Disclaimer- The characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, not me.

BPOV

I drove Edward's car to Port Angeles to see King Lear. He was exhausted from the three day shift, but still wanted to see Angela's play. We stopped to get some flowers for her, and Edward insisted on buying roses. When we found the theatre and met Charlie, Carlisle and Esme there. I explained what I remembered about King Lear from my undergraduate Shakespeare classes, and we entered the house. The show didn't have much of a turn out, surprisingly. I was a bit disappointed at that. Angela came out in the opening scene with her hair dyed angel-blonde. She looked like a movie star.

Angela amazed me; I forgot how fantastic she had been in our high school's drama productions. She wowed everyone. The actors were perfectly cast- even the girl playing Cordelia couldn't have been older than 16, but she was so good at Iambic contameter, we hardly noticed.

After the show, the cast mingled with the audience in the lobby, and I gave Angela the roses.

"I'm so glad you could make it, Bella!" she cried, hugging me. She had changed out of her bloody last costume quickly for curtain call. "These are so beautiful! Thank you!"

"You were so great," I said.

"I thought I'd be lost, but I actually loved it," Charlie said. He gave her a hug.

"You were brilliant," Edward said, hugging her.

Angela beamed. "We're going out for a drink or two," Angela said. "Does anybody want to come with us?"

"I'm beat," Edward admitted.

"I'm an old man, nobody would want to go out with me this late," Charlie said. "Come on, Edward, you can catch a ride home with me. Bella, feel free to go out with Angie and the cast."

"Thanks, Dad."

I waited in the lobby until Angela had changed out of her costume and into her street clothes and told me the name of the restaurant where we were going. I didn't know where it was, so she offered to ride with me to give me directions.

"So, how are things going between you and Edward?" she asked.

"He's amazing," I admitted, turning on the engine. "He bought tampons for me at three in the morning when I got my period for the first time in a year."

"You're getting your period again?" Angela cried. "That's great!"

"Well, it's okay," I admitted, rolling my eyes. "It's not the best. It means I can't have sex for four days a month."

"Well, everybody needs a break," she said. "Even me."

"Doesn't rule oral out."

Angela laughed. "It's so nice to be able to talk about these things with you!" she said. "All this time, I felt like I couldn't say anything, but now… now, we're yapping it up about sex and the stuff that happens with it."

"Can you believe it?" I said. I bit my lip, thinking about if I should tell her this. "He's brought home his scrubs from the OR."

Angela squealed. "That's great! Role playing! I love it! Does he wear the mask?"

"Yes, it's hot," I said, envisioning those green jewel-like eyes.

"That's the restaurant," she said, pointing. I pulled in to the parking lot. It wasn't that far from the theatre.

"I can't believe I'm hearing this out of you."

"Honey, when you've been to a hospital twice to give birth, you figure out that your body is no longer you own. Especially after you have kids who want to find out how everything works down there," she said. I realized that there were men from the cast with their noses pressed against the restaurant window, staring at the Aston Martin. "We need to get into the restaurant. Lear and Edmund are going to come on themselves if we don't get out of this car."

"Ang!" I cried. "Stopple thy mouth, dame!"

"Jacob says I'm the queen of dirty talk," she replied, shrugging, innocently. I burst out laughing. "That's not the worst thing I've ever said, either."

"You, talking dirty?"

"Yes, I'm pretty bad," she admitted. "I just hope my kids can't hear us," she whispered. We burst out laughing as we got out of the car.

There was already a huge set of tables put together for us on the inside.

"Hi, everyone, this is Bella Swan, one of my very best friends in the whole world. She's visiting from Seattle," Angela announced. "She's also my son's godmother."

"Hi, Bella, great car!" one of the guys from the cast said.

"It's my boyfriend's," I said, taking off my parka. "I don't know that much about it, other than it's rare and expensive."

"He must be rich."

I shrugged. "He doesn't flaunt it."

The four straight men in the cast wanted to go out and drool over the Aston Martin. I didn't understand what the huge deal was over the car, so I let them. They were practically licking it at one point. Angela came to life, they laughed and laughed and laughed about Albany, who was an awful actor. The cast had a wonderful camaraderie. Angela had been having a great time.

"Are you the best friend who lost some kind of bet and had to baby sit her kids?" the girl who played Regan asked me.

"No, I'm the other best friend."

"Angela had some great stories about that," she said, cracking up.

"Holla!" the whole cast chorused.

They forced Angela to tell me that Jasper had a complete freak-out moment when Wendi managed to get some of her baby poop around the front part of her diaper and into her belly button, and he freaked out- running out of Wendi's room, holding her out with straight arms, screaming bloody murder- and almost dragged Alice and Will to the ER because he thought her intestines were leaking out through her belly button. I almost fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard. Alice managed to stop him, insisting that Wendi just needed a diaper change really badly and that there was nothing wrong with her, she had just been rolling around too much in her crib and her poop was too loose.

Around midnight, Angela and I had to leave. I had to take Angela back to the theatre to pick up her car so she could drive home. "I had a blast tonight with your friends."

"Maybe you should do some community theatre, Bella," Angela said. "If you don't want to act, work backstage."

"I've got to get a job, soon," I said. I had never acted, just been a stagehand in high school.

"Well, of course," she said. "Good luck with that. Good night." She kissed me on the cheek. "Thanks for the flowers. I'm so glad you came to see me."

"I am, too," I said. "Good night, Ang."

When I got home, everything was quiet. I slipped into my room, where Edward was asleep already. I changed into my pajamas and climbed into bed as carefully as possible to keep from waking him, although I did.

"How was the night out?" he asked groggily.

"A lot of fun," I said, kissing his bare shoulder gently.

"Good," he said. "I'm glad you're having fun. You should go out more with people other than Alice more."

"You want me to?"

"Yes."

"Did you and my Dad have a good drive home?"

"He's a good guy, your Dad," he said. "He loves you so much."

"What did he do?"

"Nothing!" he cried. "We just talked about well you're doing, now. He's so proud of you."

"Just because I'm getting fat?"

"No," he said. "Bella, you're far from fat. Because you've changed. You're not so scared. I told him you've given up Xanax. He's crossing his fingers. I told him not to say anything to you about it. He doesn't want to jinx it."

"I understand."

"Love, I'm really tired, can we go to sleep?"

"Yes," I said. "Sorry to keep you up."

My sixth week without Xanax was getting harder and harder. Edward had told me time and time again that Xanax was a valuable street drug. It was horrible, but the only people who knew about it were Edward and Charlie. And he was proud of me.

Right after Valentine's Day, Ted and Liz came out to visit for a few days. We were taking them home to Forks to meet Charlie.

Liz immediately hugged me when they came out to the baggage claim. "I didn't recognize you, Bella," she said. I was up to 105 pounds by now. It was difficult to get through, sometimes.

"I'm so happy to see you."

"Have you been working on your knitting?"

"No."

"Well, you've got an excuse," she said. "School and all."

Ted and Edward were greeting each other and discussing something medical. I went to help Liz with her bags. Ted came back with a huge box.

"What's this?"

"Thea Nicky sends some Greek food," Ted said. "Because, apparently, there are no good Greek cooks for you and Edward out here."

We stopped at Edward's to refrigerate Thea Nicky's cooking. I was surprised it all got over here in one piece. She packed so well, nothing broke and spilled.

After that, we got on the road. I tried to knit in the backseat with Liz while Edward and Ted sat up front talking about medical practices and gross things that I tried to tune out. We stopped in Port Angeles, where Charlie, Carlisle and Esme met us at La Bella Italia for dinner.

"Finally, I get to meet the Masens," Charlie said, extending a hand. "Charlie Swan."

"Hi, Ted Masen, this is my wife, Liz," Ted said, shaking his hand.

"Hello," Liz said.

"Carlisle Cullen, this is Esme, my wife," Carlisle introduced himself.

"They're my second parents," I said. "They were there for me while Charlie was working."

"Nice to meet you all," Liz said. "Thank you so much for keeping us."

"Of course," Carlisle said. After the meal, we went home to Forks to the Cullen's house. Alice and Jasper had come home, too. They were finishing up some wedding plans.

"Hi, Bella!" Alice cried from the kitchen. "Hi, Edward, did you guys have a good dinner?"

"Yes, we did," I said.

"Oh hi, Dr. and Mrs. Masen!" Alice cried.

"Oh hello, Alice," Liz said. "Nice to see you, again."

"Hi, Alice," Ted said.

We sat down to have drinks and a nightcap before Charlie, Edward and I left for the night.

"So, Dad," I said, as Edward took a shower upstairs. "What did you think of the Masens?"

"I wasn't sure what kind of people they were when I met Edward," he said. "But… they make me a little nervous. They've got a lot of money, Bells. They gave their son that car- and Liz was wearing the kind of diamond ring I could never give your mother, didn't you notice?"

"I was nervous about that, too," I said. "I almost bailed on the trip before I went to meet them, but they're so nice, I don't even notice Liz's diamonds. She doesn't wear a lot of jewelry, anyways. They don't flaunt their money, really."

"I thought doctors didn't make that kind of money anymore."

"Not these days," I said. "But, Ted has a lot."

I heard the shower turn off upstairs. "I never thought I'd see the day when you'd bring home a boyfriend," he said. "And now, you've brought home his family."

"Dad, don't get nostalgic on me now."

"I know, I know. Look, Billy and I are fishing tomorrow morning at six. Maybe you should think about bringing the Masens to First Beach- they'd like it."

"OK," I said. "I'll bring in up with Edward."

"Once Edward's out of the bathroom, I'm going to bed," he said. "Good night, Bells," he said, kissing me.

"Good night, Dad."

I picked up the living room and washed a few dishes that Charlie had let pile up in the kitchen. I didn't know what he'd do without me. Even though it was late, I called Angela's cell phone and left a message about possibly meeting at First Beach in the morning. I couldn't leave Forks without trying to see Will and Wendi. Wendi was developing her personality, now, and she was very observant and happy. We had called Will "Will the pill" until he was two, and then, he got nice. Normally kids had the terrible twos, but it was the reverse with Will.

Edward came downstairs as I was finishing up the dishes. "Does Charlie go fishing every Sunday morning?"

"Yes," I said. "I think we should take your parents to First Beach. He might be out there."

"That's a weird name."

"I think it was named after someone," I said. "But, Angela will be there."

"Good," he said. "Is she doing any more plays?"

"Yes," I said. "She got the part of Bianca in Kiss Me Kate. She's kept her hair really blonde since King Lear. Jacob keeps on about his hot blonde wife." I felt him move my hair aside and kiss the spot between my shoulder and neck.

"How is that?"

"I love that," I said. "But, we're in my Dad's house."

He groaned softly. "We should have stayed in Port Angeles in a hotel," he grumbled.

"Charlie would be insulted," I said. "I just need to brush my teeth, and I can come to bed."

"Okay, I'll meet you there."

I got my toothbrush and toothpaste and brushed my teeth in the kitchen sink since Charlie was still in the shower. I went back up to my bedroom, where I found Edward, laying on his side, flipping through my old high school year books.

"Oh, don't look at those!"

"Come on, it's interesting! I didn't know about all the things you did," he said. "Yearbook, newspaper, Spanish Club, Beta Club, Phu Mu Alpha, National Honor Society, Drama Club, Volunteer Society, man, you did everything!"

"It's only because Angela wanted me to," I said. "I wouldn't have half the scholarships I have now if she hadn't dragged me along to all those things."

"Aw, look, you were a homecoming princess!" he cried. "I'd have never expected that!"

"Angela and Alice went around behind my back, getting the entire senior class to vote for me," I said. "I was so mortified when I had to compete. Forks High was a small school."

"That's classic," Edward said. "The three of you were really cute. I saw the triplet picture from homecoming week your freshman year."

"Oh, that," I said. "We used to dress up as triplets once-in-a-while when we were little. It was funny because we'd never pass for triplets."

"Alice had some crazy haircuts as a kid."

Haircuts. Why did he have to say that? "So did I," I said quietly.

"Bella…" Edward said.

"I've been growing my hair out since then," I said, touching my hair. My own hair was down to my butt, now.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," he said. He kissed my hair. I turned to him and pressed a kiss to his lips.

"I know you didn't mean it," I said. He pressed a feather-light kiss to my eye.

"You've got a break coming up, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Why don't we use those tickets to go to somewhere?" he asked. "Get away from all this rain?"

"I'm just worried about Charlie."

"I know."

"But, it's nice to have someone to make plans with," I said, thinking about going away with him.

"Yes, it is," he agreed, pulling back the covers so I could get into bed. "I think about the future."

"What do you think about?" I asked, climbing in. He kissed my chin and then the corner of my jaw.

"I think about marrying you," he said. "And starting a family."

"Edward, I really doubt I can carry children."

"Don't you want children?"

"Yes," I said. "But I seriously doubt I can have them."

"So, we'll adopt."

"No judge is going to award me a child," I said. "And no foreign country is going to look at my mental history and allow me to adopt one their kids."

"So, we'll arrange a private adoption," he said. "Lots of people do it. Or, we'll find a surrogate mother. We'll have the money for just about anything in a few years. Or we'll find a pregnant college student that wants to give up their baby, and pay for an adoption. It'll work out."

"That's nice to think about," I said. "… that there's a good possibility that I'll always have you in my life. And I'll have a family one day. I never thought that would be an option for me."

"Of course," he said, playing with the heart pendant that he gave me that I still had on. I never took it off, even in the shower. "I love you so much, I didn't know it was possible, Isabella… Sorry, I know you hate it when I call you that."

"I don't hate it," I said. "Only you can call me that, though."

"Alright," he said, kissing my forehead. "Only in private, though."

"Yes," I agreed. "Only in private."

"Good."

He held me, and I could smell the Dove body wash and his shampoo. It was so comforting to me. I stroked his coppery hair and smiled. This moment as completely happy.