Now that we had our list of destinations nailed down we could start packing and figuring out flights. "Rose, honey!" I called upstairs to her in the bedroom, "do you want to pack or buy airline tickets?" "Since you're planning the trip, why don't you do the ticket purchases and I'll pack… based on where we're going I can sort of pack for weather," she responded.

"Don't forget it will be fall and winter in Southern Hemisphere!" Nessie yelled from the living room. What was Edward teaching that child? Good thing I wasn't doing the packing, I'd forgotten all about that! "Ness, I'm sure Aunt Rose remembers how the seasons work on other parts of the planet," Edward said with a laugh. I was sure he could 'hear' that Nessie's statement had jogged my own memory.

"Thanks for the reminder Ness! I did remember about the seasons, but I bet your Uncle Emmett completely forgot!" Rose cheerfully called back down the stairs. My wife knows me so well.

Bella appeared in the living room, "Come on Renesmee, it's time for bed." "But Momma, I'm helping Uncle Emmett with his trip." Nessie whined in response.
"Don't worry Ness, there'll be plenty of things for you to help with in the morning," I stated reassuringly.

"Yeah, if you don't help your Uncle, he'll never remember to get tickets to Brazil for Isle Esme and the family vacation will be ruined," Edward teased his daughter. "No Daddy! I've never been on family vacation before, Uncle Emmett can't ruin it!!" Nessie's face was suddenly filled with worry. I scooped my niece into my arms, "I promise, first thing in the morning, you and I will book tickets for Brazil, not just for Auntie Rose and me, but for the whole family." "Thank you Uncle Emmett!" she squealed. She squeezed me around the neck then jumped out of my arms toward Bella. "I guess we can go to bed now Momma. Good night everybody!" she called to the family. A chorus of "Good Night Nessie" came around the house. Bella picked up Nessie and looked towards Edward, who appeared lost in his own thoughts. "I'll be there in a few minutes love, I just want to help Emmett nail down a few of his plans," he told his wife. She smiled and kissed him on the cheek, "see you soon."

"Edward, I am perfectly capable of planning my own vacation," I snarled. Seriously, what was with my family thinking that I was incompetent? "Hold your pants on Emmett, I know you're completely competent at vacation planning, and everything else for that matter, I just wanted to ask you a favor." Edward said trying to soothe my aggravation. Well, I suppose I shouldn't jump to conclusions. "Su-" before I could even say "sure" to his favor Edward was already talking again. "You're right, you really shouldn't jump to conclusions" he smiled and then continued "I know Italy is on your list, but please, don't antagonize the Volturi." "Edward" I started angrily, "you know I would NEVER do anything to put my family in danger, you know I wouldn't purposely antagonize them after what we've just been through. You'd think after all of this time you'd have a little faith in me." I was almost yelling by the time I'd completed my speech. How could Edward think so little of me after all these years together? "Emmett, I have the utmost faith in you and you know I think very highly of you," (damn mind reader) "but, there was more to Aro's thoughts than I let on after the Volturi left here. I'm sure the Volturi won't come back to Forks anytime soon, but I wouldn't put it past them to try to pick us off individually if we come across them on their turf." Edward finished his statement in hushed tones. Like it would do any good to whisper, after my yelling I'm sure the whole house was listening intently to our conversation. "I'm sorry Edward, I should have known there was more behind your concern." I said quietly. "Wouldn't Alice see that coming?" I asked. "Not necessarily," he explained, "Aro has a pretty good idea how Alice's visions work, and he knows if they try to plan anything she'll see it coming. But if it's spur of the moment on a chance meeting, Alice may not see it in time to change the outcome." Edward continued, "I know I give and Rose a lot of crap, but you know I love you guys, and I'd be awfully mad if you don't make it back home. Plus, you'd ruin my daughter's first ever family vacation" he added off handedly with a laugh. "I suppose we couldn't have that happen, you'd never hear the end of it." I agreed with a grin. "Anyhow," Edward said "I just want you to be mindful, I don't expect you to change your plans or anything." "Thanks Edward." I responded. I really should give him more credit; he's a pretty great brother. "Have a good night!" I called after him as he headed out the door towards his cottage.

Since I was left alone in the living room, I walked over to the computer to book our plane tickets. The first leg of our trip would be from Seattle to Fairbanks Alaska, where we could stay with Kate and Tanya for a few days. It would be nice to catch up with them in a quieter setting, and last I heard Garrett was still there with Kate. I hoped so, because I'd been wondering how he was settling in. I was looking at flight times when I realized I probably better check with Rose before booking. I'd hate to have her mad at me for not giving her enough time to pack. I was just about to open my mouth when I realized that as soon as I said anything the entire family would be ready to interject their two cents as to when we should leave. Ah-ha! I grabbed my cell phone out of my pocket. R – If we leave tomorrow afternoon does that leave you enough time to pack? – E. The joys of text messaging, I didn't have to go find Rose or announce to the house when I wanted to leave. * honk * (yes, I have my cell phone set to honk at me when I've received a text… trust me with 8 phones in the same household it's nice to have a different sound than everyone else) E – tomorrow afternoon should be just fine. xx-R. Perfect. We can leave tomorrow. Looking at flights online, I found a direct flight from Seattle to Fairbanks leaving at 6:15 in the afternoon. This will be just great, it gets us into Fairbanks around 9:00 at night, and we can spend a few days there before heading to Siberia. I booked flights from Fairbanks to Siberia, Bangkok Thailand to Sidney Australia, Auckland New Zealand to Ile Sainte-Marie in Madagascar, then London England to Santiago Chile. I know I promised Nessie we'd book the fights for Brazil together, but there is much less backtracking if we fly into Chile. I hate to let the little nipper down though, I suppose tomorrow morning we can book a flight from somewhere else in South America to Brazil, so we can all fly into the same airport, and I can keep my promise to Nessie.

I had all of the confirmations emailed to my gmail account, and forwarded them to Carlisle. I know I didn't have to tell him our plans, but it was nice knowing someone knew where we'd be and when, at least generically. Plus I knew Carlisle wouldn't do anything with the information. I wouldn't put it past Alice to surprise us somewhere along the way if she had our itinerary. Now that the big details were taken care of… I sprinted up the stairs into my room. I picked Rose up and twirled her around. "Rosie!!! It's all taken care of!" I whispered in excitement. "That's great Emmett, can you please put me down though? I'd really like to finish packing." Rose replied with an exasperated sigh. I set Rose down and hopped on to our bed. "Do you need any help?" I asked (please say no, please say no). I leaned back, kicked off my shoes and started to unbutton my shirt. Rose turned around, "no, I've got it…" she stopped mid sentence and smiled as she saw me unbuttoning my shirt. "… I guess the packing can wait until later." She dropped the shirt she was holding and walked towards me.

Rosalie's Point of View

"Damn it Emmett!" I exclaimed as I frantically rushed around our bedroom trying to pack. "How on Earth am I ever going to get all of this stuff packed before we have to leave, in," I glanced down at my watch, "FIVE HOURS?" Emmett was sitting on the bed tying his shoes and laughing, "It's not my fault you find me irresistible Rose," he got out between laughs. I swear, I'm going to kill him for this. He knows I can't resist him and still, he interrupts me for his own amusement. Okay, okay, and mine too. I do love that after all of these years we still want each other so much.

I surveyed the room. The two largest rucksacks we owned were sitting on the sofa and there were piles of clothes all around the room. It was a good thing Carlisle worked very hard to keep up the human charade, and liked to support the local businesses. I swear we owned probably one third of the stock of the Newton's Outdoor Store. I know Emmett said we should just buy stuff along the way, but I'm not quite sure he thought this all the way through.

"Em, I'm not sure how we're going to fit all of these clothes into our bags." I said. "I'm not sure why you're packing all of those big heavy clothes, we're going to be mainly in sunny places." He responded. "You're right of course, but we can't very well be wandering about Siberia in March in jeans and a tee shirt, that's bound to raise the suspicions of anyone we run across." I said knowingly. "Okay, I've got," he started "we wear the heavy coats on the plane so we don't have to pack them, and leave most of the summer stuff here, we can buy that stuff when we get to Thailand... isn't that where most of that stuff is made anyhow?" Ugh, he was probably right but that wasn't the answer I wanted. "I'm going to head downstairs and find out of someone can take us to the airport today, and probably book those tickets to Brazil with Ness, call me if you need me," Emmett said over his shoulder as he walked out the door.

I threw my hands in the air in exasperation and walked next door to Alice's room. "Hey hon, come on in." She responded as I raised my hand to knock. "I guess you know why I'm here already, don't you?" I said in a rather dejected voice. Alice threw a handful of large plastic bags in my hand. "Space bags!" she exclaimed. Seeing the quizzical look on my face she continued, "you can get tons of clothes into these and they shrink down." "Oh Alice, you're the best. Thank you!" I hugged her tightly and turned to leave the room. "I'll do it for a stop in Milan" Alice said randomly. "What are you talking about?" I asked. "I'll pack a trunk for you and Emmett for our trip to Isle Esme, all you have to do is stop in Milan and order me a couple of outfits from a store there… I'll send you an email with the details once I pick out what I want," she explained. "That will be perfect! As much as the idea of traveling light is exciting to me, I'm sure by the time we meet up with all of you I'll be ready to burn every piece of clothing I brought with me." I smiled at the thought of how well this was working out. "Just don't take that blue dress, I like it and I'd be annoyed if you torched it" Alice called after me as I left the room.

As I walked back to my room I heard voices downstairs:

"You're leaving for your trip today? And you're just now asking for a ride to the airport? Geez Emmett, way to plan ahead." Edward was giving Emmett a hard time about his lack of foresight. "Well if you can't take us, maybe Jasper can," Emmett retorted back. "Sure Emmett, no problem!" Jasper shouted from the study. I smiled, Emmett was always positive that things would work out, and sure enough, they always did. Sighing, I entered the bedroom to finish packing.

Emmett's Point of View:

"Now we need 7 tickets from Seattle to Rio de Janeiro arriving on June 10th," I instructed Nessie who was sitting at the computer on the travel website picking flights. "Does this flight work Uncle Emmett?" Nessie asked as she pointed to a flight that arrived around 8:00 at night. I checked the flight details, it had 3 layovers. "Can you find one with fewer stops?" I asked. Nessie always liked a challenge. "This one only has one layover, and it arrives at 9:30 at night!" she exclaimed excitedly. "That one looks perfect, book it!" I said. 'Now what about you and Auntie Rose?" she asked. What about me and Auntie Rose, where can we get to from Chile, but still make it worth while to fly to Brazil? Ahhh. "Ness, how about you get us two tickets from Costa Rica," I answered. "Done and done!" she chanted and held up her hand for a high five. "Perfect!" I said, and slapped her a high five.

At 3:00 I loaded our luggage into Carlisle's Mercedes. Jasper was driving us to the airport, and Edward was riding along to keep him company on the ride back. (Plus I think he was kind of miffed that Jasper so readily agreed to drive us before he got a chance to make me beg for a ride). Everyone was on the front porch to say goodbye to us. We gave hugs, kisses and promises to call to everyone. As we walked down the driveway, Nessie ran up and threw herself on my back. "Bye Uncle Emmett, I'll miss you lots!" she whispered. I slipped a small cell phone into her pocket, "I'll call you lots Ness," I whispered back conspiratorially. She then jumped to Rosalie's back, "I'll miss you too Auntie Rose!" "I'll miss you too sweetie" Rose whispered. We got in the car and headed towards the airport.

The ride to the airport was uneventful. Filled with chatter about our trip, and the family vacation at the end. The family vacation was actually a first for us. Normally we traveled in couples, or we moved as a family when someone had an accident. This would be the first time all of us went some place together with the intent of returning home afterwards. As we got out of the car and headed towards the check in, Edward opened his window and called after us "Say hi to everyone in Denali for us." Oh, yeah… "Hey Edward," I called back "could you possibly call them and ask them to pick us up at the airport in Fairbanks?" I smiled sheepishly. I knew I forgot something. I could hear Edward roaring with laughter as the car pulled away, and telling Jasper "Only Emmett would plan to visit someone without bothering to let them know he was coming."

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Author Notes and Disclaimer:

Stephenie Meyer owns all things Twilight. Alas, I do not own Mercedes Benz or gmail either.

Reviews would be great… I'd love to know if you think I'm on the right track, or if you have ideas for things that should happen to Rose and Emmett in their travels.


Thanks for reading!