Emmett and Rosalie were back when we came inside the house. They were sitting on opposite sides of the living room watching the TV, or at least pretending. I could hear Carlisle and Esme in the dining room as I walked passed. I noticed right away that Edward and Jasper were gone and the only place I could imagine them being was out hunting.
I walked silently over to Emmett and flung myself into his lap. He made a sound as if I'd knocked the breath from his lungs and I just laughed at him as he wrapped his arms around my waist.
"So how was shopping?" he asked.
"It was okay; I found this really pretty dress. But Alice is bugging me. Do you think the family would mind terribly if I killed her?" I asked.
He chuckled, "what did she do this time?"
"She saw something and won't tell me when it's supposed to happen!" I said, knowing that I sounded like a child.
"Well, the one thing I've learned about Alice is that she doesn't do what you want her to, she does things her own way. She'll tell you when she's ready, or the future will become the present and she won't need to tell you at all."
I sighed, "I know, she's just so annoying when she does that! So how did it go at the courthouse?" I asked, finally making my way around to the question I'd been dying to ask him.
He grinned, "well, it seems I'm a single man again."
"Like hell you are! Just because you're not married doesn't mean you don't belong to me!" I said with a smile.
He chuckled again. "And we decided that we would split our belongings into what they were before we married. See, they don't need to know that we aren't really going to follow through with that…"
I glanced over at Rosalie then got to my feet and went over to her. Before she could resist, I pulled her up and into my arms. "Thank you Rosalie," I whispered near her ear.
She looked shocked when I pulled away, having not hugged me in return.
"Thank you? For what?" she asked.
"For letting go of Emmett so that we could be together. I never thought I'd be in your debt but I am. I know, you didn't do this for us, you did it for yourself, but it still made my life happier and so I'm thanking you," I said when she was going to protest.
She smiled back, "well I guess you're welcome then. Maybe… maybe after a while we could…you know, be friends?" she asked hesitantly.
I smiled back, "I think I'd like that Rose, though it might take a while to get to that point. But whenever that point comes, I'm more than willing to be friends."
"Thank you," Rosalie said, hugging me this time.
When we broke apart, Emmett burst out laughing. We both turned to him with questioning looks on our faces. "You two are ridiculous!"
Rose and I looked at each other before we both ran at him. Almost immediately he realized the danger he was in and made a run for it. He was out the door in a flash with us right behind him. The sound of all three of us hitting each other then hitting the ground was so loud that everyone in Forks was probably thinking they were doing bomb testing in the mountains. I was shocked and delighted to find that the impact with the earth had not hurt a bit. Emmett was still laughing and I rolled over on top of him, a mockingly fierce look on my face.
Instead of making him stop, this action only made him laugh harder and before I knew it he'd rolled us over until he was on top of me and holding me down. I snarled at him and rolled us over again. This time he just lay underneath me, finally giving in. Suddenly, all our laughter was gone and we were just staring into each other's eyes.
We were broken from our intense scrutiny of each other's eyes by the sound of someone clearing their throat. I looked over to see Jasper grinning down at us with Edward just behind him. But the sound we'd heard had come from the tiny little pest of a vampire at Jasper's side. Alice smiled at us smugly as we shot to our feet like lightening.
"Um, we were just…Emmett was…" I stammered, not knowing quite what to say.
"Emmett was very clearly enjoying himself," Jasper teased.
I glared at him. "That's not what I was going to say Jasper! I was going to say that he was making fun of Rosalie and I and we were trying to get back at him. We just…"
"Yeah, I completely understand how you were getting back at him. You're a cruel woman Bella Swan," Jasper said.
I would have blushed, had I been able to. But since I couldn't, I settled for saying, "as cruel as they come Jasper my boy." And then I gave him the most disarming smile I could muster. Of course if worked instantly and I laughed as I turned on my heel and headed back inside.
Carlisle and Esme were sitting together at the never used dining room table, holding hands. When we walked in they smiled brightly.
"Bella, Emmett tells us that you agreed to go to the company ball with him," Carlisle said.
I nodded.
"That's wonderful. You'll love it, it's really fun. It's nothing like prom, with a bunch of too hyper teenagers," Esme said with a gentle smile.
I smiled back, remembering when Edward had taken me to prom and how all my friends had been so crazy about a simple night of getting too dressed up and doing too many things on your feet. "I'm glad I'm coming, I expect it will be a lot of fun, even if Emmett is going."
Esme's smile grew as she looked at Emmett, who was trying unsuccessfully to look affronted and hurt. I sighed, rolled my eyes and kissed him soundly in apology, knowing that this was what he wanted anyway.
"Yea, because I imagine you would have so much fun without me there," he joked.
I considered, "well, now that you mention it, I will need someone to keep all the men off me." I pretended to look him up and down. "It looks to me like you'll do that job just fine."
He growled at me and hugged me close. "Yes, I will do that job just fine. And not because I'm your bodyguard, but because if anyone touches you I'm going to rip their hand off."
"Oh come on Emmett! You know that if you did that every single male who works with Carlisle, who employs Carlisle, will have their hands gone. Because, quite frankly, I don't know how anyone will be able to stand not touching her," Edward said from where he was leaning against the doorway.
I turned to look at him quizzically. He just shrugged, "it's true. I'll be interested to hear what they think when they see you walk in wearing the dress you bought."
"You're going too?" I demanded, figuring that he must have seen my dress through Alice's thoughts.
"Of course, we all are," he seemed surprised that I didn't know this.
"Oh, Emmett didn't tell me that, he just asked if I would go. That should be…fun," I said for lack of a better word to describe an event that would involve dancing with Edward in any near vicinity.
"We always enjoy it," Edward replied.
I just bet you do. I thought to myself. It was at this moment that I remembered the fact that I was supposed to be dead.
"Um, Carlisle… about this ball, won't it seem kind of…odd…if I show up and I'm supposed to have been mauled to death by a bear?" I asked.
He considered, obviously having not thought about this before. "Hum…well, really we wouldn't have any problems I don't think. Most of the people who would be there either never saw you or saw you when you were human. In this instance I'm happy to say that unless these people knew you very well, you and the old Bella would not look very much alike. I don't see why you couldn't come as you are, though we might want to pick a different name for you."
I nodded, thinking that this was a very good idea. "So what's my code name going to be?" I asked.
"Hum…" Alice said, thinking. I should have known she would be the one to pick it out. "How about…Elizabeth Cahill?"
I considered this, trying to figure out if I would remember to answer to this name. "Alright, but maybe we should start calling me that now, so I get used to it."
The rest of the family nodded in agreement