AN: No idea where the trial would be held. Forks? Seattle? Olympia? I don't know and hopefully you don't either. :D I don't know how long he'd get either. I found several places that told me how long his sentence would be had he actually raped Bella, but nothing about attempted rape. So, hopefully what he gets and how the court hearing goes won't throw you off too much. I've never been to court... and I don't have a TV so watching some court show is out of the question. :(

Again with my epic failure when it comes to reviews. I promise to one day reply to you all again. Time just isn't on my side these days. :(

Dazzle, you're amazing and I forgot to remind you about that last chapter. I'm a douche. :(

The banners on my profile aren't working. Just copy and paste the hyperlink to your browser and it should take you to the pic. If it doesn't, then you can look for the story on Twilighted under Jocasta and on TWCS under Jokris. They're TOTALLY worth going and checking out. michelleab09 and SamasaurusRex both did fantastic jobs!! :D

Now... on with the show...

Chapter 21: Closure

____

EPOV

____
"Bella… you need to hurry, love."

"Ugh! I know! I just… I just don't know what the fuck to wear!"

I walk up behind her and wrap my arms around her, pulling the clothes from her hand and turning her around to face me. I cup her face and tilt her head back so that she's looking up at me.

"You packed a skirt and a pretty top. You look fine in that. Why are you trying to wear something else?"

She sighs and closes her eyes. I bend down and kiss her lips. I haven't made up for all the sick time yet and I've been kissing her lips every chance I get. I press my forehead against hers as we wrap our arms around each other.

"I just don't want to look… easy or like I was begging for him to do what he did."

I sigh. "Baby, you don't look like that. You look like a very respectable girl in that outfit. You look like one anyways."

I feel her body shake with her soft giggle. "Even standing here in my bra and panties?"

"Well, you are standing here in front of your husband. So… yes."

She smiles brightly at me before standing on her tip toes to kiss me. "Thank you," she says softly as she looks into my eyes. I smirk and kiss her again. "You're welcome, baby."

She pulls on her skirt, top, and shoes before we head downstairs. We are staying at Charlie and Sue's place since Leah moved in with her boyfriend, Sam, a month ago, which freed up Bella's old room where we stayed last night. It was rather strange being back in that room with her. We'd come so far in such a short amount of time. If given the choice, I would change a couple of things, but nothing that would give me a different result than what I have now.

Charlie hands Bella and I a cup of coffee as soon as we walk into the kitchen. "How are you holding up, sweetheart?"

She sighs and shakes her head. "I don't know. I feel really queasy." She looks at Sue and the big breakfast she is in the middle of making. "Would you hate me horribly if I didn't eat?"

Sue smiles and pulls Bella against her side. "I'd probably disown you and divorce your father just to get rid of you," she tells her with a rather serious voice, but the wink she gives Bella makes her relax against her stepmother.

Bella gives her a small smile and whispers 'thanks' as Seth comes bounding into the room. He stops right at the kitchen door and offers Bella a smile. "Hey, Bells. I just got off the phone with Jake; he should be here any minute."

Before Bella can say anything, my cell phone chimes alerting me to a new text message. I pull my phone out of my pants' pocket and unlock it, clicking on the new message from Renée. I look up at Bella. "She's leaving the lodge. She should be here soon as well."

Bella groans. "Why can't we all just meet at the court house like I asked?"

Sue releases her from her hold and turns to pull something off the stove. Bella walks over to me and leans against me as Charlie shrugs. "Because people can't take no for an answer where you're concerned, Bells."

Bella giggles softly and looks up at me. "Well, I'm thankful for that."

I bend down and kiss her forehead as Charlie clears his throat. "Still not entirely comfortable with that."

Bella giggles again and moves to sit at the table, pulling me behind her. Charlie's problem isn't with me kissing her; it is more that Bella, his only daughter, is kissing a boy in front of her father. The first time he said that, Bella turned on him, ready to rip his face or something. Charlie quickly explained what he had meant and she retracted her claws. I should've known then that Bella is a force to be reckoned with.

Seth plops down beside me as Sue dishes up breakfast for everyone but Bella, making a plate for Jake and Renée as well. The closer it gets to time to go, the more Bella squirms until finally she excuses herself and runs upstairs. As soon as the door slams, I push away from the table. "Excuse me, I'll be back in a moment."

By the time I'm in her room, walking into her bathroom, she's standing at the sink rinsing her mouth out. She immediately grabs her toothpaste and toothbrush, and starts brushing her teeth. I walk out of the bathroom door and take a seat on the foot of her bed, watching her.

She was pretty torn up after what happened with Phil. I fixed that without a problem, but her nerves aren't something I can control as easily. She gives me a weak smile as she walks out of the bathroom. I hold out my hand for her to take, which she does, allowing me to pull her into my lap. She wraps her arms around my torso and presses her face against my neck.

"Bella, love, there's nothing for you to be nervous about, you know that, right? I mean, we're going to go down to the courthouse and he's going to be thrown in jail."

"But what happens when he gets out? What if he comes for me?" She pulls away from me and looks me in the eyes. "Edward, by then we'll have children. What if he targets them?"

I cup her face and hush her. "Shh, baby. Stop. It's okay. Everything will be okay. There's no telling where we'll be by the time he gets out of jail. We might even be living in another state by then. Regardless, I'm not going to let anything happen to you or our kids. I'll do whatever it takes to make you all feel safe and protected. We can install an alarm, get a dog, whatever it takes, baby."

She smiles sadly. "Thank you."

I kiss her quickly and pull her against me, crushing her I'm sure. "I've got you, love."

The knock downstairs at the front door causes her to jump slightly. She groans and shakes her head. "What if they don't find him guilty and end up charging you with assault?"

I shake my head. "Max told me that the charges wouldn't hold up and if they did, it would be the least amount of punishment possible. Don't worry about what's going to happen to me, Bella. Everything will be okay. I promise you."

She takes a deep breath and nods. I lean forward and capture her lips with mine, kissing her for a moment in hopes to get her to relax a little. She pulls out of the kiss and smiles against my lips, sighing softly. "I love you."

"I love you, too, baby."

She hums quietly before kissing me again. The knock on the bedroom door causes her to jump again. "Bella, honey?"

Renée… Bella pulls away from me as she calls out to her mother. "We'll be right out, Mom."

"Okay, sweetie. We'll all be downstairs ready to go."

"Alright."

I stand, cupping her face and tilting her head back. "I'm right beside you all the way, Bella. You have nothing to fear today… or ever again for that matter."

She smirks and nods. "I'm glad." Her smirk fades. "I really need you right now."

"I'm right here, love."

She leans into my hand, kissing my wrist before taking my hand into hers and pulling me behind her. We walk downstairs and grab our things. Renée gives Bella a big hug as Jake wraps his arms around the two of them. Bella still hasn't let go of my hand.

Charlie clears his throat. "We need to get on the road, guys."

Everyone pulls away from Bella, who quickly steps back beside me. We get in the car with Charlie and Sue. Renée and Seth rode with Jacob. The ride is quiet. The only noise is the engine and blinker ticking for the couple of turns we make. The rest of our family is waiting at the courthouse like Bella had asked them to do.

As soon as we're parked, I ask Charlie to give us a minute. Sue and Charlie nod, offering reassuring smiles to Bella before getting out of the car. I turn her towards me and cup her face, looking her dead in her eyes. "You need to walk in there with your head held high, baby. When you see him, don't you let him see what kind of effect he has on you. He can't touch you. He'd have to go through the armed guards and me to get to you. There's nothing for you to be afraid of, Bella."

She nods. "I know. I know there isn't. It's just seeing him is what's going to make me want to vomit. Again."

I chuckle and nod. "Understandable, but don't let him see that."

She takes a deep breath and nods. "You're right. I can't let him see that he gets to me."

I smirk and nod. "That's right, baby. Be that confident woman that punched the hell out of Angela. Be my bad, bad bitch."

She starts laughing uncontrollably, to the point where she can't breathe. As soon as she gets herself together, she kisses me soundly. "That was exactly what I needed."

Before I can say anything, she's getting out of the car and pulling me out with her. However, before she can step foot on the sidewalk, Alice, Rose, and Mom are pulling her into a big group hug. Thankfully, Charlie intervenes.

"Okay, okay. We need to get into the courtroom. We don't need to be late."

Charlie ushers us towards the door, acting as a barrier between us and all our friends and family. They only want to help, but crushing Bella in hugs and crying in her face isn't really helping her. When we get inside the courtroom, we find Max already at his post. Unfortunately, Phil and his lawyer are both standing on their side of the room as well. Bella's hand becomes a vice around mine. I walk her to her seat beside Max.

"Hey, Edward. Bella, how are you?"

"Okay, I suppose. I'm praying I don't vomit on the table."

Max smiles and squeezes her shoulder. "It'll be okay, Bella. This is a pretty standard case. Pretty open-and-shut kind of thing. His lawyer has talked him into a guilty plea. There's no way out of it. However, if he pleads guilty, then that might lessen the sentence, but Judge Porter is a hard-ass, and he always sides with the women."

Bella glances up at me and back to Max. "And Edward's case?"

Max chuckles and shakes his head. "Don't worry a bit about Edward's charges. They won't hold up, I promise."

"However," Max then turns his old blue eyes onto me. "You need to keep your cool, hot-shot. When they sentence him and you don't like it, keep your mouth shut and your anger in check, understand? We don't need the judge thinking you're… unstable or something."

I clench my jaw and nod, knowing it'll be an issue if that fucker is set free or gets a puny sentence. What he did to Bella is something he should fucking get life over. Max pats my shoulder and motions to the seats behind us. "Go ahead and take your seat, Edward. We should be starting soon."

I quickly walk around and take the seat right behind Bella. The seat is close enough to the railing for me to lean forward and keep my hand on her shoulder. She turns her chair slightly and takes my hand into hers. She offers me a sweet reassuring smile before the rest of our family starts filling up the seats around me.

Before everyone can get seated, the rather large police officer standing near the Judge's stand steps forward and calls the room to order. Immediately, everyone shuts up and settles down. The Judge clears his throat and announces the case. He sets his papers down in front of him and looks back and forth between Bella and Phil, who's standing over there looking pissed as hell.

"How do you plead, Mr. Dwyer?"

Phil clears his throat and closes his eyes for a second before looking back at the Judge. "Guilty, your honor."

Judge Porter nods. "Good choice. That makes this cut and dry. Your sentence will be seven years with the chance to early release after five and half—" No fucking way! Early parole?! "—if you pass the states psych tests and have been a good boy while you're in prison. You'll have to pay a ten thousand dollar fine, as well. Before I dismiss you in order for you to start your vacation at the state's finest penitentiary, Mr. Dwyer, I'd like to let you, and Mr. and Mrs. Cullen know that these charges you've pressed against Mr. Cullen are a joke." He picks up a stack of papers and rips them in half. "Mr. Cullen, this won't show on your record. You protecting your wife isn't a crime, it's your job. And you did a good job, son."

I can't help but smile at the old man, my anger for Phil's light sentence not forgotten, but not at the forefront of my mind. Bella's grip on my hand tightens once more and I look down at her, to see her looking at Phil. I look over at him to see his face as red as an apple. I've never seen him look so out of control before. He's usually the epitome of calm and collected.

I glance at the Judge to see him open his mouth to speak, but Phil's outburst grabs my attention. "I had to have stitches on my nose and cheek! My nose still isn't fully healed from where he broke it! I went along with this guilty plea to get out of such a long prison sentence and he gets his papers ripped apart?!" He turns his attention to Bella, who freezes completely, her eyes wide with fear. "You little bitch—"

"Enough!" Judge Porter yells. He instructs the large officer to grab Phil and take him away. The murmur in the courtroom seems to piss him off even more as he bangs the gavel down with such force that I know he's going to knock the head of it off. "His sentence is now ten years with no early parole. His fine has tripled. As soon as he's released, there will be a lifetime restraining order placed on him to stay clear of any Cullen within two thousand feet whether they're related to this family or not. Court dismissed!"

The Judge quickly exits the room with a flourish as his large black robes look like they're having to run in order to stay with him. Bella pulls me up to stand and wraps her arms around me tightly. I hold her close, whispering in her ear. "It's okay, baby. It's over, finally. It's all over."

She shivers and I know she's shaken up by Phil's outburst. Max's hand on my shoulder causes me to look up at him. "There's a room… would you like a moment?"

I look behind me at our family and see a few of them nod their heads, encouraging me to take care of Bella. I pull away from Bella long enough to walk around to her before pulling her back against me. We follow Max through two doors, down a hallway, and through another door leading us into a small interrogation room. Max opens the door for us and shuts it behind us once we're inside.

"Bella? Baby, are you okay?"

She nods, releasing a shaky breath. "So much for being that bad bitch of yours."

I crush her against me. "Oh, Bella. It's okay, love. Don't think about it, alright? Let's just go back to your Dad's, okay? Sue and Esme are fixing a big lunch in order to celebrate. Let's just forget about the bad stuff and focus on the good stuff, okay? He's in jail with a restraining order against him once he's released. My record is clean. Everything worked out right, baby!"

"You're right. He just scared me when he got angry like that. I've never seen him so… well, angry."

"I know, but I think once we're out of here and back in the presence of our family, everything will go back to normal."

She laughs softly and looks up at me. "You mean we have nothing fighting against us anymore?"

I smile down at her before kissing her slowly. "Nothing," I whisper against her lips.

She smiles and kisses me, pulling herself against me tightly. "Finally."

I rest my forehead against hers. "Are you ready?"

She takes a deep breath, releasing it slowly. "Yes. I think I am."

"Good. Let's get out of here."

She nods and takes my hand. I lead us back into the courtroom where we find everyone waiting on us. Bella smiles brightly at everyone, causing them all to visibly relax.

Mom tucks herself under my arm. "Sue and I are going to go back to the house and start on lunch. You guys go do what you want. It shouldn't be ready for another couple of hours."

Bella tugs on my hand and smiles up at me. "We should all go hiking."

Dad chuckles and shakes his head. "We won't be going hiking anymore, Bella." He nods towards the door. "Come on. Let's all get back to the house and I'll show you."

Bella motions to her cloths. "I'd like to go change."

Charlie offers. "I can drive you two back to the house and you can drive over once you've changed."

Emmett chuckles. "They're never going to make it…"

Mom slaps Emmett's shoulder. "Don't be so crass, Emmett." She motions to the rest of us. "Let's get going."

Bella sits in the front with Charlie on the drive. He reaches over and takes her hand. "How are you doing, Bella? You looked pretty shaken up."

She smiles and wraps his hand with both of hers. "I'm fine, Dad. Edward calmed me down."

He glances at me through the review mirror and I can see in his eyes that he's appreciative. I nod, letting him know I caught his thanks. "I'm glad. I'm even happier that the son-of-a-bitch is in prison for ten long years. You don't need to worry about him, Bella. Not anymore."

She breathes in deeply and nods, releasing her breath slowly. "I know. It hasn't set in yet, but I know."

He smiles at her before pulling his hand back and placing it back on the steering wheel. A small pang of regret shoots through me at how I'd robbed them of their last year together. He rarely saw her because of school, work, and me. I need to invite him and Sue to the apartment for dinner soon. As soon as we pull up, Charlie bids us goodbye and tells us he'll see us soon. It sounds like he emphasized on soon, but I don't care. If Bella wants to have sex, then Bella is going to get what she wants.

Once we're inside, we walk upstairs in silence. I watch her hips sway from side to side as she takes each step. If I haven't caught up on the missed kisses already, I sure as hell haven't caught up on the missed sex. I decide before we can even get to the top floor that I'm going to seduce her. If it'll even work…

She walks over to the suitcase and pulls it up on the bed. I watch her go through the clothes trying to find something to wear. I stand on the other side of the bed and unbutton my shirt, looking in the bag at my clothes. I notice her stop looking through her things by the time I pull my shirt off. I toss it to the foot of the bed and walk around to her side, leaning against her as I pull out a pair of jeans and t-shirt.

It doesn't go unnoticed how she leans into me and smells me. Yes… that's right, little girl. Get aroused… However, when I step away from her, she doesn't try to stop me. I toe my shoes off and work on my pants. I pull my belt from my pants, paying attention to how she's watching me as she unbuttons her top. I unbutton and unzip my pants as she tosses her shirt to the side and starts working on the zipper to her skirt.

As soon as I have my pants off, I turn to her. Her cheeks are flushed and she's biting her bottom lip. I can't take it anymore. "You're going to make me beg, aren't you?"

She pushes her skirt down and steps out of it, walking around to stand in front of me in only her bra, panties, and high heels. She presses her hands to my shoulders, running them down my chest as she follows along with her eyes. "No, I don't want you to beg, Edward."

"What do you want me to do, then?" I ask softly as I place my hands on her hips.

Her eyes snap up to mine and she smiles wickedly. "I want you to take me."

Something inside of me snaps—something familiar. I can hear it when it snaps, but it sounds more like a growl. I throw the suitcase to the floor and grab her hips, picking her up and tossing her onto the bed. I pull my boxer briefs and socks off before getting on the bed. I pick up one of her feet and remove her shoe, tossing it behind me and not caring at all when it hit the wall. I do the same to the other shoe before ripping her panties off.

She gasps my name as her hands grip my arms. I look up at her and see that she's smirking. "Sit up, baby. I need to take off that stupid bra."

She giggles and sits up, immediately taking me into her mouth. I fumble with the back clasp for a minute. It's hard to concentrate when her mouth is around my cock. As soon as I get the bra off of her, I gently push her off of me. I lie on my back and smile at her. "Care to take a ride, little girl?" I ask her as I waggle my eyebrows at her.

"You're such a perv," she says with a giggle.

"You love me. Now shut up and let me get inside of you."

She grins at me. "So demanding!"

She straddles me, but doesn't move to sit down. She just looks down at me as she rubs her clit. I brush her hand away and take over rubbing her and, damn, she's already so wet. "Did watching me get you wet, baby?"

As I slide two fingers inside of her, she moans and throws her head back as her hands come up to play with her nipples. So. Fucking. Beautiful. "When doesn't it?"

"Fuck, Bella. Please, let me fuck you?"

She pushes my hand away and for a moment I get excited, but when she looks down at me with eyebrow cocked, my excitement deflates. "What did I tell you, Edward? I don't want you to beg. I want you to just take what's yours."

I snap again and I growl as I grab her hips and thrust up into her. She calls out my name so loud that I'm pretty sure the neighbors heard her. She's panting above me and I haven't even started moving. "Hold on, little girl. This ride is about to get really wild."

A look of pure ecstasy passes across her face right before I start pounding into her. My grip on her hips tightens as she starts trying to meet me thrust for thrust. "Lean forward." She does as I tell her and leans forward, crushing those amazing tits between us. "Kiss me, baby."

She moans before crashing her lips to mine. Her long wavy brown hair curtains around us and all I can smell is her. I move my hands from her hips and grip her shoulders from behind, pulling her down as I thrust into her. She buries her face into my neck as her nails claw at my chest.

"Oh, God. Edward… harder…"

Harder?! "Harder? Are you sure?"

Her moan turns into a whimper as she begs me, "Please?"

I grab her hips and push her off me, making her get on her back. Before moving in between her legs, I bend down at suck and nibble on her clit until she's pulling on my hair. She pulls me into a passionate kiss as I slide back inside of her. I maneuver my arms underneath her, wrapping my arms back around her shoulders, gripping tightly. I lean forward and whisper against her lips, "Ready?"

She nods frantically. I press my lips against hers, kissing her softly before pulling away. I start the rhythm off slowly, just to torture her. Her nails dig into my back as she rubs her nose against mine. "Please, baby, don't tease me."

I groan. Her quiet plea made me want to make her scream. I pull all the way out before I thrust back into her harshly. Her scream turns into a moan then a whimper. She digs her nails into my back as her body shakes underneath me. I don't give her time to recover before I do it again and again, picking up the speed until I'm moving as fast as possible.

I get lost in the connection, the feel of her, the smell of her, the sound of her. "Close," she whimpers, bringing me back to the world around me. I continue to move inside of her as she slides her hand in between us, rubbing her clit as fast and hard as I know she can.

Her words string together as she starts whispering 'Oh God!' over and over again until she finally clenches around me. I bury my face into her neck, feeling the growl rumble in my chest, as I thrust into her one more time, emptying myself inside of her. Her arms wrap around me tightly, pulling me down on top of her completely.

We lay like this, completely spent for some time, just catching our breath, kissing and touching when possible. She smiles against my cheek. "Thank you, Edward. That was… very much needed."

I chuckle softly. "Ditto."

She giggles and pushes against me. "We need to get a quick shower before we get dressed."

I hover over her, kissing on her neck. "Does that mean we get a round two?"

She runs her hands through my hair, scratching my scalp as she moans softly. "We don't have time. I really do want a round two, though."

I groan. We never have enough time. We decide to be the good kids, though, and just get a quick shower and get dressed before speeding over to my parents' house. We walk in the house to find everyone talking and laughing, having a great time visiting one another. Bella stops me at the door, watching them for a second.

I frown at her, confused. "Bella?" I whisper quietly so our family won't notice us watching them.

She smiles up at me and shrugs. "I just like seeing this, don't you? Everyone is here and they're so happy."

I wrap my arms around her and kiss her neck. "I love you, Bella."

She sighs softly as she presses her head against mine. "I love you, too, Edward."

She turns her head and kisses my temple before grabbing my hand and pulling me behind her as she walks into the kitchen. Everyone greets us as though they haven't seen us all day. The atmosphere is so happy that even the most depressed person would smile in this room.

Emmett grabs everyone's attention with a loud clap of his hands. "I want to know what it is you bought. Why won't we be hiking anymore?"

Dad chuckles. "You can hike if you want, but why walk all that way when you can ride?"

He sounds like a sales person. He motions for all of us to follow him out to the garage. There, in my old parking spot, are four brand new four-wheelers. Emmett laughs. "That's great! I knew you had too much fun on those four-wheelers, pops."

Dad rolls his eyes at Emmett. "Actually, I was thinking about the future when I bought them." He motions to Rosalie. "You don't expect your child to walk all the way to the waterfall, do you? These ATVs will come in handy sometime soon."

I wrap my arms around Bella, pulling her back against my chest and whisper in her ear, "When can we start?"

She turns her head slightly and looks at me from the corner of her eyes. Her lips pull into a smirk as she turns her head a little more and kisses my cheek. "One day," she whispers against my scruff.

"Soon?"

She shrugs. I let her end the conversation for now. This is not one I want to have with everyone around us, but I still want to have it. Soon. I kiss her neck again before standing up straight and setting my chin on her head.

"Anyway," Dad says to get everyone's attention. "I think they'll be fun."

Everyone agrees heartily. Emmett points at me, Jacob, Seth, and then Jasper. "There's four of them and five of us." He points at Seth. "Since you're the youngest, you have to ride with someone," he tells him with a wink. "We're going to get muddy."

Dad sighs and shakes his head. "I didn't buy them for you to tear them up, Emmett."

"Pfft, I know what I'm doing, Dad. It's these kids you have to worry about," he says as he motions to the rest of us.

Rosalie smacks his arm. "Shut up, you big oaf. You're more of a kid than the local first graders."

Jacob raises hand. "I'd just like to say that I know some great mud holes and that ATVs are pretty resilient."

Emmett smiles and looks at me. "You in?"

I look at Dad. He sighs and shakes his head. "If you break it, you're buying a new one."

Emmett gives me a pointed look. I sigh and nod. "I'm in."

"Jacob? You in?"

He scoffs. "Hell, yeah!"

He and Emmett high five. Emmett smiles at Jasper. "Come on, good ole boy. You in?"

Jasper smirks and nods his head. "Why not? Let's go get muddy."

"Is this an all boy thing? No girls allowed?"

I laugh at Emmett as he gawks at Bella. "What? You want to come get muddy?"

"Emmett, just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't get dirty. I want to come." She turns around and looks at me. "I can ride with you, huh?"

I roll my eyes. "As if you really have to ask me, baby."

She smiles and looks at Alice and Rosalie. Rosalie shakes her head. "No thanks. I don't think pregnant people should get on those things."

Alice scoffs. "And get my new jeans muddy? I don't think so. Have fun, Bella."

Alice and Rosalie walk back into the house. Bella shrugs. "More fun for us!"

Dad reluctantly hands over the keys and we follow Jacob deep into the woods. I'm not sure how he knew about mud holes around Forks since he stays in La Push, but this is Jacob we're talking about. I wouldn't be surprised if he roamed these woods when he was bored.

For the next couple of hours, the six of us get as muddy as we possibly can. We hit every single mud puddle we can find, getting stuck on a couple of occasions. Bella ends up slinging mud all over me as I try and push us out of this one hole we got stuck in. While the guys were laughing it up, she comes over to me and wipes the mud off my face.

"Oh, God. Edward. I'm so sorry," she says as she tries to keep herself from laughing—and failing terribly.

She scraps the mud off my lips and bursts out laughing, which causes the guys to laugh even harder. I quickly grab her up and hold her over the hole we just got stuck in. She screams for me not to drop her, laughing hard as she begs me to put her back down.

"I ought to! I should drop you and get you just as dirty!"

She wraps her arms around my neck. "Please, baby. Please, don't drop me! I didn't mean to get you dirty! I love you! You wouldn't do this to someone you love, would you?"

I narrow my eyes at her. "That's low, woman."

She pouts. "Please, don't drop me?"

I narrow my eyes a little further. "That's even lower."

She hugs me tightly. "I just don't want to get all muddy," she says with a giggle.

I try and pry her off of me so I can chunk her, but she doesn't budge, laughing even harder as I tickle her to try to get her off of me. She still won't release me. I give up. "Fine. I'll take what happened as an accident."

She rolls her eyes and shakes her head as I set her on her feet. "That's because it was, silly boy." She looks back to the guys to find them still laughing. "I think it's about time we get back, don't you? Lunch should be done by now."

Emmett pats his stomach. "Good, I'm famished!"

Somehow, Bella and I end up the muddiest of all. We aren't even allowed on the back porch until we rinse off. I chase Bella around the house to the water hose. I wrestle the hose away from her and point it at her before I turn it on. "Remember that mud you slung at me?"

She gasps and turns to run, but gets the back of her shirt soaked with the cold water from the hose. She spins around, looking pissed as hell. She lunges for me and wrestles the hose away from me, shooting me in the face with a full blast. I fall to the ground, choking and gagging on the water.

"Oh, God! Edward? Are you okay?"

I'm fine… I cough a little harder and shake my head, hamming it up. She drops the hose and falls to her knees beside me. As quickly as I can, I grab the water hose and push her down, shoving the hose down her shirt. She screams my name and tries pushing me off of her as she turns red in the face from laughing so hard.

I pull the hose out of her shirt and toss it to the side, turning the water off before hovering back over her. Her laughing dies off eventually, but she continues to lie underneath me smiling sweetly. I brush some of her wet hair off of her forehead and look into her gorgeous brown eyes.

"When?"

"Can you wait until I graduate?"

I look down at her stomach, running my hand over the soaked shirt that's clinging to her. "Yes. I'll wait however long you need me to."

She sits up quickly, catching me off guard with her greedy kiss. She pulls away and looks up at me. "There's no rush, Edward. We have plenty of time to start our family."

I cup her face in my hands. "I know. I'm just… ready, I guess is the word."

She giggles. "You mean overzealous?"

I chuckle and shrug. "Do you blame me?"

She smiles brightly and shakes her head. "No, but I want to finish school before we start our family."

I kiss her slowly. "Okay, we'll wait until then. We're starting the day you graduate."

She throws her head back, laughing loudly. I wasn't joking… I'm ready to start our family right now, right in this backyard if we could. I get this way every time I'm around Rose. Something about a pregnant woman makes me want Bella to be pregnant too. Just thinking about kids with my girl makes me absolutely giddy.

I get up, holding out my hand to help her up. She takes it and I yank her up, crashing her against me. She wraps her arms around me and looks into my eyes. She smiles brightly as she sighs happily. I love that sound. That happy little sigh she makes when she looks at me. Talking about an ego boost, the look on her face gives me all the proof of her love I'll ever need. This look could get me through the worst of times.

I bury my face against her neck, sighing my own little happy sigh. "I love you, baby."

She giggles softly. "I never get tired of hearing you say that, ya know?"

I gasp and pull away. "What a coincidence! I never get tired of saying it!"

She laughs loudly again, resting her forehead against my shoulder as she catches her breath. "I love you, too, Edward."

I kiss her temple and release my grip on her. "Good. Let's keep it that way, shall we?"

She giggles and pokes my ribs, running from me as I give her the look that tells her I'm going to get her and tickle her until she pees. She runs back around the back of the house screaming for help. I run after her and grab her before she can reach the back porch, but her screams and cries for help alert everyone. They all take in the sight of us and just shake their heads, chuckling at our disastrous state. We were still muddy, just not as muddy as before.

During lunch, we finalize plans for Alice and Jasper's wedding. Thankfully, Mom and Dad don't know about their quick hitch in Vegas, but the bad feeling I got when she told me her plans has only escalated since then. I just know they're going to get caught. I'd bet money on it. Bella spoke to Alice about it a couple of weeks ago and asked her to make sure that we wouldn't go down with them should Mom and Dad find out. Bella still felt a little bad about our wedding and didn't want to piss my mother off any more than she already has.

Once the wedding talk was taken care of, we move on to the big Halloween bash that Emmett and James are hosting. He spoke to James about his father's cabin and the two of them are going to really "spook the place up", as Emmett likes to say. Everyone had already figured out what they were all going to be, but Bella and I.

Mom smiles. "You should go as vampires again. The two of you looked really nice last year."

Bella wrinkles her nose at the idea. "Nah. Vampires are so last year," she says with a giggle.

Alice laughs along with her. "Jasper and I had thought about doing the vampire thing, but it's already so overdone. I think our circus costumes will be fantastic!"

Right. Fantastic. Excuse me while I mentally roll my eyes… Alice loves Halloween for one reason and one reason only. She gets to parade around in hardly anything and get away with it. I know this is me being a hypocrite, but I'm hoping to talk Bella into my idea later, but she'll have to take a page out of Alice's half-naked book. I decided a while ago to wait to mention this until after Phil's trial. I want Bella to be stress-free and in a playful mood when I ask her about it, because I'm pretty sure if I don't, she'll laugh in my face.

After lunch, Mom offers us some old clothes of hers and Dad's so we can take a shower and change without getting the inside of the Volvo filthy. Everyone heads home, giving us their congratulations on the trial's verdict, before we head upstairs to take the shower. Bella rambles on about Alice's costume and how cute she thinks my sister is going to look being some kind of "ring girl".

While I'm washing her hair for the third time, trying to help get the mud out, I just blurt out, "I know what I want us to go as."

She giggles. "You sound pretty excited about it."

"I am. I think it's a pretty good idea, you might not…" I ramble nervously.

She hums thoughtfully, moving to stand under the shower head to rinse the shampoo from her hair. "What do you want us to go as?"

I keep my voice light, because after hearing the idea, you wouldn't think anything of it. "I thought we could go as Harry and Hermione from Harry Potter."

She giggles. "What?! You want to go as Harry Potter? Seriously? I wouldn't have expected that—hey, wait a second…" She narrows her eyes and places her hands on her hips. "You want me to dress up like some slutty schoolgirl, don't you?" I open my mouth to explain but she doesn't let me interrupt. "I'll make you a deal, Edward."

I cock my eyebrow, worried with her quick acceptance. "A deal?"

She nods, crossing her arms over her chest. "Yup, a deal. If I dress up like Slut Hermione, then you have to do the same. You have to make Harry Potter look hotter than what he looks now. Also, if I dress up like this, you have to promise me you won't get mad about every guy that's going to stare at me. You're asking me to make them stare and you have no right to get angry."

"And if I agree to this, you'll wear the outfit?"

She laughs humorlessly. "You sound like you already have it picked out."

I hesitate. She scoffs and shakes her head. I try and explain myself. "Bella, you have to admit that you in a schoolgirl's uniform would be fucking hot. By the end of the night I'm going to be ripping that costume off of you. I know you don't like being paraded around like some… object, but Bella, I can't help but want to show you off to everyone. I'm lucky in every way when it comes to you. I just—"

She presses her fingers to my lips. "I'll do it, but only if you do the same and keep your anger in check." I nod quickly. She sighs and shakes her head, "I can't believe I'm agreeing to this… You do realize that in the books, Harry and Hermione are never more than just friends, right?"

I roll my eyes and push her hand away. "J.K. got it all wrong. Harry and Hermione were meant for each other. What she doesn't tell you is ten years after the epilogue Harry and Hermione end up cheating on their Weasley spouses with each other."

She starts laughing so hard that she has to sit on the shower floor. She grins up at me when she catches her breath. "I never thought I'd laugh this much today, but you've kept me laughing all day."

I hold out my hand to help her up, grabbing her up once she's standing and wrapping her legs around me. "Today was a pretty bad day to start with. I didn't want it to get any worse for you."

"Thank you," she tells me before kissing me softly on the lips.

I press my forehead against hers. "Are you ready to get out? You're looking kind of prunie."

She giggles and nods. "Yeah. We can go home and buy those costumes."

I kiss her neck a couple of times, working my way to her ear. "Will you wear it for me before the party?"

She presses her lips to my ear and tells me in her best British accent, "Anything for you, love."

I groan. "We need to hurry. Come on. Get dressed. Don't worry about drying off." I tell her as I step out of the shower and set her on her feet. "We can just come back for our things at Charlie's house."

Bella laughs, shaking her hand and placing her hands on my chest. "Edward, slow down. We have time to get dried off, get our things, go home and get the costumes before we have to go back to the real world tomorrow."

I sigh and nod. "I know… I guess this is that overzealousness kicking in again, huh?"

She rolls her eyes. "I'd just say you were horny…"

I narrow my eyes at her. "Same damn difference."

Regardless of our time, we dry off quickly and get dressed, telling my parents goodbye before heading over to Charlie's and grabbing our things. I drive like a bat out of hell back to Seattle, with Bella laughing at the speeds I reach. Instead of going straight home, we head to the costume shop and buy Bella's outfit, however, the skirt hasn't been returned yet. The clerk tells us it will be back tomorrow. We leave with everything else, though, but my plans for the afternoon are shot. I wanted to 'teach' Bella 'a lesson'. Looks like school will just have to wait until tomorrow.

Instead, we spend the rest of our night watching TV and enjoying each other's company. Bella is the best person to hang out with. Our choice in TV shows is one and the same, which makes for an interesting night as we complain or applaud what's going on. She lets me lay on her and kiss on her whenever the mood strikes me. She pokes fun at me, provoking me into a wrestling match. And at the end of the night, we're usually on the couch making out.

She pushes against my shoulder. "Edward?" she calls to me breathlessly.

I release her hard nipple from between my lips and look up at her. "What is it, love?"

"Let's take this upstairs. I want you to make love to me."

I groan, pulling her against me as I move off of the couch. "Fucking gladly," I mumble against her neck. She might not be dressed in her little schoolgirl outfit like I had hoped for tonight, but being with her is my only goal. Being inside of her, moving with her, connecting on the highest level… I'd take her in a potato sake, and she knows it.

So... the drama? It's done. No more. Next chapter, we get Halloween. Chapter 23, that's going to be Alice and Jasper's wedding. Chapter 24, I haven't a clue what to do with... but Chapter 25 I can't fucking wait for! I'm so excited!!! :D :D

THE CLIFFHANGER IS NOT DRAMA FILLED!!! I PROMISE! DON'T WORRY, SERIOUSLY! hehe

You peeps know the drill! See ya next chapter.