The camping part of this chapter is inspired by my friend, Gwenn Aume.

BPOV

"Bella, I need to tell you this now, before I lose my chance. I-I think…I'm falling in love with you." He stuttered out.

"I-" He cut me off.

"You don't have to say it back, I just wanted you—"

"Edward! If you'll shut up for like five seconds, I'll tell you!" He immediately stopped babbling.

"I love you." I said quietly. His lips crashed down on mine in the most passionate kiss of my life.

(2 weeks later)

We have a week long vacation in October. Em and I suggested camping because we used to go mountain boarding here with Charlie when we were younger. We were going to teach the others how to do it on some of the smaller hills. So here we are now, freezing our asses off, huddled under a blanket, trying to start a fire. We invited all the guys, but only Jake could go.

"Emmett! Just let me use my fucking lighter, jackass!" I yelled. He was sitting there like a fucking monkey, clanking rocks together.

"NO! This is going to be an authentic camping trip!" He bellowed. I looked over at Rose, tugging slightly at the bottom of my sweatshirt. She nodded.

"Yo, Em! Look at Rosalie!" I shouted. She took that as her signal and slowly lifted her shirt. Emmett's eyes were as big as Frisbees. At least he was distracted.

I dumped the remainder of my beer on a scrap of newspaper. Lighting the end of the scrap with the Zippo dad gave me, I yelled,

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" And threw it onto the pile of brush Emmett and Jasper had gathered. The kindling, almost immediately, caught.

"And that is how you do it." Rosalie said smugly, high-fiving me over Alice, Jasper and Edward's heads.

"Bella!" He whined.

"Emmett, c'mon, seriously? You'd rather sit there, clanking rocks together while we freeze our balls off?" Jasper said.

"No." Em said reluctantly.

"Okay, well, cheer the fuck up!" I said. "I found some hot springs earlier when I was looking for wood. Wanna go?"

"Sure—wait. I don't have a bathing suit!" Alice nearly shrieked.

"No one does. It's not like it matters. It's dark, the water's muddy. No one's gonna see shit." Ness said from beside Jake, I'd recently discovered Ness's potty mouth, now every other word she says is a cuss. They seemed to be hitting it off pretty well.

"Won't it be, like, awkward?" Rosalie asked.

"I didn't say I found one, I found six. They're all pretty big. Back in Forks, Em and I went out to the hot springs every winter and swam." I said.

"I'm in." Edward said, picking me up and swinging me over his shoulder. I squealed and started laughing.

"You don't even know where the best spring is. Put me down." He reluctantly put me on my feet. We walked on a little ways before we reached the spring.

I pulled off my sweats and shirt, leaving me in my bra and baggy basketball shorts I'd snagged from Edward. The chilled night air raised gooseflesh on my bare skin. Desperate for warmth, I ran and jumped into the murky water.

I heard chuckling and a splash behind me and turned to see what it was. Nothing. Huh, I could have sworn I heard something.

Just then, something grabbed my leg and tugged me down just under my nose. I screamed, startled.

"Jesus, Bella, I wish I could have seen your face. But, the way your legs were kicking, I'd say I scared you pretty bad!" Edward laughed as he broke the surface.

"You asshole!" I screeched, slapping playfully at his bare chest.

"And you love me for it." He said smugly, encircling me in his arms.

"Yes. That I do." I giggled lightly. He kissed me before dunking us both under the water.

We just vegged out, floating on the water, basking in the warmth. But, I was starting to get all prune-ish.

"Edward, come on, I'm getting out and going back to the camp. You're gonna need all your strength and patience tomorrow." I said, dragging him out of the spring. I grabbed my shirt and sweats, not bothering to put them on, and sprinted to camp.

I climbed into the tent that Edward and I were sharing and quickly changed into my favorite pajamas; Batman flannel pants and a giant black sweatshirt with the gold Forks emblem on it. Yep, the Forks High Royals. Black and gold, baby!

I plopped down in the 'Strawberry Shortcake' lawn chair that I'd brought with me. Dad bought it for me when I was younger and it quickly became my 'camping chair'. But, the chair was on a, sort of, slant of a small hill. I flopped into it and the friggin' thing flipped over, hurling me towards the picnic table, narrowly missing it. (Dude! I sooo did that last Halloween! We went camping with a bunch of my friends)

I hadn't noticed that Jake and Ness hadn't left the camp. They were sitting, very closely, laughing at me as I dusted myself off. Edward walked out of our tent, getting there later than me, and helped me dust myself off. He slapped my ass and pulled my down into his chair on his lap.

Em, Rose, Alice and Jasper came back a short time later. We sang songs, told stories and were currently going in a circle, telling a part of a story.

"Once in a dark little town, in the middle of nowhere…" Alice started, looking at Jasper to continue.

"It was the early nineteen hundreds. There lived a couple…" He looked at Emmett. Oh, great, here we go!

"The man was named Ben Dover and the woman was named Tay Kit." He howled. (I give my shout outs to Joey Varnie and Corey Heeder…They thought of Bend over and take it!!!)

"Umm…they had one daughter named…Janey. She died because…" Rosalie looked over at me. Great! Time to create the backbone to this story!

"The council disapproved of having children while not married. They charged Dover and Kit-snicker-with living in sin. Back then, they were uber religious. The grand councilman said that she has to die. Dover doesn't know how to tell his lover. So he buries the child alive, in a small, hand built, bassinette…" I look to Edward.

"Every night, he lived in guilt ridden filth until Tay finds out. She goes insane. The grand councilman had to lock her away. She'd become a hazard to herself and to everyone else around her…"

"In the mental health hospital, they tortured the patients, they…" Jake's voice was really creepy.

"Soaked them in ice baths, pulled their hair out, strand by strand…" Ness trailed off.

"They performed electroshock therapy, hooked them up to car batteries from the early model cars. The sadistic doctors brought back the treatment of 'bleeding' to drain the mind-altering demons from their flesh." Alice said spookily.

"Tay was a rather small woman, with long, purplish, black hair. The doctors occasionally lusted after her for her beauty. This in turn, made the other women in the psych ward green with envy and hate. Whenever a doctor came by to do their nightly 'treatments', some may say, the women always pushed Tay to the front of the line so she would be tortured instead of them…" Jasper said eerily.

"There was one doctor, specifically, that took serious interest in Tay… His name was Nahuel…" Rose said.

"On most days, her torture was to simply be with him in a sexual way…" Emmett almost giggled. My turn, finally! I have a really good idea.

"One night, Nahuel revealed to her his most valuable secret. He was a vampire. He hurt her severely that night for trying to run. The next morning, she found herself a battered, bloody mess. The one and only nurse that understood her grief and loss, Alistair, was also a vampire. But not the same as Nahuel. She drank from animals. It turned out that Tay was on the verge of death… Alistair changed her seconds before she died…" I motioned to Edward to continue.

"The change was absolutely horrible. You could almost feel all of your body shut down. Three days of gut-wrenching pain Tay had to adhere to…" Edward looked at Ness.

"She went through years of uncontrolled bloodlust, until one day, she met another vampire. They just looked into each other's eyes. Tay just casually strolled over to the gorgeous vampire and said, 'You've kept me waiting.' And the other vampire said, 'I'm sorry, Ma'am.'" Ness said with a smile. (Sound familiar? lol)

"Okay, I'm telling the story, tomorrow. Ghost stories are supposed to be scary, that was demented." I said with a yawn.

"Let's get you to bed." Edward said, scooping me into his muscular arms. I must've nodded off between the campfire and the tents. Em, Alice and I decided to separate the tents and put them on different part of the campground.

I felt myself being lowered onto a sleeping bag and someone slipping in beside me.

I woke a few hours later, shivering. Groaning, I turned and looked at Edward. He was shivering, staring back at me.

"D-dude, I'm gonna go sleep with Ness and Jake, wanna c-come, they have the king-sized sleeping bag?" I chattered. He nodded, unzipping the bag and climbed out, helping me up.

We stumbled our way in the dark to Jake and Nessie's tent. I unzipped the door with shaky hands.

"J-jake?" I said. He looked up at us sleepily. He simply scooted closer to Ness to make enough room for us to lie down and patted the space behind him. I quickly slid in behind him, cuddling up to soak the warmth from his ginourmus body.

We fell asleep easily. When I woke up in the morning, the sleeping bag seemed a lot less small than it was when we came last night. I opened my eyes to find two stormy blue eyes staring back at me. I felt two arms around my waist that I knew weren't Edward's. Alice and Jasper had crawled in with Jake, Ness, Edward and I. And, were currently making a Bella sandwich. I turned in Jasper's arms as Alice giggled at the comedy of it.

"Jasper." I tried to make my voice as light and airy as Alice's. He gripped me tighter and realized he had a 'problem' poking into my lower stomach.

"Alice." He moaned and gave me a wet, sloppy kiss on the corner of my mouth.

I full out laughed. Alice was laughing so hard I could feel the tears from her eyes on my neck. His blue eyes shot open and he had a look of horror on his face, which made me laugh harder.

Ness, I realized is a heavy sleeper; she would only wake up if you yelled or hit her. Jake and Edward shot up. Alice and I still laughing our little asses off.

"Jasper, why the hell are you wrapped around Bella like that?" Edward growled from behind him, it only triggered my giggles again.

"Oh, Edward, don't be jealous of my new lover." I said breathily.

Jasper caught on and played along, "Oh, yes, let's run away together, my love." He pulled me up and dipped me romantically and gave me a hard kiss on the lips. Everyone howled in laughter at our little screenplay.

"What are you guys even doing here?" Alice asked, still giggling.

"I got cold. Jake here is my space heater." I shrugged.

"Okay, whatever. I wanna go mountain boarding!" Alice squealed, jumping up. We all laughed and crawled out of the sleeping bag.

Two hours, and a whole lot of arguing, later, we were able to leave the camp and head to the hills. Em, Jake and I only had six boards so we'd have to definitely have to share.

I was wearing the new helmet that Ness decorated. Alice was riding on Edward's back and I had nearly tackled Jasper. Poor Jake, he was stuck carrying all the gear. Three duffel bags full of boards, supplies and first-aid kits.

"Okay, guys!" Emmett instructed, "Bella, Jake and I are here to help. Take turns on the three boards while we show you how to move and stand."

We had three groups. Me, Edward, Jasper, and Alice. Emmett and Rosalie. Jake and Ness.

With my group, I started with Alice, since she was the smallest. She was kind of shaky and unstable on the board. She had started to sing something vaguely familiar,

Harry Truman, Doris Day,

Red China, Johnny Ray,

South Pacific, Walter Winchell,

Joe DiMaggio.

"Seriously, Alice! Are you singing 'We didn't start the fire,' by Billy Joel?" I asked dubiously, Em and I had a contest when we were little to see who could memorize the lyrics faster. She blushed.

"Yeah, it helps me concentrate when I'm nervous or scared."

"Okay, I'll sing it with you." I nodded, helping her back onto the board.

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon,

Studebaker, television,

North Korea, south Korea,

Marilynn Monroe.

Jasper, who was on Alice's other side had started to hum along with us.

Rosenberg's, H-Bombs,

Sugar Ray, Panmunjom,

Brando, the King and I,

And The Catcher in the Rye,

Eisenhower, vaccine,

England's gotta new queen,

Marciano, Liberace,

Santayana, goodbye.

I belted out the chorus loud enough for everyone to hear.

We didn't start the fire,

It's always burnin'

Since the world's been turnin'

We didn't start the fire,

No, we didn't light it,

But, we tried to fight it

Edward had even started to hum along with Alice, Jasper and I.

Joseph Stalin, Malenkov,

Nasser and Prokofiev,

Rockefeller, Campenella,

Communist Bloc

Roy Cohn, Juan Peron,

Toscanini, Dacron,

Dien Bien Phu Falls,

Rock Around the Clock

Einstein, James Dean,

Brooklyn's gotta winning team,

Davy Crockett, Peter Pan,

Elvis Presley, Disneyland,

Bardot, Budapest,

Alabama, Khrushchev,

Princess Grace, Peyton Place,

Trouble in the Suez

We didn't start the fire,

It's always burnin'

Since the world's been turnin'

We didn't start the fire,

No, we didn't light it,

But, we tried to fight it

Little Rock, Pasternak,

Mickey Mantle, Kerouac,

Sputnik, Zhou En Lai,

Bridge on the river Kwai,

Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle,

California baseball

Starkwether homicide,

Children of thalidomide

Buddy Holly, Ben-Hur,

Space monkey, Mafia,

Hula Hoops, Castro,

Edsel is a no-go,

U-2, Syngman Rhee,

Payola and Kennedy

Chubby Checker, Psycho,

Belgians in the Congo!

Alice decided to try to go down the hill by herself. She got about halfway down before wobbling; I looked at everybody and glared before singing the chorus.

We didn't start the fire,

It's always burnin'

Since the world's been turnin'

We didn't start the fire,

No, we didn't light it,

But, we tried to fight it

Hemmingway, Eichmann,

Strangers in a Strange Land,

Dylan, Berlin,

Bay of Pigs Invasion,

Lawrence of Arabia, British Beattlemania,

Ole' Miss, John Glenn,

Liston beats Patterson,

Pope Paul, Malcolm X,

British Politician sex,

JFK Blown away,

What else do I have to say?!

We didn't start the fire,

It's always burnin'

Since the world's been turnin'

We didn't start the fire,

No, we didn't light it,

But, we tried to fight it

Alice stumbled again and I saw a flash of fear and terror in her eyes. I elbowed Em in the side. He started to sing the last verse.

Birth control, Ho Chi Mihn,

Richard Nixon back again,

Moon Shot, Woodstock,

Watergate, punk rock,

Begin, Reagan,

Palestine, Terror on the airline,

Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan,

Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride,

Heavy metal suicide,

Foreign debts, homeless vets,

AIDS, crack,

Bernie Goetz,

Hypodermics on the shore,

China's under martial law,

Rock and Roller Cola Wars!

I can't take it anymore!

We didn't start the fire,

It's always burnin'

Since the world's been turnin'

We didn't start the fire,

No, we didn't light it,

But, we tried to fight it

And when we move on,

It will still burn on,

And on,

And on,

And on,

And on!

I was giggling by the time I was finished with the song. Alice was starting her way back up the hill, board in hand, smiling like a maniac. She jumped into my arms eagerly.

"Bella, you are the best friend a girl can have! Who else would ever even consider yelling 'We didn't start the fire' at the top of their lungs so the other would be comforted." She squealed, kissing my cheeks repeatedly.

"You did pretty well; now, it's my, Em and Jacob's turn. You can go over by Jazz and wait." I smirked, not even bothering clipping the buckle of my helmet under my chin and kicking the board into my hand.

"Ready boys?" I yelled. They nodded and we all took off towards the big, bumpy, rougher terrain hill than we were on.

Once at the top, I waited for the guys to reach me before laying the board in front of me. They nodded for me to go first.

I kicked off and felt like I was flying. I dodged rocks, ruts and bumps. It was so exhilarating! I heard a crash from behind me. I did the worst possible thing in mountain boarding, I looked over my shoulder.

Jake had only tripped over his big, lanky legs and ate some dirt. I realized only after it was too late that I was heading straight for a tree. I smacked into it and saw some stars.

"We didn't start the fire,

It's always burnin'

Since the world's been turnin'

We didn't start the fire,

No, we didn't light it,

But, we tried to fight it"

I sang before everything went black.

"Is she gonna be okay?" I heard a worried voice say.

"Yeah, she's gonna be fine. I've seen her take baseballs to the back of the head and be able to walk it off in an hour or two." A rougher, louder voice nearly yelled, upsetting the splitting headache I had.

"Ungh!" I groaned. I opened my eyes and saw eight people standing over me. Wait eight?

"How long was I out?" I groaned at Em.

"Like three hours. Only a little bit longer than last time." He grinned.

"Isabella, are you seeing any spots, vision changes?" A blonde man asked me.

"No, but who are you. I've never hallucinated like this before." I asked.

"I'm Carlisle Cullen, Edward, Jasper and Renesmee's dad." He smiled, reaching out a hand to help me up. I stood too quickly and got a massive head rush.

"Whoa! Head rush!" I cried.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Carlisle asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You really didn't need to come out here. It must've taken some time to come all the way out here for me." I smiled graciously.

"Really, it's no big deal. Edward and Ness were freaking out and I could hear Alice screeching in the background." He chuckled.

"Okay, um, do you want anything to eat, because if I know these guys, I'm the only one who can make boiled water. But, Em's probably eaten a pack of raw hot dogs. You can stay for steak-kebabs if you'd like." I chuckled at my little joke.

"No need, Bells, Esme, Ness's mom, brought a shitload of food." Emmett said, putting his arm around my shoulders.

"Good, cuz I'm hungry." I was already feeling loads better. I ran and dove onto Jasper's back.

"Get off me you freakin' spider monkey!" He screamed like a little girl in surprise.

"Aw, don't talk to your mistress like that. You won't ever be able to wake up like that again." I whined in a high, nasally voice.

Carlisle spoke up in confusion, "Edward, I thought she was your girlfriend?"

"I am." I chimed, nuzzling my face into Jasper's neck as we kept walking, trying to get a rise out of him.

"Then why are you my other son's 'mistress'?" Carlisle said, using air quotes around the word.

"Just the way we woke up this morning." Alice giggled.

"Which would be?" He asked.

"Bella and I got cold so we went in and slept with Jacob and Ness, they had the king-sized sleeping bag. When we woke up, Jasper was in between Bella and I. They woke up and proclaimed their love for each other and claimed they are running away." Edward said wryly.

"Oh, Edward," I sighed. "He's my lover, but you're my boo." He laughed and pulled me from Jasper's back. I kissed him and said quietly, "You do know we're kidding right? I mean, Alice would be all over my ass right now if we were serious."

"Of course, love. If you were serious, Jasper wouldn't have a face right now." He chuckled darkly and gave me a light peck on the cheek before scooping me up into his arms bridal style.

Once we got back, Ness was sitting beside a woman with long, curly bronze hair, just like hers. The woman, I could only assume was Esme, approached Edward and I.

"Hello, Bella." She smiled warmly at me. "I'm Esme, Edward's mother."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Cullen." I grinned politely.

"Oh, darling, Mrs. Cullen is Carlisle's mother. Call me Esme, dear."

"Okay, Esme."

"Edward, you know she has legs of her own, right?" Emmett laughed.

"Yes, but I like to carry her." He smiled.

"Esme, Dad, are you guys staying?" Jasper asked.

"I don't think the whole night, but maybe for a while." Esme said cheerfully.

We sat around the fire and just sat there in a comfortable silence. That is, until Jake had to break it.

"Bells, you remember the last time we went camping?"

"Yeah, why?" I was curious now.

"Remember what we did?"

"It was just you, me, Em, dad and the guys. What'd we do?"

"We went around and told embarrassing stories about each other." He smiled.

"Ah, hell no. I'm enough of a klutz and have enough stories in the past three months than anyone else would have in a lifetime!" I protested.

"You can tell embarrassing stories about anyone else." He offered.

"Fine."

"Ooh, can I go first!?" Alice squealed. I nodded towards her.

"Well, one morning, I went into Bella and Ness's room and drew hearts all over Renesmee's face." She giggled. I. Am. Going. To. Kill. The. Pixie!

"Alice!" I whined. "She wouldn't talk to me for a week afterwards! She thought it was me!"

"Okay, I guess it's my turn. Um, mom, this one's on you." Ness said. "I remember once when I was little, I walked in on you when you were dancing with a coat rack. To ABBA."

"Oh, you're gonna get it for that one, kid. But this one's on your darling brother. Once when you and Edward were little, like two and four, your aunt bought you guys new pajamas. You didn't mind yours, but Edward absolutely hated his. He ran from Carlisle, butt naked, down the street in Seattle." Esme laughed.

"Once, I dared Jasper to walk up to the Sex Ed. Teacher in our old high school, and ask him what the clitoris was." At that everyone howled in laughter. Jasper turned as red as a tomato.

"Over the family weekend." Everyone tensed as Jasper started. "Jake and I were in the showers. I don't think he realized I was there because he was singing in a very high falsetto, 'Waterloo, I was defeated you won the war. Waterloo, promise to love you forever more.'" Jacob has a closet ABBA fetish.

"How'd that go again, Jake?" I giggled, he turned a bright red. If he was a cartoon, he'd have steam coming out his ears.

"Oh, Isabella, sweet, innocent Isabella." He cooed. Oh crap, I'm in some deep shit here. He only used my full name when he meant business.

"Two words. New. Years." He smiled the devil's smile.

"Aw, Jake, what'd she do to you?" Em asked in shock. This story was one for the archives.

"Tell us!" Alice and Rosalie squealed at the same time.

"We went to a New Year's party. She got plastered. Her and one of her very few girlfriends got onto one of the tables and started to strip. Basically giving us all a lesbian love show. They felt each other up and made out in front of the whole party." I screamed in frustration as he told one of my most embarrassing moments and lunged at Jacob.

"You asshole! You swore you'd never tell anyone. Motherfucker!" I shrieked. Emmett caught me before I actually got to Jacob.

"Dammit, Emmett Isaac Swan! Let me go right now!" His arms lifted from my waist as I tackled Jacob with all my body weight, landing punches wherever I could. Jake rolled us over, pinning my arms above my head.

"Just calm down, Swan." He said.

"No. I fucking trusted you with that! Just for that, I'm soo telling Quil!" I screamed, spitting at his face.

"Bella, it's not that bad. Jake let her up." Jasper said, pulling at Jacob's hands that were restraining my wrists.

"I don't fucking care about how bad it was. It's just a thing of trust. I fucking trusted this dumbfuck with it." I yelled again.

By the time he let me up, I was crying. I took off into the woods, ashamed of myself.

"BELLA!" People were yelling. I just ignored it and kept running. I stumbled and found myself in a meadow. It was so beautiful. Trees surrounded the meadow, illuminated by the moonlight.

I'm so mad at Jake, myself at everything! He just ruined the impression I was making on Edward's parents. I mean, yeah I shouldn't have drank that much that night, but still, he promised not to tell anyone.

"Bella." A soft voice from behind me, said.

"Esme, I'm really never like that. I hardly ever drop the f-bomb." I chuckled through my tears.

"Sweetheart, we all have our moments where we don't act like ourselves." She brought me in for a motherly hug. It made my heart swell because I've never had that.

"I can't believe he did that." I said, almost to myself.

"I think Emmett is taking care of it right now." She laughed, I found myself laughing along with her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just go back to camp. I'm just gonna ignore his ass for the rest of this trip. The whole reason I even hit that tree was because of that jack-off."

We walked back hand-in-hand. Emmett ran up and hugged the life out of me.

"Isabella, don't you ever scare me like that again." He scolded. I just shrugged.

Ness was completely ignoring Jake like the plague. It would be really comical if I wasn't so pissed off right now.

"Bells, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to make you so upset. I was just trying to be funny." Jake groveled.

"Well, is anybody fucking laughing? I don't think so. Just leave me alone until I'm ready to speak to you." I just walked away.

I just sat in my tent, staring out the door at the fire. Em nearly scared the shit out of me when he jumped into my line of vision.

"Bella, will you play a song? Please, please, please?" He jumped up and down.

"Fine." I grumbled, grabbing my guitar.

"Any requests?" I asked, sitting down next to Edward.

"Do you know Dynamite Walls?" Esme asked looking at me.

"Yeah, I've been working on that one, but I could try." I nodded.

Open your eyes
Put it in drive
get on the road and just go.

City lights
turn the tree lines
and National Park signs
Mountains approach
with small winding roads
and the air turns to falling snow

Miles away or just up ahead.
It doesn't matter what,
Any of us is looking for.
We'll never find it, because
It's not even there.

high beams showing
falling rock warning
construction work, slowing

The engine blazes
The elevation raises
The dynamite walls contain us

everyone's watching
for animals crossing
through the part of the glass
that's defrosted

Miles away or just up ahead
It doesn't matter what,
any of us is looking for
We'll never find it, because
it's not even there.

Open your eyes
put it in drive
get on the road and just go.

City lights,
turn the tree lines
and National Park signs.
Mountains approach,
with small winds in the road
and the air turns to falling snow.

The engine

blazes
the elevation raises
The dynamite walls contain us

"Bells, that was awesome!" Alice said.

"Okay. Night guys. Esme, Carlisle, nice meeting you. I'd stay up longer, but it's been a long day. I'm going to turn in." I hugged each one of them, sans Jake. Edward followed me into our tent and we easily.