A/N: Betcha weren't expecting TWO fluff filled chapters, right? Thanks to everyone who's added me to their faves or alerts. :) it's appreciated, and keeps me going even when I think I'm writing pure crud. I'm sorry for the delay we've only just finished moving house, and I had no interwebz. nearly killed me, i tell ya.

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Carlisle's presentation was hard to watch without simultaneously erupting into laughter and running from the room. Around Jasper and I were voices, whispers swirling; some commenting on Carlisle's handsome beauty, quite a few about Jasper, which I found hard to ignore and a handful about myself. Jasper leant over close and whispered to me halfway through, in a tone so low nobody could have heard him, "Darlin'.....goddamn it's sexy the way you blush hearin' those thoughts." I giggled softly, "Shh.....your father's speaking." Jasper grinned wickedly and eyed me up and down, "Somethin' tells me darlin' my father won't be all that mad if I throw you over my shoulder right this instant and carry you away." I blushed again, and gestured to my dress, "And ruin all my hard work. Honestly. All you ever think about is sex........Major." I looked at him through my lowered lashes as I called him that, knowing it would drive him wild. He let out a soft growl, "Darlin'.....don't tease me like that or I might really do it." I giggled again, "Who says I don't want you to?" Carlisle sipped at his water then, his mouth hidden and his voice not audible to anyone but Jasper and I, a glint in his eye, "Take it outside children." I giggled, blushing and followed Jasper out into the fresh air and back to the house.

Our afternoon was spent making lazy love, uninterrupted until Jasper's cell phone rang, "It's Carlisle." I flew out of bed, "Oh my god. The ribbon." I threw my lingerie back on, then my dress, running my hands through my hair, "Answer it!" I shrieked at Jasper who sat laughing at me, "Yes Carlisle...we know we're running late." I heard Carlisle chuckle, and then Jasper hung up. "We have twenty minutes. Slow down darlin'." His hands were suddenly over mine, zipping my dress and then holding me still, kissing my neck, "Darlin'....calm down. You'll look fine." I looked at him, "Easy for you to say, your hair always looks like you just had sex. Mine isn't supposed to." I giggled as I pulled it into a ponytail, pinning some into a coif at the front and twisting the ends into something a little more respectable. I inspected it in the mirror, smiling at Jasper, " thought when you became a vampire everything about you was beautiful and captivating. I never imagined all this effort." He kissed me, sitting me on his knee as he slipped my shoes on my feet, "Darlin'.....I'd think you were beautiful regardless. You don't need all this stuff to make me want you." I blushed, and he set me on my feet, "Alright. Now we really do need to get a hurry up. We should be helping cut the ribbon in ten minutes." This boy would be the death of me, I swear.

JPOV

Watching Bella stand beside Carlisle, holding one half of the prop scissors over the ribbon, I was struck, again, by how much she meant to me. Standing there, in that pretty dress, her hair still mussed despite her best efforts, her slender figure leaning towards Carlisle for comfort in the sea of strangers, she was beautiful. Flawless. I felt slightly guilty, just for a split second, at the realization that in all our time together, I had never once glanced at Alice that way, gotten than feeling about her. Bella smiled nervously, biting her lip softly in that enticing, come hither way that she never knew she did. I smiled in return, wishing she'd think to me so I could think to her. Just then they called for the photographs, Bella paled and then pasted on a smile I was sure must have been rehearsed. It looked far too suitable, Bella never reacted the way everyone expected. This should have been no exception. Rosalie had taught her well. Even Carlisle smiled at the effort and emotion she was pouring into making it genuine.

The giggle as the cut down on the ribbon and the sparkle in her eyes at the fun of the moment as she and Carlisle had their photo taken was real; so was the blush when she accidentally stepped backward into Carlisle when the third flash went off. She beamed, My Bella, who hated being in the eye of anyone, especially large groups, was having fun. I supposed Char was to thank for that. She'd tried hard with Bella to bring her out of herself, looked like it was working. I stopped staring long enough to realize she was beckoning me to come join them, as I walked toward her she reached her hand out for me. Her mouth didn't move, but suddenly she was in my head, "This is fun, but.....I'm glad it's almost over." I smiled, thinking back, "Bella, darlin'...I'm sure Carlisle's very grateful for your presence. Usually it's just Rose looking bitchy." Bella giggled then, Carlisle just looked puzzled, "Something funny Isabella?" She giggled again, shaking her head. I put my arm around her waist as the photographer signaled we should look his way, and Bella lay her head on my chest, her hand over my heart, and the pleasure and love coming off her at that moment almost made my knees buckle. I smiled down at her, whispering, "I love you Isabella Whitlock." She beamed. This was a photograph even I would want a copy of.

BPOV

The trip home was slow, even with Carlisle's speedy driving. Traffic jams left right and centre took us off the main roads, for most of the time I closed my eyes and slept. I woke when the car jerked to a halt, we'd hit a deer. Jasper was flooding me with warmth and happiness, so I could only assume it hadn't died. I looked at him with wide eyes, silently willing one of them to put it out of its misery. Before I could blink, Carlisle had snapped its neck, laying it off to the side of the track we were on and climbing back into the car. He looked in the rearview mirror, "I'm terribly sorry Isabella. Even we make mistakes sometimes." I nodded, "It's okay. It happens." He smiled kindly, "We'll be home in an hour or so. Why don't you go back to sleep, Jasper will wake you when we get there."

I woke as Jasper was carrying me inside to the sofa, Rosalie and Alice looking like crazed lunatics, waving something in my face. Alice was even bouncing, something I hadn't seen her do in a super long time. "Alice, stop. You're making me feel sick. Rose, you too. That paper is driving me insane." She laughed, Alice simply looked annoyed for a moment before plunking down beside me on the sofa. Emmett appeared, "Did you show Bella the newspaper yet?" Rose looked at him, and if looks could kill he'd be dead all over again. "Idiot. We're just about to. Sit down and shut up." He ruffled my hair, "Smella, wait til you see it! You look....whoa momma." I blushed, "Anyone want to tell me the actual story?"

Rose held out a copy of the Harvard evening paper, well, a printout of the online version. The headline read "Dr Carlisle Cullen opens new Medical Library". "And? I was there....I know this." Rose grinned, pointing to the smaller, second headline and story below the main, "Mrs Isabella Whitlock wows with her Grace". I scoffed, "Grace? Ha." but continued reading the article, "Mrs Isabella Whitlock, Dr Cullen's newest family member was on hand to assist in the Ribbon Ceremony while her husband, Maj. Jasper Whitlock watched on from the sidelines. Mrs Whitlock was gracious, allowing Dr Cullen to step forward as the photographers began to snap pics to document this incredible event. Afterwards, coming to his side, Maj. and Mrs Whitlock were the picture of domestic bliss as they posed for an official photograph, both with Dr Cullen and alone in front of the new Library. We look forward to seeing more of the family at future events. Noticeably absent were Dr Cullen's sons, Edward and Emmett, who were both previously engaged."

Beside the column was the photo of Jasper and I looking so incredibly in love it almost made me want to gag. "What does Esme think of this?" Rosalie grinned, "She only wants to buy a thousand copies to make scrapbooks with." Emmett chuckled, and blurted out, "Edward's sulking somewhere. Probably in the fires of hell." Rose and Alice both shot him a look, and I stood up, "Emmett, that's an awful thing to say. Imagine if you saw Rose with a new husband." Emmett looked taken aback, and sighed, "Sorry Bells. I think he's in the music room."

I glanced at Jasper for approval, he simply shrugged, "Do what you think is right Darlin'." I kissed him and went to find Sulky. Hopefully this would blow over in minutes, but then, things had been far too cordial lately for something not to go wrong.

Edward was simply sitting at his Piano, no music set out, the lid was still down over the keys. He had the bridge of his nose pinched between two fingers, and sighed as I entered without knocking. I sat beside him, "Sorry. I figured if I knocked you might have told me where to go." He sighed, looking like he was going to leave. I wouldn't let him; there was no way he was getting to sulk like a child about yet another issue he had. This was the end of my tether, if he was going to keep on doing it, he could just as soon take off to Denali permanently.

I grabbed his sleeve, "Edward.....please.." I let the little girl voice creep into my tone, because I knew he'd listen to it. "I saw the picture." He nodded, "Me too. You looked very...." He seemed like he was struggling for a word that wasn't laden with double meanings, "Lovely." He ran his hand through his hair, but had yet to look me in the eye, "You all did. Carlisle and Jasper also." His voice was stiff, I could tell it was hard for him to say the words he didn't really mean. "It was a fun event. How about that? I actually enjoyed myself Edward, at a social event." He didn't move a muscle, so I kept going, "I didn't even trip, or fall, or do something dumb. Well....except when I stepped on Carlisle's foot. That was bit.....traumatic." He smirked, and i nudged him gently, "So......I know why you're in here." He looked at me but said nothing, I smiled, "Edward....I get it, okay? But you can't keep withdrawing like this every time. You need to find a way to get over it, or at least do your mourning in private. Jasper and I thought moving into a close by house would help but......maybe we need to move across the country or.....I dunno. Go somewhere else in the world." I was playing my last card, if this didn't get him, nothing would. I had no intention of moving, anywhere, but I had to make him realize that he had to stop this sulking.

My words stung, I knew, because his face turned ashen and he stiffened beside me. "Why would you do that Isabella?" His voice was cold, steely, he was trying to hide his hurt. I shrugged, playing with the pencil on the shiny piano surface, "I don't know. Something different? A change with no old baggage? Edward.....I need time out if you're going to be like this. It's too much." I bit my lip, looking away, trying desperately to shut my own emotions down. I didn't want to cry, or to let him feel both the fury and the frustration I was feeling in myself. I wanted to scream at him that he wasn't the only one feeling bad. His silence was making it twice as hard, as though he didn't care. I shifted, trying to distract myself, this was not the time to go insane. Not with Edward. He was no longer invited into that personal space of mine when I went mad from annoyance. It would give him something else to sulk about.

As if he knew, or sensed my rising frustration, he spoke, quietly, "Isabella, there's no need for you to move. Everything is fine. We're all very glad you had a lovely time at the college, and glad to have you back." He lifted the lid on the keys, touched them gently, lovingly. His voice was distant, "Don't....love. Don't move." He sighed, and I felt myself getting more irate. It was annoying, because I was really trying to avoid anything even remotely typically newborn; being incredibly quick to anger and easily agitated was the one I had tried to avoid most. Edward began to play, my lullaby, but it became a perverted, sad, pathetically weak and wishy washy version. after about a minute, he lifted his hands to change movements, and something in me snapped. I wasn't sure if it was the way he was looking forlorn and lost, or if it was the way he had so casually dismissed my efforts to work things out, to help him. I slammed the lid on the keys, narrowly missing his fingers.

My ears barely registered Emmett's guffaw from downstairs, or his "He's done it now. She's fuckin' pissed." I didn't even smirk like I usually would, I was just too mad. Even Edward realized he had pushed me too far, he stood, facing me, his eyes apologetic, "Love.....Isabella. I'm sorry. I don't.....I didn't......I don't mean to be this way. Just when I think it's....." I held up my hands, "Shut up. Just.....shut the hell up Edward. I didn't ask for any of this you know. I'm so sorry I've inconvenienced your life by taking away a reason to sulk. By all means, go ahead and find someone or something else to cry your eyes out over. Just not me. I'm done with it. You've worn me right through goddammit, and I refuse to watch you break everyone else's heart right alongside mine."

He looked stunned then, his mouth made an "o", he moved to speak but I held up my hands again, my voice angry but softer, I was worn out. "Edward, yes. You broke my heart, you know that. I've made you very aware, I know. But it's the way you keep breaking it Edward. Every time you do this, every time you sulk and hide and get hurt, it breaks my heart. Because it's always something that I've done, or said, or someone who was with me. You break my heart Edward, but that I can bear. I fixed it before, I can keep taping the damn thing over if need be. It's when I watch your family, your own family Edward, that I can't just patch things up with a piece of tape. Alice and Rosalie, every time you do this, I see them sink down a little further. Your brothers, I know that you're aware of how much it kills them to watch you do this, you can hear them. Carlisle....who simply tries to help and lets you reject him and hurt him." I sighed, tears streaming from my eyes, ready to fall to my knees. The floodgates were open now, and I had one last tidal wave to throw at him, "Edward.....think of Esme. Your poor mother who spends each and every day on her toes, preempting anything that might set you off, driving herself insane trying to remain impartial even though I know, deep in her heart Edward that she wants very much to reach out to you. She doesn't for fear of hurting my feelings. I know that. She doesn't let herself dwell on it so that you don't know she's hurting because of you, for fear it might push you down further. Edward....if not for concern for any of the rest of us, please. Just....find a new way to do this that doesn't hurt Esme. She doesn't deserve this." I let myself drop to the floor, my hands on my thighs as I knelt there, looking up at him. My cheeks were soaking wet, I could hear Esme's dry sobs from downstairs in the kitchen, Carlisle's low but steady words calming her. Rose was telling Jasper to wait until I came down, Emmett had run outside and hit a tree to vent. I looked up at Edward through soaking wet lashes, my voice pleading with him as I stood to leave, "Edward, please. You'll destroy the whole family if you can't stop."

Walking out of that room, ignoring the obvious look of despair of hopelessness on his face, was one of the hardest things I had ever done in my life. I was so incredibly grateful when Jasper met me at the bottom of the stairs, pulling me into a warm, comforting embrace, that I was speechless. I felt myself becoming happier as his words were breathy against my neck, "I know darlin'. I love you too."