AN: So, that whole asking for reviews thing wasn't working for me so I've changed it. Now you just get updates whenever I feel like it, cuz we all know I can't stick to any sort of schedule :P

Here you go, hope you like it!

Feel free to keep hitting review if you want to ;-*


Chapter Four

Emmett's POV

Everyone's gotten so hung up on this thing with our parents. And don't get me wrong, I want to see them happy just as much as the next kid. But honestly, I think all of this has provided a convenient distraction from the issue everyone has been avoiding over the last several weeks.

Jas and Eddie are moving out. Everything is about to change. This little Neverland we've all built here, where we don't have to grow up and face our problems...this cocoon of parentally protected bliss and a continual supply of Esme's Firemen Cookies from Mrs. Claus' Cookbook? That's not gonna last forever. Eventually, we're all gonna have to grow up.

And the future I want for myself is about as elusive and slippery as the eels at the fishmonger Rosie always drags me to. My dreams are not the kind that come true. Not anymore, at least.

I achieved my big dream. The one I had for my career. I had the success and the notoriety. I still even get recognized sometimes when I'm out in the world just going about my day to day business. And I know how huge that is, to have achieved that level of success and I certainly don't take it for granted.

The thing about being a dreamer though is that when you reach for the stars and you actually get there...you don't just stop dreaming. You begin to want other things. Things you can't have. Things you dare not speak of. Things that would make you happier than any one person deserves to be.

The dreams I have now are too precious to voice and I know that they won't come true for me. They can't. Because nobody wins the proverbial lottery twice. It just. doesn't. happen.

We watch the rest of the movie in contemplative silence. I know I dropped a bomb on Rosie with the whole moving out question. I know she's truly thinking about it. And I understand her fears. Believe me, I have all of the same ones. I just hope at the end of the day, we can make a decision that isn't about fear.

I'd like to see us make a decision that is about hope. The hope of possibility. Because I see a lot of potential in the idea of getting out on our own in the big wide world. When I look into that prospective future, I see a glimmer of a shadow of a reflection of the life I ultimately want for myself.

It's not tangible enough to hold onto. At least, not yet. But it could be. One day.

"How come in movies, no one ever says what they mean?" Rose muses about an hour or so into the film.

"They don't in real life, either." I shrug, snuggling Rose up against my side.

"I know, but that's what I mean. If we could just see it, on the screen...if we could just have even one example of what it would look like in a world where people are truly honest with themselves and with others...maybe we'd believe that it's possible. Maybe we'd all be able to work towards those kinds of genuine interactions.

"Like, for instance, in the movies, they always say 'I think that I'm falling in love with you' even when that character has been very obviously head-over-heels for that person for several scenes leading up to that moment. But they feel too vulnerable to say 'I'm head over heels in love with you' because that is such a scary concept. So they tell these little white lies and they don't even feel bad about it.

"I just…wish we lived in a world where it was safe to be the first person to say, 'I am head over heels in love with you.'." She sighs, snuggling down further into the blankets.

"Me too, Rosie. Me too." I whisper.


We must have fallen asleep because it feels much later when Ally comes barging in asking what time we are starting on dinner prep.

I rub my eyes at the brightness of the overhead light she so rudely flicks on without warning, as Rose runs a hand through her disheveled yet still beautiful hair.

"What time is it?" She asks Alice.

"Five o'clock but I'm not sure how long everything takes to prepare. You're the organizer here, so come on...organize!" Alice giggles, clapping her hands in a 'chop-chop' fashion.

"Shit, yeah, we must've fallen asleep," Rose groans, dragging herself out of my bed. "I'm gonna go shower and then I'll be down."

"Oh puh-leeze, why don't you just shower with Emmett? We all know you want to." Alice teases.

"Okay, out of here, Pixie, or I'll grind your bones to make my bread," I grumble in my best big scary giant voice.

"Don't grind your bone, Em! Rose may need it!" Ally giggles, tearing off down the stairs before we can throw anything at her.

Rose rolls her eyes and kisses my forehead before leaving. "I'll see you downstairs in a bit." Her smile is somewhat subdued as she shuffles off to her room to get ready for the evening.

I jump in my own shower, running it cold and refreshing, to wake myself up all the way. Afterward, I towel off and put on one of those tight sexy sweaters and a pair of dark wash jeans over charcoal boxers.

I run my hands through my hair, leaving it damp, and finish off with a splash of cologne. I look in the mirror and make the finger guns. "Hey, Sexy." I grin back at myself with a wink. Nothing wrong with a little well placed confidence.

I take the stairs two at a time, rolling my sleeves up as I arrive in the kitchen. Bells hands me an apron that says 'Grills just wanna have fun' and I giggle. "That's adorable."

"What can I do to help?" I ask Rose, kissing her on the cheek as she looks over her menu plans for the evening.

"You're going to be in charge of the grill. And the rents are back in the hot tub, so that also means you're on eavesdropping duty, m'kay?" Rose advises.

"I don't know if I feel comfortable with that," I admit.

"You don't have to report back to us with everything they say or anything like that," Ally encourages. "Just let us know if there is anything that affects Operation Parent Trap."

I wince at the cheesiness of that name. "Seriously? You couldn't have come up with something a little more...original?"

"Would you prefer we call it Operation West Coast, since that is the ultimate goal here then?" Alice offers.

"Actually, yeah, that's a lot better. Plus that way if they ever overhear, they won't know we know about them, just that we're plotting in general." I nod, as rose hands me a giant Tupperware full of marinated steaks.

I make my way out to the grill and fire it up. Once my hands are free, I wave to the rents who wave back at me.

I notice they're not even being all that subtle anymore. I think maybe Rosie was right about them having sex this afternoon because they sure seem a lot more intimate this evening.

Dad and Uncle Carlisle are sitting back to back, using each other as backrests. Aunt Esme is sprawled out with her back against Dad's chest while Uncle Carlisle is in virtually the same position but with Mom.

They seem to be mostly reminiscing, as I keep hearing snippets like "Remember that time…" or "What about when…" there is a lot of laughter, so I assume the trip down memory lane is a positive one.

Once the steaks are lightly seared, I take them back inside where they will rest, and then be chopped to go into the stir fry later. I bring the chicken out to grill next.

Rose is doing an Asian theme for dinner, so I think the steak strips are getting stir-fried with broccoli and some of those wiggly noodles, maybe some mushrooms. I dunno, I didn't look too closely at her plans.

But I do know the chicken kabobs that I am about to grill which have been soaking in a peanut satay sauce are going to be for some kind of a lettuce wrap situation. And I think the shrimp I'll be grilling after these are for something called a salad roll. I'm not too sure but I think those might be the fat, see-thru wrap thingies.

There are spring rolls and egg rolls as well, I know, but the girls are doing those in the oven.

I think the other entree dishes besides the stir-fry are going to be a deep-fried lemon chicken dish, and some kind of sweet and sour pork thingy which I hope has pineapple in it because that is my favorite.

Jasper comes out partway through the chicken cooking. "Hey, Man, how's it going?" He asks, patting me on the back.

"Pretty good. I haven't managed to botch anything so far." I laugh, turning the kabobs.

"Naw, I'd say you're definitely in Rosalie's good books at the moment," Jas agrees. "Hey, speaking of...did you know she asked Eddie for our realtor's contact info a little bit ago?"

All the breath whooshes out of me at that revelation.

"She did?" I blink rapidly trying not to jump to conclusions.

"Yeah, man, she kinda made it sound like you two have been talking about doing something similar to what Ed and I are doing…?" He questions.

"It came up. Briefly. I mean, I brought it up. But I kinda thought she shot it down. So I'll admit I'm a little surprised to hear that she's seriously thinking about it." I shrug, turning my focus back to the chicken until it's time to pull the kabobs off the grill.

"Maybe you convinced her? I mean, economically it's a smart move, rather than trying to go it alone. But I think we both know it's more than that," Jas insinuates.

"Do we, though?" I smile in that forced, slightly sarcastic way with my eyes squinched up.

"Seriously, Man, what is the deal with you two? You know I'm like the least gossipy person in this family, right?" Jas encourages.

As much as it would be nice to open up to someone about all the shit going on in my head, there are a lot of unknowns and uncertainties and I feel like saying anything at this juncture would be a bad idea.

"I could ask you the same thing," I state pointedly instead.

My brother crosses his arms over his chest taking a step back and turning to face me. "Okay then. Ask me. You tell me...and I'll tell you," he challenges.

"If you boys are going to come to blows over there, you might want to step away from the grill. That looks like a reasonably expensive piece of machinery," Dad calls out to us from the hot tub with a smirk.

For a moment, I find myself wanting to live in that world that Rose was talking about. The one where everyone just says exactly what they mean all the time and is honest and straightforward. And who knows? Maybe one day, we'll all get to a place where we feel comfortable enough in our own skin to be that real with the people we love. But today? Isn't that day.

"Let's just focus on one thing at a time, huh?" I suggest, gesturing to our parents with my eyes. "We have a mission that's a little bit time-sensitive here and I'm fairly sure opening up Pandora's box would get in the way of that," I remind him.

Jasper raises an eyebrow at me then his eyes shift to the four people in the hot tub and I know he knows the same thing that I know.

We have the opportunity here to give our parents back something precious that has been lost to them for a very long time. We have the opportunity to do a particular kindness for them and improve their quality of life tremendously.

He nods reluctantly, resigned to let the subject drop, for now. "Okay, but I'm asking you again in a few weeks and I'm gonna want a real answer."

I smile, patting him on the back as we both head inside. Me, to exchange the chicken kabobs for the shrimp skewers. Jasper, to grab a bottle of wine and four glasses to take back out to the hot tub for the rents.

I try not to make it too obvious how impressed I am with that move. The only thing better would be if he'd also dropped off some mood music for them. That wouldn't have been quite as subtle though and might have backfired.

They seem relatively pleased with the wine offering and uncork it right away, as I return to my task of grilling the shrimp. Jasper sticks around to keep me company at the barbecue and is chattering about some student who got himself placed on academic probation last week and seemed confused that such a thing could happen.

A while later, Bella scampers out with Ally on her heels and they come sauntering up to the grill. "Hi." Bells grins. "Shrimp's almost done, right?" she confirms.

"Almost, yeah." I nod, getting the platter ready to receive the shrimp skewers.

"Great. Rose sent us out here to check because she wants to start assembling the salad rolls. The lettuce wraps and egg rolls are done already, and the spring rolls are almost done, so she's thinking of putting all the appetizers out soon as like a cocktail hour type offering and then having the entrees ready to go for just after that," Ally explains.

"What time is it? I didn't think the main course was supposed to be served until eightish?" I ponder, sliding the skewers onto the platter.

"It's just after six," Bella explains. "But Mom talked Rose into aiming for entrees at seven instead. Because she wants to take your parents out dancing. It seems like a good idea and something that could benefit the overall plan, so Rose agreed. It sounds like they're going to be checking out a new place where they won't know anyone, so they might feel free to mix it up a bit."

"Huh, okay, cool. I never even saw Aunt Esme go inside though." I chuckle, wondering how the change of plans escaped my notice.

"She didn't, she texted Rose from the hot tub." Alice giggles. "They're having so much fun out here pregaming that they plan on staying put during the appetizer course, then they'll come and join us for the entrees."

I glance at the hot tub which I haven't done for a bit and am mildly surprised (albeit pleasantly so) to see that Mom is seated in Uncle Carlisle's lap, and he is sitting as close as humanly possible to Dad, who has Aunt Esme reclining on his chest with his arms around her waist.

"Damn, if they're already that drunk, maybe they shouldn't be going dancing." I laugh handing the platter of skewers to Bells to take inside so I can get the grill shut down properly and get everything squared away.

"Nah, I think it's more they've just decided they don't care who's watching. I don't think it's the alcohol so much as they've had to keep each other at a proverbial arm's length for twenty-five years and they probably just can't do it anymore now that they're all here together in person," Alice shrugs before following Bells inside.

I finish cleaning the grill and shutting everything down before heading in after the girls. Rose has all the appies out by the time I come in, including the salad rolls which she just finished. Jasper and Edward are making margaritas.

"I seriously hope those are for us, not the parentals, or they'll be too tipsy to go dancing," I smirk.

"Yeah, no, these are for us. I figured while the rents are out, we could have a little party." Jasper grins.

"You just wanna get me drunk so you can pry information out of me." I laugh, getting out the margarita glasses.

"Naw, I feel like that would be more of a straight-up tequila kinda endeavor," Jas admits.

"You know what? Fuck it. Let's all get wasted. It's been years since I've been more than a little drunk. I think we could all stand to let loose a bit tonight, right?" I nod, grabbing salt and cutting up lime wedges.

"You sure about this?" Rose whispers in my ear.

"Yeah, sure. As long as you don't mind? Certain things might come to a head if we do this," I advise.

"Maybe it's time that they do." She sighs, kissing my cheek and taking a shot of tequila.

I feel kind of bad using alcohol to force an open discussion with our siblings, but as Rosie said, she wants to live in a world where people are honest. Sometimes, that kind of world is just a little easier for drunk people to navigate.

Edward takes a tray of appetizers outside for the rents to partake of. Then, rather than sitting just the six of us in the formal dining room without them, we take our cocktail hour antics downstairs to the entertainment room. Jasper puts on an old blues record, Etta James, I think, and we get a game of pool started.

Rosie and I make up one team, Jas and Eddie are the other, and Ally and Bells opt to observe so that they can take turns spelling off Rose when she has to duck out early to start the stir fry and cook the rice. (The other entrees are ready to serve and are keeping warm in the oven for now.)

We decide to play a game that every time we miss a shot in billiards, our team has to take a shot of tequila.

I wouldn't be too concerned if it was just me, but Rose has never taken much of an interest in the game, and Bells is even worse than she is. Ally grew up playing just as much as Jas and I did, but she'll likely choose to miss her shots in order to get drunk.

So basically, it looks like I'm gonna be getting pretty hammered by playing on the girls' team. Of course, Jas and Eddie will probably get pretty wasted too, because Ed is even worse at pool than the girls. As he likes to put it, his hands were made for keys, not cues.

"Gosh, these spring rolls are amazing, Rose!" Bells says between bites as Rose racks and Eddie breaks. "I mean, I can't say I've ever had a bad spring roll, I guess. But you've taken something that's usually pretty decent and turned it into some kind of fancy, melt-in-your-mouth, just the right amount of crisp, delicacy that I'm sadly going to be comparing every other spring roll to 'til the end of time."

Ed's break is...questionable? Not sure if it counts as a miss per se but only two of the balls move. The rest are still just sitting there in the shape of the triangle.

"Yeah, I'd call that a miss." Jas grins, deciding that he and Edward should each take a shot of tequila.

Rose shoots next.

She calls stripes and tries to break up the balls a little more. She does a bit better but there is still a smaller cluster of balls that haven't really gone anywhere and she certainly doesn't sink any stripes.

We each take a shot, and I notice Ally and Bells do too, even though they're technically not playing yet. They're already each about a margarita and a half along on their way to getting nicely toasted, in addition to the shots they'll be taking.

My margarita is barely touched because I don't want to be drunk until Rose is, so I'm kind of lagging intentionally. But I shouldn't have to wait too long. While Jas takes his shot, Rose finishes her first margarita.

Jasper calls solids and sinks three before missing his fourth shot at which point the boys take their tequila. Pretty sure he missed on purpose though, because I've seen Jas clear the entire table on one turn before. It's how he paid most of his living expenses throughout college.

My turn. I decide to miss after sinking two stripes, so Rose and I can take our tequila and she will still have time to take her next turn because after that the girls will need to spell her off so she can go cook the rice and stir fry.

Eddie scratches on his turn, which Jas says means they need to take two shots. I don't normally go in for rules being added partway through a game, but since the primary objective here is just to get drunk, I let it slide.

Rose scratches on her turn too, which I'm fairly certain is intentional and we each take two shots before she kisses me hurriedly and heads upstairs.

"Ha! That was on the mouth! Did everyone see that?" Jas smirks as he takes his turn, sinking two stripes before missing and paying the penalty.

"Oh puh-leeze! You've kissed me on the mouth before. And you're gay. And I'm your sister!" Ally reminds him. I wink at her for jumping to Rose's defense.

"Yeah, but if I wasn't gay, I wouldn't be kissing you on the mouth unless I was being amorous," Jas argues.

"Bella and I kiss on the mouth all the time!" Ally defends.

"Uhh, that's probably not helping your case." Bells giggles. "They already think we're banging, Al."

"Are you saying you're not?" Ed raises an eyebrow in challenge.

"I'm saying...it's none of your fucking business." Bells smiles sweetly in her most sugary tone.

Alice sighs. "Okay, look. I get it. You boys just want to find out if anyone else is as freaky as you are. So how about, if you can admit that the second bedroom in that little ol' house you two are buying is just for show...I will tell you whether or not Bella and I are fucking, okay?" She grins like a Cheshire cat.

"Uhh, Ally, can I have a sidebar?" Bella says, dragging Alice forcibly off to the side. They're out of Jas and Ed's earshot, but well within mine. "Do I get any sort of a say in this?" She frowns.

Ally kisses the top of her head. "The likelihood of them admitting anything? Means it's probably a moot point, but if you'd rather keep them guessing, I can retract the challenge?"

Bella shakes her head. "It's fine, I just would have preferred to be consulted, that's all." She smiles.

"M'kay. I sowwy. Next time, I consuwt you." Ally pouts with a wink.

"I hate to interrupt, but can I take my shot now?" I ask, gesturing lightly with my pool cue to show them they are standing in the way.

"Oops, sorry Em!" Bells laughs, pulling Ally out of the way as they park their butts on the bar stools and finish their second margaritas.

I take my shot and partway through it, Rose calls down that dinner is ready, so I decide not to purposely miss any and successfully clear the table.

"Damnnn," Bells laughs.

"We can play another game after dinner when the rents leave if everyone wants to," Jasper suggests as we set our cues off to the side and head upstairs, drinks in hand.

The hot tub group has come inside and gotten changed into their evening wear for their upcoming outing. They all look a lot younger than they normally do, but I refrain from saying as much because I can't tell if it would be taken as a compliment or an insult.

"Hi Kids! Having fun?" Aunt Esme asks as we all find spots around the table.

They're not even trying to hide it anymore. Dad and Uncle Carlisle are sitting together, with Mom sitting next to Uncle Carlisle and Dad sitting next to Aunt Esme.

"Yeah, we were playing Shots for Shots." I grin.

"Ahh, I remember that game," Dad says, looking into Uncle Carlisle's eyes while he says it.

"Yes, it always had a very interesting outcome, didn't it?" Uncle C shoots back.

Rose brings the last of the entree dishes to the table and takes her seat next to me. "Let's eat, I'm sure everyone is starving."

"Famished," Uncle Carlisle says, giving Dad what I'm fairly certain are his bedroom eyes.

And on that interesting note, we all eat dinner!