AN: I've changed my mind about this chapter too many times to count.

This story is almost at its close and I am getting a little sentimental about it.

Thank you all for coming along on this ride and being so supportive.

As always all things Twilight belong to SM, no copyright infringement intended.

How Can I Help You?

Chapter 29

Christmas as a Cullen

BPOV

"Rin, would you please take Riley upstairs for his bath?" I was sitting on the floor in the living room trying to wrap the last few presents, trying being the operative word. Riley was captivated by all of the boxes, paper and bows. I sighed in relief as Irina scooped him up, "Sure thing, Momma." It still gave me a thrill to hear them call me that. "Let's get you clean, little man. Momma and Daddy are taking us on a trip tomorrow.

All of our family presents were already wrapped and stored in the cottage basement waiting for 'Santa' to bring them over. We had two weeks until Christmas Eve, but we were all flying out to Los Angeles in the morning. It was a working trip for Edward, but he did promise his evenings for his family.

I was hoping to use a little of his free time for some couple time during the trip. After returning from Oregon the morning sickness just wiped me out. I barely had enough energy to edit the articles and take care of Riley. Edward was very understanding and had been taking care of me and the kids, but I was missing that connection to him.

Thankfully Esme brought me some kind of ginger candy that helped soothe my stomach when the nausea would start. I was sucking on them most of the day but it was better than the alternative. Not only was the nausea gone, but after I started the prenatal vitamins I had a little more energy and I knew just what I wanted to do with that energy later.

"How are you feeling, love? It looks like you have everything under control, can I help with anything?" Edward sat behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. I leaned back into his chest and sighed.

"No, I'm finishing the last present now. I did have to send Riley upstairs with Rini, though. I swear we shouldn't put anything under the tree but boxes and bows for him, that's all he's going to play with." I finished wrapping the last box, reveling in the feel of Edward's hands rubbing my back.

"That feels wonderful, sweetheart. What do you say to putting Riley in his bed for the night, telling the girls not to stay up late and then going into our room? Hmmm? I want to be with you Edward, it's been too long and I'm very sorry about that."

He helped me to my feet, pulling me into his arms. "Love, it's not your fault. We have all the time in the world to make love. Right now your body's energy is being used for something more important, but if you are feeling up to it, I won't deny you…"His smirk was in full force.

We checked to make sure everything was locked up and the alarms were set before walking up to the second floor. Riley was almost asleep when we walked into the nursery. Irina was rocking him in the chair.

I took him from her, thanking her for the help. After kisses from Mommy and Daddy Riley was off to sleep and we quietly left his room.

"Really, Rin, thanks for helping out, I'd have never gotten finished the way Riley was playing with the paper." I gave her a hug and kiss goodnight before walking over to Kate's room to tell her we were turning in and that she needed to get to sleep as well. Edward was saying goodnight to Rini and reminding her of the predawn departure for the airport.

It was only just after eight o'clock, but since we had to be on the road in the morning by four, everyone needed an early night.

As Edward and I walked down to our room, I went over the checklist in my head again. "You've loaded all the bags in the car? The stroller is still there? I've got clothes set out for all of us and will pack everyone's tooth brushes in the diaper bag in the morning."

Edward placed a finger over my mouth to stop me. "Love, everything is taken care of. If we forget anything we'll just pick it up there, don't worry so much."

I sighed walking over to where I laid out my clothes for the morning rush. "It's just that this trip is really our first trip as a family. I want everything to go as smoothly as possible."

Edward pulled me back against his chest and trailed sweet kisses from my ear to my neck. "Love, relax, everything will be fine and even though this will be a work trip for me I will have all of you there to make it better."

His hands started to wander and reawaken the desire that had been simmering all afternoon. I turned in his arms, threading my fingers through his hair and bringing his mouth down to mine. This kiss was neither sweet nor chaste. It was fiery, deep and filled with our passion for each other. Edward's hands worked their way below my sweater running up my sides and lifted it off of me. My breasts had gotten bigger and more sensitive already and Edward took his time appreciating the changes. I managed to get his shirt unbuttoned and pushed it over his shoulders, but it remained caught on his wrists as he had not taken his hands from my body.

Only when I struggled to release his belt did he back up and strip the shirt and his remaining clothing off. I walked over to our bed, slipping my leggings off leaving me in just my underwear.

"Mmm, you know how much I love you in blue, Bella." The lacy blue boy-shorts were all I was wearing as Edward joined me on the bed.

"These are definitely one of my favorites, but they need to go." As he slipped his fingers under the waistband, he grazed my stomach and froze. "Bella?" He was rubbing and lightly pressing my abdomen.

"I noticed it this morning." Even though I was just over nine weeks, I woke this morning to notice that my stomach had a slight rounding to it. I didn't show for several months with Riley, but at out appointment with Dr Philips two weeks before he'd mentioned that second pregnancies may sometimes show earlier than first pregnancies.

"Wow, you can't tell unless you really know what to look for, but that's our baby." He placed a kiss on my stomach before moving up the bed to pull me into his arms.

What had started as a passionate explosion quickly became a loving joining. Edward removed my panties, trailing kisses back up my legs. He used his hands to give him more room as he kissed up my thighs moving closer to where I desired his mouth the most.

The feel of his tongue working my most sensitive flesh was too much for my system. Edward was relentless as my orgasm ripped through me. Only after I was trying to control my breathing did Edward move over me and slowly sink inside. We both moaned as he slipped in, filling me completely. Edward set a slow, languorous pace just rocking slowly against me. Our kisses were long leaving us panting as our hands roamed seeking purchase on our sweat covered bodies.

Our climaxes were soft and low keyed coming just before we fell asleep, still joined together.

~o~o~o~

The next morning the alarm went off, waking me and Edward. We showered quickly and after pulling on a long sleeved t-shirt and sweater over my comfortable and stretch yoga pants, I left Edward to make breakfast as I went to wake the girls. They changed into their clothes and gathered what they would be carrying on the plane. Riley was still sleeping and I just changed his diaper, leaving him in his pajamas until later at the airport.

It was three thirty in the morning and none of us were particularly hungry, but Edward wrapped up bagel sandwiches for all of us, grabbed water bottles and juice and put it all in the car. After double checking that I had enough clothes and diapers as well as a couple of empty sippy cups in the diaper bag, I carried Riley, wrapped in a blanket, downstairs and out to the car. The girls were settled in the seats and already falling asleep by the time Edward joined us.

"We're all set, the alarm is on, Emmett is going to check on the house while we are gone and the mail is on hold. Let's go to California."

Traveling with a baby is hard enough but add in two cranky teenagers to the mix and forget about it. After we parked at the airport, Edward got a cart and loaded our luggage while I settled Riley into his stroller and Kate took his car seat. Riley would sit in our laps on the flight as we thought it would help to keep him calm, but we were gate checking the seat and stroller so they wouldn't be lost.

Kate was complaining about being tired and Irina, bless her was dragging Katie towards the nearest coffee kiosk to buy coffee and tea for us, I wouldn't be able to get a caffeine kick, but I still loved my coffee, even if it was decaf.

While we waited to board the plane I took Riley into the restroom to dress him. Thankfully he was excited by all of the chaos at the airport and not freaked out by it. He waved to everyone and said "Hi". He was pouring on the Cullen charm and all the ladies were eating it up. If he could channel his daddy at the age of one, we were going to be in BIG trouble once he was a teenager.

Our flight began to board the first class passengers and Edward, carrying Riley, Irina and Katie stood to board. I pushed the stroller to the end of the walkway leaving it to be loaded onto the plane. After being shown to my seat Edward helped me get settled and then passed Riley to me. Kate and Irina had already pulled their iPods out and were listening to music, Edward filled a cup for Riley and handed me a pacifier. We hoped he would be able to equalize the pressure in his ears by himself otherwise we'd all be in for a miserable flight.

"He'll be fine, love. Just let him suck on the pacifier now and he shouldn't have an issue." I passed Riley back to Edward and curled into his side. I was exhausted and could feel myself drifting off as the plane was taxiing down the runway.

"Bella, love, wake up. We are going to be landing soon." Edward was speaking to me and gently shaking my arm.

I snapped awake. "Where's the baby?" I looked around and spotted Irina holding him across the aisle. "Oh, honey, I'm sorry I didn't mean to fall asleep on you." I was still groggy from my nap, but felt terrible about leaving everything to him.

"Its fine, sweetheart. Riley slept a little and the girls have been fine. Don't worry so much, love. It isn't good for you or the baby."

We waited for everyone else to disembark before leaving ourselves. That made it easier to get Riley settled into his stroller and move towards baggage claim. The girls and I collected our luggage while Edward and Riley arranged for our rental car. It took an hour of battling Los Angeles traffic before we pulled up in front of the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. Usually on a trip Edward would stay in Burbank near the studios, but he wanted to treat us all so he reserved one of the two room suites. The hotel supplied a complimentary car service so Edward would use one of their cars leaving the rental with me.

As the porters took our luggage and the valet took the car, I turned to my very generous husband. "Sweetheart this is too much. It's beautiful, but we could have stayed somewhere less…" I trailed off as he pulled out the pout. "Alright, alright, let's get checked in and into our rooms." Edward only wanted the best for his family and I would let him spoil us if he wanted, to a degree.

I almost changed my mind on that once we had been taken up to our room, which took up about four times the space of a normal room. "Welcome to the Royal Suite Mr. and Mrs. Cullen." When the bellboy said, I whipped my head around to glare at Edward.

After setting up the port-a-crib for Riley in the girls' room and setting our bags in each bedroom the bellboy excused himself with the tip Edward offered.

"Edward Anthony Masen Cullen, why on earth did you book the Royal Suite? We don't need this much space." Really there was everything you could possibly need in an apartment available here, with the exception of a kitchen.

"Love, we are here to relax and this was the only suite aside from the Presidential suite that had more than one bedroom. The hotel is providing a babysitter to watch Riley when you and the girls use the spa facilities, and if we wanted to go out a sitter is also provided.

I don't want you to have to worry about a thing while we are here. Room service will bring up a full family breakfast for us each morning as well as dinner if we don't want to go out."

I loved him like crazy, but the extravagance was going to kill me. We settled into the hotel, each of us showering and changing out of our travel clothes. "I don't have to be at the studios until tomorrow afternoon, so how would you all like a tour of the area. We can drive through Bel Air, down into Hollywood, wherever you would like to go. The girls only had one request, the wanted to see Grauman's Chinese Theater to look at all the celebrity prints. They had also wanted their father to take them to the Soho House, but we explained it was a private club and he wasn't a member, also it wasn't Edward's type of place. Kate and Irina hoped to get an up close glimpse of the newest Hollywood heartthrob while we were visiting.

I promised I would take the girls down to Rodeo during the week and let them stroll through the shops, as long as Riley was up for it. We all sat in the dining area enjoying our lunch before heading out.

After living in California for several years, and then coming back after living in Forks, I realized the only thing I missed was the sunny weather. It's now a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live anywhere but where my family was, and that would be Forks, Washington. Edward took us up into Bel Air, the road twisting higher and higher. The houses- what you could see of them were gorgeous but enormous. I could not imagine living in a house that seemed to sit precariously on the cliff side of the road. We then drove through Beverly Hills and admired the neighborhoods. I was tired and getting hungry so we drove back over to the hotel after promising to order some Chinese food from a place he frequented on his trips.

I woke to Edward laying me on the bed in our room. "What happened? How did I get here?"

He sat beside me brushing the hair from my face, "Shh, love, you're fine. You fell asleep on the drive back and I hated to wake you. The girls have Riley and are getting him ready for bed. Our dinner will be delivered in a few minutes so just relax. Are you still hungry?" When I nodded he smiled, "Ok, just rest a while longer and I'll let you know when dinner is here."

I guess the excitement and preparations of the trip had just wiped me out.

EPOV

I was worried.

Sleepiness because of pregnancy was one thing, but Bella had just conked out. She wasn't even aware I was carrying her out of the car, through the hotel, where more than one employee had asked if she was alright, up the elevator and into our room.

If this continued I would call Todd myself. Perhaps she was anemic or needed another supplement. I prayed that everything would go alright with this pregnancy. I left Bella to rest and asked the girls to get Riley situated in the highchair so I could feed him his dinner before ours arrived. He was falling asleep in his carrots and bananas ten minutes later, so after cleaning his face and changing his diaper I put him down for the night. Since he was sleeping with the girls in the second bedroom they were going to hang out in the living room until they were ready to sleep.

Our food arrived and the smell of egg rolls and fried rice pulled Bella from her slumber.

I was relieved to see she looked refreshed and energized. "Perfect timing, love, I was just about to come wake you. Riley is already in bed and we are about to devour this food. The evening was nice; there were some board games in the entry closet so Kate and Rini went to choose a game for us. Bella seemed completely normal, though she did keep staring at me. We spent the next couple of hours enjoying time with the girls before finally calling it a night and heading to bed.

I had just come out of the bathroom after brushing my teeth when I was pushed back into the door by a fiery Bella. "Hmmm, so what does my sexy Mrs. Cullen plan to do tonight?" It seemed she was wearing my shirt and nothing else.

"Oh, I plan on doing a lot of things tonight, Mr. Cullen. All I can tell you is that it's a good thing you don't have to be in until after lunch. You'll need some time to sleep."

~o~o~o~

Bella was up early the next morning. She was right about me needing sleep. We were up late or rather early into the morning and though she had quite a bit of extra sleep yesterday, I had not. I hated to admit it, but I was getting older. I would be thirty-eight in June, and I just wasn't as young as I used to be. In my twenties, I had the recovery of a teenager, and though Bella made me feel like I was seventeen again, my body protested the abuse sometimes.

"Go back to sleep, sweetheart. I'm going to order our breakfast and get the kids up. I'm taking them out to a couple of museums this afternoon and Kate and Rini wanted to swim this morning." I pulled her down to me giving her a deep goodbye kiss. "Wake me by eleven alright, love?" She nodded and kissed my forehead before turning and walking out the door. I swear I could have sat there and watched the sway of her hips all day.

Late in the evening, Bella and I left Kate and Rini in the room watching their sleeping brother, to go up to the rooftop restaurant and bar. We enjoyed dancing together for a while before taking our drinks over to the railing to just take in the view of downtown Los Angeles one direction and Bel Air in the other.

"Are you happy, Bella?" I don't know why that popped out, I knew she was happy. We had both been on cloud nine for the last few months.

She looked at me with her eyebrows furrowed. "Of course, Edward, I've never been happier than I am right this minute and it is all because of you." I took her into my arms and stared out into the night. "I am too, my love. The past several months have been the happiest I have ever been. I had a wonderful marriage to Tanya, she gave me my beautiful daughters, but I know I survived the pain of losing her because you were there to help me through it. I know deep in my bones that I would never survive if something were to happen to you. So please, please bear with me if I come across as too overbearing or overprotective of you or the children. I know I have a tendency to overreact at times, as you well know, but I am always only thinking of ways to save you worry and problems. You and our children, all of them," I rubbed her stomach, "are my world. I love you."

~o~o~o~

Our time in California was drawing to a close. We had enjoyed ourselves touring the city, the shops, even taking the kids to see the Christmas Winter Wonderland that Disneyland had created this year. Our last night was spent at the very club my teenage daughters wished to visit; only they were sorely disappointed as the private club had been reserved by my clients. No famous actors or actresses, singers or comedians that they would be interested were there, but I was very proud of the way Kate and Irina both conducted themselves. We had left Riley with the hotel's sitter for the evening. Bella was very popular with my coworkers and they let slip my surprise for her.

"Edward, sweetheart, what is this about a song?" She looked so beautiful tonight in a long flowing silver dress. It clung to her breasts and drew my eyes there before falling away, not hugging her curves but draping her body to perfection.

I cleared my throat, glaring at the ones that let it slip. "Um, well love, see… Well it isn't really a song; it's actually something I've been working on for months." When she only stared up at me I took her hand, leading her around towards a piano that was in a sitting area. "Sit with me, Bella?"

I helped her sit at the bench with me as I settled beside her and played a few scales to check the piano's tune. I played very softly the piece I had been working on.

When it was finished I looked over to Bella and saw tears in her eyes.

"I started this the day after I proposed. It's about the start of our new life, our new beginning. I've incorporated bits of your lullaby along with the song I wrote for Riley. There are measures from Kate and Irina's songs as well. I've taken them and mixed them all into the beginning of the Cullen composition. It's something that I probably won't finish for years as our life grows and changes. I want this to reflect our life together. You and the children are the music to my soul and though the arrangement may change over time the melody of our life won't."

She was weeping softly now. "Shh, love, please don't cry."

"Happy tears, Edward, very happy tears."

"This is already the best Christmas we've ever had and it's just the first of many more."

O~O~O~O

I went back and forth sever times about how to write out this last chapter and in the end I have two completely written chapters. So I decided to post a shorter additional chapter on Friday and the Epilogue will be up next Wednesday. Thank you all so much for reading this story. It has been a great experience and I will miss these two a lot.