Thank you SimplyDazzling. Wooh. You're awesome. Even if you send me chapters the day after I ask...

Thank so much to your kind responses to chapter 6! They blew me away! I wanted to reply to all of them, but I figured you'd like a chapter soon. Don't worry though, I'll be replying to all of them this week with my buddy Edward, and he loves to gives spoilers...(;


Over the next eight weeks, I got about ten letters from Edward. I sent that and probably a few more. Because the mail was so slow, a lot of the letters weren't in response to anything, just random things to write. Once I wrote about squirrels; Edward wrote about the sky. Granted his was just a bit deeper than mine, it was still a random topic.

I learned a lot of new things about the Sergeant though. For one, I had no idea that he had a dog. Granted, I had never really asked. In one of his random letters he told me some about his childhood friends, and then I discovered that Edward was a pet person.

When I was 17 I decided that I wanted a dog, a reliable companion. So I went to the animal shelter, opting to adopt rather than buy a dog from a breeder or pet shop. I hate those places; dogs should have more room than a glass box. Anyway, I went to the animal shelter in search for any type of dog.

As I was waiting in the lobby for someone to take me back, a women brought in a small puppy. It was a really light golden color and I assumed it was a golden retriever. My interest was piqued. The lady went to the front desk and explained that she had four kids at home. They had one golden retriever that had puppies and they were able to give away most except for that little guy. The woman was frazzled and it was apparent she couldn't undertake another responsibility

The woman left, leaving the puppy with the other woman at the desk. I stood up and walked over there. That was the dog I wanted. I didn't have to see the rest to know that. I told the woman that.

Twenty minutes later the puppy was sleeping in my arms and I was filling out the adoption forms. Dogs are expensive, not to buy because I was adopting, but they eat a lot, need toys, medicine and beds. Luckily I was pretty well off at the time and I doubted it would be problem. I was too busy thinking of a name.

After one day, the boy puppy I had picked a name. The dog was very sweet, but when he encountered our neighbor's cat he started to bark ferociously, defending his newfound territory. The dog was preparing for battle, and it was only ten weeks old. I decided to name him after the god of war, Ares. I pronounce it Air-ees, some people think it's just Air-s, but that's only his nickname. I hate not being able to see him.

Edward then went on to write that he had to leave Ares with his elderly neighbor when he got deployed. He hadn't heard from her in months, he was doubting that she was still alive, and he was worried about if he'd ever see Ares again.

I couldn't really relate. . .I had a gerbil when I was eight. But it died.

It wasn't the only time he mentioned his dog. I wished there was something I could do to check on the Ares, or anything, but I didn't know who the woman was, or if she was alive, or where she lived. I had say though, an elderly woman probably wasn't the best choice of dog sitters. . .not that I told Edward this of course.

Another thing he wrote about was his leave.

In the army you get 2.5 vacation days every month. Some guys like to space theirs out, but most don't like the air fair is worth it and only go home once for their 15 days. That's what I have been doing. Some of the younger soldiers don't like doing that; they like to get home for Christmas.

We all have to plan our leave by talking to the Noncommissioned Officer In-Charge. He, or she in our case, has a chart for everybody. My leave was granted for June 20th to July 15th. I think I'll go to Illinois for mine. I don't really have anybody to see there, but I don't know where else I should go.

The other sergeant's in my platoon are taking leave that over laps mine, so we'll all be in the states for a total of four days together. Who knows where Emmett's going to make us meet? I'll just be glad to get out of here for awhile.

That letter he sent just a week ago in March. It was now the beginning of April. To sum things up, grades were good, Elliot led the team to state victory, and golf season had started. Oh, and it had just snowed. We still had to go to practice. Sweet.

I had been thinking about that letter from Edward for awhile now. I had been thinking about a lot of his letters lately, actually. It was still a wandering question in my mind if I should address him as a friend, or just the soldier I met online. The friend thing sounded a little better and might stop questions, but I wasn't entirely sure if you were allowed to address someone you've never met as an amigo.

Speaking of amigos, I felt it was safe to say that Alice and I had actually become friends. I wrote her a letter back weeks ago that I sent with the package of stuff. She's been writing letters back and sticking them in the envelopes Edward mails to me ever since, and I do the same thing with her.

As it turns out, I had been right about one thing. She really needed someone to talk to about her boyfriendishthing. I learned that in the 4th letter she wrote to me.

You know that guy that I was talking about before? The one that I'm not really allowed to be with? Well, I'm not sure if Edward has told you much about the company, but he is a Sergeant in my platoon. His name is Jasper.

From what I understood about the military, which don't get me, wrong was very limited, Alice was screwed.

Jasper was what a lot of our letters were about. I wondered if Edward had at any time glanced at the letters I'd written to Alice or visa versa. If he had, it wouldn't take Einstein to figure out that Alice and Jasper were. . .objectively, full of sexual tension. . .for each other.

Edward never really wrote much about Jasper. He mentioned Emmett a lot more than the other sergeant. Emmett sounded fun, and it actually felt like I knew him. I had never been in any contact with either Jasper or Emmett, but Edward and Alice wrote as if I knew them, and in turn, I learned a lot about each of them.

At the end of February, I had been inspired. The basketball team had a silly string fight at one of the games. Silly string was sort of like. . .squirting out shaving cream? Yeah. That was an awful description. It was like a sticky, foaming string. . .like canned cheese that squirts out? Yeah. We'll go with that.

Anyway, after that game, I thought maybe the army would enjoy some fun. Fortunately, Esme had just ordered a box of 60 cans of silly string. I guess it was for a bizarrely fashionable wedding that she was planning. The bride was sleeping with the best man, who happened to be the groom's brother. Esme had way too much fun telling that story.

Bottom line was – no wedding, no need for 60 cans of silly string. So I suggested that she send them to Edward's platoon. She shrugged and filled out the address on the unopened cardboard box.

A couple weeks later I got this response in one of Edward's letters:

You know, for Christmas, we didn't even need all those other gifts. A box of neon colored silly string worked just as well.

The guys (and of course Alice) loved it. Emmett and I organized a capture the flag game with all three squads. You get shot with silly string anywhere, you die and have to act as you have in fact died. You are allowed to come back to life only if someone on your team comes and saves you from the Underworld. Then you become a fully operating zombie. We got a tad bit theatrical. . .

We were going to use two articles of. . .women's clothing that one of Emmett's guys as accumulated as flags, but Alice made us stop and we used bandannas instead.

My squad (plus some of Jasper's) won that game. It all went down hill after Emmett got bombarded with light pink silly string. As we were celebrating, Captain Harry came out. He looked royally pissed off. Emmett and I were getting ready to take the blame as he explained that someone had informed him we were using the training grounds for fun. We both knew who had informed him; a little jackass from a different platoon named Mark.

So, just as we know we're going to get a tongue lashing, he grins at us. Captain thought it was one of the most creative ideas he'd ever seen, and it was a good, safe way to train during rest hours. He applauded the idea of silly string and asked who got it. Emmett told him "An amazing woman Sergeant Masen is good friends with." Captain went on to call you brilliant, just so you know.

I had been thrilled. At least I was a woman to someone. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't one of those little brats who was in the biggest hurry to be taken seriously and grow up. I just didn't want to be perceived as a girl by Edward.

I was also beyond happy that the guys could use it. To me that sounded like a hell of a fun time. Esme was glad that it went to better use than it would have at the wedding it was for. I get not wanting bird seed thrown, understandable, but wouldn't a better alternative be blowing bubbles? Whatever, I guess. Silly string is cool too.

Alice told me that it was a fun time too and thanked me profusely. Those two were some of the most grateful people I'd ever know.

I had been extraordinarily busy lately. Rose and I still had been going to the Sky Dome, but we hadn't really talked much about Edward or Emmett. I don't know how she wrote an email to him or what response she got. This was one of those things where I think each of us wanted to keep as our own, and not necessarily share too much about. At least, that was how I felt.

But as golf started, Rosalie spent a lot more time with me. Unfortunately, golf courses were still open in snow. So we spent a majority of our time freezing our butts off together at practice.

It was warmer today. It hadn't snowed for about a week, but the spring air was slightly biting. The sun was battling to spread more warmth but the crisp air was still very chilling. I was wearing a dark pink pullover sweatshirt with a jacket vest on over that. I had a wool black stocking hat protecting my ears. Rosalie was huddled in a light blue windbreaker and a white fuzzy beret. She had gotten a lot of mocking from Brenner, but she rocked that thing like no one else possibly could.

Practice today was just like a day at the Sky Dome. We filled giant buckets with range balls and lined up on the driving range. There were only six of us on the team. We had another 11th grader, a 9th grader and two 8th graders. Today the girl Rose and I's age, Cynthia, wasn't there, so we were down to five.

"So. Emmett? How's that going?" I asked her with a hint of smirk. Now was one of those times where I couldn't turn and see her face because I was behind her.

"I honestly have no idea why you don't use email," she answered nonchalantly, not actually answering my question. Instead she busied herself by crushing her 7 iron.

"The email thing is working then?" I tried to steer her back to the topic that I was curious about.

"Yeah, I get like two emails from him every week. At first it was a little awkward, I mean, I had no idea what I was doing or where I stood with him. After some emails though we got pretty comfortable. He's a really sweet guy." Now that was what I had wanted to get at.

"I'll bet. What else?"

"Well he's 22 years old, it's his second tour in Iraq, his home is in Michigan. . .but here's the interesting thing. Him and his mom don't really get along at all – apparently she's exactly the type of person Carlisle and Esme mock: country club member who doesn't even golf but buys 32 dollar salads. Emmett never met his dad; he left when he discovered she was pregnant." I desperately wanted to see Rosalie's face at that moment. I heard it in her voice, there was an undeniable softness in it that I rarely heard used by her.

"But he is extremely funny, and entertaining to talk to. He has the best stories that always make me laugh so hard. I think besides you and my mom, he's one of the easiest people I know to talk to. Well you know. Type to." Yeah. . .I knew exactly.

I waited for Rosalie to add more. When she started dating Luke when we were 16, she gushed about everything. I mean, she literally told me everything they talked about, where they went on dates and the way his little brother acted.

I'm not saying she was anywhere near dating Emmett, It was just that Rose liked to talk when something new came her way. I never really had to ask for details, I just got them, wanting them or not.

Luckily, Rose was as virginal as me. Surprising though, given her exterior and hotness and all, but still true. Last year we had gotten celibacy matching toe rings. It was more of an inside joke than anything. No one noticed that we had matching ones, therefore we never had to explain.

"Any visual?" I asked.

"Well I sent him a picture a little bit ago. . ." Rose trailed off. My brows furrowed in confusion.

"Which one?"

"Um, the one we took last year at your cabin. You know, of me lying on the floating bed thing in the water?" Oh, I knew which one she was talking about. Rose had chosen that weekend to try out a very tiny bikini. She had only worn it for a few hours because it was so small, but not before we got our scrap-booking shots.

"Your boobs look huge in that!" Rose's head whipped back and I realized how loud I had just said that. She gave me a look, and right as I was about to apologize, quietly, I was interrupted.

"Okay! That was more than I wanted to hear! So let's just. . .stop talking or please quiet down that conversation. You're distracting the boys team." I cringed as Brenner shook his head. I had forgotten the boys were right next to us, practicing on the putting green.

Rose and I glanced at the team. Most of them were staring at Rose appreciatively. One very confident 14 year old grinned cockily and nodded appraisingly at Rose. "Hey Baby," he winked before proceeding to raise both eyebrows. I started snickering under my breath while Rose gapped like a fish. Then, she turned to glare at him.

"Stop harassing my girls, Pinkberry!" Brenner went off to yell at them.

"It's Pillsberry!" the obnoxious kid complained. I continued snickering.

"Doesn't make it any better," Brenner responded without missing a beat.

My snickering died down as I tried to focus. Rose flipped me the bird before hitting her club very aggressively.

"Okay, sorry about that, that was loud. But you really sent that picture? I know it's a great picture of your profile, and err. . .assets, but a first seeing picture?" I asked her, scrunching my nose up.

"Well he had already seen the golf picture Brenner took last year. The one you sent to Sergeant Masen." The modest one I sent to Edward, I thought with a tiny bit of self-righteousness.

"Edward showed him that?" I asked curiously. That made me wonder what he had actually done with those pictures. I watched her white beret go vertically as she nodded her head.

"Oh. So, Emmett email you anything?" I wondered if I would be able to catch a peak at Edward in a picture of Emmett's.

"Nope. Why, did Edward send you anything?" Rose's train of thought was exactly where mine was before the train ran into the ocean with her reply.

That was an excellent metaphor.

"Nothing."

It was a considerably long pause between the next conversation starter. I welcomed it for a little bit; I did need to work on my game after all. Next year was my last year, and I was planning to kick ass at state and play for a college.

"When is Emmett's leave?" I asked after some ten minutes of nothing.

"June 10th to the 6th of July." I heard the smile in her voice. I was thinking that Rose was developing a bit of a crush on Emmett.

"Is he going to come to Sections?" Sections were the big tournament before state in golf. It normally went two days (if we didn't suck the first day). The team that does the best in the conference goes to state. Carlisle and Esme walked along last year, but unfortunately another school beat us by 3 strokes.

"I don't know. I mean, it's on the 11th and 12th. I don't know if he wants to spend his vacation time watching golf." Rosalie had a good point. "Though it's better than seeing his mother. . ." she muttered under her breath with some venom. I was pretty sure I wasn't supposed to hear that, so I didn't comment.

"It might be fun," I shrugged even though she couldn't see me.

"I agree. It would probably be fun. I guess I might ask him if he wants to so we could have a little face to face time." I was eager to meet Emmett. I wondered if Alice, Rose or Edward had told him anything about me. Because I knew a lot about him thanks to them.

"I liked it better when you two were tiny little freshman who didn't talk about boys every waking minute." I hadn't noticed Brenner standing off to the side. Rose hadn't either and she hit right while he was talking. It went. . .well it bounced all the way across the grassy range and proceeded to roll right onto the road. "Nice," he commented sarcastically.

"How's Belliot?"

"For the love God. . .Really?" I huffed. That Belliot thing was going to get somebody killed. It was the most obnoxious name I had ever been a part of. I should have fake dated a Sebastian.

"What? I didn't know!" de defended himself as I glared at him. "Did he shatter your heart into pieces?" My eyes narrowed into slits. There was definitely going to be a break up in my future.

"Fine, fine, fine. Are you going to ask for help with that? Or am I just going to have to mock you about your personal life until you do?" he smirked while I sighed deeply. I conceded and Brenner spent the rest of the practice helping me with that club. That meant the conversation Rosalie and I had been having was quickly brought to a screeching halt.

After practice I always dropped Emily (the 9th grader on the team) and Rose off at their houses. Rosalie was next to me in the front of the truck, trying to read the chapter we needed to for English. Emily sat in the back listening to her iPod, and I was left to my own thoughts.

An idea was brewing in my head by the time the two of them were out of the car. I had no clue how it would be perceived but I was anxious to ask Carlisle and Esme. First I had to go home and read through one of Edward's letters though.

Once Carlisle, Esme and I were all sitting down at the table, I mulled over how to place my request. I was really nervous and my leg was bouncing at 100 miles per minute up and down.

Right as Carlisle started into his baked potato, I decided to ask. Awhile ago I had decided not to try and guess what their reactions would be. I cleared my throat lightly and they both looked up in silent question.

"I would like to ask Edward to spend his leave with us. . .here."


Against the grain should be a way of life
What's worth the price is always worth the fight
Every second counts 'cause there's no second try
So live like you're never living twice
Don't take the free ride in your own life
If Today Was Your Last Day, Nickleback


-Hmmm. How do you feel about Bella's little idea? (I'm aware that a majority of you saw this coming...)
-Like I said, Edward's helping me with reviews this week!
-I have decided in the name of the season to due a few one shots with our favorites couples based on Christmas carols! Good idea? Would you read them? Love to know. And then I'll add to the Em/R one shot I did last year on Christmas Eve. (On my website under New Stories if you're interested.)
-I'll now leave you in suspense. Poor Carlisle...