"Didn't we go to Forks literally a few weeks ago?" I asked as I reluctantly packed some of my clothes and cosmetic items into Marcus' suitcase.

Marcus chuckled quietly. "I thought you would be more eager to visit your animal drinking pen pals," he teased.

"I mean, I would be, if we weren't going there for the Chihuahuas as well. They seriously hate us, Marcus, how the hell are we going to convince them to help?" I whined, flopping backwards dramatically onto the bed. I heard one of the wood planks underneath it crack which only caused me to groan more.

He pulled my lazy form up to my feet and wrapped his arms around me so that my head was on his chest. "If anyone can successfully form an alliance with the Quileute shape-shifter packs, you can, il mio tesoro."

"And if I can't?" I questioned.

"I did say if anyone can do so," he reminded me. "I have complete and utter faith in you, and you have done nothing but exceeded my expectations as queen thus far."

My arms came to encircle his torso. "You must've had some seriously low expectations then, cinnamon roll," I giggled.

"Oh no, not at all. My expectations were always high, from the very beginning," he assured me.

"What, even when you knew me as just the shy, clumsy, lacking in common sense, nightmare of a human being who happened to somehow be your true mate?" I laughed.

He grasped my chin and tilted it upwards so that my gaze met his. "There is no need to talk about yourself in that way. You are nothing but perfection to me, and damn anyone who convinces you otherwise."

I smiled at his words and cuddled him tightly. "I love you," I breathed.

"I love you too, bellissima, but we'd best hurry up. Aro and Caius will be getting impatient, and I do not want to have to deal with either of them upset for the next 12 hours."

I sighed as I haphazardly tossed another oversized hoodie into the black suitcase. "Can we not just leave those two behind? They're only gonna hold us back."

He laughed. "As wonderful as that suggestion is, I highly doubt you will be able to convince those two to stay here away from you for a week, especially after the stress your visit to Siberia caused the bonds."

"Again, I'm sorry for stressing you out about that, it was a dumb idea . . ." I trailed off, staring guiltily down at the silk sheets.

I felt Marcus kiss my temple. "You did what had to be done, my love." He zipped the suitcase closed in a split second. "Let us not keep my brothers waiting for any longer, shall we?" He smiled, offering his arm.

I giggled and placed my hand over his forearm. "Lead the way, babe."

Once we reached the garage, I was met with the sight of Caius struggling with a foldable baby stroller. With his teeth gritted together, he kicked it a few times before thrusting it over to Santiago who managed to fold it closed with ease.

Meanwhile, Aro was standing well back from the scene with Amethyst sat up in his arms. Her eyes focused and unfocused on a random spot in the distance as she chewed toothlessly on her lower lip. He muttered something in her ear about "papa" being an idiot, which only seemed to piss Caius off further and caused him to tremble in rage.

Before the situation escalated any further, I stepped forward and lent Caius a hand with all of the baby stuff as we piled it into the boot of the car with Santiago's assistance.

"Need any help?" I offered, picking up a tub of formula milk.

Caius grumbled something incoherent and snatched the formula from me. "Amethyst has more luggage than the 4 of us combined."

"Well, she is a baby, honey," I laughed. "Babies are very high-maintenance."

"I am aware of that," he snapped. I knew he was simply stressed, so I didn't take his harshness to heart. "But doesn't this seem unnecessary? For instance, do we truly need to bring items such as this?" He lifted the baby bouncer out of the boot.

"Uh, yeah," I answered matter-of-factly. "Unless she's with one of us, she only falls asleep properly if someone's bouncing her in this bad boy. I'm not really in the mood to deal with a crying baby all week, especially since we have no idea how she'll react to this many new faces at once."

I grabbed the bouncer back from him and fit it snugly between the stroller and a box of diapers. He assessed the now fully packed boot and his eyebrows furrowed together.

"Doesn't she need somewhere to sleep?" he questioned.

I waved my hand nonchalantly. "Bella's going to let us borrow Nessie's old cot since she only used it for a few nights. That's hybrid babies for you," I shrugged.

"Why should I allow my daughter to sleep in a bed that hybrid girl slept in?" Caius seethed.

"Oh, chill your beans." I rolled my eyes and took Marcus' suitcase from the side of the car to fit it in somewhere between the remaining luggage. "We're only going to be there for a week-ish. Besides, weren't you the one who was all like, 'this baby has more luggage than the 4 of us combined, what are we gonna do?'." I mimicked his voice hysterically and waved my arms around wildly.

"I do not sound like that," he snarled.

"I am afraid my brother is correct, tesoro, that impression was appalling with no accuracy whatsoever," Marcus laughed as he stepped past me from behind.

"I'd like to see you do a better job," I challenged with my hands resting on my hips.

Marcus proceeded to speak the next sentence in an immaculate Caius impression. "Your Caius impression sounded like Squidward from Spongebob Squarepants rather than my brother, to be frank. And yes, I do understand several pop culture references, thank you. I may be old, but I do keep up to date with these things. My point is you are terrible at impersonating Caius."

"Well, I'm sorry I'm not a man," I quipped, jumping up to grab the door to the boot and close it. "Name any woman and I'll do their voice then."

I spotted Chelsea jumping up and down on the spot out of the corner of my eye. "Ooh, do me, do me!" she squealed.

I rolled my eyes and giggled. "See, Chelsea's voice isn't as hard as Caius', because blondie talks like he's always in pain and my voice is too high-pitched for that," I said in Chelsea's voice.

Marcus nodded in appraisal. "Not bad at all, bellissima."

Aro then stepped over to the car, carrying Amethyst with him. He appeared to be humming something to her, and it sounded soothing like a lullaby at first, but at further inspection, I realised he was humming the chorus of Super Bass by Nicki Minaj.

I raised an eyebrow at him and stared at him blankly. "Aro."

He spun on his heel and a timid expression briefly washed over his features. "Yes, cara mia."

"Care to tell me what song you were humming to Amethyst just a second ago?" I asked with a knowing smirk.

He paused for a moment and then ducked his head down with a sigh. "I had that song stuck in my head on repeat 4 days ago and when I hummed it near this principessa, she enjoyed it rather a lot and ceased her hysterical crying."

"What song, brother?" Caius asked.

I snorted and placed a hand over my mouth to answer. "Super Bass by Nicki Minaj."

Marcus cackled from where he was leaning on the side of the car, bracing himself with his hands on his knees so that he didn't trip over from how hard he was laughing. Caius smirked tauntingly at him, while I tried and failed to stay composed like a supportive mate.

"Oh, laugh away brother," Aro snapped coldly at Marcus, not that the brunette seemed bothered by his tone. "At least I know what keeps Amethyst quiet."

After a few calming breaths, Marcus attempted to speak. "M-maybe you should play that song on repeat on the intercom system through the castle if you are both so fond of it!" he howled a hearty laugh with his hand over his stomach.

I gasped playfully. "We should make it our ringtones!" I squealed.

My comment only added to Marcus' amusement, and I found myself laughing along with him, leaning against his shoulder for support before I had the chance to tumble to the ground. Even Caius had started snickering with us now, both at my joke and at Aro's embarrassed frown.

"Alright, alright," I giggled, "maybe that's enough torturing poor Aro for one day."

The other two reluctantly nodded and got back to assisting in the preparation of the car. We continued in silence for a few moments before the chorus to Super Bass started playing from Caius' phone. This set the three of us off again in fits of laughter, and I could see how badly the guard wanted to laugh along with us. The only reason they didn't was because they were fond of having their heads on their shoulders where they belonged.

I noticed Aro again looking timid out of the corner of my eye and stepped over to him to hug him tightly, being mindful of the tiny human between us. "Oh Aro, we're just teasing baby."

He nodded and attempted to chuckle. "I understand, piccola."

"I mean, at least Amethyst will have good taste in music," I laughed. "Someday, you two can rap Super Bass together, a fun lil' father-daughter bonding activity."

"I'd like to think her taste in music will exceed Nicki Minaj." He frowned at the name as he spoke.

Now that our luggage was loaded, Aro climbed into the middle row of seats in the car first to strap Amethyst in. I jumped in and sat down beside her, while Aro settled down on the other side. He pulled out the hair tie that had been holding his hair up, causing his black locks to tumble down his face.

Since there was little space due to the amount of us travelling plus luggage, Marcus sat in the front passenger seat beside Demetri while Caius was forced to sit in the cramped back seat with Santiago. This caused Caius to continually complain.

For the whole journey.

Once we got to the airport, the familiar plane was already parked and ready on the runway. While Demetri, Santiago, and a few lower guards unloaded the luggage from the car onto the plane, I quickly unstrapped Amethyst and carried her out of the car, following my mates inside.

"Are you completely certain she'll be okay with the air pressure and all?" I asked Marcus while shushing the crying baby in my arms.

"She will be fine," Marcus assured, side-glancing at me over his shoulder. "It is only one journey, and we have everything she should need."

The other three settled in our usual seats, but I remained standing, holding Amethyst with my eyebrows drawn confusedly. "So, where exactly were you planning on Amethyst sitting?" I questioned.

They glanced between each other expectantly, but none of them seemed able to provide an answer. I saw Marcus pull a parenting book from the inside of his coat pocket and rolled my eyes as he flipped through the illustrated pages.

"It is perfectly safe for her to sit on your lap," Marcus answered proudly, tucking the book away again and crossing one leg over the other.

I sighed and sat down beside Caius. "Of course it's my lap, it's always my lap," I muttered under my breath.

"If you are not going to appreciate the joy of sitting with little Amethyst, I will hold her," Aro snarked, stealing her from where she had been perched on my lap and settling her down on his.

The plane rumbled to life and, just as it did so, the motion must've caused Amethyst to feel nauseated. Her mouth opened and she threw up the contents of her stomach, and Aro was only just able to catch it with a muslin cloth, some of the liquid dripping onto his expensive coat. Good thing you brought a spare change of clothes for everyone, Eli.

He glanced down to examine himself and turned his nose up at the mess on his clothes. "Was that truly necessary, Amethyst?"

"Those are not the words of someone who is 'appreciating the joy of sitting with little Amethyst', brother," Caius teased.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

Author's note: Yay, Forks trip! This chapter is more of a filler chapter than anything, but it was still quite funny to write, especially with Aro humming Super Bass to Amethyst. I worry about myself sometimes.

Before I leave, just one more very important message I feel I should talk about. Two days ago, there was an explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, which destroyed much of the city. Just under 3000 tonnes of Ammonium Nitrate, commonly used as an explosive, was being stored unsafely in a warehouse. Currently, 113 people have been confirmed dead and over 4000 injured. The country is also currently going through the worst economical crisis it has seen, and my thoughts go out to the people and families affected.

The best way anyone can help is by sharing and donating, which can be done through the Lebanese Red Cross. Thank you.

Anyway, thank you so much for reading, be sure to leave some feedback because I love to read your thoughts, stay safe, and ily lots!