EPOV
My shoulders ached and my head throbbed. I wanted to sleep; I needed to sleep. But I couldn't. For the fourth night in a row, I found myself sitting in front of the computer and scouring the internet for a house for my family. There was nothing — nothing that was good enough for us and I was starting to lose hope that we'd ever find one.
The problem was that we wanted perfection. Bella wanted a big kitchen, but nothing so large that she'd get overwhelmed with it all. The boys still wanted to share a room, but we knew that they were getting to the age that they'd need more space. With the babies coming, we'd need a room for them, plus a guest room. We wanted two living rooms: one formal and one that would be more relaxing. Plus, Bella would need someplace to work, somewhere she could draw on her muse. I could picture her nestled in a small loft with the babies sleeping in a playpen behind her. She'd have a cup of coffee in her hands and a hundred thousand words on the screen.
But here, at my parents' house, she wouldn't have that. Here she'd have my mother up her ass, trying to pamper her. Esme only wanted to help, and Bella knew this as well as I did, but Bella was independent. She'd spent five years raising Alex on her own, and another five years learning to let me in. It wasn't easy for her, just like it wasn't easy for me to let Bella into my life. Now, we needed a place to be a family again.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Looking over my shoulder, I smiled. Bella was sitting up in our bed, rubbing a hand over face and trying her hardest to stifle a yawn. "It's after three."
"I couldn't sleep," I murmured, shutting off my monitor and standing up. I walked over and climbed on the bed, sliding my arms around her and nestling her against my chest. "I didn't mean to wake you."
"You didn't," she said, yawning. "See anything you liked?"
"No," I whispered, running my fingers through her hair. "Go to sleep."
"We can talk if you want," she mumbled, though I could tell she was already starting to dose off.
"Sleep, baby."
Bella mumbled under her breath again, but wrapped herself around me more and drifted off to sleep. Closing my own eyes, I tried to push back my worries. Sooner or later we'd find a house, wouldn't we?
—MF—
When I awoke the next morning, I reached for Bella, but found myself alone. Sitting up, I searched the room for her, but she wasn't there. A quick glance at the clock told me that she was probably downstairs with the boys, trying to get them to eat breakfast. Throwing the blankets off, I climbed out of bed and downstairs. I found Bella in the kitchen, sitting next to the boys. They were laughing, the most carefree laughter that I'd heard from them in so long. I had missed them like this. I missed me being like this. Bella looked over at me, a beautiful smile spreading over her face and her eyes sparkled. God, I loved her so much.
"Hey, want some coffee?" Bella asked, not waiting for me to answer before she was on her feet and halfway across the room.
"Sure, thanks," I said, taking the seat next to Alex. He looked up at me and nodded before turning back to his plate of blueberry pancakes. I nearly snorted: Bella knew the best way to get the boys to eat was to make pancakes. Bella placed my mug in front of me, and leaned down, kissing me softly. "Thanks."
"You're welcome," she murmured, sitting next to me. "I'm surprised you're up seeing as you were on the computer so late."
"I missed you," I admitted, ignoring the groans coming from the boys. There was a time when they thought it was cool that Bella and I were so mushy. Guess things change when you hit the double-digits. "Where's my mom?"
"She went to meet your dad for breakfast at the hospital," Bella replied, shifting her attention from mine.
I sighed. Esme going to the hospital could only mean one thing: Carlisle had lost a patient. His work with kids was rewarding ninety-nine percent of the time, but that one percent often had him on his knees. Carlisle tried not to get too attached to his patients, but he couldn't stop that part of him. He loved children and wanted to do everything he could to make their lives better. More than once when I was a child, I watched him walk through the front door and go up the stairs. I'd seen the anguish on his face, the sorrow in his eyes. My father gave a part of himself to each patient he treated.
"Boys, if you're done, put your plates in the sink and go brush your teeth," Bella said, reaching over and covering my hand with hers. "Hurry or we'll be late."
"Yes, ma'am," they muttered and did as she asked.
The minute they were out of the room, Bella turned back to me. "Are you okay? I'm worried about you. You've been up late a lot this week."
I smiled. "I'm fine, just having trouble sleeping."
"Hmm, guess I'm not doing a great job at wearing you out, huh?" Bella giggled, bringing her hand up to my cheek.
Growling, I leaned in and kissed her. "You're amazing, baby. Every time," I whispered. "I just couldn't sleep. Too many thoughts inside my head."
"I understand," she mumbled.
"Mom, let's go!" Anthony yelled from the living room.
Bella laughed and kissed me again. "Be back soon."
"I love you." Standing up, I pulled her into my arms and kissed her harder.
"I love you, too," she giggled.
—MF—
I waited until Bella and the boys left before I headed back up to our room and settled back in front of my computer. After checking my email and discarding a handful of junk-mail, I started checking for houses once again. I don't know why I hoped that sometime between three in the morning and eight the perfect house would have gone up, but the disappointment I felt weighed heavily on my shoulders.
I was still sitting in front of the computer when Bella got home. She laughed and sat in my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck. My hand automatically found its way to her expanding belly. I never got tired of feeling my babies inside of her. Laying my head on her shoulder, I smiled.
"Did the boys give you any trouble?" I asked.
"Nah, not really," she muttered. "I think they could tell I was worried."
I sighed. "Baby, she's not coming back. Not there at least."
"No, I know." Though I could tell she didn't really feel that way. Renee had barreled her way into our lives. Seeing her standing in front of the school last week had me seeing red, but seeing the effects of her arrival on my wife, who was already struggling with the fire and carrying two babies, had me furious.
I had to get her away from my family. It was time to deal with Renee and I wasn't going to wait any longer. Releasing my hold on Bella, I strode over to Renee and grabbed the top of her arm, dragging her as far away from the building as I could before I turned to her and unleashed my fury.
"You need to stay the hell away from my family. You're a bitch; a cold-hearted bitch, who left her daughter behind when she needed you. And you know, if I'd been Charlie, I would have made sure that you never got to see her again, but he's a better man than me, I guess. He gave you more than a few chances when she was little, but you blew it."
"I know," Renee slurred, but shut her mouth when I held up a hand.
"You don't know," I snarled. "I know what it's like to have to raise a child on my own. When Sarah died, the only way I was able to make it through each day was because of my son. Anthony was my world, but there was still something missing. Bella and Alex came into our lives and suddenly, everything was perfect. Now, you're here and trying to ruin it all."
"No, I just want a chance," she babbled.
"You've had your chance. Leave my family alone. Get the hell out of Seattle, or I will make sure that you pay for every fucking thing you've done to us."
The sound of the bell chiming startled Renee. She sighed, looked back at Bella, and walked over to her car, finally leaving us alone. I ran my hand through my hair before heading back over to my wife, hoping and praying that Renee would heed my warning and leave us alone.
"Edward," Bella sang, nuzzling the side of my neck with her nose. "Are you sleeping instead of listening to me?"
"No," I laughed. "Just thinking."
"Thinking is a nasty habit," she snickered. "Leads to naughtiness."
"Oh yeah?" I asked. "Like what?"
"Um," Bella murmured, climbing off my lap. Walking behind me, she ran her hand down across her breast, over her belly to the bottom of her T-shirt. Slower than I wanted, Bella slipped it up her body, tossing it on the floor. I moaned; the vision of her engorged breasts stuffed into her baby-pink bra had my cock twitching inside my pajama pants. "I'm feeling hot."
"Hot?" I moaned, sliding my hand inside my pants and stroking myself. "Anything else?"
Nodding, Bella dropped her hands to the waistband on her yoga pants, slipping them off and letting them join her shirt. She lifted her eyes up to mine as she hooked her fingers into the side of her panties, taking them off as well. Before I could even take a breath, Bella slid her fingers into her pussy.
Smirking, she said, "I'm wet, too."
"Bella," I gritted, shoving my pants down my thighs. I tightened my grip on my cock, watching as Bella touched herself in front of me. She was exquisite and mine — all mine.
"Told you it all leads to naughtiness," she purred, climbing onto the bed. With her on her hands and knees, I couldn't stop myself from scrambling to my feet and crossing the room. I grabbed Bella by the hips, burying myself inside of her. "EDWARD!"
"Sorry, I couldn't help it. I need to feel you, to be inside of you." I groaned as I quickened my pace, filling her more with each thrust of my hips. "Fuck, you're amazing."
"I — it's you," she cried, clinching the blanket tightly. "Baby, harder!"
"Jesus fuck," I muttered, under my breath, but gave her what she wanted. Bella pushed back against me, meeting me half way. Bringing her hand up between her legs, I felt her fingers grazing along my shaft and I had to fight the urge to come, but damn, I loved the way she touched herself.
"Edward, more!" she begged. Looking over her shoulder, Bella whimpered with need. "Please!"
"You — don't — have — to — beg," I moaned, articulating my point with a thrust of my hips.
Bella shuddered as she lost control and fell over the edge, letting her orgasm soar through her. Feeling her body clenching around me, took me with her. With a few hard shifts, I filled her, riding out my release. Just like always, Bella and I were perfect together.
—MF—
"We're never going to find the perfect house." Bella was leaning back on a stack of pillows, rubbing her belly with a wistful look on her face. We'd been lying on the bed in post-clitoral bliss for nearly an hour. "We have to accept it and just pick one, I guess."
"I don't want to settle on something we don't love," I said, rolling onto my side and looking up at her.
"I don't either, but the boys deserve a real house; one where they can explore and play. We don't have many more years before they are going to grow up. I don't want to take that part of their childhood away from them." Bella's lips began to tremble. "We're having babies, Edward, and I want them to have a home to go to when they're born. A real home."
"But settling for just any house isn't going to give them a home," I replied, sitting up. Reaching over, I grabbed her hand and brought it up to my lips.
"Neither is this place," Bella, whimpered. "I love Carlisle and Esme, but I don't want to raise my children here."
"So what do we do?" I asked. "Because we've searched and searched, yet there is nothing out there. And I refuse to settle for less than the best. Not when it comes to my family."
"I don't know." Bella sighed. "We could rent an apartment, I guess. Or –"
"We could build," I muttered.
"What? We can't afford to build a new house. The insurance money from the house isn't going to cover building new — not entirely."
I shrugged my shoulders. "Then we talk to the bank about getting a new loan. Or we can dive into our savings. From where I'm sitting, we have two choices: we can either rebuild on the same patch of land as the old house, or we can start somewhere fresh."
"Hmm, true," Bella mumbled. "I hate to think about us spending all of our savings on a house, though. I mean, the boys will be going to college before we know it."
"Well that's saying that Anthony is going to college," I laughed. Bella scowled. "Baby, I'm teasing. That boy is going to college, even if I have to go with him."
"You might have to," Bella giggled.
"Look, I don't have all the answers, but at least we can do some research. It won't hurt, will it?" I asked.
"I suppose not," Bella replied. "Not like we're finding anything nice anyway."
"No, we're certainly not," I scoffed, leaning back next to her. "We can have whatever we want, how we want it, and where we want it."
"Yeah," she mused. Bella pulled my hand down and laid it to rest on her stomach. "But do we have time before the babies are born?"
"I don't know," I said. "If not, then we'll make it work."
"You make it sound easy," Bella exclaimed. "Edward, I don't like living here. I feel like Esme is constantly watching over me, and while I understand that she needs to feel needed, I need space."
"That's a lot of need." She rolled her eyes causing me smiled. "I'm sorry, just trying to lighten things up a little."
"Well don't," she sighed.
"Okay, I'll stop being all cool and awesome."
"You're a dork," Bella snickered. "Good thing you're cute."
"Just cute?" I gasped, pretending to be upset.
"No, not just cute. You're sexy, too." Bella smiled and moved so that she was straddling me. I groaned and grabbed her hips. The urge to bury myself inside of her again was stirring. "I don't mean to sound like whiner baby, I really don't. But I need to be able to mother our boys without worrying about if I choose to give them cupcakes before dinner that Esme is going to scold me. I'm all for looking into building a house, but we need to find someplace for us to live between now and then."
Nodding, I sat up and wrapped my arms around her waist. "Then we will. I love you, Bella, and I'll give you whatever I can if it makes you happy."
"I love you, too," she murmured. "Now, make love to me."
I growled and rolled us so that she was under me. However, before I could strip off our remaining clothes, a loud, thundering knock echoed on the door. I groaned and climbed off the bed, pulling on my boxers and pajama pants. Once I made sure that Bella was dressed again, I opened the door, finding Charlie standing there.
"Charlie, what are you doing here?" I asked.
"Dad?" Bella came up behind me, placing her hand on the small of my back.
"Honey," Charlie started, a grave look covering his face. "Renee's gone."
"Thank God," Bella muttered, not bothering to hide her disgust. "She couldn't have left soon enough."
"No, Bella, you don't understand," Charlie said. Pausing, he took a deep breath. "She's dead."
