AN: I am so sorry this took so long. Edward was not cooperating at all. But, I finally got it out. I did get a little impatient and I'm posting this before my beta has had enough time to edit, so if there is anything major that needs changing I will repost it. Thanks again to everyone who has read and reviewed. Especially Death's First Bite who reviewed every chapter.

Disclaimer: I still own nothing.

Chapter 22 – Family Ties

EPOV

Bella never ceased to amaze me. Even when she was sure that she wasn't ready to take the next step in our relationship, she was a vixen. She managed to completely destroy all civility and gentlemanly instincts I had with a simple look or chaste kiss. I honestly had no idea how I'd managed not to jump her every time I saw her.

When I saw her standing in the kitchen wearing only my shirt and looking like she'd been thoroughly fucked the night before, I had to hold myself back by remembering that she needed to be worshipped and pampered before I even considered having my wicked way with her.

Then when she decided to be a tease, the wall I'd thrown up cracked slightly. It was time to give her a taste of her own medicine. Her legs, draped so casually over the couch, were just begging for attention.

I couldn't help the growl that escaped me as I sat near her feet. She was almost panting as I looked into her eyes while my lips caressed the soft length of her leg. As I continued, I scooted closer to her to reach the areas I most wanted.

I was too deeply ingrained in giving her pleasure to notice that her phone started ringing. She attempted to push me away as she answered it, but I wouldn't relent. I couldn't move away from her.

"Um, he's good. Really good. He's finding something to eat right now," she muttered.

I chuckled inwardly, knowing that it was partly true. Though it was doubtful that I would make it to my ultimate goal.

Soon, her squirming ceased altogether, but not in the way I would hope for. I placed one last lingering kiss on her thigh before seeing what was wrong. Her eyes were wide with fear and her whole body tensed.

I knelt in front of her and lightly massaged her legs, hoping to get her to relax. "Bella?" I asked quietly.

She leaned her head back against the couch and quickly wrapped up the conversation. "Damn it!" she yelled after she shut the phone. She pulled her legs up to her chest and groaned.

That move created a small space behind her. I wedged myself into that space and pulled her back against my chest. "Baby, what's wrong?" I asked.

"My grandparents are moving back to the city," she whispered, sounding horrified.

My first reaction was to laugh. It seemed ridiculous to be scared about having to interact with family too often, but two things kept me from laughing. One, Bella would seriously hurt me if I did. Two, I remembered that I would also have to deal with Ronald and Eleanor Cobb on a regular basis because of it.

I sighed. "That sounds downright scary."

"On the bright side, I'll have more of a reason to hide here," she laughed weakly.

I smiled and kissed her temple. "And I'll always be happy to hide you away from everyone."

It turned out that their move was a lot sooner than any of us expected. From the initial discussion, it sounded like the decision had just been made and the actual move would be a few months off. That was not the case. The decision had been made before they'd even made their most recent visit. They had started packing everything already too.

So three weeks after that horrible phone call, I found myself hauling boxes from a moving van to an ostentatious townhouse within the city limits. Charlie and Ronald were working just as hard, though we were all worried that the older man would throw out his back.

Bella, her mother, and her grandmother were inside sorting through the boxes as we brought them in. Bella looked ready to hide under the sofa and disappear when the other women started talking about when they first moved in with their husbands.

"Get me out of here," she whispered as I walked by.

"Sorry, baby. Unless you want to carry these boxes in, there's nothing I can do," I said, kissing the top of her head.

She pouted, but continued sorting through the box at her feet.

By lunchtime, we were only about a third of the way through. I leaned against the moving truck, leaning my head back against the cool metal. It felt nice to take a break while the others were inside dealing with the elaborate dining room set. I smiled as I heard footsteps and opened my eyes to see Bella carrying two plates of food, bottles of water under her arm.

"You escaped," I laughed.

She beamed at me and set the food on a few of the boxes still lying on the ground before hurrying over to me. "Of course I did," she said teasingly. "I couldn't resist this ounce of free time to ogle my boyfriend's abs through his sweat soaked shirt."

I groaned and settled my hands on her hips. "Not now, baby," I muttered. "Not with your family just through the front door and another few hours of work still to go."

She pouted a little as she pulled back a bit. "Damn it," she muttered.

I cocked an eyebrow and smirked down at her. "Were you hoping to get some or try to lure me into escaping in the hope of getting some?"

Bella bit her lip, not meeting my eyes. "Was I that obvious?" she asked, playing with the hem of my shirt.

"Baby, I love you, but you're transparent," I said. "At least to me. Besides, we can't leave. We need to stay for the whole day and finish at a normal time or Rose will kill me for not letting her take as much time off with Emmett."

I'd taken the full day off work, knowing that Pete and Drew would be fine now that they were trained for everything. Rose and I decided to hire them as full time employees since we were still discussing expanding. Knowing that there were others to help would make everything a little easier, but I knew I couldn't run away from work for the day as easily if we expanded.

The shop had been growing steadily for the past few months. I was trying to think of ways to appeal to more people than just the stereotypical crowd. The new shop – if we ever got it – would have to break out of the sketchy, run-down image and appear respectable. That would take some work and some help.

Yet all that was sitting on the back burner until Rose and Emmett were finally married. My Aunt Esme and Rose were both wading through the initial preparations. When Bella and I went over for a family dinner, they had swatches of fabric and pictures of various decorations scattered everywhere. It was daunting. To think that this was what Bella had gone through with her mother – and that had probably been even worse because she wasn't willing – was scary.

"We'll elope," I told Bella that night. "Or just do something small at the courthouse. You don't need to go through all this."

She just smiled back at me. "No, I'm having a real wedding. It won't be very big, but I am wearing a white dress and I'll be damned if my father isn't walking me down that aisle."

I chuckled and kissed the top of her head. "Okay, baby. If that's what you want."

The group of us was also enthralled with Alice and Jasper's newest development. As the weeks passed, she became more and more prone to strange mood swings and the classic food cravings. Jasper, however, seemed to be getting a great deal out of it.

"Man, she's been an animal lately," Jasper said with a bemused tone as he planted himself on the couch as we watched a Red Sox game at my apartment. "Granted, she's a little more energetic than a normal girl regularly, but holy shit! It's like we're seventeen again…. Only now we don't have to go sneaking around."

"I didn't even think that was even possible for her to go for it that often," Emmett laughed. "That girl is going to be like Bella's grandmother one day, you know. Sex on the mind, twenty-four-seven."

I groaned and let my head fall on the pillow behind me. "Don't fucking remind me, Em," I said. "I need time away from that woman."

"What did she do this time?" Jasper asked curiously as Emmett snickered.

"She decided to introduce us to the different flavors or sex so we weren't stuck to 'just the vanilla crap that gets old fast,'" I quoted. "She provided photo and video examples. Bella hasn't let me touch her in a week."

"Seems like the answer is to knock her up, man," my cousin suggested.

Jasper and I both gaped at him, amazed that an answer like that would come out of his mouth so nonchalantly after being trained by Rose for years.

"What?" he asked, confused. "This one's getting tail like five times a day now. It seems like the right way to go."

"Please don't tell me you're using this same philosophy with Rose," I said, honestly scared that he might do it.

"Well, no, but it might be a smart-"

"No, Emmett. No," I insisted. "You and I both know Rose wants a little boy that looks like a carbon copy of you, but not yet. Wedding first."

He sighed. "Yeah, I know…"

I rolled my eyes and turned to our friend Jasper. "So, how far along is Alice now?"

"Just about thirty weeks," he said proudly. "Her mom's been thinking about having the baby shower within the next few weeks."

"Any idea which colors you're getting inundated with yet?"

Jasper smirked but shook his head. "Ali doesn't want to know. She doesn't care either way, but she wants it to be a surprise."

"You're having a girl," Emmett said confidently. "You've already got the overprotective gene and that girl of yours wants nothing more than someone to mold. So it's either a daughter or a little boy that's gonna need a lot of counseling."

I choked on the laughter that bubbled up when I saw Jasper's expression. He looked determined, but somewhat resigned. He knew Emmett was right, but didn't want to admit it.

While Alice was horny and excited, Rose was finally starting to realize why Bella complained about wedding plans so much, even if she wanted to marry Emmett. She spent a lot of time at work looking through bridal magazines and getting frustrated by distinguishing different colors for themes and invitations.

"Look at this!" she yelled, throwing a set of swatches in my lap.

"It looks like a few white pieces of fabric to me," I said tentatively.

"They're all the same fucking color! I don't know how Esme expects me to do this without going insane," she groaned. "I'm having nightmares about centerpieces and dresses and color schemes…. I don't know how Bella did this."

I stood up and gave her what I hoped was a comforting hug. "She didn't, Rose. Think about it," I said. "She didn't even want to be planning one and she was doing all these things. Just because you want to marry my cousin, doesn't mean this shit is easy."

She rested her read on my shoulder and sighed. "It all looks so easy at the beginning. No one notices the details until they look at the pictures anyway…. It is all utterly ridiculous and I hate it."

"Then you need to tell either Esme or Emmett, Rose," I said. "They need to know that you're pushing yourself to the edge."

"Like that would go over well. Emmett specifically told me he wants a short engagement," she said.

"Then work on the parts you want to worry about and leave the rest to Aunt Esme. She wants to do this for you Rose."

"I guess you're right," Rose said, finally stepping out of my embrace. "Do you think Bella would kill me if I just took her fake ideas from the wedding that will never happen and tweak them?" I opened my mouth to answer, but she continued before I had the chance. "Actually, never mind. It was probably all frilly and ridiculous to please her mother."

I laughed. It probably was true. I handed Rose back the swatches of fabric and let her get back to looking at book after book of wedding dresses.

The weeks flew by. Between work, spending time with Bella, and helping Emmett and Rose with wedding plans, I was thoroughly busy.

The crowd at Twilight had moved back to a normal level for us, but most of the appointments were new people referred by old customers. Rose and I kept an eye out for any good locations for a bigger shop, but didn't find anything – which was a mild relief for Rose, and me by default, so we didn't have anything else to worry about while trying to plan her wedding.

Bella and I reached a point in our relationship where we were comfortable talking about anything. It seemed like we were there before, but we were both holding back. I finally let myself talk to her about the darker periods in my life after my parents passed. She finally let me see just how much her mother's disapproval hurt her.

That was a rough night. We spent hours letting everything out and Bella ended up sobbing into my chest for over an hour, falling asleep when exhaustion won out. She didn't notice that I was crying right along with her.

I stayed away from the marriage talk, but she seemed very willing to talk to Rosalie about it. Bella would randomly interject with her own ideas, what she wanted for her dream wedding. I kept a mental tab of each one I heard. I also knew that I needed to give Rose and Emmett the best wedding present I could think of to show my appreciation for them politely declining to use Bella's suggestions. They knew I was hoping she would get that dream wedding.

Alice and Jasper started to spend more time with us at Emmett's place as well. Alice couldn't do as much as she was used to while her stomach kept expanding, but she was more than happy to deal with color swatches and patterns with Rose. To Jasper, the wedding planning was a lifesaver. She was apparently going stir crazy because she wasn't allowed to shop for long periods of time anymore.

As the weeks passed, we began to gather at Bella's house when there were Red Sox or Patriots games. Jasper, Emmett, Charlie, Ronald, and I spent our time watching the game while the girls and Eleanor poured over bridal magazines and things like that. It meant dealing with more comments from Bella's grandmother when she was there, but at least there were others getting similar comments.

"I knew it wouldn't take that boy long to knock you up," she told Alice. "He's been hot for you since you were young. And from what I've seen, he is more than capable of passing on some good genes."

Bella gaped at her grandmother, but Jasper looked smug.

"Oh, he'll pass on some good genes alright," Alice laughed. "This one already kicks just like him." She rubbed her expanding stomach affectionately. She was almost seven months along by then.

Jasper leaned down to kiss her cheek before heading off to watch the game. Emmett and Rose were still standing by the edge of the room, amazed that we hadn't been exaggerating about her. Soon enough, her gaze fell on them.

"Oh, you must be Edward's friends," she said happily. "Congratulations on your engagement. Goodness, you two look perfect together. I bet your babies will be beautiful. You are planning on having kids, right? It's just sad if you're planning on keeping that monster of his wrapped even after you're married. A girl like you shouldn't let that go to waste. Now, Ronald and I knew we wanted kids. There was no protection for us and-"

Bella groaned and buried her face in my chest. "I really don't need to hear about my grandparents going at it like bunnies," she said. "Please get me out of here."

I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into the living room with me without anyone noticing. Thankfully it was easy to get them distracted with wedding details. Once Bella's grandmother finished her story, they were off.

By November, Rose was no longer scared to death of color schemes, and they were well on their way to having a solid plan. I'd been told she had looked at dresses she liked, but hadn't found "the dress" yet. That was as far as my interest went. When it finally came time for my own wedding, I would help Bella with any and all of it.

"Hey, Edward?" Emmett asked out of when halftime started. We were gathered in Bella's house yet again. Thankfully, her mother was at a small "soiree" across town, so we didn't have to deal with anything from her that time.

"Yeah?" I said absently.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" He seemed nervous, his hands shaking as he spoke.

"Sure," I answered. I had no idea what he could be so nervous about. Curious, I kissed the side of Bella's head, leaving her with her family as I went to go talk to my cousin. "What's up, man? You look like you're going to shit your pants."

He shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I just don't know how you're going to react," he said.

"I think as long as you haven't done anything to ruin the shop or my life with Bella, we'll be fine," I said.

"Well, it's not that bad," he answered. "I've been meaning to ask you for a while now, but I don't want you to freak out." I nodded, but waited for him to continue. "I figure you know I asked Jasper to be a groomsman. You've probably been wondering why I didn't ask you."

I shrugged. "I figured it was implied. Family sticks together, right?"

"Right. But I don't want you to be just a groomsman, man. I need a best man," he said. "Can't think of anyone better than you."

My jaw literally dropped. For years, I'd been convinced he would choose one of his work buddies as his best man. I'd been such an asshole to him and my family for so long that I had given up on being accepted into these customs. Apparently, they gave me more credit than I'd ever been worth.

"Really?" I finally blurted out.

"Well, yeah." He sighed and leaned against the wall behind him. "I can't believe you're actually making me say this…. You're like my brother, Edward. Why else do you think I put up with your shit when you went cold turkey? You introduced me to my Rosie and you're back to being a normal person now that you've got Bella. I don't know what I'd do without you at this point."

"Was that your roundabout way of saying you love me or something?" I laughed, not wanting to let the emotion overwhelm me.

"God, we sound like chicks," he laughed in response. "But seriously, will you be my best man?"

"Of course," I smiled. "There's nowhere else I'd rather be at that wedding than by your side."

"Awesome. You're the best, man."

"You know I'm not planning the fuckin' bachelor party, though, right?"

Emmett surprised me by shrugging. "Whatever. Rose has already taken that responsibility upon herself. From what I've heard, we're getting locked into my apartment with a case of beer, some porn, and an air hockey table."

I burst out laughing as I pictured a group of guys doing that for a bachelor party. "Well, at least she knows what you like," I commented.

We returned to the TV room to see a very curious Bella instantly turn to catch my attention. I smiled and shook my head to let her know it was nothing bad. She relaxed and curled into my side as I sat back down.

It was nice to relax like that, surrounded by our friends and family without having to worry about too much. That was how life should be, rather than my life before Bella. Without my parents, it was like nothing seemed to fit anymore. But since I met Bella, everything started to fall back in place.

It was a horrible thing to even think, but without losing my parents, I might never have met Bella. She was the best thing that ever happened to me. I would never forget them or what they did for me, but I couldn't imagine my life without Bella now.

At the very least, there was never a dull moment when we were together.

Halfway through the fourth quarter, we heard a gasp from the dining room. Jasper's head shot up immediately. He and I hurried into the other room, Bella following closely. We found Alice clutching her large stomach. She looked up, eyes wide.

"I think my water just broke," she whispered.

Bella squealed and hurried to help her best friend. Rose smiled and hurried to pack up her wedding plans. She tried to hide her excitement, but she soon began fussing just as much as Bella.

I, on the other hand, focused on Jasper. He'd frozen when he heard his wife.

"You gonna be okay?" I asked him, laying a hand on his shoulder.

He looked up at me with the biggest smile I'd ever seen on a man's face. "I'm gonna be a dad."

AN: Hopefully it was worth the wait. Let me know in a review, even if you didn't like it. Ten reviews will get a teaser, fifteen will get a better teaser. I already have over 1000 words written for the next chapter, so it shouldn't be nearly as long between updates.

Next chapter: Meet Jasper and Alice's baby and beware of the fluff. :)

Thanks for reading everyone!

-Kaylee