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

Babies, Bites, and Streakers…Oh, my!

Edward's POV

"Maaaaa," Charlie yelled while shaking his toy key chain and smacking my leg with it. His yell was cut off by him finally figuring out how to get part of his toy into his mouth. I quickly pulled it out and handed him his pacifier instead.

"What's that all about?" Emmett asked. "He just spent the last ten minutes trying to get his mouth around that thing and the second he figures it out, you ruin his fun."

"He's teething and it's bad for him to chew on hard toys," I explained.

"Teething? Already?" Jasper asked.

I shrugged. "He's five months old now and the first tooth usually shows up between four and seven months, so he's right on schedule. Bella cried last night when she felt the tooth coming out. Her breastfeeding days are numbered."

"I'm shocked she left Charlie with you then," Emmett replied.

"Furniture stores are no place for a baby," I said.

Bella, Alice, Rose, and Esme had all gone out to shop for furniture for our home. It had taken a while, but Bella had finally forgiven me and agreed that we should move into the house by the end of the year. Since she was already going to be upsetting Charlie's schedule by going to work, she figured we should go ahead and move at the same time to keep him from having to adjust twice.

Charlie whimpered and tried to turn over in my arms. He was trying to move around so much more these days and was quickly getting frustrated with his lack of motion. I turned him so that he was looking at me and practicing his standing. His legs still weren't strong enough to really support him, so he was squatting more than standing.

"What's wrong, little man? You're tired of hanging out with Daddy and your uncles already?"

Charlie gave out an annoyed cry and tried to sit down.

"How about your gym? Want to play with it?" I asked him as I moved us to the floor. I set Charlie down on his back and then put his Baby Einstein toy over him. It was shaped to look like a caterpillar and he loved pulling on the pieces to make the music and lights come on—it was a gift from his grandparents and one of his favorites.

"Man, that quieted him right down," Emmett chuckled.

"He loves music just as much as Bella and I do," I said, reaching out and smoothing Charlie's hair down a little. The poor little man was doomed to have hair as unruly as my own.

"You did start him listening to it as soon as possible," Jasper said as he patted Brandon's back, trying to burp him.

Luckily for us, the kids had yet to realize we were the only adults in the house and they were all being very well behaved. Lily was building something with her blocks—she might just take after her Uncle Jasper more than her parents—while Elizabeth was sleeping and Brandon had just finished his bottle.

We had tried being alone with the kids a couple of weeks ago and they'd all revolted on us. Lily had decided to run naked through the house, much to Emmett's horror, while Elizabeth and Brandon had decided to be colicky together, and Charlie had flat out refused to have anything to do with anyone. He wanted his mother and he wasn't about to settle for anything less; I couldn't say that I blamed him. Our wives—and my parents—had enjoyed a very long laugh at our expense on that particular day.

"So is Bells excited to be going back to teaching?" Emmett asked, taking the green block Lily was offering him.

"She has mixed feelings about it, but I think she's mostly excited," I replied. "Leaving Charlie will be hard for her, and I think knowing he'll be with Rose and Lily is a huge help."

"Yeah, Rosie is really excited to have the little man over practically every day," Emmett chuckled. "Won't be long before she's trying to convince Alice to drop the twins off."

"Rosalie has always loved children," Jasper said with a smile. "That was her very first job, you know. She babysat for all of the families on our street. Of course, that usually meant I was helping, but she really did do most of the work, including the diapers. She used to talk about how she was one day going to have a huge family and our parents would have tons of grandkids to spoil." Jasper paused and his smile faded a little. "She stopped babysitting after our parents passed away, and started working on cars instead. Fixing up old cars, banging the dents out of fenders…I think it helped her deal with her anger. I just knew that if she was in the garage with the doors closed, I needed to stay the hell out of there."

"Everyone has their own way of dealing with grief and loss. At least Rosalie was able to channel it into something positive," I told him.

"Yeah, like fancying up that Volvo of yours," Emmett said with a grin. "I still remember the day she messed with the engine and kicked up the horsepower. You looked like you'd died and gone to Heaven."

"At the time, that was the best thing going on in my life," I said honestly.

"And three months later, little Bella waited on our table, taking our orders and stealing Edward's heart," Jasper chuckled. "And finally giving him something other than the Volvo to be infatuated with."

"Bite me, Jazz," I snorted, punching his leg lightly with my fist.

"From the friggin' hickey on your neck, I'd say you've been bitten enough," Emmett said, sounding both amused and annoyed.

"Bella's fault," I said proudly.

"So she's really feeling good then?" Emmett asked.

A smile immediately popped out onto my face as I thought of just how nice it was to finally have my Bella back. "Yeah, Em. She's back to being her confident, teasing, playful self."

"It's been one hell of a year," Jasper said. "Let's try to make the next one calmer, Edward and Emmett."

"Don't call us out like that and leave yourself off," Emmett replied. "You're the big daddy with the twins over there."

"Yep," Jasper said proudly, looking down at Brandon's little face.

"So what'd you get them and the pixie for Christmas?" Emmett asked.

"I got her the same thing I got Bella, Rose, and Esme this year. Gift certificates to that spa they love so much," Jasper told him. "I figured they could all use some relaxation and pampering."

"Oh, goody," Emmett said, rolling his eyes. "We can look forward to another day of babysitting."

"Daddy, look," Lily demanded.

Emmett immediately obeyed, giving his daughter his full attention. "What's up, Princess?"

"Daddy, I build," she said proudly, pointing at the block structure that was as tall as she was.

"Great job, Lily Bear," Jasper told her.

"Now I monster," she giggled. "Rawr!" she yelled, cupping her fingers into claws. She thrust her hands forward and blocks spilled everywhere.

The noise scared the babies and while I attempted to calm Charlie, Jasper was busy with Brandon and Emmett lifted Libby—Elizabeth's official nickname from Lily, and loved by Alice for some reason—out of the playpen, trying to console her.

"Yeah, real bright idea, boys. Let's get married and have families," Emmett said just loud enough to be heard over the cries.

"You know you love it," Jasper challenged.

"Hell yeah," Emmett chuckled. "I just forgot my earplugs at home is all."

"Daddy, I sorry," Lily said, patting his leg to get his attention.

"It's okay, Princess. You didn't know it would scare the babies," Emmett told her. "Thank you for saying you're sorry. That's very nice of you."

She smiled up at him and then turned away, coming over to Charlie and me. "Charlie want block?" she offered, holding a blue one out.

"Not right now, but could you get his blue blanket from the chair?" I asked, pointing toward it.

She nodded excitedly, her curls bouncing all over. She ran as fast as her little legs would carry her to the chair, piled the blanket up in her arms, and then carefully walked back, looking down to make sure she didn't step on the blanket. "Here, Charlie," she said, dropping it next to us.

"Thank you, Lily Bear," I told her, giving her a kiss on her cheek.

She giggled and then skipped off to the corner to put away her blocks. She might look a lot like Emmett, but she definitely had Rosalie's kind heart and sweet personality.

"I'm going to take the little man upstairs and see if I can get him down for a nap," I said to Jasper and Emmett as I got up from the floor.

"Traitor," Emmett said, grinning at me. "Leave us alone down here, outnumbered."

"We're already outnumbered," Jasper reminded him.

"See you guys in a bit," I chuckled, heading up the stairs with Charlie. I grabbed his book from his room and then took him into mine, leaning back on the couch with Charlie and his blanket on my chest. "Want to finish reading about Pooh Bear?" I asked, holding the book for Charlie to see the cover.

He tossed out a few nonsense words and then slapped his hand against the book—that was a good enough version of "yes" for me.

"Let's see…I think Mommy stopped with Pooh Bear being stuck in the tree," I said, flipping around to find the right page.

As I read, Charlie would move his head around, sometimes staring at the pages in the book and sometimes looking up at me. And occasionally, that hand of his would find its way up to my lips before I could catch it. According to the baby book, he was just trying to figure out how the words were coming from my mouth, but that didn't mean it was nice to have fingers suddenly pulling on your lips.

It took almost two chapters before his eyes finally slipped closed and he stopped struggling against his sleep. I tucked his blanket around him a little better and then waited to see if he was completely out before moving him to his crib. He was used to Bella putting him down and was hardly ever satisfied with the way I did it.

Holding him like this, it was easier to tell just how much he'd grown lately and I started feeling guilty all over again for Bella going back to work. She wanted to feel like she was sharing the responsibilities with me, but all I wanted was for her to be here with Charlie, enjoying these moments with him. I would just have to talk to her about it again, and hope she might be more receptive to the idea now that she wasn't upset about the house.

Bella's POV

"Honey, I'm home," Alice chirped as she skipped through the front door of the house. "Damn! Edward's not around to call me 'dear' and welcome me back," she pouted.

"Allow me," Rose chuckled. She cleared her voice and then lowered it. "I'll be right down, Dear."

"Clearly you ladies had a good shopping experience," Jasper said, grinning at his wife and sister.

"Bella didn't complain at all," Alice replied as she took Brandon into her arms. "Hello, baby boy. Did you miss me half as much as I missed you?" she asked, covering his face in kisses.

"From that smile on his face, I'd say so," Jasper chuckled.

"Trade," Alice chirped, setting Brandon back in the crook of Jasper's arm and taking Libby from him. "Hi, Sweetheart," she cooed, rubbing her nose against the baby's. "I bought you something today."

"Alice, we agreed we would wait until they're old enough to realize they're being spoiled," Jasper chided.

"But, Jazz, this was a one of a kind baby headband. It's pink and has ruffles and a little white bow," she replied, sticking her bottom lip out as far as it would go. "She'll be the cutest little girl any daddy has ever seen."

"Fine," he sighed in defeat. "Did you at least get something for Brandon as well?"

"Duh," Alice replied, rolling her eyes. "And you'll like it too," she said, reaching into her bag. She pulled out a small, plush baseball and handed it to her husband. "Now you can start training him to enjoy baseball. Oh, and you have to teach him that bat trick you do. Every time I see you do that, I want to jump you right then and there."

"Um…I don't think that came out right," Rose said, a few giggles escaping her.

"Not me!" Alice cried. "Whatever girl gets her eye on my son when he's in high school."

"You actually want your kids to date?" Emmett asked, looking shocked. "Did you forget what you were like in high school? Or the stories you've heard about me?"

"Not at all. And while I'll caution Brandon not to be a P-I-G pig, I'll never hold him back from finding the love of his life," Alice explained.

"Well this has been another very interesting trip into the mind of the pixie, but before my brain totally turns to mush, can someone tell me where my husband is at?" I asked, setting my bags down into the empty chair.

"He ditched us about a half hour ago," Emmett replied. "Either Charlie won't take his nap or Edward is hiding from us."

"If he's smart, he's definitely hiding from you," I chuckled.

"Hey, Squirt?" Emmett called out.

I stopped on the second stair and turned to look at him.

"Bite me," he said with a huge grin, wiggling his butt at me.

I didn't even pause to worry about how Em would take it; I just gave back as good as he was giving. "Thanks, but I filled my bite quota yesterday with Edward." My family's laughter followed me all the way up to the second floor, and my own chuckles continued until I reached the third floor landing. I didn't want my voice to ruin Edward's attempts to get Charlie down for a nap; my little man was picky about who put him to sleep.

I peeked around the corner of the door, looking into Charlie's room and expecting to see them in the rocker. But the rocker and the room were empty so I headed into my room. There was a small crack in the door, so I pushed it the rest of the way open and found the bed empty. I was just getting ready to head downstairs and check to see if Edward had somehow snuck out of the house when a little bit of movement caught my eye.

I walked further into the room, finding Edward asleep on the couch with Charlie on his chest and a book on his legs. I quietly crawled up onto the bed so I could watch them together for a little bit. They were so alike in some ways, and it wasn't even their hair having the same color and wildness. It was the little things, like the way their lips puckered when they slept, or how when they sighed in their sleep it was this huge breath that made their chests rise all the way up before settling again. And Charlie definitely had his daddy's smile—big and bright and reaching all the way up into his eyes, even though he'd gotten stuck with my brown color.

Charlie grew fitful in his sleep, moving his fisted hands up and rubbing them against his eye and nose. The movement woke Edward and he looked down at our baby, checking to see if he would settle down or wake up completely. With one more rub to his nose, Charlie let out a sigh and relaxed again, getting his daddy to smile wide.

"Hey, Handsome," I whispered, not wanting to wake the baby or scare Edward.

He turned his head toward me, giving me a great view of those gorgeous green eyes of his. "Miss, you shouldn't be in here. My wife will be home any moment and she won't like to find you ogling her husband."

I smiled at his teasing and quickly thought up a response. "That's too bad for her. But frankly, she should never have left you alone in the first place. A beautiful man like yourself could easily be taken advantage of. One moment, you're putting your baby to sleep and the next, you're being forced to eat Twizzlers and watch 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days'."

Edward snorted, trying hard not to laugh so he wouldn't wake Charlie. "Am I to assume those are tonight's plans, Love?"

"The first part of the night anyway. Alice has demanded a good old-fashioned family movie night. Though, I'm not quite sure she's aware that expecting a two hour block of time to go by uninterrupted by diapers, feedings, or just the general cry for attention is a bit of a fantasy at this point."

"She'll learn soon enough," he said, cradling Charlie against his chest as he stood up. "Let me get him into his crib and then I'll give you a proper welcome home."

"Promise?" I asked, smirking at him as he came around the bed.

"Of course," he replied, grinning enough to make his dimples pop out.

He must have really been excited to keep that promise because he was back in the room in just minutes, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me down onto the bed with him.

"You're lucky I didn't squeal and wake the baby," I chuckled, slapping his shoulder.

"I'm very lucky to have you," he mumbled, his lips greedily kissing my neck.

"Did you miss me?" I teased as I tangled my fingers in his hair.

He nodded just a little and hummed against my neck, making me tingle from head to toe. "I always miss you when you're not by my side."

I knew I should say something back, but it was hard to think with the way his lips were caressing my neck while his fingers slid up and down my bare side.

"I missed you," he whispered into my ear. "I love you," he added, brushing his lips over mine.

"I missed you, too," I said, finally remembering how to speak. "I really like the way you're showing that you missed me."

Things between Edward and me were finally normal again. Neither of us could really keep our hands to ourselves again and we were back to talking about everything and anything when we were together—granted most of it was updating Edward on what Charlie had done that day, but the topic didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was I had my best friend back and Edward had his. He'd even admitted to missing Charlie like crazy that day after our weekend getaway. I'd been so focused on dealing with the house in the right way, that it had never occurred to me that I'd forgotten all about giving Edward time with Charlie. And of course, since he was Edward, he didn't tell me or even come and ask to see Charlie. He'd said he figured I needed to be with our son and since he'd caused the mess anyway, it was only right. I'd told him he was out of his mind and that he was never, ever to do that again, and then I did a bunch of things to make up for it, like sending Edward and Charlie out for a father-son afternoon. Edward had taken Charlie to the park to see the ducks, and apparently, both of my guys had gotten hit on a heck of lot; I would definitely be going to the park with them in the future.

"I have a few other ideas on how to show you," he mumbled, his lips now on the opposite side of my neck. Damn this sexy man and his enticing words—the whole family was downstairs and there's no way we would go unmissed for long enough to really enjoy ourselves.

I felt his hand pulling my shirt up and I quickly stopped him, laughing a little as I slid out from underneath him and got off the bed. "No way, Tutor-boy. I'm not taking the chance of someone coming to look for us and having to stop right in the middle. Let's go downstairs so I can regale you with my shopping story."

"Tell me in here," he pouted, grabbing the loop of my jeans and dragging me closer to the bed.

"No," I laughed, playfully swatting his hand. "I'll just have to repeat it for Emmett and Jasper, and I only want to have to say it all once. Besides, I'm starving. Alice only gave me fifteen minutes for lunch and I didn't even get to enjoy it with the way she kept telling me to hurry."

"Can I make you something?" he offered as he got up from the bed.

"Do we have any of the chicken salad you made yesterday left?"

"I believe we do. Cheese and mayo?"

"I can make it, Edward. I just wanted to know if we had the salad stuff left."

"I want to make it for you, though. What would you like to drink?"

"Sweet tea, please. Oh, and just the cheese. I think I had too much mayo while pregnant."

"Alright," he chuckled, hugging me against his side as we made our way down the last few steps.

"There he is! The traitor," Emmett said, using Lily's hand to point toward me. "Tell him, Lily Bear."

"No, Daddy. I love Edward," she argued, shaking her curly head.

"Good girl, Lily Bear," I chuckled, lifting her up and kissing her cheek.

She wrapped her little arms around my neck and squeezed before pulling back and kissing my cheek. "I love Bella."

"I love you, too, Sweetheart," I said, shifting her to my hip. "Did you have fun with your daddy and uncles?"

She nodded her head excitedly. "I a monster. Blocks go boom. And babies cry. I sorry."

"All of that in one afternoon? You must be ready for a nap."

"No nap. I a big girl."

"Even big girl's need naps," Rose said.

"No, Momma. I build," Lily argued as she wiggled out of my arms. She ran right over to her corner and started stacking her blocks.

"Rose, I think you really might have a future architect on your hands," Jasper said. "She's been playing with those blocks almost the entire time."

"You should have seen her monster impression, Rosie," Emmett chuckled. "I was so proud."

"Did it really make the babies cry?" I asked, curling up on the loveseat.

"Yeah, but they got over it quick," Emmett replied.

"Emmett acted goofy and the babies were immediately entertained," Jasper said, grinning at my big brother.

Emmett smiled and puffed out his chest. "Yes, I once again saved the day."

"Brother bear, since you're the one who taught Lily to play monster, doesn't that mean it was technically your fault that the babies cried?" I asked.

He came over and plopped down next to me, putting his big arm around my shoulders and pulling me against his side. "Allow me to use a new phrase I learned from a very important movie…Put the shut to the up, Squirt."

"You are so demented," I laughed, pushing away from him. "And move, please. I'm saving that spot for my husband."

"Jeez, you act like you love him or something," Emmett teased as he got up, ruffling my hair before going back to sit with Rose.

"Or something," I chuckled, trying to make my hair go back down.

"Did you tell Edward about movie night?" Alice chirped.

"Yeah, I told him. We're both interested to see how it turns out," I told her.

"Not again," Alice sighed.

"What's wrong?" Jasper asked.

"Bella is convinced that a two hour movie is expecting too much since the babies are so young," Alice explained. "I think she's just trying to get out of movie night."

"And I think that when we're fifteen minutes into the movie, and the first baby cries, you should be forced to change the very next dirty diaper," I challenged.

"That sounds a little like our old days of playing truth or dare," Rose chuckled. "Maybe we should do that instead."

"I don't think many of our dares would be child appropriate," Jasper replied, looking right at Emmett.

"Hey, don't look at me," Em fussed. "You're the damn streaker."

"Actually, Lily's taken over that job," Edward said as he came into the room with my food.

"No," Em growled. "It was one time and we had a long talk about why she's never, ever, ever allowed to do that again."

"Would you relax?" Rose laughed, pushing on Em's shoulder. "She's just a little kid and the doctor said it was perfectly natural for her to want to try that now that she's done with diapers."

"Em, didn't you streak as a baby?" I asked, wedging myself against Edward's side—it was the best spot in the whole house in my opinion. "I could have sworn there was half a photo album dedicated to your naked butt," I added.

"I'm a guy," he shrugged.

"Oh, don't even start that guys can do it but girls can't crap, Emmett Swan," I warned him. "You know I hate that double standard stuff."

"Jasper, back me up on this," Em said, turning toward him. "If Brandon and Libby both decide to run naked through the house, which one will make you laugh and which will make you grab a blanket for cover?"

"Why would my babies be running around naked?" Alice asked.

"Because it's a phase all babies go through," Rose replied. "They especially like to try it right after bath time is over."

"I don't think mine will. I think they'll be happy to put on their fluffy little robes," Alice said.

We all just sort of looked at each other for a moment before starting to laugh.

"You know, three years ago, sitting around like this, we would have been talking about where to go dancing, or what band was coming to town. I miss that a little bit, but I like this conversation too," Alice said. "We've all changed and grown up, but we're still doing it together and sharing it with each other."

"Deep thoughts from the pixie," Emmett teased, winking at her. "And here I thought we were going to spend the night listening to your shopping stories from today."

"Which reminds me…"Alice chirped as she launched right into a minute-by-minute account of our trip through three furniture stores and two baby boutiques. She was still going strong when Esme and Carlisle came home, so Esme demanded everyone stay for dinner and she ordered pizza. We all sat around the living room together, listening to Alice and passing the babies around the room. This was exactly the sort of memory I wanted Charlie to be able to have of his family…everyone happy, healthy, and alive.

And I figured since I'd never really asked for all that much in my whole life, that the powers that be could do me 'a solid', as Emmett called it. It was time for the Cullen family to start having good times again, and with the Christmas Rosalie and I had planned, there was no doubt in my mind that everyone would have a very merry Christmas.