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This chapter is kind of fluffy, but I needed it to put in before the next chapter.

So anyway, thanks for all your reviews as well as the anon ones!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight

Chapter 25: Preparation

We lay together on the cool, marble floor for an incomprehensible amount of time. At some point the rain ceased and a still, autumn night set in -darkening the corners of this beautiful house.

I had somehow manoeuvred my head beneath Jasper's chin and I lay squished between his and Alice's bodies. But I couldn't have been happier.

Emmett was curled in a ball near Esme's lap, as Rose ran her fingers down his back; making him shiver every now and then.

"God, these past few days have been depressing…" Emmett murmured, for which he received a playful slap from Rosalie.

"No, he's right…" I replied, silencing Rose's disapproving words, "We have lost a lot of our family zest."

"What happened to all the fun we use to have?" Alice chirped in, lifting her head from the ground and stretching as if she'd been sleeping.

I felt a wave of guilt from Jasper, so I lifted my head and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips.

"We're making baby steps," I whispered, though I was sure the family would have heard.

"We need to find the fun again!" Emmett said excitedly, imagining hundreds of possibilities to renew the zest. "We're in a new town, with new places -We can have heaps of fun!"

"Yeah, at least until Edward comes home…" I muttered thoughtlessly.

The entire family seemed to suck in a gasp of air and the atmosphere became very dense.

There was no point in trying to sugar coat it, when Edward returned I would break his heart.

An unsettling silence fell upon us as I fidgeted uncomfortably, wishing I'd never brought it up.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Emmett sighed exasperated.

"Bella! You have to stop doing that. We get it, we do. And after Jasper and I had our little 'talk,'" He continued, winking at Jasper, "I really can understand how it happened. Edward's just going to have to deal." He finished up, flinging his hands in the air.

I smirked at Emmett's indifferent attitude towards almost everything. He had a way of making the biggest problems seem like the easiest ones to fix. But this wasn't. However, as much as the every closing in problem was to me, I didn't want to upset everyone again; so I settled for nodding, agreeing with Emmett.

Esme sat up, leaning against the stairs.

"Well how about a trip?" She asked, fiddling with the buttons on her shirt.

Alice seemed to spring up immediately, standing at the front of us.

"Yes! That's perfect! Bella and I were going to visit the Denali clan, but now we can all go," She paused to give me a excited glance, then continued. "I'm sure Tanya and the others would love to see us, Oh and Bella we absolutely have to get you all dolled up! Tanya is nothing in comparison to you!"

I didn't mean to, but I let out an audible groan.

Alice turned to look at me, hurt.

"No Alice, I'm sorry!" I began profusely apologising, "I groaned because I thought I had passed 'dress-up-Bella' games!"

She smiled again, realising my disdain was for the makeover, not her company.

"Ooooooh!" Emmett said excitedly, "I'd love to see Irina again!"

I heard a dull clap, followed by Emmet's cursing.

"OW! Rosie! I just meant because… you know.. She was so friendly and-"

"Oh 'friendly' was she?" Rose asked accusingly, "You were practically putty in her skanky hand!"

Emmett continued to plead back defensively, while I questioned Jasper as to the identity of this 'Irina.'

"Tanya's younger 'sister,'" He said laughing at a past memory. "She was all over Emmett, complimenting and touching him. Rose hated it. Emmett of course… well he loved it because he's a Emmett!"

Jasper laughed again and Rose gave him a hash scowl,

"You're not helping!" She hissed, pinning Emmett below her and tickling and poking him in the ribs.

Esme snorted a small laugh and jumped out gracefully, heading towards the front door.

"Well, if we we're going to impress them -we might as well do it thoroughly!" She said, pointing towards the unpacked cars and truck. "Come on, we'll drag all the boxes and luggage in, then we'll get dressed."

We all stared at her silently, lacking the enthusiasm to unpack a household worth of items.

Esme sighed deeply and decided to compromise.

"Fine, who ever unpacks the most gets shotgun for the front seat when we ride up in style to Denali."

That was enough reason for us. We clambered awkwardly and hastily from our tangled embrace and ran full speed to the cars, chucking boxes in several piles -claiming them as our own.

In the time space of about five minutes, there were boxes piled in high towers, cluttering the large entrance hall. We each quickly counted the boxes we'd accumulated and shouted our numbers quickly, to see who had won.

"Thirty-seven!" Alice shouted,

Followed by Emmett, "Forty two! Sucker!" He said laughing.

"Ugh!" Rosalie groaned, "I only got thirty…"

I laughed, dancing a happy dance around my siblings, "I got fifty!"

Emmett visibly fumed, kicking his foot against the unstable box tower and sending them flying across the room.

"Yes!" I cried, pleased with my achievement.

"Oh no, no, no…" Jasper said smiling, "I believe I have a massive pile of…."

We waited in anticipation, as Jasper prolonged the suspense for as long as he could.

"Fifty freakin' six!" He announced proudly, strutting around the room.

I sighed loudly, stepping closer to him and running my finger over his chest.

"Jasper?" I pleaded lovingly, "Could I please have the front seat?"

Alice politely excused herself, not quite use to seeing Jasper in the arms of another woman.

"Oh no!" He said sternly, "You're not going to seduce this out of me!"

I laughed softly then pushed my body firmly against him, using physical contact in all the right places.

He pushed a gust of air across my face, groaning softly.

"Please?" I asked sweetly.

"I…Well…" He stuttered out incoherently.

"Okay come on!" Rosalie interrupted, "Let's go, before you give him a heart attack!"

I reluctantly let go of Jasper and let Rose drag me up the stairs, towards the third level. At first I thought we were going towards my room, but she turned to the left down a red passage way and entered a large cream door.

The room itself was beautiful, apart from the hundreds of items of clothing being tossed from side to side as a frantic Alice searched through hundreds of boxes.

"Uh Alice?" I asked cautiously, interrupting her frantic search.

After ignoring Rose and I's presence, she hopped into one of the boxes, eventually popping out with three outfits in hand.

"Yes!" Alice said with a mischievous smile…

I put on my game face and smiled reassuringly,

"Make me beautiful!"

Kind of random Ending,

I may not be able to update tomorrow.

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