DISCLAIMER: The characters do not belong to me…they are all the creations of the wonderful Stephenie Meyer.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The Cullen family moves to into their new home.

New Home – Part 1

I laughed as I watched Bella bounce in the seat next to me. We were slowly making our way up the long winding driveway to our new home.

I had actually driven close to the speed limit for once so I could spend a little extra time alone with Bella. I knew once we got to the house, it would be impossible to keep my gorgeous wife at my side. Alice would make sure of that.

"Relax, love," I cooed. We were close enough for me to hear the thoughts of my family. "You're going to drive Jasper crazy. He's having enough difficulty with Alice."

"But we're here, Edward!" Bella laughed, pointing at the house. "Aren't you excited?"

"Very, but I'm also trying to help Jasper out."

"Could you act your age for once? Jasper won't mind! He'll be too shocked to mind." Bella quickly got of the car and ran around to my side, opening my door.

"Bella, are you making fun of me?" I asked, as I stared up at her.

"Yep! Now act like the seventeen year old I know you can be and get excited with me!" She grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the car.

I laughed at her again. Her happiness never failed to thrill me. She would never understand just how important it was for me to have her happy. Angels were never meant to be sad or worried.

"Come on, Edward! We both know you are much faster than this!" Bella said, as she tugged on my arm.

"Bella!" Alice cried, barreling out of the house and straight for my wife.

I tried to move out of the way, but a giddy Alice is no match for anyone. She took both Bella and I down to the ground with her.

"It's fabulous, Bella! Wait until you see your room! Esme has outdone herself! And yes, Edward! I know I say that at every house, but every house has its own theme!"

"I haven't said a word," I chuckled, as I pulled them both up onto their feet.

Alice pulled Bella, as she pulled me, and the three of us entered the house.

Jasper smiled at me and shook his head. 'Can't help you, Edward! She's too wound up for me to even attempt it.'

I nodded my understanding to him. No sense in forcing him to join in the torture.

"Edward! Wait until you see our space downstairs!" Emmett said as he barreled toward me. His excitement could've rivaled Alice and Bella's at that moment. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked as he watched me getting pulled down the hall.

"Apparently, I must see our room right this second," I chuckled.

"Well, hurry up and then come down," Emmett replied.

"Alice, why are you blocking me?" I asked.

"Because I don't want you to see your surprise in my mind until you see it in person," Alice chirped.

Alice stopped at the first door in the long hallway. She pushed it open and pulled us into the room. "This is Carlisle and Esme's room," she announced. She didn't give us much to time to look as she continued walking, pulling us through another door. "It's connected to Carlisle's study."

"Hi, dad!" Bella said, as Alice continued to pull her along.

Carlisle looked up and grinned at me. "I see you've been taken hostage."

"Any chance you might need me?" I asked with little hope.

"Have fun, son!" Carlisle chuckled as Alice pulled us through another door.

We were back in the hallway now. Alice opened a door across from Carlisle's study.

"This is Jazz's study." She pulled us through yet another door, but this time we were heading back toward the front of the house. "It connects to our room. What do you think, Bella?" Alice finally stopped walking.

Bella and I glanced around the room. The closet was huge and completely open. Three large, angled mirrors stood between the end of the closet and the window. Their bed was pushed up on the wall across from the closet and an oversized leather chair sat under the window. The walls were sage green with cream colored trim.

"I'm not sure on the color," Bella said. "It doesn't really scream your name."

"I know," Alice sighed. "Esme said she went with neutral tones to try to help calm me for Jasper's sake. How can I argue with that?"

"At least your closet is still really big. And with the bed there, you can look right in and plan your wardrobe without leaving the comfort of your covers," Bella said.

"True. The bathrooms in the rooms are a little smaller, but we can adjust," Alice continued. "On to the next room!" Alice pointed toward the door as she started pulling us along again.

She passed up the doors to the studies and came upon a new door on the right. She pushed it open and marched through. "Rose! I'm giving a tour."

"I can see that," Rose snorted. "Edward, I see you're being tortured. What did you do this time?"

"He's not being tortured," Bella said. "He's being excited with me."

"Sure he is," Rose chuckled. 'Edward, I'd say I feel sorry for you, but I don't. I love you, but I love watching you get tortured more.'

"Thanks, Rose," I muttered.

Rose chuckled again. 'If they don't release you after you've seen your room, I'll free you.'

I nodded my head and smiled at her. Lucky for me, Bella was enthralled with Alice's description of the room. She hated for me to have silent conversations with our siblings.

Esme had painted the walls in this room a deep maroon. The coverlet on the bed was gold with black beaded accents. It was very Rosalie.

"And Emmett gets the big armoire he wanted with the hidden TV," Alice explained. "Now, it's time to see your room!" She pulled us along behind her, a little further down the hall and to the left. "Esme decided to put you guys at the back of the house so that Bella could see the forest from the windows. She knew how much you liked that at the last house."

"We'll have to go thank her for that, Edward!" Bella said excitedly.

"Of course, love," I replied.

"Close your eyes," Alice demanded.

We did as she said and she pulled us into the room. She moved us around until she had us facing something in particular.

"Open!"

Bella and I were facing a dark blue wall. Right in the middle of it, in a huge silver frame, was a black and white copy of the picture Alice took of Bella and I in the lobby in New York. We were staring right at each other and smiling.

Bella was jumping up and down and clapping her hands. She threw herself against me. "Edward! It's perfect. Don't you think?"

I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her forehead. "I do, Bella."

She pulled away and grabbed Alice's arm. "Come on! We have to go find Esme and thank her." I watched the two of them dash out of the room together.

Rose came walking into the room, smirking at me. "So what do you really think of it, Edward?"

"I think my wife makes me grin like a complete idiot and I could really care less," I chuckled.

Rose slung an arm around my shoulders and stared at the picture with me. "Good. Because I'd much rather you look like an idiot every single day than ever go back to the way you were."

"Oh, Rose!" I sighed. "You know you miss our fights."

"Who said anything about not fighting with you anymore? I'm just being a little nice to you. You did have a rough day yesterday."

"Rough," I snorted. "I don't really see how that word properly conveys yesterday."

"Just think of it this way, Edward. It's today and Bella is here and they are all on their way back to Italy. Looks to me like this is a pretty good day for you, even if you are forced to take a tour of the house."

"You better be careful, Rosalie," I grinned. "Someone might hear us and think you like me."

"We can't have that happening!" Rose chuckled, as she pushed me away. She stopped in the doorway and looked up at me. "Edward, you know Carlisle will come up with something to keep us safe in Italy. You know not to worry about it, right?"

"I can't promise not to worry about it, Rosalie. But I can promise you that I'm not planning to do anything on my own," I replied.

"Good to know," Rose said, smiling at me as she left.

I turned to see the rest of the room. It was all done in dark blue with white trimming and gold accents. The windows faced the forest, just as Alice had said. Shelves were already in place on one wall for our CDs. The boxes were lying under the window. Esme knew how much I liked to unpack those items myself. I stepped into the bathroom to find a garden tub and a clear glass shower. It had the six heads that Bella and I liked so much. Esme had once again created a room to meet both of our tastes.

"Edward!" Emmett whined from behind me. "You can check this all out later! Come down and see the basement!"

"All right," I chuckled, following him out. "Is it really that impressive?"

"Not yet, but it will be. Just one little problem, though," Emmett sighed.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Esme's only letting us have half of the basement. She says the other half is for storage," Emmett explained.

"What did you have to leave out of your plans?" I questioned.

"The wrestling area I was going to rope off," Emmett chuckled. "It's just as well. Esme threatened that if I wrestled anyone down there, she'd yank my ear off for me."

"Emmett, what did you do to get her to say something like that?" I laughed.

"She looked at the plans for the house and saw that the beams down there are out in the open and load-bearing," Emmett shrugged. "For some reason, she's worried I might bring the house down."

"When we convince her to let us build the indoor track, we'll just tack on a wrestling room to that," I told him.

Emmett slapped me hard on the back. "That's why I like you, Edward. You are an idea man."

"Sure!" I laughed.

"Where's Picky?" Emmett asked.

"Thanking Esme for our room," I answered.

"Ha!" Emmett laughed. "You have to get up everyday and look at that goofy picture of yourself! I feel for you."

I just shrugged. I liked the picture, but there was no need to tell him that. Emmett would just see it as one more thing to tease me about.

I followed him down the stairs and into the basement. It needed work, but I could certainly see the potential.

"We'll need to finish up the walls, lay some carpet on the floor and then soundproof it all. We'll put the big screen TV over on that wall," Emmett explained. "I was thinking you and I could pick up a new surround system since we can have more speakers down here. It'll make the games and movies even better. We'll get one of those big sofas that curve so the girls can have room to relax if they want to hang out with us."

"You've certainly put a lot of thought into this," I chuckled.

"This is the first house where we can have a space all our own and Esme won't fuss over the noise or the language," Emmett replied.

"You could always try to not yell and curse." I pretended to give him a stern look.

"Yeah, like that will happen!" Emmett laughed, slapping me on the shoulder. "It will be a thing of beauty when it's finished. It'll rock your socks off!"

"Is he giving you the speech about this being his little sanctuary," Jasper asked, as he came down the stairs.

"Jazz, you know you like the sound of it," Emmett said, pointing a finger at him.

"I never said that I didn't. I just told you that you're nuts if you think you're going to decorate down here without any input from Alice," Jasper replied.

"The little pixie has enough rooms upstairs to worry over," Emmett said. "This is our area."

"Before you go so far as to say 'no girls allowed', you may want to remember that they can hear us," I reminded my brother. "You haven't soundproofed this room yet."

"I'm not saying they're not allowed. I'm just saying that this is our area and we should get to decorate it as we see fit," Emmett defended.

"And how exactly do you see this room decorated?" Jasper asked.

"Lots of dark colors, some rock band posters, lots of speakers for the surround sound," Emmett said. "It'll be easier to come up with ideas once we get the walls finished and Esme's half marked off."

"We should take Edward out back and show him what we found," Jasper announced.

"Did you find a spot for the track already?" I asked, turning to Jazz.

"No. But we did find something the girls are going to like and we'll enjoy them liking it," Emmett said cryptically.

"Lead the way," I said, pointing toward the stairs. I followed my brothers out of the house and into the woods. "Have you explored much yet?"

"No, just a few miles when we first got here," Jasper replied.

"What took you so long anyway?" Emmett asked. "Did you and Bella have to stop somewhere?" He wiggled his eyebrows at me.

"No," I chuckled. "I drove close to the speed limit for awhile so I could talk to her more about school."

"Does she still think you paid to get her in?" Jasper questioned.

"I think I've finally convinced her she got in on her own," I answered. "But it's Bella so I can never be sure until she tells me otherwise."

"She was really brave yesterday, Edward," Emmett suddenly announced.

"She was terrified, but she did what she had to do anyway," Jasper added. "That's just amazing."

"I don't think I'll ever completely understand how Bella's mind works," I chuckled. "She was brave enough to face Aro and the others without flinching just yesterday. Today, she's flooded with panic over math class."

"It's just part of who she is," Jasper said. "It's what makes her our Bella."

"We're here!" Emmett announced, as he pushed away some branches. "What do you think, Edward?"

"I think the girls will love it!" I replied. "I can't wait to bring them here!"

"Let's go see if we can convince them now," Emmett said, rubbing his hands together.

"I think Esme wants us all unpacked first," Jasper cautioned. "We have plenty of time to take them here. We'll be in this home for at least four years. Depending on Bella's math skills." Jasper grinned at me.

I playfully punched his shoulder. "Don't let Bella hear you say things like that. You'll just pay for it in the end when you have to feel all of her anxiety."

"Picky knows I love her." Jasper smiled as we turned to head back toward the house.

"We should get the Volvo unloaded," I said. "If we get that done before Esme has to ask us, maybe it will help us in our quest for our track."

"I told you that you were the idea man!" Emmett chuckled, as he slapped me on the back.

I rolled my eyes at him as we headed back to finish unpacking. School would be starting soon. I hoped Bella would like Dartmouth. I knew she would do great there. Now if I could only get her to believe that …

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Thanks to sarahnicole for 'rock your socks off'!