Stephenie Meyer- Is the owner of all things Twilight related.

Some more pointless Nautical terms!! Son of a Gun – 'When in port, and with the crew restricted to the ship for any extended period of time, wives and ladies of easy virtue often were allowed to live aboard along with the crew. Infrequently, but not uncommonly, children were born aboard, and a convenient place for this was between guns on the gun deck. If the child's father was unknown, they were entered in the ship's log as "son of a gun".'

Bella POV.

"Hey Tanya!" Rosalie called from beside me as we reached the front desk in our familiar Eclipse ship.

"Hey guys! Did you have fun?" Tanya asked excitedly as she came over to us after beckoning a few bell boys to get our luggage and the guy's. I leant back as I felt Edwards arms wrap around my waist and smiled as I realised how much had changed since our first day on board. This scene was similar to that of our first day, with meeting up with Tanya at the front desk and getting our luggage sorted, but now we had Edward, Emmett and Jasper added into the equation.

"What are you thinking?" Edward asked me as he brushed his lips softly against my ear.

"About the first day we got here" I admitted as Tanya summoned us to follow her along the familiar hallways to our suites.

Edward gave my neck a quick kiss before he picked up a bag in order to save having to get another bell boy. I thought it odd that even having four bell boys, Edward, Emmett and Jasper also carried a bag each, but then I remembered the shopping spree that Alice took us on one day while we were on land. I wondered if the guy's feet had recovered yet after the miles of walking we had done that day.

"Hello my familiar door!" Alice laughed giddily as she brushed her hand over our front door while Tanya opened it as she had done the first day. Alice soon vanished into our suite, I realised that she would probably be running to the whirlpool bath or closet to see if they had missed her.

Before he vanished into his suite, Edward blew me a kiss, which I caught, even with my really crappy hand eye co-ordination skills. I followed Rosalie and Tanya into our suite, and there, sure enough was Alice, ordering the bell boys to put her luggage carefully in her section of the closet.

"Tanya, guess what our darling Bella here learnt to do…" Rosalie began as she lounged on the sofa in front of the wide screen TV.

"What?" Tanya asked while looking from me to Rosalie with eager eyes.

"Edward only taught her how to swim!" Rosalie bragged as I sat down beside her and rolled my eyes. Alice joined and quickly sat down on Rosalie's other side.

"Wow…how was it, learning to swim in the tropics?" Tanya asked as she sat on an armchair, with her legs folded beneath her. I realised, by the way she matched Alice's stance that she was in full gossip mode.

"Great…hot…" I began. Tanya's care-to-elaborate wave of her arms made me continue. "Well… it was hot because of the sun, but then Edward was the one teaching me…he was great, he didn't push me too hard, and I had the others to motivate me…" I finished in a bit of a flurry as I remembered how hot I got as Edward teased me while putting sun lotion on me.

"Ooooo there's another story! What's with the blush missy?!" Tanya asked excitedly.

"Ask her…" I said coldly as I glared at Rosalie.

"What? What did I do?" she asked confused.

"Sun lotion…" I prompted which caused Rosalie's face to turn from confusion to a look of understanding.

"Ahhh that…well…" Rosalie began, and then went on to explain how she pushed us to tease the guys, and how it then backfired when they got us back just as good.

"So, tell me more…" Tanya prompted after she and Alice went over the day of shopping in detail.

Rosalie turned to Alice and me with an apprehensive look on her face as she began, "Guys…sorry I didn't tell you this sooner, but now that I've thought about it, I think Emmett might as me to be his girlfriend…" she finished quickly, but all three of us understood her words.

"W-O-W!" Alice said each letter slowly. "Why, how…I mean I'm happy for you…but where…how?" she asked flabbergasted at the new substantial information.

"Well…the day we went horse riding on the beach with the guys…" she broke off at Tanya's confused look and explained how we had planned to go horse riding on the beach on a horse each, but because neither of us had ridden a horse before, I went with Edward, and Alice with Jasper and finally Rosalie and Emmett. "Well, he kept asking me things like, how long it would take to get from Seattle to Alaska, and he asked how flexible were my hours at work were…" she finished with a speculative look on her face.

"Ohhh my God! This is so cool!" Alice bounced in her seat while Tanya remained silently gob-smacked in her chair.

I sat silently, smiling eagerly at Rosalie, while I felt guilty for the feeling of jealousy that went through me at her words.

A loud knock on the glass door to our veranda startled us all from our thoughts. I instinctively jumped up and wrenched to glass door back, emitting the guys into our suite.

"Wow…I'm flattered, someone missed me!" Edward laughed from behind Emmett and Jasper.

"Who me?" I joked before I continued, "You must be mistaken, I was waiting for Jasper!" I laughed as I hugged Jasper around his waist, watching Edwards shocked face from over Jaspers shoulder.

I heard a haggard sigh pass near me as Alice marched past me, muttering "I'll come and greet you Edward…" I caught the wink she threw me as she nodded her head towards Emmett and Rosalie. I looked towards the couple and smiled as I saw Rosalie perched on Emmett's lap proudly as they talked to Tanya.

I turned back to Jasper who had a worried look on his face as he looked towards Edward and Alice who were hugging the same as Jasper and I were doing. "Jasper…" I whispered, drawing his worried eyes back to me. "What's up?" I whispered once again, giving him a squeeze.

"I…" he let out a sigh, before he lowered his head down beside mine to whisper in my ear, "Do you think Alice would agree to be my girlfriend?" he asked with an apprehensive sound to his voice.

Hardly shocked, I pulled back from him, and looked up to his eyes. I could feel the excitement for Alice bubbling inside me which caused me to jump up and wrap my arms around his neck as I whispered a slightly loud and exited 'yes' to him. I felt his arms around my waist grip slightly tighter as he supported me. "Really?" he asked me with a look of a child at Christmas on his face.

Alice squeals from Edwards arms made me look towards them suspiciously before I answered Jaspers question, "Of course she'll say yes!" I whispered back to him before I dropped back down to my feet. Jasper and I both turned to see Edward, twirling Alice around in circles in his arms as they both laughed. "I think you'd better go and break those two up before Alice get altitude sickness…" I joked as I nudged Jaspers side.

He gave me a small salute before he walked toward them. I sat down beside Emmett and Rosalie and told them and Tanya quickly in a whispered tone what Jasper had asked me.

"This is so exiting!" Tanya bubbled with excitement as she clasped a hand over her mouth.

"So…did my brother do anything for you?" Edward asked casually as he pulled me from my seat, sat down and then pulled me back down on him.

I ran a finger beneath one of his eyes as I told him, smiling, "I only go for Green Eyes". I was given a tender kiss in return for my good answer.

"I know we just got here…" Jaspers voice was apologetic as he stood in front of Alice a short distance away with her face in his hands as he rained light kisses over her face. "I'll see you later?" he added cautiously.

"You better had…" Alice returned with a childish pout before Jasper kissed it away.

"We have to go…we have this sort of date thing…" Edward explained with a nervous expression on his face as he rubbed my back reassuringly.

"Date…interesting…" I muttered as I got up from his lap.

"It was arranged on the first week before I…we…" Edward tried to explain. I cut off his painful excuse with a kiss to his neck and a smile before he walked out of the door after Jasper and Emmett.

"A date?" Rosalie asked incredulously with an arched eyebrow and a hand on her hip.

"You know…I've always wanted to be a detective…" Tanya stated in a casual tone as she unfolded her legs from beneath her and slipped her shoes back on.

I caught on to her hint and stated, "That's funny…because now that you mention it…so have I…" I laughed as Alice and Rosalie began to debate if they should change their clothes to black or to some boring cream colour to blend in with the walls.

"Scoot!" I ordered as I shooed them toward the door. In true spy movie fashion, Tanya inched open our front door and checked the corridor. After declaring that it was 'all clear' she ushered us out behind her to the elevator.

"Do we go up, or down?" Alice asked as the four of us stood outside the waiting elevator.

"Two up, two down?" I suggested.

"No, Bella! You know the rules! Never split up!" Rosalie caught onto mine and Tanya's act even though she ruined it slightly by laughing.

"Right…no splitting up just in case some knife wielding psycho comes at us…strength in numbers…" Alice joined in with a serious look and tone to her voice.

"I say we go down, there's more restaurants and café's" Tanya stated level headedly.

We all agreed and headed down one level at a time, finding no sign of them at all, which wasn't surprising for the size of the ship. "Work our way back up from our suit level?" I suggested as we reached the elevator once more.

"Let's do this ladies!" Tanya laughed as we entered the elevator.

We reached the level above our room's level and began to wander up and down the corridors. I caught sight of a flash of auburn in the corner of my eye as I walked toward a large windowed room. I gasped and ducked down out of sight as I caught a glimpse of Edward, Emmett and Jasper.

After the initial shock, I whispered frantically at Rosalie, Tanya and Alice to come over quickly. "Ohhh my God…" I cringed as I watched the three of them advanced to me. Tanya came toward me, crawling, then there was Alice, moving unusually ungracefully as she rolled over her head like they did on the action films and finally Rosalie, who advanced, pressed against the wall, with her hands up at her chest in a mock gun as she quickly darted from side to side of the corridor.

"Loosen up a bit Bella!" Alice laughed after she made her final roll and crashed into me…"Sorry…must have miss-calculated that last roll…" she apologised as I rubbed my side.

"Ohhh my God are they…?!" Rosalie gasped from beside me as she peeked her head up and looked through the window.

"Yes they are…" I replied before I turned to Alice who had now joined Rosalie, "You didn't bring your camera with you by any chance did you?" I asked as I peeked through the glass in the corner.

"Why yes, yes I did…" Alice giggled as she pulled it from her jean pocket.

"Wow…did you see how cute Emmett's butt was when he wiggled it just now?" Rosalie asked with a sigh at the end as she stared, besotted.

"Quick get down!" I ordered as I noticed that they were about to turn around and inevitably notice us. "I think we got away with it…" I reassured them after I took a quick look a minute later.

"Ballroom dancing…who would have guessed?" Rosalie laughed as she, Tanya and I watched Alice holding her camera up to the window every few seconds, taking the odd picture.

"I'm guessing that they're polishing their skills ready for the Vintage night that's coming up." Tanya said as she lounged against the wall beside me.

"Vintage night?" I asked, clueless.

"Didn't I tell you? I guess I forgot…well there's a Vintage night in two days time and then an auction night a night or so before the cruise ends." She told us.

"Ohhh my God we need dresses!" Alice whispered frantically as she stared at Tanya who gave her a small nod of understanding.

"I was thinking more along the lines of ohhh my God, we need dancing lessons." I admitted as I recalled the way the guys had been dancing with those three old women we had met at the pool bar on the first week.

"Don't worry; it's all in the leading!" Tanya declared confidently with a wave of her arms.

"So…what do we do now? Sit here until they get out…?" Rosalie asked as she studied her nails.

"Well, I need to get going, dresses to sort out, people to boss around…" Tanya informed us as she got up off the floor.

"I'm going to head back up to the room…" I told Alice and Rosalie who were flicking through the pictures Alice had taken while Tanya disappeared around the corner.

"We'll come with you." Alice said as she and Rosalie crawled toward me, away from the window. Once they were away from the window, they stood up and followed me. "That was fun" Alice grinned as she jumped into the elevator behind Rosalie and me.

"Don't you think we should get some dancing lessons?" I asked them as we ascended to the right floor.

"I don't know" Rosalie shrugged, "Like Tanya said, it's all in the leading, and it's unlikely that the guys are going to make us look stupid in front of the whole ship…it'll be fine." Rosalie's confidence eased some of my worry away.

"Want to watch a movie?" Rosalie asked as she threw herself on the sofa in font of the widescreen TV.

"Sure, what will it be?" I asked as I scanned the choices, calling out the odd one.

"The Beach!" Alice called excitedly before I even got the chance to call it out. Alice quickly joined a sprawled Rosalie on the sofa, leaving me on an armchair.

A knock at our front door some time later drew us from the film. I hit the 'pause' button and ran to open the door. "Miss me?" Edward asked as he leant down to kiss me. I didn't tease him, or deny the kiss this time.

"Move it bro" Jasper warned as he pushed Edwards shoulder, effectively breaking us from our kiss.

"Boo, hiss, boo!" I called after Jasper as I grabbed hold of Edwards hand and pulled him behind me into the living room.

Edward took my seat on the arm chair and I took a seat on the floor, between his legs as to not be distracted from the film by his lips, hands…everything.

Jasper had moved Alice to the other armchair where they sat closely together. Rosalie was still sprawled along the length of the sofa which left Emmett sitting in front of Rosalie's stomach with her arms wrapped around his waist, holding him securely to her.

As the film went on, Edward began playing with my hair. After a few minutes he got up and grabbed something before he sat back down. I realised that he'd gone to get the hair clips that Rosalie had left lying around and was now sticking them into my hair pell-mell.

Once the film was done and Alice managed to drag her eyes away from Jasper. Upon looking at me, she gasped and then fell against Jaspers chest in giggles. I ran to the bathroom, with Edward close behind me. I held onto the counter top to stop me from falling to the floor with laughter. My hair was a mess; it looked like a four year old had been let loose on me.

By the time that the tears started rolling from the corners of my eyes, Edward pulled me to him and kissed them away. "I'm sorry…" I said between laughs, "At least I know that there's something that you can't do!"

I buried my face in his chest. Seconds later I heard a familiar clicking noise and turned to see a giggling Alice taking pictures.

Once Edward had shooed her out, the both of us proceeded to take out the clips and smooth down my hair. "I think I need to brush it…" I told Edward as I found a clump of tangled hair.

Edward quickly grabbed a brush from the counter and led me outside onto the veranda, via the bedroom's sliding glass doors. He sat behind me on the sun lounger and brushed through my hair gently.

"You only messed my hair up so you could brush it…" I stated as I turned and looked at him.

"Damn was I that obvious?" Edward joked back before he gave my nose a peck and ordered me to turn back around.

Another clicking sound caught my attention. I looked to the left and found Alice with the camera once again and Jasper following her out of the door. He quickly lay down on the lounger beside us and ordered Alice to come and join him.

Soon, the six of us were out on the veranda and Rosalie began, "So, how was your date this afternoon?" She asked as she ran a hand over Emmett's chest.

"Well…you know…they really pushed us hard, tired us out…" Emmett declared as he played with a strand of Rosalie's hair.

"Yeah…they didn't even give us five minutes of rest, they just wanted more" Jasper added with a smile.

"To be fair, they did help us brush up on our techniques" Edward added before he turned back to look at me with an amused look on his face. I smiled back at him, knowing full well that they were talking about ballroom dancing, but they didn't know that we knew.

"You mean those kinds of techniques?" Alice asked as she held the digital camera in Jaspers face and pointed to the screen.

"It was you!?" He called out in shock as he took hold of the camera and scanned through a few before he passed it to a demanding Emmett.

"You were the ones at the window?" Edward asked as he tightened his arms around my waist as I lay beside him, on my side.

"Yep..." I said simply as I looked up at his amused face.

"So you caught us…" he sighed.

"We sure did, there's no escaping us!" I laughed as I gave his neck a kiss.

"No…I didn't think that there was" he half whispered before he lowered his head and kissed me softly. "Bella…" he whispered against my lips as his captivating green eyes held mine, "Would you like to be my girlfriend?" he asked. I could see the nervousness in his eyes as I irrationally wasted time thinking about how that sentence reminded me of little kids in an elementary school.

I realised that I was keeping him waiting as my mind ran ragged with pointless thoughts. "Yes" I whispered before I pulled myself up on my elbow and kissed him passionately.

As our tongues brushed rhythmically against each other and my mouth stole his groan, I realised just how much I had been waiting for him to ask me that question ever since Rosalie mentioned Emmett hinting it to her.

"I must be the happiest guy on board right now" he whispered in my ear after I crashed down on his chest after the arm that was supporting me gave out beneath me.

"I don't think that Emmett and Jasper would agree with you there" I told him as I watched the both of them break into huge grins and kiss their respective girlfriends, by the looks of it.

"All's well that ends well" he whispered while his lips brushed my hair.

Awwww how soppy was that chapter!! Ha-ha!

Only half a dozen or so chapters to go! The horror!! But I've already got three more stories planned, not counting 'Vision of a Lifetime'…so Don't Panic!!

You know the drill, if you read…PlEaSe Review!! ;D