Short update now = long update later. Long update = greater statistical chance of lemons. Heh.

Jasper blinked at the hapless intern in front of him, trying to comprehend the words that were coming out of her mouth. "What do you mean there are no pumpkins?"

The girl – Nettie, he remembered belatedly – twisted the end of her braid in her hands nervously. "We ordered a truckload of pumpkins for the set. But, the company called and said they can't deliver our order."

"You have a hatchback, don't you?" Jasper asked patiently.

"Well, yeah -"

"Okay. Here's what you're going to do," he said as he dug for his wallet. "It being the first of October and all, there are pumpkin patches all over the city, so this shouldn't be hard. You're going to go around and fill that car of yours to the brim with the biggest, prettiest pumpkins you can find, alright?" He handed the clueless woman the paper contents of his wallet – about three hundred dollars. "This should be enough for the pumpkins and gas. I expect to see change, got it?"

"Y-yes, sir," Nettie said, taking the money and scampering away quickly.

Jasper closed his eyes, mildly amused. Sometimes he felt like he was the head of an army of amateurs.

His cell phone rang then, distracting him. Jasper smiled when he saw the name on the screen. "Hey, babycakes."

"Hey, Jasper. I'm not bothering you, am I?" Alice asked.

"You? Never," Jasper said, walking off the noisy set so he could hear her better. "What's up?"

"Char and I were just thinking… it's been forever since we've had a girl's day out. Rosie's got a photo shoot, the baby is with Carlisle and Esme tonight, what do you say to Thai Elvis?"

"Thai Elvis," Jasper chuckled. "Now that's an offer that's hard to resist. Good food, stunning er… entertainment, and two of my favorite girls."

"Tell him he can't come without Petey!" Charlotte's voice could easily be heard in the background.

Jasper snickered. "Believe me, Petey would be perturbed if I came without him," he said lewdly.

Alice giggled. "You're bad. Anyway, my car's out of commission, so can you pick us up?"

"Sure, sugar," Jasper said easily. "Gimmie till four and I'll be there. And yes, I'll bring Peter with."

~0~

"Ugh. Look, Peter. It's a miracle," Jasper quipped as he down on a grassy hill in Griffith Park. He rubbed his aching belly. "We're going to have a Thai baby."

Peter laughed, trying to tug Jasper to his feet, but Jasper just groaned. "No. Can't get up. Too. Full."

"You gotta walk it off, babe," Peter said.

Alice giggled, plopping down beside Jasper. "You two walk it off. Jasper and I are going to slip into a carb coma."

Jasper reached out, pulling Alice into his arms and cuddling her close like a child would a stuffed bear. "Yes. Wake us if the police think we're homeless."

"Spoil sports," Charlotte admonished playfully. She put her arms around Peter's neck from behind. "Come on, Petey. Let's play without them."

"As you wish, my lady," Peter said, stooping slightly so he could get a better grip as Charlotte wrapped her legs around his waist. They ambled off, giggling together.

"I don't know how he can be so damn energetic after a meal like that," Jasper mumbled, watching Peter - or more specifically, Peter's ass, as he retreated. He sighed, breathing in the pleasant girl smell Alice exuded. "And weight lifting on top of it... Maybe I'm just getting old."

"Shut up," Alice said feigning exasperation, purposefully mussing Jasper's hair as they cuddled. "Don't be so melodramatic."

They lay in silence for a few minutes, just soaking up the last of the sun as twilight began to fall. Alice rolled slightly away from him after a little while, but she threaded their fingers together. As always, her presence brought Jasper great peace.

"Have you and Peter come to any decisions about how you want to start a family?" Alice asked softly.

"We've narrowed it down to a couple of choices, though neither of them is easy," Jasper said, his voice thoughtful as he remembered all the conversations he'd had with his lover in the last week. "We decided that we wanted the whole experience. We'd love to be there for at least part of the pregnancy, and then from the moment our baby is born."

"So that means surrogacy, or adopting the child of a woman who's already pregnant," Alice surmised.

"Mmmhmm," Jasper murmured. Then he let out a long, worry-laden sigh. "I keep on thinking of the worst case scenarios," he admitted. "I keep on thinking...what if lightning strikes twice? You and Dash are among the better things that have ever happened to me, but it all could have gone to hell so easily. It almost did in Bella and Edward's case."

"Bella offered to carry a child for you," Alice pointed out.

"So she keeps reminding me." Jasper snorted. "She didn't like pregnancy the first time around. I couldn't impose a nine-month long headache on her." He smiled fondly. "Bella is as sweet and selfless as they come, but you know as well as I do that she has a family of her own to think about now. If she carries any more children, they should be her own."

"Edward wants more," Alice said, a smile in her voice. "He doesn't say it, but I can tell."

Jasper rolled his head, studying Alice's profile with curiosity. "Do you want more?"

She looked at him, pursing her lips as she considered. "Rosalie does. If it were up to her, we'd have a dozen kids," she laughed. "We'll have at least one more. She wants to experience pregnancy for herself, but we haven't really talked about it."

Jasper wondered idly whose genetics Alice and Rosalie's future babies would share. Would they ask him? It made sense in a way - even if they used Rosalie's egg, the child would be Dash's biological brother.

Thinking about the logistics brought Jasper back to the importance of blood relation and responsibility. As if she could sense his sudden distress, Alice rubbed her thumb over his knuckles soothingly.

"When we have to tell him…about me, I mean… do you think he's going to want me to be more to him?"

Alice didn't have to ask what Jasper was talking about. She breathed in deeply, her eyes creasing at the corners as she thought over her answer. "I don't know, Jasper," she admitted, her voice light. "I can't really see the future."

She pursed her lips, looking nowhere in particular as she spoke again. "I've thought about that, and I just don't know. Rose and I are raising him to understand that family isn't something that has a one-size fits all definition. But we also live in a world that still stresses that a child should grow up with a female mother and a male father – as if a kid is somehow disadvantaged without a set." Her voice was slightly bitter as she spoke, and Jasper wondered just how many times she'd heard this particular argument and from whom.

"To me, it all depends on the person or people raising a kid. Dash is healthy and happy. He's well loved. He has so many fine role models of all genders around him. When the time comes, I hope Dash will understand that it's Rose and I who've raised him. I hope that he can understand that your blood running through his veins doesn't make you a parent." She squeezed his hand. "Either way… we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Jasper considered this. He wondered why he was worried. When it came down to it, it was Alice and Rosalie who would be affected the most by Dash's inevitable questioning. So why did the question nag at him, tugging insistently at the edges of his mind and heart?

Sighing, Jasper had to turn the question around on himself. "I hate to belabor the point. I just ... I'm crazy about him. I worry about what I'll feel for the child that's supposed to be mine," he admitted his worst fear to Alice knowing she was his safe haven. "It won't be fair to them if I feel… less."

Alice didn't answer right away and sat up, though she didn't let go of his hand. "Can I ask you something?"

Curious, Jasper only looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

"You know your whole spiel about labels? You refuse to call yourself gay, or call Peter your husband because those words come with rules and expectations. You do that so you can love whomever you want the way you want without being limited by definitions," she summarized his feelings succinctly.

"So?"

"So why are you trying to put a label on what you feel for Dash?" she asked plainly. "You love him. He is a meaningful person in your life and you in his. Nothing is going to change that, and I don't think you want it to change, but don't give it any more meaning than it needs. You're not his daddy or his uncle...you're his Ja." She grinned.

As she looked down on him, Alice ran her finger down the scruff of his cheek playfully. "Honey, when your baby is born, Daddy is one label that you're going to want to own. It's so much more than guessing at what role you're supposed to play. When you're the parent, you think about everything. Too much," she said with a laugh. "You realize that everything you say and do is molding who he is and who he will be. Do you worry about those things when you think of Dash?"

"No," Jasper admitted.

Alice nodded. "The responsibility is ... immense. But the love, Jasper... the love you'll feel when it's your baby... it's the purest, most frightening thing I've ever experienced. Having a child isn't about whose blood is running through his veins. It's about what part of your soul that little creature has carved out for himself. Dash is my son, Jasper - Rosalie's and mine. His genetics can't dictate that fact."

She cupped his cheek, looking down on him with adoration. "You're a wonderful man, Jasper. You've never needed society or anyone else to tell you how to be or what you should be. Trust yourself."

~0~

They all ended up at Jasper and Peter's house, spending the evening with a few too many glasses of wine around the coffee table in the living room.

Jasper was in a state that could only be described as blissed out. He was humming contentedly to himself, lounging on the long sofa with a glass of wine in one hand and his fingers tracing the lines of Peter's collarbone with the other. He pressed haphazard kisses against his lover's cheek and neck, enjoying the taste of the wine mingling with the salty flavor of Peter's skin.

With Peter's back pressed against his chest, Jasper felt the rumble as the other man laughed. "Char, you just chugged that glass. Be careful. I'm a little too tipsy to hold your hair back tonight."

"Thanks for that imagery," Jasper muttered without opening his eyes.

"I'm not going to get sick," Charlotte protested. "I just needed some liquid courage. That's all."

That made Jasper peel his eyes open. He leaned back, focusing on her for a second. She was worrying a napkin in her hands, the movement distinctly nervous. Next to her, Alice had a hand on her knee as if for support. "Are you okay? What's going on?" Jasper asked, suddenly nervous.

She tittered. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just... well, this is fucking awkward as hell. I don't know how to say this at all."

Peter sat up, leaning forward. "Just spit it out, hon. You're killing me .

"Tell them about the baby," Alice said soothingly.

"What baby?" Jasper and Peter asked together.

Charlotte took another breath. "Well... okay so, funny story. I wasn't always the calm, no-nonsense kinda girl you see before you today."

Both men snorted because Charlotte was anything but calm. She was enjoying the remainder of her twenties quite thoroughly, in fact. Within the legal limit, but only barely.

"When I first came here, I was barely 18. I was so many miles away from home." She rolled her eyes. "Not that my parents were any kind of buffer, but you know," she shrugged. "There are a lot more ways to get in trouble here than in Po Dunk Nowhere." She looked toward Alice, taking the other woman's hand. "If it weren't for Alice... well, she kept me safe."

Her smile became sad. "So, I'm sure you can tell the rest of the story yourself. I was stupid and reckless. There was a one-night stand. She grimaced, "Several one-night stands if I'm being honest. And I wound up pregnant."

"Oh, honey," Peter murmured, reaching his hand out. Charlotte took his hand.

"No, honestly... as surprising as this might sound, it was a positive experience," she assured him. "Alice was an angel. She supported me through everything." She took her time telling the next part of her story. "She's the one that helped me get clean. And then... she found me the couple I gave the boy to."

"I'm sorry," Jasper murmured, his heart aching for the woman in front of him.

Charlotte shook her head. "Don't be. God, I didn't mean to turn this into a pity fest," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm golden. Pregnancy gave me a reason to get off the dangerous path I was on. Honestly... I really liked the whole being pregnant part."

Jasper and Peter looked at each other, a little incredulous. Neither of them had been able to understand the appeal of pregnancy... other than the baby, of course.

"It's true!" Charlotte claimed with a giggle. Then she looked sheepish. "Of course, it helped a lot that the couple spoiled the ever loving hell out of me. Spa visits... any kind of food I ever wanted, well, except sushi."

"Lack of sushi would be my deal breaker," Jasper muttered.

"Honey," Peter said slowly, "what are you trying to tell us?"

Charlotte let go of Alice to hold onto Peter with both hands. She looked between him and Jasper, her eyes sincere. "What I'm saying is ... I have no desire to be a mother. Really. None. But... when I gave birth to that little boy, being able to complete a family... that was, without a doubt, the proudest moment of my entire life." She held their gaze, a smile beginning to bloom on her face. "I would love... love... to do the same for you."

A/N: I'm officially adding Twanza to my list of saints and enablers. If you haven't started reading Love in Idleness, you are seriously missing out. Seriously. SERIOUSLY.

Thanks also to barburella and to all of you. Your response to this little story is just… so lovely.