Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight and New Moon, they belong to S. Meyer.

AN: I just wanted Bella and Emmett have a little bonding time. I really like the idea of Emmett as a big brother. This scene is set after New Moon and it's a Oneshot. In the newest chapter of my other story, this trip is shortly mentioned (if you've read the chapter you'll recognize the part I took from this one to set it into the other one.)

I'll continue my other story tomorrow; right now I have to do my "homework" for university -.-
Have fun while reading and please tell me, what you think of it :) Nothing is better than to wake up and read reviews ;)!

Grocery shopping and fish-slime

It was a beautiful morning in Forks. Well, as far as one could describe a cloudy sky and foggy air as "beautiful". To be honest, I could. It was the perfect weather for being together with my vampires.

Today was the second day after Charlie had lifted my grounding. Finally, I was able to go to the mall again. I never knew that I would really miss that but somehow, I was happy that I was allowed to go there again. I was in the urgent need of some tasty food and wanted to go to the bookstore. In the last month, I had read quite every book in my bookshelf at least twice. Charlie had told me that he could get the things I needed but I knew he would have problems getting just the kind of (for example) pizza I like. There were just too many pizzas to choose from.

Anyway, today I was going to the mall. My shopping list was quite long: I needed noodles, oak flakes, cereals, pizza, tomatoes, … Yes, getting all the stuff would take some time.

I went to the bathroom and took a hot shower. It took some time to get my hair straight but hey: It was Saturday; I could take as much time as I'd like.

As I went back into my bedroom, my eyes fell on my small silver cell phone Edward got me. He wasn't in my room when I woke up and still there was no trace that he had been here when I stood in the shower. I wondered what kept him from coming…

Sure enough, right in that moment my cell phone rang once. I got a short message. I took a look at the screen and opened the message.

Dear Bella,

I am sorry that I can't be with you right now. Alice asked me and Rose if we would go hunting today and you know I have to. I would be glad if you would come over to our house, I don't like you being alone at your home all day.

With love,

Edward

I had to smile. Yesterday, as I had snuggled myself closer to him, I could already see that he would have to hunt soon. His eyes were getting darker every day.

But what about my shopping trip? I had to go but I knew, Edward would never let me go on my own – Victoria was still somewhere out there. I didn't mind to be together with Edward all day but just now, I wished that I would not need him to be around me 24/7.

Anyway, I took my shopping list from the counter in the kitchen, put some money in my wallet and sat down behind the steering wheel of my truck. I really wished for a miracle to happen.

"Bella!" As soon as I got to the Cullen's Mansion, Alice was standing on the porch, greeting me.

I got off my truck and went towards their front door. Surprisingly, I didn't even trip once. "Hey, Alice. I got a message from Edward that he, Rosalie and you would be hunting today, is that right?" Why did I think that Edward would lie to me?

"Yes, were just about to go. In fact, I was only waiting for Edward to come out of the house… He said he wanted to talk to Jasper and Emmett first. Rose is already off in the woods." We went into the living room together. Emmett, Jasper and Edward were sitting on the couches and I knew they had a discussion. Well, I didn't hear anything but just the way their lips moved it was clear that they were talking.

"Ah, Bella. I did not think that you would be here so soon." Edward stood up and went to my side, sneaking his strong arms around my waist.

"Should I go again then?" I snuggled myself closer to his chest and stared up into his now dark brown eyes. Yes, he was really in the need of hunting.

"Are you insane?" With that, he brought his lips on my own and gave me a long kiss. No kiss that would go beyond or even push any of his boundaries, but nevertheless a great kiss.

After our kiss, he asked: "I hope, you didn't have anything to do today. I mean, if there is anything important, I'll forget about the hunt and-"

"Forget about the hunt?" I interrupted him. "Now you are the one who's crazy."

He looked with a small smile into my eyes. "Yes, I guess, I am. But is there anything you'd need to do?"

"Well, in fact, I was panning to go to the mall… Getting some food and a book from the bookstore. I think, I could handle that on my own, don't you think so?" A look into his eyes told me: No. He didn't think so.

Edward looked as if he was deep in thought but right in the next moment, I could feel another presence behind me.
"Edward, you really need to hunt, don't dare to even think about cancelling it. If it makes you feel better, I'll go with Bella." That was Emmett. As I turned around and looked him in the face, I could see a glint of amusement in his eyes. He put one of his huge and strong hands on my shoulder.

"Trust me, Edward, she will be safe with me." He gave my beloved vampire a reassuring smile. If he would get through with that, I'd have not only the first time alone with Emmett but sure enough a very interesting shopping trip.

Edward looked up to meet his brother's gaze and then looked down again into my eyes.

"Is that ok, Bella?" He asked.

"Sure!" I couldn't hide a grin on my face.

Suddenly, Alice appeared right behind Edward, looking a bit upset. "Ah, I almost forgot! Edward, I'll be down here again in a second, I'll have to leave Carlisle a note." With that, he vanished. I thought she was in Carlisle's study right that moment.

Emmett tapped with a finger on my shoulder and as I turned around to look once more at him, he asked: "It just occurred to me now, but Bella, why do you need to get food? I mean, didn't Charlie get all the things you needed?" I frowned. How do I describe that now…

"Uhm… Well, yes, Charlie bought… many things. It's just the case that he did not really buy the things I liked. I mean, once I wrote 'mushroom pizza' on the shopping list and when Charlie came home, he said he got me a salami pizza, because there were just too many mushroom pizzas to choose from. Don't get me wrong, I really like salami pizza, too, but not at that moment. I'd rather had a mushroom pizza and it's quite hard to make a substitute for it and even look forward to that substitute…" As I recalled what I had just said, I got a puzzled expression on my face. "Did that even make sense right now?" I looked up into Emmett's topaz eyes.

After a surprised expression had crossed his face, he grinned at me and put both his hands on my shoulders. "Bella, believe me when I say I know exactly what you are talking about. A substitute never tastes as good as your favourite food."

I knew I should have felt scared right when he said those words, but I was just laughing uncontrollably. Yeah, who else would understand me than a vegetarian vampire? I'm sure there was a difference between the tastes of different kinds of blood...

The next thing I noticed was that Emmett's hands left my shoulders and with a loud thud, he landed on his back a few feet away from me, Edward pinning him down to the ground while growling angrily.

At first, Emmett was surprised but then something seemed to cross his mind. In a movement too fast for my eyes, he was above Edward and pinned him to the ground – way more effective than Edward had done.

While that scene happened right in front of me, I could hear Jasper laughing from the sofas.

"Oh, come on, Edward. Out of all the… beings in this room, you should have been able to know I was talking about deer compared to bears and not animals compared to humans."

I had to laugh again. In fact, I hadn't even been thinking about the animal and human part. So, I was standing where the both vampires had left me, shaking from laugher.

"Pull yourself together again, will you, Edward? I promise, I'll be nice to your little human. I mean, look at her, she isn't even a bit scared because of what I said!"

Edward did not reply but his resistance subsided until Emmett decided it would be safe to stand up again. In a flash, Edward was behind me, holding me close to himself, still growling a little.

"You really need to hunt, Edward. You're incredibly crabby today." I scolded him with a smile.

He just sighed. "Yes, you're right. But tell me: Why wasn't you frightened? I mean, that was a vampire standing in front of you and what he told you could easily be meant about humans."

I had to think about that. I knew, Edward was right, but… "Edward, if you would be a human yourself and know that there are vampires, who could suck you dry in I-don't-know-how few minutes, you still don't walk around considering yourself as food."

He let out a low chuckle. "Guess you're right… But-"

"No buts. Alice is already standing outside again, go and have a happy hunting, ok?"

He looked deep into my eyes and our lips met for a last kiss. "Ok Bella. Be safe. I'll be back tomorrow around evening. I love you."

"I love you, too. Have fun."

After that, the front door closed and Edward was away.

"Emmett? Your choice of words was really not the best one. You should have known that our dear brother would react that way." Jasper scolded as he walked up the stairs. I didn't even realize when he got up from the couch.

Emmett had a huge grin plastered on his face. "Do you really think I did that unintentionally, Jasper?"

His brother just chuckled and disappeared to the upper floor. "Have fun!" Was the last thing I heard from him, then I heard a door shut.

"Soo… Your first hunt together with me, huh?" Emmett poked me carefully on my shoulder and I had to grin.

"It seems so. Do you have to do something before we go to the mall or can we go right now?"

"I'll go get my wallet and then we'll heed off. Just wait a second, ok?"

"Wallet? Do you need something from the mall, too?" Please say yes.

"Yeah, sure." I heard him laughing from above. "As if I would have to go grocery shopping. No, no, we have strict instructions from Edward."

That could only mean one thing. Emmett would pay for whatever I was going to buy. I had to put my foot down on that.

"No Emmett, please, forget once about Edward. I really can pay for my stuff on my own."

He was already standing by my side again, shoving his wallet in his trouser pocket.

"Ok, if you insist… But only under one condition."

"That would be?"

"You will never tell Edward about that. He'd kill me if he finds out."

I gave Emmett a hug. Finally one vampire who wasn't going to spend money on me. He chuckled as he freed himself from my hug and ruffled through my hair with one of his hands. "I'll take that as a yes, Bella."

I smiled and tried to order my ruffled hair and together, we stepped out of the house, towards where the Cullen's had their cars.

Edward's Volvo was nowhere to be seen and Emmett ignored the fact that I brought my truck. "Emmett? I brought my truck, why don't we use it?"

Emmett looked at me as if I had lost my mind. "Because my Jeep is better, that's why."

Jeep?

We were already standing in front of the red monster which he called 'Jeep'.

"No way, Emmett. Nothing will make me get in that… thing!"

Emmett turned around to look at me with a mischievous grin on his face and flashed his teeth in my direction.

Oh, no.

I knew it would be of no use, but at least, I had to try. I spun around and tried to run but could hear Emmett laughing right behind me before he got his hands on my waist.

The next thing I knew was that I was sitting in the passenger's seat. The door was locked. A second later, he was sitting in the driver's seat and the car's engine came to live. He was still chuckling and as he looked at me once again, he burst out laughing again.

"Edward will never belief me that I made you run from a vampire!"

I pouted a bit and glared at him. "Don't get your hopes up too high, Emmett. I didn't run from you, I ran from this car."

"Yeah, sure. But you needed to have a look in my face before you tried to run." He was still chuckling a bit as he said that.

I knew he was kind of right but nevertheless, I punched him on his arm. Not too hard, because I knew I could easily break a bone doing that. He played along.

"Ouch, that hurt!" He said and winked at me.

I couldn't hide the grin anymore and looked out of the window.

Emmett drove fast, though not as fast as Edward. But maybe that was just an illusion. I dared not to look on the speedometer.

It took only a few minutes drive until we reached the small mall outside of Forks.

I unbuckled myself and jumped out of the car. In midair, Emmett caught me and set me on my feet safely.

"You really want to bring me into trouble, right? What do you think Edward would do if he gets to know that I let you fall?"

"Most likely tackle you and growl?"

He chuckled.

"Yeah, that would be the start of it. Anyway, what do you need, where do we have to go?"

"First, I need to go to the grocery store. As I said, I need some food." Emmett had to grin about that. I thought that it was because of the discussion we have had at his house. "After that, I need to go to the bookstore. My dad ordered a new cooking book and I have to pick it up."

We walked towards the entry of the grocery store.
"A new cooking book? Man, Bella, you humans really need a lot of those…"

I had to grin. "Normally, we don't really have to, but having the choice between a lot of recipes makes cooking more fun. Besides, guess what the book is about."

He looked at me with a smirk. "Fish."

"Yes, exactly."

We both chuckled as we skipped the first few isles to get to the noodles.

"Spaghetti, spaghetti, spaghetti… Ah, there." I took out a pack of spaghetti and put them down in my shopping cart.

Emmett looked curiously but said nothing. I guessed, he hasn't been in a grocery store for a very long. Hm…

"Emmett?"

"Yes?"

"When was the last time you went into a grocery store?" I asked as I took out another pack of noodles.

I could hear him take in a deep breath as he thought about my question.

"To be honest, Bella, I don't know. I mean, as long as I'm what I am now, I did not need to go to a grocery store. If everything tastes like dust and dirt – and in addition, you would have to get rid of it in some way afer you'd eat it, you wouldn't go grocery shopping, too. Believe me."

"Wow, considering that you were changed at the age of 20, that would make at least 72 years since the last time you shopped for food, right?"

He chuckled. "Yes, that would be right. You've got a good memory, Bella."

"Thanks." I smiled at him.

"What do you need next?"

"Uhm… tomatoes and pepper."

"Ok, take the lead."

A few aisles later, we reached the vegetable and fruits section.

"Ah, this way." I went to the tomatoes and searched for some nice red ones. As I found a bunch of them which looked just great, I squeezed them a bit to see, if they had the right consistency.

"Bella? What are you doing there?" Emmett eyed my actions with a curious look on his face.

"I, uhm… Well, I have to feel if the vegetables are ripe, so I squeeze them a bit. If they are too hard, they are not ripe enough."

He looked a bit dumbfounded. "Grocery shopping looks a lot easier in films, do you know that? I mean, in films, they just walk by and put the things in their carts."

I let out a low laugh. "Yes, probably. I don't really pay attention to such things while watching films... But another question… I don't think that you squeeze what you want to eat… How do you know if it's tasty before you sink your teeth in it?"

Emmett grinned down at me and took the tomatoes out of my hand, putting them down in the cart. "Edward won't like the way our discussion goes, do you know that?"

"Yes, I guess, I know. But Emmett, somehow… I have to know. I mean, I want to become one of you… Would be nice to know more about some subjects, just to be prepared, right?"

"Well, ok, I'll tell you, but promise me that you won't tell Edward."

As we walked towards the cereal section of the store, I answered: "Ok, I promise. Edward won't get to know what you'll tell me. But before you start: Won't he see it in your mind?"

Emmett put a hand on my shoulder. "Nah, I don't think so. He is pretty nosy sometimes, but normally he tries to ignore the thoughts of his family. And believe me, I have ways and means to get him out of my head." He winked at me and I was sure I didn't want to know what he was talking about. Poor Edward.

"Ok… So? Tell me, please."

"Well, it's rather simple, really. Easier than this whole human shopping thing. In fact, you just run around – preferably in a forest, cities will work, too, but I guess, you want to be a vegetarian just like us– and as soon as the scent of blood hits your nose, you know what you want to drink. Then it's only hunting the... animal down, snap it's neck and sink your teeth in it. Well, in fact, you don't even have to snap it's neck, but it makes drinking a lot easier. Just think your glas of juice would try to fight you while you try to drink from it: Sooner or later, it would get on your nerves."

I shuddered a bit as he mentioned that this technique worked in a city as well. I think, it would work even better there since vampires aren't usually vegetarians. But when I was sure of one thing, then it was that I would become a vegetarian vampire, too. There was no way for me to kill a human.

Emmett saw my reaction and looked a bit worried down to me. "Are you ok, Bella?"

"Yes, sure. I just thought about your mention about the cities."

He pulled me in a brotherly hug. "Don't be scared, Bella. As soon as you are one of us, we will be there for you and try to help you becoming 'clean'. I don't want to see you killing a human, none of us does."

I had to smile about that and Emmett punched me playfully on my arm.

"If I have to, I'd tackle you down before anything happens." He shook with laughter and I joined.

"Ok, Emmett, now I'm scared. I mean, look at you and look at me – you would squish me!"

That made him laugh only harder. "Don't worry, Bella, just remember that you'll be nearly indestructible then."

I smiled about that. It was nice to know that Emmett was happy about the fact that I would join them (hopefully soon) and it was even nicer that he was honest with me and answered my questions. He was right: Edward would not be happy to know what we were discussion this day.

In the meantime, we already reached the cereal's section and I started to look through all the different cereals they had. As I put some oat flakes into my cart, he took them out again and looked at the picture on it's front.
"Tell me, how that tastes. It looks… slimy." His nose wrinkled in a very funny way and I had to hold back a laugh. I took a short time to think about how I would try and describe it's taste to him. That's a really hard thing: Describing a taste to someone who didn't eat anything like that in almost 80 years and who has no sense of taste.
"Well, if you put it in your bowl and pour milk over it, you'll have to wait for a minute or two. Well, you can eat it right away, but I like it more when it is soaked with milk. Anyway. The taste… Hm… Let me think. First, it's pretty cold on your tongue, that's because of the cold milk. The milk is the first thing you taste, also. After the feel of liquid milk, there is that mushy, swelled, slimy and quite tasteless oat flakes stuff. It is a really funny feeling on your tongue." I had to grin as I realized which words I had used to describe the food.

He looked at me with utter disgust and as if I had lost my mind. "So, let me get this straight. You like food that is cold, mushy, slimy, swelled, soaked and quite tasteless?"

I had to grin. "Uhm… yepp?"

"We will have to work on that." He stated matter-of-factly. I giggled and put the food back into my cart.

"Is that all you need?" He asked as I put two other packs of cereal into my shopping cart.

"Yes, that's all. Let's head to the checkout."

On our way out, I gabbed two packs of pizza and Emmett chuckled again. He was in a really good mood today, but so was I.
He let me pay for my things – I was really thankful for that – and after that, we went out of the store.

"To the bookstore?" He asked as he carried my bags in one hand. He didn't let me argue with that. In his opinion, it was the least he could do for me, since I insisted that he was not allowed to pay for my things.

"Yes. I don't think that will take long, though. I will only have to pick up the book and then we can head home."

He smiled as he realized that I wasn't taking about Charlie's house.

We did not need much time in the shop. On my way in, I found two books with promising summaries on their backs and bought them, too. I was in the desperate need of things to do while Edward was out hunting. I got the book and this time, I could not stop Emmett to pay – that is: to pay for the two books for me.

"Hey!"

"Now way, Bella. I'll pay for that. Believe me, I know how it is to sit at home with nothing to do while your beloved one is out hunting."

That made me think.

"Did Edward say you had to stay at home? Some reason like 'if you won't be here, Bella won't survive this day' or something like that?" Somehow, that thought brought a frown on my face. I did not like it when the Cullens had to detain from something because of me.

Emmett sensed my thoughts and put his strong arm around my shoulder as we were walking out of the store towards his Jeep.

"Bella, look into my eyes. Do you really think I would have to go hunting today?" I did as I was told and as I looked into his eyes, I could see they were a light butterscotch colour.

"You went yesterday?" I asked. I didn't mean to say that out loud but somehow, I did.

He smiled down at me. "Yes, I was. You know, you are really quite observant for a human…"

"I'll take that as a compliment." I flashed a wide grin.

"Do that. And to come back to your apprehension: I could have gone with them today but when I heard you talking about going shopping, I became curious. As we already found out: I wasn't grocery shopping for quite some time, I just thought it would be funny to do that together with you. And it proved to be correct: It was really entertaining to see how you hunt your stuff." He winked at me and I had to smile.

"Thanks, Emmett. And thanks for coming along and telling me all those things. It was really great to have you with me."

As an answer, he ruffled my hair once more. Emmett really felt like a big brother to me.

Some feet away from the Jeep, Emmett asked while pointing to the cooking book in my arms: "Can I have a look?"

"Sure. But it's only about fish, just so you know what awaits you." With that, I handed the book to him.

He browsed through the book and suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks with a disgusted look on his face.

"Bella? Now I know that you humans really lost your minds. It's a good thing I'll never have to be human again."

I chuckled and went next to him to look what he found in the book.

"Emmett, it can't be that disgusting, it's only fish!"

He looked at me, one brow raised and offered the still open book to me. "Look and please tell me that this recipe is a joke."

I looked him straight in the eyes with a slight puzzled look on my face and then looked down in the book.

Yes, I could understand what Emmett meant. That recipe was about how to make some kind of fish-slime. Yes, fish-slime. Take a fish, put it in some kind of shredder and then you get your own, tasty fish-slime.

"That's… disgusting." My voice wasn't much more than a whisper but nevertheless, Emmett was able to hear me.

"Yeah. Maybe you should rip that page apart and burn it? I mean, that way you can make quite everything disappear…"

"Emmett!" I scolded him with a glare. He just grinned back and ruffled my hair.

He put my bags and books on the backseat while helping me into the passenger's seat. Shortly after closing my door - and getting sure I was buckled safely in the safety belts – he went to his side, got into the seat and started the engine.

"We should go shopping together more often. It is… fun and really informative. I don't think when the knowledge of how oat flakes taste or how to decide when a tomato is ripe will come in handy, but it was really, really funny to learn." He gave me a huge grin as he remembered the oat flakes and pulled out of the parking lot towards the Cullen's mansion, towards home.

"And don't forget: Whatever we told each other today, it's a secret and Edward is not allowed to know it, get it?" He had a mischievous grin on his face as he got out of the Jeep in front of the big mansion.

I grinned back. "I promise."

Emmett got the bags and together, we went into the house to wait until the others would come back – or more: Until it was time for me to get home.

That's it :) Thanks fore reading and please tell me, what you think of it. And just one thing by the way: I'm in desperate need of a synonym for "already". Do you know any? I can't find anything..