Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters are the property of the author.

Thanks so much to all the volunteers at PTB (Project Team Beta), especially the two that worked on this, for their awesome beta skills.

Any remaining mistakes are mine.

~AL~

Laying Beside You

First week of

March 1996

~AL~

The sun warmed my back through the sliding glass doors of our hotel room. We forgot to close the drapes and I was paying for it. Lying on my side facing Edward, wrapped in the warmth of his embrace was hot enough, but the strong Los Cabos sun just made it too much.

My attempt to slide out of his arms without waking him worked, and I padded my way to the bathroom. Once I finished my business and walked back to the bed, I spotted Edward stretching. The sheet that covered him was low on his hips and the "v" of his pelvis showed. He was naked, as was I, with his lithe body stretched out and just enough showing to heat me up again like the magnifying-glass-sliding-doors did just moments before.

Lately, our lives had been so right. Everything seemed to come together finally, and we were enjoying our tightly formed relationship. We had grown so close and it seemed as if everything just clicked for us.

I had stopped on my way back to bed, because Edward's eyes were taking in every inch of my naked body, I took the last few steps into his arms. One of his hands went right to my ass and the other caressed my back. I could feel him harden below me as I lay on top of him. Moving my legs so I straddled him, Edward's hands began to roam all over my body, touching every inch of me.

Rocking back and forth over him to get some relief, he continued to tease me. I brought my lips to his, and when our tongues touched, his hands became a bit more frantic. Leaning back on my haunches, I used my hands to caress Edward. I wanted to show him how thankful I was for all he had done for me. My fingers slowly and lightly skimmed his skin from his jawline, down his neck, to his collarbones, and down his chest. Goosebumps prickled up under my fingers and it fueled me to continue.

I moved my lips to follow the path my fingers laid, nibbling and licking along the way. My rocking was met with small hip thrusts from Edward, and the sheet was the only thing that stopped us from penetration in that moment.

"Hmmmm, lift up a bit," he said with a sleep-filled, groggy voice.

Following his orders, I lifted my ass a bit so he could move the sheet out of our way. Edward held his cock up, so as I lowered myself, he slipped inside me.

"Ahhh! So good!" I moaned. God, he always felt so good.

I leaned forward, placed my palms on his chest, and began to rock slowly at first. Then little by little my slow rocking turned into fast thrusts as I lifted my ass up and down quickly.

With his hands on my hips to help guide me, he grunted and groaned in pleasure. I changed my up and down thrusts to quick forward and backward thrusts. That particular movement hit my G-spot exactly and had me screaming and moaning through my orgasm. Edward's hands gripped tighter and moved me more quickly to help his orgasm along. He lifted his head and latched onto my lips, kissing and nipping while he rode out the last few moments of our lovemaking.

"Oh, God, baby. I love you, so much!" he moaned loudly.

After winding down, I scooted off him and lay at his side, curled up around him, but he got up to use the bathroom.

While laying there in my post-coital bliss, I began to think back to the past two months and what led us here on this wonderful vacation with our friends.

~AL~

Beginning of January 1996

~AL~

"Ugh," I whined as I rolled over. A few days had passed since the night at the club, and I was still sore all over. The bruising on my face had managed to turn almost every color of the rainbow, and my whole body was covered in them.

For the first time since I started my job, I had to call in sick. I hated that I had to let them down, but I was in no shape to work. And my face was not ready to be seen. I still looked a mess.

As I rolled over, I saw Matthew was still sleeping. It was early, too early to get up, but my body ached, and I couldn't lie down for too long. So I rolled myself quietly off the bed and tip-toed to the bathroom. My reflection in the mirror caught my eye, and I decided to stop and check out my progress that morning. Turning my head to the left then right, I inspected all parts of my face. The coloring around my eye was a yellowish-green. The swelling in my lip had gone down a lot, but I had a scab where it was split.

After taking care of my morning business and washing up, I padded lightly to the kitchen and made myself some coffee. As I sat at the kitchen table, I began to reflect on the past few days. Edward, as usual, had been wonderful. It seemed as if all he'd done since we'd been together was take care of me. My luck lately hadn't been so good and it was getting ridiculous.

As much as I complained and told him he didn't have to baby me so much, he'd come right back with how much he loved taking care of me. He wished he could take the pain away and make it all right for me, and although his intentions were so sweet and generous, I felt like he did too much already.

After the incident at the club, Edward was so angry. He wanted me to run over there and kick up a storm, but I just wanted to forget it and move on. Yeah, the situation made me angry, but honestly, it wasn't the club's fault. People were deceiving, and if he looked and acted normal when he walked in, they'd have had no reason to deny him access. And they couldn't be held responsible for his actions. It wasn't the club's fault that he went bat shit crazy. Or that he did some PCP in the bathroom or something. Who knew what happened to that guy and what made him snap; maybe he was just off his rocker and a little crazy.

I didn't like being tossed out the side door, though, without at least speaking in defense of myself. But their policy was anyone who fought in their club was out. I understood that, but I had to defend myself, and being kicked out was the least of my worries. Anyway, I doubted that the club even had that guy's info. They threw him out another door and I was sure they didn't stop to gather anyone's info. They had no idea who started the fight; they just wanted everyone involved out. So Edward's idea of going to complain would've only been a waste of my time.

I wasn't the type of person to dwell on shit that had already happened anyway. Fighting for shit I couldn't change was like throwing good energy away. I had to save that energy to fight for shit I could control. Life was crazy like that anyway; it would throw things your way, and it all depended on how you reacted that made the difference.

For example, I had a friend that got in a car accident on the freeway, and afterward they swore they'd never drive on a freeway again. That mentality didn't compute with me. I wasn't like that. Shit happened, and I'd pick myself back up and carry on. My life couldn't stop, and I didn't have time to be afraid of shit. I had people that relied on me, and I had dreams of my own that I wouldn't let anything take away.

"Mama," Matty cried out from the room.

I called back, "I'm in the kitchen, baby." The pitter-patter of his little feet followed him all the way to me. I stretched out my arms for him to climb into. With a big, tight squeeze, I nuzzled him under my chin. He still fit quite nicely, even with as big as he was getting.

My fingers caressed his scalp that was still pretty bald. At three years old, he was just beginning to grow hair. My mother told me once that I was bald until I was three as well. So I supposed it ran in the family. Matthew lay warm against me, one arm around my neck playing with my hair. His other arm was lying lazily over my arm.

I pulled back a bit to look at his face and asked, "Do you want some breakfast?" He nodded his head in reply, not ready to speak much. "Well, what would you like? Cereal?" I waited for a response and since nothing came, I continued, "Umm … eggs? Waffles? Pancakes?" When I got to pancakes, his body began to shake in my arms from his frantic nod. I laughed at his excitement. "All righty then, pancakes it is," I said cheerily.

While the pancakes were cooking on the griddle, I poured myself another cup of coffee, added milk, and two spoons full of sugar. My stomach began to growl from the smell of the hotcakes and I was getting anxious to dig in with Matty. He sat patiently at the table. He was still a bit groggy and had his head resting on his arms, on the table, watching me with wide eyes.

After I prepared the pancakes with sufficient butter and syrup, we both sat and enjoyed the warm breakfast together. His hotcakes were cut up in small pieces, which gave him ease to eat on his own. I rarely ever had to help him eat; he was learning to be very independent.

The only thing he lacked was speech. He could not, or would not, speak in full sentences. He only spoke a few words here and there, but he understood both English and Spanish fluently. Perhaps I stunted him from speaking by thrusting both languages at him so young. I tried to fix this by speaking in full sentences and trying to avoid baby talk at all costs. I wanted him to attend preschool soon and speaking was a major necessity.

After we ate, I set to clean my room a bit and straighten up in the bathroom. As sore as I was, it didn't matter, I needed something to do. Leah said she'd deep clean the house on her next day off, and I figured I could have Matty help me a bit. "Baby, come help momma pick up your toys." Matty was a big help with his toys, and he tried to help with the vacuum but it was truly much too big for him.

As I picked up the dirty laundry, dusted my room, and threw the sheets in the dryer, I thought about the fact I hadn't spoken to Edward yet that morning. I was sure he'd either show up here or call soon, so I wasn't too worried about it. If he hadn't called by the time I was done, I'd call him. He was off and I actually expected him to show up with some sort of food for Matthew and I.

~AL~

A few hours later, after I'd finished my light cleaning and showered, Edward was knocking on the door with lunch. My smile grew as big as it could without shooting pain throughout my face. I pecked him on the lips and he held up a bag of my favorite Peruvian food. I couldn't smile any bigger on the outside but I knew I was smiling on the inside. I was so excited. I always craved their saltado de camaron.

"Thank you, thank you!" He smiled at the gleam in my eyes. With a swoop of his arm, he gestured toward the table. Happily, I obliged and looked down at Matthew by my heels. "Are you hungry?" I asked him. His head bobbed up and down frantically, almost as if he was just as excited as I was about the bounty we were about to partake in.

"Well, come on now. Sit down in your chair and I'll serve you some," I said. Then I remembered last time he liked the shrimp and I asked, "Oh, do you want some shrimp, too?"

"Si, Mama, pease," he answered instead of nodding as he usually would. I smiled as best I could and began cutting up the shrimp into small pieces.

"You've got it, kiddo." Once he was settled and eating, I turned to Edward.

"Thanks so much for bringing this." I pointed to my plate with my fork before I took another bite. I savored the taste of shrimp, French fries, and onions, always trying to figure out what spices they used to cook it. I wished I could make it myself, but I had no idea how they did it.

"You're welcome. What have you been doing today?"

I shook my head at his question. "Nothing really," I answered. "Just straightened up a bit and washed my sheets. But I can't put them back on. It's too strenuous since the bed is so big. Can you help me later?"

His eyebrows were furrowed and his lips pursed. He began to speak as he cut his eyes sharply at me. "You shouldn't have done anything. I could've have done it, but I'll do the bed. I don't want you doing anything else. Understood?" he stressed shaking his head. "Dammit, I knew I should've come earlier, but I was cleaning my house."

"Hey, don't worry. I didn't push myself or do anything too strenuous. I only dusted my room and picked up the dirty laundry. And see, I left the tough stuff for you."

"Fine, but you still shouldn't be doing anything." In between bites, his face lit up for a quick moment like he was remembering something. And I knew that was it when he began speaking. "So, I wanted to take you to Vegas in a few weeks. They're going to be imploding one of the oldest hotels on the strip and they make a big show of it. I thought it would be great for all of us to go."

Excitement and questions raced through my mind. "Wow, I'm excited, and yes I'll go. But who's all of us?" I asked, wondering whom he planned on bringing.

"Mi mamá, Alice y Jasper, Rose y Emmett. I haven't spent a lot of time with my mom over the past few years, so la quiero invitar también. Está bien?"

He looked a bit shy, but I quickly interrupted his thought process. "Está muy bien. I love Esme, you know that, and I am so excited to go. When would we go?" His body visibly relaxed. I honestly didn't know what he thought he had to be worried about. I loved his family and our friends.

"Well, the implosion is on the twenty-eighth of February and we both have the day off. If we could just get a couple of days before and after it would be better. I want us to bring Matthew, también. Is that okay?"

I thought about it and glanced at the calendar on the wall next to us, and the twenty-eighth fell on a Wednesday, so I had no obstacles. "Yeah, that sounds great!"

It was only two weeks away and I was squirming in my seat with excitement. I hoped I'd be completely healed by then.

"Can I call the girls and tell them or do you want to?" He laughed at me because of my excitement and squirming. I jumped up as quickly as my sore body allowed and went for the phone.

I decided to dial Alice first and waited for her to answer. "Hello?"

"Alice, hey it's me. Whatcha doin'?"

"Oh, nada. You?"

"Doesn't matter, but your brother's here and I have some good news. He's inviting all of us to Vegas to watch some hotel implosion at the end of February. So, get the time off and tell Jasper. Ugh, I'm so excited!" I told her and then whispered the next part. "And guess what … he's going to invite Esme, too. Isn't that great?"

"No shit, that's awesome. I won't say anything to her until he does."

"Yeah, don't. But I have to go because I need to call Rose and tell her. Okay? Talk to you later!"

As I dialed again, I glanced up to spy at Edward's face and saw that he was highly amused with my excitement. It led me to believe that was his whole intention. I winked at him and blew him a kiss.

Before I knew it, my appreciative flirting was halted by Rose's voice. "What's up, bitch?" she asked.

"Haa haa! What up, homegirl? I've got some news." I laughed at her crazy ass.

"Oh, well do tell. Don't keep me waiting!" she growled.

"So, in two weeks, you'll need to pack a bag for Vegas! He-ey! You down?"

"Hell yeah, I'm down. What's the occasion?"

"No occasion, Edward just wants to take us all to watch a hotel implosion and hang out and shit! You know?" I loved it when we acted silly like that and played with our fake ghetto lingo.

"Sounds good. Who all is going?" she asked.

"Alice, Jasper, you, Emmett, me, Edward, Matthew, and Esme. We need to get together soon to get this all worked out. Sound good?"

"Yeah, for sure. Let me know when, okay?"

"You've got it, girl! I'll talk to you later."

After I hung up, I found Edward in the living room sitting with Matthew. I sidled up to them and Edward put his arm around me and tucked me into his side nice and tight.

"It's all set. The girls know, and now you just have to tell your mom. I'm so excited. I can only imagine why you're doing this, and I want to thank you so much! You're such a sweet, generous man and I love you so much!"

He shrugged his other shoulder acting like it was nothing.

"You know, I've only been to Vegas once when I was sixteen. Charlie took me. I got all dressed up and played the slots for hours and no one carded me. I thought I was the shit." I chuckled at the memory. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Edward looking at me like I was crazy. "What?" I asked.

"Seriously?" he asked.

"Yes! Really. It was so much fun, but I haven't been since."

~AL~

End of February 1996

~AL~

The lights were bright as they lit up the sky. We were on the I-15 N and could see the strip from miles out. It was dark out, but the strip was lit up like a Christmas tree on steroids. My eyes widened at the sight and I looked back in the backseat at Matthew. "Baby, do you see the light?"

He craned his neck to see out the front windshield and gasped at the sight before him. His little hands clapped and his feet were kicking in excitement. I knew how he felt, as it was the same for me. Esme was in the backseat with Matthew and in awe from the beautiful scenery as well.

Next thing I knew, we were pulling off the freeway and were on the strip. Once on the strip, the hotels were overwhelming. There was a wide variety of hotel types. To my left I saw an old hotel next to the MGM. To the right was Excalibur and it looked just like a castle.

"See that old hotel? That's the one they're going to implode, and I read that they're going to build a hotel to replicate New York."

I just looked around in complete fascination looking at all the theme hotels. "Mhmm," I said distractedly. The strip had grown so much since the last time I was there. New hotels were all over the place, and obviously with the implosion, there were plans for more. The sight was a bit overwhelming, and every single one of us sat in awe.

Once we were on S. Las Vegas Blvd., I saw the Flamingo. It wasn't the biggest hotel on the strip, nor the best, but it looked like it was a more than decent place. The hotel itself was lit with pink lights and had a big lighted structure above the entrance in the shape of flamingo feathers. They definitely kept with the theme and tied it all together.

Flicking my eyes to the rear window, I saw Emmett's car behind us. The girls must have seen me looking because they both began to wave. Smiling to myself, I waved back. They looked like the Bobsy twins, heads together as they looked out the windshield.

Thinking I was waving at him, Matthew got all excited and began pulling at his car seat straps. My fingers tickled his chubby legs and riled him up even more.

Before I even realized, we were parked and Edward was getting out. I clapped a couple of times. "Hey, baby! We're here!" Popping the door open and jumping out, I stretched in earnest. My body was sore from sitting so long. I pulled open the back door so I could get Matty out. I was sure he was quite excited to be rid of this car. He behaved exceedingly well.

Edward was already pulling our bags from the trunk and I grabbed what we needed from the car. I hoisted Matthew on my hip and carried my purse, the diaper bag, and our snack bag. Esme had her purse over her shoulder and helped Edward with a wheeling suitcase.

Emmett, Jasper, and the girls parked next to us. "Whoo! We're here!" I turned around to see Emmett hooting and hollering like a five year old. Laughing to myself at his silly ass, everyone else started laughing when they noticed Matthew fist pumping to Emmett's screams.

Edward asked us to wait off to the side while he and Jasper went to check us in.

"Hey, little guy. Come here. Mom, put him down so he can come to me," said Emmett in a not-so-indoor voice. He was so obnoxious and childish sometimes.

I looked at Matthew. "You want to go over there?" I asked. He nodded, so I let him down and his little feet ran quickly to Emmett. I sort of paid attention to them while Emmett went from playing peek-a-boo to blowing raspberries on Matty's stomach. Matthew's squeals and Emmett's loud voice echoed in the lobby. Every head that turned their way couldn't help but laugh or smile at their cuteness.

Edward and Jasper returned with our room numbers and keys, and directed us to our room. Somehow, they managed to get us adjoining rooms, which I was very happy about. While us girls scoped out the layout of the rooms, the guys wanted to do a store run. They took down lists of what we all wanted to drink and some stuff for Esme and Matthew and ran out the door.

Alice squealed, "Bella, Rose, did you see this bathroom?" I followed her voice, which came from my bathroom, and saw her standing in the Jacuzzi tub. It was huge yet still had a nice sized shower. There was a double sink and a separate room for the toilet. The bathroom was so spacious, and the bonus was the TV hanging in the top corner of the mirror above the sinks. All three of us could get ready in that bathroom and not even get in each other's way. Sweet!

"I'd love to have a bathroom like this," I said, and got even more pensive. "Someday. We need to have dreams, right?" Twirling around slowly, I captured every detail and filed it to use for my dream house. The only thing it was missing was a window, which I would place over the tub.

Rose spoke up and changed the subject. "So, what are we going to do tonight?" All three of us looked at each other and had a silent conversation with our eyes. Rose wanted to go clubbing, I knew it, and Alice wanted to go hotel hopping so she could spy all of the architecture and decorations. Well, I wanted to go sit in the casino and gamble, get free drinks, and get drunk.

"We'll see what the guys want to do," we all said at the same time and started cracking up. With our cackles echoing from the bathroom to the room, Matthew ran in to see what we were doing. He stood in the doorway with his hands on his hips and an expression of expectation.

I looked at the girls that were still laughing. "Wow, bossy already, aren't we?" And we laughed harder, which only upset him more. Matthew didn't like us laughing at him so he stomped his foot. I was bent over at his silliness and held my arms out and wiggled my fingers to call him to me. With a little pout to his lower lip, he ran to me.

I hugged him tight to me and swayed back and forth for a minute. He was getting too big to hold like this, but I wanted to take advantage of it while I could. Pretty soon, I wouldn't be able to pick him up at all; he'd be too big.

~AL~

The guys wanted to hang out in the casino and said they spotted several bars with live music spread throughout the casino. I thought that was a great idea, since we'd been in a car for a few hours. I thought a nice night of drinking, dancing, and maybe gambling would be kick back.

The girls and I got ready in jeans, cute little shirts, and some kick ass high heels. I loved jeans and could dress them to go with any occasion. Rose and Alice could too, and with the right hair and makeup, we all looked even better.

The guys were dressed similarly in jeans, button-down shirts, and dress shoes. My man was looking mighty hot.

That night in the casino was a great time. We hopped from little bar to little bar, listening to music, dancing, drinking, and clowning around. In between that, we'd stop at a few slot machines to try our luck. Edward lost thirty dollars, but he said he didn't like to gamble that much anyway, so he was done. Rose and Alice just sat at the machines pretending to play so they could get free drinks from the waitresses. Emmett and Jasper played roulette and actually won a bit of money each. I'd slip in money as we'd walk to and from the different bars. I was so excited because on our last pass through, I slipped five dollars in a quarter slot machine and actually won seven hundred and fifty dollars.

It was so exciting, because I had never won anything before. I told Edward I'd help pay for our trip with the money, but he wouldn't hear of it. He told me to use it for bills and such, since Mike hadn't paid any child support at all. I had never complained about money to Edward, but he was always aware of what was going on. He knew I needed the money. I just felt bad that I had that money and wanted to help him.

~AL~

It was cold and packed. We were bundled up and standing so close to each other and a million others that we couldn't even hold our hands out without touching the person next to us. The streets were so full and I had heard it was only this packed on New Year's Eve. We all just stood there staring at the big, old building across the street.

There were tons of lights all over the building, strategically placed like Christmas decorations. We still had an hour to wait for the implosion to start. I was beginning to regret agreeing to this. I was about to have an anxiety attack from all the people surrounding me. They were pushing and shoving to get closer, and not respecting anyone's personal space. Matty was on Edward's shoulders, with his little hands in E's crazy locks. I was jealous, as he had the best seat in the house. He was excited for it to start and getting a bit impatient. I didn't blame him.

Music filled the street and everyone seemed to look around, trying to find where the bass-filled music was coming from. Loud thumps vibrated through our bodies as one by one the explosives began to go off. The night ended with all of us huddled together watching the hotel blow up and fall down with strategically planned choreography. It was beautiful and exciting, and something I was so privileged to see.

The love that was showered on Matthew and I from my friends and new family was so wonderful. I had so much to be thankful for and knew that it took a lot of work to get where we were, but it was so worth it. Edward and I were happy, and he kept Matty and I safe and loved.

Our first day back to work, Edward came running into my office with a flyer in his hand.

"Hey, babe. Look at this," he said, while handing me the paper. "What do you say? Do you want to go?"

Reading the flyer to understand what he was talking about, I saw it said:

All-inclusive hotel in Cabo San Lucas

Twenty-nine dollars a night per person for airline employees only.

Offer expires March 15, 1996.

~AL~

So there you go ... they're in Los Cabos. Updating on this will be slow until I finish my novel that is due the end of February. I will still try and update in between, so please be patient with me.

For all of those that read and review, thank you. I love reading your messages and thoughts. A few left guest reviews with questions and I couldn't answer, so please try to sign in if you can. :)

Thanks everyone!

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