Thanks for reading and reviewing everyone! I'm leaving for vacation tomorrow - YAY - so I won't be adding anything for a little over a week - hope everyone understands, but lying on the beach sounds a lot more important to me...lol. Anyway, here's another chapter for you to read before I go!

Chapter 8:

After all the kids were in bed, I stepped out onto the porch of my cabin in hopes of seeing Edward before I turned in for bed. Never one to let me down, he met me at the top step before I could barely manage to quietly shut the screen door.

"Hi," I whispered.

His hand swept up and brushed a stray piece of hair from my cheek. "It will be very difficult to be away from you tonight, Bella," he whispered in response. "I'll be watching over you, even if from a distance, so sleep well and don't worry about anything. Know that my heart is with you, even when I am not," he added quietly.

His thoughtful words had me breathless, and I leaned forward to embrace him, but instead started to stumble slightly - I'd caught my slipper on a splinter of wood from the porch floor.

Chuckling, Edward steadied me and kissed the top of my head lightly. Not satisfied, I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him more enthusiastically, and while at first he didn't seem to object, after a moment he gently pushed me back from him. I was irritated at first, until I heard the giggling behind me. Crap.

"They're at the door watching, aren't they?" I whispered, refusing to turn around. Edward merely nodded, as he fought to keep a smile off of his face.

"What's so funny? It's embarrassing!" I hissed, my face five shades of red.

"I'm sorry, Bella. It's just that some of them are thinking that even though there's a good chance I just gave you Cooties, they approve of us together," Edward whispered back in my ear.

Still grumbling about the humiliation, I quickly said goodnight and turned to face the consequences. Before they could start, I ordered everyone to bed with a note of authority in my voice, which seemed to work well enough.

I was nearly settled in bed when the whispering began. I pulled my pillow on top of my head to block out the giggles and murmurings of "Bella and Edward sittin' in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g……." I could only help fatigue would return to their little bodies quickly.

Finally, after a while, everyone was sleeping. Exhausted, I rolled over and eagerly waited for sleep to come to me next. I had no idea what the vampires would be doing with their night, but obviously they couldn't go far - they had to remain close because of their campers, so surely they wouldn't be up to anything too ridiculous...at least that was what I told myself as I drifted off.

*THUD*

"Argh!"

What was that?! I sat straight up in my bed, glancing all around. Nothing seemed to be amiss, and none of the kids were moving - had it been a dream? I thought surely I'd heard something...

"What the hell?!" a voice whispered urgently.

Ok, I definitely heard that. Checking again to make sure none of my campers were awake, I carefully tiptoed to the door and cracked it open to peek out. The fire was still going, even though it was basically just embers now, but there was just enough light to make out two dark figures along the side of my porch. Curious, I made my way outside, and paused when I got to the bottom of the cabin steps. As I squinted into the faint glow from the dying fire, my eyes fought to make out the two figures near my cabin - Edward and Mike, the latter of which was currently sprawled out in the grass.

"What's going on here?" I hissed, irritated that they could have woken up my campers. I wasn't in the mood for another round of the 'Bella & Edward' song. Thankfully the day had been a long one, and they seemed to be sleeping soundly.

"Nothing to worry about, Bella - go on back to bed. Newton here just found the sudden urge to go for a midnight stroll, which he claims just coincidentally involved a trip over to this area. Thankfully I was still up and was here to remind him the guys are to stay on their side of the campsite during the night, and to steer him back in the right direction," Edward replied in a light tone, while simultaneouslyglaring at Mike.

"Well…what exactly are you doing on the ground then, Mike?" I asked.

"Err – I tripped on – something. It was a rock, I guess…" Mike looked around curiously, searching for the culprit that had caused difficulties with his balance.

"Perhaps you should pay closer attention to where you're walking, Mike," Edward replied icily.

I shook my head, taking in the situation. Had Mike really been trying to get to my cabin? That was what Edward was insinuating, and well, he could read minds... One look at Mike and I could tell Edward was right - Mike looked extremely embarrassed. I was beginning to wonder exactly how dense a person could really be - I was getting married for goodness sake! Ugh.

As Mike mumbled something about 'worrying about me, wanting to make sure everything was all right,' he reluctantly tromped off back in the direction of his cabin.

Edward reached out to me, gently trying to turn me back to my cabin. I paused, looking up at him accusingly. "Edward…that rock that Mike tripped over – it wouldn't happen to resemble your foot, would it?"

Edward grinned crookedly at me for a moment. "You need your rest Bella. There won't be any more...incidents, don't worry. I'll keep a close eye on Newton ," Edward said quietly.

I glanced over at the fire pit. Rosalie was there, but Emmett, Jasper and Alice were nowhere to be seen. I could only imagine what they were up to. Thankfully, I was eager to return to my sleep which didn't leave me much time to ponder the possibilities.

The alarm clock beside my bed began ringing at precisely seven o'clock in the morning, and once again I was reminded how much I preferred Edward's gentle, loving way of waking me as opposed to this annoyance. I was exhausted, but I forced myself into a sitting position to face the day since I had others to get up and care for. Half of the kids were already awake, sitting on their friends' beds, whispering away and giggling. Bless them for letting me sleep till the last second. I didn't even care if they were still whispering about what they'd seen last night, I was just thankful for rest.

After our trip to the bathhouse, we gathered outside to make our way to the morning flag raising, after which breakfast would follow. Rosalie, Angela and Jessica were all mumbling about not being able to find some items in their cabins, but I was too tired to help, and reminded myself to help them look later.

Edward was waiting near the fire pit with his campers, and after discreetly greeting me and whispering in my ear that he loved me as I passed him, fell into step behind us. Not a moment later a screen door slammed and the flurry of footsteps filled the air, and before I could turn to see what the commotion was, Alice was at my side, and so were all her kids. Blinking, I slowly took in their appearances.

Each of Alice 's campers' outfits were all various shades of lavender – which coincidentally was the color of their freshly painted cabin. All of their shirts had glittery, sparkling symbols on the fronts – there were hearts, stars, rainbows – it was endless. I may not know much about clothes, but thanks to Alice I knew enough to spot expensive ones, and these were practically screaming 'kiddie couture.' Even Alice was clad in a designer knit top in a light shade of purple. It was unbelievable – she had color-coded her kids.

" Alice ...what happened to their clothes?" I asked quietly, glancing at my own campers, wondering if they would become jealous of the transformed campers. Surprisingly, my girls didn't seem to mind in the slightest - instead, they were looking slightly wary of the sparkling group, as if they were afraid it would happen to them next. No wonder we all got along so well – I could completely relate.

"Well, Bella, my campers were very well behaved yesterday, so they earned a lot of tokens and we got to go to the camp store," she said as she looked over her group again. "They all wanted to match," she added proudly. "Maybe if your group gets tokens I can take them to the store for you," she said eagerly eyeing my kids, who literally shuffled backwards slightly.

"Actually, I don't think that's going to be necessary…I'll take them when they get their first tokens," I said, silently cursing Alice for this whole stupid store thing – leave it to her to find a way to combine two of my most hated activities – camping and shopping.

"We'll see…let's get to the flag ceremony, shall we?" she chirped in response, raising her voice for everyone else to hear. When I glanced back at Edward curiously, he just shook his head as he fought off a grin.

A few minutes later found us all at the flagpole, where Rosalie and her campers were waiting. They looked impeccable - the girls were all immaculately groomed, their hair styled beautifully full of pretty bows and ribbons, ponytails and braids. They were all were smiling brightly, the perfect picture of happiness. She really would have been the perfect mother. I was just thankful neither I nor anyone else in my group - especially Sophie - had fallen down yet today.

My thoughts were interrupted as I heard snickering and giggles break out around us. My first thought was that something was on me, so I fearfully started checking myself but found nothing. I looked over at Edward, who suddenly looked as if he was trying his hardest to not join in the laughter. Before I could figure out what was so funny, Emmett and his kids appeared at the top of the hill and made their way over to join us, followed closely by Mike and his campers.

Emmett had one of his boys in his arms and was swinging the kid around his waist at record speed, much to the boys delight - he was squealing in laughter. He'd only managed to barely set him down before another kid called out, "Me next, Emmett, me next!"

Emmett was about to pick up another of his campers when suddenly a boy from the back of his group pointed up into the air and screeched, "I see London , I see France , I see someone's underpants!"

The giggling and snickering immediately escalated into full-blown laughter, and looking up, I finally understood the cause of it. Someone had put a pair of Superman underwear up the flagpole, and they waved brightly in the brisk morning breeze. Glancing around in horror, I felt immensely bad for whatever kid the underwear belonged to - how embarrassing, even at that age.

It was odd; not one of the kids seemed upset - every face I glanced at was filled with laughter. Maybe it didn't bother them after all. I glanced over at Edward, who was now exchanging an odd look with Emmett - the two of them looked like the cat that swallowed the canary, which confused me even more until an incredibly bright shade of red caught my attention in my peripheral vision. Mike Newton looked as if he were wishing the earth would open up and swallow him.

It was only when Jasper came out from the mess hall with the camp logo flag that the giggling subsided. He lowered the Superman underwear, and very carefully set them aside, mentioning that he would put them in the lost and found box for the owner to claim on their own time. I didn't miss that his eyes met Mike's as he said it. Jasper could probably feel the humiliation seeping from Mike's pores, after all.

Alice led the flag ceremony, and not minutes later, we were settled in, enjoying our breakfast. Once again, I sat with the Cullens, and this time Mike headed off to sit with Jessica in the opposite corner; he was distancing himself from us. Angela waved apologetically at me, and went to join them as Jessica was calling out her name repeatedly. I waved back to let her know I understood.

"So...anyone care to explain that little scene out at the flagpole this morning?" I asked under my breath.

Emmett snorted while Edward fought back a smirk. "Bella, we were just getting...our point across, that's all," Edward said musically as he glanced back over at Mike.

"What's that supposed to mean, Edward? Can you please stop being so cryptic for once?" I retorted, feeling frustrated at being confused yet again.

"Well, Newton was caught trying to sneak over to my fiancé's cabin in the middle of the night. It's highly inappropriate, and could not go unnoticed. He had to be made aware that there would be consequences for such behavior. As far as the selected punishment...well, that was Emmett's idea, but I can't necessarily say that I didn't find any humor in it," Edward explained as he shrugged.

"So tripping him wasn't enough, you had to hang his underwear for the whole world to see? Don't you think that's a bit much?" I pressed.

"In my honest opinion, neither action was enough - but I'm willing to give him a chance to redeem himself before we take any further action. Besides, it's not like we told the kids who the underwear belonged to - nobody knows except for those that need to know," Edward replied, leaning towards me as he grinned crookedly. There he goes dazzling me again, forgetting any of the pity I'd had for Mike just moments earlier...

"Yeah, well I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you, Edward. Newton may have been humiliated this morning, but there were some serious vibes of revenge coming off of him too - just as they still are," Jasper murmured, while softly tracing the outline of Alice 's hand.

The rest of the meal progressed quietly, and a while later we were gathered back at our campsite with all the kids gathered near their counselors to discuss how we would spend our first 'free day.' As I glanced around, I noticed Emmett and his group was missing – what could be holding them up?

A/N: I hope everyone is still enjoying this...it's different than the first one, and is more difficult to 'balance out' - I wanted the Cullens and Bella to still be the focus, so it's kind of hard to write the kids in without going to much into detail with all of them. Also, you'll see more of what the Cullens are doing at night eventually, but since Bella has to sleep in this one and it's from her POV, it will take a bit to get there. Thanks - please review!

A/N: One more thing - since I'll be gone for a week I thought I'd ask you all to read something in the meantime. A friend of mine has posted her story on here - she's got four chapters up so far - and hasn't gotten even one review...which is too bad, because I think it's a very interesting story. When I get the chance I'm going to go review it myself, but could you all please go check it out and encourage her to continue? Her penname is LisaEver, and the story's called Taken. She's also writing a fantastic story about Carlisle, and perhaps is she gets some encouragement on her first story she'll post it too. Here's the link: http://www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/s/5006921/1/Taken