Thanks for the reviews!

I hardly ever have a chance to sit down and respond to them...you guys are just lucky I get the chance to write/post. But I get a lot of reviews saying Eli's cute and I thought I'd say a big, monster THANKS!!! I based Eli on my 6 yr old daughter Ashton, but instead of the Barbies and Hannah Montana obsession, I made him like what my son does: Scooby, Spiderman, Pixar movies, Transformers, and cars. So basically, you guys are complimenting my kiddies which I LOVE because I think they're the best kids in the world (though I might be a little biased)

I'm going to bold the POV's from now on--as per requested ;)

LEMON AHEAD!

*~*

Chapter 20

Edward

I woke up to the feel of Bella's soft fingers running over the copper-colored stubble along my jaw line. I felt my lips twitch at the sensation and took in a deep breath, inhaling Bella's sweet scent mixed with her strawberry shampoo.

This was how I wanted to wake up every day for the rest of my life. Bella had seven weeks left until the lease on her townhouse was up and I had every intention of having her and Eli move in with me. Now that we were engaged, there was no reason for her to say no.

Engaged.

I thought of that word again and felt something rush through my body, causing my heart to feel twice the size and thump erratically in my chest. I had no idea what it was--love, happiness, excitement, adoration. I didn't care what the fuck it was, just as long as the feeling never died. I felt more whole--more complete--than I'd ever thought possible.

I shifted slightly underneath her and peered over at her, smiling.

"You're awake," I said groggily.

"Um-hm."

I glanced over at the clock and noticed it was just after nine. We'd been up half the night worshiping each other. After the first couple of rounds, the crushing need I felt to take Bella as my own and claim her dissipated, and I was able to focus on showing her all the love I felt for her in that moment; the love that I would feel for her for the rest of my days.

"Why?" I hugged her tighter against my body. "Go back to sleep."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to fall back to sleep.

"I can't. Too..." She trailed off uncertainly.

I groaned sleepily and shifted my body so that I was facing her. I needed to know what was going through her mind.

"Too what, baby?"

"Excited, nervous. In denial," she answered quietly.

"Denial?" I was slightly confused.

I felt her shoulders shrug against my chest. "I keep wondering when my brain will realize it made the whole thing up. That we're not really getting married, it was all just a dream."

She was right--it did feel like a dream. I couldn't imagine that after only three months that she would feel even a fraction of what I felt for her--enough to make her agree to marry me.

I kissed her softly. "I know how you feel. But it's not," I whispered. "I asked you to marry me last night. And now I am going to spend the rest of my life thanking my lucky stars that you said yes."

She giggled. "You're being very sweet this morning."

I grinned crookedly at her. "I figured the occasion called for it. Would you like me to stop and start swearing at you?"

"No. This is good. I don't hear you say many things like this, so I'll take what I can get."

I rolled my eyes and changed the subject. "So, I guess we have a busy day ahead of us."

She burrowed into my chest. "Don't remind me," she muttered.

"You don't want to tell everyone we've ever known that we're getting married?" I asked teasingly. "Because I do."

"I don't want to be the center of attention," she admitted. I felt the heat rush through the cheek she had pressed against me.

I laughed silently and pulled her chin up so that I could see her flushed face. "You'd better get used to it. You're going to be the center of attention when you walk down the aisle." I studied her for a moment. "When do you want to do it anyway?"

"You want to set a date already? We just got engaged last night!"

"No, not an exact date. But you know Alice and my mother will want to know. Just thought maybe we should have a game plan. That's all," I said nonchalantly.

I was dying to make plans with her already but kept those feelings locked up tight.

Her forehead creased as she thought about it. "I don't know. I really don't care to be honest." I gave her a strange look. She didn't care? What kind of horseshit is this? "I don't have a specific date in mind and I don't need anything big and fancy. Just you, me, a preacher, and a couple witnesses is fine with me," she explained. "What do you want?"

"A small wedding sounds great," I said honestly. "I don't need an entire church full of people I barely know when I marry you. I won't be looking at them anyway." I grinned crookedly again. "How about sometime next summer? After Emmett and Rosie get married?"

"Sounds good."

"What about..." I trailed off, swallowing nervously. "Um, what about names? Are you planning on keeping yours?"

"Yeah, I guess." I tried to keep my face blank. "I don't know, I guess I could do some sort of hyphen? Bella Swan-Cullen?"

I fucking hated that. I wanted to give her my name and make her mine in every way possible.

"You want to hyphenate your name? Have fun signing checks. Isabella M. Swan-Cullen, that'll take you a minute. People are going to be lined up behind you, pissed off that they have to wait for you to sign your check," I joked.

"Hmm. You're right, that is awfully long." Her face scrunched up with distaste. "I guess I'll just change it. Bella Cullen. Sounds okay, right?"

I looked deeply into her eyes, trying to convey my feelings silently. "It sounds better than okay, a ghrá. It sounds fucking incredible," I growled.

She smiled brightly back at me. "I guess we have a game plan then, huh?"

"I'd say it was a start." I leaned down and kissed her neck slowly. "Now, if we're done discussing our nuptials, I'd like to finish celebrating," I said lowly.

"You're not done?" She quickly extricated herself out of my arms and hopped out of the bed before I could ever register what she was doing. "We have an entire day full of phone calls and family visits. I don't think we have time for any more celebrating," she chastised.

I pouted and sat up. "Damn it. Not even a quickie?"

She shook her finger at me and pretended to be annoyed. "I don't think so. I need to get in the shower."

She stripped out of the t-shirt she'd slipped on last night and wiggled out of her underwear. She then walked around naked, pretending to look for something suitable to wear. I felt my dick harden with ever step she took. My eyes followed her every move and I had to concentrate on not jumping out of the bed and attacking her like some sort of deranged tiger, taking her at will on the floor. Or the wall. Wherever we happened to land.

I reached down in my boxers and adjusted myself, struggling not to hiss with the contact my hand made on my now aching dick.

She purposefully dropped her jeans on the floor and bent over to pick them up, glancing over her shoulder playfully.

I felt a low growl build in my chest. "Bella," I warned.

"Hmm?" she asked innocently raising her eyebrows. "I'm going to get in the shower now. You might want to take care of that." She looked at the tent my dick had formed in my boxers pointedly and turned away.

I groaned as she turned and walked into the bathroom, turning on the shower.

"Cock tease!" I yelled at her in frustration.

I heard her laugh loudly. "I'd only be a cock tease if I didn't plan on doing something about it. Now get in here before I change my mind!"

She didn't have to ask me twice.

******************************

I went out to the deck and sat down, pulling out my cell phone and attacking the list of people I needed to call and tell about my engagement to Bella. I called all the guys that I kept in touch with from my time in the Navy and with the Marines, then called James, Carmen, and the Denali's. After I got through that excruciatingly long list, I decided I needed a break from the 'Congrats' and called Esme to check up on Eli.

"Hey, Mom. How's Eli doing? Is he being good?" I asked when she answered.

"Of course he is, sweetheart. What a silly question. You know he's always good for us," she responded, laughing.

"Yeah. I guess."

"So, your father tells me that Bella said yes! I'm so happy for you guys! I can't believe all my babies are married and gone," she sniffled.

"Mom," I groaned. "Alice is the only one of us married."

"Close enough," she muttered, making me laugh. "So, have you told Alice and Emmett yet?"

"No. I wanted to do that in person. I thought I'd call them and see about stopping by with Bella later or something."

"No," she argued. "I'll just call them and they can have dinner here. Then you can tell them all at the same time."

"Seriously, Mom. It's fine. I can just go to their houses and tell them. You don't need to make a big to-do about it."

I should have lied to her and told her I'd already told Alice and Emmett, but knowing my luck she'd call my sister and spoil the surprise.

"Please?" she pleaded. "I want to see their faces when you tell them."

I groaned inwardly. Of course she did. "Fine. But don't give anything away when you invite them over. You and Alice are terrible about keeping secrets."

"I am not!" she protested. I sat there silently. "Okay, maybe sometimes. I promise I won't ruin it, all right?"

"Okay," I laughed. "I'll see you later. What time?"

"Six," she stated.

"Six it is. Love you."

"Love you more!" she called as she hung up.

I chuckled to myself and heard Bella open the door from the kitchen.

"There you are!" she exclaimed. "I've been looking all over the house for you!"

"Hey!" I called back. "Did you get a hold of everyone?"

She nodded. "How about you?"

"Yep." I patted my lap for her to sit down on. "The Denali's and James all said to tell you 'Congrats'." I ran my fingers through her hair once she was settled on my lap. "Esme wants to have some sort of dinner tonight so we can tell everyone at once. So, it sounds like the only person left to tell is Jacob."

I felt her tense up. "Shit."

I pulled her tightly against me and kissed the top of her head. "It'll be all right. I'll be there with you." I cleared my throat. "Do you think it will be bad?"

"I don't know. Possibly," she said quietly. "Most likely."

"Well, he's supposed to pick up Eli on Tuesday, like usual, right?" She nodded in agreement. "How about we see if Alice or Rosie can pick Eli up from school and take him to the park down the street from your place while we tell him. Just in case."

That would give us two days to enjoy being engaged before the asshole ruined it.

"Okay. That works for me."

I reached up and ran my hand through my hair. "I was thinking earlier. Your lease is up on your townhouse in less than two months so I thought maybe you and Eli could just move in with me. We can talk to Jacob about it on Tuesday, too. What do you think?"

I waited nervously for her answer. She slowly pushed off my chest and stared down at me.

"You want us to move in with you?" she asked skeptically.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Well, yeah. I want to fucking marry you, why wouldn't I want you guys to move in with me?"

She laughed back. "That's true. All right, we'll move in with you." She beamed back at me.

I pulled her down and kissed her. "Is there anything online somewhere about building a time machine? Because I would love for the next seven weeks to be here and gone already so I can spend every night with you in my bed."

She giggled and kissed me again. "Nope. Sorry, this isn't a movie."

"Damn."

*****************************

We were all sitting around the huge table under the portico at Carlisle and Esme's drinking and laughing while Esme and Eli finished getting desert ready.

"Edward! Tell Bella what you did at that party at James and Joey's apartment!" Emmett boomed.

I laughed and took a sip of my beer. "You've never had the pleasure of meeting James' older brother Joey," I said to Bella. "Joey is gay. I mean, flaming gay. Neither James or I have any problem with Joey being gay. In fact, it would be weird if he was straight. I'm just telling you this now, because this story might make it seem like I have a problem with it."

Bella nodded and smiled at me. "Got it."

"James came back from Iraq a few months before I did and got an apartment with his older brother Joey. When I came home, James and I made plans to go out one night. We ended up going back to James' place to drink since he was bored and as soon as we walk in the door, Joey says 'Hey guys! How's it going?'" I said it in my best gay voice, making the entire table laugh. "James looks over at Joey and says 'Eat a bowl of dicks, faggot!' I was so shocked because I thought it would offend him, but no, Joey just laughed about it and made some snide comment about James not getting enough pussy.

"James immediately goes to his room and starts calling people up for this impromptu party. People start showing up and Joey is screeching about everyone walking in and out of the apartment and worried that someone is going to let his cat out."

"Oh, no," Alice giggled.

"I fucking hate cats. Alice had this demon cat named Percy when we were little who would come in my room and scratch up the bed or pee on the floor. It got to the point where I tried to convince Mom to take it to the Humane Society, but she wouldn't do it because Alice would be devastated," I said sarcastically. I looked at Bella. "So no cats. Ever."

She laughed at me. "Okay."

"Anyways, I'm drunk and sick as shit of hearing about this fucking cat. Not only that, but Joey had already hit on me a few times--knowing I'm straight--and I was pissed. I found the cat and put it in the curio cabinet in the dining area where Joey had all these stupid ass plates of people like Elvis and Princess Diana. I closed the door and left it there where the cat stayed for the rest of the night. I figure at this point, not only am I getting him back for hitting on me, but his cat's safe, too.

"Everyone leaves and Joey finally realizes that the cat has been stuck in the same place in the curio cabinet for the last six hours. He fucking flipped out on James, thinking it was him, while I watched and laughed so hard, I was crying. They both figured out it was me that did it and turned on me. James was cracking up and high fiving me and Joey starts screaming at me about his poor baby being locked up all night and then asks me why I did it.

"All I could say was that I hated fucking cats and that if he ever hit on me again, I'd throw the cat into the river." I took another pull of my beer. "Needless to say, he's not hit on me since and we're actually pretty cool now."

Bella looked as if she couldn't decide if she wanted to laugh or yell at me for doing that to the cat.

"I feel like a goody-goody next to you," she said, eyeing me speculatively. "Anything else I should know about? Cat bombings? Watching bugs fry under a magnifying glass? I mean, you are going to be the father of any future children I might have, I think I should know these things."

"No. Nothing like that," I laughed. "You have nothing to worry about. Any kids we might have will be perfectly normal."

"Wait, what?" Alice asked, waving her hands above her. "What am I missing here?"

"Oh, uh..." I ran my hand through my hair. "Shit." I looked over and laughed at Bella. "We kind of fucked that up, didn't we?"

"What is going on?!" Alice asked again.

Thankfully, Esme and Eli came back out with a huge trifle.

"Oh, good. You're back," I said to Esme. "Mind if we tell them now, before Alice's head explodes?"

Esme looked at Alice's flustered face and laughed. "By all means."

I took Bella's left hand in mine and held it up. "We're getting married," I announced, unable to keep the huge smile off my face.

The entire table erupted in 'Congratulations' and squeals.

"You gave her the Claddagh?" Alice asked. "You suck!"

"Yeah, yeah. You know you had no shot in hell at getting it," I teased.

Alice rolled her eyes and started grilling Bella about the wedding, even though we had only been engaged for a mere twenty-four hours. After a while, I could see Bella's aggravation and decided to intervene.

"Alice, enough. We don't want anything huge so you can just get that idea out of your head right now. And we're not getting married until next year. There's plenty of time to go over the details. So back off."

"Fine," she huffed, walking away.

Bella turned to me and smiled. "Have I mentioned I love you lately?"

"Not since this morning. But I love you, too."

******************************

Bella

The knock on the door nearly sent me out of my seat. I took a deep breath and looked over at Edward nervously.

"It'll be fine." He rubbed my hand soothingly with his. "Go answer it."

My heart was pounding so hard my entire body vibrated with its beat. "Yeah. Okay."

I reluctantly got up and went to the door, looking up at Jacob and swallowing convulsively.

"Hey," I squeaked.

"Hey." His brows knit. "What's going on?"

"Um, want to come in?" I asked shakily.

"All right," he said slowly, eyeing me warily. He saw Edward standing in the living room and frowned. "Oh. Hey. Didn't know you were here."

Edward gave him a tight smile back. Oh boy.

"Where the hell is Eli?" Jacob looked at me accusingly. "What the fuck is going on?"

"Sit down," I instructed. "Eli's with Alice at the park down the street. Edward and I wanted to talk to you about something and I wasn't sure how you'd take it so, I made sure Eli wasn't here. I'll call her and tell her to bring him back when we're finished."

He glared at me and walked to the couch, plopping down. "Fine. I'm sitting. Talk."

I sat in the loveseat and rung my hands together. Edward came over and wrapped his arm around me in support.

"So, um. Edward and I are um..." My heart felt like it was going to leap out of my chest at any second. "We're engaged," I blurted out.

"You're what?" he asked in disbelief.

"Engaged," Edward repeated. "You know, getting married? I asked her to marry me and she said yes..." He was acting like Jacob was an idiot.

"I know what it means," he snapped. "Why?" I started to speak but he stopped me. "You got fucking knocked up, didn't you?"

"No. I'm not pregnant, Jacob. Not that I'm aware of anyway." Edward gave me a funny look. "Look, I know it's sudden, but...I love him."

Jacob sat there, looking stunned for what felt like hours before he finally spoke.

"You son of a bitch!" he yelled at Edward.

"What the fuck did I do?" Edward yelled back.

"You..you..." His veins popped out of his neck and his face was red. He stood up and towered over me.

"Jacob?" I asked timidly.

"You are such a bitch!" I gasped. "You knew I was in love with you and you fucking stomped all over me!" He looked at me with a pained expression.

"You better watch your fucking mouth, Jacob Black. I have absolutely no problems beating the shit out of you for her." Edward stood up and glared at him.

"Fuck you, Cullen! If you hadn't stuck your nose where it didn't belong, nothing between Bella and I would have changed!"

Edward laughed darkly. "Keep telling yourself that, Jacob. You brought all this on yourself. You're selfish, deceitful, childish, and immature. Why in God's name would Bella be with someone like you?" he spat.

I sat on the couch, unable to grasp the situation at hand. They were nose to nose, hurling insults at each other. Their tense bodies were leaning in towards one another, their hands were curled up at their sides in tight fists, their eyes flashed with hatred. I had to stop it before someone got hurt--most likely Jacob.

"ENOUGH!" I yelled, jumping to my feet. "Jacob, you don't get any say in what I do. I don't love you! I love Edward! I'm sorry it hurts you, but I can't help it! And if you think you deserve any kind of sympathy after what you've done from anyone, especially me, you are seriously delusional!" I looked at Edward. "Calm down or I'm going to have to make you go in the other room." He nodded apologetically and stepped back.

"Now, I'm marrying Edward and you'll just have to fucking deal with it. Do you understand me, Jacob?" He nodded mutely. "My lease here is up in November and when that happens, Eli and I are moving into Edward's house."

"You are not taking our son to live with him!" he protested.

"The hell I'm not! I'm marrying him! What difference does it make if we live with him in two months or when we get married? It is going to happen. You might as well get used to the situation."

"What if I don't want to get used to the situation," he countered.

I scoffed loudly. "Too bad!" I took a deep breath to diffuse my temper. "Look, I really, truly am sorry you feel this way about me and I don't feel anything for you in return. But you do not get to make my life hell. Not anymore. The only place you have in my life right now is as my son's father. And shit like this," I motioned broadly with my hands, "is why I don't want to have anything to do with you otherwise. Now, do you have your emotions under control or do I need to ask you to leave--without Eli?"

"I'm fine," he muttered.

"Good. Edward, call Alice and tell her it's safe to bring Eli back."

I managed to get Jacob out the door without any further confrontation. I knew Jacob was still irrationally pissed and assumed it would take him a while to get over it. After all, it had only been a couple of months since he dropped the 'I love you' bomb on me. I imagined it would be hard to let go of something that you've held on to for so long, especially when the object of your desire moves on without you so quickly.

I climbed in the bed later that night and snuggled with Edward.

"Are you sure you're fine?" he asked.

"For the millionth time, I'm fine. I told you I didn't think it would go well and it didn't." I slapped him playfully on the chest. "Now stop asking!"

He chuckled. "All right, all right." He cocked his eyebrow and smirked at me. "So. Not that you're aware of?"

"What?" I asked, giggling. I had no clue what he was talking about.

"When Jacob asked if you were pregnant earlier, you said 'No. Not that I'm aware of anyway'," he clarified.

"Oh." I shrugged. "It's not like it's not possible. People have gotten pregnant on birth control before. I'm not supposed to start until next week, so how would I know if I am or not?"

"You're being surprisingly nonchalant for someone who wants to be married before it happens again." He eyed me carefully.

"You're being pretty calm yourself there, Cullen."

I watched the smile play at his lips. "I wouldn't be mad if it happened."

I sat up and looked at him with wide eyes. "What?"

He grinned crookedly. "You heard me." His eyes swept my face, searching for my feelings on the subject. "What about you?"

A little boy with bronze hair and green eyes playing with an older version of Eli flashed through my mind. I loved it.

"I wouldn't be mad either." I blushed.

"Huh," he responded.

We laid there grinning goofily at each other for a while.

He trailed his fingers over my stomach. "You know, practice makes perfect." I laughed loudly. "I'm just saying."

I grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him down to me. "Then I expect us to practice a lot because I want to make sure it happens right away when we get in the game."

He rolled his eyes but smiled widely as he leaned in to kiss me. "That was very corny, you know," he said against my lips.

"Yep." I licked my lips involuntarily. "Now shut up and fuck me, please."

He moaned. "Say that again."

"Fuck me," I whispered.

He pushed his hardness against me. "I'm going to have to now."

I giggled as he rolled us over so that he was now hovering over me. He parted my lips with his, moving his tongue with mine eagerly while he trailed his hand down my side. He reached my panties and he moved his hand between my legs, stroking me through the fabric, making me hotter and wetter with each pass.

He ripped my t-shirt over my head and took my breast in his mouth, sucking my nipple furiously. I couldn't help but moan and wiggle my hips against his hand.

He moved his mouth down my stomach, kissing and licking me as I made his way to my panties. With one quick tug, he yanked them off my body and threw them on the floor.

"You are entirely too good at that," I panted.

He shrugged and gave me a crooked smile as he shimmied out of his boxers. He grabbed my legs and spread them open, looking down at me and licking his lips.

I immediately felt bashful and started to move my hand down my stomach to cover myself up but he gently slapped my hand away.

"Uh-uh. I plan to watch you take me in you tonight."

I groaned. "Edward."

He sat in between my legs on his knees and ran his hands up the insides of my thighs before trailing my slit with his thumbs. He rubbed my clit teasingly with one of his thumbs before dipping it inside me. He pulled it back out and watched the wetness spread when he moved it back to my clit again.

I took his dick in my hand and pumped it twice before he pushed me away, moving closer to me.

He grabbed my hips and pulled me towards him so that my ass was on his thighs and my legs were on each side of him. He took his dick in his hand and rubbed the tip along my slit, before sliding it in to me, watching my body take him in slowly.

I moaned as I watched his eyes blaze.

"I love watching you fuck me," he rasped.

He stayed still inside me as he rubbed my clit with his thumb again. My hips writhed against him and I grabbed on to the pillow above my head.

"Move, Edward. Please, God. Do something," I begged. I couldn't take much more.

He pulled out and thrust back into me, using his hands on my hips to guide me. He took my leg and propped my foot on his shoulder as he continued to push in and out of me while he watched, before grabbing my other leg and shifting our bodies so that I was practically folded up on myself.

He shifted himself and slammed into me, making me come hard around him as I moaned and thrashed underneath him, trying to escape the intense waves that crashed over me.

"Ugh. Fuck, Bella!" he shouted.

He kissed me passionately while he continued drive himself into me. He moved away from me and flipped me around, pulling my hair so that my back was arched and my ass was in the air. He got back on his knees and took me again, grunting and grinding his hips every time he connected fully with me.

After a while, I could feel my muscles tightening up around him again, and he moved one of his hands to my clit and rubbed circles in time with each one of his thrusts.

"Edward!" I screamed into the bed as I came again, finally pushing him over the edge.

He thrust forcefully one last time into me while his orgasm pulsed inside me. He groaned loudly as his whole body tightened up and shuddered involuntarily.

He pulled out and rolled to his side of the bed, dragging me with him. My pulse hammered loudly as I snuggled up next to him.

"God, I love practicing with you," I said as I gasped for air.

He laughed with me and nodded vehemently before he kissed my nose. "One of us needs to reach over and turn off the light," he mentioned as he looked up at the ceiling.

Neither of us moved. I looked back at him and we laughed again.

"Well, since neither of us wants to turn the light off yet, want to go again?" he asked deviously.

"Um, duh?" I asked lamely.

*~*

So this is most likely the last chapter without some stalker action in it. Crazynuts steps up their game in the next chap...it's already partially written.

Also, if any of you were offended by the cat story, I'm sorry. Since my friends are a little wild, it actually is a true story. My friend Joe's brother is gay and that's how he treats him. I thought it would be funny to incorporate what Matt (Marine hottie friend) did to his cat one night at a party...since Edward is loosely based on him. Just know, no harm came to the kitty, I swear! He's still alive and sheds everywhere!