A/N: Happy St. Patrick's Day! *throws shamrock shaped glitter* I wanted to have at least all of the chapters that take place during the parade posted today, but I didn't get them finished. I suck. But here's the first one at least! :D

Many thanks to Katrin for the beta!

Disclaimer: Do not own.

Emmett

When Irish hearts are happy,

All the world seems bright and gay.

And when Irish eyes are smiling,

Sure, they steal your heart away.

I took in the sights, sounds and smells of the happy-go-lucky crowd surrounding me, tapping my foot to the music. I was so glad we'd convinced Edward to come to Chicago for St. Patrick's Day – it was always the best damn party of the year.

I took a swig of my cleverly concealed beer – Alice had poured it into a coke can – and looked around again. Everywhere it was green and sparkling and smelled of beer -- my kind of smell.

Directly across from me a drunken guy with a shamrock painted in the middle of his forehead was dancing crazily after a green balloon, which was blowing out of his girlfriend's reach. She laughed at his antics, then turned and grinned at me watching her. She lifted up her glittery, emerald green top and flashed her perky boobs at me.

Damn. I love St. Paddy's Day. And I was sure glad Rosie hadn't been around to see that. The Luck of the Irish, indeed, I grinned to myself.

I put my beer filled coke can to my lips and tipped it up to take another pull, when someone slammed into my elbow.

"Shit!" I'd spilled it all over my 'Kiss Me I'm Irish' shirt. Good thing it was unseasonably warm today, cause that shit was cold.

"Ah – Fuck! I'm so sorry! I'm so, so sorry!" a cute brunette wearing her own 'Kiss Me I'm Irish' shirt slurred in my direction – no wait, her shirt read 'Kiss me, I'm Magically Delicious'. That shit made me laugh.

"No worries, hon," I told her. She was adorable, after all, and obviously plastered.

"At least it wasn't green, cause that would stain," she said with a grimace. She stood pondering for a moment before continuing. "Although, in my opinion, it's a little blasphemous, drinking regular beer today."

"What do you mean, beer? It was only coke," I grinned at her.

She snorted. "Sure it was. Here, have some of my green coffee." She pushed a thermos into my hands.

I took it from her and had a long pull. Damn, it was better than the swill Rose and Alice had bought.

"Thanks –" I let it hang out there, waiting for her to fill in her name.

"Bella," she smiled. Pretty. Not hot like my Rosie, but cute in a girl-next-door sort of way.

"I'm Emmett." I held out my hand to her. "Emmett McCarty."

Her mouth hung open for a second. "McCarty? Are you shitting me?" She grabbed my hand and shook it vigorously. Firm handshake for such a tiny little thing – she was almost as small as Alice.

"My mother's mother was a McCarty. Where are your people from?"

"No way! Tennessee -- mountain country." I stood tall and flexed my shoulders a bit.

"My Grandma was from Tennessee, too! You're probably my cousin or something! Holy shit!" She grinned. "Have another drink, cos!"

She pressed the bottom of the thermos, signalling me to have another drink of her delicious beer.

"Dammit, Bella! There you are! I told you to stop wandering off. You scared the shit out of us!"

Two guys and a girl approached us, looking relieved. The guy who had spoken -- slight with spiky, blond hair -- put one hand on Bella's arm proprietarily and gave me a look that clearly said 'hands off'.

Bella shook his hand off her arm and turned towards her friends. "This is my long-lost cousin, Dimples McCarty!" she announced.

Jasper, Alice and Edward appeared then, holding coke cans of their own. Alice giggled at Bella's statement.

"Hey, Bella -- this is Alice and Jasper. And this is Edward," I introduced them to my new buddy. "Guys -- these are Bella and her friends…"

"I'm Mike," said the blond guy. "And this is Angela and Ben." He didn't add the conventional 'it's nice to meet you' to his statement. I could tell he wouldn't have meant it anyway.

Bella, however, paid no attention to these introductions. She was staring at Edward unblinkingly, with a small, dazed smile on her face.

I was used to seeing girls look at Edward that way – he was supposedly a good-looking guy (I had no idea if this assumption was true, being a guy myself, no matter what Alice said about still being able to tell). The thing that I was unused to was Edward looking back at a girl in the same dazed way; but right at that moment he was looking at little, drunken Bella like she was a goddess -- a goddess who had no right to be standing on a Chicago street during a parade with mere mortals.

"Hi," she finally managed to say, in a quiet, shy voice unlike the one she'd used with me moments earlier.

"Hi," Edward answered. The returned shyness in his voice was even stranger than the look on his face.

She blinked a couple times, as if to clear her eyes. I chuckled. "You're pretty," she said. "Come dance with me." And she grabbed his arm and pulled him towards a group of revellers dancing a jig down the street.

The blond guy -- Mike or Mark or whatever his name was -- glared after them. "God, I hate it when Bella drinks," he complained. "She always wanders off and talks to strangers."

"Huh, the people she's with must bore her," I said, to be a dick.

Mark glowered at me and the girl hid a smile behind her hand.

"Does she often ask strange men to dance during parades?" I asked, mostly just to piss him off some more.

He looked like he wanted to punch me, but I knew he'd never dare – I outweighed him but at least 70 pounds. Scrawny little jerk.

"No, she's never done that before," answered the girl, Angela, with a sweet smile in Edward and Bella's direction. "And I've known her for years."

Two more girls sidled up beside Bella's friends. A short, curly haired one put her hand on Mark's arm and looked up at him with longing. Oh, honey, give it up; he's lusting after pretty Bella.

"Did you guys find Bella?" Curly asked.

Mark scowled. "Yeah, she's dancing with that red-headed pretty boy over there."

I laughed loudly. What a jealous dick.

"Hey!" Alice said, indignant. "That's my brother you're talking about!"

Bella's friends ignored her outburst.

"Figures," said a blond, the other newcomer. "I'd say we leave her to her fate. I'm sick of chasing her stupid, drunk ass around."

What a bitch. Her and Mark needed to get together. I felt the need to stick up for little Bella, she was just enjoying herself and I liked the kid. She was sort of family after all. Plus, Edward seemed to like her, and my boy needed some welcomed female attention. He practically lived like a monk.

"We'll keep an eye on her," I volunteered, speaking only to Angela. "Give me your cell number and I'll find you later on.'

Angela smiled and pulled her phone from her bag so we could exchange information. Mark did not like that one bit.

"We're going to just trust this guy?"

I rolled my eyes. "Look, Mark –"

"It's MIKE."

"Mike, whatever. Bella's my long-lost cousin or something; I won't let anything happen to her."

He continued to glower at me as his friends all spoke amongst themselves.

"Well, see you later, then!" Angela said, and Bella's friends all started off. Curly was pulling Mike along after them, whining "Come on, Mike, we have dinner reservations."

Rosie came up behind me as I watched them walk away, wrapping her arms around my waist. I turned around and gave her a quick kiss.

"I brought you another beer," she said, handing me a Sprite can this time – much more festive.

"Thanks. A drunken little pixie spilled mine all over me."

"Who, Alice?"

"I am not drunk!"

Rose grinned at her. "Where's Edward?"

"Dancing with the clumsy, drunken pixie," Jasper answered, motioning towards them.

Bella was dancing quite well to the fast-paced jig, holding both of Edward's hands in hers. He was smiling down at her and trying to keep up with her quick and sometimes erratic movements. He looked up and met my gaze. He grinned widely and shrugged his shoulders, then kept on dancing.

It was almost cute, watching them. But I'd never, ever say that out loud, cause, well, I'm not a chick.

Will trade green beverages and tacky, themed t-shirts for reviews. ;)

Oh, and Edward is next.