A/N: Yes! Another chapter!! It's a bit of a filler but the characters are like voices in my head and Emmett would shut up if I didn't write this.... I'm not crazy I swear! There are some very true things said in this chapter, in which underlie the true theme of the story. You guys have been awesome! This chapter has a dual dedication. It goes out to imaprettyduckie95 for saying if there is anything remotely similiar going on in your life or in the life of anyone you know, speak up! There isn't any reason why anyone has to go throught such horrible things! and it's for Adria AKA Emmett's baybymomma... because the chapter is after all about the "father of her children." heheheehe! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I guess I don't really want all of Twilight... just the hot sexilicious vamps/wolves that are in it. Can I have them?

Emmett's Surprise

BPOV

Emmett and I were graduating earlier than the others. I said it was because he and I had opted one summer to take extra classes. He said it was because we were, "F-ing brilliant." And graduation was seriously right around the corner.

After our stint in the hospital, we had to go back to school. However, Jasper was still out of commission. He and Edward would need to take a summer session together.

"Oh Bella! Emmett!" Esme's cheery voice called out to us in the hallway. We were on our way to meet up with the others for lunch. She practically skipped to us.

"Hi, Esme. What's up?" Emmett asked as she came up to us.

"I have your graduation tickets!" She sang as she fanned herself with a pair of envelopes. I jumped up and down and squealed. So did Emmett.

"Awesome!" Emmett boomed.

"You're the best!" I giggled.

"I know. You kids had to rub off on me sometime right? Now hurry and get to lunch. I'll see you all tonight for dinner." She skipped off again to her waiting class.

With her new found cooking skills and my help, Mom wanted to make a celebratory dinner for all of us tonight. She had even invited Em's, Alice's, and the Twins' parents. She was turning into a huge event. Emmett was smiling ear to ear when we walked into the lunch room. Alice and Rose were already at our table waiting for us.

"Look what we've got," Emmett and I said together in a sing-song voice. Alice squealed. She was finally feeling herself again.

"That means prom is coming soon!" She clapped her hands and bounced in her seat. "I hope Jazzy gets better so we can go."

"My brother's a fast healer." Rose assured. She stuck her hand out towards Emmett. "So, where's my ticket you sexy smart thing?"

"Not until tonight at Bella's. I want everyone to get them at once."

"Good idea, Em. I'll wait to hand mine out too!"

The rest of the school day passed without incident. Alice, Rosalie and Emmett ran off to their houses to get ready for tonight's big dinner. I had a lot preparation to do as well.

I was really looking forward to it. I loved to cook and would be showing off a bit tonight. Plus, I hadn't seen Edward since last night. I was getting a bit anxious. I wanted to look special for him tonight. Because yes, this was a celebratory occasion. We were celebrating mine and Emmett's early commencement, Mom's new found cooking skills, and we were celebrating that the sword over Edward's head was gone. He would finally live without having to lurk in the shadows.

EPOV

"Edward, dear… Have you showered?" Esme called from downstairs.

"Yes, I have." I chuckled. She was a natural at this mom thing.

"Good. I've set your clothes out for you. They're on your bed. Hurry up and get dressed we don't want to be late!"

"Yes ma'am." I started to put on the clothes she had set out for me.

"Oh Carlisle, for goodness sakes! Aren't you ready yet?" Her voice trailed off as she went to go argue with Carlisle.

As I looked at the clothes that had been laid out for me, I couldn't help but wonder if Alice had been behind this.

It felt good to feel… normal. Rose and Alice had started up their whole spa thing again and were now even taking on other clients. Dr. Em said he had some final evaluations he had to do, and even though Sergeant Jazzy (who had promoted himself to General Jazzy) was out of commission, there was still Captain Esme. Nurse Bella had yet to make an appearance, but I figured I could always make a special request for that.

I chuckled to myself as I got dressed. I was admiring my reflection when Carlisle came up to get me.

"Like what you see?" He asked with a smile in his voice. I thought about that for a minute. Did I like what I saw? I looked at the mirror. I was secure enough to admit that he was a good looking guy. He might wanna try to do something about that messy hair of his. He was on the skinny side… but overall… a good looking guy. He looked like he had been through a lot in a short time. I could the leftovers of a hard life in his eyes. It seemed like a gleam that shone through that would never leave. Though I saw hope in his face. And I saw peace in his features. But did I like him?

"I will." I answered truthfully. Carlisle smiled and put a hand on my shoulder.

"That's good. Now let's get going. Esme will have our heads if we're late." He laughed. We were nearing the car when I stopped him.

"Carlisle, how did you know that Esme was the one? That she was it for you?" His face took a goofy smile and his eyes seemed to glaze over a bit.

"I tried very hard one day to picture my life without her."

"And what happened?"

"It gave me a headache… then I got so sick that I was hospitalized for a week. No one could diagnose me. I bought a ring the minute they let me out and proposed to her in the daycare. You and the others were about 2." He laughed at the memory.

"Just the thought of being without her made you sick?" I asked as we got into the car. Esme was about to argue with us but Carlisle spoke.

"I should have believed Alice when I met her. The very first thing she ever said to me was, 'Hello, I'm Alice. You marry Esmie.' It would have saved me a trip to the hospital." He laughed out loud. Esme blushed and smiled. The rest of the ride to Bella's was quiet… and I had a lot of things on my mind to consider.

BPOV

The McCarty's were the first to arrive.

"Brian! Valerie!" My mom gushed as they walked in with Emmett. "It's so wonderful to see you! It's been too long."

"Yes it has. Sorry we haven't been around." Mrs. McCarty said. Emmett's parents were both hotshot lawyers and they secretly hoped that Emmett would follow them. "But we never pass up a chance to celebrate our boy!" She pinched Emmett's cheek.

"Mom!" He protested. She laughed. Mom gave Emmett a big hug and then he made his way over to me.

"Hello, fellow genius!"

"Hello, fellow brilliant being!" We laughed. Then Alice's mom was coming in. Ms. Brandon was a runway model. No, seriously she was. She was in Milan when all of this was going on, but flew right back when she heard that her baby was hospitalized. Alice's dad had died back when we were kids.

"Mary, don't you look beautiful?" Mom said. Dad was busy talking with Mr. McCarty. We all knew he had a slight crush on Alice's mom. But then… so did Emmett… and Jasper…. And Carlisle… she was a model for crying out loud! We all thought it was hilarious. She came holding Alice's hand.

"Renee! It's wonderful to see you. I've brought you a dress from Milan, you too Valerie! I know you'll love them. I also want to thank you for looking after my Alice while I was gone. I don't know what I would if something were to happen to her. I've told the designers I won't be walking for awhile. I've been a neglectful mother." She knelt to be on eye level with Alice. She gave her a kiss on the forehead. "You forgive me, Ali?"

"Yes, Momma." Alice smiled and pranced off to join us. "I don't think she'll ever stop beating herself up about this." She said.

"Ali's mom has got it going on…" Emmett sang. Alice rolled her eyes.

"I heard that!" Rose's voice said from the doorway. The Hales had arrived and they were always a sight to behold. Mr. Ronald Hale owned about half of Seattle, but chose to live in Forks because Mrs. Lillian Hale owned him. We rarely ever saw them. They weren't bad parents. Just very very busy people.

"They actually came?" Alice said as she threw herself around Jasper's neck.

"Yeah I know!" Rose and Jazz said together.

Soon after, Esme and Carlisle had arrived with Edward and soon the dinner was well under way. Mom was eating up the compliments on the dishes she had made, while I blushed furiously. Then it was time for the toasts. Most of the adults toasted for Dad. It was obvious where I got my reaction to attention from. Mrs. Brandon cried when she toasted to Esme and Mom, for being Alice's mothers while she was gone. Then Emmett stood up.

"My turn! Bella, before I go, I need you to hand out your graduation tickets." That was odd… but I was eager to give my tickets out.

"Okay." I handed out each ticket. Esme pulled some strings and was able to get us enough tickets for everyone. Though they would only need one to get in, she wanted to have a copy of each of ours. Mom and Dad beamed when I handed them their ticket. When I was done I sat back in my spot and Emmett stood up. His eyes were wicked with amusement.

"Okay everyone I have a big surprise." He said. Alice's gasped and her hand went flying to her mouth.

"Em!!" She squealed.

"Nuh uh! Keep it to yourself you clairvoyant pixie thing! I need everyone to hold out their hands and close their eyes." We did as he said. I felt him slide a rectangular piece of paper in my hand. It was the graduation ticket… why would he have us close our eyes then? It would look just like mine. "Okay… open them!"

I opened my eyes slowly and was momentarily blinded by a metallic flash. It was a graduation ticket… but it a raised gold seal on it which meant that Emmett was…

"OH MY GOODNESS!" Mrs. McCarty screamed. "My baby is the valedictorian!" She jumped up and down and screamed with the ticket in her hand before running to Emmett and all but squeezing the life from him. Mr. McCarty looked quite smug. He looked like a chicken that had just laid 50 eggs. When Mrs. McCarty stopped trying to smother her son and Mr. McCarty had given him a hearty pat on the shoulder, the rest of us made our way to him.

It made perfect sense… all the extra hours at school… the extra stressing… Emmett was Forks High School's valedictorian! Throw that in there with the fact that he's graduating early…

"Emmett, baby!" His mom continued. "I always knew you were smart, but you've thrown Momma for a loop honey!" We all congratulated Emmett and Rosalie laid a big kiss on him in front of everyone.

As the evening was winding down, Emmett smiled at us and said,

"Wait until you hear my speech."

EPOV

It was the big day. Because Esme was a teacher, she couldn't sit with us in the audience. She had to sit with the other teachers on stage. She waved to us energetically as Carlisle and I sat down with the rest of our enormous group. Altogether there were 12 of us. We were going to be very loud…

I was very proud of Bella. She was nervous and couldn't stand the yellow graduation robes, but I had done my best to kiss her worries away. Rose sat next to me.

"Edward, our other halves our up there!" She squealed and took hold of my arm.

"I'm so proud of them!" I said. Carlisle chuckled as he saw Rose and me.

"I don't think either of them will appreciate you two holding each other that way. But I won't tell if you won't."

"Thanks, Carlisle. We wouldn't want them finding out about our secret tryst. Would we, Edward?" Rosalie said, playing along batting her eyes at me.. I laughed along with Carlisle. Soon the lights dimmed and the school marching band started to play Pomp and Circumstance. Emmett, in true Emmett style, was doing a two step down the aisle. I could tell that Bella was trying very hard to keep the beat in her head, always just a fraction of a second off.

She blushed when she caught me looking at her and blew a kiss my way. They finally made it to their seats, Emmett up to the stage, and the ceremony began. I was dozing off when Carlisle nudged me in the arm lightly.

"Esme's going to speak." He whispered.

"Welcome everyone!" She sang and the students applauded furiously for her. "I want to congratulate you all! I've seen you all walk into these hallways as scared freshmen, and now I get to see you walk out as brave graduates. But enough out of me. I want to introduce a particular student. I have watched this person grow and mature closely and he is very dear to my heart. I think his friends will agree with me when I say sometimes he's too much to handle… but that's why we love him!" All of us, with the exception of Jasper, stood up and cheered. Esme giggled. "So without further ado, I introduce Emmett McCarty, this year's valedictorian!" She stepped back gave Emmett a big hug. He hugged her back, but not before picking her up and spinning her around first.

"What's up everyone?" Emmett boomed without a microphone. The auditorium erupted. "Before I begin, I just have to say that Esme is awesome!"

"That's damn right." Carlisle said. When the second eruption subsided, Emmett continued.

"All right. Since I was a little kid, I was always trying to find my place in the world. I've been an Olympic diver, a bomb squad tech, a ringmaster, and my personal favorite, a crocodile wrestler. Yes, I was one of those kids. Thankfully, I did grow out of that… but I still didn't know what my place in the world would be. Then, where my place would someday be didn't matter for a while. A dear friend of mine, a brother, needed me."

What? Was he seriously saying this?

"So I dropped nearly everything to be there for him. And through this whole ordeal, I learned one thing for certain. If the people you celebrate with aren't the same ones you cry with, then get rid of them. If the people who smile at you have never yelled at you, get rid of them. If the people who say they need you aren't there when you need them, it's time to get some new people. Because life isn't worth anything if you don't have people to share it with it. If you don't have people you love, that love you, no matter ho bad things get, you can't move on. There's no point. They like to tell us that the real world is waiting for us when we leave these doors. But I'm here to tell you something. I've seen how real the world can get. And it's pretty strange, right Edward?" He called to me and winked. I threw my head back in laughter because everything he said was dead right.

"Damn straight, Em!" I called back.

"That's right," he continued. "The world is real now. Life is real now. And we all need to take a hard look around and see who we're sharing it with. Are they worth it? I know the ones I'm sharing life with are worth it. And I want to be sure they know it. To my Mom and Dad, you've raised me right. Mom, you've taught what to look for in a lady, and Dad you've taught how to treat one. To Esme and Carlisle Cullen, the two coolest adults on the planet: if anybody wants an example of how a man is supposed to truly love a woman, follow Carlisle around for a day. There's not a minute that goes by that he doesn't do something to tell us how much he loves Esme. To my Rose Lily, who hates it when I call her that…" he paused. "Hmmm… I had a whole three paragraphs about you here, but I can sum it up pretty well. Damn girl, I love you! Life doesn't mean a damn thing if you aren't in it!"

The audience laughed. They laughed harder when Rose said,

"I love you, Em! And your dad taught you well!"

"To Alice, my very first friend ever … life would be boring and predictable without you in it. You're my personal can of RedBull!" Alice giggled. "To Bella, the final piece in our puzzle. Life became complete that day all those years ago when your family first moved to Forks. To Jasper, I still need to kick your ass in Halo… and I'll never get over how you can still outrun me with a broken leg. And Edward, I owe this all to you. You showed me what it really means to treasure a person. Alice, Jasper, Edward, Bella brothers and sisters of my heart, Rosalie my lady, I love you guys. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you… because I know that life is worth it, because I have you guys to share it with."

I heard Bella's voice from the front of the auditorium.

"You're awesome, Emmett! We love you too!"

"Yeah, Emmy! You're the best big brother ever!" Alice said.

"And there's no way you're beating me!" Jasper teased. I laughed.

"So," Emmett continued with a huge grin on his face, "As far as my place in the world goes, I know I'll be okay. I've got people that will help if I ever lose sight of the path.

"And we have to remember, that we have been blessed with a gift called life. The gift is so wonderful that what can do whatever we want with it, waste it if we so choose. But why would anyone do that? We have life… and they tell us that life begins now right? So what are you gonna do when this is all over? You're gonna go out there and you're gonna live."

He looked straight at me.

"That's right. Things get bad. I've seen just how bad. But no matter what, you have got to keep going against the odds because someday it will all be worth it. And never forget that you have people that share life with you. Your life is never just yours. Others are bound to it, just you are bound to theirs. So congratulations to all of us! This part of the real world is over!"

Emmett stepped back and the applause thundered and shook the room… a lot like Emmett's laughter. I stared at him in awe as Esme threw her arms around him.

He was truly a magnificent being. He was born to be great and that was his place in the world. To be someone great, someone people wrote about, someone kids wanted to be. Emmett was our rock… but someday he might crumble, and just like he was there for me, I would be there for him.

Everything he said up on that stage was right. By wasting my life, I had wasted a little bit of theirs. It's easy to lose sight of what matters when life doesn't go right. And sometimes, that's what it takes to set your vision straight. If none of this had happened, how long would it have been before I realized my feelings for Bella? I couldn't even imagine myself in a world were she wasn't by my side. Like Carlisle said, just thinking about was giving me a headache.

Soon after Emmett's speech, the graduates were being called to cross the stage. Esme had the honor.

"Emmett McCarty!" She called happily. He came to her and spun her around with his signature hug. He took his diploma and moonwalked across the stage. All while we were screaming and cheering and whistling for him. A short while after, it was Bella's turn. Just as Esme was about to call her name, I noticed Charlie stand up with a megaphone.

"Bella Swan!" Esme opened her arms for a hug.

"That's my baby girl!" Charlie said into the megaphone. Renee took it from him.

"We love you, sweetie!" I could see Bella blush from here. The rest of us were cheering just as loud as we had for Emmett.

After the graduates threw their hats in the air, signaling the end of the ceremony, I felt an ending too. I felt my old life trying to fade away. It seemed as if there were a few thin strings that refused to let it go. If I was going to live the life I was newly blessed with, to take advantage of my second chance, those strings needed to be cut so that I could be reborn. It was time for my own surprise.

A/N: All right! I feel good after letting that one go. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter...and this quick update is because my reviewers are awesome! We're passed 200! And it's only my first story! Thank you guys so much! Keep the reviews coming! They make me happy!!