CPW: This is it.
Risbee: The end is nigh... more at the end.
Summer after First Year of College
EPOV
"Did you want to do the Jack the Ripper tour? It now comes in Ripper Vision… whatever the fuck that is?" I asked Bella as we sat at a small cafe in the heart of London, flipping through guidebooks and trying to determine what to do next.
Even as I sat there, thousands of miles away from Seattle and exploring England with Bella, I couldn't believe we were here. It had all come about so quickly that as soon as the semester was over, Bella and I moved our stuff back to Forks, had two days to pack and then were back in Seattle boarding a flight.
Bella had seen a flyer in the library promoting cheap trips to Europe and the moment she mentioned it to me, I was sold. She had done some tutoring during our second semester and saved up almost a thousand dollars for the trip and I may have begged for flight money from my parents as an early birthday gift. I had some money saved up from filming a few random bar mitzvahs and some campus events, which I knew would cover most of my expenses, but not the flight.
Our parents were surprisingly encouraging about the entire thing, even Charlie. Bella, in her own dramatic fashion, kept insisting that she would go by herself if she had to and he then jumped on the bandwagon. If there was one thing Charlie didn't want, it was Bella alone in a foreign country. So, with our finances set and our parents on board, Bella and I packed our bags and headed to England, planning on short visits in Ireland and Scotland as well. We would be gone for almost two months.
Two glorious months alone with Bella, staying in hostels, going wherever the hell we wanted to and basically just doing whatever we felt like. Hell, if we wanted to stay in bed until three in the afternoon and eat something called bangers and mash, we could. That was the joy of our trip, and so far I loved every single second of it.
Bella had been a bit nostalgic in the beginning, the sights reminding her of her first trip to Europe, but she was over the moon excited about me tagging along this year. That, and there was no studying to do.
"Uh… whatever it is it sounds creepy as hell. What else is there in the area?"
"Harrods isn't too far away if you feel like shopping?"
"Do I ever feel like shopping?" Bella asked with a giggle as I remembered how much she bitched and complained when we had to stock up on supplies for our trip. "Buckingham Palace is nearby right? We haven't done that yet."
I shrugged my shoulders and looked down at the map in the book. We were near the Piccadilly Circus subway line so we could easily head over to Hyde Park station. Sure, Bella and I had been confused by the subway, or tube, in the past but we were getting the hang of things. "Okay, let's do the Palace. They must do tours or something like that. Plus, I think my mother would kick my ass if we didn't see it."
"Well, don't sound so enthusiastic about it."
"Its fine, Bella. Let's do it!" I tried to drum up a bit more excitement about it all, but all the tourist sites were beginning to grate on me. Well, the sites were lovely, but some of the tourists were less than desirable.
Bella and I had already visited the National Gallery, The London Eye and Lyceum Theatre. There were other well known places we were planning to head to like The Tate, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, but we hadn't quiet made it to them. It wasn't for lack of trying either. I also had to remind Bella that we didn't have to do everything in the first few days in London. We had actually just gone out for a walk on our first official day in London and strolled upon three different sights we wanted to visited, so we did them.
We went to the Eye and were going to head across Westminster Road Bridge to see Big Ben, but we decided to head into the London Sea Life Aquarium instead. We stayed there until it closed, managed a quick dinner of, ironically enough, fish and chips before heading back to our hostel and passing out.
We had been in London for four days and we had been so busy, I hadn't even had the chance to put the moves on my girlfriend in a foreign country yet.
Later in the afternoon, after having managed not to walk out on the tour of Buckingham Palace – we were stuck with the tour guide with a massive stutter and lisp – Bella and I strolled hand in hand down The Mall towards Trafalgar Square. We had enjoyed ourselves, mainly making fun of the tour guide, who was nervous as hell and clearly a newbie, but it wasn't the Palace that made it interesting, it was the company.
"So, when do you want to head to Dublin? We have the hostel here for 2 more days, but we can extend it if you want?" Bella questioned, as yet another red double-decker tour bus passed us and she punched me in the arm. We had decided to play a game, similar to punch bug, where every time we saw a red double-decker bus we had to punch the other; I was losing.
"When did Siobhan say we could visit?"
"She gets home from the U.S. tomorrow. She joined Seamus for the last leg of his tour. Who would have ever thought that his Irish death metal band, Drop the Hand, would ever get signed to a record deal? They were fucking horrible."
"Well, clearly some people like that sort of shit," I said with a laugh. "Anyways, how about we stay till Thursday and give her a few days to recover from coming home?"
"Sounds good. I'm email her tonight from the hostel to let her know."
"How about we just get back to the hostel and take it easy tonight?" I asked with a suggestive wink as my hand slid around Bella's waist and I pulled her against my side.
"My, Edward Cullen, it doesn't sound like you want to take it easy at all," Bella replied with an easy grin as I leaned in and kissed her lips sweetly. She knew me so well.
"Well no… not really. I'd just like some time alone with my stunning girlfriend."
"Flattery will get you everywhere, baby."
"I'm counting on it."
Three hours later, Bella and I found ourselves fumbling around, trying to get out of our clothes, as we struggled in our small room. "Next time, I'm booking the room," I declared as I finally tugged my shirt off and tossed it away from us. Sure, we had limited time to get everything booked for our trip, but surely we could have done better than this closet that the hostel claimed was a private room.
"Okay, fine… you can book the rooms in Ireland and Scotland then. Good luck finding something suitable that isn't expensive or disgusting," Bella declared with a sigh as she stood there with her hands on her hips clad only in her panties and bra. Jesus, she had certainly grown up over the years hadn't she? "Now, are you going to keep complaining about this matchbox sized room or are you going to fuck me?"
"Holy shit… what happened to my unable to talk dirty girl?"
"She's in a foreign country and feeling frisky," Bella announced huskily as I launched myself up from the edge of the bed and wrapped my arms around her waist, kissing her as hard as I could. Our lips melded together as small moans of contentment fell from our lips. It had been so long since we had been together last, like since just after finals, and it felt like everything was finally perfect again.
My fingers danced lightly up Bella's soft back and I unclasped her bra, not without some effort mind you, and let it slide to the floor between us. Within seconds my mouth was latched onto her nipple, my tongue lathing and tracing it as Bella's moans grew a bit louder and she let her head fall back slightly. Unfortunately for us, we were both losing all semblance of balance.
"Bed," Bella said forcefully as I pushed her back against the wall and thrust my hand inside her sheer panties, immediately stroking her clit. "Oh… fuck…" Her hands wrapped around my neck tightly as she pulled me against her for a deep kiss, full of longing and unsaid words and desperation.
"That bed is so fucking old and squeaky…"
"I don't care," she sighed as I slipped one finger inside her and she bit down on her lip, which was my undoing. I was already hard as a rock but I could literally feel the pre-cum building and needed to be buried inside of her. "All of London could hear us right now and I wouldn't care."
"Good to know," I replied as I sucked at the base of her throat for a moment, my fingers bringing her to the edge, before I pulled them out and sucked them clean. Bella just looked at me in awe, like she had never seen me do it before. I roughly shoved my boxers down and then reached my hand down Bella's smooth thigh, lifting it up so it was hooked onto my hip. "We won't need the bed tonight, baby."
"Oh no?" Bella questioned as I grasped her ass and lifted her up, pressing her firmly against the wall behind us. Her other leg immediately wrapped around my waist and with a swipe of my hand, her panties were off to the side and I was pressing myself against her. "Oh… fuck yes…"
I slipped inside her warmth and immediately buried my head in the crease of her neck, trying not to come. I had to go slow at first, Bella's moans of encouragement not doing anything to diminish my urge to release inside of her, but once I hit my stride, it was pure heaven. I fucked her as hard as I could against the wall of our room, her head pressed firm against the wall so that it wasn't hurting her. Bella's fingers were threaded through my hair as she held on for dear life, purring into my ear and whispering surprisingly dirty things. Well, dirty things for my girl.
Even with my cock buried inside her to the hilt and her breasts pressed against my chest, I still couldn't believe she was mine and we had come so far from fucking on her mother's car in the rain a year earlier. "Edward… so fucking… mmmm good…" Bella panted as she tightened her grip around my waist and I could tell she was close. Her body tensed and convulsed as her mouth fell open and she made the most erotic sounding moan I had ever heard in my life. Needless to say, I came seconds later and I somehow managed to carry her to the small, squeaky bed, where we laid sated and happy.
At least we were happy for about 1 minute.
"Edward… did you guys stop fucking, yet? Rosalie and I didn't come all this way to be stuck listening to you to bitches fuck all the time. Get out of the room and come give us a hug."
"No… no no no no," Bella moaned as she shot up in the bed and looked at me terror-stricken. "That isn't who I think it is, is it?" There was no way in hell it was anyone but Emmett. How the hell he knew we were here in the first place was a bit mind boggling to both of us though. If there was one thing Bella and I both wanted from this trip, it was a bit of a break from the Emmett and Rosalie PDA show that had been in full effect since Rosalie was no longer his TA. "How did they know?"
"Open the damn door. Did you think you could run off to England without us?" shouted Rosalie as I cringed and Bella jumped up and began getting dressed. Sure, her shirt was on backwards by the time we opened the door, but they knew we were having sex, so it's not like we really had to hide it.
"What the fuck are you doing here?"
"Your father," Emmett said as he looked at Bella with a straight face. "I guess he didn't want you two traveling alone, so here we are. Now where are we sleeping?"
BPOV
Four Years Later
I felt like I was suffocating. My throat was tight, there was a ringing in my ears and I had what felt like the beginnings of cleavage sweat.
Not cool.
I grabbed a program from the dresser and started fanning myself with it and walked over to the wall to check the thermostat. "Who the hell turned the heat on?" Nobody answered me because they were all so fucking busy talking to everybody else. A parade of chainsaw wielding clowns could have marched through the room and I doubt anybody would have looked up.
That was it. I had to get out of here. I stormed over to where Angela was taking processional lessons, from my mother of all people, and grabbed her arm.
"No! That's too fast! You have to move slowly, elegantly, gracefully!" Renee started squawking about rhythm and the Pachelbel's canon and how bouquets should be held with arms at a right angle. If I had a bouquet in my hands right now, I probably would have flung it at her head.
"Rosalie. Plan X. Now."
Rosalie's head shot up from where she had been listening to stories from Edward's grandmother about something or other and I swear she looked like I just told her she had won the lottery. "Fuck yes!" She covered her mouth before apologizing to the sweet, yet overly chatty, lady sitting next to her.
"What is this Plan X and why don't I see it anywhere on the itinerary?" Esme started fumbling through the clipboard that had been attached to her hip since Edward and I announced our engagement on New Year's Day. She picked up the walkie-talkie she had from the holster around her waist…yes, she wore a holster…and I heard her try and get in touch with Renee - who was a whole three feet away, still trying to instruct Angela on the proper bridesmaid processional.
Between the instructions and the walkie-talkies and the heat and the swearing, I'd had enough. After finally extracting Angela from my mom's tentacles, I nodded at Rosalie who had been instructed to create a distraction. Once Angela and I were gone, she knew what she had to do.
"Renee, Esme…Bella told me you two actually met Rick Springfield?" I was only slightly disturbed by the glassy grins that spread across their faces and they both advanced on Rosalie like lions to their prey. I wasn't worried though, Rosalie could handle them.
"Let's go," I hissed to Angela who grabbed her purse and keys from the closet. "They won't stop talking long enough to breathe for a good 15 minutes, much less realize that we're gone."
We bolted out of the church and into the parking lot where we hopped into Angela's waiting convertible. I may have been so eager to leave that I hopped over the door and into the seat.
I'd always wanted to do that.
We tore out of the parking lot with scarves around our hair and sunglasses looking like a modern day Thelma and Louise, but without Brad Pitt. I had my Edward though, well, assuming everything worked according to plan. I couldn't call him because I'd purposely left my phone at the church so I couldn't be tracked down.
Rosalie knew what to tell him.
"Wait! I have the perfect song for this so we need to go back and start over!" Angela started fumbling around for her iPod, first in her purse and then the glove compartment and finally the backseat.
"Angela," I said through gritted teeth, my hands white-knuckled on the dashboard, "Focus on the road and just keep driving. I was about fifteen seconds from having a mental breakdown in there. The whole point of this drive was to get away from it all. If we go back now, they will find me and if I have to listen to one more word of advice from anybody I…" I shoved my hand in front of Angela's and slammed it down on the steering wheel, accidentally beeping the horn. "Fuck it, we can't wait anymore otherwise somebody is going to find us. Pull over, find the song and hit play whenever you're ready."
I leaned my head back on the headrest and focused on my breathing. The sun was shining brightly, making the fall colors of the leaves make the trees look like they had burst into flames. The windows were down and the wind was doing a hell of a job on our hair even with the scarves, but I honestly couldn't care any less.
Ten seconds down the road and I already felt better, like I could breathe again and not suffocate on the overwhelming presence of my mother, or Edward's mother or even his grandmother. Jesus fuck, those women loved to give out unsolicited advice.
Twenty minutes later we pulled off the side of the road and started walking down the well worn, yet still hidden path that led to the meadow. I grabbed one of the blankets I had stashed in Angela's trunk, just in case, hitched my dress up to my knees and started walking.
"Are you sure they're going to know where to find us?" Angela caught up to me, huffing and wheezing and I realized that I was practically running, but I had to get to my safe place.
"Yeah, Edward knows where to go. We've been coming here for years." I couldn't help but smile and think of that day before London when we blew bubbles and he gave me the bracelet I felt rest lightly on my wrist.
"I had no idea this place was here."
"We found it years ago and have been coming here whenever we needed a break from everything. It's like our own little safe spot in a big world of crazy." I looked around at the clearing, surrounded by tall trees like a fortress, but completely open and exactly the opposite of what it felt like in the church.
Angela's phone buzzed and she checked the screen. "It's Rosalie." Good. If it had been Emmett, I knew that we had been discovered. "They're on their way. ETA in ten." My heart started beating faster and the smile on my face grew until my cheeks hurt. They'd be here in ten minutes and part two of the plan could begin.
"I can't believe you're actually going to do this," Angela said hugging me and then bouncing up and down. "Though really, it is totally you two. You don't need all the fluff and frills and formality, just each other…and you've known that from the get go. Gah, it's so romantic."
"Oh, we'll still have the ceremony if only to appease Renee and Esme, but it was becoming theirs instead of ours and I think that in the back of my mind, I knew this would end up happening." A few anxious minutes later, I could hear the sound of tires on gravel and car engines. "They're here. I'm getting married!"
"You're getting married!"
And then there was squeeing.
"Okay, I have to run. Let you two have your moment and everything. Turn around and I'll bring him to you. No peeking." She turned me around to face the opposite direction and headed toward the tree line to meet Edward. There, she would blindfold him and bring him to me, and when we were alone again, we'd get to finally see each other.
I couldn't wait to see him. I ran my hands down the side of my dress, smoothing it out. Then I closed my eyes tight and twirled around to get the butterflies out of my stomach.
Still alone.
I started bouncing and dancing to the music in my head and the smile on my face was actually starting to hurt my cheeks because I was just so incredibly happy. Edward made me happy. We made me happy. And soon we were going to be 'we' forever. It was all I could do to not turn around and peek when I finally heard footsteps in the grass.
"Don't even think about it, Swan." I heard Ben's voice and that made it all the more real.
"Swan soon to be Cullen."
"Okay, Swan soon to be Cullen. Still, just keep still. I have explicit instructions on what to do next and you are not going to get me in trouble with Rosalie. That girl is scary as hell when she gets authoritative."
Back towards the tree line a voice yelled, "I heard that!" and all three of us started to laugh.
"Alright. Edward, you stand right here. And Bella," hands guided me a few steps back until I could feel Edward behind me, "you stand right…here." I moved my hands back until I found his and interlaced my fingers with his, giving him a squeeze and I heard the sound of a camera shutter clicking away.
"Hurry up, Ben. I'm ready to see my girl," Edward squeezed my hands back and I felt like I was flying
My girl. Swoon.
"Right. On the count of three, turn around. One…two…oh, wait. I left something in my car…"
"BEN!" Edward and I both yelled and he started laughing.
"Kidding guys…three. Turn around."
So we did and I wanted to cry.
Edward was beautiful in his dark suit and messy hair. I reached up to pick a leaf out of it and the second my hand made contact with him, it was like that moment. It wasn't a spark or a flame or a heartbeat, it was just that moment. We didn't need the ceremony or the piece of paper, though we'd have both in a matter of minutes, but from that moment on things were.
I couldn't explain it, there right words didn't exist, but the feelings, the emotions, the love that I felt for the man standing before me transcended anything I'd ever felt before. Ever.
The camera was clicking away beside us. Behind us. In front of us. I think at one point, Ben was lying on the ground taking pictures from underneath. All I could see was Edward and our history playing in the background. It was magical.
"You…look…gorgeous." Still holding both of my hands in his, Edward stepped back and looked at me.
"I'm wearing white. It's scandalous, really." I joked because that was what I did. Always. "What I have on underneath may have some blue on it. Somewhere. You know, just for tradition and all that." His eyes darkened a bit and, God he was pretty.
"You really want to do this here? You're not going to regret it tomorrow or next week or next year?"
"Edward, we're still going to have the ceremony at the church. But I just want to be married first with just you. I will regret nothing in my life as long as you are a part of it. Period. Now, let's get Nettie over here and make you my husband. Unless, of course, you're just asking because you're scared of what Esme is going to do when she finds out."
His eyes widened. "We're telling Esme before the church part?"
Silly boy. "Of course not, do you think I'm stupid? We'll tell them after we get back from our honeymoon. Or maybe after our tenth anniversary." We laughed and Ben waved the rest of the group over. Emmett, Rosalie, Angela… and the Reverend Nettie. Oh, and Magoo.
"What's that?" Edward whispered as we watched the group of our best friends approach.
"It's a dog."
"I don't see a…"
"It's a dog, Edward. Trust me."
"But isn't it just one of those silly novelty shop things."
"It's a dog, Edward. Named Magoo. I lived with it for six weeks. Meet it. Know it. Love it. And nobody gets hurt." I bent down to pet Magoo before hugging my friends.
"We're all here?"
"Everybody that matters."
"Well, then let's do this."
So surrounded by our closest friends, an invisible dog and under the bright blue Forks sky, Edward and I were married. It wasn't traditional, it wasn't formal, it wasn't scripted out in a program and the music may have been provided by Emmett on a harmonica, but it was ours.
And it was beautiful.
January 3 years later
EPOV
"I am going to kill, Emmett," my mother shouted as she stumbled into the room looking rather flustered. She smoothed down her shirt and turned to us with a false smile on her face. "How is everything going here?"
I looked at Bella and she shrugged her shoulders as I offered her the cup of ice chips she had been nursing for the past hour. We had rushed our way into Seattle General Hospital almost six hours ago, but unfortunately Bella hadn't progressed much in her labor since we had arrived. She had been 3 centimeters dilated when we got here and we were stalled at five now.
"He got you here didn't he?" I questioned as my mother groaned loudly and went to sit beside my wife, clearly looking for sympathy.
"His… his truck is a death trap. I understand we are having a blizzard out there but it didn't mean I wanted to take my life into my hands. I seriously saw my future flash before my eyes on more than one occasion and it wasn't pretty. You guys called the baby Reneesme!" Bella and I both shuddered at the ridiculous name just as Renee strolled into the room holding a cup of coffee and looking smug.
"Nice to see you finally arrived for the birth of your first grandchild, Nana," she cracked as my mother glared at her. When we had first broken the news to our parents about Bella's pregnancy, the dads were beside themselves with excitement to be grandfathers, but it was Renee and my mother who began debating what they should be called by the future baby. It all came down to a game of rock paper scissors and Renee won out, choosing the name Grandma, which Esme wanted.
However, that was no major argument compared to what happened later that same night when Bella accidently let it slip, claiming it was due to the pregnancy, that we had really gotten married in the meadow before the church. The mothers were incredulous and I felt bad for my mother at first, knowing all the work she had put into everything. However, it just wasn't us... the meadow had been perfect.
"I told you that you should have taken the week off and stayed in Seattle with me and Charlie, but no… you didn't believe me when I told you about my family history."
"Excuse me Renee, but I find it very hard to believe that all the women in your family actually give birth on their due dates. Bella hasn't even hit her due date yet."
"She has 3 more hours. Believe me, the little princess in there isn't coming out until at least midnight." I rolled my eyes and looked at Bella who was clearly trying to hide the contraction she was currently experiencing. I walked towards her and gripped her hand, letting her squeeze the hell out of it. Surely the squeezing was better than the yelling about me knocking her up in the first place that Emmett had endured not too long ago.
When Bella and I had first broached the topic of having a child, it was shortly after our honeymoon in Hawaii, when we had a false positive on a test. Of course we weren't anywhere near to being parents, having finally gotten rid of our own on a permanent basis and settled into a nice apartment in Seattle, but we were both disheartened slightly. After many long conversations, we decided to wait until we were further settled into our careers and had bought a house.
I was thriving as a teacher of film studies at a local creative high school and Bella was a features reporter at the Seattle Times, after busting her ass for the first four years on the paper. There were many nights when she was curled up with her laptop typing away for a story rather than with me, but I loved seeing her so happy with her career. These days it was rare to see people actually in a job for which they got their degree.
Rosalie and Emmett were also exceptions to the rule, running their own architecture design firm out of Port Angeles and raising two rambunctious boys. They had gotten pregnant the night of our wedding and Cooper was born 9 months later, having just turned 2. Ryan came along only 3 months ago and Bella had been thrilled to have someone to go through her pregnancy with. Of course, there was a quickie wedding in Las Vegas not long after the first pregnancy was discovered.
Suddenly, Emmett burst into the room with a huge smile on his face and his hair covered in snow. "Did we have him yet? Rosalie is home with her mother and the boys. They are taking bets on Facebook about the gender and weight and all that."
"Him?" Renee piped up as she took in Emmett's look and grimaced. "Go shake off in the hallway. The last thing we need is the doctor slipping on your wet boot marks as Bella delivers the baby. Now shoo."
Emmett didn't budge, having learned over the years how to handle Renee in his own special way. "Yes, him. It's going to be a boy. Rosalie had two boys and I know how women carry them when they are pregnant. The girls had the same cravings and…"
"Emmett, I told you a month ago after the baby shower that this was going to be a girl… little Crystal Suzette Swan Cullen."
"Woah," Bella shouted out as I noticed her heart rate increase slightly, so I rubbed her back to calm her down. "I told you over and over again there was no way she was being called Crystal Suzette."
"And it's Cullen only," I added as Bella nodded her head in agreement.
"Oh fine, you guys have no sense of adventure," Renee grumbled as she waved at Emmett to go get his shoes cleaned and it was clear she meant business. This is how it had been since Renee and Charlie had arrived at the hospital 4 hours earlier. She was bossing everyone around and trying to have some sense of control in a situation that she couldn't control. Bella and I had decided to just let her do her thing and ignore her as best as we could.
A minute later another contraction hit and I coached Bella through it as we listened to our mothers argue about baby names. "Oh hell no," Bella screamed out as she did her Lamaze breathing. "There is no way in hell this baby is being called Jessie, either. There will be no Rick Springfield references when it comes to my child." Bella's breathing didn't seem to calm down after she yelled, so I rubbed her back and stared daggers at the mothers who looked a little disheartened.
"Why don't you ladies go find Charlie & Emmett. I'm sure Dad will be arriving any minute now that the surgery he was scheduled to perform is done, so go find him. Just… go."
The moment the mothers left the room, Bella's doctor walked in and began reading through her chart. He recommended that Bella be given some sort of drug that would speed her labor along and Bella was more than willing. In fact, she kept asking about the epidural and he reassured her that the anesthesiologist would be up as soon as she could to get her taken care of.
Two and a half hours later Bella was getting ready to push with our mothers on one side, trying to be encouraging, yet following our rules of keeping quiet, and I was on the other side, holding her hand. "This is going to be worth it very soon, baby. He or she will be out and you'll look into their eyes and be ready to do it all over again."
"Not bloody likely," Bella replied as she clenched her teeth and began her Lamaze breathing. "No more after this, seriously. We'll have invisible babies like Nettie has Magoo. No diapers to change or late night feedings…"
"Are you serious?" I asked as the mothers looked at us in complete surprise.
"Right now… yes!"
"Okay, Bella, you can push now," Dr. Malcolm said encouragingly as the nurses talked Bella through each step. I was complementing her constantly and urging her to keep going when she felt like she didn't have any more strength in her and it was with tears in both of our eyes, that our tiny daughter, Sophie Grace Cullen, made her way into the world.
Bella's eyes literally sparkled and she smiled from ear to ear when they placed our daughter into her arms, all swaddled in a blanket and looking so small and fragile. "I can't believe she's finally here," I admitted as I kissed Bella's forehead and we both stared at our daughter in wonder.
"I can believe it. It's just after midnight. I told you guys all the women in my family give birth on their due date," Renee said with a smile as she kissed Bella's cheek and then stepped into the hallway with my mother to give us a few minutes alone.
"Can you promise me one thing?" Bella asked as Sophie cried lightly and I stroked her cheek with my finger, instantly calming her.
"Whatever you need, baby."
"Promise me if I ever get to be anything like my mom, you will slap some sense into me?" I grinned broadly and nodded my head before I rested my forehead against Bella's and Sophie gave out a small noise, clearly wanting to remind us of her existence.
"You were right, by the way," Bella chimed in as I looked at her in confusion. "I would totally do this again in a heartbeat."
"Me too, beautiful. Me too."
We're still here Through timeless words and priceless pictures And tides they turn and hearts disfigure And we tore our dresses and stained our shirts
What a beautiful mess this is
It's like taking a guess when the only answer is "Yes"
We'll fly like birds not of this earth
But that's no concern when we're wounded together
But it's nice today. Oh, the wait was so worth it.
-A Beautiful Mess by Jason Mraz
CPW: Okay, seeing as this is the end of the story we need to thank MaggieMay14 for constantly helping us manage our way through this story. She is the best sounding board and friend anyone could ask for, seriously. You can't have her though, she's all ours.
Risbee: Much love to anyone and everyone who reads & reviews this story, as well as everyone who has ever rec'd us. The folks over on our Twilighted board are some of the best and we thank bgwillis for setting that bad boy up for us even though we aren't there nearly as much as we wish we were.
CPW: As you know we are both working on individual stories, so you can still read our works.
Risbee: I'm sure we will write something else together in the future, right?
CPW: Sure... we could always do something together for Fandom For Sexual Assault Awareness. After all, I do have an 'in' since I'm running the charity event with Aylah50. Fandom4saa . wordpress .com
Risbee: Is that you asking?
CPW: You should know me better by now... I'd just force you into it. Oh, and check out the Jukebox Contest... I may happen to know a little birdie or two who have written for that awesome contest. Voting is now up.
Risbee: Can we just shut up now, I'm getting emo.
CPW: You got it.
Risbee: Thanks again for coming along on this ride with us. We love you all!