Disclaimer: The characters, over-arching plot and even the settings belong to Stephenie Meyer. Good thing too.

AN: Yeah, so I got a little carried away with the house...and you get two chapters of pointless fluff before we get to the good stuff. Sorry?

Chapter 3

Bella was used to Alice waking her up with her bouncing personality at all hours of the morning in order to go shopping. The surprise the next morning was that it was Esme knocking on the door at eight o'clock and not her pixie daughter.

Bella moaned, burrowing herself further under the covers and into Edward.

'You knew this would happen. Besides, Jasper's already gone off to the hardware store for some things. Once he's back, you and Esme can have the car for the day,' Edward explained as he attempted to disentangle himself from his human's arms.

'Lucky us,' Bella mumbled into the pillow, finally letting Edward go.

Laughing, he went to open the hotel room door for his mother. 'Morning Esme,' he told her.

'Good morning to you both. Jasper will be back soon Alice says. She wants to leave immediately.'

'Of course she does.'

'Where are you going today?' Bella asked, finally lifting her head from the bed.

Edward settled himself on the edge of it. 'There's wallpaper that needs stripping before we can paint and Alice is rather desperate to get that done before Rosalie sees the previous owner's decorating style.' Bella giggled back into her pillow. 'And Jasper and I need to get started on plans for the garage. We can all meet at the house this evening; Rose and Emmett will be here by then.'

'Alright,' Bella admitted, slowly climbing out of bed. 'I'm up.'

'I'll order you room service, but then I have to go. Jasper just returned,' he explained at Bella's questioning look.

'Okay.'

'I will see you tonight,' he promised her, leaning over to kiss her quickly. 'Try not to get in any trouble?'

'With Esme?' Bella asked in disbelief.

Edward's look didn't change.

'Okay, I'll try,' she relented.

'Thank you. Good luck in your shopping endeavours,' he told Esme, just as Bella disappeared into the bathroom, not at all happy that Edward would be gone for the day.

He was gone when Bella emerged again. There was also an outfit waiting on the bed. Alice had clearly been in to 'dress the Barbie', despite her itching desire to annihilate wallpaper. With a sigh, Bella got changed, because she had long since stopped arguing about Alice's penchant for designer clothes, at least when they didn't involve a dress. Esme gave her a motherly look of sympathy, which made her feel a bit better; but only a bit. Alice apparently felt that her mother was able to dress herself.

Breakfast arrived just as Bella was finishing drying her hair. The heap of pancakes was a welcome surprise and she dug in eagerly. At least if she had to spend the day shopping, she'd be fortified for it.

'So where to first?' Bella asked, in between mouthfuls.

Esme immediately brightened, clearly in her element. 'I spent last night drawing up a layout for the house. The children will take care of preparing the walls by the end of today and the wood floor is in remarkable good condition,' she beamed. 'The previous owners must have restored it. I thought we could choose the colours schemes today and perhaps try a few antique stores. And I need to investigate companies that build conservatories; it's already March and they are probably booking up quickly!'

Bella smiled. It was not often she saw Esme this excited about something. It was the way Alice got over clothes or Rosalie over cars. 'Sounds good,' she agreed, quickly finishing off the rest of breakfast.

March in Vermont wasn't exactly warm and Alice had provided a thick wool coat, not so dissimilar from the one Bella had worn in November that fateful day at Dartmouth. She tried not to think about it, ignoring the imagined twinge in her ribs that the thought engendered. Bundling up in cashmere scarf and gloves, Bella announced she was ready to get on with the day.

'Would you like to drive, dear?' Esme asked, holding out the keys to the SUV.

Bella didn't especially, but since she didn't mind either, she readily agreed. 'Just tell me where to go.'

Clearly Esme had already been at the yellow pages, and probably interrogated the front desk too. She seemed to know exactly where they were going. The paint store was the first stop; a very high end one by the looks of it which came with its own personal decorator to assist customers, as if Esme needed one. Bella wandered around the shop as Esme launched into a conversation with the woman – Mirabelle, honestly – and decided she would take the time to chose the colours for her and Edward's room. Bella had shopped for paint before; Renee loved to decorate, but the sheer number of choices for 'dark blue' was a little overwhelming. She finally narrowed it down to three options after an hour of browsing.

'Have you made a decision, sweetheart?' Esme's voice startled her some time later.

'Oh, well, I guess. Maybe you could choose?' Bella held up the samples.

'That one,' Esme said, immediately pointing to the one, admittedly, that Bella had been leaning towards. 'Edward will adore it,' she explained with a smile.

'Okay,' Bella agreed.

Taking the sample, Esme returned to her conversation with Mirabelle, which thankfully didn't last much longer. 'Right,' she said, returning to meet Bella at the door. 'That's all sorted now and we can pick the order up in the morning. The walls, at least, will be done by the end of tomorrow!'

Comments like that still caught Bella off guard.

'I think we'll try that sunroom place next,' Esme explained, leading her back to the car. 'It will be open by now, and it looked the best option I could find. I do hope they aren't already booked.'

Bella had no doubt that, even if they were, somehow Esme would get what she wanted and when she wanted it. The Cullens tended to achieve things like that without really trying.

Investigating sunrooms took the rest of the morning, but when they finally went searching for lunch – which ended up being McDonald's – Esme had, indeed, gotten exactly what she wanted. The addition would be huge, but Bella had to admit that a climate controlled, glass enclosure off the kitchen might become her favourite place.

Bella had never been in an antique store. It was not the sort of thing Renee liked and so the afternoon was something of an adventure. Edward called her at two o'clock to see how things were. Apparently Alice was almost done with the walls, and Jasper was busy filling holes and preparing them for painting. Bella happily explained their successful morning as Esme's browsed through a warehouse full of old furniture.

'You're bored, aren't you?' Edward finally asked.

'A bit,' Bella admitted, whispering so that Esme wouldn't hear. 'But it's okay. It's still better than shopping with Alice.'

'I doubt Esme will be more than a few hours now, but it will be nice to have furniture in the place, right?'

Bella had to agree with that. 'Alright, I'll go help. I think she wants me to anyways. I'll see you later.'

'I love you,' he said, as he always did at the end of a phone call.

'Love you too,' Bella told him.

Esme was another few hours, and another few antique stores, but by the end of the day they had acquired a beautiful dining set that would look gorgeous with the dark blue walls that Esme had chosen, not so dissimilar from the colour of Bella's new room. They also found a kitchen table that Bella liked, since she'd be the one using it most. And Bella found The Bed. The moment she laid eyes on it she knew Edward would love it. It was a deep rich wood with four posts, but no canopy and a beautiful scroll work carved headboard. It also came with matching side tables and a dresser, so the room was almost complete. Bella knew it would be left to the others to choose their own furniture, but Esme hadn't found the perfect set for her and Carlisle yet. Though she was starting to lean towards keeping the bed from the house in Forks.

'We do love it,' she admitted to Bella and then leaned in to whisper 'and we've had it for longer than any other.'

Bella decided that was too much information and blushed scarlet. Esme laughed.

'This summer I'll take you to the storerooms in New York and you and Edward can pick out the artwork for your room.'

'Storerooms?' Bella asked, confused.

'We've acquired a great many possessions over the decades, or centuries for Carlisle. Though our favourite things are in the house in Forks, some of which will come with us, there are many other pieces in storage. I think you'll find some things that will suit the room. And I know there are a few paintings I want in the dining room,' Esme went on, clearly already imagining it in her head.

Bella just nodded.

Blessedly, the arrival of Rose and Emmett that night didn't have much effect on things. They were content to keep to themselves, busy planning their rooms above the new garage and getting started on construction. Edward had, of course, already arranged the building permits ahead of time. Alice, Jasper and Esme managed to get the house painted in a day, while Bella wandered from room to room marvelling at the speed and the colours. Once her and Edward's room was finished, Bella had to admit she'd chosen well. It did look beautiful, and once the bed was delivered at the end of the week it would look even better. Esme suggested they shop for bedding on Thursday, before Carlisle arrived and Bella readily agreed, so long as Edward came.

By the end of the week the house was already half finished, the rooms already filling up with furniture and the kitchen with necessary items to prepare food for a human. Bella didn't understand why they didn't just bring everything from Forks, but she knew better than to ask. And at least she got to pick things out for herself, which was actually an enjoyable type of shopping.

Carlisle was more than a little impressed when he arrived Thursday evening, driving up in a rented BMW. Esme beamed as she showed her husband the house and all the work they'd done. The new garage already had a foundation laid and the walls were going up. It would take another trip to finish it, but with Rose and Emmett in New York now, they could probably accomplish it themselves, since it was mostly for their use anyways.

All in all, the week turned out quite well. Bella had thoroughly enjoyed the week in Hawaii over New Years because it afforded her uninterrupted time with her favourite family. Though this week had been considerably busier, it was still amazing to feel so included in what was obviously a Cullen family tradition every few years. The house already felt like home to her.

Bedding in place and their room – almost – complete, Edward and Bella spent Friday night at the house with the rest, who continued work on the garage outside or in the yard, trying to be quiet so as to allow Bella her sleep. By morning the place looked even better and Bella was almost sad to leave it.

'Just a few months and we'll be here to stay,' Edward reminded her as they prepared to leave Saturday morning.

'I can't wait,' she told him, completely serious.

'Have you given anymore thought to schools?' Edward ventured.

Bella sighed. 'Not really.' His face fell. 'What I mean is, that there's not much point thinking about it, is there? I mean, I'd be stupid not to go to Dartmouth after getting accepted.'

Edward's entire face lit up and he had her in his arms in a split second, spinning her around so much it made Bella dizzy.

'So, you're happy?' she asked, unnecessarily.

'Extraordinarily,' he agreed and kissed her.