Disclaimer: Same as always! Stephenie Meyer owns all things Twilight related.

Ch4 Peicing it together

EPOV

We stood packed like sardines with hundreds of other people who looked about as thrilled as we were to be here. I couldn't believe this was mandatory on all cruises. Our muster drill leader was speaking about what to do in case of an emergency, and was pointing and holding up the little whistle that was attached to his lifevest, but he was so far in front of us that I couldn't hear a word he was saying, despite my usually good hearing. I gave up after a few minutes of straining and decided I'd take my chances and hoped that nothing unfortunate would happen.

Emmett and Jasper weren't even trying to pay attention. They were both craning their necks around, looking frantically in all directions. I picked up on the conversation of a middle aged couple a row in front of us. They were discussing their kids and where their muster station might be. Apparently some of the groups had been split and were assembled out on deck 3 instead of being stuck inside like us.

"Any luck?" I asked Emmett and Jasper, already knowing the answer. They both gave me forlorn looks and shook their heads.

The next fifteen minutes seemed to drag on like an eternity. The heat of everyone standing so close together and wearing bulky life jackets was starting to get to some people. I could feel myself getting irritable right along with them.

"Ok...and... that's it. So you can all take your lifevests off now and put them back in your rooms. You're free to go. Enjoy the cruise! We will be embarking in a little while and having the bon voyage party up by the pool on the Lido deck, which is deck nine.." I heard our leader say. That part was clear as a bell. It was the only thing I got out of the meeting.

"Finally!" Emmett grumbled, pulling his lifevest off over his head. "Let's get this shit off of us and figure out what we want to do for some fun around here."

We had been dismissed ten minutes ago and were only about fifteen feet further along, due to the mass exodus of people all trying to get back down the hall and to their rooms at the same time. I knew the elevators were going to be packed.

"When we have a chance, let's take the stairs back up, otherwise we're going to be waiting forever to get on an elevator. Are you guys up for a little walking?" I asked, hoping they'd see the logic in my plan.

As we reached the staircases, I noticed everyone else must've had the same idea. "Great idea!" Emmett complained. At least we were being herded through a little more quickly, now. I felt bad for anyone who missed their deck and needed to turn around.

We were approaching the seventh deck when Jasper's face suddenly lit up and he shouted "There they are!!" Emmett and I were almost trampled as we slowed our pace to turn and follow the line of sight to where Jasper was pointing. Sure enough, the three sisters were on the staircase that was opposite us. They didn't seem to notice us.

"Hey, Edward. Why don't we just call out their names to get their attention... Oh, that's right..."Emmett jeered, giving me the guilt trip, again.

I was about to come back with some witty retort about how that wouldn't really constitute a "coincedental meeting" when that suddenly wasn't an issue anymore.

"Hey!!! HEY!! ... SISTERS!!" Jasper was yelling loudly, causing everyone around us to mumble and give us dirty looks.

"Real smooth, Jasper!" I complained, covering my face in embarassment, but he wasn't paying attention to me. He kept flapping his arms which, surprisingly caught the eye of the little one he seemed taken with. I saw her excitedly grab the arm of her blond sister and point to us, causing all three girls to smile and wave.

I had to admit that I was a little relieved to see all three of them smiling and apparently just as happy to see us. As we neared the 8th deck, I noticed the girls slowed down and were ready to leave. I realized that must be their floor. There were hundreds of rooms on that deck and I knew we were going to lose them again unless we could come up with a plan.

Jasper annunciated and yelled at the top of his lungs to the black haired girl. "WHAT... ROOM...?!?!"

I was surprised that she could hear him over the deafening roar of everyone talking at once, but she smiled wider and before they were pulled away, she held up her hands. Her left hand was completely open, showing all five fingers and the other had three fingers.. "EIGHT!!!" She yelled, giving one number at a time. She dropped the open hand and was still holding the three fingers up on her right hand. "THREE!!!".

That was all we got before they exited and we kept going up one flight.

BPOV

"I yelled out our room number to them and did charades, but I don't know if they got all of it. It was kinda loud out there and I think we got cut off at the end." Alice said, undeterred. She actually looked quite pleased with herself for coming up with that idea of how to communicate at the last minute.

"Did you guys notice they kept walking up the staircase when we got off?" Rose asked, driving her point home. "I was right. They are on a higher floor. I'm so good."

"I think they might come here if they got all of the numbers. Eeeek! Look at this room! It's a mess!!." She yelled, grabbing a handful of her clothes off the bed and frantically shoving them into a drawer.

"Oh no you don't!! Top drawer is mine, like always!! You get the bottom drawer since you're the closest to the ground." Rose laughed as she took the clothes back out of the drawer and threw them at the third drawer as fast as Alice could shove them in.

The whole thing reminded me of something I might've seen in the Three Stooges. "I doubt they're just going to show up at our door. Something tells me they have more finesse than that."

"Then why would they ask for the room number, if they didn't plan on meeting us here, hmmm?" Alice prompted, her hands on her hips. She was a pistol. She might be the smallest of us, but once she got going on something, she could be the toughest and most dedicated person I'd ever seen. I knew she wasn't going to drop it that easily.

"I don't know. Look, here's the deal. We can wait here another fifteen minutes to give them time to drop off their stuff and come to our room if that's what they're planning, but if they aren't here by then, let's agree to let it go for now and plan our activity. Deal?"

"Deal!" They both agreed and took turns looking through the peep hole, Alice standing on her tip-toes and barely reaching when it was her turn.

"And one more thing. If by some miracle, we do end up getting together with these guys on this cruise and they're not creeps, - we still don't give out our real addresses if it comes up in conversation. Where's a place you'd actually be proud to say that we're from?" I asked.

We knew the routine well by now. We always made up a fake hometown and stuck to a rehearsed story with anyone we spent our time with on our cruising adventures. It had started out as a fun prank between us sisters, to see who could come up with the most outlandish stories and locations but as time went by, we realized it was actually a good safeguard in case of stalkers or other identity issues that might arise.

"I think it's my turn to pick. How about Texas? The stars at night are big and bright... deep in the heart of Texas.." Alice sang loudly and clapped to the song she knew I hated.

"No way!! Besides, he'll never buy it. He already knows I don't have a southern accent, remember? And anyway, accents are too hard to keep up with. Remember that one cruise when we tried doing the Irish brogue but it ended up sounding more like cockney and everyone thought we were British? No...You got anything else? Maybe some place we actually know something about??" I asked.

Alice rubbed her chin, deep in thought and then finally said "Oooh - I got it!! Remember all the ski lessons we used to take at Alpine Valley Resort? That's in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. How about that? I've got some fond memories of that place."

Rose nodded her head in approval of Alice's choice. That settled it.

"That works. We know enough about it to ad lib a little if we need to. So - Elkhorn it is!"

EPOV

"Eighty three!" Jasper said, triumphantly, as if he had discovered the answer to life's most important question. I still couldn't believe he'd make that spctacle of himself on the staircase. I'd never admit it to him, but since we had actually gotten a few more peices of the puzzle over it, I wasn't really that upset.

"I hate to burst your bubble, Romeo, but we're still two numbers short." I reminded him as I looked through the flier with the night's activities. It couldn't hurt to plan ahead and have some options, either way.

"Well, we could...head down there and walk by all the rooms that start with eighty three. They'll have to come out of their room, sometime.." Jasper said, straight faced.

"Yeah! Because that wouldn't look too desperate at all. Have a little dignity, Jasper! Besides, there are too many rooms. People on that floor would wonder if we're stalkers or something if we hang out at the wrong room." I shook my head incredulously at him.

"Well..why don't we just call them?" Emmett asked as if that was the obvious answer.

"Probably because we don't have all of the numbers that we'd need to peice it together." Jasper said, clearly frustrated.

"But, don't you just dial the same number as the room number?" Emmett asked, looking up, now.

Uh oh! Emmett had that crazy look that he always got when he was up to something. I thought I knew where he was going with this line of thinking, but I wanted to hear the rest of it, so I let them talk.

"Yes. But again - if we only have two numbers - " Jasper started to explain.

"I know, but even if we started at eighty-three-oh-one and had to dial all the room numbers up to eighty-three-ninety-nine...It's better than running around like stalkers in front of everyone's door. They'd never know we dialed the other rooms looking for them. And once we get their room and they answer the phone, we just act like we had heard the room number that the little one yelled out. No biggie.."

I was utterly shocked and amazed that Emmett of all people had come up with a halfway decent plan. He must've realized I was staring at him with my mouth open because he got a sour look on his face and snapped at me.

"Oh - Don't look so surprised, Edward!! I'm just as smart as you, but I've got the advantage this time... I've had loads more experience with getting women than you have!" he gloated. I didn't doubt he had more experience with women. We were both overly competitive and so far, that was the only thing he'd ever been able to beat me at, because I didn't necessarily look at it as a contest.

I narrowed my eyes. "Just as smart as me, huh? Well, tell me something, Einstein! Who are you going to ask for when people start answering their phones?" I smirked as I watched his confident smile slowly fade off his face.

A/N: Hehe... Emmett didn't think that far ahead! Don't worry... They will meet pretty soon... I promise it will be before the end of the first day on the cruise. I'm having a blast writing this story. It's so refreshing. Unfortunately (or fortunately- for those of you who like my other story better) I need to write the chapter for "Defining moments" now because I haven't updated that one in a few days. So it might be a little while (a few days or so) until I update this one next. Any guesses on what will happen when Emmett starts calling all those rooms???

Please be patient. In between writing, I will respond to every review as always. I am going in order, so it might take me a little while, but I haven't forgotten about anyone:)