Disclaimer: The characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, the plot belongs to me.

Chapter thirty-seven

Epov

September 7th 2007

Emma and I were waiting outside of Bella's classroom for her to finish with her last class. I had one less hour on Friday's so I had agreed with Bella that I would pick up Emma from daycare and we would go and have dinner at my parents' house. Rosalie, Emmett and Alice were supposed to be coming too, so it was going to be a big family dinner.

The past week had gone by smoothly for Bella. She's had some minor run-ins with a few students, but mostly it was nothing to be concerned over, regular teenagers. She did mention one kid, Nick Blake, who had given her some grief the first day only to come to her for help later on.

I had heard other teachers talking about him and at first I had been worried that Bella might have picked a battle with the wrong guy, but when I saw her working with him on his reading problem, I realized I might have been a bit hasty in my judgment of this kid.

The door to the classroom flew open then, the children filing out, talking about their weekend plans together. I watched my fiancée clean up her paperwork and close off her desk before she turned in our direction and her whole face lit up. Emma reached out for her mother instantly and they hugged each other tightly. Every time I saw it, I felt a tug on my heart. It was the most precious sight in the world.

"Hello, love," I whispered as I kissed her forehead. "How was the rest of your day?"

"It was okay. I was really looking forward to the weekend, so I cut the kids some slack and took it easy on them. I think they liked me a little better because of it."

I laughed. "You do know that bribing them, is not going to make them like you better?"

"I know," she said, chuckling. "I just wasn't in the mood to do the difficult assignments today. I was looking forward to spending the weekend with my baby girl and my future husband."

"What time are we going to grandma and grandpa?" Emma piped up.

Bella looked up at me, the same questioning look on her face as our daughter's.

"Well, my beautiful girls. We are expected at six thirty."

"What time is it now?"

Bella and I both glanced at our watches at the same time. "It's three thirty, so we have three hours to get washed up and go to grandma and grandpa."

"Ok, I can make do with three hours," Emma stated with a decisive nod.

Bella bit her lip to keep from laughing, while I quickly turned around and walked down the hall. If I would look at Bella, I would start laughing and if there was one thing I learned over the past weeks, was that Emma sometimes took it too personal when people laughed at something she said. Bella explained to me that she hadn't always been like that, but according to the mothers she had talked to at Emma's school, it was a phase she needed to go through.

We had mutually agreed to try and keep the laughter to a minimum, because neither of us wanted to make Emma a shy girl, or afraid of speaking her mind. She was such a smart girl and we both wanted her to feel like she didn't have to be embarrassed for who she was.

As we walked out to the car, I noticed a couple of boys still lingering on the parking lot. They were hanging on a coupe of picnic benches, talking and smoking. When they saw us they hurriedly put out the cigarettes. I shook my head, chuckling.

"Wait for me at the car, I'll go talk to those boys for a sec," I said to Bella before I pressed a kiss to her temple and walked down the lot to where the boys were now looking extremely nervous.

"Hey, Mr. Cullen," one of them said, his voice cracking slightly at the end.

"TJ, boys," I greeted them with a nod. "You do know that it's not very wise to be smoking on school grounds when the principal's car is still in the lot, don't you?"

They nodded, a look of confusion spreading over their faces.

"Listen, I haven't been a saint when I was in high school, just ask Ms. Swan, but at least I was smart enough to hide some of that stuff from my teachers. I'm not saying I approve of smoking, because I certainly don't. And if in a couple of years I catch my daughter smoking, she will be grounded till she's thirty, but I think you boys are old enough to know the dangers. If not, look it up on the internet, I am sure you'll love the pictures of babies being born surrounded by nearly black water, or the blackened lungs of a smoker."

Each of the boys either swallowed hard or looked away, uncomfortable. I gave them all another stern look and turned to head back to Bella.

I saw her talking to Nick Blake. He was standing a little too close as far as I was concerned and I had to fight the urge to run up to him and pull him away forcefully. Bella, however, smiled and placed a hand on his arm. I couldn't hear what she was saying, because my ears were pounding with the blood that thundered through my veins at the casual contact.

I saw Nick nod and turn. As he walked towards me, he caught my eye. He paled when he took in my expression. He shot a worried look at Bella, before he passed me. I could feel his eyes bore into the back of my head, but I couldn't care less.

"What was that?" I hissed when I reached Bella.

She blinked rapidly. "What was what?"

"You, touching a student, who, by the way, seems to like invading your personal space a little too much."

"Don't be ridiculous, Edward. Nick is ashamed of asking for help, so he was whispering. I couldn't hear him, so I stepped closer to him. He didn't invade my space. And I only touched his arm to reassure him he would manage to finish school this year, if he was willing to put in some extra hours."

She spoke calmly, but it somehow rubbed me the wrong way. I drove home, stewing over it in silence. I could feel Bella's eyes on me, but if I were to look at her, I would snap.

~*~

Later that evening, when we were driving to my parents' house, Bella was the one who was angry. She had her arms crossed over her chest and stared pointedly out of the window. We hadn't spoken about what happened after we left school and by now the air had been poisoned with everything I had said, but mostly with things I didn't say.

I knew I should have apologized as soon as we got home, but I didn't. I should have told her I was being an irrational, jealous, jerk, but I didn't and every minute that passed without those words, made it harder and harder to get out.

Bella had slowly started to get angrier with me. She started cleaning the apartment, shoving things into drawers and cupboards. When she was done, she went into the bathroom, she slammed the door behind her so hard, the windows rattled. Emma looked on in confusion.

About fifteen minutes after Bella had disappeared, Emma came up to me and sat down next to me on the couch.

"What's wrong with mommy?"

"Mommy and I had a fight and now she's angry with me."

"Oh. What about?"

"Something that happened at school."

She nodded, patted my knee and hopped off the couch. "You should say you're sorry," she said before she quietly slipped out of the room to get ready for the night.

I hadn't.

As I pulled into the driveway, I realized I couldn't let this fester any longer. I turned to her and took her face between my hands, staring into her angry brown eyes.

"Bella, before we go in there, I wanted to say I'm sorry. I'm sorry I flipped out over nothing. I'm sorry I didn't apologize sooner, but mostly I'm sorry I got angry at you while I know tat you would never do anything."

She huffed. "You realize how ridiculous your comments were? Edward I haven't even kissed anyone since we left the Hunters because I was still in love with you, why would I start cheating on you, now that I am with you again? Why? Not only that, but he's a student for crying out loud!"

My stomach clenched. "I know. I was so stupid, Bella. I just saw him that close to you and you were smiling at him and touching his arm. I just lost all coherent thoughts. I have never in my life been this overwhelmed with jealousy. I'm so sorry."

She drew in a deep breath, closing her eyes. "Edward, you need to reign in the caveman act." She looked up at me again. "I love you, but you don't need to throw me over your shoulder and carry me off whenever a boy or man talks to me."

I nodded slowly. "I promise I'll do my best."

"Good. Now let's go in there. I think they're all wondering why we aren't at the door yet."

I got out to open her door for her and then went to the back to get Emma out of her seat. Bella waited for me, her hand outstretched for me to take. I felt relief sweep through me as our fingers intertwined. Bella stood up on her toes and kissed my cheek.

"You're forgiven," she whispered into my skin.

"Thank you."

She gave me a smile and a wink and then turned to drag me up the stairs and in the door. My mother greeted us in the hallway, taking our coats and ushering us into the living room for drinks.

"Hey guys!" Alice greeted us enthusiastically.

"Hi, Ali."

Alice hugged us both and immediately pulled Bella over to Rosalie in order to discuss their possible cooking classes. Esme joined them after a few minutes, sending Carlisle into the kitchen to keep an eye on dinner.

"Oohh," Rosalie suddenly exclaimed. "I like this one!"

She held up a folder for the other women, who grabbed for it at the same time. After two minutes, Bella looked up at Rosalie with a smirk.

"Rosalie Lillian Cullen, are you by any chance experiencing cravings?"

Rose actually turned red, so I knew there had to be a story there, especially when Emmett started laughing.

"Enlighten us," my mom requested.

"When I was pregnant with Emma I got an incredible sweet tooth. Pretty much the second my morning sickness was over with, I started eating mostly chocolate and candy. Rosalie kept nagging me about not believing in cravings. It was all just something you could mentally push down, she insisted. I made a bet with her that she would get cravings just like any other woman in the world when she was pregnant. Looks like I have won myself a bet."

Rosalie grumbled something unintelligible, but the straightened up, pulled her wallet out of her purse. Bella smirked as she was handed a bill. Emma hurried over to check out how much it was. Her eyes popped when Bella gave her the bill and told her to put it in her piggy bank when she got home.

"Thank you, mommy!"

"You won the bet, baby girl."

"I don't get it."

"Well, aunty Rosalie bet mommy that her baby wouldn't make her have really crazy things for dinner. Her baby lost, so you get to keep the money."

Emma cheered happily, running up to me, flapping her money in the air. I caught her right before she started to trip over her own two feet and sat her on my lap.

"Look, daddy. I won twenty dollars!"

"Good for you, sweetheart. Do you want me to keep it safe for you until we get home tonight?"

"Mommy can do that too."

"Why yes she can. You decide who keeps it safe for you."

She nodded and looked from me to Bella and back again. "You keep it, I don't want to get up," she giggled.

I laughed and took the dollar bill from her, tucking it into the breast pocket of my shirt. A few moments later, Carlisle called us into the dining room for dinner.

It felt a lot like this past summer, only now Bella sat beside me. It made the experience that much better. Somewhere during dinner, I felt her hand on my thigh, squeezing lightly. I looked over at her and she gave me a loving smile.

"What?" I whispered in her ear.

"I love you and I just wanted to make sure you knew I forgave you."

"I love you too. So much."

She smiled and placed her free hand at the back of my head, bringing me down so she could kiss me sweetly on the lips.

I forgot where I was for a moment and lost myself in her sweet scent and the feel of her lips on mine. I slipped my tongue into her mouth, caressing hers slowly. A round of catcalls made us pull away, both of us blushing when we realized what we had done in front of our family.

After dinner, my father took Emma to his study to read her a story, muttering something about me and Bella needing some time alone. I had no idea what he was talking about, until Bella came up to me and dragged me upstairs to my old room. The room where we had reconnected after five years.

She sat down on the bed, patting the space beside her. "I have a feeling you are still giving yourself a hard time over this afternoon, so I want to explain to you exactly what is going on with Nick. I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone, but I trust you to keep your mouth shut about it."

I nodded and sat down beside her.

"Nick has trouble reading, I told you that. He wanted me to help him, since he thinks his peers will give him a hard time if he gets a tutor his own age."

"Okay, I can understand that."

"Good. Now, the reason Nick seems so comfortable around me, is because I remind him of his baby sister. She died last year after a long sick bed. It's one of the reasons he's behind on his school work as much. The past couple of years have been tough on him."

Bella took in a deep breath and then stared at me very intently. "You have nothing to worry about. I will never want anyone but you, no matter who walks up and flirts with me, you are the only man in the world for me."

If possible I felt even more guilty over my behavior. "Bella, I love you so much that it sometimes clouds my judgment. After what happened with Tanya, I am so afraid of losing you. Whether it's a car accident, some crazy chick attacking you in a bar or a boy making you see I'm not worthy of you. It just drives me absolutely crazy."

Bella shook her head, smiling. "You crazy, crazy man. I love you."

I pulled her into my lap and pressed my lips to hers, desperate to feel her close to me. She opened her mouth, her tongue coming out to slide over my lower lip. I allowed her into my mouth, reveling in her taste.

Bella's small whimper, set my whole body on fire. I trailed kisses over her cheek to just below her ear.

"I want you," I growled.

"God, yes…" she moaned.

I got up off the bed and turned around so I could lay her down.

"Hurry, Edward. They'll wonder what's taking us so long," Bella whispered as I hovered over her, taking in her beauty.

She had worn a dress, making this so much easier. I shoved her dress up over her hips and quickly pulled her panties down her legs. I stuffed them in my pants pocket, grinning at Bella's mischievous smile.

Bella sat up and undid my pants and yanked them down to my knees. "You better be in me within the next two minutes, Edward, or I am walking right out that door without my panties. I'm sure you'll enjoy knowing that I have nothing on underneath my dress," she practically purred.

I didn't think twice before sinking down on top of her and thrusting forward into her slick heat. I caught her cries in my mouth. Bella clutched frantically at my back, trying to get me to go deeper, faster and harder.

I complied, pumping faster with each stroke. I soon felt my balls clench, ready to explode."Baby, touch yourself. I want you to come with me," I moaned.

Bella slipped her hand between us and started moving in time with my thrusts. It wasn't long afterwards that I felt her walls clench around me, sending my right off the edge with her.

It had been fast, it had been rough, it had been fantastic.

"Wow," Bella murmured against the crook of my neck. "If that's what make-up sex is about we should fight more often."

I pulled back so I could look at her. "You liked that? A rough quickie?" I asked, amused.

"Yes," she admitted, while blushing a lovely pink. "But I like it slow and romantic, too."

"I know you do, love. I do too. I think we need to get out of here, though, before thy send out a search party."

And just like that the last bit of tension in the air had been cleared.

A/N: Uh oh, their first fight. It was a perfect example of irrational, jealous Edward and I think we needed him, don't you? The story is flowing easily, so I am hoping to get out the next chapter in three to four days tops.

I received some pretty amazing reviews again, so thank you for that. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this chapter and the mini-lemon ;)

Hugz,

Mo