One more light and sweet chapter before things get down to business! Thank you to Helena Mira for the geographical help about the Dartmouth area.

Rosalie and Emmett followed me to our home. Even from my own car, I could easily hear their thoughts behind me as we drove, and I savored the familiar feel of their minds. I hadn't seen my brother and sister for almost two years, and even that had been just a brief visit, when Emmett had taken four days off of work. After the War had ended, they had finally gotten up the courage to tell Carlisle and Esme that they wanted to live on their own for a while, though they didn't think it would be permanent.

Esme had been heartbroken, but she hadn't protested their decision, except with her silent, unshed tears. She had been afraid that history was repeating itself, and for the first two weeks that they were gone, I had been bombarded with her memories of my departure in 1927.

Carlisle hadn't been so worried. He recognized that Rosalie and Emmett were older than I was, and that it was only natural for them to live as "adults", if they wanted. And so he had given them his blessing, and a sizeable amount of cash with which to start off. He had made it clear, though, that living as adults meant supporting themselves. They were not to request any further funds, except in case of an emergency. And he had also made it clear that he would miss them dearly, and that he did hope for their return, when they were ready.

Our first phone call from them had lessened Esme's worry. They had found an apartment in New York City, a ground floor unit which had plenty of shade surrounding it. This way, Rosalie would be able to continue her work on the Rolls-Royce, day or night. Their unit was in the rear of the building, and the carport would shield Rosalie's unorthodox activities from the eyes of their fellow tenants.

However, it hadn't been long before they had been obliged to sell the Rolls-Royce. Emmett had found a job in construction, but with the few details we had been given, we inferred that Carlisle's starter money had already run out, and that Emmett's salary wasn't cutting it. At least Rosalie had restored the Rolls-Royce beyond perfection, and had no doubt gotten a hefty sum for it.

That was the last time that they had shared any financial details with us, though they had always kept in touch otherwise. Carlisle was sometimes concerned about their spending, but he had joked that he wasn't going to lose any sleep over it. They had always kept in touch over the phone, and had visited once, when we had first bought the house in the spring of 1948. As we drove home now, I imagined that he wasn't going to be too surprised with their bankruptcy.

We pulled into the driveway, to find Esme working in the front yard. As soon as she saw her children emerging from the Cadillac, she let out a shriek and flew over to them so fast that she knocked Rosalie flat onto her back. For once, my sister forgot about her hair and wept into her mother's shoulder as they hugged each other fiercely.

"You're here, you're here!" Esme sang as she jumped up to accept Emmett's hug. He laughed along with her and spun her around several times. Carlisle was outside by this time, as well, and grinning widely as he embraced each of his older children in turn.

"The house looks great!" Emmett said as he began to look around. "Esme, you really know how to spruce up a place."

But Esme hadn't heard his compliment. She was peering into the back seat of the Cadillac. "This is quite a lot of luggage for a weekend visit," she said hopefully. "Are you staying into next week?"

Emmett looked nervously to me, and I nodded my encouragement. "Actually," he said, clearing his throat loudly, "we'd like to move back in- if that's all right."

Esme let out another delighted shriek and tackled Emmett this time in her exuberance. And to everyone's surprise, Carlisle burst out laughing.

"I'm sorry," he coughed, containing himself quickly. "But would I be correct in assuming that part of your change of heart is due to financial difficulties?"

"Flat broke," Emmett sighed.

"But this is not a change of heart," Rosalie said quickly. "We've been missing home, more and more. And we were already talking about moving back before we got, um, evicted."

"Evicted?" Carlisle asked, all trace of humor gone. "Do you mean you're actually in debt to the apartment complex?"

"And a few other places," Rosalie admitted. "But we're going to pay it off. We'll take care of it."

Esme was as skeptical. "How exactly are you going to take care of it?" she asked.

Emmett nodded towards their car. "We're going to sell the Cadillac," he announced. "That should cover it."

"And I'm going to cut up my charge cards," Rosalie sighed.

"Good," Carlisle said firmly. "Those things are nothing but trouble." Especially for those with an insatiable appetite for expensive clothing and social outings.

I snorted out a laugh at his thought, and we all went to help unload the car. We had gotten most of the boxes out, when I heard the rare sound of Esme growling.

"What is this?" she demanded, holding up a small television set.

Emmett shrugged, sending me a wink as he snatched it from her hands. Before she could stop him, he took it into the house.

"Times are changing, dear," Carlisle soothed, planting a kiss on her forehead. "The children will have their television set, just like their human peers. Rosalie, you and Emmett can take the bedroom at the end of the hallway upstairs- just move those other boxes up into the attic, please."

Rosalie nodded and went into the house to help Emmett.

I waited until the front door closed before turning back to my parents. "This is the best surprise ever," I said happily. "And it looks like you got more than you bargained for!"

"I couldn't be happier," Esme said truthfully. Except for that awful television. "What mother doesn't want all her children around her?"

"And I must admit, I thought this might happen eventually," Carlisle said. "I was just telling some of my coworkers at the hospital that my two older children would be coming for a visit this weekend, and that I wondered if they were staying afloat financially. You might be surprised at how common today's situation is- I had plenty of sympathy from the other doctors."

He stopped his story abruptly, but I grinned as I saw the rest in his thoughts. "Tell her, Carlisle," I teased.

Esme waited expectantly, and Carlisle hesitated briefly before confessing. "I may have… made a small wager on the likelihood of Rosalie and Emmett moving back in this weekend," he admitted.

Esme clucked her tongue disapprovingly. "Carlisle Cullen, shame on you! How much did you just lose in this foolishness?"

He cleared his throat, looking just as contrite as Emmett had earlier. "I made twenty dollars, actually."

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We only had a couple of hours before it was time to head back to Dartmouth for the ceremony. Rosalie was already in the upstairs bathroom using up the hot water, and Emmett was setting up the television set in the living room.

"We have a perfectly good radio," Esme protested. And although I didn't say anything, I was a bit skeptical as well; I had observed many of my fellow students thinking about various television shows they had watched, and I didn't see the draw.

Emmett finally got it working, though the picture was a bit unreliable. He turned the dial, clicking through four or five stations. All at once, the living room was filled with the lively, familiar notes of Hot House.

"Hold it right there!" I said, grabbing his arm.

"What? This is just the Milton Berle show," Emmett said.

"That's Lionel Hampton!" I answered excitedly, pointing to the screen. "Esme, come look at this!"

Esme reluctantly joined us, but a smile lit up her face as she saw our favorite group performing. According to Emmett, this was something called a variety show, in which various celebrities came and spoke, or performed, in brief snatches, one right after the other. It seemed that the Lionel Hampton Orchestra had been invited this time, and I watched in awe as he merrily played his vibraphone on the screen.

"It's like he's right in our living room!" Esme said excitedly. I had finally, after years of effort, converted Esme into loving jazz. Swing had been the key, and she had soon joined Rosalie and I into keeping up with the latest recordings. Of course, the genre was always changing, and I personally wasn't a fan of the "revolutionary" sounds that men like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie were introducing. I found their style too chaotic and dissonant for my taste. But even as the big bands were beginning to dwindle in popularity, smaller groups were still finding fame, and I particularly enjoyed the direction that Lionel Hampton was moving in: Rhythm and Blues. But this song was more Esme's style, and she had a soft spot for the vibraphone, which she described as "wind chimes dancing to Swing".

But neither of us had ever seen him perform live before, and we were both instantly sold on the benefit of television: being able to watch our favorite musicians into our living room. As soon as the song changed, I kicked aside the moving boxes and soon had Esme twirling and laughing to the rhythmic energy of the Brant Inn Boogie.

"So can we keep the television?" Emmett shouted over the music. Esme nodded absently, her eyes trained on her own feet as we danced, weaving in and out of the moving boxes.

When the music ended, Emmett switched it off. "When do we need to leave?" he asked me.

"Six-thirty. And no, the hot water won't last that long."

While we waited for Rosalie to finish her hour-long shower, Emmett entertained us with stories from his construction job. His biggest challenge was always to appear as weak as the humans- a delicate task, when one was operating a jackhammer. He had enjoyed the work for a while, but even after he had gotten bored, he was obliged to keep working to support Rosalie's spending, and to pay the rent.

"Perhaps she should have been the one working, since she was the one spending it all," Carlisle mused.

"She tried once to get a job at a body shop," Emmett said with a grin. "They just laughed at her."

"That's a shame," Esme said. "They had no idea what they were passing up. And besides, women have held all kinds of jobs lately."

"Rosie the riveter," Emmett laughed, smirking up at the ceiling.

"I heard that!" Rosalie called from the shower.

"Well, regardless," Carlisle continued, "if you two ever want to try this again, we're going to have to sit down for a long talk about how to live on a budget. I still don't see how you two managed to deplete the starter money I gave you so fast!"

"The wedding," Emmett muttered under his breath.

Carlisle blinked. "What wedding?"

"Rosalie wanted to get married again. So we flew to Vegas and pretended we were eloping."

Carlisle just blinked again, but I doubled over laughing as I watched the charade fly through my brother's mind. "Emmett, you do realize that most vampires don't even get married once!"

"I think it's romantic," Esme said with a warm smile.

He shrugged. "She wanted to do it."

I just punched him in the shoulder. "You're a pushover, Em."

"I know," he said gleefully. Don't worry, we'll invite you to the next one.

"Shower's free!" Rosalie announced as she walked into the living room. Emmett disappeared and I fondly watched my sister toweling off her hair. I was relieved to see that she at least hadn't replaced the engagement ring I had pilfered from my human mother's jewelry. She and Emmett had been married a good fifteen years now, and she was still glowing with the extra beauty that his love had given her. She was still as vain, selfish and spoiled as ever- Emmett obviously wasn't helping- but I loved her dearly. I closed my eyes, savoring the four minds of my family as they tangled in my own; we were complete again.

"I hear congratulations are in order," I said smoothly, as I opened my eyes.

Rosalie came out from under her towel. "What?"

"The wedding."

She grinned. "I figured that if we keep going to school over and over, why not get married occasionally, too?"

Carlisle raised his eyebrows. Occasionally? I hope she isn't planning on making this a habit. I'm not made completely of money, after all.

I couldn't resist. "Rosalie was just thinking how nice it was to be under your roof again, so that you can pay for the next one."

Rosalie shrieked and snapped her towel at me expertly. "I was not thinking that!"

Emmett reappeared with his arms around Esme and a devilish smirk mirroring my own. "Really? You guys are going to throw us another one?" Ha ha! Good one, Eddie!

I dodged the second snap, laughing at her bared teeth. Esme just sighed in contentment, thinking how nice it was to have all of her children back home, even if we were up to our old antics already.

This is the way it should be, she thought warmly as she relaxed into her oldest son's arms. My life has never felt so full!

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The ceremony didn't take too long. Our class, which was now down to seventy-two, was paraded up onto the stage one at a time to be given our lab coats. When my turn came, the dean stood on one side of me and Dr. Warren on the other. As the two men slipped the brand-new, starched lab coat up onto my shoulders, I glanced up and gave a grateful nod to my family, who were sitting near the back of the auditorium. They each sent me their loving thoughts and applauded as I stepped down and returned to my place with my classmates. When we had all been "robed", we were all asked to remain standing.

The dean shuffled to the podium, and his approving gaze swept over us as he leaned toward the microphone. "Congratulations to all of you. As you young men draw toward the completion of your time at Dartmouth, I pray that you will all continue to demonstrate the same aptitude and responsibility that you have shown thus far. On this solemn occasion of commencement into the clinical phase of your training, I ask you to pledge that oath which your forebears have always sworn."

We all raised our right hands and recited the sacred words of the Hippocratic Oath together, and I smiled as I heard Carlisle reverently whispering the words along with me.

Now being admitted into the profession of medicine, I solemnly pledge to consecrate my life to the service of humanity.

I will give respect and gratitude to my deserving teachers. I will practice medicine with conscience and dignity. The health and life of my patient will be my first consideration. I will hold in confidence all my patient confides in me. I will maintain the honor and the noble traditions of the medical profession.

My colleagues will be as my brothers. I will not permit considerations of race, religion, nationality, party politics or social standing to intervene between my duty and my patients.

I will maintain the utmost respect for human life from the time of its conception. Even under threat I will not use my knowledge contrary to the laws of humanity. These promises I make freely and upon my honor.

The actual words of the Oath were quite different than the ones Carlisle had first sworn hundreds of years ago; this was the newest incarnation, penned only two years ago in Geneva. And this version was much less colorful and pagan than the original, though the sentiments were the same.

The audience broke into applause, and we all broke formation to congratulate each other. Nick and William clapped each other on the back, and then delicately tapped my shoulder, as they were accustomed to doing. Nick was just introducing William and I to his parents when his mouth suddenly went dry. I turned around to follow his gaze to find my sister gliding toward us, the sea of my classmates parting for her as she walked. She was devastating all of them with her emerald-green velvet evening dress, which made her hair look like it was glowing. Emmett was following her like a bodyguard, standing a full head above most of the crowd.

"Good evening," Nick stammered. His father was gawking just as badly, much to the annoyance of his mother. Emmett just grinned proudly; he enjoyed Rosalie's admirers almost as much as she did.

"Congratulations," Rosalie said as she delicately swept her eyes over all three of us.

"Thanks," I said loudly, in an effort to get my friend breathing again. "Where'd Carlisle and Esme go?"

"Carlisle's off chatting with some of the other doctors," she said absently. Then her gaze fell on William again. "Oh! I met you earlier today, when we came to surprise Edward. William, wasn't it?" She leaned back into Emmett's shoulder. "Remember William, darling? He was the one interested in the Cadillac."

Before William could protest, Rosalie turned and stared into his eyes. "It's such a shame, but we really do need to part with it. I'm afraid I'm ever so clumsy with money…" She blinked once, slowly.

William's jaw just dropped; he was a goner. And his father, who also been caught in the crossfire of Rosalie's magic, was already thinking about shuffling his accounts so that he could make it work.

"Shame, shame," I chided softly. Rosalie didn't bat an eyelash. By the time Carlisle and Esme joined us, William's father had already promised him the Cadillac as a heading-to-Harvard gift. They drifted away as soon as Rosalie released them from her gaze, and Carlisle looked curiously at us while he swished around his half-empty glass of champagne.

"We sold the Cadillac," Rosalie told our parents brightly. "They're coming to get it tomorrow."

"Back in black," Emmett hummed, sharing a discreet high-five with his wife.

"Well done, Rosalie!" Esme said proudly.

"Well done, my foot," I muttered. "Have you been taking lessons from Tanya?"

Rosalie frowned back at me. That's not funny, Edward.

"You're right, I didn't mean that," I sighed. "It's just that they don't have as much money as you seem to think."

"Well, they will soon enough," she sniffed. "And don't tell me you don't ever charm humans to get what you want."

"I only use that power for good," I said defensively. I told them the story about little Mary, and Rosalie was genuinely touched.

I really am proud of you, she thought when she had caught my eyes. And I wouldn't have missed this for the world.

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When we got home, Emmett announced that it was time for refreshments. We all agreed that a family hunt was in order, and went inside to change first. As I shrugged out of my new lab coat and was wondering where to hang it, Esme snatched it out of my hands.

"I'll take that," she said as she zipped down the hall to her own bedroom, blocking my mind as she went.

We went up to the White Mountains to hunt. Our house was actually located a bit south of Hanover, just outside of White River Junction, Vermont. This lengthened Carlisle's commute by a few miles, but the house was comfortably situated, well out of town and equidistant from three decent forests. But we hunted in the White Mountains most frequently, due to the bear population. Emmett was thrilled.

"Not bad," he mused as we drove back home. "Not bad at all." Sure beats living in the city. Still, it's no Washington State.

"I know what you mean," I sighed. We all missed our home back in Hoquiam, and I had caught everyone, at various times, wondering if we might return there someday. In more populated areas like this, we usually ended up driving to our hunting destinations. I missed the freedom, and the running, that living in such a sparsely populated area had brought.

I also missed the house that we had had there. Now that Rosalie and Emmett were back with us, things would be a bit cramped. Esme, of course, was having the time of her life running through possible renovations in her head. Unfortunately, our property wasn't big enough this time to build my siblings a honeymoon cottage. I just hoped that having them back at home was going to work out.

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My fears were soon laid to rest. It seemed that Rosalie and Emmett had finally calmed down a bit, and that our house was in no danger of being destroyed any time soon. Rosalie was sad to see her precious Cadillac go on Saturday morning, but she got right to work on the Lincoln.

"Esme, I need to go!" I called as I adjusted my tie on Tuesday morning. "And I'm supposed to start wearing my lab coat in clinicals today!"

"Just wait a minute," she called back. "Carlisle is supposed to get home before you go."

I soon heard my father's mind, and his car, pulling up in the driveway. I tossed my stethoscope over the back of my neck and gathered my books as I headed out the door. "Esme, I really have to-"

My parents were standing side by side and smiling at me proudly. Carlisle still had his own lab coat on- dingy and worn, compared to the crisp white one that Esme held, neatly draped over her arms. She stepped forward and helped me into it. As she adjusted it on my shoulders and lifted my stethoscope back on top, I saw that she had embroidered E. Cullen below the left lapel.

"I'm saving some of the thread," she told me in a trembling voice. "For the M.D."

Carlisle had his own addition to make. He reached up to the lapel itself, fastening a pin on it. It was the ancient Rod of Asclepius, the familiar serpent winding up the rod as the symbol of medicine.

"You have sworn a solemn oath," he said quietly. "One that I know you will uphold. You can't begin to know how proud I am of you, Edward." Not even with your ability. You can't know how it felt to watch you swear the Oath on Friday night.

Both of them drew me in for a close embrace, but Esme pulled away suddenly.

"Oh!" she cried, running into the house. "Just one more minute, Edward!"

I grinned as I saw her plan. "Stay put, Dr. Cullen," I ordered, keeping my arm wrapped around his back. In a few seconds, Esme returned with her camera and snapped a picture of us in our matching attire, standing and smiling side by side.