A/N: Thanksgiving with the Cullens ... I felt pretty pervtastic writing this chapter. Nothing like sullying a virgin Edward to make you feel like a nasty old perv.

Mucho love to algonquinrt and mskathy for their continued guidance on my characters. And yes, pumpkin pie with real, fresh pumpkin is the only way to go …

~~ - ~~

BPOV

It was Wednesday afternoon, and I was barefoot in the kitchen. But thankfully, not pregnant.

My roommates were gone for the holiday, the last one having raced out 15 minutes earlier in a frenzy to get to the airport on time. Now I had the house to myself, my pie crust was rolling out nicely and I had a funny little feeling in my chest that I couldn't define.

I checked the oven, lay the crust over the pie pan and cut it to the proper size. Pressed it in and filled it with the fresh blueberry filling I had made a little while ago. I loved working in the kitchen, but I loved to bake best of all. There were no canned pie fillings in my home. Humming, I sliced up strips of dough to make a lattice-top crust – it was easy to make but looked extra-special.

I had just enough crust to make a second pie, but it would have to be one without a top. I looked at the ingredients in the fridge and frowned. Nothing good there. I wonder …

I opened the freezer and dug around for a while. A moment later, I emerged with exactly what I was looking for. I started to defrost it in the microwave while I searched for the rest of my ingredients.

As I put everything in the blender, I realized what the unfamiliar feeling in my chest was.

I was happy.

~~ - ~~

I arrived at the Cullen house the next day around 10 a.m. Alice had texted me with suggestions about what to wear, what to bring and what the schedule was. I was juggling multiple Tupperware containers, my good outfit for dinner tonight and an overnight bag. The top container was slipping a bit when the door opened, and I had a nightmare vision of blueberry pie splattering across the Cullens' doorstep.

Instead, Edward reached out and deftly caught the runaway dish.

"Thank God, Edward, that would have made a terrible mess and you wouldn't have had any …" I stopped dead and felt my eyes widen. The silence spun out for a moment as I stared, a pink flush working its way up my face and burst of damp heat rushing between my thighs.

His hair …

"You … I … your … um …. I …" Edward was looking at me with concern. He took me by the arm and pulled me into the house. I tripped awkwardly on the threshold, but he steadied me.

"Bella?" he asked, his face full of vague worry. I was immensely grateful that my sweatshirt was heavy enough that he couldn't see that my nipples had gone hard. "Bella, are you all right?"

"Yes," I finally croaked. "Edward, you look … fantastic. Your hair …" He reached up and ran his hand nervously through his glorious bronze mop, free of its usual prison of heavy gel. I had the feeling Alice might have had a hand in styling it in such elegant disarray.

"Uh, yeah … well, I thought you might like it this way … so I …" Alice appeared at the doorway and took the pies out of our hands. She relieved me of my bag and threw my dress over the back of the nearest chair, winked and jerked her head at Edward with a smile. Then she was gone.

I closed the front door behind me, and buried my hands in his hair. It was thick and soft and felt wonderful. I dug all the way down to the roots and dragged my fingers slowly down the back of his head.

Abruptly, Edward's eyes rolled back in his head, and I saw goose bumps breaking out across his arms. His hands came up and stilled mine in his hair.

"Did I hurt you?" I asked in surprise.

"No," he said in a strained voice. "But it has been a long time since anyone has touched me there. The feeling is … intense." Edward smiled and brought my hands around between us, holding them in his fingers. "I'm so glad you came," he said.

"Me too," I said, standing on tiptoes to drop a light kiss on the side of his mouth. "Can I hang this up in your room?" I asked, picking up my dress and my bag.

"Sure," said Edward, taking the bag out of my hand. "What's in here? More pie?"

"No, silly," I said with a smile. "It's my stuff for tonight."

"What stuff?" he asked blankly. I stopped where I was on the staircase and looked at him. Uh oh.

"Alice called me last night and told me to bring my things to stay overnight."

~~ - ~~

EPOV

Alice said she needed Bella's help in the kitchen (which I doubted – Rose was already in there, and I suspected they mostly wanted to talk about … whatever girls talked about). I joined Emmett on the back porch where he was loading up the spare coolers with soft drinks, beer and bottled water.

"Hey," he said. "Can you open that bag of ice and pour it into that blue chest?" We filled the second cooler and closed the lid.

"Where's Jasper?" I asked.

"Alice sent him out to buy more milk. Good luck finding a convenience store open on Thanksgiving," Emmett grunted. We both leaned on the railing in silence for a while. Emmett lit a cigarette; I gave him a dark look but said nothing else. If Dad found out he was smoking, he'd save him the trouble of lung cancer by killing him right on he spot.

My relationship with my younger brother was complicated. He was so many things that I wasn't – tough, confident, good with girls. Emmett had suffered the most from my undignified fall from grace 10 years ago. He was five years younger than I was … I should have been the one teaching him how to pick up girls, buying him beer on the sly and defending him from playground bullies. Instead, Emmett had ended being my protector, saving my sorry ass from being kicked to pieces on a daily basis.

I knew my brother loved me, but I wasn't sure how much he liked me.

Emmett shuffled his feet, looking strangely nervous as he dragged on his butt. Emmett was never nervous. That was my schtick.

"I'm scared, Edward," he suddenly said in a very low voice. I thought for a moment I had misunderstood.

"You are?" I asked, baffled. "Why?"

"It's the first time Mom and Dad are meeting Rosalie," he said. "And … um … you know how Rose can be when she feels uncomfortable. Sometimes she's isn't very warm, you know? I'm afraid that maybe they won't like her. And I really, really want them to like her."

"Mom and Dad know how you feel about her, Em. That's enough for them – for all of us – to accept Rose as part of the family." That didn't really address whether they would like her or not, and Emmett knew that. But it seemed to offer him some measure of comfort. He turned and looked me up and down.

"How come you're not having a shit fit?" he asked. "You're bringing your very first girlfriend to meet the 'rents for the first time." I didn't answer, just pulled the small vial of pills out of my pocket and waggled it at him. "Shit, you took the good stuff, you lucky bastard. How about sharing?"

"No way," I said. It was just a mild tranquilizer which I took only as needed. I rarely used them, but having had a panic attack almost immediately upon arising this morning, this seemed like the appropriate usage. I disliked taking them; they made me feel slightly out of touch.

The patio door trundled open and Jasper appeared, looking grouchy .

"Don't ask," he said. "How long do you think we can hide here?" There was a burst of feminine giggling through the half-open patio door.

"Another five minutes or so!" shouted Alice from the kitchen. "And then we need you to bring the extra chairs down from upstairs. Mom and Dad will be here in an hour or so, and you need to get changed."

The three of us looked at each other.

"Too early for a beer?" asked Emmett.

~~ - ~~

About 45 minutes later, I tapped softly on my bedroom door.

"It's your room, Edward," came Bella's voice from inside. "You don't have to knock."

I opened the door and looked cautiously in. There was Bella in a black dress with a full skirt, looking breathtaking as always. "You're just in time," she said with smile. "Could you please zip me up?" She turned, pulled her long hair aside and motioned me over.

I gingerly put my hand at the small of her back and pulled the zipper up. I could see the satiny straps of her black bra, and smell the sweet scent of her hair. I leaned forward and pressed a kiss on the warm skin right between her shoulder blades. Bella gasped and arched her back ever so slightly. I finished doing her zipper and very quickly adjusted my hard-on before she turned around.

"Thank you," she said breathlessly. "I'm just going to do my hair while you get changed." And with a whirl of her skirt and hair, she was gone.

When she came back in a few minutes later, I was straightening my tie. Bella looked at me for a minute, then looked around the room.

"What?" I asked.

"Did you tie that without a mirror?" she said. "Do you even have a mirror?"

"There's a mirror in the bathroom," I pointed out. "I use that one when I need to." She kept looking at me with the oddest expression, and I suddenly felt very … strange. Like she was seeing something that was buried deep down inside me. "I don't want to talk about it," I said suddenly, feeling a light sweat breaking out over my skin. Bella took that to heart and didn't say anything more.

"You look beautiful," I said a few minutes later. She had undone her braids and tied her hair back with a pale pink scarf. Bella blushed, and we stood there looking awkwardly at one another. She took a few hesitant steps over to me, and I put my arms around her.

We were still standing there like that when the doorbell rang.

~~ - ~~

The clonazepam kept me from freaking out as Bella and I walked down the stairs together. Mom and Dad were shaking hands with Rosalie, who looked nervous but was smiling. Emmett standing proudly beside Rose, looking like he had won the lottery. Esme was asking Rosalie something about her classes; Carlisle glanced up the stairs and saw the two of us standing there.

He looked at us for long moment, saying nothing. Then he smiled. Esme looked over at him and followed his gaze.

"Hello Edward," she said. Naturally, everyone looked at us. I was terrified by the attention, of course, but I also felt like Emmett looked a moment ago – like a million bucks because I had the most beautiful girl in the world on my arm.

I had never felt that way before in my whole life.

"Hi," I said shyly. "M-m-mom, Dad … this is Bella Higgenbotham." Bella let go of my arm and went down the rest of the stairs to my parents, shaking their hands and exchanging greetings. I was thanking God that I had taken the tranquilizer because my head was spinning, and I would probably be flat on my back by now if it were not for the drugs. I came down the stairs behind her and hugged my mom.

"Edward, you look … wonderful," she said in my ear.

"Thanks Mom," I said, embarrassed as hell. Dad shook my hand and gave me a man-hug.

"How have you been, son?" he asked.

"Um … good." Carlisle arched an eyebrow at me.

"I'd say a little better than good if even half of what Alice tells me on the phone is true," he said. I just smiled and looked at the floor, not sure what to do with myself. A moment later, Bella was back at my side, and I felt … better.

"Are you okay?" she asked. I nodded and wrapped my arm around her waist.

"I'm okay so far. But I'm better when you're with me," I said. For a moment, I cringed at my own honesty – I didn't like to make myself vulnerable to people. But the medication made me careless that way.

"I feel the same way," said Bella. She smiled up at me, and I made the mistake of looking into her eyes. In a heartbeat, I was lost. And leaned in for a kiss. It was the first time I had ever kissed her in front of my family. I didn't know if anyone else was watching and, for the first time in a long time, I didn't care.

~~ - ~~

Dinner passed without any major disasters, other than Jasper dropping the gravy boat while passing it to Emmett. Normally there would be an immediate round of jokes about Alice not foreseeing the accident, but Rose and Bella's presence at the table suppressed that.

After a huge midday meal of turkey and all the trimmings (including the obligatory green bean casserole), Alice and Bella brought out a mountain of pie.

"Bella made the blueberry just for Edward," Alice said, waggling her eyebrows at me. "And there's apple and … oh, pumpkin. Bella made pumpkin pie too." Everyone took a wedge of their favorite and dug in. My dad took pumpkin and instantly lit up when he tried it.

"Bella, this is fabulous. I've never tasted pumpkin pie so good … what's the secret?"

"It's real pumpkin," she said. "Not canned or a filling. It's fresh."

"It's delicious," my dad said, beaming at her. Bella blushed and turned to look at me. I was busy stuffing blueberry pie into my face, so I was no help.

After dinner, the men cleaned up while the women relaxed in the living room. As we were finishing up, my father gestured to the back porch.

"Edward, I'd like to talk to you in private, please."

There was a chorus of snickers from Emmett and Jasper, and Alice's giggle sounded from the living room. I was in trouble. My father quelled the laughter with a single look, and I nervously followed him out on to the deck.

We stood there in silence for a moment. Then my dad turned to me and smiled.

"She's lovely, Edward."

"Yeah," I said.

"I don't have to ask if you are serious about her. It's obvious that you two are very close." My dad looked like he was about to explode with happiness, and I wondered if maybe he just wanted to give me his blessing or something.

All hopes for this went south at his next words.

"A close relationship like this requires you to take on some grown-up responsibilities, Edward."

I wanted to die on the spot. This was the beginning of the patented Carlisle Cullen sex talk. Both Alice and Emmett had gotten it – even Jasper had been on the receiving end of it. It was legendary in our family.

"Dad!" I protested. "I'm 24, for God's sake. Please, not the sex talk." My father just grinned at me, looking like the cat that ate the canary.

"Son, I've waited a long time to give you this talk. Don't deny your old man the pleasure of embarrassing his favorite son." My father calling me his favorite stopped me in my tracks; I was no one's favorite. I was the embarrassment, the bad joke of the family. "Edward, you know from your brother and sister that it's a short talk. I'm not going to go into the biology of it all – you already know that, I assume." I nodded violently.

"Yes, I do. Having Emmett as a brother has made me very informed," I said. "And besides, Dad," I said, "Bella and I have just started seeing each other. We're not really ready to … you know."

"I would suggest if you can't actually say the word 'sex' out loud, you're probably not ready to have it, no," said my dad. "And I do my best to give this lecture before the sex has taken place, not after. That's the whole point." I went scarlet and shut up.

"If you're having sex, I expect you to behave like a man. That means protecting yourself and your partner. If anything goes wrong with that protection, you take responsibility for the consequences. I expect you to seek medical advice if you get a sexually transmitted disease, and tell your partner or partners right away. If you accidentally get a woman pregnant, you step up to fulfill your duty as a father, whether you are in the woman's life or not. Your mother and I will accept nothing less than that for our grandchildren, intentional or not."

My father was dead serious as he looked at me. "I also want you to know you can talk to me about anything if you're scared or in over your head. Even though you're a man now, I'm still your father. I'll always be your father, and you can always come to me."

"Thanks Dad," I said. I was still embarrassed, but I was also pretty impressed with my father at this moment. "I appreciate your advice. Means a lot."

"Yes, well," he said, looking a little uncomfortable himself, "I know you think it's weird that I'm giving you this talk at 24. But try to imagine how weird it felt for me giving it to Emmett at 15."

I made a gagging sound, and we both laughed. A few minutes later, my mother tapped on the glass doors and gestured for us to come in. Emmett, Alice and Jasper were all suppressing gales of laughter as I appeared in the doorway of the living room, and I did my best to ignore them. Bella was sitting on the wing chair by the window, and I sat down on the floor at her feet.

"Do I want to know?" she asked in a low voice.

"Not really," I replied sourly. She smiled, and I leaned my head against the outside of her thigh. The big meal and the tranquilizer were wearing on me, and I rested against her, feeling sleepy. I drifted in and out for a bit as the conversation swirled around me – academics, interior design (my mother had her own design firm), hospital politics, who was running for governor, Bella's pie crust recipe. It all blurred together.

After a while, Bella reached down and started running her fingers through my hair. I stifled a groan at her touch. My dick, which had been so well behaved all afternoon, decided this would be a good time to wake up and stretch. I spent the next hour in an agony of desire as Bella touched me. I nearly had a heart attack when my parents announced they were leaving, and I had to stand up. I thought my adjustment was subtle, but Emmett's sudden snigger put that in question.

~~ - ~~

We all went to bed early after a day of too much eating and not enough activity. Even Emmett and Rose stayed the night rather than decamp to Rose's place. All of which led to us dealing with the awkward issue of Bella staying the night with me. I wanted to strangle Alice. I didn't feel remotely ready for this level of intimacy yet.

"I can sleep on the couch," offered Bella.

"No," I said, feeling like a total idiot. "I want you to stay with me. I'm just …."

"Nervous?" she suggested, sitting down on the bed beside me. "Scared? Embarrassed?"

"Yeah, all that." I sat there, looking down at the floor. "Bella, I'm no good at this stuff."

"You mean, like relationship stuff?" She reached over and took my hand in hers. "Intimacy stuff? Embarrassing body stuff?" I nodded. "I'm not exactly a pro either, Edward. The only man I've had sex with is James. And he didn't exactly leave me feeling really good about being a woman." She paused for a moment, her hand stroking mine. It felt nice. "Neither of us is ready for sex yet. But that doesn't mean we can't share a bed and enjoy being close to one another.

"I think we've both been made to feel ashamed of a lot of things in life that maybe we had no reason to be ashamed of," she said softly. "I don't want there to be any of that between us. Can we try to make it that way for us? "

She had no way of knowing how true those words were for me.

"Yes," I said.

We took turns in the bathroom getting ready for bed. When I came back in my t-shirt and shorts, Bella was changing the pillow cases.

"Do you have an allergy?" I asked curiously. She smiled.

"No. These are satin … keeps my hair from getting damaged or knotted up while I'm sleeping." She was wearing a silky white nightshirt that fell just above her knee. Her hair was loose. My cock was already twitching inside my shorts, and I willed it to behave like a gentleman. We climbed into bed together, and I switched out the light. Bella slid across the bed and into my arms.

"Thank you for a wonderful day," she murmured, nuzzling into the crook of my neck. I ran my hands down her back, touching softly. She felt so good, so soft under my hands. I had never been in bed with a woman before, not like this, and my senses were on overload already. The darkness made me feel less self-conscious, and the clonazepam had knocked my inhibitions back a little.

It was a dangerous combination, one that I didn't seem to be able to do anything about. One that I didn't want to do anything about.

"You're welcome," I breathed, tilting her chin up to my face so I could kiss her. It was a slow, gentle kiss, rife with the promise of more to come throughout the night. "You make me feel so good," I whispered against her mouth. She wrapped her arms around me and nibbled on my lower lip. I let out a little grunt of pleasure at the sensation and kissed her again, touching her tongue lightly with mine.

So … good.

I lost track of time as I explored every inch of her warm mouth. I let my mouth wander along her jaw and down the long, smooth column of her neck. I tickled the little hollow of her throat - usually occupied by her locket - with the tip of my tongue, making her squirm against me. I very carefully kept my lower body a respectable distance away from hers; my penis was hard as a rock and throbbing painfully.

I dipped my head down to kiss a trail across her lovely collarbones. Her fingers found my hair once again, tugging on it. It felt like it was shooting directly down into my groin. I moaned against her skin, running my hands up and down her sides.

I was nervous, frightened and unbelievably aroused – I just didn't know which sensation was going to win out first. Apparently desire did. Holding my breath, I moved my hands very lightly over the outer swell of her breasts. My heart was pounding so loudly, I'm sure Bella could hear it.

She gasped when I touched her, and I immediately withdrew my hands and started to apologize.

"No," she said, cutting me off. "That was a good sound, not a bad one. Please touch me, Edward. I want you to. I need you to." She lay back and unbuttoned her silky night shirt. It was everything I could to keep my eyes from falling out of my head. When she got to the bottom, she took my hands and placed them on her stomach. She was allowing me to choose if we went any further.

I was powerless to resist.

Hands shaking, I parted the material and let it fall to the sides. She was beautiful.

Her breasts were round and full, her dark pink nipples tight and hard. Her skin was flushed with excitement. I let my eyes trail downward over her ribs and past her flat stomach down to the little scrap of lace between her thighs. I could feel my dick thumping in my boxer shorts, wild with excitement.

"You are so beautiful," I said reverently. And I reached out to touch. I had no idea what I was doing – all I had was instinct and several years of watching porn with Jasper and Emmett to guide me.

I figured instinct was a better choice here.

Her curves were warm and soft. I cupped her breasts in my hands, feeling their fullness, their warmth. Then I slowly slid my thumbs up and over the peaks which were hard and hot. She let out a sharp cry when I touched her nipples, making me even more aroused then I already was.

I lay down beside her and kissed a trail between her breasts. Her skin was softer there, and smelled faintly of rose petals. I dragged my nose across the swell of her breast, feeling the soft flesh against my face. I ran my lips over her hardened nipple and kissed it experimentally. I tongued it, making the hard nub wet and slippery. Then I wrapped my lips around the tip and sucked it into my mouth.

Bella arched her back, pushing more of her swelling nipple into my mouth. I stroked the other one with my hand, running my fingers around the tip, unable to get enough of her. After a few minutes, I switched breasts. Her moans were near constant now, and the tip of my penis was straining at the waistband of my shorts. I could feel a damp spot spreading across the front of my boxers; I was at the absolute limit of my endurance, and I was going to have to back off soon or risk coming in my underwear.

But I didn't want to stop. I wanted to feast on Bella's warm flesh all night, pleasuring her as much as I could. I was panting frantically against her breasts, my hands sweeping over her.

That was when it happened.

With a hungry moan, Bella wrapped one leg around my ass and pulled my lower body hard against her. She rolled her hips, and I felt her rub her soaking wet center up against my erection. I cried out, feeling the unmistakable tickle of my orgasm starting to build at the base of my quivering penis.

"No. Stop," I moaned, putting my hand on her hip and putting a few inches between her sex and mine. I clenched my teeth, trying to hold my orgasm back. "Bella, if you do that again, I'm going to come." As soon as the words flew out of my mouth, I wanted to die of embarrassment. But it was the truth.

"I know," she gasped. "I want you to." I gaped at her, unable to comprehend what she had just said. "I want to make you feel good. I want to feel you come against me. Please let me make you feel good. Please let me give you this, Edward. This is us, our bodies. Our love. There's nothing to be ashamed of."

That was all it took. I could feel the rush starting in my testicles, and there was nothing I could do to hold it in any longer. I grabbed her hip, pulled her flush against me and ground once, hard, into the hot, wet space between her thighs. Then crushed my lips together to prevent the scream of pleasure from bursting out of me as I came. As my cock jerked between us in wild relief, Bella arched her back, rubbing against me. And I watched as she came apart in my arms, her own climax exploding as she ground herself on my body.

Our spasms finally slowed and stopped, and the two of us were left, panting for breath.

And the magnitude of what I'd done started to sink in. I looked down at Bella and froze at the sight of my spunk pooled on her stomach. I had never come so hard in my life – I think there was 24 years of semen in that orgasm and it was all over Bella's body.

I could feel my breathing and heartbeat start to accelerate, and sweat start to break out across my upper lip. The drug was wearing off, and the panic was coming.

"Stop."

Bella's hands grabbed my sweat-slicked ones and squeezed hard, trying to bring me back from the unreal place I went to during an attack.

"I'm sorry that I had an orgasm, Edward."

The insanity of her words slowly sank in, and I stared at her like she was nuts.

"What the hell are you apologizing for that for?" I asked, the energy of the panic suddenly channeling itself in a different direction. Her words made me suddenly furious. "Are you crazy? You can't help how your body reacts when it's stimulated! That was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my whole life and you're apologizing for it?"

Bella didn't answer; she just kept looking at me. Then she just raised one eyebrow. That was all she did.

"Oh," I said finally. "But it's not the same thing, not at all. I made a mess on you and …"

"It's exactly the same thing," she said gently. "You were about to freak out because you had an orgasm, weren't you?" I wanted to deny it, but of course it was true. Not only freak out, but die of embarrassment and beg forgiveness for losing control of my body. "You don't think that seeing you come wasn't the most beautiful thing I've ever seen?"

I blushed at her comment, wondering how stupid a face I'd made during my climax. Then again, her face hadn't looked stupid when she had … . Just thinking about it made my dick stir within the confines of my sticky boxer shorts which had been pushed halfway down my ass during our mutual frenzy. No wonder I had shot all over her.

"Oh God, Bella … just stay here one minute, okay?" I hitched up my shorts, stumbled out of bed and grabbed a clean pair of boxers. Then I scuttled into the bathroom, cleaned off and changed. My spunk was all over the bottom of my shirt too, so I yanked that off. I came back to the bedroom with a warm, damp washcloth and a towel. Very tenderly, I cleaned her off and wiped her dry. The stuff was everywhere … she even had drops of it on her breasts. Just wiping them off made me hard again, much to my annoyance.

"You were … holding that in for a while, weren't you?" she asked. I flushed bright red.

"Um … since the day I met you, I think," I finally said, trying to keep it light. She laughed, and the awkwardness eased a little.

"That really was wonderful, Edward," she said. "And I didn't do it because I wanted to get off. I just wanted you to give you that … you know, because it feels so good and you needed to so badly. I could tell. But when you came, it was so incredible that it made me come too."

I made a girl come, I thought smugly, then shook my head at my own immaturity. Jesus, how old am I?

"No one's ever done that for me before," I said, bundling up the washcloth, towel and my wet clothes and dropping them beside the bed. "It felt better than I could have imagined." I paused, not sure what to say at this point. "Um … thank you."

"You're welcome," she said with a little smile. "Thank you too." She shrugged out of her nightshirt and tossed it aside. Then she held out her arms to me. I was still shirtless. "Come," she said. "This will feel good too, in a different way."

I lay down beside her and moved cautiously into her arms. The feel of her warm skin and soft breasts pressing against my chest was … indescribably good. I gasped out loud at the feeling of it, and Bella chuckled against my neck.

I could feel my penis stirring again inside my fresh shorts, but I ignored it. This was a different kind of intimacy, and I wanted to savor it, undisturbed. The busy day, the food, the medication and my orgasm had all left me sleepy and relaxed. All I wanted now was to sleep. In her arms.

And we did.

~~ - ~~

A/N: Thanks for all your reviews! Please let me know your thoughts. I'm traveling on business this week which makes getting to the Twilighted thread a little challenging, but feel free to join the fun over there!