89. Best friends share… everything.

Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their gods.

Thanks to BanSidhe [ruadh sidhe] and Feebes86 for betaing and pre-reading.

The Alumni organised the Forks High School ten year reunion event. There was a picnic family day set down for the day with a dance that night for the adults. Every babysitter in town was booked. Someone had suggested the James Bond theme, just for old times' sake.

Lauren and Jessica bonded at the picnic. They had kept in touch on Facebook but not seen each other for years. They were both still single, they argued that they weren't thirty and still had plenty of time. They both noticed when a woman approached.

"Jesus, look at her," Jessica said

"Bella Swan," spat Lauren.

Bella walked slowly across the grass, holding the hand of a small girl who looked about two. Mike Newton saw her, too and bounded over. "Hey Arizona," he greeted her. She laughed.

Lauren and Jessica listened in shamelessly.

"Mike." She kissed his cheek. "How are you?"

"Can't complain." He shrugged. "Who's this?" he looked down at the small girl who had her hand in her mouth.

"This is Amelia," Bella introduced her.

"Meya," the little girl repeated.

"The others are around somewhere." Bella looked behind her. "Here they come."

They heard the laughter, first. The two men approached. The taller one was carrying a baby at his hip; clearly another girl. The other man had a boy hung upside down, under one massive arm. He was squealing his head off. The man's other hand held one hand of a smaller boy, who was about three and he was swinging between the men as they walked.

Mike blinked. "Is that… ?"

"Quil and Embry," Bella supplied. "I'm Bella Call-Ateara, now."

"Oh. My. God." said Lauren.

"I looked her up on Facebook," Jessica added. "She's some fancy lawyer now. Does high profile Native American cases and same sex rights things."

"A lawyer?" Lauren gasped. "And she's still with them?"

"Hello," Mike managed, when the family got to him.

The swinging kid jumped and landed in front of Mike. He was a solid little guy. "I'm Charlie," he announced, "and I'm three and a half!" The half was clearly vitally important.

"I'm Mike, pleased to meet you," said Mike. They shook hands solemnly.

Quil flipped Quil junior and put him on his feet. He leaned back against his father's legs. A big hand on his chest held him there.

"Embry has Molly and this is Quil junior," Bella finished the introductions. "You guys remember Mike? From Newtons suppliers. I used to work there."

"Yes, I remember," Embry held a hand out to shake. Quil nodded at him.

"Four in six years!" hissed Lauren. "And look at her. She looks the same."

"What about them? They look the same, too," Jessica said. "Actually they do look the same. They have not aged a day. Freaky."

Quil looked at the women, sharply.

Lauren made a small eep noise.

"Da?" said Amelia. "Turn."

"Yes, Honey." Quil picked her up. He locked eyes with Embry and jigged his head at the women. Embry nodded.

Mike looked confused.

"Embry is 'dad' and Quil is 'da'. It works out," Bella explained, with a shrug. "What about you, Mike?"

"Divorced. No kids."

"I'd say I was sorry, but it's not for everybody," Bella said.

"Yeah. I guess that was a blessing. Probably better we didn't have kids with how nasty the divorce got."

"That's awful," Bella said. "But you're still young," she reminded him.

"Do you keep in touch with Edward and Alice?" he asked.

"I do. Edward lives in Alaska and Alice and Jasper are in New York, now. Fashion."

The others weren't taking much notice of Bella and Mike's conversation. Little Quil grabbed Charlie by the hand and the two of them ran off together. Embry watched which direction they went.

"Kiss," Amelia ordered Quil. He kissed her. He made a big lip smacking noise when he did it. "Mwah"

"Dad turn, Da" she said.

"'Turn'? Is that your new favourite word?"

"Turn," she demanded.

"Okay, okay…" He looked at Embry lasciviously. "C'mere, Em."

Embry grinned at him. "For me or them?" he checked, quietly.

"You Em, always you," Quil assured him. He grabbed him and kissed him hard on the lips.

"Oh. My. God." said Lauren.

Amelia smacked Quil on the chest. "Meya turn, Dad," she ordered.

Embry laughed. Quil held her so that she could kiss Embry. He kissed her loudly. "You are a greedy girl," he told her. He tickled her with one hand and she squealed. Baby Molly laughed too.

"Turn Mummy!" Amelia said, triumphantly.

The men both leaned towards Bella.

"Stop it, you lot!" she hissed at them. They all kissed her anyway.

"Sorry, Mike. It's a phase," Bella explained.

"Doesn't look like a phase," chuckled Mike.

"What about Mike?" Bella asked Amelia.

She thought about it. "Kiss," she said. Quil lifted her over and she pressed her mouth to Mike's cheek.

"There," said Bella. "All done?"

"Yes," she said. She wriggled and Quil put her down. Embry passed the baby to Bella and he held Amelia's hand. They went off to find the boys. "Six!" Amelia shouted.

"If we are staying, I should get the cooler out of the car," said Quil.

Bella nodded. He jogged away.

"Did she say 'six'?" Mike checked.

"Quil Ateara the sixth. Everyone calls him Six."

"Ah." Mike studied her. "You were worried about staying," he said, perceptively.

She nodded. "It's nerve wracking… reunions. Comparing yourself to others, you know? Takes you right back to High School and I was not the confident one."

"You caused a scene on your first day at Forks High, as I recall."

"Yes. Funny. I was never the popular girl at my old school. No one ever seemed to notice me."

"Maybe you were meant to be here," Mike suggested.

She looked in the direction Quil had run, and then down to the baby in her arms. "Yes, maybe I was." Thinking back, she couldn't remember what had made her decide to come and live with Charlie in Washington. It wasn't a decision she had ever regretted.

"Angela Weber is around somewhere," Mike suggested.

"Is she? We can find her. She's tall." She and Mike walked away.

Lauren and Jessica actually had nothing to say, for once.

That afternoon the three lay in bed together. The kids were at Joy's.

Quil was on the bottom. Bella lying on his chest. Embry snuggled in under Quil's arm; his feet hanging off the end of the bed. Quil's hand rubbed over Embry's back. Bella's hand rested on his ass cheek.

"Are we going to this dance?" Embry asked. His fingers were drawing patterns on the flesh of Bella's thigh.

"A fabulous evening of comparing careers, cars and kids with people who are virtual strangers. If you wanted to keep in touch with them, you would have done so," Quil said.

"Yeah," said Embry, "you know what it will be like when they get drunk. You could have a flashback to the hormone years. Girls crying in the toilets because someone didn't speak to them; old flames who try to ignite a lost love interest; endless gossip about who got fat, who got skinny and who has dyed their hair already or stooped to plastic surgery." Being sober all the time was sometimes irritating for the wolves as others around them got drunk.

"Jeez, Embry," muttered Quil.

"And we'd have to get out of bed," Bella noted.

"I am not voting for that," said Quil. "It sounds so attractive, too." He was sarcastic.

Silence.

"Ten years," said Bella. "I can't believe it has gone so fast." She lifted her head, suddenly. "That means we missed our ten year anniversary."

"Huh," said Quil. "I suppose we did."

"Well that's not very romantic," she said.

"You do all right," noted Quil.

She chuckled. "Fair enough. Lying in bed with you two is way better than a bunch of flowers or a ring." Generally they didn't bother celebrating Hallmark days. They showed her that they loved her every day, not once a year by buying her a rose.

"It was May when we got together," said Embry. "Just before you graduated."

Bella remembered that time. It was Embry that had been through the worst of it, with his mother throwing him out and being tortured by Victoria. They had been through a lot of stuff together with forced separations and her studying, but they had got through it together.

"I vote for staying here and making babies," said Embry.

"What?" Bella protested. "We already have four."

"I wanted six," Quil reminded them.

"Hand holding. I remember," said Embry.

She tried to climb out of the bed, but they grabbed her and hauled her back. She squealed in protest, but she was only playing.

"C'mere, Bells," said Quil.

THE END

[AN: well, it's the end of another story. I can't quite believe it myself; I really thought this one was never going to end. It was so hard to decide where to leave them. After the mating weekend? No. After a year or so? No. Thank you all for reading and reviewing. It has been a fabulous journey; ten years of the trio. People keep telling me that they can't read Quil with anyone else, other than Embry and Bella. Me too. I read something the other week and kept expecting Quil and Embry to jump each other. Lmao

Thank you also to all the readers that have walked the slash (M/M) road with me. First time writing it for me, first time reading it for a lot of you, I know. I think we all had fun; I know I did.

Feel free to follow me on twitter (at) mtr_amg

Or my blog

http: /amgray. blogspot. com. au/

Just take out the spaces.

I have to work on some original fiction, so I will be quiet for a little while. Check out the stories I have already posted on Smashwords. They are e-books but you don't need an e-reader to read them. You can download them in one of ten different formats; whatever works for you. It's okay to share the free ones with others.

http : /www. smashwords. com/profile/view/AMGray

I assume that I will be back. I still have to work on the extension of the 'I'll be home for Christmas' one shot. I'll see you then!

MAJOR THANKS to my betas and brainstormers who have come up with ideas, suggested strategies and talked me through sticking points. Oh, and added lots of commas. I'm not good with commas.

Feebes 86 http: /www. fanfiction. net/u/2307836/

Ruadhsidhe http: /www. fanfiction. net/u/2784897/

They both write great stories, too.]