Chapter Fourteen - When it All Falls into Place

Emmett POV

I heard the screen door slam, but I just kept my attention on the TV. I didn't know what Jasper had told Bella out there, but she was running like hell.

"Emmett?" Her voice was strong, but there was a hint of a question in it. She looked like she was ready to fight a tiger or something, and I figured the best I could do was just stand up and take it.

When I got to my feet, she hauled ass across the room and wrapped her arms around me like she was drowning or something. When I looked down at her, she raised her face up to mine, and lunged.

She kissed me.

She kissed me!

I thought I was going to fall over, I was so relieved. She didn't want to kill me, she wanted to kiss me! When I finally collected myself, I started kissing her back. Her lips moved against mine forcefully, and her body pressed up against me in a way that turned me to mush in some places and hard in others. My fingers grasped her hipbones, pulling her even closer to me. The kiss seemed to go on forever, and when I finally tore my lips away from hers, the separation was like a physical pain.

My family was gone. I could hear scraping noises upstairs, and Alice talking to Renesmee. "No, baby. You're going to sleep in Grandma and Grandpa's room tonight, okay? Mommy and Uncle Emmett need to… talk."

When I looked back down at Bella, for a second, I saw the little human girl who would be turning purple with embarrassment. Then I saw her as she really was: fierce, strong, and proud. Her head was held high, and her smile was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

Her head fell back, and I leaned down to gently kiss the spot where I'd bitten her, the tiny place that linked her to me in a physical way; it was my venom that had saved her, my love for her that had kept her safe.

Bella POV

Emmett's arms.

The tether that had kept me tied to the Earth, the strength that I carried with me through the loss of my husband and my humanity.

They wrapped around me so tightly that I was enveloped in him. There was nothing outside of that moment… his lips, his arms, his breath on my face and his tongue in my mouth. He was kissing me in a way that I had never been kissed before, out of deference to Edward's venom coated teeth.

I pressed myself into him for a moment before tearing away, knowing that I would be kissing him and touching him much, much more. Just as soon as I explained myself to my waiting family.

Who was absent, suddenly. I hadn't heard them depart, but I could hear them scrabbling to move Renesmee's crib up to the third floor, and Alice explaining to her that she was going to have a sleepover with Grandma and Grandpa. I couldn't figure out why they didn't just leave her in my room; we could have gone to Emmett's, for crying out loud. Maybe, since they were being a lot more noisy about it than was strictly necessary, it was their way of showing approval. Or something.

Suddenly the contemplation was irrelevant, because I could hear Jasper and Alice talking. Jasper's southern drawl almost made me dissolve into a fit of laughter. "You shoulda seen her, Alice. She took off like her tail was on fire. I thought she was gonna kill him."

Alice's sweet laughter filled the house, and then I heard the sound of her kissing Jasper. "It's about time, don't you think?"

"Alice," I said, loud enough for her to hear me, but still soft enough to be considered a low voice, "I'm not sleeping with Emmett. I've been separated for less than two months."

Before she could respond, Emmett swept me up in his arms and started up the stairs towards my bedroom. "Yeah, she's not sleeping with me. There'll be no sleeping together going on. Absolutely, no sleeping."

***

Emmett was still holding me in his arms, and he bent to kiss me again. Tender this time, without the sense of immediacy, our lips moving together in a quiet rhythm that soothed me and put my fears at ease. He placed me gently on the bed, and stretched the length of his massive body on top of my own. As his lips moved to my chin and down my collarbone, I gasped and arched my back, pressing against him and gripping his broad shoulders. As my head fell back, I whispered to him, hoping the rest of my family was occupied somehow, enough to not hear us.

"Emmett, we can't… I can't." I moaned lightly against the suddenly bare skin of his shoulder. "It's too soon, Emmett." He worked his way back up my throat, ending with the most tender of kisses on my waiting lips.

"I know, Bells. Let's just…" he slid his hands to my hipbones, his lips lingering on the hollow of my throat, "be close to one another tonight."

Knowing that he expected nothing more of me than I was ready to give, I spent the night in Emmett's arms, marveling at the power his touch had over me. By the time the sun rose, we were both frustrated, but elated.

In the shadow of a storm, I had finally found my safe harbor.

****

I knew that I shouldn't feel embarrassed when Emmett and I left my room the next morning. Anyone with ears in the house knew exactly what did, and what didn't, happen. Still, I felt a great amount of gratitude that I could no longer blush.

As we made our way down the stairs, Emmett kept his hand clasped firmly in mine.

The quiet looks of joy on the faces of my family eased some of my fears, and they were totally relieved when I looked at Carlisle.

With a knowing smirk that I'd never seen on his face before, he winked at me. "I hear that I missed quite a show last night." Never having heard Carlisle crack a joke that I could remember, I dissolved into laughter. When the rest of the family joined in, I knew that there were no hard feelings, no reproach in them. Those wonderful beings were simply happy that the two of us had managed to find a measure of peace in a broken situation.

Emmett POV

Holy shit, that night was hard for me. On the one hand, I was fucking elated that whatever Jasper had said to Bella led to such an awesome reaction. On the other, there was the frustration. I understood her hesitation to get too busy that night; hell, part of me felt it too. That didn't mean that I didn't think I was going to die by the time the sun came up.

After a round of ribbing from the family, led by Carlisle, of all people, everything seemed pretty normal. Well, normal except for the fact that I hardly took my hands of Bella the whole day.

She was in the shower when Renesmee woke up. I heard her stirring around in her crib, so I ran up to get her. I pulled her out of bed, and she sort of sniffed like she was put out. Just like her mother when she was human, Renesmee was not a morning person. She wouldn't even talk until she'd fed, she would only use her hands to send us her thoughts.

As she put her hand on my neck, my mind filled up with images of her little cup. "Yeah, yeah, doll face. We're on our way, cut me some slack." She just made the cutest little growling noise you ever heard, and buried her face in my neck. As I carried her down the stairs, I realized that it was the first time I'd ever been the one to get her out of bed in the morning. That put a little bit of a bounce into my step; after all, I was kinda the kid's step dad.

Or was I? I mean, Bella and I had never talked about what was going on; we just sort of fell into her bed and made out all night. I didn't think to ask her what it meant. What if she didn't feel like I did? Did vampires have rebounds? I didn't know how to bring up the subject, but I knew that Jasper and Alice could tell me everything I wanted to know.

I walked at human speed down to the kitchen, wondering what the best way was to get the two of them alone, because after I thought about it, I realized that I had a lot of questions.

****

After I fed the little monster and put her down in the floor with a truckload of books and toys, I turned on the TV for her. In some ways, she was a typical kid. Even being a genius, she still liked to watch cartoons, and she was guaranteed to be quiet if you turned on ESPN. I chalked it up to my superior mentoring skills, and the fact that I had coached her while she was still in the womb, but it was probably just because she liked to ask me questions about why I got so excited. She saw football as a strategic goldmine, and I reminded myself often to teach her how to play Risk. She'd love it, with her analytical little mind.

When I got the TV on the right channel and she was occupied, I sensed someone behind me. I turned around, and Alice was standing there. She grabbed my hand and pulled me out the door. "Follow me, you idiot."

We took off through the trees, and I wondered what I'd done. I mean, I hadn't even spoken to anybody but Renesmee since I got her out of the bed. Bella was still in the shower, as far as I knew… what could I have fucked up in twenty minutes?

"What the fuck, Alice?" I yelled, as soon as we were far enough away from the house.

She might have been tiny, but Alice rounded on me like a wildcat, and I have to admit, for a second, I was a little nervous. I might have even taken a step backwards. "I brought you out here to knock some sense into you! Bella's going to eventually figure out that you're a jackass, but there's no point in her learning it today!"

"What? I didn't do anything!" Okay, now I was really confused.

"Of course she loves you, you damned fool! It doesn't take a psychic to know that Bella has been half in love with you since the minute you grabbed her at the airport and protected her from Edward, she just didn't know it herself then! I have to admit, you did a good job of keeping your paws and your feelings to yourself until she was ready to deal with them, but that's not even something that you can be remotely proud of. The only reason you did was because you were scared to death of her! Don't you dare ask her what last night meant to her, because you know exactly what it meant. She's moved on, and she loves you, for some unknown reason. If you ask her stuff like that, she's going to shut down, and it'll take weeks to get her to come back around. Do you want that?"

"What? No, I just didn't… I mean, she was so… Edward, and she's been so sad, and…" I couldn't even complete a sentence, I was so fucking confused. I took a deep breath, then I started again. "Look, I think my concerns are pretty fucking legit. About an hour before she jumped on me, Bella was upstairs writing in that goddamned journal, probably about how much she missed Edward. I don't know what Jasper said to her, what brought on her reaction… I don't know anything. All I know is that I have been waiting for that moment for a long fucking time, and I want to be sure it's the real thing. I'm fucked here, Alice. This is the thing that everyone else has. This kind of love. I never had this before, and it scares me to death because she has. She's loved someone this much, way before she loved me. What if she still loves him? What if I'm a rebound?" I realized that I had started pacing around when Alice grabbed my arm.

"Emmett, she loves you. Of course she loves you. But she had to hold on to Edward for a while, don't you see? She gave up her lifefor him, she had to believe that he would come back one day, or she would have regretted everything. Everything except Renesmee." I looked at my feet, feeling pretty ashamed, but she kept going. "You remember how you explained it to Carlisle, about how you were still human when you met Rosalie? She hasn't even seen Edward since her change. Can you imagine what that's been like for her? She did this for him, and he left her. You just have to be patient, Emmett. But she loves you. Please, never doubt that. I have seen your future, and I have to tell you, I'm busy making plans for it."

I felt all of the tension inside of me let go. I also felt like an asshole. "What did Jasper tell her, Alice? What caused all of this?"

I flopped down onto an overturned tree, probably one of my own casualties, and she perched next to me. "He told her everything. She knows about Rosalie, knows that you changed her. She knows that you love her, and it was all the push she needed." I took in a sharp breath, ready to let her have it for telling Bella something so fucked up, but she held up her hand and kept talking. "She was afraid to make a move, afraid that Rosalie was going to come back for you, Emmett. He had to tell her. Trust me, it was better coming from Jasper. He let her feel everything she needed to, and he didn't interfere. She's made her peace with everything. Knowing that you love her so much is what caused her to realize just how much she loves you. Now," she said, standing up and brushing off the seat of her pants, "we have to get back. She'll be getting out of the shower soon."

When we got back to the house, Nahuel and Renesmee were watching SportsCenter, and Renesmee was explaining the rules of American football. Bella came down the stairs, her hair still wet from the shower, and I felt like even my body wasn't big enough to hold all of the feeling inside of it. I took her in my arms, and kissed her on the forehead.

****

The rest of the day passed in a kind of blur. For as much as everything had changed, a lot of things were the same. Renesmee and Nahuel ate more food that Alice made, we all went about our normal business… except Bella was in my arms, sitting in my lap, standing by my side. When dusk came, Carlisle left for the hospital, while Esme hummed to herself and put the finishing touches on the guesthouse blueprints before we broke ground the next day. Alice was picking out the drafting board thing and stuff for Huilen's studio, because she'd insisted that it was necessary.

Bella and I sat on the couch, her legs thrown over my lap and Renesmee sitting on top of them, resting in the crook of my arm. Bella was reading some kind of damn British book from before I was born, and Renesmee was trying hard to fight sleep. When she finally nodded off, Bella gently moved her legs, and I took her in my arms. Esme looked up at the movement, and smiled with an "ah, I see" kind of look before she sort of mouthed, "our room."

If Bella could have blushed, I bet she would have.

She followed me up the stairs, kissing Renesmee goodnight, and then leaving me to put her to bed. I heard her step into her bedroom, and I figured she wanted me to follow.

Bella POV

After the wonderful day we'd had, I knew that it was going to all be okay. Emmett really did love me. I'd never doubted it, really. So as he tucked Renesmee in, I went to my bedroom. Got to deal with this sooner or later, I thought to myself. Might as well be tonight. When he stepped into the room, all of my apprehension fell away, and I was overtaken by just how beautiful, how vital he was.

"Emmett, I…" I took a deep breath, and continued. "I'm scared, a little. I've only, well, I was only with Edward a few times, and it was difficult because I was still human. I couldn't really participate, and… Oh, Emmett, I don't really know what I'm doing!" Okay, maybe not all of my apprehension. He'd been mated with the most beautiful creature in the world for almost a hundred years. I couldn't imagine the things that you would have to do to keep things spicy after that long. He'd probably done everything there was to do, and now he was going to have to deal with a girl that was basically a virgin, because I'd never been allowed to really move when Edward and I had sex. The few times we had sex, I might add.

He smiled at me, gathering me to his chest and kissing the top of my head, like he so often did. "Bella, I know. It's okay… we'll go slow, and I'll teach you. Hey, don't you know that it's every guy's fantasy to play teacher? It's pretty hot, actually. Doesn't hurt things that you're so perfect, either." He took a step back so he could look into my eyes, and kissed me, slowly.

Thank God for buttons, I thought, as Emmett unbuttoned my shirt. Because of them, he could keep kissing me, at least until we got past the embarrassing disrobing part. As my shirt slid down my shoulders, I closed my eyes and held my breath. Emmett's lips trailed down my throat, stopping the spot just below my ear that he favored, then I heard him gasp. I opened my eyes in fear, and saw that he was looking down at my bare breasts, with a look of absolute joy on his face.

"Bella, you are so perfect," he murmured, running his hands over my body. He pulled me to his broad chest, his fingers skimming lightly up and down my spine. When his hand reached the base of my skull, he cupped his hand around my neck and pulled my lips to his, his thumb stroking my cheek. He kissed me with a sort of urgency, almost like the first kiss we shared, and I lost myself in him… the taste of his mouth, the incredible scent of him. The hardness of his body, the sheer size of him making me feel tiny and delicate, though I knew my strength was greater. He moved his hand to the middle of my back, and stooped to put his other hand on my thighs, sweeping me into the traditional bridal position, carrying me the few steps to the bed. He placed me gently on the already-turned-down bed, thank you Alice, and took a step back to take off his own shirt.

His body was unassailably divine. The lines of his muscles were thrown in sharp relief against the pale of his skin, with two deep lines running past his hipbones and down into the waistband of his low-slung jeans. Suddenly, I really wasn't afraid. Only unbelievably aroused.

I reached for him, using a touch of my superior strength to pull his body down, covering mine. My fingers played slowly over the ridges of his muscles, stopping when I reached the boundary that was the waistband of his jeans. I ran my finger down the bulge in them, then pressed my hips against it as he stifled a low moan. "Bella, are you sure? I don't want to do anything you aren't ready for." I pressed my lips hard against his, to keep him from helping me to change my mind.

"I'm ready, Emmett." I meant to unbutton his pants, I swear. But I accidentally ripped them. We both laughed as he kicked his legs out of the ragged remains, and kissed a line between my breasts, to the waistband of mine. He ran his tongue lightly just underneath the band, and then went back to my breasts to suck and nibble on my taut nipples, one at a time. I felt a heat that I hadn't experienced before in my new body begin to grow between my legs, and Emmett moaned.

"Oh God, Bella. I can smell you getting ready for me." He crashed into me like a boulder, his lips on mine and his hands stroking the rapidly readying cleft. I whimpered and pressed my body as close to him as it could get, feeling his hardness brush against the crotch of my jeans. I lifted my hips and reached to unbutton them, but he grabbed my wrists and brought them to rest above my head, still kissing me. He pressed them into the pillow to remind me to keep them there, then he ran his fingers down my arms, my ribcage, my hipbones… hooking his fingers into the waist, he pulled hard and split them in to two pieces, throwing them over his shoulder. "Turnabout is fair play," he whispered, pressing his lips to the heat that was emanating through the lacy panties that were all Alice seemed to have bought for me. Running his tongue around the crease at the inside of my thigh, he ripped those off as well, shredding them into scraps.

When his tongue touched me, a cry tore out of my lips. I grasped the sheets in both hands, twisting them until I heard a ripping noise. He chuckled, but took both of my hands in his as his tongue worked feverishly between my legs. As I exploded against his mouth, I pulled his hands until his body was covering mine again, lifting my hips to urge him onward. Wild for him to enter me, my hips began to grind against him.

"Damn it, Bella," he groaned. "I wanted to go slow…"

"Please, Emmett," I gasped. "I can't take anymore. Please." He ran his hand up my thigh, hooking my knee and holding in in place as he pressed against me, moving so slowly I thought I would come again. The tip of him teased against my folds, and I threw my head back, trying to stop a wild scream. I had never felt such a base, animalistic urge in my entire existence. Biting down on my lower lip to keep as quiet as I could, I began to pull him into me. Not to be rushed, he eased in by centimeters, until my body was full of him. With the same slowness, he pulled out to the tip. This time, instead of creeping in, he entered me in one swift thrust, and any concerns I had about being quiet were forgotten.

Emmett POV

The sun started coming through the windows way too soon. Bella and I were tangled up in her bed, her head on my chest and her leg thrown across me. I was wrapping a strand of her hair around my fingers, thinking about all of the times I had never felt the post-coital contentment I did right then.

I didn't want to get up, didn't want to face the day out of the fucking bed. Bella didn't want to get up because she was noisy, and embarrassed about it.

"Bells, seriously. Anybody old enough to know what we were doing has done it before, themselves. Do you think that none of us have ever overheard sex before? Besides, Esme is already building one guesthouse. If you keep acting all ashamed, she'll want to build another one, and then you'll have to accept a gift. Can't have that." I pulled her up so that her body was balanced on top of mine, and kissed her until she giggled.

"Okay, okay. We've got to get up, anyway. Renesmee will be up soon."

Bella got in the shower, and I made my way downstairs. The whole family was sitting in the living room. Everyone except Nahuel was grinning from ear to ear. He just looked really, really embarrassed. "Look," I said, whispering low enough that Bella probably couldn't hear me over the running water. "She's all ashamed and she doesn't want to come downstairs. Please, please don't tease her about anything just yet, okay?" I gave Jasper and Alice a hard look, knowing they were the only ones likely to. "I mean it, Jasper!" He nodded, and stood up.

"I think it would be best if Alice and I went out for the day. She wants to do some shopping." I almost jumped up and down like a little girl when he mentioned it.

"Yes, get out. Get the fuck--sorry, Esme-- out, dude. Don't come back for a few hours!" I ran to the coat closet and started throwing jackets at them, not even stopping to see who they belonged to. Esme walked up beside me, gathering them as she came across the room. She hung each one back up neatly, and then put her hand on my shoulder.

"Emmett, please try to relax," she whispered. "They can't go anywhere, we're starting the guesthouse today. It's all going to be okay, but you have got to get yourself together! You're going to send poor Bella into hysterics if she comes down here and sees you like this!"

Fuck, she was right. I hadn't realized that I was nervous, too. I took a few deep breaths, and stretched out like a prizefighter. It was an unnecessary carry-over habit from being human, but it relaxed me. "You're right. I'm good. I'm going to get the baby."

***

Esme asked Nahuel and Huilen to stay behind with Renesmee while we built their house, so they would be surprised and shit when it was finished. Jasper, Alice, Bella, Esme, Carlisle and I headed out to the back part of the property, where I had already cleared a lot of the trees.

We got everything done that day except the flooring and the cosmetic stuff. It was really funny to see Bella get drafted for the serious heavy lifting, because even if she was the strongest of us, she was still really tiny. She didn't know shit about construction, but she caught on quick. Carlisle showed her how to do the wiring, and she was a fucking pro in no time. Pretty much wired the whole house by herself. She kept going on and on about how perfect the place was, how much she loved it. I'd never really heard Bella talk about her taste in architecture, and it was really interesting to hear what she liked. I filed it away in my mind, to remember for when she was ready for us to head out on our own.

We were all sprawled out on the lawn of the house, looking up at it with pride. None of us needed the rest, but it seemed appropriate. Even when you don't get tired, it's still fucking weird to stand around talking for hours at a time. Normal people sit, and it was important for Bella to acquire "normal" habits. We couldn't keep her hidden forever. "You know what this place needs?" she asked, looking around the clearing. Everyone turned to look at her, kind of surprised that she was interested enough to suggest anything. "This place," she went on, "needs one of those stone walls like a secret garden, with a wrought-iron gate and climbing plants. It just looks like the sort of house that would be tucked away in a hidden garden."

"You're right, Bella," Esme said, eyeing the place pretty hard. "That's exactly what's been missing! I need to place the order for the stones this evening so they can be here as soon as possible. Let's get back to the main house; we've done enough for one day, and I'm sure you're anxious to get back to Renesmee." Bella was already flying before Esme finished the sentence.