Chapter twenty one

Preparations-

Bella POV-

The past four days had been torture, and I was extremely happy to be rid of them, and finally allowed to get out of bed without Edwards okay. I could wash my own hair, take care of my baby. Everything. We had gone to the doctor earlier today, at Edwards request, to make sure everything was healing like it was supposed to. I trusted Edward. He had gotten a degree, for Pete's sake. I knew that he could tell if stitches were healing correctly. But he wanted a 'professional' opinion, so we went.

Edward was right, of course. Everything was healing up as it should be, and I could do whatever I liked, as long as I didn't get the stitches wet for a prolonged amount of time, or do something that would cause them to rip. It worked out well, though, because I'd been able to get Connor in for a check up as well. The doctor said that he was doing great, and should be walking soon. I honestly didn't know how to feel about that. Of course I was glad he was progressing, as he should be, but walking? This early? I'd always thought they weren't supposed to walk until they were over a year old. Hopefully he'd wait a few months, at least.

I looked back at him again in the rearview mirror. He was sleeping in his car seat. Edward had come with, but I'd talked him into letting me drive home if I got the okay. Part of me wondered if he liked to take care of me, and that's why he was being so anal about me doing absolutely nothing.

"So, Bella. I was thinking, that we should go camping sometime." He spoke slowly, obviously not knowing how I would respond.

"It's September, Edward. Do you know how cold it gets?"

"Yes. But it's still doable. I'm not asking you to go in the dead of winter." He bargained.

"You do realize that the temperature it is right now is a lot colder than it gets in the majority of the United States in January, right? Probably a majority of the Northern half, nonetheless. How am I going to stay warm? You know how easily I get cold." I honestly wouldn't mind going, but the rational part of my mind was winning.

"Lots of clothes and down sleeping bags. We'll either leave Connor with Emmett, or he'll sleep in a sleeping bag with one of us. He obviously wouldn't be able to generate enough body heat for his own sleeping bag. If you were too miserable the first night, we could either rent a cabin or a hotel room. Just give it a try." He replied smoothly. He'd obviously thought this out.

"So when were you thinking this was going to happen?" I asked.

"I would like to leave tomorrow."

"Have you talked to Emmett? Is he okay with running the business for another week?" I asked. It seemed hardly fair. I'd been hired to work in the office, but I'd only worked there a week, and taken one off. Now Edward wanted me to take off another? At least he's the one in charge, so it's not like you're going to get fired for going. I reasoned with myself.

"Yes. And Rosalie would love to watch Connor while Emmett is at work."

I sighed. "I would like to go… But promise I won't get too cold?" I wasn't worried about getting lost and starving to death, or somehow irritating the famous Kodiak bear, which would probably not hesitate to eat me, for its final meal before hibernation. No, I was worried about getting a little cold.

"I'll even let you sleep in my sleeping bag with me, if you get too cold." He whispered, wrapping his arms around my waist.

I giggled. "How will you know if I'm faking or not?"

"Trust me. You'll only wake up if you're cold. The fresh air tends to really wear you out."

"Well, let's get packing then." I said, as I pulled up to our apartment building. I quickly typed in the code and opened the door for Edward, who was carrying Connor in his car seat. I glanced at my watch, happy to see that it wasn't too late for him to take a nap. At least now I could get some packing done before he woke up. I couldn't believe that Edward had gotten me to agree to camp without really any trouble. I certainly had never been camping before, and didn't really even spend a lot of time outdoors. This was certainly going to be an adventure.

I got into our room, and opened up a suitcase, setting it on the bed. Edward came in behind me and did the same. Then, I just stood there, looking at my clothes. I had no idea what to pack.

Edward saw the situation I was in and laughed.

"Long sleeves and sweatshirts. We'll also bring your coat, and we will probably stop and buy you both long underwear and a wool vest. You have mittens, right?" He asked, tossing in what looked to me like warm clothing into his suitcase.

I nodded, and started looking through my clothes for the things he had described.

"Good. We'll put those little stretchy gloves on, and then put on your mittens. It helps a lot, I've found." Edward was really excited now, and I couldn't help but be excited too. He wouldn't be so excited if it was torture, right?

"How many nights will we stay?" I asked, wondering how much to pack.

"Two. We will drive for the about three hours tomorrow, and then spend two days at the campsite." Now he moved to his underwear drawer, tossing a few pair in. He also tossed in what seemed like a dozen pairs of socks.

He caught me looking at him. "You'll double up your socks, and I'm bringing extra in case they get wet." He explained. I took his advice and tossed a few more pair in my suitcase.

"Just how cold is it going to get at night, wherever it is you're taking me?" I asked.

"It depends, really. It's different every time, but it's probably below zero by now." He didn't hesitate to say. I knew that Alaska could easily hit -60 degrees Fahrenheit, if not lower. I just didn't have to go camping when it was that cold.

"Oh. Crap." I responded, putting tank tops, T-shirts, and more long sleeved shirts in my suitcase. I would just layer everything. I also went into the kitchen and found hand warmers, and tossed those in. I had never had an actual excuse to use them, other than homecoming during high school. I guess now I would learn what they were really for.

"I have the sleeping bags, along with heavy blankets. Quite a few heavy blankets, and pillows already in the back of my truck. It's nice, because we have enough room to take them all since it's just the two of us."

"Yeah. I would be mad if we had brought someone along and then I froze." I admitted. "Am I going to be able to shower?" I asked. This I was seriously concerned about. I wasn't supposed to shower for three days? Ew.

"There's a shower in the main office, which is heated. So if one of us gets hypothermia we will go and sleep on the floor in there, if it's not locked. But you'll have to wait until you're completely dry before you come out, so bring your hair dryer." I couldn't tell if he was joking or not, so I went into the bathroom and brought out my hair dryer, adding it to my bathroom things that were already in there. My suitcase was pretty much full now, but I decided to leave it open in case I remembered something that I needed.

Edward continued to almost bounce around the house, clearly excited that I'd agreed to whatever it was he was planning. I wished that he would tell me, I really hated surprises, but he refused.

I laughed at him and he looked at me. "You're going to wake Connor up with your bouncing." I warned. I glanced at the clock, and realized that he would probably be waking up on his own soon, anyways.

Edward POV-

I was extremely excited, to say the least. I knew that Bella would love it, as long as she didn't get cold. She might a little, but we had enough blankets for an entire army, just for the two of us. There was no doubt in my mind that we would be fine. I had already talked to the owner, and made sure that the main office stayed unlocked during the night, as a safety precaution. He said that it did, mostly because that's where the bathroom and shower was.

I had an amazing trip planned, and I couldn't wait to go. I had gone to this place as a child, with my parents. But I hadn't seen it since, so I decided that it would be the perfect place to go. If it was half as beautiful as I remembered, then it would be entirely worth it, even if I lost a couple of toes during the trip.

I remembered to bring the camera, along with extra batteries in case they froze in the camera. I had placed totes full of pots, pans, blankets, matches, newspaper to use as kindling, plastic silverware and plates, cups, a couple of thermoses, since I knew that keeping water in a container was pretty much impossible outside right now. If it was plastic, it would explode, and if it were metal, it would keep expanding until that exploded also. I had a gun underneath the floor of my truck, for emergencies. It was unloaded, so it was legal. I had the bullets in my glove department. I would finish packing the cooler in the morning.

"Thinking about something?" Bella asked, as she hugged me. I hugged her back, lifting her up and setting her on the couch. She squealed.

"Just a mental list of everything I have packed, and what I need to do tomorrow morning." I answered.

"Oh. Do you have everything?"

I laughed. "We could be gone for weeks, and we would be fine. Trust me, we have more than what we could ever possibly use."

"Well, I guess that's reassuring."

Just then I heard Connor cry, and Bella stood up and went into the nursery. I followed her, placing my hands on her waist and kissing her cheek.

"Da!" Connor was into a phase, well, I hoped a phase, where he didn't really talk, or coo. He just squealed everything. It made for some pretty long days, filled with pain medication for my headaches. I would get used to it, I was sure. I'd just had a problem adjusting.

"Connor, shh." Bella scolded. "Are you hungry?" She asked him, walking back out of the room.

I went and took a shower while she fed him, grabbing my shampoo afterwards, along with towels. Then I went into the nursery and packed for Connor. I was taking him over later tonight, that way we could just get up and go tomorrow morning, without disrupting anyones sleep.

"Is he ready to go? I asked as I walked into the kitchen.

"I'm just finishing up. He eats so fast." She commented, scooping another spoonful of applesauce into Connors mouth.

When she was done feeding him, and I had cleaned up Connor while she did the dishes, we went over to Rosalie and Emmetts apartment. Connor did his little bounce when the door opened.

"Hey, Emmett. Ready for the monster?"

"Tell Edward that you're not a monster, you're a baby." Emmett said, picking up Connor. I started laughing when Connor looked back at me.

"No."

"That's right, you tell 'em. Come on in, guys."

We followed him into the living room, and sat down on the couch.

"Where's Rosalie?" Bella asked.

"She had a doctors appointment today. She should be back soon. Did Edward tell you where you were going yet?"

"Nope."

"How is that fair, Edward. She doesn't even know where she's going." Emmett argued, looking at me.

"She'll see tomorrow. It'll be worth the wait."

The Kodiak bear is the biggest bear out there. I'll put a link on my site. They are five feet tall at the shoulder when on all fours. (Read about them, and support the inner nerd. They really are amazing)

This chapter took some research, but it's finally out. Sorry for the wait!

By the way- I probably will not be posting tomorrow, seeming as how Breaking Dawn comes out!! hyperventilates I'll be posting Sunday night and Monday, though. I promise I'm a fast reader, and will restrain myself from reading it twice in a row.