**********

"How much longer until we're at the house?" I repeated for the fifth time in the past two seconds. Three weeks away from everybody had been slightly painful. While we were on the island I had been so busy I hadn't realized how much I missed them.

Edward shook his head. "We haven't even been married for a month and I'm already being replaced by my family and a bunch of wolves, where did I go wrong?" His eyes shined with amusement.

I sighed, playing along. "Well, you see, there's another man,"

Edwards eyes widened as the car swerved toward the other side of the road. I bit my lip as he steered into the proper lane, "I see, may I ask who it is?"

I looked down at my lap, avoiding his eyes. "Do you really want to know?"

"Yes, my love, I do." Edward removed his hand from the steering wheel and placed his thumb under my chin, forcing me to look up and meet his eyes. "Please tell me?"

I struggled for a name, one that would really annoy him. "You know that Stanley girl at school? The one who told everybody I was pregnant with your child?"

"Yes," He answered slowly. The look of total confusion on his face was hilarious; I almost gave up and started laughing.

"It's her boyfriend, Mike," I pretended to admit, looking away, avoiding his eyes.

"Newton?" He gasped. "Oh, come on Bella! Really? Is he the best you could come up with?"

I finally gave in to the hysterical laughter threatening to consume me. "I knew he'd annoy you."

Edward removed his hand from my cheek, replacing it on the wheel. "What am I going to do with you?"

"You're going to stop talking, and double your speed so we can get home faster!" I suggested, entirely serious.

He laughed. "I'm going one hundred and eighty two miles an hour, I can't drive much faster."

My lip slid into a pout as I crossed my arms over my chest. "I wasn't kidding."

Edward raised his eye brow, tearing his gaze from the road. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize,"

I snorted, not lady like, I know, but I could really care less. "And you call yourself a mind reader," I teased, allowing my voice to be seductive-big mistake.

Edward eyes visibly filled with lust, an emotion that seemed to take over both of our minds much too often-not that I was complaining.

"Pull over," I ordered. He was about to attack me, there was no way we would make it home without getting our emotions in check-where was Jasper when you needed him!?

Edward complied, his eyes avoiding mine the entire time.

"We're pathetic," I mumbled, putting the top down. Cool air whipped through the car, weakening Edward's scent. Why did everything about him have to be so bloody sexy? His scent, his hair-everything! "We can't even get home without keeping out hands off each other!"

"This is your fault," Edward smiled, I tore my eyes away from his once more, desperate to get a hold on my self control. "If you weren't so…perfect," his voice grew deeper with every word. It wasn't helping our situation, it was too much of a turn on.

"Edward," I moaned. "please,"

"Please, what?" He groaned.

My eyes rolled into the back of my head and I threw it back against the seat, my frustration too strong for words. He was so cruel! "I need you," I was begging, genuinely begging.

"What do you need me to do?" He placed his hand on my knee, inching his way up my inner thigh. Why did he have so much control? How?

"I need you to turn off the car, get over here, and make love to me," His hand was much too close to my torso for me to think straight-let alone speak. "before I lose it." I gasped.

I hadn't even been able to breathe before he was on top of me.

----------

A little later we had fulfilled our needs and were driving home once more. I will never, ever, be able to make fun of Emmett and Rose for lack of self control ever again.

Edward chuckled. "They were much worse than we are, we had to build them their own cottage…and rebuild it multiple times."

I froze. "H-how did you know what I was thinking?"

Edward's eyes widened, his heading whipping around to face me. "Bella, what do you mean? Aren't you-?"

"No. I-I'm not doing anything. You shouldn't be able to hear me. Why do you hear me? How can you hear me? You shouldn't be able to hear me." I kept repeating it over and over; there was a small part of me that believed that I was trying to convince myself. Why was he able to hear me? How?

"You really aren't…?" Edward didn't seem to grasp this. "I don't know why, are you sure you don't know why this is happening Bella?"

"Edward. I am positive. I'm not doing anything, and I don't know how-oh my god," I stifled the sob building in my chest as everything fell into place.

"Bella," Edward called slowly. "Bella, what's wrong?"

What's wrong? What's wrong? I wanted to scream. I wanted to fight, to cry, do die, to commit a murder that had already been committed by others. And I couldn't even find the words to say what I felt. I couldn't understand the whirlwind of thoughts circling through my head, the mess of emotions filling my soul. And yet Edward would know what I was thinking. Exactly what I was thinking. That hurt, caused the demented thoughts to escalate, particularly pain and confusion. The only thing I was sure of was the answer to my troubles. "I knew this would happen, even Jake knew."

James.

Just thinking the name hurt, sent what felt like a spear of fire through my heart. Yet it was slightly relieving. It let me know I was getting somewhere. His attack back in December, it must have damaged my shield. I tried to hold back the sob building in my chest, tried to hold myself together, but had no such luck. I pulled my knees to my chest, and removed my hand from Edward's, and wrapped my arms around my knees. James was gone, dead, destroyed, rekilled- whatever he was, it didn't matter. He was gone from the planet, I'd never see him again, but still he was torturing me, taking away the one thing I had always had control of. It wasn't fair! What did I do to deserve this!?

"Bella, love you didn't do anything," I struggled to hear Edward's attempts to calm me over my uncontrollable sobbing.

I wanted to believe him, with every fiber of my being, but I was desperate, not stupid. Everything happens for a reason. So there was a reason, I earned what I had gotten somehow. Although I didn't know how, I knew I did something.

"Isabella Marie," He growled. "Don't you dare blame yourself for this. I've already told you, nothing that bastard did was your fault. You did everything right, you couldn't have prevented this, and it's not your fault."

"Not true, not true, not true," I sobbed. Everything happens for a reason.

Edward refused to drop the subject. "What would you have done to earn that Bella? You've never done anything remotely bad, what's the worst thing you've ever done? Pulled a prank on somebody? Gotten into a fight? Bella, you're perfect, you haven't done anything."

I wanted to argue, but Edward kind of had a point (that or he was just rather good at convincing me) I really never broke the rules, I was always afraid or the repercussions. "I had to have done something,"

"You didn't." Edward repeated. "Bella, don't deny it, you know it's the truth."

I sniffed. "What-what if I didn't do anything yet?" What if I was going to do something, and I had to pay in advance?

"Bella, don't even think about that," He ordered.

"Edward, seriously!" I insisted. "What if, I'm going to-I don't know, what if I start killing people for blood, what if I go against everything I've lived for, what if I give into the blood sucking monster I really am, think about all of the horrible things I'll do!" I yelled, not trying to hide my fear. "Next thing we know I-I'll attack one of the wolves, what if I bite one of them? Vampire venom is poisonous to the werewolves, what if I kill Sam, or Leah, or Seth, or Jake?" I couldn't force out another word, my unnecessary breathing was on the verge of becoming hyperventilation. "I can't, I just can't face that." What if James really wasn't dead? What if he was alive? With the damage he had done to my shield he'd be able to take over my mind, he could make me do everything I feared. My existing would but everybody in danger. I shouldn't-

"Bella, Bella stop, don't even finish that thought." Edward hissed. "James is dead. You are not a monster, you're not going to become a monster, and there is ne effin way you are going to kill yourself. Don't. Even. Think. About. It."

The fire in his eyes caused me to recoil, I hadn't expected him to react so strongly. "Bella, I've already thought I lost you once. I never want that to happen again. He is gone, you are safe. Nobody is going to turn you into a massacring monster, and you're not going to do that to yourself, I wouldn't even dream of letting you. Do you understand that?" He stared at me, desperate, scared and angry.

I nodded. "Yes," I knew he was telling the truth, I could trust him. I could trust Edward with anything.

Edward didn't remove his eyes from mine. "Do you honestly believe that?"

I nodded. "I do."

His lips slid into a small smile. "Good." He kissed my forehead before returning his eyes to the road.

I smiled, relaxing against my seat once more. What would I do without Edward? "How much longer?" I closed my eyes breathing in the fresh air of rainy little Forks.

Edward chuckled. "Look out your window Bella,"

My eyes flashed open quicker than I thought would be possible. "We're here!" I shouted, sitting upright and pressing my face against the window. "Home sweet, rainy home!"

Edward was full out laughing in the driver's seat. "I take it you missed everybody?"

I whirled around to face him. "Less talking, drive faster!"

"I'm going, I'm going!" He chuckled. "Unless you want to crash you need to wait ten seconds!"
"Ten…nine…" I began counting down. "Eight…"

"Are all British people this impatient?" Edward murmured.

I laughed. "Seven, have you met my uncle? He's so bloody patient-six-I don't know how he does it! It shouldn't be possible…five…"

"Excellent point, Mrs. Cullen." He lightly kissed my temple.

"Four, Thank you Mr. Cullen...three…"

My amazing husband stopped the car, rolling his eyes and attempting to stifle his laughter. "What did I do to deserve you?"

"I don't know-two…"

"One," Edward mumbled removing the keys.

"People!" I yelled jumping over the door and out of the car, and running over to Edward's door.

Edward laughed, wrapping his arms around my waist, pulling me against his chest. "Where on god's green earth are you going?"

I frowned. "In the house,"

Edward shook his head, a smile growing on his perfect face. "That's not what I meant, my beautiful wife, besides, you're going the wrong way, the house is behind you, not me."

I rolled my eyes; Edward wasn't even trying to hide his amusement. "I'm well aware of that, however, I couldn't go in without you, now could I Mr. Cullen?"

"I suppose not, Mrs. Cullen, what would the neighbors think?" he teased.

"Well," I mused. "I didn't even know we had neighbors, but I know what Emmett would say," I couldn't stop the grin growing on my face.

"Something along the lines of I was so pathetic, you're divorcing me?" He suggested.

I laughed. "Emmet is the only person that can turn anything and turn it into a dirty joke."

"You've just realized that?" Edward chuckled. "I've been living with him for much too long, but I knew that by day one. It's one of those things you just can't not notice, just like Carlisle's compassion, or-"

"Alice's obsessive perkiness?" I suggested giggling.

Edward chuckled. "Yes, exactly like Alice's obsessive optimism."

"Or even, you're perfection," I smirked.

"I personally don't agree with you on that one, and not because I don't want to be self absorbed, but because, well I'm really not that special," Edward chuckled, the sound was pure music to my ears, it caused a smile to spread on my face and make me feel even happier then I had been minutes ago-and I hadn't known that was possible. It was the little things that meant the most. "However you, my angel are a different story,"

"I'm a different story?" I repeated. "Oh really? Is that a good thing?"

Edward nodded, his eyes wild with excitement, for some reason unknown to me, and frankly I was much to mesmerized to even consider looking in his mind and reading his thoughts. All I could think about was him. His arm wrapped around my waist, his body pressed against mine, his eyes inches away from my own, his lips even closer. "That is a very good thing," he assured me, leaning in slightly so that our lips were barely touching.

Before I could think, or breathe, or respond in any way, Edward pulled away. I opened my mouth to protest, but was immediately silenced by Edward's fingertip pressed against my lips.

"Patience, My Angel," he whispered.

My lips slid into a pout, and I made no attempt to hide it. "Patience?" I repeated. "I've had patience, weeks of patience!" I've waited years to find Edward, days to kiss him for the first time, weeks to finally relieve our deepest needs, I didn't ever want to wait for him again. "Years, even, three hundred and fifty six years to meet you, I'm not going to wait again."

Edward sighed, before wrapping his arms tighter around my waist and suddenly picking me up off of the ground, wrapping my legs around his waist, and interlocking my fingers at the base of his neck. "I'm sorry I kept you waiting, I will not do it again." He vowed, pressing his lips to mine.

I smiled against his lips, leaning into him in a desperate attempt to eliminate the space separating us. I removed my hands from the base of his neck and knotted them in Edward's hair, securing his lips against mine. 'Somebody's a little enthusiastic,' he teased, making his way towards the front steps.

'Are you complaining?'

'No, I am most defiantly not complaining,'

'Good,' Edward wasted no time in setting me back on my feet, and backing me up against the front door. His lips grew urgent against mine, his fingers untangled themselves from the roots of my hair, replacing themselves on my hips, holding my tightly, pressing me firmly against the door. I doubted I could move, not that I wanted to. "The door," I gasped.

"What about it?" he groaned.

I couldn't bare the three eights of a second that his lips weren't in contact with me (because of his speaking) whether it was my lips, my exposed skin-and at this rate-my soon to be exposed skin.

He made his way along my collar bone, sliding back the neck of my shirt so that my entire shoulder was exposed. I opened my moth to remind him that the door was in mortal danger of being smashed in. However at that moment he delicacy wrapped his lips around my earlobe sucking the sensitive skin. All of my thoughts cleared out of my head, leaving nothing in their place other then my need for him-and that possessed a much greater importance than the previous inhabitants of my mind.

"Breathe," he reminded me gently. His warm breath ticked my throat, and sending a shiver down my spine.

"Why?" I gasped. I was hyper aware of the rising and falling of my chest as I struggled to catch what was left of my breath.

Edward moaned against my neck, pressing his body even closer to mine. "Damnit, Bella, I swear you're going to be the death of me," he hissed.

I smiled. The fact that I had such a strong effect on him, it was satisfaction in its purest form. Not to mention almost laughable. "You're already dead," I reminded him, guiding his eyes away from my heart, and his lips in the direction of mine. "so just kiss me."

Edward's lips slid slowly into a guilty grin, before wordlessly complying. His lips were urgent against mine, rapidly forcing our breaths to become gasps. Though our breathing was uneven, our breaths came simultaneously, causing our chests to rise and fall together, bring our bodies closer together.

His left hand made its way down to my right thigh, hitching it around his waist. He leaned in closer, just half an inch, and that's when the door gave out.

I gasped as I heard the slight splintering of wood. The two of us froze, unable to move other then separating our lips. I hadn't truly had time to register what happened before I found myself in the middle of the living room, flat on my back, smashed between what was left of the door, and my husband. "Oww!" I yelled at the second of the impact.

I know I should have expected it, but the booming voice yelling "That's what she said!" caught me off guard. I should have known Emmet wouldn't even let us get in the door without any sex related jokes.

"Now that's just pathetic," Jasper mumbled, shaking his head. No human would have been capable of hearing him, but seeing as everybody in the living room-other than Emily- wasn't human it almost didn't matter.

"That's what she said!" Leah gasped, as she and Emmett laughed.

I joined in the laughter, taking advantage in the change of topic. Edward pushed himself up on his arms, into a one handed push up, before jumping to his feet. He leant down, offering me his extended hand. I wordlessly accepted the offer, intertwining our fingers and allowing him to pull me back to my feet.

I glanced around the room, searching for any changes in our familiar surroundings. Emmett, Jasper, Leah, and Quill were mesmerized by the television, each one of them holding a wireless controller, and laughing about god knows what, by the sounds of it they were playing Mario Kart. Emily and Rosalie were both spread out on the love seat, chatting quietly about a girls night out in Seattle (kill me?). Alice was perched on the ground, her knees pulled to her chest as she listened intently to the conversation. She didn't speak much, only when necessary, and then she would look back down at her interlocked fingers, as though they held an answer she was attempting to decode. It took me a moment to realize she was really in the present; she kept going back to her visions.

I glanced around the room in a vain attempt to find my aunt and uncle. The only other people, well beings in the room were Sam, Jacob, Embry, Seth and Kate. The last two last two were perched on the window seat on the eastern side of the room. Their hands were intertwined; their postures almost exact copies of each other. The sun was partially covered by a dark mask of wispy clouds, allowing very few rays of light to shine through the window. Oddly enough, the light fell on their hands, like a spotlight, making the obvious difference even more prominent then before. Dark russet and perfect snowy white. The sun lit up Kate's skin, making it sparkle like iced over snow, or even diamonds without any rough edges.

Jacob, Sam and Embry sat a few feet away, at the dining room table, that for some reason was in the middle of the living room. None of them were paying any attention to anything. At least Sam and Jacob weren't aware of their surroundings, Embry was paying attention to the epic battle Leah and the guys were in. "I'll play winners!" He yelled, running over to join the chaos. I silently wondered if I was the only one who found the scene in front of us humorous. I mean, Jasper always keeps his calm, even during the end of the world. Yet here he was, yelling and laughing at a piece of machinery as though it held the fate of the world in its hands.

Why was the dining room table in the middle of the living room? Sure there's really no point in our family having a dining table, but there was also no point in our family possessing a dining room. According to Jasper it was generally used for family meetings, but I hadn't been living here long enough to experience one of them.

"Alright, who broke the door down this time?" A sweet, seemingly kind voice called from the kitchen. I couldn't tell if she was more amused or angry. She seemed to be laughing, yet her voice rang with a power that was generally fueled by anger.

"Crap," I muttered. "We haven't even been home for two minutes-"

"And you already broke down the door, honestly Bella, Edward, was it truly necessary to go through the door?" Uncle Carlisle strolled into the room, hand in hand with Aunt Esme. They didn't appear to be mad, only amused. However, I had never seen either of them genuinely angry while in the others' presence.

"Not exactly necessary," I murmured, glancing at the floor. I had never noticed how interesting the floor was. It was the darkest thing in the house, dark as night in comparison to the pale pastels decorating the rest of the Cullen mansion. The grains of wood were running in a horizontal direction from my perspective, but if I tilted my head to the left-

"Bella," Uncle Carlisle chuckled. "did you hear anything we just said?"

"Um…" I struggled to see if I had retained any information, apparently I did not. "No, I did not hear anything you just said." I admitted without removing my gaze from my feet.

Aunt Esme laughed. I removed my eyes from the floor, training them on her. I personally did not see anything humorous about our current situation. Edward and I had just smashed in the front door because of our major snogging session, if it could still be considered snogging. Edward and I had been so close to-no, I would not think like that when my parental guardians were standing so close by-but why was I complaining? Less than a minute ago I had wanted nothing more than for Edward to-

"Bella," Edward hissed. "Could you possibly refrain from such detailed thoughts?"

My eyes widened and I shook my head, trying to bring myself back to the current conversation I had been in the middle of just seconds ago. "Aunt Esme why are you laughing?"

She cleared her throat, ending her laughter at once. "I'm sorry Dear, it's just that it's odd for me to be absolutely positive that one of the mind readers or psychics have told me the truth. Alice could have seen what we had said, and Edward normally checks somebody else's mind-"

"I do not!" He objected.

Aunt Esme raised her eyebrow.

"Well only a few times," He muttered.

She rolled her eyes. "What I'm trying to say is that it's nice to know that there's still some honesty in this family.

Uncle Carlisle's smile grew as she said 'family'. I had never realized just how adorable those two are. Uncle Carlisle wrapped his arm around Aunt Esme's waist, pulling her closer.

"Any chance my honesty could be rewarded by you two telling me what I didn't hear?" I bargained.

Uncle Carlisle rolled his eyes. "Esme said that you two don't need to worry you're not in any trouble.

"You're not the only ones who have broken down the front door," She continued.

"Really?" I gasped.

She nodded. "Really,"

Uncle Carlisle chuckled. "Do you have any idea how many times Alice and Jasper have broken down the front door, or even the kitchen wall, or the garage, or the car, or their bed, or even the entire-"

"Dad!" Alice squealed returning to the present. She jumped up from her place on the carpet, in the blink of an eye she was standing on the section of the floor I had been staring at for the past minute, separating me and Edward from our guardians. "Dad, you really don't need to finish that sentence. I just saw the result, there's no need to embarrass me again."

I laughed. I couldn't remember the last time I had seen Alice embarrassed."How bad can it be?"

"Horrible,' she insisted, layering on the dramatic act. "Right Jazzy?"

Jasper pulled his head out of the television for the first time. "Right Ali," he agreed. I honestly was sure he hadn't even heard what she had said. "Hey, when did y'all get back?"

I rolled my eyes. "Did you honestly just notice?"

"Yes Ma'am,"

"Jasper, did you not hear us-?"

"Holy Moses! They broke the door!" Emmett exclaimed. "They do have an existent sex life!!!"

I stared at the ground once more. Never had I been so thankful that vampires were incapable of blushing.

"Be proud," Aunt Esme whispered in my ear. "They'll tease you less, trust me."

I whirled around to find Aunt Esme and Uncle Carlisle standing behind us, as though they had been there the entire time.

Uncle Carlisle nodded his head in agreement. 'She's right,' he mouthed.

I took a deep breath, gathering up every ounce of courage I possessed."The door? That's nothing,"

Emmett scoffed. "What else did you do?"

I turned to Uncle Carlisle. 'If you love me, you won't listen to anything I'm about to say.' He nodded and I turned back to Emmett. "We broke the bed, the pillows, the hammock," I listed, trying to sound as though it was nothing. "Well, Edward bit the pillow…"

Rosalie laughed. "Honestly Edward, a pillow?"

Edward nodded, his familiar guilty, smug grin taking over his perfect lips. "Honestly Rosalie,"

"How much damage did you do to the beach house?" she challenged.

"None, we had too much fun in the water,"

Was it necessary to share that particular detail? I don't think so. "Well, that one wall needs to be redone," I reminded him. When Edward had bit the pillow it had made a horrendous mess. I was going to take a shower while he cleaned up. However he had been faster than me, and refused tolet me shower alone. Edward had backed me against the stone wall of the gigantic shower and-well the bathroom need a new wall, let's leave it at that.

"Bella, mental images," Edward reminded me.

"Really Bells, mentally seducing your husband?" Jake asked.

I laughed. "Please, like you and Leah keep your thoughts quiet when you're-"

"Oh my god, shut up!" Seth yelled, burying his head in the couch cushions.

I was going to say when they were shifted, honest Seth," I insisted.

"Oh," he muttered. "Why don't we just stop this conversation before it goes too far?" He suggested.

Alice nodded her head in agreement, she odiously didn't want our conversation to return back to our earlier discussion of all of the locations she and Jasper had caused damage to. "besides, the laundry is done." Not even half of a second after she spoke the alarms went off on the five dryers consecutively.

"Whose laundry?" I asked. Normally Alice would wash clothes once, and then take them to a homeless shelter. I actually rewashed my clothes, (well, the ones Edward hadn't ripped to shreds) and used the money she would have used to purchase my new clothes, and donated that. It just seemed more logical.

"Ours," Leah called getting off of the sofa, and relocating herself at the dinner table so that she was with the rest of the group. She flopped down on the chair with a grace that only an immortal could manage. However, I couldn't help but notice her slight…limping? I wasn't sure how to describe it. I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't seen the way she moved for the past eighteen years. I was probably just imagining things. "The pipes back at the house are broken, Esme told us to come over here and use your washer."

I nodded. That was a perfectly logical reason.

Seth, Quill, and Embry went to unload the mountains of laundry, leaving the room quieter than it had originally been.

"Did we miss anything while we were gone?" I asked.

Jacob chuckled, exchanging a glance with Leah. "Not too terribly much,"

"Basically the only thing you missed was Seth and Kate snogging every time they got the chance." Uncle Carlisle laughed.

"Not true!" The fairytale couple objected from their place at the window.

"We drew up a new treaty," Sam added on. "and played baseball,"

"New Treaty?" I repeated. "Details!"

You know Bella, when you talk like that, you sound like a gossiping school girl?" Leah teased.

I rolled my eyes, but ignored the taunt, returning to the original topic. "What does the new treaty say?" It has to be something good, right? Like giving everybody more freedom? It wouldn't require that the Cullens stayed out of La Push, would it? No! It couldn't-everybody seemed to be getting along so well! And Seth-he and Kate wouldn't be able to stay away from each other, the strength of their imprint was too strong…Did Kate even count as a Cullen in the wolves eyes? If not, then I had a whole entire layer of new unanswered questions.

"Bella, calm down," Uncle Carlisle insisted, "you look like you're about to rip somebody's throat out. Jasper, will you?"

I took a deep breath and let Jasper do his work. I hadn't felt angry-or so I thought- only worried. "I'm fine," I insisted. "Now will somebody please tell me what the bloody hell this new treaty says?"

Sam was the first to speak. "It permits the Cullens to go on our land." I think my jaw must have hit the ground, because he laughed. "Bella, it was necessary-you're one of them now. You've been on the reservation almost your entire life, we're not going to get rid of you, besides the Cullens are a trustworthy family, we didn't see any problems allowing them on our land, they just can't kill or change anybody there."

I nodded my head in encouragement. "That seems perfectly logical."

"That's exactly what I said." Uncle Carlisle smiled. "And in return they can come on our land. Not to mention we keep their identities as wolves secret and they do the same for our vampirism."

I made no attempt to hide the smile on my face. "That's brilliant!"

"You know what would be brilliant?" Seth asked. "Some help."

"Yeah," Embry called as he and Quill stumbled into the room.

I laughed, rushing forward to help them. If it weren't for their scents, I wouldn't have been able to tell them apart. They were all in jeans, and from the waist up all I could see of them was their laundry basket, with piles of laundry the size of small mountains. "Morons, why didn't you make two trips?" I grabbed half of Seth's pile before he fell over.

"I just did!" Seth pointed out. "And thanks,"

I smiled. "Any time little bro," I made my way over to the dining room table tossing the clothing on it. I turned around to see if Quill or Embry needed help, but Sam and Jake had taken pity on them.

"All right everybody, get over here and help," Aunt Esme insisted making her way over to the table.

"Esme, you don't have to-we can do it," Emily insisted.

Aunt Esme shook her head. "Too bad, the wolves-and you too- are part of this family now, and family helps family, right?"

A chorus of "Yes Mom," and "Yes Dear," came from the entire Cullen clan.

She nodded her head in approval.

"Well, if you're sure." Emily wasn't one of the first people to ask for help. I never was sure why. I always had to argue with her for a few minutes before she would let me help. The only reason she gave in was that she really had no choice.

"I'm perfectly sure, and you have to sit out this time and let us deal with it."

"I'm pregnant, not disabled!" Emily argued.

I dropped the shirt I had been folding. "You are!?"

Emily blushed. "I guess we forgot to mention that to you and Edward, sorry Bells,"

Sam chuckled. "I guess we did."

"Well-yeah-oh my gosh, I can't believe it!" I gushed. I raced around the table, gently hugging the soon to be wolf pup parents. "This is amazing!"

Emily smiled. "Yeah, amazing."

As we broke apart I noticed her rather slight baby bump. It would be invisible to humans, but I could see it perfectly.

I really couldn't wrap my mind around it. This was just one of those things that would take time for me to comprehend.

"Is there anything else, anything at all that happened while we were gone that we should know about?" Edward asked.

I glanced around at everybody present. Leah was biting her lip, as though she wasn't sure if she should answer or not. She exchanged a glance with Jacob, who nodded his head. Leah opened her mouth to reply, but closed it a second later. I wasn't going to ask her myself. I mean of course I'd like to know, but I wasn't willing to force it out of her.

"I'll take that as a no," Edward concluded, heading over to the giant mountain of clothes covering the table.

Everybody else followed suit, surrounding the table and reaching into the laundry. After a moment I realized why there was so much clothing. It was the laundry from La Push, along with our laundry. Aunt Esme had thrown it in apparently, and nobody had known till now. Emily came over a moment later so that all sixteen of us were in the middle of the work.

We were surrounded by a deafening dead silence. Nobody spoke as we worked, nobody laughed, nobody made a sound-nothing. I never thought it would be possible to do the laundry silently. Jake and I would always get into fights. Not verbal, not exactly physical. I'd tease him, and then he'd toss something at me: a t-shirt, jeans, or even a pair of underwear if I was farther away. After the invention of elastic we discovered that clothing with stretchy waistbands could be flung much farther. It would only be a matter of seconds before a full out laundry war ensued.

Growing tired of the silence I gave up on the t-shirt I had been folding and rooted through the pile in search of something stretchy. A moment later I found a pair of Jake's boxers. Lining up the waist band so that it covered my right pointer finger I pulled back the other end with my left hand. I released the end in my left hand as soon as I was sure that it was lined up with Jake's face. Half of a second later it hit him in the nose with a satisfying snap. I smiled as he whirled around in search of the culprit. I waved and he glared. 'I'm bored! I never knew doing the laundry could be so boring!'

Jacob nodded his head. 'I know, who never knew a bunch of mythical creatures could be so boring!?'

I rolled my eyes and Jacob chucked a shirt at me. 'Immature,'

His laughter was cut off by the pair of jeans I had balled up and threw in his mouth. 'You're as immature as me-and you're older!'

'By like two bloody years!' I reminded him, ducking behind Uncle Carlisle to avoid what looked like ladies underwear smacking me in the face. It whipped past me and hit Uncle C square in the face. "Loser!" Ha! Jake should know better, girls' underwear has less elastic, it doesn't fly as accurately.

"Oi! Who-who threw what!?" Uncle Carlisle stuttered.

"Jake did it!" I gasped. "Gosh, Jacob, you're so immature, grow up,"

Uncle Carlisle ignored my teasing Jacob and threw a pair of his new scrubs at Jacob.

"I'm just as immature as her!" Jake yelled shoving Quill in the way of the incoming blue blur. "We just established this!"

Quill and Jacob threw two unknown objects at me an Uncle Carlisle. We ducked behind Edward and Emmett respectively. In the blink of an eye everybody joined in the all out laundry war. There were no teams, just every (wo)man for him or herself.

I laughed as I dug through the pile, snatching up Rosalie's bra and flinging it at Emmett, hitting him in the exact point between his eyes. "Hey! Who threw that!?" Emmett glared in my direction and I shouted out the first excuse that came to mind.

"Edward did it!"

Edward was smacked in the face by a pair of jeans with such force that it actually might have hurt. I winced, but kept my mouth shut.

"Keep your hands off of my wife's underwear-you're her brother that is wrong on so many levels."

"It wasn't me!" Edward objected as he was smacked in the face with one of my bras.

I turned away from their argument to find Leah and Seth about to massacre each other with clothing. As ridiculous as that sounds, I had total faith that at the twins would be capable of doing so.

"Pick on somebody else!" Leah shouted tossing a ball of laundry in her younger twins face.

"Like who?" Seth repeated the gesture, causing a sock to land in Leah's mouth.

"Ew!" She spat the sock on the floor. "Like Emily! She's part of the family too!"

"She's pregnant! I'm not going to pick on the pregnant chick!"

"I'm pregnant, not disabled!" Emily repeated.

"She's not the only one you know," Leah pointed out. Wait, what!?

Seth laughed. "She's the only one whose capable of getting pregnant."

"So am I!" Leah yelled. "God, you're so stupid sometimes!"

Seth froze. "You're-you're pregnant?" He stuttered.

Leah froze too, her eyes widening as she realized what she had let slip out. She nodded her head, incapable of speech.

Seth whirled around to face Jacob. "Jake. I'm going to kill you." He growled.

Jake stared for a second before running out the front door. Before I could blink Seth followed him, the two of them morphing before they hit the ground. I exchanged a look with Edward before everybody ran off after them.

I wasn't too terribly worried. Wolf pups fight, it's how they play. Seth wouldn't do any major damage to Seth. It could be worse. Everything could be worse.

But it wasn't. Life was good. My families had united, and I was madly and deeply in love. Nothing could change that. I had a very strong feeling our laundry battle wasn't over, and neither was Jake and Seth's fight, but that was okay.

It was okay because I knew we'd survive. I knew we'd get through this. And nothing could change that. Because nothing is stronger than A Family's Love.

Thank you to everybody who has put up with me through this entire experience. I will have the sequel up as soon as possible.

Of course, many thanks to Race For The Clock Tower. This story would not be here without her.

Please forgive me for the long amount of time in between updates.

There is only one for thing I have to say and that is please review, and remember how important family is.

Love CullenLuva715 :)

~13