Thanks to my awesome betas! I couldn't do it without you... Blynn practically flags me until I write and Adrena finds ALL my many mistakes.

This turned out to take a little longer than I thought. The next chapter will be important for sure.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or any of the characters. I do however own White Carpet and Wall Sconces.

Edward's Point of View

One apology and three rounds of hot and sweaty make up sex later, I was feeling pretty damn good. Laid, wasted and good. In fact, I felt pretty fucking great; all sweaty, relaxed and sleepy with my girl all soft, hot and naked pressed against me as I drifted to sleep. That is until I was awoken rather abruptly and all too soon by the ungodly loud, obnoxious shout of Rosalie Hale.

"We have to be at the airport in less than three hours! You realize that right? And with holiday traffic you'd better add an extra fifteen minutes to our driving time!" She was standing right outside my bedroom door, bellowing at the top of her lungs. Bella groaned and pulled the pillow over her ears, trying in vain to block her out. I thought seriously about doing the same. "You can't fuck like bunnies if you can't get up with the god damned sun!" I heard her footsteps stomp down the hall and I groaned into the pillow covering Bella's head.

"I'm all packed," Bella muttered, snuggling deeper into the covers and pulling me closer. I looked over at her little black suitcase against the wall beside my duffel bag and grinned. Unlike the rest of my siblings and their other halves, we were both organized and ready to go. It went without saying that Emmett would be the last one packed, even with Rosalie riding his ass the entire time. It also went without saying that he would forget something crucial, like deodorant, or socks…or his ticket.

Alice, on the other hand, had probably packed herself and Jasper days ago, only she would be re-packing this morning as was customary, convinced that she'd missed something. She and Jasper also probably had matching outfits and matching luggage unless for once Jasper put his foot down. I highly doubted it.

"Fuck 'em," I muttered, pulling her closer and inhaling the sex and shampoo and Bella smell with a sigh. "Let's let Rosalie wreak havoc a little longer without our presence," I whispered, kissing her ear and closing my eyes, hoping to go back to sleep for a little longer.

What seemed like no time later, we were woken once more by the voice of my brother's overly vocal blonde-zilla of a girlfriend and this time she wasn't taking no for an answer.

"If you two aren't in the kitchen, showered, dressed and ready to go in half an hour I am coming in there and plucking Edward's pubic hair with my tweezers! And Bella…well frankly I have no idea about your nether regions, but I will find an equivalent torture for you, so get the fuck up!"

I shuddered at the thought of Rosalie that close to my goods with a sharp object and managed to convince Bella that maybe she was right and we should get up. I insisted Bella take the carpeted bathroom across the hall, and immediately felt myself get excited at the thoughts of our first meeting inside that very door. Down boy! "I'll go downstairs. If I leave you un-showered in the presence of Alice you may get an entire makeover," I told her, kissing her softly once and yanking a pair of boxers on before exiting the room.

"Finally," Rosalie sighed dramatically as I hurried down the stairs to the bathroom on the ground floor.

"Croissant?" Alice asked, sticking a plate of buttery goodness in front of me. I snagged one and continued my way towards the shower and away from the bedlam in the kitchen.

Thirty one minutes later Bella and I emerged from the bedroom, dressed, packed and horny as fuck, at least on my part. One would think that after an entire night of lovin' I'd be satiated, but apparently that is not the case with Edward Cullen. I'd watched as she'd dropped the fluffy white towel away from her glistening, pale skin. I'd gawked openly as she leaned over at the waist and toweled her dripping locks. I ached to reach out and slap her firm little ass or pull on her loosely hanging tits or slide my fingers into her….Think of Alice and Jasper in togas! I reminded myself, looking around for a clean pair of jeans and tugging a dark green hoodie over my head.

"Almost ready?" I croaked, fidgeting with my fingers behind my back and rocking back and forth from my heels to the balls of my feet and back again, willing the nearly painful hard on to disa-fucking-ppear.

"Yep," she said, popping her 'p' and grinning at me as she buttoned the bottom three buttons of her snug, navy cardigan. She slid her feet into a pair of flats and tugged up on the handle of her suitcase. "Come on before Rose threatens your genitals," she said with a wink.

Bella joined in the insanity as soon as she was at the bottom of the stairs. It seemed like the girls were double checking windows and doors and luggage and tickets and god knows what all else. I sat down between Jasper and Emmett at the table and watched the three women flitter around like chickens with their heads cut off while the three of us picked apart more croissants.

Emmett still looked exhausted and stressed. He sat, half a croissant hanging unceremoniously out of his mouth, head resting in his hand as he stared past everyone else and into nothingness. Jasper was watching Emmett, a look of concern on his face, his mouth pulled in a tense line.

"Emmett for Christ sake pull your food into your mouth and stick the luggage in the jeep," Rose snapped at him as she wiped the counter for what seemed like the fiftieth time since I'd come downstairs. Emmett snapped his eyes to her and frowned, pushing himself slowly from the chair and lumbering towards the front door.

"What's up with him?" I asked Jasper quietly as Rose retreated to the living room with Alice and Bella. Jasper shook his head sadly.

"I dunno man. He's totally out of it. Rose is being an insufferable bitch, and she's ragging on him about every little thing. I gather from Alice that she's still on about the baby, but I also sense there's more to it than that. Ali won't tell me anything concrete, only that Rosalie has things to come to terms with and Emmett will have to deal with them too if they're going to make it through this." He shrugged. "If it's making them both this unhappy though, is it worth it?"

And I thought about Jasper's words. Was it worth it? They were Emmett and Rosalie and they were just…right in their own weird little way. But what if they weren't anymore? And would that happen to me and Bella? To Jasper and Alice? Both of our relationships were so new in comparison, what if they went this way too? And what was Rosalie's problem? She'd always been demanding and bossy and overbearing, but Emmett had loved that about her, or loved her despite those qualities, one or the other. But now, this was something new, her attitude had gone beyond bitchy and straight to nasty. I sighed and leaned my elbows on the table.

"They've gotta talk about it," I told him. "They can't go on like this. I've never seen Em so fuckin' dejected."

"I overheard her telling Emmett that she wants to speak to Dad," Alice whispered, sliding onto Jasper's lap and pecking him on the lips." Come on, we'll let those two go in the Jeep. The four of us can take my car." Alice took Jasper's hand and I followed them out of the kitchen. Bella was handing Emmett the last suitcase and talking quietly to him, and Rose was sitting shot-gun in the Jeep looking….sad.

"We'll see you at the airport I guess," I heard her tell Emmett as she slowly made her way to Alice's car and slid in behind Jasper.

"They okay?" I asked, reaching over and squeezing her knee, and hoping to God that Alice got us to the airport alive and all in one piece. Bella gave me a withering look and shook her head slowly.

"I don't know," she said truthfully. Alice's blue eyes met Bella's brown ones in the rear view mirror and they shared some sort of knowing look.

"Guess I'll follow them," Alice commented, barely above a whisper as she pulled out of the driveway, both hands on the wheel for once in her life.

"Maybe you should just let them work it out themselves," Jasper suggested, tapping his fingers on his jean clad thighs.

"That doesn't mean Alice should lead," I told Jasper with a half smile. "Haven't you driven with El Crazy over here before?" I tapped my sister on the shoulder and she gave a playful growl.

"I'm not that bad," she insisted, pulsing her foot on the gas pedal impatiently as she followed the slower moving Jeep. "Mind you, I could make it to Chicago before they make it to the damn airport," she muttered under her breath. Jasper laughed at her antics.

"But seriously dudes, we should just let Em and Rose figure shit out for themselves. Maybe stuff'll be better after she talks to Dr. Cullen." He shrugged and fiddled with Alice's iPod to find a song that we all could tolerate. Alice seemed to be on a Celine Dion kick and it was causing us all to groan unappreciatively. "For real Al? You have Achy Breaky Heart?" Jasper smirked at her and she blushed crimson, right down her neck.

"What? It's classic. I have a thing for one hit wonders." Jasper laughed and selected the song.

"Fuck off Whitlock," I moaned as Bella laughed along with Jasper.

"What man? I'm from Tennessee; I grew up on this shit."

"This is the longest fuckin' song in history," I grumbled, banging my forehead into Alice's headrest.

"Hardly," Jasper retorted, dancing very badly in the front seat.

"People in the other cars are looking," Bella giggled.

"Okay Al," I finally sighed. "Floor this fucker and get us to the plane before I go insane!"

Bella's Point of View

Edward grumbled all the way through security about Jasper's DJ qualities and Rosalie's bitching and Alice's driving and Emmett's sulking. I could tell he wasn't really looking forward to this trip and it made me a little bit nervous.

We waited on the other side while Emmett repeatedly got beeped at the metal detector before Rosalie finally snapped and bitched him out about how the chain around his neck was probably setting it off and if he would just think for a split second about something other than pool or football that he might have figured that out and saved everyone a lot of time. "And for the love of God Emmett, please tell me you have your stupid ticket this time," she nagged, rifling through her oversized purse for hers and producing it for the airport employee watching her with a sour expression on her face.

"Rough morning?" The woman asked, her voice just a little more condescending than was necessary. The rest of us winced in unison.

"It's none of your god damned business," Rosalie sneered, stepping past the woman and rolling her eyes while Emmett produced a slightly wrinkled ticket of his own. The employee gave him a sympathetic smile and he followed Rosalie out of sight. Alice wrinkled up her nose and rubbed her forehead the way she did when she was stressed and Jasper wrapped his arm around her shoulders trying to soothe her. Edward was still grumbling about 'stupid family functions.' I debated sitting with Emmett and letting Grumpy and Bitchy sit together.

When we finally boarded the plane I saw Rosalie and Emmett settling in, Rose's face buried in the soft fleece of his sweater, his large hand gliding softly over her long, silky hair, lips moving soundlessly to the rest of the people in their presence. So much for my plan.

Edward tugged on my hand and offered me the window seat, which I gladly accepted. I looked across the aisle to see Alice looking worried, her eyes glistening slightly with tears as she spoke quietly to a worried looking Jasper. She kept turning to look at Rose briefly and then back to Jasper. But she wouldn't be telling Jasper what was troubling Rose, would she? We'd been sworn to secrecy. I cringed at what Rose would do if she found out that Alice had spilled her guts to Jasper.

I sighed and leaned my head against the window. What a beautiful start to a long weekend.

I was ready to land the moment we were in the air. I sighed dramatically and leaned into Edward who looked tense and a little bit green. "What's wrong?" I asked quietly, stroking his long fingers absentmindedly.

"I hate flying," he replied tightly.

"You should try to sleep," I told him groggily, sneaking a peek at Alice, who was flipping through the latest issue of Cosmopolitan with an amused look on her face, and Jasper who had Alice's iPod turned up loud enough that he seemed oblivious to the rest of the passengers. I nuzzled into Edward's shoulder, all warm, soft and smelling like Edward, and let myself drift off to sleep, hoping to make the tense trip a little bit shorter, and praying that the heavy fog would lift from around us when we arrived in Chicago.

******************************************************

"Seriously Emmett, you rented a minivan?" Rose was back to being her snarky self by the time we landed and retrieved our luggage. Emmett looked a bit like a puzzled puppy who had been scolded. I'd never seen Emmett look so sad, lonely and confused before.

"It just made sense," his tired voice replied, reaching out for the last suitcase and closing the trunk. "There are six of us. It was better than renting two cars, and SUVs are hard to come by on long weekends." He rubbed his hands over his tired looking eyes and lowered his sunglasses.

"I don't feel well," Rosalie continued complaining and Emmett sighed softly, pulling her to him and kissing the side of her head. He whispered something quietly to her and tossed the keys to Jasper.

"Can you drive, man? I'm going to sit in the back with Rose."

They climbed in and Rosalie curled up into Emmett as he soothingly rubbed her back. Alice and I sat in the middle row; tossing Rosalie worried looks over our shoulders. I thought it was a good idea she talk to Dr. Cullen before jumping to any crazy conclusions, but it was obvious that her condition had been weighing on her mind much longer than she was letting on.

Jasper was a very careful driver; much more sane than Alice, and much more relaxed than Edward. He did look remarkably funny sitting so upright and proper in a minivan. "There's just no way to make this thing look the least bit cool," he joked, pulling the van into gear and negotiating the turn onto the highway. "It's a hell of a lot bigger than my car, too."

Edward navigated the way towards the outskirts of Chicago where I assumed Dr. Cullen and Esme lived; Alice and I talked quietly among ourselves. Rosalie was asleep within moments, and Emmett's eyes never left her tense, sleeping form. Worry lines were starting to crease his forehead and around his eyes, and he looked much older than twenty three.

"You okay Em?" Alice reached around and squeezed her older brother's knee gently.

"I don't know what to do," he whispered, his blue eyes pained and confused. "We're so not ready Al, but…what if this is the only chance we have?"

So Emmett did know. And it was weighing on his mind just as heavily as Rosalie's.

"She's going to talk to Dad," Alice told him. "There have to be solutions. It's not that uncommon." I could hear by her tone that she was trying to convince herself as well, but she was right. It wasn't that uncommon. Rosalie just happened to be young.

"It'll be okay Emmett," I told him. "It has to be." It had to be. It just had to.

"I just…I don't want to waste time, you know." His voice was sad, and there was an undercurrent of uncertainty playing around the edges. He shook his head slowly." I just don't know," he mumbled, eyes downcast. The rest of the drive was silent except for Edward's constant flipping of the radio stations.

Edward's Point of View

We arrived at my mother and father's in a nearly silent car. Everyone clambered out and Jasper and I unloaded the bags. I saw Rosalie step out of the car, smooth her hair and square her shoulders. So now that we were here she was going to try to act like a human being. I was getting fucking sick of Rosalie's antics. I had no fucking clue what was going on with her but it was killing the mood and I was already testy enough about being in Chicago without her constant moaning and moping to bring everyone down even further.

"Edward!" My mother came running across the driveway gracefully and pulled me into a strong hug. "You're feeling better?" she asked, holding me at an arm's length and looking me over.

"Not bad," I told her, reaching around to shake my father's hand casually.

"And Alice," Esme nearly squealed, and everyone was then sure where Alice inherited her enthusiasm from.

"Mom, you just saw us," she grumbled, returning the hug before letting Esme move onto Jasper, pulling him in for one as well.

"Why doesn't everyone come inside?" Carlisle suggested, taking one of the bags from Emmett and giving him a concerned but pointed look before shifting his gaze to Rosalie. Emmett returned the look and guided Rose along into the house.

"Rosalie, we're so glad you could join us again," Esme told her, holding the door for everyone to enter.

"Thank you Esme," she replied quietly, stepping away from Emmett to hug my mother as well.

"And Bella," Esme turned to her, smiling just a little bit too brightly to be entirely genuine. "So nice of you to come as well. You didn't want to see your family for the holidays?"

Bella swallowed audibly and returned Esme's smile with one of her own. "Thank you, I visited my mother in Florida for New Years, and my father is only a few hours away. I'll visit him in a couple of weeks." She squeezed my hand just a little bit too tightly than for me to think she was entirely comfortable.

"Bella, this is my father," I told her, leading her to where Carlisle was standing. She extended her hand and shook his firmly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Dr. Cullen," she said sincerely. Thankfully Dad was slightly more graceful than my mother was.

"The pleasure is mine, Bella. I hear you've turned our Edward around." He winked and let go of her hand. I blushed.

"We're going upstairs to put our bags away," I told them, slinging my duffel bag over my shoulder and picking up Bella's suitcase. "Come on," I urged her, dragging her towards the wide staircase.

"It's a beautiful house," she commented, following me up the stairs and away from the prying eyes of my family.

"I guess," I said with a shrug, pushing my bedroom door open and turning on the light. "I'm sorry about Mom."

She shrugged. "I don't think I'm her favourite person, unfortunately."

"My mother loved Charlotte," I told her. "But mostly, my mother loves me." I patted the bed beside me, motioning for her to sit down. "I think she just doesn't want to see me get hurt." I lay back on the pillows and settled her on top of me, her cheek against my heart. "I love you," I told her, gently running my fingers through her hair. I didn't tell her enough. I needed to tell her more.

"I love you too," she replied quietly.

"Mom will come around, and at least Dad likes you." I'd never seen my father react with the enthusiasm he did towards Bella, which had to be a good sign. She only sighed in response and ran her fingers lightly through my hair. "What's going on with Rosalie?" I finally asked, because it had been eating at me all day. Bella sighed again.

"She's just stressing. She needs to get a second opinion. I think talking to your father will be a good thing."

"Does this have anything to do with the whole baby scam she's got going on?" If I heard one more god damn baby reference I was going to toss my cookies.

"It's not a scam, Edward," she said softly, sadly. "Time isn't really on her side."

"What does that mean?" Rosalie was twenty three; the woman had tons of time to have kids, once she was settled and working and married.

Bella took a deep breath. "I'm not supposed to say," she whispered. "I don't really know all that much about it."

I let out a frustrated huff and squeezed my eyes shut. "She's fuckin' pissing me off," I muttered and I felt Bella stiffen above me. "What?"

"Seriously?" Her voice was harsh. "You do realize that a few weeks ago you did the same damn thing, right?"

"Uh…" Was she right? This wasn't the same though. I had been dealing with tragedy and demons and coming to terms with reality, and maybe I hadn't reacted or behaved in the ideal way, but it was a grieving process all the same, and Bella had no right to judge me like that, to make comments like that.

I pushed her off of me and sat up. "It's not the same," I hissed, trying in vain to stay calm and rational.

"You think that because it's not your problem, that it's not important? This affects her for the rest of her life. And I get that your issues will affect you too, but she's dealing with them right now, and they affect your brother and everyone else too and just because it's not the same problem, doesn't make it any less important. We all have issues, Edward. You would think that maybe you of all people could sympathize with her at this point in time, instead of bitching about how she's killing the fucking vibe."

The silence surrounding us after Bella's speech was deafening. I didn't have anything more to say, because it was true, and Bella was right, and I was forcing myself to see that. Eventually Bella rose and walked to the window, looking out onto our backyard, and the back of our neighbours' house.

"I'm sorry," I told her. "You're right, of course." I walked up behind her and leaned my hand against the wall. "You really can't tell me?" She leaned back into me and sighed.

"Rose has some…" She paused, trying to find the right word. "Some potential infertility issues," she finally settled on.

"Oh," was my brilliant reply.

"She has endometriosis," Bella whispered, turning away from me and getting ready for bed.

*****************************************************

After breakfast the next morning Alice pulled me aside. "Do you have plans for today?" She asked. I smirked and sent a look over her shoulder towards Bella. I knew what my plans were, and they did not involve my family's pity looks. "Stop," she hissed. "I want to go to the cemetery," she said quietly, watching my reaction closely. I did my best not to wince. "Rosalie wants to speak to Dad, and Jasper and Bella can hang out. They get along quite well, you know. You, me and Emmett should go to the cemetery." The look she gave me told me that I wouldn't win the fight. I sighed and nodded in a resigned way.

I knew I was going to have to face this demon eventually. It was better to do it with Alice and Emmett, than alone. Alice told Bella, who agreed to spend the rest of the morning with Rose and Jasper. She really was taking everything; all of the issues of my family, in stride and making the best of the situation. My father was going to show them the library, assuring them that he was sure that he had books that would interest all of them. Bella looked ecstatic and it reminded me of the little nerd she really was, underneath her picture perfect exterior.

"Come on, man," Emmett called, tossing me a jacket and shrugging into his own. Alice was already zipping up her boots. "I'm driving," Emmett told her, causing her to pout. He ruffled her hair, causing her to screech in outrage and I stuffed my hands in my pockets, eyes downcast. I didn't understand quite how they could be so jovial considering where we were going.

"We should pick up flowers," I muttered as Emmett turned out onto the street. He nodded and drove into the city towards the closest florist. I sighed, and stepped out onto the curb. The day was sunny, bright, and the complete opposite to Seattle. It was too bright, too happy for what we were about to do. I entered the florist to the sound of a cheerful bell and listened to the happy chatter of the florists in the back. It sounded like they were planning for a wedding party.

"Can I help you?" The perky woman came hurrying from the back of the store, wiping her hands on her apron and smiling broadly.

"I'm just looking for something simple," I told her. I looked around and saw an arrangement with mostly calla lilies. "Maybe that one." She nodded and stepped around me to retrieve it from the refrigerator.

I remembered clearly that Charlotte had loved calla lilies. She told me that they were the most graceful and beautiful flower she had ever seen. The woman rang up the bouquet and I handed over my credit card.

"For your girlfriend?" The woman winked and smiled.

"Sort of," I mumbled, signing the receipt and taking the flowers.

"I'm sure she'll love them," she told me. I grunted a response before escaping into the bright sunlight.

"Ready?" Emmett asked, without waiting for a reply before turning out onto the street and heading back out of town toward our destination. Alice reached forward and placed her hand on my shoulder.

"I think it's good you're doing this," she told me softly.