A/N: Sorry for the delay. Now, who's ready for some BBQ good times? I'm sure you're happy that I didn't put a filler chapter in between the invite and the actual event, so without further ado and unnecessary chatter from me, continue on!

Thanks to rosellebec for her prereading and suggestions that come along with it!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything recognizable from the Twilight series. Brady and Lola, however, are my creations and I do love them so.

Chapter 10 – Grocery Store Run-ins and BBQ Fun

Bella

"Bugs, enough blush already. You're making me look like a clown!"

Brady and Lola giggled at the comparison, but continued swiping my forehead and eyebrows with it anyway. I was letting them do my hair and make-up.

In other words, letting them make me look like a drugged-out hooker.

I realized that we were running a little early (gasp!) and had some time to spare before Edward would get here to pick us up for the barbeque, so I thought it would be fun to let the kids get me ready and then just fix it myself before we left.

Fun, however, has been 3 eye-pokes, 40+ hairs ripped from my head, and lip-gloss "accidentally" stuck up my nose. So, fun for them, torture for me.

"Ma, I sink mo glittuh," said Lola, reaching for the glitter. Again.

"No, no! No more glitter. I think it's time you trouble twins head to the playroom while I finish up in here." I waved my hands toward the door. "Shoo, flies."

"Bugs, Ma," Brady corrected with his hands on his hips.

I playfully rolled my eyes. "Oh, right. Then shoo, bugs."

I lifted them off of the chair that they were using to stand on and ushered them out of the downstairs bathroom. Edward was going to be here in 20 minutes and I needed some time to wash this crap off of my face and throw my hair in a ponytail.

I figured since we'd be swimming that I'd keep it casual, so we were all wearing shorts and t-shirts with our suits underneath. Except for Brady, who was using his swim trunks as shorts. They were stoked that I was letting them wear their new Dora and Diego suits instead of underwear.

I, however, was a bit nervous about the whole ordeal, especially after Edward's impromptu kiss on the cheek before he left on Tuesday. We hadn't seen each other since, and had only talked on the phone once to hammer out today's details, so our lack of interaction only added to my nerves.

When I was done getting ready, the twins and I walked outside and I began unloading their car seats from my car just as Edward pulled into our driveway. I smiled and waved as he pulled up next to us.

"Hello, Swan family," he sing-songed, climbing out of his car. "How is everyone today?"

He, too, was wearing swim trunks as shorts and had sunglasses perched on the top of his head. He seemed very cheery and laid-back today.

Casual definitely works for him.

Lola sauntered up to his legs and he picked her up, smiling.

"Hi, Ehwood. Wes not wearin' undies," she explained, giggling.

I facepalmed. My child, ladies and gentlemen.

Edward took it in stride, chuckling. "Why are you not wearing undies?" She lifted up her shirt to show him her bathing suit and he nodded in understanding. "Ah, got it. Well, that makes sense, then."

Brady and I joined them by his car and he put Lola down to take their car seats from me.

"Thanks. You look very…pool party appropriate. But, and I'm just throwing this out there, boys generally take their shirt off to swim. So, you know…feel free to do so at any time." My jaw snapped shut from the shock of my own words.

Hey, Bella. It's me, your brain. WHAT are you saying right now?

His eyes widened slightly, but they quickly returned to normal. "I'm aware of that fact, actually. I appreciate the reminder, though. By the way, when Lola referenced 'we' a second ago, were you included in that? I'm just asking out of simple curiosity, of course."

Oh my God, we're seriously flirting right now? Well, this is new.

Spurred on by him playing along, I continued, "Technically, I guess I am, although I've never really understood why people differentiate so much between underwear and bathing suits. They show virtually the same amount of skin."

He looked up and tapped his chin as if deep in thought. "Hmm…that's interesting. I have never given that an ounce of thought before. Ever." He tilted his head back down and smirked. "Are you guys ready to go?"

I smiled and nodded. "Yup. Let's head out."

...

Before we went to his parents' house, we had to stop at the grocery store to get ice and drinks for the party, which worked out nicely for me because I really wanted some watermelon Sour Patch Kids. I was getting more and more nervous, and I always crave candy when I'm nervous. What? It's a thing!

When we got to the store, Edward headed toward the pop aisle while the kids and I picked out some candy. We ended up with an assorted variety because I didn't know what Edward would want and I figured what he didn't, I would, so it was basically a win-win in my book.

Once we had at least one type of candy from each candy food group, the twins and I started making our way to checkout. On the way, Brady latched onto my leg suddenly, almost tripping me in the process.

"Sanks for candy, Mama."

"You're very welcome, baby." I rubbed the top of his head while Lola copied his action and attached herself to my other leg, nuzzling it with her face. It was these simple, random moments that always made me wonder how I could possibly ever be happier than this.

"Um…Bella?" questioned a deep voice, breaking us out of our little love fest. It was not the voice that I was expecting to hear, but one that I hadn't heard in almost 3 years; one that's changed slightly since the last time that I heard it.

I turned around slowly. I wasn't trying to be dramatic or anything, but the twins were still attached to my legs and weren't letting go so I was forced to sort of pivot-shuffle.

"Jake. Um…hey."

His eyes hadn't made contact with mine yet. He was staring blatantly at Brady and Lola, and while I knew it was out of simple curiosity, I still had the urge to shove them behind me and shield them. Rationally, I knew that they didn't need shielding from Jake, as he is one of the most harmless people I've ever met, but the urge was still there.

"So…this is them, huh?" His mouth showed a hint of a smile as he asked.

I narrowed my eyes a bit at his ridiculous question. No, they're just some kids I found in the fruit section.

"These are my children, yes." I tried to keep the irritation from his question out of my voice, but I think I failed. I had no reason to be irritated with him, logically, but for some reason I was. I blame it on my current need for sugar.

He laughed self-consciously. "Right. Sorry, that was a stupid question."

My posture relaxed a little and I felt my irritation dissipating. I waved him off. "No, it's fine. Don't worry about it."

He nodded. "So, how have you been? It's been a long time." His eyes moved from me, to the kids, and then back again. "You seem to be doing well," he said, a genuine smile lighting up his face. That's Jake, though. Everything about him is genuine.

"I am, yeah. They keep me busy." I paused. "Good busy, though."

He hesitated a bit then asked, "What are their names?"

"Oh, right." I chuckled nervously. "This is Lola, and this is Brady. Can you guys say 'hi' to Jake?"

Once they realized that I was okay with him, they loosened their grip from my legs stepped forward a bit.

"Hi," said Lola. "I like yo big musohs."

Jake chuckled and bent down a bit. "Thanks. I think."

"Me, too," Brady agreed. "Ma gives us musohs suntimes."

Jake cocked his head a bit, probably imagining what that meant, and then shook it and smiled. "That sounds like her." His voice was nostalgic and maybe even a little sad, but he covered it up with his perpetual huge grin. "Anyway, it's nice meeting you both." He shook their little hands, causing them to giggle. "And Bells," he stood up, "it was nice seeing you again. I'm glad everything has worked out for you. Honestly, I am."

I smiled. "I know you are. And it was nice seeing you, too."

Something loud crashed behind us, so we all turned to see what it was. That was when I saw Edward, haphazardly walking toward us, attempting to carry four 24 packs of pop.

He cursed quietly when he realized that he'd knocked into one of the shelves, and set down everything he was holding in front of him to clean it up.

When he stood up, his eyes locked with mine and he smiled sheepishly. "I should've gotten a cart."

I giggled, and Jake walked over to him. "Here, man. I'll give you a hand."

Edward sighed. "Thanks."

They each picked up a couple 24 packs and walked over to checkout, setting them on the conveyer belt.

"There you go," said Jake. His eyes darted subtly between me and Edward before he looked away.

Edward held out his hand. "Thanks again. I'm Edward, by the way."

Jake shook it and replied, "Jacob."

I grabbed a separator and set down all of my candy, but Edward removed it wordlessly and scooted the candy toward the pop he was buying. I scowled at him but he just smiled and shrugged. Who am I to argue with that face?

After watching our exchange, Jake stepped back and awkwardly shoved his hands in his pockets. "Okay, well…bye, Bells."

Edward's eyes widened in surprised that he knew my name. He must have thought that Jake was some stranger who offered to help. I guess he hadn't witnessed any of our talk before he crashed into the shelf.

I waved to him. "Bye, Jake."

Once he left, Edward smiled at me a bit strangely and then he bought our stuff and we headed to the car.

I was holding the twins' hands and Edward pushed the cart, but when we got there, he picked up Lola and began strapping her into her car seat while I did Brady. It didn't escape my notice that he did it without me asking him to. It seemed natural for him.

Once we were back in the car and moving, we didn't talk too much since his parents only lived a few minutes away, but there was enough time for Edward to ask me about Jake.

"So…you knew him?" he asked, his voice attempting to be causal and failing miserably.

"Oh…yeah, I do. Or I did, I guess. I haven't seen him in a long time." His eyes were filled with questions, but I knew we wouldn't have enough time to discuss the whole story before we arrived at his parents. "I'll tell you about it later," I said, and smiled so he would know it wasn't a big deal.

That seemed to satisfy him. He smiled back and turned his attention to the road while I delegated the candy to everyone.

Within 5 minutes we were pulling into the driveway of his parents' beautiful 3-story house. It wasn't what I expected, at all. It was still huge, of course, but it had a very laid-back, homey feel that it exuded as well. I don't know why I expected it to be some huge, sterile mansion, but the fact that it wasn't helped to put me at ease a little.

You're not dating, Bella. Quit freaking out over this. You're here to have fun and hang out with Edward. That's it.

While I was getting the twins out of the car, Edward grabbed our bags and then led us through the front door of his parents' house.

"We're early, so I'm not sure if they're already out back or not. I just have to take care of the drinks and then we can eat."

I was about to respond, but before I could, a woman, presumably Edward's mother, called from further inside the house.

"Edward? Is that you, dear?"

He smiled at her voice. "Yeah, Mom. It's us."

We rounded the corner of their foyer and walked into the kitchen, where Edward's parents were located. His father was at one of the counters organizing different meats that I assumed would be cooked later and his mother was sitting at the table, bouncing slightly. They both smiled widely at us when we entered.

I stood, slightly frozen, holding the kids' hands in the entryway while Edward moved forward to set down the bags. Once he had, he came back to us, grabbing Brady's hand and pulling us all toward his parents, train-style.

"Mom, Dad, this is my friend Bella, and these are her children, Lola and Brady." He picked up Brady, who was tugging on his t-shirt, and I followed suit with Lola so that I had something to do with my now unoccupied hand.

His dad waved and nodded, and his mother jumped up and rushed over to us.

"Oh, it's so nice to meet you three! I'm Esme. We're so happy that you were able to make it!"

"It's nice to meet you, too. Thank you so much for inviting us," I replied, glancing down at the floor shyly.

"Oh course, dear. The more the merrier." Her smile was so warm and welcoming, yet so wide it rivaled the Cheshire cat's.

"Bella," his father spoke for the first time, "do you eat meat? Because if you don't I could make an alternative. Or if there's something the kids would prefer, just let me know. It wouldn't be any trouble."

"Oh, no, I eat meat. And my kids aren't picky at all, so we should be fine with whatever you're already making. Seriously, they'd eat food off the floor if I let them."

Edward chuckled. "I can vouch for that."

Please don't bring up the ant-covered hotdogs. Please don't bring up the ant-covered hotdogs.

"Thank you, though, for offering," I said, happy that Edward stopped there. His father smiled and went back to what he was doing. He didn't seem to be much of a talker, but I could tell he was a kind man.

"Can I walk you all out to the backyard?" Esme spoke again. "There are already a few people milling around."

I nodded, so she began leading us through the house. Edward walked close beside me while we both followed Esme out the back door and into their humongous yard. It was very impressive, and apparently I wasn't the only one who thought so.

"Wow! Dat'sa big pool, Ma!" exclaimed Lola, squirming around in my arms.

Esme smiled at her. "It is pretty big, huh? Did you bring your bathing suit to go swimming?"

Please don't bring up the no undies. Please don't bring up the no undies.

"Yeah! Wanna see?"

Thankfully, she only lifted up her shirt slightly to show off her bathing suit. Brady modeled his as well, and then told Edward to do the same. He complied, spinning in a circle and shaking his butt like a dork, causing us all to laugh. I think I was the only one who drooled slightly, though.

"Well, I love all of your suits. You know what? I think I have some pool toys that we could bring out. If it's okay with your mom, we could go get them." She looked to me for permission.

"Sure, that's fine. Do you guys want to go with Mrs. Esme to get pool toys?"

They both affirmed that they did, so Edward and I set them down so that they could hold Esme's hands. They began walking away, but Edward stopped them.

"Hey, Mom," he mock-whispered, "just watch out for your fingers." He wiggled his own while saying this.

"What? Why?" she asked, confused. I had no idea what he was talking about, either.

"Well, you know…" He gestured to the twins and then snapped his teeth together, as if saying that they bite. Esme's eyes went wide for a second, but then she nodded in understanding.

I gasped and elbowed Edward in his side as he burst out laughing. "Don't listen to him, Esme. They don't bite. I promise."

Esme shook her head at her son's antics, smiling a little. "Edward, quit embarrassing Bella."

He was still giggling like a little girl, but managed to squeeze in a half-assed apology at her request. Once they walked away, I turned toward him, scowling and trying not to smile. He's cute when he giggles.

"You are an asshole. She probably still thinks they bite."

He calmed down a little. "No, she doesn't. She knows I was just joking. So," he waved his arm in front of him, "what do you think?"

"It's awesome. I'd love to have a yard this big. I think I'd camp out in it every night. And your parents seem great. That was nice of your mom to offer to take them with her."

"Trust me, Bella, it was her pleasure. She loves children. After the whole Tanya thing, she told me that she was very sorry to hear about our break-up, but that it better not stop me from giving her grandchildren at some point. And no, I'm not kidding."

I laughed, imagining his mother actually saying that to him.

"Come on," he said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me, "my dad's at the grill now. Let's go get some grub before more people get here."

I don't know what caused it, but Edward was definitely being more forward with me today. Maybe it was because he was in familiar territory, or maybe it was because his past was finally out in the open and no longer weighing him down, but either way, I liked the changes.

After we got enough food for ourselves and the twins, he led me over to a table just as Esme was walking back with the kids, laughing at something Brady was saying.

When they spotted us, they smiled and took off running until they got to our table. I hoisted them up, kissed their cheeks, and sat them down in between us on the bench.

"Ma, Smesme gots a football for da pool!"

Edward, Esme, and I chuckled at the way he smashed together 'Mrs.' and 'Esme' and turned it into 'Smesme'.

"Uh-oh. I better watch my back then, huh?"

Edward gave me a puzzled look. "Why do you say that?"

"Because, the last time we were playing with a football, Brady here chucked it at my face and gave me a bloody nose." I poked his side to let him know that I was messing around. I didn't want him to feel bad about it again.

"Ouch." Edward winced.

"Yeah, it wasn't fun. Not only was Brady crying because he thought he 'broke my face'," I used air-quotes, "but the sight of my own blood makes me really dizzy, so I was sitting in the grass, bleeding everywhere with my head tucked between my knees. The best part was Lola calmly picking up her fake phone and having a pretend conversation with my dad, telling him that I needed to go to the doctor's." I lightly tugged on her pigtail and she giggled.

"Ah," Esme nodded, "well now I know why he asked. Before we got to you guys, Brady asked me if I had Band-Aids just in case. I didn't understand why he wanted to know, but now it makes sense."

I quirked my eyebrow at him. "Or we could just leave out the flinging footballs at peoples' faces part, Brady-bug."

"Good idea," Edward agreed, nudging Brady's side before standing up. "Mom, sit down. I'll go get you some food."

"Thank you, darling. I'd like a cheeseburger, please."

Once Edward got up and left, Esme sat down across from the me and the kids, setting her hands on the table and smiling brightly.

"So, are you from Forks, Bella?"

I nodded while I doled out food for Brady and Lola. "Yeah, I am. My parents moved here before my brother and I were born. My dad was offered the job of Police Chief, so they relocated here from farther east in the state."

"That must be nice being so familiar with everyone. We moved here a few years back and we've absolutely fallen in love with the town and its people."

"It's a great place to live," I concurred. "I considered moving a few cities out before the twins were born just for a change of scenery, but then I realized that I didn't want to part with it," I said, laughing. "Plus, my dad and brother live here, so there ended up being far more cons than pros with that idea."

"I know what you mean. Carlisle and I were thrilled when Edward decided to move here."

"I bet. He's a nice person to have around." I smiled shyly.

"That he is," she said, smiling back knowingly. "So, you said your brother and father live here. Does Brady and Lola's father live outside of Forks, then?"

The question itself was a little invasive, but the way in which Esme delivered it was so completely sincere and non-threatening that it didn't feel like it. Obviously Edward hadn't told his parents about the adoption.

Also, most new people I meet don't automatically assume that I'm not with the father, but I guess my being here with Edward pretty much confirms that I'm not.

"Oh, well…actually, they're adopted. So it's just me." I smiled to let her know that I was okay answering the question. I didn't want her to feel like she just forced an uncomfortable topic out of me.

Her eye's widened a bit but she recovered quickly. Then, her smile that hadn't seemed to disappear since we arrived grew impossibly bigger.

She reached across the table and patted my hand, sighing happily. "What a wonderful gift you've given them." I tipped my head down, embarrassed by the compliment. "You know, before we had Edward, there was a point when Carlisle and I were seriously considering adoption. We thought that we were unable to conceive. Edward was an unexpected, truly special surprise to us."

I feel the same way about him.

That thought came out of nowhere and I was relieved that I managed to not say it out loud. I turned my head to see what he was doing and found him by the grill, listening to something his father was talking about. When he caught me staring he grinned and winked, causing my own face to lift into an uncontrollable smile.

When I turned back around, I realized that Esme was watching our whole exchange. After a moment, she continued. "Anyway, we still had a taste of what the process involves. It can be very grueling and time-consuming, but the outcome is of course worth it," she said, smiling.

"Honestly, you probably know more about the process than I do. I mean, I was only 19 at the time so obviously adoption wasn't something that I was researching or anything. Our situation was sort of just…" I trailed off, searching for the right word, "…presented to me, I guess. It wasn't your typical circumstances."

I could sense her curiosity growing, but before I could expand on that statement, Edward appeared at our table again, setting down his mother's plate in front of her.

"Sorry it took so long, Mom. Dad and a few of his friends were talking to me about the hospital, and then Jasper arrived so I had to say hi to him really quickly."

"Oh, no, don't worry about it. It gave me some time to talk with Bella."

He eyed her curiously. "Okay, then." He smiled at me before addressing the twins. "Alright, anteaters, who's ready to go swimming?"

Brady and Lola hastily shoved the last few bites of their hotdogs in their mouth before excitedly answering simultaneously with, "Me!"

Edward looked to me. "Is that alright?"

Is it alright for that shirt to finally come off? Yes, please.

"Yup, let's go," I responded with instead, standing up.

He grabbed them both around their waists and lifted them off of the bench before jogging with them over to the pool area. "Come on, Bella!" he called over his shoulder. Silly boy.

I giggled as Esme looked on. Then she turned to me with a confused expression. "Did he just call them 'anteaters'?"

I rolled my eyes, smiling. "Yes, and unfortunately it's a nickname that they've very much earned. Feel free to ask him the story behind it, but you can pretty much guess what it involved." She scrunched up her face and I nodded. "Yup. Also…I mean, if you're curious, you can ask him more details about the adoption since we didn't really get to finish talking. He knows the whole story."

I hoped that I wasn't being presumptuous in assuming that she'd want to know more. I just didn't want her to feel like I intentionally left out parts.

"Okay. I think I might, if it's okay with you."

"Yeah, it's okay." I smiled. "Anyway, it was nice talking to you."

"You, too, dear. I look forward to getting to know you all more."

I nodded and waved before heading over to where Edward and the kids were. He was in the process of taking off Brady's shirt for him when I arrived.

"Oh, you know what? I think we left the bag with sunblock and their life jackets in the kitchen."

Edward folded Brady's shirt and set it on the chair that already held Lola's over-clothes. "No problem, I'll go get it. Or, wait, did you need to go inside to change or are you wearing your suit under your clothes, too?"

"It's under my clothes."

It took him a second longer than necessary before he responded. "Okay, I'll be right back."

While he was gone I changed out of my clothes and then Brady and Lola showed me where they put the pool toys with Esme. While we were picking out which ones we wanted to play with first, I heard a throat clear behind me, then Edward's voice.

"Um...here you go."

I turned around to see Edward standing there, awkwardly not making eye-contact and holding out the sunblock and lifejackets towards me.

I smiled a little to myself. "Thanks."

I deliberately avoided looking at Edward while I lathered up the kids because I didn't want him to see the inevitable staring I would've been doing when he took his shirt off.

Once the sunblock and lifejackets were on, I finally looked up and saw Edward staring at me with an evil glint in his eye; a glint that almost, almost distracted me from the absolutely intoxicating visual of his shirtless upper-half. Now I know why they're called "happy" trails. Holy hell.

After my obvious ogling, which he politely didn't comment on, he began stalking toward me slowly.

My eyes darted to the pool and then back again, hoping that he wasn't about to do what I thought he was about to do. "Edward…"

"Yes, Bella?" he asked, continuing his approach.

It was now obvious what he was planning on doing. "Edward, don't you dare." When he didn't seem deterred, I tried another approach. "You…if you do this the kids will be up here all by themselves."

He stopped for a second, thinking. Then his face lit up when he noticed his dad was walking past us with his plate of food. He stopped him. "Hey, can you stay by the kids for minute, Dad?"

"Sure," his dad replied easily, smiling and sitting down in the chair by us.

He offered them each a chip from his plate, which they took, and then shoved in their mouths before sitting down next to him on the lawn chair. Unlike Esme, Carlisle's approach to interacting with the kids was much more subtle, but you could tell he was enjoying their presence.

Edward grinned in triumph. "Now, any more excuses, missy?"

"I…" I paused, trying to think. Then I intentionally looked behind him and said, "Oh, hey, Jasper."

Edward turned his head, and before he could realize that Jasper wasn't there I took off running in the opposite direction. He quickly realized his mistake and I heard him chuckle from behind me before he began his chase.

I ran around the row of lawn chairs and to the other side of the pool, which, unfortunately, had a gazillion picnic tables, and I got caught trying to navigate through them, thus slowing my pace and allowing Edward to catch up to me.

Once he did, he grabbed me around my waist, causing me to squeal like a 7-year-old girl, and lifted me off of my feet. Then he pulled me against him so that my back was flush against his chest and kept me there by wrapping his left arm around my stomach and holding my waist with his right hand.

Once we were in this position I pretty much gave up on fighting, because 1.) he's much stronger than I am and it'd be a wasted effort and 2.) I really liked having his arm wrapped around me. Sue me.

With both of us out of breath from the chase and giggling, he carried me over to the edge of the pool and then leaned down, whispering in my ear, "Hold your breath, Swan," before proceeding to jump in with us still attached.

He let go of me once we hit the water, and when we resurfaced we were met with the attention of almost the entire party, laughing and applauding at the show Edward and my unwilling self had inadvertently just put on for them. Brady and Lola were clapping and laughing the loudest, the little traitors.

I turned to see Edward, grinning wildly and shaking out his hair. I moved over to him and splashed his face, which he didn't even try to stop.

"You little fucker," I whisper-yelled, playfully kicking him under the water. He just shrugged and smiled before going back under.

I made my way over to the edge where the twins were waiting for me.

"What are you two laughing at? Huh?"

"You an Ehwood are funny, Ma," explained Brady.

"Yeah, Ma. You screamed loud!" added Lola.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, bugs. Just wait until he does the same to you! Then we'll see who's laughing," I joked. They didn't seem fazed by the threat. I sighed. "Alright, are you guys ready to come in?"

"Me first!" yelled Lola. "Can I jump?"

"Absolutely, Lola-bug. Do you wanna go under or do you want Mama to catch you?"

She pondered it for a moment before deciding that she wanted to go under, so I made sure she was close enough to the edge before I stepped back and let her do her thing. Brady followed after her similarly and then I grabbed their hands and pulled them to the middle of the pool.

Edward came up to us and tickled their feet, and then we spent the next hour playing silly games that were entertaining to both us and the twins.

We took turns racing across the pool with them on our backs, threw them back and forth until our arms got tired, twirled them around on the blow-up rafts, and spun in circles while making boat noises. At one point, Esme got in and she and the twins watched as Edward and I goofed around a bit. He would go under and hold his hands up, and I would use them to steady myself on his shoulders, and then jump off of him as he shot up from the water. We did that about 5 times, and each time I went farther than the last.

When our hands started resembling an 80-year-old's, we decided pool-time was over and got out to dry off.

I grabbed two of our towels and wrapped the twins in them, and then set them on a lawn chair to chill-out with a juice box. When I turned around to get myself a towel, one was unexpectedly thrown at my face.

Of course, when I pulled it off, Edward was standing there grinning at me.

"You are not being very nice to me today, mister."

He walked over to me. "What do you mean? I gave you a towel. That's a nice gesture."

"Uh-huh," I said, rolling my eyes.

We continued drying of next to each other. Edward put his towel over his head in an attempt to dry his hair while I took out my ponytail and ran my fingers through mine, trying to make it look stylishly messy.

Once we were all thoroughly dry and back in our over-clothes, we sat in the grass and started to throw around a ball.

"Hey, guys." Jasper came up and sat beside me. He must be pretty familiar with someone here besides Edward because this was the first time I'd seen him since we'd arrived and we've been monopolizing Edward the whole time.

"Hey, J. Where've you been?" asked Edward.

"Oh, you know, just mingling. I actually have to cut out soon to get my weekend errands done, but before I do, I have an extremely important question to ask."

Edward's face grew serious and he nodded. "Sure. What's up?"

Jasper smirked. "Not a question for you, my man," he replied, turning his attention to me. "Miss Bella, could you do me the incredible kindness of giving me your friend Alice's number? This idiot," he jerked his thumb toward Edward, "was supposed to get it for me ages ago, but apparently he doesn't care enough to help a brother out."

I laughed and decided to tease Edward a little. "Well, that's not very nice, Edward. Why would you be so cruel to your friend?"

"I'm not!" He threw his hands up and sighed. "I just kept forgetting to get it, that's all."

"Sure," Jasper stepped in, "whatever your excuse is, dude. So, is that a 'yes', Bella?"

"Yes, I will give you her number, since Edward's such a terrible friend."

Edward chuckled and threw some grass at me while I recited Alice's number for Jasper. Once he had it programmed into his phone, he stood up.

"Thank you, ma'am. Alright, I'll catch you guys on the flip side. I've got a date to confirm for tonight!"

I giggled at his enthusiasm, and then stood up as well, dusting the grass off of me from Edward's silliness.

"Ma, I'm sleepy," said Lola, yawning.

Brady yawned as well, laying his head back onto the ground. "Me, too."

Edward looked up at me with raised eyebrows. "You ready to take off?"

"Looks like it. Don't fall asleep in the grass, bugs. We still have to say goodbye to everyone."

Edward and I each picked up a kid and headed over to Carlisle and Esme, who were sitting at one of the picnic tables talking to friends. When Esme saw us approaching with two sleepy-looking kids, she stood up, tugging Carlisle with her.

"Are you guys leaving?"

"Yeah," Edward confirmed, "the twins are getting tired."

"Of course they are. I'm surprised you two are still standing right now. I think you guys played more than them," she said, smiling.

I looked down at my feet, embarrassed by her statement. "Yeah, we had fun. Thank you again for inviting us. It was really nice meeting you both."

"Oh, it was our pleasure, dear. I hope we start seeing more of you guys."

"I agree," added Carlisle, smiling, "don't be strangers."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I just smiled and nodded. Edward stayed quiet throughout the exchange.

After the twins said their goodbyes as well, we packed up our stuff and headed back home. The twins both fell asleep before we even left the driveway. Great, a 6 o'clock nap. They're gonna be up all night.

When we made it back to my house, Edward turned the car off and twisted towards me. "Thanks for coming, Bella. I don't usually have too much fun at these parties, but I did today."

I smiled. "I'm glad. We had fun, too. Your parents are probably the sweetest people I've ever met. That doesn't really surprise me, though."

"Why's that?"

I reached up and lightly tapped under his chin. "Because you're pretty sweet yourself, Cullen. You had to get it from somewhere."

He smiled shyly. I leaned over, kissed his cheek, and then hopped out of the car, grinning. After a moment, he got out and helped me lug our stuff inside and put the twins in their bed, and then said goodbye and left.

When the door shut behind him, I leaned against it, smiling to myself.

A/N: Do you feel it shifting? They're slowly but surely making their way to where you want them to be. Have patience, friends. (I originally wrote that as "have patients", which means something totally different. It must be the nursing student in me, lol.)

So, what was your favorite part? Were you happy with Bella and the twin's first meeting of Esme and Carlisle?

P.S. As you can guess, my posting schedule is a bit thrown off. I'll try to keep posting once a week, but I'm not sure anymore which day it will be. Thanks for understanding!