SORRY!!! I made a mistake in one of my reviews from last chapter. I thought today's chapter was Alice giving birth to the twins. That's actually next Saturday's chapter. So sorry for the confusion. I've been editing that chapter, trying to get it perfect and it made me forget that Emmett wanted a say. But I remembered, and here Emmett is. Although, he's a bit different from the one we normally see...Read on and you'll see what I mean.

DISCLAIMER: The characters do not belong to me…they are all the creation of the wonderful Stephenie Meyer.

Sunny Santa Cruz

Emmett's POV

White sand, blue water, and my Rosie in an itty, bitty, red bikini. Damn it was a heart-stopping sight. I'd finally given her a surprise she liked, planning and pulling off a weekend getaway to Santa Cruz, California. Rosie had loved getting to swim in warm waters and tan on a real beach during our honeymoon in Hawaii, so I'd decided to give her that experience again. Only, I couldn't afford that big of a trip, so the Pixie had helped me to plan this much closer and cheaper one.

Not that it was any less amazing to me, sitting here and taking in the view that was my wife. Every inch of her skin was glistening with her tanning oil and it was taking everything in me to keep my hands to myself.

"Casey!" some lady screamed, laughing as she ran after a little girl with pigtails.

And there went my lusty thoughts of my wife, replaced with that empty feeling I had every time my daughter left my sight.

"Stop it," Rose mumbled, not even looking up at me. "Lily is perfectly fine. She's with Jasper and Alice, and she's probably having a blast getting my brother to chase her all over that condo of theirs."

"I'm not doing anything," I lied. "I'm just working on keeping my hands to myself instead of putting them all of your body."

"Em, baby, I've been with you long enough to know when bullshit is coming out of your mouth."

"It was only one second," I defended. "That lady shouldn't have run by here with her little girl. There's all this beach and she's passing in front of me."

Rose snorted. "Right. Because she knows exactly who you are and how to press your buttons."

"Do we have any of those sandwiches left?" I asked, digging through the cooler and hoping to change the subject.

"There should be," she replied, turning her head and swinging those long strands of blonde hair of hers.

I forgot all about my sandwich and settled down on the beach blanket with her, running my fingers through her hair. She gave out a throaty moan, teasing me on purpose.

I chuckled and leaned down, nibbling at her neck. "You shouldn't do that in public if you expect me to behave."

"You're going to behave anyway. You know how much I'm enjoying my birthday gift from you and you won't do anything to wreck it."

"No, I won't," I agreed, kissing her bare shoulder. "So I finally did good, huh?"

Rose turned and wrapped her arms around me, smiling wide. "Em, you do sweet things for Lily and me all of the time. It doesn't bother me that you aren't as romantic as Edward, or as thoughtful as Jasper. If I'd wanted a guy like that, I would have married that kind of guy. What I wanted was someone who was adventurous, fun-loving, and sweet." Her fingers tangled in my hair and she roughly pulled my face to hers, kissing me with those amazing, ruby red lips of her. "I wanted you and I got you."

I grinned at her, my fingers toying with the edge of her bikini top. "So you're still happy with me almost five years later?"

"There's just too much of you to not be," she teased. Her tongue slipped out of her mouth and flicked across my lips, making me forget all about behaving as I pulled her right on top of me.

"Emmett," she laughed, slapping my shoulder. "Let's go swim."

"Alright," I agreed, jumping to my feet with her planted on my shoulder.

"Em, put me down," she laughed, slapping at my abs with her soft hands.

"I will. When we get to the water," I promised her.

She growled at me and before I could get her onto the ground, she bit me just above my hip, making me yelp. We fell into the sand together and she laughed as she dug her knee into my shoulder, getting back up to her feet. "If I didn't love you so much, I'd drown you," she warned.

"Don't I know it," I chuckled, jumping up to my feet. I took her hand and held it tightly in mine, swinging it between us as we started walking toward the water again. "You look beautiful, Rosalie."

She blushed and reached her free hand up, tucking her hair behind her ear. I didn't even know if anyone else was aware she could blush. She was always so cool with everyone, but when it was just us two, and I said the right words, she would blush, letting me know I'd melted her heart a little.

"Hey, baby, do you remember our wedding?"

Rose's perfect eyebrow arched up as her blue eyes studied me. "Why? Have you forgotten it?"

I smiled and pulled her close, hugging her to my side. "It's one of a few perfect days in my life. I could never forget a second of it."

"What are your other perfect days?"

"My first date with you, the night I proposed, the day you told me you were pregnant, and the day Lily was born."

We'd waded out far enough that the water was up to Rose's neck. She held onto my forearms and arched her body back, wetting her hair in the warm water. She stood up straight, smoothing her wet hair with her hands and laughing a little. "God, this water feels great."

"I'm so glad you're enjoying this trip, Rosie. I really wanted you to have a great vacation and birthday. I wanted you to know how much I appreciate you and everything you do for Lily and me."

"I do know. You show me every day even if you forget to tell me." She wrapped her arms around my neck, smiling and drawing me closer. "So how are you planning to show me tonight?"

"Dinner and dancing, baby," I said with a grin. I lowered my head and put my lips at her ear. "And in a brand new dress Alice assures me you'll enjoy as much on as you will off."

"Promises, promises," she sighed, resting her face against my chest.

I held her close, letting us drift back toward the shore and just enjoying the silence with her. Everyone thought our relationship was just sex and Lily, but we had our quiet times, too. We could just be together and be happy with that as easily as Jasper and Alice, or Edward and Bella.

Thoughts of my little sister tried to creep in and I pushed them away, refusing to think about the last four weeks. This trip was about Rosie, and I was going to stay focused on her.

We stayed on the beach for most of the day, only leaving to head back to the little beach house I'd rented for us so we could shower and change for dinner. Alice had told me that there were certain times of day that were considered more romantic than others, so she'd helped me to make reservations at a seafood restaurant. We'd be sitting out on the deck during sunset, eating shrimp and having drinks, and apparently having a romantic time.

I draped the towel over my wet hair so I could pull out the khaki pants and white polo Alice had helped me buy for tonight's dinner. Rose was getting dressed in the bathroom, keeping me from seeing the dress Alice had picked out until it was on her body.

My cell phone decided to ring just as I started putting on my pants. I hopped over to the dresser, trying not to break my neck as I finally got my pants to cover my ass. "Yellow?" I answered.

"Are we having a wild and crazy time at the beach?" Alice asked, laughing a little.

"Who do you think you're talking to, Pixie?" I laughed.

"Well, you have to be behaving yourself at least a little since there haven't been any calls from jail yet," Alice chuckled.

"So what do you want?"

"Nothing. Lily, however, is a different story. She wants to talk to you and wouldn't take 'no' as an answer."

"Exercising her princess power," I chuckled. "Put her on the phone for me."

There was some crackling on their end and then my little girl's sweet voice. "Daddy?"

"Hey, Lily Bear. Are you having fun with Aunt Alice and Uncle Jasper?"

"Daddy, come back?"

"I'll be back in a couple of days, baby girl. Me and mommy both."

"Baby cry, Daddy."

"What baby? Is Aunt Bella there?"

"Bewwa and Ehwor."

"That's good. I bet you're having so much fun with them. Daddy loves you, but he has to go bye-bye now."

"Daddy, home?"

"No, baby girl. Can you put Aunt Alice on the phone?"

"Amice!" Lily cried out. "Amice!"

"Thank you, Sweetie," Alice said as she took the phone. "Em?"

"Yeah, I'm still here. So Edward and Bella are there with the baby?"

"Yes, they are. They came with my parents."

"How's she doing?"

"She's okay. She's a little tired now since they've been here almost the whole day, but she seems happy to be here."

"Good. That's real good. You tell her I said 'hey' then and we'll talk to you later."

"Emmett Swan, how long do you plan to keep avoiding your sister?" Alice fussed.

"I'm not avoiding her at all. I'm just trying to let her rest and heal without adding excitement."

"Sure," Alice sighed. "Men can be so stupid, but whatever. Have fun with Rose tonight. Lily is perfectly fine and not missing you nearly as much as she made it seem. See you guys tomorrow." She hung up the phone before I could say anything else.

"Emmett Swan, put that phone down," Rosalie ordered, making me jump. "I swear to God if you make our daughter start crying and miss you, I'm going to hurt you."

"Hey, she called me," I said, dropping the phone onto the bed. "And I didn't let her stay on the phone long either."

"How is our baby?"

I smiled, pleased that she was missing our daughter just as much as I was. "She's good. Carlisle and Esme are visiting there, along with Edward and Bella, and the baby."

"Oh, that's good. I'm sure Bella is enjoying being out of the house. Did you talk to her?"

"Nah, didn't have enough time. Didn't want Lily to get upset that we weren't there. Besides, we have reservations."

Rose looked at me a little weird, but then she shrugged her shoulders and seemed to let whatever thought she had go. Damn women in my life always reading into things. Bella needed quiet and relaxation and I wasn't either of those, so I was giving her some space. You better damn well believe that as soon as she was back to normal, I'd be over there, spoiling the hell out of my nephew.

Without all of those annoying thoughts in the way, I was able to take a good, long look at my wife. She was in this dress that looked like it was just floating against her body. It was a silvery kind of color and she looked amazing in it.

She saw me looking and she gave me a devilish smile, hiking up the side of her dress and showing me the very thin strap to her matching underwear.

The second I took a step forward, she dropped the material and waved her hand at me. "Oh, no, baby. That was just incentive to keep you behaving during dinner," she said.

"You're evil, woman," I told her, having to adjust these stupid pants.

"Thank you, baby," she said, blowing me a kiss. "Ready for dinner?"

"I'm ready for a lot more than that, but dinner will do for now," I chuckled, putting my arm out for her.

She wrapped her much smaller one around it and pressed her lips to my cheek softly. "You look nice, Em."

"Baby, they haven't even invented a word for how damn amazing you look," I told her, getting her to blush again.

Dinner was a fun time, filled with Rose's easy laughter as she sat with her feet propped up on my legs and her girly drink in her hands. I regaled her with all of my football practice stories that I knew she didn't really care for, and she laughed at them all just to humor me. Or maybe she was laughing at the way I kept forgetting what I wanted to say as I stared into those blue eyes of hers.

After dinner was over, we started walking toward the area with the clubs, but Rose surprised me and changed her mind. She wanted to walk on the beach in the moonlight, just the two of us. I held her hand tightly in mine, and her shoes with my other one, listening closely to whatever she was willing to share with me. Something about the way she talked had always managed to hold my attention, and it had been that way from the first time I'd seen her.

I'd met Jasper at the gym—we'd both been in the weight training program—and he'd invited me over to hang at his house one afternoon. We'd casually glossed over our family stuff, each of us saying we had a sister, but not really getting into anything too personal. We were guys and we just didn't do that crap.

So Jasper and I had gone to his house and started up his video game system, taunting the hell out of each other and trading playful jabs. Rosalie had come sauntering in there, fussing about the noise and that had been all there was to it. I was lost just from those few aggravated words and the way her hand hugged her hip. I'd never been shy around a girl, but with Rose, it had taken me forever to get up the nerve to ask her out. She'd just seemed so damn classy and I doubted she would be interested in a goof like me. But I'd finally put myself out there and she'd rewarded me in more ways than I could count.

I leaned down a little and kissed Rose's cheek, getting her to walk a little closer to me at the same time.

She smiled and wrapped both of her arms around mine. "You know, I was thinking that if Lily does well with the potty training, then we could start talking and planning for another baby. Getting to hold Charlie and smell that baby scent made me remember how much I loved that stage with Lily."

"Nah, we have time for that later," I said. I'd been dropping hints to Rosie about another baby on and off throughout Bella's pregnancy, but now…Now, I wasn't as ready for that as I'd thought I'd been. "Besides, didn't you say something about wanting to take some classes when the spring semester rolls around next January?"

"Yeah, but I could always take them later.

"No, don't put it off, Rosie. You've already put off a lot for Lily and me."

"What happened to all that 'we need to give Lily a brother' talk you were spouting not too long ago?" she asked, laughing a little. I didn't say anything back, but apparently I didn't need to. "Em, you know it won't be like that for me. It wasn't the first time and it won't be any other time we want to have a baby. There's a slight chance for miscarriage in the first trimester, but once I'm past that, it's smooth sailing."

"It's got nothing to do with the Squirt. We just have a lot going on with Bella's new baby and Alice will be popping those twins out before we know it. Lily's going to feel enough like her attention is being stolen when we're at family stuff. The last thing she needs is to feel that at home too. We'll just wait another year or so, just like we originally planned."

Rose tugged on my arm and stopped me from walking. "Baby, I know you don't like to be the emotional one, but you're entitled to your share of it, you know. Your sister nearly—"

"Don't go there, Rosalie. We're having a nice vacation and celebrating your birthday. I don't want to talk about anything other than that."

"Avoiding it isn't going to relieve that fear of yours."

"I don't fear a fuckin' thing. I'm Emmett Swan. I can kick anyone's ass that I want."

"Except for death," she said softly, rubbing her hand up and down my arm. "It's like you've forgotten that I lost my parents, too. And that I fear for Jasper's life almost every day. He goes out onto those construction sites, and he's crawling around up there in his own house."

"You're a chick. You get all bent out of shape about that stuff."

Rose's hand flew up and smacked the back of my head so fast that I didn't even have time to duck a little.

"Alright," I sighed, rubbing the back of my head. "I might have deserved that a little."

"You know the only thing about you that really, truly pisses me off is when you get that muscle-bound idiot mentality and try to act all stony with me. I know you have a heart, and it's big and beautiful, and one of my favorite things about you, Emmett."

"What do you want from me, Rosalie?" I asked, getting annoyed with her just because she was calling me on my bluff. "I bring you here, give you a great weekend away for your birthday, and you want to talk about sad crap. I'm just trying to have a good time with you."

"And you plan to accomplish that by being an ass and pretending you aren't upset and hurting over your little sister?" she asked, her hands on her hips as her blue eyes bore into me.

"Edward's doing enough for us all, believe me."

Rosalie hauled off and slapped the hell out of my face, even managing to move my head a little. That was the first and only time she'd ever done that and I just sort of stared at her, not quite believing she'd done it. "Just because he's not afraid to let people know he can hurt and bleed, doesn't make him any less of a man than you are. When you're just joking around, that's one thing. But to say in that way and make it sound like he's some sort of weaker person because he's freaking over nearly losing his wife…I thought you were better than that, Emmett."

"Rosie, I didn't mean it that way. I swear I didn't."

"Tell me what you did mean then."

"Just that, he's feeling so bad and he has a right to it, so I don't really think there's room for me to come along and whine about anything. I mean, it happened to them, Rosie. They're the ones who almost lost each other and can't have kids together anymore."

"She's your sister and you almost lost her, too."

"Yeah, well…It's not right, Rosie. I'm the one who was the screw-up growing up with Charlie and Renee. I was the one always having to get picked up from detention and grounded and stuff. Bella was the good kid, making good grades and doing what she had to be a responsible person. She's the one who was supposed to have any sort of life she wanted, including having as many babies as she wanted. She wasn't supposed to have complications and nearly die. She's too good for all of that crap."

"So you're problem is that you feel guilty you've had an easier time than she has?"

"Yeah, I guess so," I agreed, nodding my head a little. "I took Mom and Dad's deaths better. I partied my way through college, while she worked to pay her way and studied her ass off. She's just never had it easy and that's wrong."

"You're forgetting the things Bella does have."

"Like what?" I grumped, sitting down in the sand.

Rose knelt behind me and wrapped her arms around me, laying her head on my shoulder. "Like a big brother who loves her so much he feels guilty his life seems easier than hers. A husband who loves her so much he would move Heaven and Earth just to see her smile. Two sisters and a brother through marriage that think she's an amazing person and love to be around her. A niece that adores her. Two wonderful people who love her and have become a second set of parents. And now, she has a little boy who will get to know her and love her simply because she lived. It's not a perfect life, but it's still got so many wonderful pieces to it that I'm sure she'll be able to overlook the small things that are missing."

I put my hand over hers and pulled her around until she was in my lap, giving me a real hug. "I love you, Rosalie." That seemed to really be all I could say to her and I just hoped she would hear all the things I couldn't say.

"You're welcome, Em," she sighed, gripping me tighter. Yeah, she'd heard me. This amazing woman who was so damn beautiful it hurt to look at her some days, and she had just as much intelligence, knowing just what I needed to hear.

I was still pretty upset about Bella, but at least I had some idea of how to direct it. When we got home, I was going to pull Edward aside and take over dealing with the house he was having built. He needed to be home with Bella and I needed to do something useful, so it would work out for the both of us.

In the meantime, I needed to show my amazing wife how appreciative I was of her. This was our last night here and I was going to make it one for her to remember. She deserved nothing less for putting up with me and my crap. One long, long night that she could go home and brag about and maybe even blush over—and remember how much I loved her.