A/N: Let's put that bow on.


~One Year Later~

Sitting at the breakfast table in the house she still shared with Jacob, Maggie, and not-so-baby Ciara, Bella had to smile.

Across from her, Edward had paused to stare at her with his coffee cup poised near his mouth. It was a funny image—Edward's serious expression while he held a cup that said "Nice tits" with pictures of the bird on it.

"Don't stare," she said, wagging a finger at him.

That broke his shock. He put down the coffee cup, his mouth's wide O of surprise turning into a sexy grin. "That's just an unfair request with you sitting right here."

Her cheeks flushed, and she smiled, charmed.

"You boggled my mind for a minute there," he said, raising his coffee cup again and taking a long drink. "I thought everyone grew up drawing their dream house."

Edward had told her once he had put off building his own house because it was the kind of thing you did with the person you were going to share your life with. Back then, with their relationship brand new, it seemed like a nice, if ephemeral, daydream.

She took a deep breath, her heartbeat fluttering as she let the reality of her life settle in. She had graduated. She had a toehold in her chosen field, and this wonderful man's ring on her finger.

And he wanted to build her a house.

"I never really thought about it," she said, sipping her own coffee. "All the houses I've ever lived in were built a long time before I got there. When I was growing up, the only people who built their own houses were the families I read about in Little House on the Prairie type books. You know. Before civilization and all that."

"Bella, I literally built a house in your backyard. That's how we met."

"Hah. I never saw you lift so much as a hammer. I did watch you strut around with a toolbelt, giving orders to people who actually built a house in my backyard." She leaned across the table, dropping her tone to conspiratorial whisper levels. "But you did look so pretty when you did it."

His lip twitched. "Ah, yes. Every man does appreciate looking pretty now and again. Especially on the job."

"Any disgusting displays of affection should cease and desist now," Jacob called as he walked out of his room toward them. He made a show of keeping his eyes tightly shut as he approached the table, only squinting when he was close. "Ah. Good. Congratulations on learning to keep it in your pants for five-minute intervals."

"Hey, as we were just discussing, Edward built a whole ass house in the backyard, and I managed not to jump him the whole time."

"Actually, you didn't manage not to jump him. You just didn't jump him at work."

"Hers or mine?" Edward asked, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "Because she tends to work here at the table, and we've had a lot of sex here."

Jacob, who had sat at the table with a bowl of cereal, jumped back so quickly his chair clattered to the floor. He threw out his arms, barely missing spilling his cereal. "Ew."

Bella and Edward laughed.

"Settle an argument we're having, though," Edward said. "Did you think about what kind of house you'd build for yourself when you were a kid?"

"I had to share a room with my two older sisters for a long time," Jacob said, rolling his eyes. "I thought a lot about a space of my own." He reached out, snatching the drawing pad Edward had and spinning it to look at the sketches there. "You're trying to figure out a new house, right?"

"And Bella claims she doesn't know what she wants."

"No problem. I know what she wants." Jacob looked up at Edward, his gaze solemn. "Two things. First, obviously, her own library. A wall of books with a ladder you can do choreographed numbers to, like in Beauty and the Beast. Obviously."

"Goes without saying," Edward agreed, and Bella's eyebrows shot up.

A rolling ladder? Books to the ceiling? Yes and please.

"The second thing is, again obviously, to bring me along with her." Jacob flipped to a clean sheet near the back of the notebook and started doodling. "And, it goes without saying, though I'll say it anyway, I'm going to require my own suite. How do you feel about built-in wall shackles?"

Bella smacked her forehead. "Jacob Black."

"What's this now? What are we all up to?" Maggie asked, leading a sleepy-eyed Ciara into the kitchen by the hand. The little girl brightened slightly when she saw Edward. She let go of her mother and clambered onto Edward's lap, gave his beard a loving stroke, laid her head on his shoulder, and closed her eyes to get some more sleep.

It was a pretty image—Edward's strong arm wrapped around the trusting toddler.

While she tried to tell her ovaries to calm down, Jacob explained the situation to Maggie, telling her about the suite he was going to have Edward build for him. His wish list was getting, predictably, out of control.

"Oh, so you and Bella are both leaving me then? All alone with this little divil?" She gestured with her chin at her daughter.

"Naw. You can get in on this." Jacob patted the drawing. "If Edward's building a whole suite for me, he can whip something up for you." He looked to Edward. "Have you considered the advantages of a three story? Then we can all get our own wing. Like the Avengers Tower."

Edward rolled his eyes and looked at Bella. "What's happening right now?"

"What? You didn't realize I came with baggage?"

"Excuse me. I am not luggage," Jacob said with mock indignation.

"Marry me, marry my mess," Bella said with a shrug. "You still in?"

Edward rubbed a hand up and down Ciara's back, his smile gentle. "For you? Yeah, sure. You might be worth a miscreant or two."

"Good. So now that's settled—what do you want, Mags?" Jacob asked, tapping the drawing pad. "Sky's the limit, right, Eddo?"

"Sure. The imaginary sky of your imaginary Avengers Tower house is definitely the limit."

Maggie sat down at the table with a sigh, her coffee mug—proclaiming "I'm not yelling, I'm Irish"—cradled in her hands. "Eh, I don't give a feck really, as long as there's a roof over my head. Maybe enough space for Ciara to run amok in. Some place to put all the silly things I want to give her that she absolutely doesn't need. Myself, I don't need much. I'll be out by the pool anyhow." She grinned. "Just don't paint the walls green."

"How about a leprechaun theme for the nursery? Four leaf clovers? Rainbows? Pots of gold?" Jacob waggled his eyebrows at her.

Maggie narrowed her eyes. "You don't much like your nose set where it is on your face, do ye?"

"Top o' the morning to ye, Darby O'Gill," Jacob said in an utterly horrible accent.

Maggie snatched at him, but he dodged her hand easily. She threw a chunk of croissant at him instead and shook a fist. "I'll do time for you yet. I swear I will."

Bella shook her head at her friends' antics, leaning back in her seat and taking it all in.

These wonderful, hilarious—albeit a bit crazy—people would stand up for her.

This beautiful, loving man at her side.

The home and the life they would build together.

It was going to be a wild and wonderful ride.

~The End~

A/N: Good day to you my lovely people. Thank you for coming along on yet another weird journey. I hope we had some fun along the way.

Many thanks to Packy, LadyLibre, MyOnlyHeroin, and Betsy for their initial help with this little story. Many thanks to Di and May for seeing me through to the end! And special thanks to Ciara for helping keep my Irish Maggie honest. Thank you to Eleanor for being my Ao3 posting guru.

If I missed someone… I sincerely apologize. I am tired, and there is much packing to be done. Hah.

Catch you for the next one!