Hi Everyone.

Please, just remember this story is fiction. In this chapter, the places and some people may be real, but the story is a twist of the truth. So, please, don't come down on me for my imagination.

I can see. The eye surgery: super successful. But delays. delays. (Of course, Mercury is retrograde.) We possibly have 2-4 chapters left. We will see. I go with the flow.

Also, my story "Cookin' in the Kitchen Makin' … Whoopie Pies" is up for a Glory Award under the category of Mini Glory for the best One Shot, the 2nd level. Yeah, knock me over!

I want to thank everyone for reading, "Finding Home". I appreciate the comments, reviews and recs. And I want to thank the many people who place this story on alert or in their favorites that I can't PM. Just know, I thank you for giving my story a chance.

Okay, more …. let me thank am13er for introducing me to Fan Fiction... Thank you, Amber.

Back to being my own Beta. Linda is unable to edit, any longer. So, forgive any mistakes I may have overlooked. But, please, go read her story, Captain Howdy (#8065636).

And as always, Stephenie Meyer owns the characters. I just borrow them for a bit.
XOXOX

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Chapter 37: Back to Forks
From previous chapter:

The announcer reports, "Breaking news from St. Michael's Mount today. After an hour-long, news conference, Princess Isabella Marie St. Auburn told her ominous tale of exile and murder. The Baroness Sybil St. Auburn banished the princess and her family from the castle and threatened their meager existence, two years ago. With her parents murdered, her grandmother fallen to a fatal illness, the princess fearfully hid for her life. Here is an excerpt from that conference."

Isabella nervously stands behind a podium, reading her statement, "With the help of friends, we were able to expose Baroness Sybil St. Auburn's dealings with Angus McTavish and a group of rebel criminals. My uncle uncovered a map from the underground train station and he single- handedly found royal jewels and King Arthur's," she pauses and looks into the camera, "Excalibur."

Everyone around us gasps and shouts out. Our gate opens and we quickly make our escape.

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Oh my God, I ache all over. How I could sleep the entire plane ride back home is sick. Edward didn't move a muscle, probably for fear I would awake, with my head on his collarbone, my arms around his waist and his arm around my shoulders from New York to Seattle. Stiff all over, I stretch my legs and arms, hearing my bones crack and Edward's bones, singing a duet with mine. The look on his face is priceless. The drool on his shirt is … big.

I look up at him. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" he mumbles.

I point to his shirt, and try to wipe it. "I drooled all over you."

He looks down, touches the wet spot, closes his distance to nose to nose and smiles. "No big deal."

I sigh, reach over, cup his head, kissing him gently. "I love you."

"Ditto, Drool girl!" Huge smile on his face.

I smile back. "What time is it?"

"Almost six. We'll be landing at SeaTac in about a half hour," he nonchalantly states.

"Sorry, I slept the whole way," I apologize.

"Would you stop saying, "you're sorry". Jesus, Bella, you were fucking tired. You've been through a lot," he snips at me.

"I'm sor..." I shake my head and give a half smile. "Just that you must be stiff from holding me the past six hours."

"Bella, I fell asleep, too. It's fine. I like holding you. Besides, you were talking in your sleep," Edward chuckles.

Alice giggles, "Yeah, you were very verbal."

I look around Edward to see Alice leaning over Jasper with a gleam in her eye. Jasper hides his face in his hands with his shoulders shaking.

"What's so funny?" I ask a little afraid of the answer.

"Remember the scene in "When Harry Met Sally"? Ahem." She pauses. "When Meg Ryan fakes an orgasm?" Alice giggles out.

I am sure I am beet red. "No!"

Jasper gawfs, "Edward had to kiss you to keep you quiet. Then, you jumped him."

My face is in shock. "No!"

Alice chimes in singing, "You straddled him."

My eyes bug out. "No!"

Alice hysterically laughs and points at me. "No! But you should have seen your face."

"You guys are terrible." I hit Edward on the shoulder. "And you went along with this?"

"You did get all moany, though. And I did kiss you." He leans back in his seat, smirking.

I squint my eyes at him and huff.

"You were talking though, Bella," he informs me.

"What did I say?"

"You were telling Isabella that she could do it." He shrugs.

I nod my head. "Yeah, we had a really long talk. I guess that made me think about her. Dream about her." I turn to him. "Edward, she lost her grandmother about the same time I..." I sigh. "Well, at least, I have my dad."

"But Isabella has Alfie." Edward interjects.

"Yeah." I bite and wet my bottom lip. "She'll be okay. She was raised in a Royal environment. She will do this. And she will head all the negative press away from the Mount. You know, we both looked over the sword. God, all of it's history. The power it had for Arthur. You know, we both lifted it up together. Yeah, you took that picture! What a rush!"

"Bella, are you sure you want to walk away from all of this?" Edward asks.

I look at him, really close. "Yes. Edward, as heady as this is, it's not for me. I spent my whole life, under Renee's weird drive to be affluent. We went from dirt poor, scraping pennies to eat, to be in the "IN" crowd. Drive expensive cars. Wear designer clothing and jewelry. Hobnob with the rich and famous. Live in a penthouse overlooking Central Park. I want the in between. No, I don't want to scrimp to pay a bill, but I don't want to be known, because I have blue blood. I want normal." I cup my hands over his job and look him in the eyes. "I want you."

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We walk into the well-lit house from the garage, dragging our bags and finding Esme standing at the kitchen sink washing her hands. "Oh, it's so good to have you kids home!" She wipes her hands on a dish towel and moves in our direction.

Edward drops his bag and hugs his mother. "What are you doing up this late?"

"It's only a little after midnight. I couldn't sleep, knowing you would be home." She hugs me. "Hi Bella. How are you doing?"

I squeeze her tight. "Glad to be home. There's so much to tell you."

Alice and Jasper come through the door.

Alice walks over and hugs Esme and grabs me. She quips, "Just don't freak out. Okay, mom?"

Esme frowns. "Why would I freak out, Alice?"

Edward shoots Alice a dirty look and turns to reassure his mother. "It's nothing, mom. Alice is being Alice." Alice humphs, "Well, I didn't give up my princessness-hood-ship!"

I quickly run over Alice's comment. "I promise to tell you everything in a minute, Esme. But do you know if dad is home or at the station?"

"He's been out of town, sweetie," she says very cautiously. "He left right after all of you."

"What? He never mentioned anything to me," I question.

Esme explains, "Well, he left for Seattle, after you saw that couple at the airport. You know, the ones who ransacked the house. He brought them back to Forks. But the following morning, he stopped by to have breakfast with mom and me, got a call and left in a hurry."

"And he hasn't been back since?" I moan. Uh? That's strange."

"No, Bella. He was in a huge hurry, apologizing as he ran out of the door. I don't know what it was about." Esme changes the subject. "Are you kids hungry? Did you eat?"

Jasper smiles. "Now you're singing my song, Mrs. C." He heads for the table, sits at a chair and folds his hands on the table and grins his crooked smile at Esme.

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It's about one thirty. No one wants to sleep. We huddle together in the living room, telling Esme and Mags of our harrowing tale of pirates, princesses, hidden treasure and Excalibur. Edward and I cuddle on my chair, Esme sits with Mags on one sofa, while Jasper rubs Alice's feet on the other.

Laughingly, Mags shouts, "Now, I would have used that sword on her BaronAss!"

Someone knocks on the front door. We all look around at one another, as Esme opens the front door to one of Charlie's officers. "Yes, Officer?"
"Just checking with you, Mrs. Cullen. We see the lights on and hear you're up."

"My kids just came back from a trip. Everything is fine." Esme reassures the officer.

"Okay, yes, we saw them arrive, Ma'am. If you need anything, we're right out front." He starts to walk away.

"Would you like anything to eat or drink, Officer?" Esme offers.

"Oh, no thank you, Ma'am, we have." He smiles and tips his hat.

Esme closes the door.

"Why are their officers watching the house?" I ask.

"With your father out of town and the break in at your house, your father felt it best," Esme quietly mumbles.

Edward looks at his mother. "Did something else happen, Mom?"

"Hmmm, no." She shakes her head. "Charlie's being cautious, I guess," she says, looking Edward in the eye. Then, she turns to me. "I can't believe you're a princess."

"Yeah, pretty wild, huh?" I sigh.

Mags adds, "So, what about the jewels and the sword?"

"Oh, wait." I pull my phone out of my back pocket of my jeans. "Edward took a picture of Isabella and me with the sword." I get up and hand my phone to Mags. Esme scoots closer to Mags, as they both look at the picture.

"You two really do look quite alike," Esme amazingly expresses.

"Wow, look at that sword. It's huge," Mags shouts.

I add, "And heavy."

Esme sighs. "Oh Bella, look at the smiles on your faces. It's too bad she couldn't come back with you."

"Well, she will be very busy. I texted her, after we landed and she told me she was on her way to London... to see the Queen."

Alice moans, "And that could have been you..." She sits up, stands and leaves the room.

I look at Esme. "Alice is pissed off that I didn't acknowledge my blue blood."

Alice walks back into the room with a royal blue, velvet case and sits back down next to Jasper. He smiles slightly with his eyes on the case. Alice pokes him. "But you can have something to remind you of what you gave up!"

Edward sits forward. "What did you do?"

Alice clenches her teeth and hisses, "Oh, I did nothing, Edward. Isabella insisted." Alice giggles coyly.

Balancing the case on her lap, Alice pulls out the St. Auburns family crown. I drop my jaw.

"Is that real?" Mags shrieks with wide eyes.

"Oh, it's real alright, Mags. All one-hundred and fifty-two diamonds, give or take a few." Alice pats it with love. "I counted each one with care." She kisses it.

"Apparently, when Isabella and her family were ousted from the castle by Sybil, they weren't that stupid. They took a few baubles with them." She wiggles her fingers over the crown. "I have a few more things for you, too...Princess!" Alice stares at me and shakes her finger. "Don't give me that, "I don't care look", missy. These are your jewels. You rightfully own them. Your cousin wanted you to have them." She takes a huge breath. "You may have passed the princesshood over to Isabella, but she knows what you did for her. And she agrees with me. These are safer with you in the States, anyway. And if you don't think I wasn't sweating carrying all these bling blings?"

Jasper slides in, nodding his head and whispering, "Worth millions."

Edward grabs my hand. "Tomorrow, we'll go to the bank and put that and whatever else Alice brought back into a safe deposit box."

My phone rings. Since Esme has it in her hand, she extends it out to me. I look at the screen and up at everyone. "It's dad." I talk into my phone, "Dad?"

"I know you are up, my guys told me," Charlie bellows over the speaker. "Look, I'll be home tomorrow. Early... with your mother."

"What? Where are you? What's going on?" I barely get out.

"Don't leave that house!" he orders.

"Dad, why are you with mom?" I shake my head in disbelief.

"I'll explain everything tomorrow, Bella. But I want all of you to stay inside. More men are coming out." Charlie officially states. "Don't argue, Isabella Marie. I mean business."

"But Dad?"

He harshly grunts, "No, buts." He softens his voice, "I got to go. We'll see you tomorrow." The phone clicks dead.

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Okayyyyyyyyyy... Charlie's with Renee`. And more men are covering the house. Something big is about to happen.

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A/N: We are almost at the end of this story. November 16th placed us at the year mark. Yeah, time really flies. And this Bella and Edward will have their HEA.

But look for the new story, "Under My Nose", a romantic comedy... Coming very soon in December!

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