I live!

I stretched my arms and back before rolling over to throw my arm around Jared's torso. He let out a quiet mumble before adjusting himself in his sleep to curl around me. I smiled to myself, reveling in the warmth of his body before I had to inevitably get out of bed and face the workday.

Hoping to get a few more minutes of sleep I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath of Jared. As soon as I felt myself drift into the strange in between of asleep and awake the bedroom door slammed open and Liam was lightly slapping Jared's face.

"Dad." He demanded, his slapping getting faster. I pretended to be asleep, hoping that if I ignored him long enough and Jared slept through the attack that Liam would leave us be. "Dad." His demanding voice got progressively whinier before he let out a frustrated cry and stomped out of the room. I let out a relieved breath.

Jared shifted, and when I craned my head up to look at him, he had one eye cracked. "Do you think," he whispered conspiratorially, "If we pretend to be asleep, he'll leave us alone?"

I nodded sagely. "It worked once. The odds are in our favor." His lips quirked.

"I love my kids." He said, "I do. But I often wish that they were more willing to sleep in. They make me crazy. There is nothing that I want more than to stay in bed with you."

I smiled and leaned up to kiss his jaw. "I understand. Oh- shh." I hushed. Small footsteps approached the door. We snapped our eyes shut and tried not to laugh at one another.

"Dad." Liam said in a very calm voice, "And Bella. I encourage you to wake up, because I do not want to wake you up the hard way." He approached the bed. He slapped Jared's face once more and when he gave no reaction, Liam chose to pull the comforter off our bed Neither Jared nor myself reacted to the cold air.

Liam sighed heavily, attempting a different tactic. He made his way to my side of the bed and shoved his cold hands into my neck. It was shocking and uncomfortable and if I had been asleep, I absolutely would have jerked awake. But I was not asleep. I kept my face composed, even when I felt Jared's chest moving in silent chuckles beneath me.

"Bella." He whined, "Please get up! I want to eat a nice breakfast today. No cereal. I want to eat your yummy waffles! They're my favorite. Please? With strawberries on top?" he waited a moment for a reaction, and I almost did give in to his sweet voice, but I was learning his dirty tricks of flattery.

"Ugh, Fine." He said, climbing into the bed behind me, and grabbing my arm roughly from Jared's chest before roughly inserting himself between the two of us. Neither of us budged. Jared even let out a gruff snore to make it more believable. If Liam had been any older, it would not have worked.

Liam tried several different tactics, like shoving his frozen toes between our calves, lightly biting Jared's arms, and more whining. When none of this worked, he seemed resigned to his fate, settling down and wrapping his arms around Jared in a tight hug. This was nice. Maybe he had decided he'd rather cuddle with his dad, which as rare now that he was older. A few moments passed in silence, a false sense of comfort, before he took a deep breath in and yelled "Amelia, I'm in!"

My eyes snapped open as Amelia Ann came barreling into the room, jumping on the bed and reaching her arms into my armpits and starting to tickle. I pretended to squirm, but I'm not actually ticklish so it was all for show.

"Tickle monster!" She shrieked.

Jared let out a yelp as Liam began to also tickle under his arms, but before either of us could say anything Liam yelled "Listen to our demands and we will spare you!"

Jared, who was extremely ticklish, laughed, trying in vain to shove the young boy off of him. "Never!" He managed to get out. I reached my arms out and flipped Lia over and started to tickle her.

"You've got an ally down, Liam! Give up now!" I said in a villainous voice.

His eyes flicked to me before he moved his hands from Jared's arm pits to his neck. "Let her go, and I'll let him go!" he said.

Jared was laughing, weakly trying to grab at Liam's little arms, clearly letting him win a bit. "Don't- don't do it, Bella!" Jared pleaded, "Don't give in!"

"Let him go." I insisted again, moving my hands from Lia's neck to her arm pits, making her cry out in laughter.

"Liam! Don't do it!" Lia called as best she could, "Don't let dad go!"

"I won't!" Liam yelled back. "Ellie, codeword orange!"

Jared and I exchanged smiles; I'm sure he had been wondering where his youngest was, as well.

A shrill battle cry broke through the laughter before I was attacked from behind. Suddenly, her my was wrapped in a small set of arms and my balance was off. It was just what Lia had needed to gain the upper hand.

While I was preoccupied in making sure my body weight did not fall on the girl behind me, Lia scrambled from my hold and attacked me from the front. Lia and Ellie tag teamed me before I was ultimately forced to concede to the two little girls.

"We surrender!" Jared shrieked, "We surrender. What are you demands? We'll give you whatever you want."

"You fought valiantly. You deserve it" I agreed, catching my breath. "Though, you are a big, ticklish, wimp, Jar."

"Yeah, you wimp!" Lia yelled.

"Don't teach our kids to call me names, Bella." Jared smiled at me.

My heart warmed when he referred to his children as ours. Ever since I had met this man and his children, my heart had been full, and warm. We had been dating for a year now, and I have never loved anyone in this world the way I love the man beside me and the children he has chosen to share with me.

As his-our-children were whining and griping about what their demands were, I reached my hand out and grabbed for Jared's. He was still laying down, but his hand automatically found mine and wrapped it in his warm embrace. He smiled at me. His hair was splayed on the beneath him on the pillow; he looked handsome, content. He reached his free hand out and brushed a strand of hair from my face.

"You have bedhead." he whispered, his smile Turing impish.

"Shut up." I whispered back.

"Never."

"Okay!" Lia said, "We've come to a decision of our victory prize."

Ellie nodded her head, hair bouncing eagerly around her face. "Yeah!"

"What is it?" Jared asked, eyes flicking to each of his children.

"We want ice cream for breakfast today."

I put a finger to my lips. It was a Sunday, and we didn't have plans today. And we did say they could have anything they wanted. Jared and I sighed simultaneously, knowing this battle had been lost.

"We can do that. Today only." Jared agreed.

"On one condition." I added, causing the kids to groan. "It's only 7:45. You'll get tummy aches if you eat so much sugar this early. So, we'll have ice cream for breakfast at 10."

Liam groaned. "What will we do until then?"

I laid back down, my neck resting on Jared's arm. "Well, I'm going to lay down."

"Me too." Jared nodded eagerly.

"I want to lay down with mom and dad too!" Ellie said, warming my heart. She cuddled up right into my side. "Come on, Lia, Liam! Lay down lay down!"

Liam and Lia sighed before giving up and finding a comfortable spot on the bed. Jared reached over for the remote, switching on a cartoon for the kids to enjoy.

My face was in the crook of his neck, and my arm was around Ellie at my side. Jared's hand idly stroked through my hair, making me drowsy.

"You know, for someone who says ice cream for breakfast 'today only', you give into the ice cream for breakfast request pretty often." I said quietly with a peck on his cheek.

"I do not." he disagreed.

"We had ice cream for breakfast last Friday." I insisted.

"That was special."

"And last month."

He was silent for a moment. "You're right." he sighed, "I just like ice cream."

"It's not healthy." I laughed.

"No," he agreed. "But it's good memories for them."

Memories.

I have a lot of memories. I have many memories of Rene and Charlie. I have memories of old friends, and new ones. Memories of Edward and his family. Memories of cold hands and words. Memories of the pack. Memories of Jacob. Painful memories, sad memories, memories of waiting for the other shoe to drop, memories I'd rather forget.

I had memories of Jared, slotting himself in my coffee table. Memories of an absolute shift in my world, the moment I met his eyes. Memories of warmth. Memories of completeness.

Memories of rightness.

I whispered, "You're right."

and he is.