Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all.

Rated M for several reasons.

Chpt 49 Newborn Notes

RPOV

Having the buried the corpses from the Great Minnesota Deer Massacre the rest of us wend our way home. Pete and Char jumping straight up to their room with undignified haste.

I call Charlie first and his relief that Bella is 'alive' and well sets off my own. I don't think any of us appreciated quite how much we worried about her while she was a fragile human. There's nothing fragile about her now and in a couple of years I might actually let her, with appropriate supervision, attempt buy another cake. Jazz, however, will be taking out the trash until hell freezes over. Fortunately Charlie doesn't ask me why she hasn't called herself, not that I could tell him, you can only push a father so far.

Next I call Esme who is overjoyed to have a new 'granddaughter'. She does ask to speak to Bella but being a mated vampire herself understands why she can't come to the phone right now.

"Ah, so sweet." She sighs.

"There's nothing sweet about it." I growl. "I just hope Major Alpha Vampire can control himself and she doesn't come back looking like she's been mauled by one of Em's bears."

"Oh Rose." She laughs. "She'll be fine. It almost makes me jealous."

"Me too." Em chips in from the other side of the room, sliding a hand inside is straining sweat pants and running the other over the muscles under his tight white t-shirt.

With a hiss I turn my back on him. I'm talking to my mother, has he no respect?

"Well." Esme concludes with a knowing laugh. "I'll let you guys get on. Give her my love when she gets back and tell her Carlisle and I are looking forward to seeing her."

"Will do." I end the call and turn to give my husband a piece of my mind.

My completely naked, very aroused husband.

The rebuke dies on my lips as I drink in his perfectly sculpted body and black, black, eyes.

"Mine." He growls, rising fluidly to his feet.

"Yours." I whisper, reaching up to touch his mark on my skin.

"Come here." He orders.

Automatically I get up and close the distance between us.

His huge hands weave into my hair, cupping my face as his descends.

"Mine." He breathes into my mouth as my lips part for him.

…..

Day one and day two we are able to keep ourselves occupied.

On day three, when we emerged blinking into the daylight, we decided to go check on the Newly Mateds.

They were fine. Better than fine. Very happy in fact.

We went home again and washed our brains out with soap.

…..

On day four Char and Pete decided to go check on the Newly Mateds.

Apparently they surprised the newborn mid hunt. There was some unpleasantness.

…..

On day five, as Char and I are pretending not to watch Pete and Em duke it out on some mindless video game, Jazz's smirking face appears around the living room door.

"Hello." Pete drawls, pausing the game. "To what do we owe this unexpected pleasure?"

"We need clothes." Jazz chuckles.

"Really?" Pete asks, raising his eyebrow. "Cos yesterday they didn't seem all that important J."

"Pete I'm quite happy to stroll through here naked." Jazz threatens.

Outside Bella giggles.

"No." Em jumps to his feet. "I've seen enough of your naked ass to last me a lifetime Jazz. I'll get something."

"Thank you." And with a wink Jazz withdraws.

Seconds later Em returns with two of my frothier, less see through, peignoirs, tossing them out the door with a snigger.

"Asshole." Jazz's snarl floats in through the open door.

Holding hands they shuffle in. And I don't think I've laughed so much in my life.

Bella's hair which contains half the forest is funny enough, but Major Macho in a purple peignoir barely covering his ass cheeks, is to die for.

It took Char and I three hours, four bottles of conditioner and a seriously long lecture to get all the crap out of Bella's hair. A vampire only gets one head of hair and you should never underestimate the effort required to take care of it.

We also got all the gory details on the last five days, never underestimate the power of a woman with a hairbrush to extract information from a reluctant victim, vampire or not.

And I have to admit her mating scar is small and cute, kudos to my erstwhile twin.

…..

Her inaugural phone call to Charlie doesn't go very well.

The first handset was crushed. Jazz held the second one but despite practising beforehand she really struggled to speak slowly enough for Charlie to understand her.

And she didn't cope with the disappointment very well. I was left to soothe a mildly freaked out father while Jazz took her outside to vent her frustration on the landscape.

…..

Jazz has fixed the stairs and many other incidentals. So many in fact that Pete's bought him his own tool belt. Not very helpful, turns out Little Miss Role Play likes a vampire with a well-stocked tool belt.

Oh who am I kidding? She just likes Jazz. They're inseparable, something that hasn't changed.

And he's so happy he's projecting the whole time. My fucking face aches with smiling. I just hope they aren't outside when she finally gets her head out of her ass and actually tells him she loves him. Major Soppy might just float away in a little cloud of bliss.

Nasty.

…..

I loathe newborns.

Every time you want to use something Little Miss Ham Fisted has broken it. Every time you want peace and quiet Little Miss Violent Tendencies is on one. And every time you want some family together time Major Newly Mated and Little Miss Nympho are at it like rabbits.

And of course it's nearly always my problem.

"Rose, Bella's ripped the kitchen door off again."

"Blondie, she fuckin' bit me, you need to talk to her."

"Babe, I didn't know she was going to freak out I swear, I thought she'd like bear hunting."

"Rose, what did you expect me to do? I'm her mate, she took all her clothes off . . . ."

My nerves are shot and I need a vacation. Fucking sense of responsibility will be the second death of me.

…..

And now I'm mad at my mate. Idiot! He took Bella hunting and then got distracted by a bear, if Major Separation Anxiety hadn't been following them we'd have been down two post graduates studying the local wildlife, and one strictly vegetarian vampire.

…..

Renee has pissed her off. It took a few months for her to realise something was wrong, but when she did she kicked up a stink. Briefly. Then she convinced herself that Bella'd run off with some secret college sweetie and would resurface again when maturity and motherhood dawned. Which frankly says more about the airhead that is Renee than it does Bella.

Just saying.

…..

Well, that's the last time we'll get the UPS guy to come all the way up here. And the whole town thinks we're rearing Bengal Tigers.

…..

Charlie's dating. That's made her sad. It's tough in our situation, when you realise that life goes on without you, no matter how happy you are about it in reality.

…..

The doting 'grandparents' have been for a visit, Carlisle's Mercedes overflowing with expensive gifts that Little Miss Magnum Force will probably crush. Fortunately the Ed Head and Nosey went to Milan instead. After last time I've rethought my head on approach to getting the extended family to bond, we've nothing but time. I'll be honest, I don't understand Nosey and her prescriptive approach to happiness, but I do have a sneaking sense of sympathy for my brother. Not a lot because he's a prick, but a bit. And I hope that having fallen in love once he can do it again one day, and not fuck it up. Maybe, eventually, he'll make some lame vampire a nice mate. But not Bella, though I'll never tell I'm thrilled that she's with Jazz, he loves her the way she should be loved. Unconditionally.

The sap.

…..

Humanisation hasn't been going well. Learning to slow down is a nightmare and no matter how much someone tells you about the lure of human blood there really isn't anything to prepare you for it.

Still, nobody has died yet, although her mate has a couple of new scars.

…..

Today we've actually been into town.

Just strolling up and down the sidewalk, but still, massive progress.

…..

Not a good day today.

Bella came face to face with a hiker. She didn't kill him but she did scare the shit out of him.

Literally.

We told him we were up here to get her over her drug problems and gave him a change of pants.

I can't help but be proud. She may have seemed 'crazed' to him but the fact that she didn't drain him was impressive.

And he was lucky, if she hadn't been able to control herself one of us would have had to have killed him anyway.

…..

She's definitely got a gift, other than being annoying. I'm not sure what use being a mental shield is besides repelling the Ed Head but it sure is funny when Jazz has upset her and she uses it on him.

He's so attuned to feeling her emotions that when she cuts him off you can practically hear his balls contract.

Now that's power in a relationship. And she doesn't abuse it nearly as much as she should. Char and I have so much still to teach her.

…..

Finally we're getting somewhere.

The gaps between Bella's multiple personalities, when the real person comes through, are getting longer and you can actually hold a proper conversation with her again now. At least you can if you can prise her away from her mate for long enough. Joined at the hip is the phrase that springs to mind.

She can dress herself, feed herself, wash her own hair, use a laptop without pounding it into dust and even beat Em at Call of Duty without resorting to actual physical violence. Em is another matter when it comes to losing at that particular game but I have my own methods for making his balls contract.

In short she is now almost a grown up vampire, her eyes an unblemished, gorgeous, burnished gold.

And I'm a complete wreck.

Which is why, against my better judgement, Em is insisting on taking me away for a two week vacation and Esme is lending us her private island in the sun.

The family Whitlock are gathered on the porch as Em loads the truck with our luggage.

"How long are you goin' for Blondie?" Pete asks disingenuously.

"Three bikinis for every day Pete and at least two outfits for the evenings." Em chuckles on his way past with the last trunk.

"On a deserted island?" Pete gasps in wonder.

I flip him the finger while Em's back is turned.

"Leave it Petey." Char says easily. "Rose isn't the type to beat her speedos with a stick every night before turning in."

He opens his mouth to say something clever but Jazz slaps his hand over it, shaking his head.

"Have a good break Rose, we'll see you when you get back." He says, dragging a frantically struggling Pete back into the house.

Bella and I stare at each other wordlessly.

"I can't stand it when you two get all emotional." Char drawls with perfect sarcasm, making her own exit.

"I'll miss you." Bella says quietly, looking down at her bare wriggling toes and I sigh, how many times do we have to have the 'for the love of god wear shoes' conversation.

"Humph."

"Thank you." She says carefully, not quite looking me in the eye.

"For what?"

"For coming back for me and for saving my life."

"Technically I killed you." I point out.

"Yes you did. You did a very good job of it too."

I sigh, I don't remember human Bella having quite this much cheek, or as Em puts it, knowing exactly how to press my buttons. And as much as I need this me time I really don't want to leave her, she's under my skin, worrying at me, like a damn splinter.

"Have a wonderful vacation." She urges, darting forward and hugging me tight. "You look like you need one."

"Jeez, I wonder why." I huff.

"Tsk." She giggles. "I feel like I should say or do something suitably emotional at this point."

"Don't you fucking dare." I growl into her hair.

"Babe." Em admonishes.

I hug her back, breathing in her sweet freesia scent.

"Try not to get in any trouble while I'm gone."

"When do I ever get in trouble?" She asks with wide eyed innocence as Em starts dragging me away.

". . . ."

"Come on babe." Em chuckles quietly as he prods me, still speechless, into the truck. "The apron strings will stretch to Isle Esme and you can spank her when we get home, it'll give you something to look forward to."

I scowl at her laughing face in the mirror as we storm down the drive, watching as Jazz comes up behind her wrapping his long arms around her and burying his face in her hair.

Another, heavier sigh escapes me, I guess she'll be okay for a couple of weeks.

The End