An: More of Edward and Emmett….

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-=[ Isabella Swan, the past]=-

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Edward pov

34.

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Frustrated, Edward leaned with his shoulder against the door to his brother's living quarters. "I thought your bags were packed already?"

"They are… mostly. See!" Emmett dropped his duffel bag in the center of his bed, then scooped big load of clothes off the floor and dropped them next to the bag. "My clothes are all here, in this neat little pile. I just need to move my pile into the bag and zip it up."

He worked in a random manner, throwing items left and right, some of them missing the intended target, ending up on the floor again.

"This will take five minutes tops," he promised. "Oh and also, I need to grab all and every toiletries I can find. The way this month is shaping up, I won't have any money for stuff like shampoo." He dropped what he had in his hands and darted towards the bathroom.

"I just don't see why I have to be here and hold your hand for this," Edward complained, rubbing his face wearily. "Was there any particular reason why you've dragged me down here, cuz I'm all talked out and no money in the world could get me to touch your dirty laundry, so…"

"All talked out? We've barely scratched the surface…." Emmett responded, his head popping back into the room. "I mean, Rose almost made it sound like you had a ménage à trios' with T and J… What's up with that? "

"Nothing of the sort happened and you know it."

"Well, something happened. The last I saw of you was around midnight, you had your hands full with Tanya-… and then this morning you told me you woke up with Stanley in your bed. Come one, throw me a bone here. I live vicariously through your drunken escapades."

"No sex was had with either one of them, okay…and not for lack of trying. Between the two of them, they were definitely bringing their A-game, trying to rile me up, or whatever…. But like I said, nothing really happened."

"Oooh, so Rosie was right then," Emmet said with a teasing smile. "I'm proud of you, little brother. Not many guys would admit to having erectile problem…" He turned his back again, disappeared out of sight.

"Ha—f*cking—ha, you think you're so funny," Edward shouted after him.

"Haven't you heard? I'm the comedian of the family," his brother yelled back from the bathroom. "But seriously, you were too drunk to enjoy any of it? Is that what you're saying?"

"Something like that," Edward admitted vaguely. "As exciting as the prospect of having not one, but two, willing and eager females in your bedroom may sound, it simply wasn't a good night for it. For me to enjoy something like that, I would need to be fully awake or at least conscious enough to form full sentences, but hey that's just me."

"Whaat?! They were both in your bedroom? At the same time? Willing and eager?" Emmett exclaimed, still out of sight. By the sound of things, he was rummaging through every drawer and cabinet he came across in the other room. "How can two naked girls not be exciting enough to keep you awake? Are you sure you weren't roofied after all?"

"I'm… Wait, who said they were naked?"

"You did. You said you woke up finding a naked Jessica Stanley in your bed. I'm seriously beginning to question your sexual orientation here…. Then again, I suppose waking up with Stanley's floppy tits in your face is enough to scare any straight man gay…"

"They are not floppy, just a bit wonky, you know lopsided, but whatever… I don't remember seeing her getting undressed so I think I must have passed out by that point."

"I still can't get over that you allowed those two over the threshold of your bedroom to begin with… Stanley slept in your bed…. Naked! I'm surprised you haven't burned the sheets and scorch the mattress already."

"True… Let's just say my bed is now steam cleaned and very well covered by triple mattress covers… and yes, those sheets are history. I took care of that, before we went out to see James. Honestly, I don't know what I was thinking. I probably wasn't thinking at all, that's the problem. I'll don't bring my… you know 'randoms' into my bedroom… EVER…."

"Oooh, don't let Tanya catch you lumping her together with Jess."

"You know what; I dated T for like a millisecond, but even back then, when we were an item, or whatever you want to call it, I never let her spend the night at my place… not even once. That's pretty telling…"

"Telling… yes. Interesting that you would say that though, Edward," Emmett commented, as he reentered the room with his toilet bag in one hand and two rolls of toilet paper in the other.

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"It's just… I mean, have you even once stopped to think what this all say about you and Swan? According to dad you had Bella keeping you company many o' nights last spring."

"So what?"

"You just said you've made a point out of never bringing your random hook-ups to your bed. Yet, you kept bending that rule for Bella. That makes it look like you actually ca-…"

"No, wait! Hold up… Her father is the freaking chief of police," Edward interrupted. "He carries a gun. What do you think would have happened if he ever caught me sneaking in, or out, of his daughter's bedroom?"

"So….? I mean, what's wrong with the backseat of your car? You keep those condoms in the glove box for a reason, don't you?"

"Why can't you just mind —…"

"No, let me say this," Emmett insisted when Edward wanted to interrupt. "Personally, I've loved Swan from day one. She's hilarious… and snarky… AND ten times classier than Denali. I can see why you'd be drawn to her. I do understand that part of it all."

"Gee, thanks for the stamp of approval, that I didn't ask for and don't need."

"I would have never, for the life of me, believed that the Swanster would go for someone like you though. Or that she would keep coming back to you for seven months… No offence, but you're hardly someone to hold tight when life sucks. She's a smart girl, surely she had you figured out in no time …"

Edward kept his voice light when he said, "Obviously, I've got skills you couldn't even begin to comprehend."

"I know you're popular with the ladies, but I also know you're paranoid as fuck about personal space and boundaries and germs. You don't swap body fluids with girls left and right, just for the fun of it… Oh, this reminds me -You still haven't explained how you and Swan went from barely tolerating each other, to jumping each other's bones night after night."

"Ha, not gonna fall for that one," Edward snorted. "I'm gonna head upstairs now... See'ya!."

"I can't stop you from cowardly ducking out of this conversation, but before you go, answer me this; when was the last time mom burned a whole batch of lasagna?"

"What?" Edward asked, genuinely perplexed.

"You think you're oh- so-smart, but I seem to have picked up a thing or two that you've missed."

"Okay," Edward sighed. "Please, enlighten me, what does mom's lasagna have to do with anything?"

"I don't think she has burned anything this bad since that one time she had to call the fire department because of a pot that boiled dry and filled the kitchen with smoke. However, that was something like ten years ago, when the whole family, mom included, was down with the flu. She's not a star chef by any means, but she rarely ruins a dish beyond salvage. So why now? Why today?"

"Because she's upset? She said so herself. Is that so strange? You know a lot of people find reports of abandoned babies upsetting…."

"Well, that's true...I'm pretty sure there is more to it than that though. I happen to know that mom's burnt lasagna and her sudden urge for pizza was just an excuse for her and dad to head into town. Something's up and I have a pretty good idea what that is."

"Alright, are you gonna tell me or not?"

"They didn't just head into town to get Pizzas. They went to fetch our dark little Cygnet."

"Our what?"

"Izzabella - the awkward duckling-come-troubled-swan!" Emmett sing-songed, as he dumped a whole bunch of smelly sock into his duffel bag and then proceed to zip it all the way shut. "Try and keep up, Eddie."

"I do still have a headache, you know." Edward frowned. "So this is your backward way of trying to give me the heads up that Swan is on her way over here? Thanks, but it's not like we can't be around each other or anything like that. She WAS at the party last night… and we were both present for Jasper's birthday outing the other week…We can be civil for an hour or two, if we have to. Eating dinner together won't be a problem. As long as we don't talk, we're good…"

"That's splendid. Don't think she'll be having dinner with us tonight though…"

"But you just said-…"

"She'll be here, mom and dad won't return without her. I'm sure of it. However, I don't expect to see her at the table eating with us."

"And why is that?"

"Well… let's see…It all started when mom asked Alice to invite Bella over to spend the night here. Swan declined the invitation, of course. I don't blame her for not feeling like socializing with anyone today. She's probably still coming down from whatever high she was on last night."

"Yeah, but-…" Edward tried to interrupt, but his brother wouldn't let him.

"Now, Bella is a smart cookie, right?" he continued. "Rather than coming clean about being exhausted from partying a bit too hard, she decided to go with food poisoning as the official excuse for feeling a bit blah. Food poisoning is not a bad cover-up. It did the trick; mom bought it hook, line and sinker, at least initially. But then, of course, dad had to go and get himself involved… "

"Oh, boy..." Edward groaned.

"Yeah, exactly .You know how dad is. He's not going to let a seventeen year old, that's been vomiting for more than 12 hours straight, spend the night alone without supervision."

"Eh, where is Charlie though? And 12 hours straight, why would she say that? Exaggerating doesn't exactly make it sound more believable. "

"Depends on how good of an actor she is though, doesn't it? As for Chief Swan… I'd say he is kind of tied up at work at the moment. How could you have missed that?!"

"My bad, of course he is. So Swan bit herself in the butt with that stomach bug thing and now dad went over there to check on her?."

"Oi, a fake stomach bug that bit her in the butt," Emmett laughed. "Say that ten times fast."

"I think I'll pass…"

"So anyway, mom told dad and things got weird. Next thing you know, food was supposedly burned and off to town those two went…Bet you a million bucks, they'll tell Bella they just happened to be in the neighborhood when they show up on her doorstep."

"Okay, but if they suspect she's faking it, then why make such a big deal out of it? I mean, Swan's hardly the first teenager inventing a phony stomach bug to get away with a hangover. Sure, they are parents, but they are not HER parents… and it's not like she committed a crime or anything… "

"Dad cannot NOT act on this. I mean, let's think like dad here for a moment… The police chief's daughter allegedly got sick while spending the night partying at our house. Of course the good Dr. is going to want to go see her and check on her in person. It could be food poisoning, sure, but given the symptoms, it could be numerous of other things as well. Actually, if it's not food poisoning, or a stomach bug, then I predict he will suspect one of two things."

"Now you've lost me…"

"Pills went missing from his bathroom cabinet. I heard from Al that it was mom's allergy medicine - her Benadryl. Apparently, you can get one heck of a trip on those suckers mixed with alcohol. And by trip, I mean funny-scary hallucinations. You know what's not fun? Coming down from something like that..."

"That's ridiculous. Swan doesn't need to steel some stupid allergy pills. If it's a psychedelic experience of the scary kind she's after, then she has far better stuff in her own bedroom drawer. Heck, she knows I have better stuff in MY drawer and-…" He halted mid-sentence. "Ooh!..."

"Oh, what?"

"I just remembered something…. about last night. She was in my room….I came up the stairs with Tanya and Stanley in tow, I opened the door and stepped inside… and Bella was already there…on my freaking bed."

"Say what?" Emmett blinked. "First you told me you woke up next to Stanley, which, you know, questionable choice of bed companion, but whatever floats your boat. Then, you went on telling me about how you were getting frisky with Tanya in the kitchen…which I already knew about, because I witnessed it with my own eyes…And now… Now you're telling me you had all three of them - Tanya, Jess AND Bella- in your bedroom at the same time! Are you sure you're not the one taking those pills? Because this sounds like one very trippy hallucination, if you ask me!"

Edward chose not to answer that. Instead, he asked rather abruptly, "What was the other thing?"

"What other thing?"

"You said, given the symptoms, dad would suspect one of two things. I know she didn't take those allergy pills, so what's the other thing?"

"Well, when you saw Swan this morning, how did she look?" He didn't wait for Edward to answer, before continuing, "Pale, lethargic, drained, thoroughly exhausted? Shouldn't that be symptoms to be on the lookout for given resent development? After all, there is a nameless, faceless woman out there somewhere, that could possibly be suffering from post-partum-trauma, acute blood loss and sepsis-…"

"Wha-?!" Edward felt his world tilt on its axis for a terrifying moment. Then it righted itself again, but his chest remained tight and the blood kept pounding in his ears. He wanted to hit something, so he did just that. "Stop saying shit like that! That's seriously NOT funny!" he snapped, reaching out to punch his brother's shoulder.

"It's no joking matter. I know that. I'm not joking. Rose gave me a play-by-play recap of the press conference. Whoever she is, the woman that gave birth to those babies out there in the woods, she could be in dire need of medical attention right about now. Honestly, if dad even for a second suspects that it could be Bella, then I completely understand why he felt he had to drop everything to go check on her straight away - to rule it out, if nothing else. Apparently, you can die from sepsis. That's severe blood poisoning, by the way."

"I know what it is and I know Swan doesn't have it, so stop saying things like that! Bella definitely didn't give birth to any babies last night, end of story!"

"Sorry." Emmett apologized, without looking too apologetic. "I didn't say I believed it myself. I said I think that it might be something dad is considering, that's all…"

"This is just stupid though. You saw her last night; did she look pregnant to you in any way shape or form? I hate to break it to you, but babies don't come with the stork, or materialize out of thin air…If there is no big, pregnant belly, there can be no babies… "

"I don't know, man," Emmett said looking somber and laying a hand on his brother's arm. "I'm no expert, but if those babies were as premature and tiny as they say they were, doesn't that mean the girl's belly wouldn't necessary have gotten all that big yet? Honestly, if you ask me, I'd say Swan has definitely filled out quite a bit since last spring. Not in a bad way, she looks lovely, but definitely curvier than I've ever seen her before. I mean, she's still petit, but…" he trailed off, making a big chest gesture with his hands.

"Did you forget she injured her leg before the summer? Try wearing a full, toe-to-thigh cast for like two months and not gain any weight. And what the f*ck are you doing, checking out her curves?! You already got a girlfriend."

"I'm in a relationship, not blind," Emmett said with a shrug. He tried to keep a straight face, but then he burst out laughing. "Relax bro, I'm just yanking your chain. You should have seen your face though. You looked like you were about to faint for a while there. I feel so honored I was here to witness your very first pregnancy scare, even if it was just a ten seconds long internal freak-out."

As he spoke he went around the bed and got Rosalie's pink suitcase and matching cosmetic bag from where they were lined up against the wall.

"Come on now, grab that one and let's roll," he said, pointing Edward towards the duffel bag he'd just zipped up, before steering towards the door.

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