The Adventures of Emmett and Rosalie – Ready

T to be safe

Stephenie still owns everything, while I own much much less.

--

"What's in the box, Rose?" Esme smiled from the kitchen table.

"Nothing, just something from a magazine I ordered." I had just come home from the post office with the package that had arrived that morning. Carlisle had decided when we moved here to set up a post office box, rather than have packages delivered to the house. It was my job to go to town once a week and pick up any deliveries. This made it much easier to order private things and not be bombarded with questions. "You have a few bills and a letter from someone." I handed her the envelopes and headed to my room. Emmett was waiting on the stairs for me.

"Is that what I think it is?" He smirked and followed me into my room. "It's not a very big box, is it? That's a good sign."

"Don't worry about my box or what's in it. There's a list on the bed, there, for you." I pointed. "Let's go over it to make sure everything is on schedule?"

"Alright, let's see." He sat on my bed and looked over the paper. "Tuxes, done. Dresses done, vows…"

"Vows? Emmett, you haven't done yours yet? I told you to get on that. We only have 2 days left." I stashed my package in the top of my overly full closet and sat beside him. "If you really need my help, I'll work with you, but I wanted them to be a surprise when we said them."

"I'm joking, I did them yesterday." He answered and looked back at the paper. I was relieved that he was beginning to take this seriously. "Um, cake? We're having a cake? Why?"

"Esme is making one. Just a simple sponge cake with three tiers, lace piping around the edges with an E and R monogrammed in gold on the middle layer with the little bride and groom on top." I smiled dreamily as I pictured it. It really was going to be lovely.

"What are we going to do with it, after the wedding? We can't eat it. I don't see how that's important, Rose." He shrugged and looked at me in confusion.

"You just don't get it, Emmett!" I nearly yelled. "We're going to take pictures cutting the cake and pretending to feed it to each other. It's symbolic. It doesn't matter what we do with it after, just that its there and has a purpose. I picked out a special bride and groom figurine, too. We can keep them to remember the cake." He looked at me like I was out of my mind, but I had my dreams and I wouldn't let him spoil them. "What else is on there?"

"Decorations? Esme is finished with those, right?" I nodded and let him continue. "Flowers?"

"Done. I'm picking them up that morning."

"Are you and Esme going to do anything special the night before?" He asked suddenly. I hadn't even thought about a bridal shower or girl's night for myself, or a stag party for Emmett. "Edward said I'm not supposed to see you before hand. How does that work? We both live here." He laughed loudly and I shrugged. We didn't live the way normal couples did and it caused complications at times.

"I hadn't thought about that. I'll speak to Esme. Carlisle and Edward will probably want to do something manly with you. Whatever you do, don't play Edward at poker." I warned him, which made him laugh suddenly. It caught me off guard. "What's so funny? I'm serious."

"I know. I just thought about Edward playing cards and how unfair that would be." He answered suddenly. "He would be able to cheat so easily. I won't let him win, I promise." He cleared his throat and went back to the list. "Everything else on here is done. I think we're ready."

I leaned my head against his thick upper arm and smiled. "I'm ready, I'm so ready, Emmett." I had been ready for over two years. All I ever really wanted was to be a wife. When I played games as a child I would always play 'wedding' and 'house' and dress up in my mother's clothes. It was funny, now that I thought about it. I didn't have many close friends, so I would dress my little brothers up as my groom and minister.

"Minister…Oh! Emmett, we don't have a minister!" I sat up and screamed in a state of near panic. "How are we going to…oh no!"

"Calm down, we will think of something. What if Carlisle did it? He used to be a pastor." He suggested. I had my doubts about Carlisle being willing to take on that job. It was hard enough for him to let me grow up and get married, how would he be able to conduct the ceremony that would symbolize me beginning my own family? "I'll ask him, don't worry. I know that would be hard for you. I'm ready too, Rose. I'm ready to marry you."

--

The night before the wedding, Rose and I were on the porch swing in each other's arms watching the sun set over the trees. The time was ticking down to our separation, which made each of us a little sad, but excited at the same time. I was glad we felt the same way about things. We didn't say much, just smiled and enjoyed our final hours as fiancée's before we were officially man and wife.

Edward walked out into the yard with his baseball and threw it up into the air for him to catch. He looked bored. I guessed he wanted me to play, but I was busy at the moment. "You can go, Emmett. I don't mind. Come see me before they take you away? I want to say goodbye." Rosalie smiled and pushed me to join Edward in the yard.

"Ok, I'll be back in a little while." I kissed her hand and put my hands up for Edward to toss me the ball. "Hey, over here!" When he threw it, it went about four feet over my head, but I jumped and caught it with no problem. As soon as my feet hit the ground, I felt myself being tackled from behind. "What's going on? Carlisle?"

"Don't struggle, you won't win." He growled and everything went dark. My conservative, mannerly father had tackled me? Why? He had pulled a pillowcase over my head before I could stop him and helped me to my feet. "Sorry about that, but Edward and I wanted to have some fun with you on your last night.

"Rosalie? Are you still there?" I tried to turn in circles and follow the sound of her voice, but there was no answer. "Rose?"

"She's gone inside with Esme. You're coming with us." Edward spoke from behind and gave me a push by my shoulders. "Go that way. We're taking the truck."

"Where are we going?" I asked and stumbled along with my hands out for safety.

"I can't tell you. It's a surprise." Carlisle was remarkably quiet after that. Edward did all of the talking, which lead me to believe they were having a mental conversation I wasn't allowed to hear.

--

"Where are they taking him, Esme? Did they have to kidnap him that way?" I was worried for my Emmett. Edward was being rougher than he needed to be and I had never seen Carlisle physically assault anyone before. I had never even seen him hunt. He was very private about that side of his personality, allowing Edward and Esme to teach me, only.

"To the Elks Lodge outside of town." She whispered incase they could still hear. "Carlisle rented the hall for the night so the boys can sit around and bond."

"What are they going to do there?" I honestly had no idea what they could do at the lodge. I knew there was a pool table and a dart board from a woman at church who talked my ear off one Sunday about her husband being some kind of lead Elk. What else was there?

"I don't know, really. I suspect they will play cards and act vulgar. Chat about naked women and such. That's what they do at stag parties. Look at filthy pictures and say inappropriate things. Human men get drunk, smoke cigars and watch pornography. Carlisle won't let it go that far, I don't think." She added the last part when she noticed my shocked expression.

"What are we going to do? Did you plan anything for me?" I asked innocently. I hoped she had. I was looking forward to spending some quality time with my mom that evening.

"Well, I hoped you could help me finish the cake, and decorate the yard, then we can make sure your dress is ready. There are a lot of small details we need to work on. Did you have something in mind, dear? Anything special?"

"No, mom. I just want to spend some time with you. Whatever needs to be done, we can finish together. I smiled and hugged her. Since Carlisle brought me home, I hadn't spent a day without her aside from the night I ran away. Spending an entire week away from her suddenly made me miss her when she was still standing beside me. We finished the cake and hung the bunting all around the yard before setting up a ready-made, white archway we had bought at a garden shop. Carlisle was going to stand beneath it while he officiated the ceremony for Emmett and I.

"That's all done, then. Let's try your dress on. For good luck." Esme smiled and walked me to my room. She helped me into the dress and stood back while I watched myself in the mirror. It was perfect all together. Simple, but elegant and very modern for the times. I paused for a moment and put my hand over my mouth in shock. I was sobbing again. "Rosalie? What's wrong, dear?" I shook my head and walked away from the mirror.

As I was standing there, I remembered back to over two years before when I stood in my mother's bedroom in a similar fashion, in a similar dress. I had such hopes for my future that day. Mrs. Royce King the Third, the banker's wife and proud socialite. She was dead now. Mrs. Emmett Cullen-Hale, the vampire's wife and daughter of the town surgeon stood in her place. "I…just got nervous…I'm fine." I sobbed into a handkerchief and tried to avoid her eyes.

She sat on the edge of the bed beside me and rubbed my back. "What are you nervous about? You can ask me anything. I won't judge. Is it about you and Emmett? Tomorrow night?" She asked quickly. I knew she had trouble talking about these things, but she seemed to be handling it well at this moment. "Have you and Emmett-?"

I cut her off. I didn't want her to continue. "No, I made sure of it. He wanted to, he has before. I told him no." I wrung the handkerchief between my hands and sighed. "I'm just scared. I remember the last time like it was this morning. It hurt so badly, Esme. Is he going to hurt me, too? Is that how it always is?"

"No, never. Emmett would never hurt you in anyway. I'm certain of that. Have you ever…seen him, Rose?" Why would she ask me that? I thought it was a rather odd question.

"Yes." I was a bit embarrassed to be telling her this. "When I first saw him, he took off his clothes and jumped into a river. He didn't know I was there, but I told him about it later. I shouldn't have been spying, it was wrong, but he just looked so…comfortable in his own skin that way." I shrugged and bit my lip. I couldn't imagine what she was going to ask me next.

"Was he big?"

"ESME! Don't…say things like that." I shouted in disbelief then lowered my voice when the shock set in. She never spoke that way, ever.

"I'm only a few years older than you, really. I was just wondering." She shrugged and we both laughed. "Well…?"

"You really, honestly want to know the answer to that?" I was still shocked, but felt more comfortable talking about it with her. "I haven't got much to compare it to, but it's sizable enough to notice when I'm close to him, like sitting on his lap or when we're dancing."

"You dance that closely?" She smiled and looked dreamy, as if she were picturing herself with Carlisle. 'That sounds nice. I miss being young."

"We don't have to dance that close to notice it." I giggled. "And you're only twenty six. You're still young. I'd like to be twenty six, eighteen is stressful and complicated. Look on the bright side, your husband is close to three hundred! How is that going to feel one day?" We laughed again and she pulled me into a warm hug.

"Don't be afraid. He loves you and he will be there with you through anything and everything. Some couples only marry for life, vampires always marry for eternity." The words she spoke were beautiful and helped me shake the last of my cold feet away.

--

I felt a chair come up underneath me and slide me across a tile floor. The pillowcase was still securely over my head, blocking any type of light or scenery I might witness. I thought this was a little excessive, but I had considered doing the same thing to my old friend Pete once. We had chosen to go hunting instead, and look where that got me.

"Take it off, Edward." Carlisle instructed. When my eyes adjusted to the lights in the room, I looked around in confusion. The walls were brown and wood-paneled with various animal heads nailed to them here and there. The lights were chandeliers, but instead of silver and crystals, there were twisted forms of antlers with fake candle-like light bulbs instead of flames. There was a strong scent of cigars and brandy hanging in the air like a curtain. This was definitely a man's place.

"Is this an Elk's lodge, right? Why are we here?" I had read a magazine once about the Elk's and assumed they all looked this way inside.

"We thought this would be a nice place to do some bonding, Emmett. We've never spent much time together, the men of the family, I mean. This would be a perfect time." Edward had switched on the record player in the corner and walked back to Carlisle and I. "There's a pool table there, and darts, what would you like to do first?"

"Pool sounds good." I shrugged and picked up a cue. Carlisle nodded and joined me in a game. Edward wandered around the room while we played and picked up a few magazines from a nearby table. The wide-eyed look on his face as he turned the book sideways, told me he was looking at something interesting. I looked over his shoulder while Carlisle took his shot. "She's alright. Her hair is too dark. It looks fake."

"Fake?" Edward asked. "How?"

"Like a cheap wig. And it doesn't match the hair on the rest of her." I laughed and pointed to the photo. "She's obviously a blonde, but they put that wig on her for some reason. They should have left her a blonde. Blondes are so much better." I took my shot while Carlisle looked at the picture and rolled his eyes. I didn't want to say which blonde I was thinking of out loud.

"How many girls have you been with, Emmett, if you don't mind me asking? You seem to be an expert on which girls are better." I was a little surprised Carlisle would ask me such a question, but then that's what guys did when they played pool. If he was three hundred years old, he would know much better than I would about things like that, however.

"I'm not sure. Um, a few." I shrugged and Edward laughed in a mocking tone. He knew how many, he could see it in my head. "More than three or four, I suppose. The blonde's were always better."

He took a shot and stood back with an angry glare on his face suddenly. I thought at first, it was because he had missed the pocket, but he was glaring directly at me. I took a step back and looked away from him. "The blondes were better, then. So tell me, was one of them my Rosalie?"

"No sir. I promise. I never did anything improper with her. She wouldn't let me. I've always tried to be a gentleman when it comes to Rosalie. I used to work in a bar, Carlisle. I met different women every night. I was a different person back then." I tried to explain myself, but the sight of him glaring at me with a rather large stick in his hand was intimidating.

Edward and Carlisle laughed suddenly and pulled me into a hug, slapping me on the back. "Relax, Emmett. We were just trying to scare you. I know you were being honest about everything, but I couldn't resist a good joke. It's your turn." I laughed along with them out of relief. I really thought he was going to attack me for saying what I did. We finished the game and spent the rest of the night watching old silent films on a projector and looking at pictures in magazines. Some of them really threw Edward for a loop, which I thought was hysterical. By midnight, I had grown bored and wondered where Rose was and what she was doing. Carlisle drove the three of us into the mountains to go hunting one last time before the wedding that morning. I had enough of waiting. I just wanted to see Rose in her dress looking like the Angel I knew she was.

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The end!!

Oky, I promise, next one is the wedding lol. Don't hurt me! Just send nice reviews and Ill type extra fast tonight ;)