A/N: Thanks to everyone for the awesome reviews. Some drama starts to happen in this chapter that will follow through for the next little while. No pun intended with the title reference. Woo Hoo, almost 400 reviews. You people are awesome! I would give each of you a honey crueller from tim hortons (awesome canadian donut shop) if I could. They are almost as tasty as Robert Pattinson.

Special shout out to 'itsinmyblood' for her awesome review. I hope you manage to set aside some time to read and review this one before the story is finally done.

Flightlessbird11 – thanks for catching my Iron & Wine reference. I think that it might be one of my fav I&W songs.

*I do not own twilight or its characters, but I do own these words and a house in Canada.

BPOV

I picked my father up from O'Hare three days before Christmas and he looked the exact same as he had when I saw him last, expect a bit skinnier. His dark brown hair was peppered with a bit of grey on the sides and moustache, but rather than making him look older, he looked more distinguished.

"Hey Bella," he called over to me the moment he saw me from across baggage claim. I quickly walked over to him and he enveloped me in a huge hug. "Where's Edward? I'm a little impatient to meet my future son-in-law."

"He should be at the house when we get there. He had a few last minute errands to run. Just so you know, he's really nervous to meet you, so take it a bit easy on him," I said as we loaded his luggage into the back of Edward's Volvo.

"Bells, relax. I left the guns at home. You are old enough to make your own decisions. I have a feeling I will like Edward just fine." We talked casually for the rest of the drive, even when we got stuck in the hellish Chicago traffic. However Charlie was talking more than usual, so I couldn't help but think that something was amiss, and I took advantage of the fact that we were stuck in traffic to ask him.

"What's on your mind Dad?"

"Huh? What do you mean Bella?" he responded indifferently. His hands were now fidgeting in his lap, so something was definitely up.

"You're suddenly very talkative, which is a major change for you. There must be something on your mind."

"Are you inviting your mother to the wedding Bella?" asked Charlie with a grimace. He was clearly uncomfortable discussing this topic with me.

"No."

"We ran into each other last week and I mentioned the wedding. I was under the assumption that you were going to invite her Bella. She is your mother after all." I glanced over at my father and he actually appeared disappointed in me that I hadn't invited her.

"She left us dad. Do you remember that? I tried to reach out to her for a few years, but I haven't heard anything from her. I have no idea how you have even remained friendly with her," I replied incredulously. Renee had left us for some random guy named Phil almost ten years ago. I was in high school at the time, and I chose to live with my father, which really upset her to the point that by the time I graduated high school she had pulled away from me almost completely. There were no responses to my phone calls or emails. I sent Christmas cards and never heard anything back from her. By the time I had settled in Chicago, there was absolutely no mother/daughter relationship anymore.

"I'm still on good terms with her because I know that even though she's happy with Phil, she hates what she did to us. She regrets it every day, because she tells me this every time I see her," revealed Charlie as I held back a laugh, knowing it would upset him further. "She wants to talk to you again."

"Well isn't that special. It only took her six years to try to reach out to me. Why should I bother?" I asked as I felt the anger building up in me.

"She's dying Bella." I wasn't fucking expecting that one. I gripped the wheel tighter and kept my focus on the road in front of me. "She's got cancer. She found out about six months ago. We've actually been spending a little bit more time together since she was diagnosed. Unfortunately, it wasn't caught soon enough. You know how stubborn Renee can be, she didn't want to go to the doctor…" Charlie kept talking, but all that I heard were his earlier words, she's dying Bella. She's dying of cancer, and I am still holding a grudge against her. "She just wants a chance to apologize and try to mend fences with you."

I was speechless. Thankfully, traffic seemed to start moving shortly after Charlie's revelation and it was only twenty more minutes until we pulled into our driveway. The lights were on, so I knew Edward was home. I would definitely need him tonight.

"Don't tell Edward about Renee, and be on your best behavior," I reminded Charlie as we walked up to the front door. Charlie left his bags at the top of the stairs, in our living room, as I guided him to the kitchen where Edward had taken it upon himself to make us dinner. "Mmm… stir fry. Smells good baby," I said as I moved over to Edward and gave him a quick kiss. He turned around quickly and was greeted by my smiling father. The smile didn't even look forced. Things were looking up.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Swan," said Edward politely as he cleaned off his hand on the trusty ol' 'Pork the one you love' apron and extended it out to my father, who accepted it, even though he glared at the apron.

"Please call me Charlie. Nice apron," he answered with a smirk. I explained to my father than Emmett had given it to us when Rosalie refused to let him keep it, and he laughed. He knew it was typical Rosalie behavior. Dinner was actually very pleasant. Edward and Charlie talked easily about topics like sports and politics, and every so often my father would ask a rare question about the wedding or our plans for the week. Tomorrow night Edward was having his little poker game with all the boys while I get the pleasure of spending the evening with Rosalie finalizing wedding arrangements. On Christmas Eve, we were having a quiet dinner here, but on Christmas Day we were expected at Edward's parents' house for a big dinner and meet & greet. I had been worried about Charlie meeting Esme and Carlisle, but now that I see how well he interacted with Edward, I knew there was nothing to worry about.

We sat in the living room for a little while after dinner, where I admired the small Christmas tree Edward and I had managed to put up the week before. It had been a disastrous event trying to find the tree, but once we got it home and decorated, we ended up making love in front of it. We were both so happy to spend our first Christmas together. I had even tried to do a little Christmas baking last weekend, and pulled out some of Grandma Swan's recipes. I'm sure Charlie would be surprised when I offered him some of her shortbread on Christmas Eve.

It was just after eleven when my father explained that he was pretty tired, so I showed him to the guest room and he got settled. When I walked back to the main floor, Edward was finishing up the dishes and smiling happily to himself. "Why the smug grin?" I asked as I stood beside him and helped dry the plates he had finished washing.

"Your dad likes me," replied Edward.

"Charlie and Edward sitting in a tree…" I started singing through my laughter. Edward threw some dish water at me playfully, and had my father not been directly above us, things would have heated up quickly. Edward and I had implemented a 'no sex while my father was home' rule, so it had been almost ten hours since we had done it. I was already aching for him. "How strict is your rule?" I asked as I snaked my arm around his waist, tugging on his belt.

"Very strict," he responded as he pulled my hand away and handed me a small bowl. I felt a little disheartened, but I figured I should probably talk to him about what Charlie and I had discussed on the car ride from the airport.

"So, I have some big news," I said as I put the bowl away in the cupboard and reached for another dish.

"Big news like… Rosalie is pregnant big news or like Mc Hammer is going on tour with Vanilla Ice news," he said with laugh.

"You are clearly watching too much E!" I said with a small smile. Edward handed me another plate and looked at me, immediately sensing that something was wrong.

"Okay, what's the big news?" he sighed as he drained the water from the sink and dried his hands. Before I knew it, his hands were wrapped around my waist and his head was resting on my shoulder.

"Charlie and I had a pretty big discussion while stuck in traffic today." I sighed heavily. I wasn't exactly sure I was ready to deal with all of this, but I knew if anyone could offer objective advice, it would be Edward.

"Is he dating someone?" he asked, hopeful that Charlie would be as happy as we were.

"We talked about my mom. She's dying."

Edward POV

Bella's confession that her mother was sick was not what I had expected from her when she said she had big news. I don't know what I had been anticipating, but it definitely wasn't that. I stroked her hair softly as she continued to talk.

"He said she has cancer and she apparently wants to try to reach out to me. When Charlie told her that he was coming to see us for the holidays, she asked him to tell me about it." Before I knew it, she had started to cry. I pulled the towel from her hand and we headed up to our bedroom. I would lay her down on our bed, and reassure her, offer advice or do whatever it was she needed me to do. We both got changed rather quickly and hopped into bed. I pulled her beside me and resumed running my fingers through her hair.

"What do you want to do Bella?"

"I don't know. She pushed me away Edward. I tried to get in touch with her for years, with no luck. She wouldn't even answer an email from me. It was ridiculous that my mother didn't even want to spend time with her own daughter. Before Phil, we had been really close." Bella laid her head against my chest and I could hear her start crying again. "I don't want her to die thinking I wanted nothing to do with her."

"Well Bella, it sounds like you know what you want. You want to at least talk to her again. Maybe you could call her before Charlie leaves. Get the ball rolling. It would be good to get his support," I suggested as her tears and her breathing slowed. She was finally starting to calm down a bit, and I was relieved. I really prayed that Charlie was fast asleep and hadn't heard any of her crying. He may assume I had something to do with it, which was not the case. It wasn't much longer before Bella fell fast asleep on my chest.

It was a very restless sleep because when I woke the next morning, Bella had no covers on her and was shivering slightly. It was December 23rd after all. Later in the day, Bella had decided to go to Rosalie's while we held our poker game in the living room. Emmett brought over his poker table and set it up in the living room shortly before five, and the rest of the guys were expected around six. Emmett and Charlie spent the time until the poker game started watching college football on the big screen and discussing the various bowl games that would be on the following week. They were getting along like peas and carrots, and I had to laugh at the ease at which they got along.

Bella left just before six and warned me not to take too much of her father's money. "I already have his only child, I think he can keep his money," I said with a grin. Shortly after Bella left, Jasper arrived with a large selection of pizzas and an even larger assortment of beers. I knew Alice kept Jasper around for some reason, but it clearly wasn't his fashion sense because he walked in a loose and old Rolling Stones t-shirt and a pair of plaid flannel pajama pants.

"Dude, you look like a hobo," laughed Emmett as he took the pile of pizzas from Jasper.

"Alice was so busy today I was able to finally dress myself in something comfortable. Imagine always having to wear high end fashion all day, even when your hanging out at home. I usually have to hide these clothes from her so that she doesn't throw them out," sighed Jasper.

"Jazz, I'm married to Rosalie, of course I know what that is like," yelled Emmett from the kitchen.

"Aren't you glad you got Bella," laughed Charlie as he punched me gently on the shoulder and opened a beer. I nodded my head in agreement and we joined everyone else in the kitchen. Carlisle showed up a few minutes later and I introduced him to Charlie. They got along swimmingly and shortly after we had all eaten something, we started playing cards. Emmett insisted on dealing, which no one complained about. Seeing as the table was his, he was clearly the most advanced player among us. Jasper had actually never played and printed out a sheet from Wikipedia on basic poker rules. At least I wasn't that pathetic.

It was almost two hours and a few beers later when I noticed Charlie had the biggest stack of chips out of all of us. "So Charlie, did we miss seeing you on the recent World Poker Tour? I didn't know you were a ringer," laughed Emmett.

"Hardly, but I live in a small town and work for a police force that sees very little action except for the rare break in or drug bust. We play a lot of poker down at the station in our downtime," said Charlie with a grin. He was clearly more advanced than he let on.

"So Edward, did you ever tell Charlie how you and Bella met?" asked Emmett, clearly trying to start some sort of shit. Em knew the true story, but it wasn't what Bella and I told everyone. Even Carlisle and Esme were unaware of how we actually met. We didn't particularly find it right to tell our families about our drunken one night stand that eventually led to our engagement.

"I'm sure Bella has told him," I replied, trying to remain calm.

"She mentioned something about a New Years Eve party at Alice's place. Isn't that were you met Rosalie?" Charlie asked Emmett. Yes, good idea, deflect some of the attention onto Emmett.

"Yeah, that's where I met Rose. But Edward, didn't you already know Bella by then?" joked Em. Carlisle and Charlie both looked at me a little perplexed. Suddenly, it was feeling very warm in the house.

"Alice told me you guys met in October at some bar," said Jasper casually.

"Thanks Jazz," I muttered quietly under my breath with an angry glare in his direction. I watched as he shrugged his shoulders, apparently not aware of his screw up. Suddenly, I realized a way to get Emmett to shut up.

"No, it was at Alice's party. Emmett, Bella told me you really liked her dining room table. Why don't you tell Charlie how you like his mother's dining room table," I said with a smirk. Charlie actually seemed very interested in the conversation at this point, and Emmett turned red in embarrassment.

"It's a very nice table. Very sturdy," commented Emmett as I laughed profusely.

"It's mahogany," commented Charlie as though he was actually pleased that Emmett liked the dining room table. Of course, I wouldn't be so bold as to tell Charlie why he liked it. Actually Charlie, Emmett here enjoyed defiling your daughter's best friend on that lovely antique mahogany table. Emmett glanced over to me and he knew better than to make any further comments. I had apparently won this battle, but based on Emmett's expression, the war was far from over.

Thankfully, it was only two hours later that everyone started to get tired and we finished the game. I was almost even by the end of the night, but Charlie and Jasper were the big winners. "And you all laughed at my little cheat sheet," said Jasper as Emmett helped him cash out. He had made almost a hundred dollars, and most of it had come from Carlisle.

"Beginner's luck," said Emmett as he finished cleaning up his table and I helped him carry it out to his car. Charlie took a few moments and walked Carlisle out to his car, and they talked casually for a while at the front door before my dad finally left. It was shortly after that when Charlie excused himself and headed off to bed, thanking all of us for an interesting evening.

"I'll be glad to take your money any time boys," he said with a grin as he ascended the stairs to the guest room. I quickly called Bella and told her that everyone was leaving and she was welcome to come home at any time. She told me she would be home as soon as she could, and we hung up. I noticed Emmett coming back up the stairs to the living room and as he helped me put the furniture back in place, I took a moment to call him out on his conversation during the game.

"Do not ever mention to Charlie how Bella and I originally met," I told him angrily. "Bella doesn't want him to know." Emmett sighed and quickly apologized. "Remember big brother, I have a lot of dirt on you, and I don't mean just the lovely mahogany table of Charlie's which you fucked Rosalie on. I'll do anything to protect Bella, just like you would for Rose, so don't make me use any of it."

"Okay, I get the picture. I'll keep my mouth shut," said Emmett as he thanked me for the evening and dragged Jasper out of the house with him. I spent the next twenty minutes cleaning up everything in the kitchen and just as I was finished, Bella came in the front door carrying a big bag of papers.

"What the hell is all that?" I asked as she placed it on the dining room table and sighed. It looked really heavy.

"This my sweet future husband are menu options for the wedding. It is also cake photos, wedding favor ideas, ceremony music recommendations, potential wedding programs and much more. This is pure hell," said Bella as she turned away from the bag in anger.

"So this is something we need to make decisions on soon huh?" I asked as I kissed her forehead. She nodded her head gently and I threw a towel over the bag so she couldn't see it anymore. "Well, we don't need to worry about it right now. Its eleven thirty at night and tomorrow is Christmas Eve. We are going to bed." I grabbed her hand tightly in mine and took her up to our room, shutting and locking the door behind us.

"How was the night?" asked Bella with a small smile.

"I had no idea your father was a professional," I said as I watched her undress, practically salivating because it had now been over thirty six hours since we last had sex. Bella caught me staring at her and put her hands on her hips in frustration.

"This no sex rule was your idea Edward, so don't look at me like that unless you plan to do something about it," said Bella with a sly grin as she seductively unclasped her bra and let it fall from her shoulders onto the ground. I threw a t-shirt at her and watched as she pulled it over her head. I changed the topic, desperate to discuss something other than sex.

"Jasper and your dad kicked ass, although they had different styles. Charlie was a natural and Jasper printed off a cheat sheet from the internet. Emmett almost busted us on the whole 'how we met' situation." Bella was climbing into bed when I said this and immediately whipped her head around to meet mine.

"What happened?" asked Bella as she looked both curious and angry.

"He kept pushing that we had met before Alice's party, and even Jasper stupidly threw his two cents in saying that he thought we had met before New Years. I cleared things up though and I asked Emmett to tell Charlie how much he liked Grandma Swan's dining room table." I watched as Bella smirked, knowing that probably shut Emmett up. "When everyone had left, I subtly mentioned to Emmett that if he said anything again about it, I would dredge up other things from his past that he is not too proud of."

"Ooh, like what?" said Bella as she beamed with excitement at the prospect of hearing some of the goods I had on Emmett. I climbed into bed beside her and we cuddled close together. I hadn't seen her smile this much in the past few days, so I shared a little with her.

"Let me just say that somewhere in this city are pictures of Emmett, in woman's lingerie, with a goat in the nearby vicinity. They aren't extremely dirty, but they are very suggestive." We both laughed with big smiles as I told a few more Emmett stories before we fell into a comfortable sleep in each other's arms.