Chapter 22

EPOV

I held my wife of five years close to me. This August, three months after the triplets turned six, we would be married for six beautiful years. I couldn't imagine now without her. She was my everything.

I forgave her a long time ago for keeping Masen from me. She had thought it best, maybe at the time she was right. I was young and I wasn't nowhere near ready to raise a child. Of course I would have. If I would have known I would have stepped up and supported Bella and Masen. As well as forgiving Bella, I forgave myself. I had carried that guilt around with me for so long. The guilt that sometimes ate away at me. I was forever telling myself that I could have prevented Masen growing up without a father. I could have done more or I could have just been smart and stayed. Those thoughts had taken over me and eventually they bothered me to no end. They were the guilt I had to rid myself of.

It helped that Bella had forgiven me for not coming back when I said I would. She helped more then I could imagine. She was amazing in every single way possible. I couldn't ask for a better wife or for a better mother for our kids.

I looked down at my wife. She was sleeping soundly as I held her on the couch. The children were in bed and Lane had just returned from Masen's. She had a large smile on her face so I had an idea that whatever happened between then while she was over there was definitely good.

I chuckled thinking about my son. I saw so much of myself in him. I'm just glad he didn't wait over sixteen years to come back for the girl he loved. Sure, he says that he didn't come back for her but I know Masen and I know that some part of him had Lane in mind when he made his decision to move back to Forks. Hell, I'd be lying if I said Bella wasn't a big part of my reason for leaving New York. Of course I wanted to raise Alexa somewhere nice and quiet rather then the dangerous streets of New York, but I chose to come back to Forks, where I could have gone anywhere else in the country. I could have even found a nice place in New York away from the city, but I chose to come back to the town I knew the love of my life still lived in. There was no doubt in my mind when I came back that Bella would be here. I couldn't see her ever moving out of Forks. She had always told me how she hated the small town but she would forever stay if it meant being around her family.

"Daddy?" A small voice that belonged to Alison pulled me out of my thoughts. I smiled at her and held out my free arm for her to crawl into my lap. Alison was my girl, she was a definite Daddy's girl. Alexa preferred Bella most days while Gracie was neutral.

"What's wrong, baby?" I asked her.

"Bad dream." She muttered. I kissed the top of her head and nodded. Bella and I had spent the past few months dealing with Alison and her bad dreams. She wouldn't tell us what they were about but she was often coming to us in the middle of the night crying from them.

I felt Bella stir next to me. She looked up and gave me a little smile as she noticed that Alison was with us.

"Another bad dream?" Bella asked reaching out to smooth back Alison's hare. I nodded. She sat up and kissed my lips lightly then kissing Alison's forehead. "Hey, Ali?" She whispered. Alison looked up at her with teary eyes. "Can you tell Mama about your bad dream?"

"It was scary." Is all Alison said. It's all she would ever say.

"Was there a monster?" I asked. Alison nodded. She started to shake so I decided to not ask her any more about the dream. I couldn't imagine what she was could be dreaming about or what could be triggering her dreams.

Alison fell back to sleep in my arms quickly. I looked over at Bella who was biting her lip nervously. She looked to be deep in thought only looking at me when she noticed I was looking at her.

"I don't know what to do for her…"Bella said defeated.

"Me either." I admitted looking down at Alison. She had her arms wrapped around my next tightly. "She's out, maybe she'll sleep the rest of the night."

"I sure hope so." Bella said leaning over and kissing Alison on the cheek. "Is Lane back?"

"Yeah, why don't you go talk to her while I go put Alison back in bed?"

"Alright." Bella nodded then kissed me. "I love you, Edward."

"I love you too, Bella." I smiled getting up with Alison. Her hold on me seemed to get tighter.

BPOV

I watched as Edward took Alison up to her room. I didn't know what to do for my little girl, I wished I could stop the dreams from coming but she wouldn't even tell us what they were about. Even though she was sleeping now I knew she would be up before too long crawling into the bed between Edward and me.

It was a good thing Alison wasn't a crazy sleeper like her sisters. Alexa and Gracie would both find a way to take over the bed while they slept. It didn't matter how big or small the bed was they would stretch out as much as possible. Mikey just moved a lot but my Alison would find a spot and stay. She had been such a clingy baby and she hadn't changed much as she got older. She still loved to bed held and cuddled with while she slept.

I looked at the TV before finding the remote and turning it off.

"Bella?" Lane walked into the living room, she had a large smile on her face.

"I was just about to come talk to you." I laughed patting the spot next to me. My joints were tired and I was feeling just a bit lazy so I didn't mind that she had come to me. "So, how did it go?" I pressed.

"Good. I told Masen how I felt and he said that he still loves me. He's going to ask you to watch Maddy on Friday night so we can go on a date…" She said all in one breath. She couldn't seem to wipe that smile off her face. I was happy for her. I was even more happy for my son.

"Of course I'll watch Maddy. I'm supposed to watch Alice's boys but Madeline won't be a problem." I told her. I didn't mind watching my granddaughter one bit. Sure, Alice and Jasper were dropping all three boys off that night but it would be okay. Edward would handle the two older boys while I took care of Avery who had just turned one. Adding Madeline in wouldn't be a problem. She was a fairly easy baby to care for.

"Oh, I totally forgot about that! Shoot, I'll cancel. It's fine, Masen and I can go on a date Saturday night…"

"No, don't worry about it. Edward and I can handle it, Lane. I promise." I laughed.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Positive." I nodded. If I needed help I would call Sue and she would gladly help out. She would be over with Charlie for dinner that night anyway. "So, finish telling me everything!" I said excitedly.

Lane and I sat on the couch for the next fifteen minutes until Edward came down with not only Alison attached to him but Mikey, too. I sighed and took Mikey while he kept a hold of Alison. Lane went to bed after offering to stay up with them. She would have them all day tomorrow so I told her Edward and I could handle them.

That night Alison and Mikey slept between Edward and I. Alison kept snuggled up next to me the entire night while Mikey moved non-stop. Poor Edward was kicked more times then he could count.

I woke up the next morning by my alarm. I had barely slept the night before and I really wasn't looking forward to a long day at work. Plus, I needed to get all four kids up and off to school. I groaned lifting my head to find Alison and Mikey both waking up. Edward was already gone.

"Mommy, do we have to go to school today?" Mikey asked.

"Yeah, buddy, you have to go to school." I said sitting up. "Come on. I'm sure Lane has breakfast already. I have to go get your sisters up." I said not looking forward to waking Gracie up. She was hell trying to get out of bed in the mornings.

I went upstairs to find that Alexa was already up and that Gracie was still knocked out. I sat down on the edge of her bed and shook her.

"Gracie, it's time to get up." I said in an even voice.

"Nooo!" She cried flipping over.

"Come on." I shook her again. "Get up. You need to eat before you go to school." I said.

I left for work an hour and a half later. Lane took the van and drove them to school while I took Edward's old Volvo. He had recently purchased a new one and I had started driving the old one so Lane could use the van during the day.

"Good Morning, Bella." Rosalie gave me a big smile as I stepped off of the elevator.

I decided that afternoon when I got off from work that one day very soon Edward and I needed a vacation. I felt like my entire life was being run by kids and I just needed a day off.