A/N: Thanks for reading everyone, and thank you for reviewing! I really do appreciate it. :)

(Previously):

Rosalie huffed in irritation, and Emmett stepped forward. "Babe, go back to your kids. Give me those and I'll make sure they get wherever it is they belong. I know you like to make sure your campers are tucked in and settled, and they do look rather upset. Go on - I'll take care of everything," he said lovingly, reaching his arms out for the two animals. "Besides, I don't think you're supposed to hold them quite so tight – their eyes are bugging out," he added as he took Sammy and Fred from her.

Although still slightly wary, a glance back at her kids made her make up her mind and she handed over the guinea pigs to Emmett, then hurried back to her cabin to get her girls back to bed. Unbelievable - Emmett got away with it - for now, anyway.

"I can't believe she accepted that excuse," I whispered to Edward in the dark.

"She's so distracted by her kids she's not sure she knows what's going on," Edward murmured. "Although, to Emmett's credit, if Rosalie would quit giving her kids Little Debbie snacks at night then Sam and Fred may not have wandered over to her cabin. The scent on the wrappers is more than likely what attracted them," he added.

Suddenly remembering I was mad at Edward for tricking me and putting me back in my bed, I turned on my heel and stomped back to my cabin, Edward's throaty chuckle surrounding me in the darkness. Finally, after assuring the members of my cabin that it was just something silly and that they had nothing to worry about, we were all able to drift back to sleep.

Chapter 13:

When the alarm went off in the morning – the real alarm – I reluctantly stretched out in my bed, recalling the disrupting events of the night that had interrupted my sleep. As I got my campers up and ready, I focused on the day ahead. Today was another 'free day,' which meant we could choose our activities. I wondered what the kids would come up with for today.

I huffed past Edward when I led my group outside, who merely smiled at me in response. I was still grumpy with him for tricking me.

"Good morning Bella," he murmured, his eyes sparkling. He was amused – good for him. I continued leading my group to the flagpole as usual, rolling my eyes as The Incredible Hulk waved at us from the top, the kids all laughing right on cue. Seriously…did Mike really think there would be something cool about turning into a giant green thing? I was really starting to think he had major self esteem issues.

Everyone was present except for Emmett and his group, and after waiting for them for more than ten minutes, Rosalie insisted we proceed with the morning's ceremony and move on to breakfast – she refused to keep her campers waiting any longer.

We were just about through with the meal when Rosalie began hissing and cursing under her breath, and Carlisle suddenly dropped the fork and knife he'd been holding, the sounds of the useless props clattering against his tray. Jasper was cringing as he took in Rosalie's anger and Alice patted his head soothingly, while Edward merely sighed heavily. Confused, I followed their gazes to see what the problem was – that's when I saw them. Emmett and his campers had just entered the hall, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that each and every kid in his group now had their little heads shaved into Mohawks. Rosalie's hands gripped the edges of the table, and the rest of us looked on in shocked silence.

Emmett was smiling widely, laughing along with his group. When he saw Rosalie's face, his expression faltered, and he quickly encouraged his campers to head to the food line to get their breakfast. He shoved his hands into his pockets; for a moment he looked as though he was considering running back out the doors, but then he slowly began making his way to our table. I glanced at Carlisle , expecting him to step in to prevent a huge argument from erupting, but he was still staring at the odd group of tiny punk-looking children, his mouth slightly open in shock. Clearly he was speechless. The sound of silverware plinking as it hit the ground signaled that the children had indeed arrived at the buffet and that Esme had just seen their new looks.

"OH. MY. GOD. Like, what is that all about?" Jessica guffawed loudly from a nearby table as Mike snorted, making it clear the other human counselors had just seen the new development.

"Shhh, Jess – you don't want the kids to hear you, you could hurt their feelings," Angela hushed her, although I could hear a fair level of uncertainty in her voice too. I pursed my lips and glanced up at the ceiling, wondering exactly how many other bizarre things my future family would do while we were here that I would have to try and think up explanations for.

Emmett took his time reaching our table, but once he finally did he slowly and warily lowered himself into his chair while watching his wife out the corner of his eye, who was practically shaking in anger. The second he was seated, she leaned in close, whispering harshly.

"Emmett. What the hell did you do? What happened to their hair?" she hissed.

"What? I think it looks cool," Emmett began, but then thought better of it as Rosalie glowered at him. He held his hands up in front of himself defensively. "Ok, ok – well one of my campers was chewing gum last night and set it on his pillow before bed and it was stuck to the side of his head this morning," he continued. "He asked me for help, but I couldn't get the stuff out, and you guys had already left for breakfast so I figured I'd just shave the hair off. When I was done, I thought he looked kind of weird with just one side of his head bare, so I shaved the other side too - but I didn't see any reason to shave all of it – he didn't want to be completely bald," Emmett explained as if it were completely rational.

We all continued to stare in silence as Rosalie fought to maintain her composure. "Well, did all the kids in your group have gum in their hair?" she asked sarcastically.

"Of course not," Emmett replied.

Rosalie sighed irritably. "Well then - what the hell happened to them?!" she spat, her patience running out.

Emmett shrugged. "Obviously once they saw the cool haircut they all wanted one too. I didn't think it would be fair to say no." He glanced fleetingly over at me. "Sorry about your razors Bella, but I had to use the blades."

I rolled my eyes and glanced over in disbelief at Edward. Now I didn't have anything to shave with…gross. He placed his hand on the top of my knee reassuringly. I hoped he was appreciating the smoothness of my skin, because in a day or two it wouldn't feel like that anymore, thanks to Emmett.

Rosalie reached over and secured her hand under Emmett's chin, roughly pulling his face back around to meet hers. "You idiot, what exactly are you going to tell the parents when they come to pick their kids up?"

Emmett paused. "Err – we'll have to be there when they pick them up? I hadn't thought about that…" he trailed off, thinking. "Oh! I know – we'll just say they had lice," he said proudly, as if he'd thought of the most brilliant solution ever.

Rosalie narrowed her eyes again. "Right – because lice would dictate the need to shave all of their heads aside from a stupid-looking strip down the middle."

Emmett looked around the table uncertainly as if hoping for help. We all stared in silence at him. Carlisle looked as if he were about to lose it next, which was an unusual thing to see.

"Look, I don't know – I'll figure it out, ok? Their hair grows back you know – it's not like ours," he mumbled, shifting his glance down to the table.

Rosalie exhaled loudly, shook her head and mumbled a few more curse words before she turned her attention back to the food she wouldn't be eating on her tray. When she finally got up to empty the tray, she glanced back at her husband once. "Emmett, I swear you'd better get your head straight and think about what you're doing – these are kids, not toys, got it?" she hissed quietly.

Emmett nodded his head silently in response, but once her back was turned I couldn't help but notice his gaze dart back over to where his group was sitting, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Carlisle sighed and left the mess hall without a word.

After breakfast everyone gathered back at the fire pit and suggestions on how to spend the day were being thrown about with no real agreement. Half of the kids wanted to go back to the lake, and the other half wanted to do something new. At this rate, we wouldn't get anywhere. At least the kids were mostly accepting of Emmett's campers' new appearance – the boys all seemed to think it was cool, while the girls thought they were weird, which didn't seem to bother the boys at anyway.

We were considering splitting up and doing different things for the day when suddenly Angela spoke up from behind us. "Why don't you guys have a scavenger hunt?" she suggested.

Silence filled the air for seconds as the kids thought about the suggestion, then almost instantaneously erupted in shouts of excitement. Clearly, it was a winning idea.

Alice clapped her hands excitedly and ran to her cabin to get some paper. We told the kids to play for a while so we could work out a list of items to find – each counselor wrote down two items each, and then we checked to make sure there were no duplicates.

Now,as we stood in the middle of the woods looking around warily, I had to wonder if I was leading my group to certain failure. The first few items on the list had been easy enough – various types of leaves, a pinecone, ten acorns – things that were simple to spot. Most of them had been right out in the open, practically calling out to us. I'd even managed to stop Sophie from nearly picking some poison ivy she thought was a Maple leaf – I had no problem identifying that stuff these days. Now as I looked down at the next item on the list, I had to wonder who was responsible for listing a four-leaf clover - this was going to take forever to find, and it was the last item we needed.

Voices to our left caught my attention, and I looked up from the grassy patch of weeds I'd been scouring through.

"You won't believe what I've found – come here, come here!" a kid's voice pleaded from within the trees.

"Ok, calm down, I'm coming – now what are you talking about?" Emmett said.

"This – look! He's all alone, and I just know we should help him. Look how cool he is – he has a tail!" the boy said. Now that I'd moved closer I could see them better, and could tell that it was Simon. "I think we should take him back with us."

"He was all alone? Are you sure? That seems unlikely…wonder if he got lost," Emmett murmured, hesitating. "Plus, I don't know if taking him is a good idea…" he added, looking around apprehensively.

I squinted to see what they were talking about. It was a turtle – a very large turtle. Since when was it unusual for a turtle to be alone? Emmett could be so bizarre sometimes.

"Why not? He'd love it – we could make a new area for him in the cabin. We could call it…" Simon trailed off, thinking.

"Turtletopia," Emmett said, nodding his head along with the boy. It was as if they were matched in thought. "I suppose we could move a couple kids' bunks outside – fresh air is good for kids, right?" he continued, his brow creased.

"Or we could just put it under my bunk – he could be my new friend!" Simon pleaded. "Sammy and Fred's cage is up on the bed with me – there's plenty of room under the bed."

Emmett glanced around again, and then turned back to the turtle. "Hey little buddy – what are you up to? Trying to get somewhere? Where's your family?" he asked, leaning over the turtle; it stopped moving.

"Well, what's the matter? Don't be scared, we won't hurt you," he continued. He reached down as if he were going to pick it up, when suddenly the turtle's head whipped around and snapped at him.

"Whoa – what are you doing, buddy? There's nothing to be afraid of," Emmett said, pulling his hand back in surprise. I rolled my eyes – like the turtle would even remotely hurt him – it was more likely to break its jaw on Emmett's hand.

He reached his hand toward the turtle again, and again it snapped at him.

"Hey! Why are you doing this to me? I'm trying to help you – don't you want me to help you? Come on now, be reasonable," Emmett muttered, bending back towards the reptile.

"Maybe it doesn't like us," Simon whispered, his eyes full of sadness.

Emmett looked at the kid, his brow furrowed in thought. "No, that can't be it…that doesn't make any sense. Of course he likes us – he's just confused, that's all."

A slight rustling next to me caught my attention. "Ridiculous, isn't it? I really don't know why he continues with such behavior…he's pushing his luck, really. Now he's as bad as the kid – he can't seem to accept that the turtle wants nothing to do with him," Edward murmured quietly beside me.

I jumped in surprise. "Edward! You scared me – where did you come from?" I asked.

Edward grinned crookedly at me. "My group has been following yours pretty much the whole time so I could keep an eye on you, Bella."

"Oh – what, really? I didn't see you at all," I said, dazed.

"We stayed far enough back to remain out of sight – I didn't want to distract you or your group – they looked like they were having fun," he said, still smiling.

I nodded, my gaze turning back to Emmett and the turtle. He was still trying in vain to pick it up, still pulling his hand back every time it snapped at him. After about the tenth time, he sighed in frustration. He began to lean over again, but as he did the acorns he'd collected fell out of his pocket and scattered on the ground behind him. He turned around, and with his back to the turtle he squatted down to collect them.

Simon gasped and his eyes got very wide. The turtle had whipped its head around and snapped again, this time successfully latching onto the back hem of Emmett's shirt. Unaware that anything had happened, Emmett stood up and turned back to where the turtle had been a minute ago.

"Where did it go? Turtles aren't very fast, he couldn't have just run away," Emmett said, scratching his head. Simon just stared, and was about to say something when Emmett held up his hand signaling him to be quiet. He listened for a moment, and then whispered, "Hold that thought, little dude, Counselor Rosalie is coming and you know what I've told you about animal talk around her."

Simon gulped and nodded, running off to rejoin the other members of his group who were still searching for items on their list.

"Emmett," Rosalie said, coming into view. Her campers were just behind her, searching the ground for something – probably one of those stupid four-leaf clovers that were impossible to find. "We were out in the woods, and we came upon the oddest thing," she continued, her arms crossed against her chest.

"What's that, babe?" he asked, casually leaning his arm against a tree. His eyes did another quick sweep of the area, most likely checking for the turtle again. It was funny that he didn't feel the weight of it pulling on his shirt, but then again I suppose to someone so strong it wouldn't be that noticeable – that and he was preoccupied by the threat that was Rosalie.

"Well, we found a strange looking tree and there were all these miscellaneous items stuffed inside it – one of my campers told me it's the tree that is referred to as The Great Forest Fairy, a sort of 'camp mascot' or something. I think I recall Sue mentioning it…but surely nobody would actually believe in such a thing, right?" she asked, her eyebrows raised. The way she shifted her stance slightly and tilted her head to the side made it clear she was testing him. "I don't suppose you know anything about it, or about how half of my kids' hair accessories that I've been searching for were stashed inside it, do you?" she asked evenly. Her eyes were narrowed into threatening slits, but as she had her back to her kids, they'd never know it. She was keeping her voice calm for their benefit, but anyone that knew her could tell she was anything but.

"Hmm…Great Forest Fairy? Sounds like a bunch of nonsense if you ask me. I think this place is getting to you Rose. I'd forget about it if I were you – kids come up with the oddest things. If you want, I'll come back out with you later and help collect the things that belong to you," he said hurriedly, trying to figure out how to best placate her while resolving the issue. He looked flustered and a bit frustrated as well; without waiting for a reply from his wife, he turned to go back to his group, the snapping turtle hanging from his backside, swinging from side to side.

"Emmett," Rosalie hissed, causing him to freeze in his tracks. "Why do you have a turtle attached to your butt?"

At precisely that same moment, one of Rosalie's campers squealed in delight and raced towards her, jumping up into her arms. "Look Miss Rosie! I found a four-leaf clover! I'll be lucky forever and ever and ever!"

Rosalie caught the excited girl in her arms, forced to let the issue with Emmett drop. He saw his chance and began moving away from her.

"Don't you worry about me, Rose – it must have snuck up on me when we were collecting things. Snapping turtles can be very tricky, you know. I'll remove it and see that it gets back to where it needs to be. Thanks for pointing it out though, that's really odd," he said, disappearing from view as quickly as he could.

"How is it possible he's managed to stay married to her so long?" Edward said so quietly it was as if he was talking to himself. Then he turned to face me. "I'll see you soon," he whispered into my ear, his lips slightly brushing against me. He began to move past me, turning in the direction of his kids. As he did his hand grasped mine momentarily. "I think you've been looking for one of these, love."

Still feeling the effect of his lips so close to my skin, I forced myself to focus and looked down into my hand, which was now holding a four-leaf clover. How had he found one so easily? Wait – had he been finding all of our items on the list and putting them in obvious places so we'd find them easily? As if reading my mind, he glanced over his shoulder and winked at me.

A/N: Now don't start yelling about Jasper's cabin, lol - it's still daytime! Plus, a lot of the things at Jasper's will happen near the end of the story...so is that what you're all saying, that you want it to end? Lol. Please review.