AN: This is my first Twilight fic. I wrote this for another fandom and decided it would work for Twilight too. I really like all human fics, so I knew that's what it had to be. I hope you enjoy! Don't forget to review!
It all started with a game of house. At least, that's what my best friend Alice would have said. She lived two houses down from me when we were growing up and her favorite thing to do was play house. Her one complaint was the lack of boys to play "daddy" to my "mommy" (she always insisted on being the child).
Then, the summer we were nine it all changed. A family moved in next door to me that had three boys and a playhouse on the edge of the woods. She immediately dragged me over to "say hi".
"Alice you just want to bribe them to play house with us!" I exclaimed, scared to meet new people without my dad there to hide behind. She rolled her eyes at me as if to say "duh" and rang the doorbell without hesitation. She was always the braver of the two of us. A woman who even then I remember thinking of as pretty opened the door and smiled warmly at us.
"Hello there," she said.
"Hi, I'm Alice and this is Bella. She lives in the white house next door and I live in the blue one two down from her. We saw that you had kids and thought we would introduce ourselves." Alice was practically bouncing and her grin was from ear to ear.
"You can call me Esme. Why don't you girls come on in, I was about to give my boys a treat for unpacking their rooms so fast." Alice continued to drag me into the kitchen, where we were met with three boys and a large plate of cookies. The boys looked nothing alike, and I discovered later that they were all adopted.
Alice grinned at me, as the boy with bronze hair picked up two cookies and walked over to us.
"Hi, I'm Edward." Esme looked proud as Edward handed us the cookies.
"Wanna go play house?" Alice asked excitedly. Edward shrugged noncommittally and his mother spoke up.
"Edward, Emmett, why don't you two go play with them while I put Jasper down for his nap?" She said, picking up the smallest one, his blond hair hanging into his eyes as he rubbed them.
"Aww Mom. I don't want to play with girls," The curly-haired one, Emmett, said.
"Just come on," Edward rolled his eyes and I giggled at how much it reminded me of Alice. Edward looked over and grinned at me, making me suddenly feel less self-conscious. Edward led us out the door. As we approached the playhouse, Alice stopped us.
"So, Bella is always the mommy and now Edward can be the daddy. But we have to have a wedding first!" Emmett huffed and dropped himself on the ground. Apparently 7-year-old boys weren't interested in putting on a backyard wedding.
Alice ran back inside to tell Esme, who was more than happy to put together a last minute wedding (and take pictures that Emmett avoided like the plague).
So that's how I found myself laying on a blanket in the woods on my honeymoon at 9-years-old. We laid there side-by-side for a few minutes in silence. I felt inexplicably comfortable around him.
"Edward?" I remember asking.
"Yes?"
"Will we be together forever?" I asked, thinking of my divorced parents.
"Even longer than that," he replied while holding my hand, his green eyes shining. I smiled, happy with the answer. I kissed his cheek and lay back down, enjoying the last few minutes of our fifteen minute honeymoon in comfortable silence.
As time went on, our perfect game of house didn't last. Jasper was too young, Emmett didn't want to, and then Alice moved away when we were thirteen.
The boys stayed though and soon adopted a sister into their family. Her name was Rosalie. She had bright blonde hair and seemed to already think she was queen of the house. It made me miss Alice, thinking about how excited she would have been to have a real baby around.
True to his word, Edward stuck by my side growing up. Even during the awkward puberty years when I was teased by a few classmates and went home crying. He merely hugged me and told me I always had my husband.
Sometime in high school things changed. I started to notice how handsome he had become and how sweet he had always been. I watched a few girls break his heart before Jasper and Emmett gave him a kick in the pants (metaphorically or literally I'm still not sure) and he asked me out.
Most people thought we were "the cutest couple" while others told us high school romance would never last. We graduated and went to different colleges close to each other. My roommate thought I was crazy to never date around until she met Edward for the first time. She told me I had a fairy tale romance and she would kill me if I messed it up.
Christmas break of our last year, we were both home for the holidays. Edward showed up at my door biting his lip.
"I want to show you something," he blurted out, sounding nervous. I raised an eyebrow at him as he grinned sheepishly.
"Okay," I shrugged, pulling on my coat as Edward handed me my scarf and hat. He then grabbed my hand and led me outside. He led me into his backyard and I began to get nervous as he led me past the playhouse into the woods on their property. He must have sensed my unease and squeezed my hand.
"I want to show you someplace very special to me. No one knows about it except me and my mom and she's never seen it." His words touched me and I tried to relax into his side, but walking through the woods made me nervous.
Then suddenly, we came upon a clearing and there was the cutest little carriage house there in the clearing. I suddenly felt totally at ease. I'm not exactly sure why but this place was so different than everywhere else, it just had an aura of comfort to it. I turned to Edward and he had a giant smile on his face.
"Come on, there's a fireplace so let's get inside and get warm." He led me inside, pulling a key out of his pocket and unlocking the door. He started a fire and laid a blanket down in front of the hearth. We settled down on it and I snuggled into his side. I don't think I had ever felt so content.
"I found this place around the time Alice moved. Mom said that it could be my special place and gave me the key. I've come here many times over the years to think. I spent a lot of time here early in high school debating whether or not to ask you out," he said with a laugh.
"It's been a place of comfort to me and I knew that I wanted to share it with you." I tried to fight back tears as I leaned up and kissed him.
"You are too sweet sometimes." I started to lie back against him when he stopped me. He then moved up to his knee and pulled something out of his pocket. It was a small black box and my breath caught in my throat.
"Edward," I said before choking up.
"I've loved you for so long that I don't even remember my life before you. You are more important to me than anyone and anything else in my life. I met my soul mate because of a game of house. I know in reality we've been married for over ten years, but I'd like to make it legal now. Will you marry me?" I couldn't help the tears streaming down my face.
"Yes! Of course," I exclaimed. I wrapped my arms around his neck, smothering him in kisses. He pulled the ring out of the box and slipped it on my finger.
"A perfect fit," he whispered.
"Just like us. I promised we'd be together forever."
"As long as our honeymoon is longer than fifteen minutes this time," I said with a laugh.
"As long as you're with me, time doesn't matter."