A/N: Enjoy your romp through my day dream!

Chapter Sixteen

Proposals, Both Pleasant and Un(Pleasant)

Edward followed Bella up to Allegra's room. The feelings running through him were confusing. Jasper seemed to know exactly what he was feeling but felt it would be more amusing to keep the truth from his brother. Edward scowled at him, but decided to go up stairs with Bella instead of forcing the truth out of Jasper. It was an uncomfortable feeling that had Edward watching Bella's bottom as it swayed up the stairs. It had him noticing the lovely curves her legs. The heaviness of her breasts.

Edward shook his head, trying to dispel those thoughts mostly out of habit. He'd noticed her beauty and sensuality before, but having right in front of him again was making it difficult to behave. Before he had been able to stop those thoughts by remembering her fragileness and his own strength. Not anymore though. He was just as strong but she was far less breakable. It changed the way he thought about their intimacy.

Bella leaned over the edge of Allegra's crib and Edward took a moment to look over her form. She was thin, thinner than he remember, but pregnancy and child birth had changed her body in subtle ways. Her hips were wider, her bust larger, her skin looked softer more delicate. Edward remembered a college level biology course he'd taken ten years ago. The teacher was talking about pregnancy and the changes it causes in the human body. All sorts of hormones flooded the mother's body. Softer skin and larger breasts were typical after getting pregnant. Wider hips were also typical after giving birth.

Sex, he decided, that's what this is. He was feeling sexually attracted to Bella.

Edward rolled his eyes. That explained Jasper's smug thoughts and refusal to let him know exactly he was feeling. Jasper would probably be having a good laugh at his expense with Emmett later on. Edward shook his head, again. Bella might not be as innocent as he left her but she still deserved more than a quick tumble on the floor of Allegra's room caused not by love but by unexpected lust.

Bella kissed Allegra's head, sighed happily and turned to Edward.

"So," she said. Her tone was happy, but Edward detected the remnant sadness in her eyes. He took her hand in his and led her across the hall to his room. Edward settled her on the couch, zoomed to his closet before returning to her side.

"So," he repeated, leaning on his knees in front of her.

"Layla, Portia's daughter," Bella explained, "is a Seer, like Alice, that's how she knew we would be getting married soon."

"They were all curious about that- curious about many things you did today, Bella," Edward said.

"Start at the beginning, I'll try to explain everything."

"The language you were speaking to Hannah in?"

"It's an ancient tongue, so rarely spoken in fact that it's considered dead by most linguists." Edward nodded.

"What were you two talking about?"

"The future, Hannah doesn't want me to stay here. She doesn't have many close friends and doesn't want to lose me. It's about as sweet as it is selfish." Bella smiled fondly.

Edward cleared his throat and moved on. That was a conversation he wanted to have just yet. Rosalie's screaming in his head was getting more insistent.

"If Portia is a vampire, how did she have a child?" The scream stopped, all noise throughout the house stopped.

"Portia had Layla when she was human with Marius, the vampire who created her… Ha! I thought I had a tough pregnancy but Layla damn near killed Portia. If it hadn't been for Marius she would have." Edward stared at her, willing her to understand his confusion. "Marius had a sexual relationship with Portia while she was still human. Male vampires are incredibly fertile when having sex with human females. They had sex once and she got pregnant."

Edward sighed at the sadness coming off of Rosalie. She was a pain most of the time but she was still his sister and he didn't want her to be sad.

"You had a hard pregnancy?" he asked changing the subject yet again. Bella smiled and shook her head indulgently.

"Your daughter was a kicker. She broke three of my ribs! Oh, I never got any rest. If she wasn't kicking, she was wiggling. The only thing that would settle her down was my lullaby." Edward smiled.

"We're getting married?" he asked, quietly. His volume wouldn't stop anyone in the house from hearing him but it did serve to make the moment more intimate.

"Yes," she said.

"So, you won't mind if I give you this?" Edward held up his mother's engagement ring. Bella smiled and touched his cheek.

"I think you have something you need to ask me first… that's called a hint, Edward."

"Isabella Swan, I swear to love you forever. Will you marry me?"

"Well, Hannah has said that being a wife is what happens when you hit thirty and realize you're not getting any younger.. but I guess you'll do…"

Edward could hear both Emmett and Jasper laughing down stairs. "Bella please don't make a joke out of my proposal. Emmett and Jasper are going to make fun of me enough as it is. Please don't make it worse by-"

"Of course I'll marry you, Edward. Nothing would make me happier."

Alice's happy squeal was so loud Allegra stirred in her sleep.

"We can have a quickie wedding in Vegas if you want," Edward said, quickly. "I honestly don't care as long as it's official." Alice's outrage was both oral and mental. She was cursing him in her head and trying to fight her way out of Jasper's hold so she could storm upstairs.

Bella laughed. "I want a real wedding. I have too many friends who won't settle for anything but a real wedding!"

"I want this wedding to be for us, Bella. Not for any of our friend or family. For us." Alice grumbled. "What do you think?"

"I think Alice is going to kill you if you don't shut up!" she laughed.

"Damn right!" A shrill voice called.

"Alice!" Esme chastised.

Edward slipped the ring on her finger and kissed her palm.

---

Portia was the perfect image of frozen beauty. She had short curly blonde hair that she kept styled up around her ears. Her long lithe figure was complimented by her black lace dress. Layla was the complete opposite of her mother. She was short and curvy with straight brown hair that reached half way down her back. Unlike Portia she was smiling and chatting happily with everyone.

Layla was a Seer like Alice and they connected immediately over their shared gift. Edward could hear the happiness shining off of Alice from Jasper. They were both thrilled and it made the whole situation a lot easier to deal with. With Jasper in a good mood it lightened the moods of everyone in the room, and everyone was in the room. They were all looking forward to hearing what the creator of the Volturi had to say.

Portia was out on the balcony with Bella discussing what they were going to do about the Volturi. Bella had wrapped her mental shield around the two of them and they were speaking in a foreign language, so even though Amun was trying to eavesdrop it didn't do much good. Portia was upset and Bella wasn't fairing much better. Edward couldn't really tell what was being said outside but he got a vague idea from their gestures and the moods rolling off of Jasper.

He assumed that Portia had made a suggestion about how she wanted to deal with the situation at hand. Bella didn't like her idea and wasn't shy about telling her off for even thinking about it. Portia took offense to Bella's disagreement, Bella fanned the fire by not really caring and it looked like Portia was contemplating killing her.

Edward shifted Allegra off his lap and onto Tanya's. She had been sitting next to him listening to Alice and Layla talking about all the visions they had had over the years and ignoring Edward the best she could. Most of the company had been thrilled to hear about his engagement to Bella, but unfortunately Tanya wasn't one of those people. Her thoughts were mostly on what could have been, her jealousy and the barely articulated hope that it wouldn't work out. She was feeling more desperate then usual do to Garrett and Kate's burgeoning relationship.

Allegra cooed up at her and Tanya smiled wistfully at the beautiful baby. I wish I could have one of those, she thought.

Edward sighed. There was nothing he could do for her. Unless she fell in love with a man who had a child it was unlikely that she'd ever have a baby. He wanted to help her, though. Those thoughts had a tendency to depress him. (Rosalie had been thinking them ever since Bella had gotten back.) Even though he wasn't interested in a romantic relationship with Tanya, she was still his friend, a cousin of sorts. If there was anything he could do for either Tanya or Rosalie he would do it.

"Enough, Isabella!" Portia snapped, her accent becoming more prominent in her annoyance. "How many times do I have to tell you? I know these boys, I raised them from savage young vampires into the rulers of this vampire world. I feel that it is only appropriate that I be the one to usher them out of this world as well."

"I completely understand, Portia," Bella said, trying to calm her down. "But you have to understand that….." Bella waved her hands around trying to grab hold of an excuse that wouldn't make her sound selfish.

She had told Edward before Portia had gotten to the house that the ancient vampire had killed Marcus' mate, Didyme when the Volturi had over stepped their bounds before. Apparently this wasn't the first time that they had falsely incriminated a coven with the intention to collect a few gifted vampires from that coven to add to their own. They'd been doing it for hundreds of years if Elaezar was to be believed. He felt pretty guilty about it considering his own gift and involvement with the Volturi. At the time he'd thought nothing of it, simply assuming that he was helping Aro prepare for battle by telling him about the gifts of their enemies.

Bella kept her shield tight around herself and Portia, even though they were speaking English.

"Understand what, Isabella?" Portia demanded.

"I don't want to be the person I used to be… and I certainly don't want you to be that person either," Bella mumbled. She looked over at Edward, he smiled reassuringly at her. He didn't want her to be that person anymore either. (Mostly because being that person had made her sad, he was sure that he would have loved her just as much while she'd been killing people. He would have tried to talk her out of it, but he would have never stopped loving her.)

"I do understand that, Isabella," Portia said. Her tone gentled as soon as she understood Bella's reasoning. "And I suppose it wouldn't hurt to stand back for a while and hear their argument before acting too rashly."

"What do you mean?" Bella asked.

The room behind Edward had gone quiet. Everyone was listening to the conversation going on between Bella and Portia. They were after all discussing the game plan for avoiding the deaths of them all.

"Those foolish boys will stop for your barricade, they will listen to your argument and the thoughts running through your precious baby's head… But they will fight back with points that will sway the minds of their witnesses. Their arguments will be ten thousand times more persuasive because they are coming from them. You have a very slim chance of winning this without employing your own gift, Isabella. Too many of their guard are gifted mentally. It would do you all a world of good if you kept your shield around the ranks for the duration of the 'trial.'" Portia put air quotes around the last word to emphasize the irony.

"If they'll listen to our arguments and Allegra's thoughts, why do you insist on killing them afterwards?" Bella asked. The vampires behind Edward all gasped. Portia and Bella ignored them.

"Because I'm tired, Isabella. You don't want me to kill them because you're afraid of those feelings of divine justice taking root in my heart, but you must understand. I created them to serve and protect the vampires of this world… Not to abuse their power in an effort to collect," she spat the word, "those vampires that are gifted. I gave them that power and I can take it away."

Bella sighed. It looked like she wasn't going to be able to talk Portia out of this one. Edward ventured on to the balcony and pulled Bella into his arms. She pulled the shield from her mind and let Edward hear her opinion. She wasn't happy about Portia's decision, but had come to the conclusion that there wasn't much she could do about it. The shield snapped back into place and it was Edward's turn to sigh. He really loved being able to hear thoughts.

His proposal had thrilled her, made her smile for hours, but it seemed that Portia's proposal had had the opposite effect. Edward kissed her lightly on the lips hoping to improve her mood. They had enough on their plate, without her being surly. There was nothing they could do, Portia was powerful. She would do what she pleased.