A/N: This is a good fic to update on a Monday, I think. Start your week off with some sugar.
It was only four weeks after Emmett started working there that Bella made him a copy of the key to the front door. It was fortuitous because four days after that, Bella's car broke down. She called Emmett.
"'Lo?" he answered sounding adorably groggy.
"Emmett? I'm so sorry to bother you."
"Boss lady?" He yawned, and she couldn't help but think of him, his eyes half-hooded with sleep and his chest bare.
Wait, what? Barechested? Why?
"Mmm. Bella? Are you there?"
"Uh, yeah. Yeah, sorry." Bella shook her head, dismissing whatever the hell that had been about. "Look, my car won't start."
Another yawn. "You want I should take a look at it?"
Bella laughed, startled. "No. I can take care of that part. I do need someone to open the store though."
There was a pause on the other end. "Oh. Oh, yeah. That makes more sense." She heard the creak of bedsprings and one more yawn. "Yeah. I'll be there in fifteen."
It didn't take Bella so long to get her car in order. It wasn't anything major. Her car was just a PoS. She managed to get it to the store where she parked in the back, needing to make sure a few deliveries had arrived on time.
With that chore done, Bella made her way to the front of the store. There, she stopped short when she heard the tell tale sound of someone singing.
"You're insecure. Don't know what for. You're turning heads when you walk through the do-o-or."
Bella knew exactly one One Direction song. She knew that song because the radio had played it every five seconds. It was one of the reasons she'd worked hard to get a sound system installed that played her own playlist.
The playlist wasn't on. Rather, it was Emmett singing. Not only was he singing, but he was performing the song, pulling some intricate dance moves as he used the broom as a microphone. "Baby, you light up my world like nobody else. The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed."
Emmett, following the lyrics, shook his head, sending his luscious curls into a frenzy. Bella, who'd been determined to keep quiet, couldn't hold in a loud guffaw.
Emmett spun around, his eyes wide. Bella clapped a hand over her mouth, but she could feel her face turning red. After a second, Emmett shrugged and went right back into the song, performing for her instead.
"If only you could see what I could see, you'd understand why I want you so desperately."
In spite of herself, Bella shivered. Before she could dwell on why, Emmett brought the song to an end with a killer finishing move and a low bow. Bella clapped and whistled.
"One Direction, Emmett?" She shrugged. "It's not that I can't see the appeal. They are very pretty boys."
"Sure." Emmett laughed and shook his head. "It's a game Alice likes. Just Dance 4. I memorized the moves; that's all."
"Right." She tapped her chin. "The one with the hair has potential. Maybe."
He gave her a bemused look. "Well, sure. I do love me some luscious, long hair."
"Like Jasper," Bella said with a nod.
"Uh, yeah. I guess." He cleared his throat. "Anyway. Sorry about that, boss. Back to the grindstone and all. I'll save the dancing for the next time Alice wants to play."
The door jingled as a customer came in. Bella looked over to see a woman and a young girl walked in. The girl, a raven-haired, skinny, slip of a thing—had big, beautiful eyes that sparkled as she looked around excitedly. She spotted Emmett and her eyes lit up even more. "Emmy!" she cried, and came at him like a bullet from a gun.
"Speak of the devil and she will appear," Emmett said with a grin. He put down the broom in time to catch the girl as she leaped into his arms.
She hugged him, but just as quickly was on her feet, bouncing in place. "I'm not the devil."
"Only because you're no angel." He ruffled her hair, ignoring her vehement protests, and looked over her head at the woman who'd walked up at a more dignified pace. "Hey, Mom."
Bella had no idea what she was expecting when she thought about Emmett's mother, but this woman wasn't it. For one thing, she looked far too young to have a son that big. For another, she looked far too small to have given birth to a bear of a man like Emmett.
"Hey, Bella. This is my mom, Esme, and my bratty baby sister, Alice," Emmett said, wrapping one arm around each of his ladies. "Guys, this is my boss, Bella."
"So you're the one I have to thank for Emmett," Bella said with a smile, taking and shaking Esme's hand.
Her smile was warm. Now that Bella had a closer look, all three of them had the same beautiful, soft, brown eyes. "Guilty as charged. Unless he's acting up. Then, I found him in a cabbage patch with a onesie that said 'born to be bad'.'"
"See?" Alice craned her head to look up at her brother. "You're the devil."
"Shut it, squirt." Emmett cupped both his massive hands over Alice's much smaller mouth.
Bella grinned and looked back to Esme. "Emmett's great. Not a bad bone in his body."
"She doesn't know about the arm I broke climbing that tree," Emmett said in a stage whisper.
"Twice." Esme held up two fingers. "The same arm. I thought they were going to take him away from me."
At that point, Alice's enthusiasm bubbled over. She shook Emmett's arm. "Em, are you still going to get me cupcake stuff for my birthday?"
"Is it your birthday?" Bella asked.
Alice turned her bright eyes on her. "Yeah. You can get me a present, too, if you want." She gave Bella a smile that suggested she knew how benevolent and generous she was being for offering.
Bella hid a grin and Emmett snorted. "Hey now," he said. "I'd appreciate if you don't try to extort my boss. You're going to get me fired."
"Worth a try." Alice shrugged. "Can I really get whatever I want?"
Emmett crossed his arms over his chest, giving her a stern look. "Well, I'd appreciate if you didn't get one of those big, spendy monstrosities. You don't actually own a bakery, Ally."
"Not yet," she said brightly, and scampered off down the aisle. Esme flashed an apologetic smile before she took off after her daughter.
"She's a trip," Bella said, endlessly amused.
"Yeah. Ally is...Well, she's ours, anyway." Emmett's smile was adoring as he watched his baby sister bounce around the store.
"And a beauty too. And your mom is gorgeous." Bella cocked her head, giving Emmett a once over. "What the hell happened to you?"
"Oh, don't even try that with me, boss." Emmett batted his eyelashes. "You see that? Long, beautiful eyelashes." He pointed to his cheeks. "The dimples." He gave his head a shake. "The hair. This face. The smile. The body is a give or take. You either like the muscles or you don't. Nope. I'm aware of my assets."
She schooled her expression to be unimpressed. "You forgot something."
"What's that?"
"You have a huge…"
Emmett's eyebrows arched, and he cocked his head.
"Ego," she finished succinctly. She smiled sweetly at him, and then walked away as he straight out bellowed with laughter. Bella shook her head, though mostly at herself. What the hell was it about Emmett that made her think she could joke like that?
Oh, well. It wasn't as though this family-run cupcake supply shop was a corporate environment. Emmett seemed to take her joke in stride, but she shouldn't push it.
Finishing up her lecture to herself, Bella got down to the business of markdowns. The items they were discontinuing or that were just a little banged up needed to be put on clearance. She set about her task, listening to Alice's excited babble as she told her mother what everything was used for.
The door jangled again. "Minions. Oh, minions. I come bearing gifts," Carlisle called.
There was the pitter-patter of little feet, and then Alice said, "Did you say gifts? It's my birthday. They must be for me."
Bella peered down the aisle, catching Carlisle's patient and bemused smile as he looked down at the little girl.
"Ally." Emmett sounded exasperated. "The whole world doesn't actually revolve around you. The gifts are for me and Bella."
Carlisle had brought lunch. Something that smelled delicious. Alice looked at her brother, obviously confused. "Why would you get presents on my birthday?"
"They're not real presents."
"But he said gifts. That's presents."
"Alice." Esme shook her head as she came to stand behind her daughter, her hands on her shoulders. "I'm sorry."
Carlisle looked from Alice to Esme, and something happened. Bella watched it happen. Carlisle, smiling at the precocious little girl, raised his head to address her mother and Bella thought she could hear the click. It happened so quickly, most people—especially anyone who didn't know Carlisle well—would have missed it. They would have missed the way his eyes went wide for just a split second, and that his breath caught in his throat. "No, it's…" He chuckled, a nervous sound, and he rubbed the back of his neck. "I always thought that your birthday was the one day every year where everyone had to be nice to you."
Esme looked back at him, and their gaze held for a beat longer than normal. "That'd be nice, wouldn't it?"
"This is just food," Alice said, having gotten into the bags Carlisle brought.
Esme ripped her gaze away from Carlisle and gasped, pulling her daughter back. "Alice. What do you think you're doing?" Shaking her head, she looked back at Carlisle. "I'm so sorry."
"You don't have to apologize. I like kids." Carlisle said with a genuine smile.
"Do you have any?"
"Just these two." Carlisle pulled both Bella and Emmett under his arms. Well, he put his arm around Emmett's back, anyway.
Before Emmett or Bella could set him straight, Esme laughed. "You want to take that one off my hands, huh?" she asked, her eyes cutting to her son. "Well, you're a little late, but what the hell. Go ahead and take him."
"Thanks, Ma. I love you too," Emmett said with a grin. "See what happens next time you and Shrimp Jr. need something from the top shelf."
Carlisle's eyes about bugged out of his head. "Oh. Emmett's your son."
"Not anymore. Apparently, I'm all yours." Emmett gave Carlisle a couple of healthy thumps on the back. "Can we go to the zoo, Daddy C?"
Alice looked between all of them, her expression unimpressed. "You're all weird," she proclaimed, and abandoned them to continue perusing the shelves.
Some time later, after Carlisle had volunteered to personally show them around the store, Alice had decided on a pretty rack that held bottles of sprinkles. She'd then filled the little rack with six bottles of different kinds of sprinkles, including one full of teensy, gold, Harry Potter lightning bolts and something attractively called unicorn barf.
The little girl was practically vibrating with happiness when she brought her purchases to the front. "Can I really get all of them, Em? Really? That's seven things, not one."
"Well, I guess you're spoiled rotten, aren't ya?" Emmett began to scan the items.
Wordlessly, Bella came up beside him. She didn't mean to, but he was so big, it was impossible to get to the register without pressing up against him. She quickly keyed in a code giving him twenty-five percent off.
"Whoa, what are you doing?"
She looked up, realizing belatedly that she'd grabbed ahold of his solid shoulder to keep her balance. His face was close, and she blinked, stunned for a heartbeat. "Um." She straightened up and smiled. "Family discount." She cleared her throat, wondering why she suddenly felt so awkward and bumbling. "Anyway, thanks for coming in early. After this, you can punch out and take off. I got you covered. Take the birthday girl out for an early dinner."
"He just ate lunch," Alice said. She still hadn't gotten over the fact that Carlisle's gift to his employees was just food.
Emmett tore his eyes away from Bella's to grin at his sister. "When has that ever stopped me? Listen, shrimp, you just have less space to fit all the food. Besides, maybe I'm just going to eat your birthday dessert while you have dinner."
"Na-uh. No. I get my birthday dessert." Alice put her hands on her hips and stared him down.
"Dunno. You're going to have to be quicker than me if you want to get to it." As he spoke, Emmett had dug his wallet out of his pocket and paid the bill.
"You're not going to take it," Alice said, sounding only a little unsure.
"Yeah? Who's going to stop me. Not you. I've seen your wrestling moves, and I could probably take you." He took off his apron.
"Mommy can take you." Alice looked over to Esme. "Right?"
"Hmm. I'll need a bit of help. How about a tag team."
Alice held out her hand, palm up. "Deal." She and Esme did some kind of secret, low-five, high-five handshake.
"Now how is that fair?" Emmett pretended to complain. He looked to Bella. "Thanks again, boss lady."
The family waved goodbye, leaving both Bella and Carlisle to watch them go.
~0~
The next day, Emmett came in all smiles, practically gushing about how much Alice had loved her birthday. How she thought Emmett had the coolest job ever, and that she really liked Carlisle and Bella. She had a great time at dinner but had ordered three desserts, informing the waitress that she didn't really trust her brother not to steal hers and that her mother didn't deserve to be left out just because her son was a brat.
"And then we got home, and Mom had set up a sewing machine in Alice's room." Emmett chortled. "She did that thing, you know, where she was speaking so fast it kind of all become one word. I thought she was going to die because I swear she didn't take a breath for two whole minutes."
"That's fantastic. Your family is really great."
"Yeah, they are. I told you, see?"
"I believed you. And your mother is awesome." Sweet as pie, that woman. Bella understood now why Emmett was the way he was.
Emmett snorted. "Yeah, I don't think you're the only one who thinks Mom is awesome."
Bella's eyes went wide, and she grinned. "You saw it then?"
"Saw Carlisle making eyes at my mother? Yeah, I caught that." He schooled his expression into one of badly-feigned nonchalance. "Does that happen often?"
Poker-face her ass. Still, she took pity on him and smiled. "Never that I know of." She cocked her head, her lips turning down slightly at the corners. "He's...I don't know. I was going to say he's a bit of a loner, but that's not true at all. Carlisle makes friends very easily, but he's a very lonely person. It was Edward who was…"
Bella's throat got tight, and she ducked her head. "Sorry," she said, her voice gone reedy and thin. "Edward was...Um. He...I…"
"He was your husband," Emmett finished for her, his tone quiet for once and gentle.
Bella looked up in surprise. "How…"
Emmett looked apologetic. "Carlisle told me. His little brother." Emmett reached out and touched her shoulder briefly. It was such a natural gesture of comfort. "Carlisle is lonely, and Edward was the loner," he prompted.
She hesitated a beat, but the words came surprisingly easily. "I don't want you to think badly of their parents." The elder Cullens came into the shop infrequently, but they were decent enough people.
"I won't. Scout's honor."
In spite of herself, Bella smiled a little. "Well, Edward was, ah, unexpected, and they were busy people. They are busy people. That's why they don't come in much. And besides that, they're cold. Not mean or abusive or anything like that. Just distant.
"Carlisle wasn't like that though. He spent so much of his younger years giving Edward all the affection he could." Like Emmett with Alice, Bella realized, except that his mother was far from absent. "They were close. Kind of like he put all his capacity for affection and love into Edward instead of into relationships."
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to dispel the heaviness that had come over her. "Anyway. It's like I said, Carlisle's really good at being lonely. He's kind of old school, so the dating scene these days throws him a bit, if that makes sense. The apps, flirting... it's just not who he is. He's been burned a few times. Luckily, nothing too serious, but enough that he's kind of gunshy. Guess that's a really long way of saying no, Carlisle doesn't look at anyone the way he looked at your mother yesterday. But you also don't have to worry. No way would he ever put the moves on her."
"Uh huh." Emmett's features were scrunched up, like he was thinking. He pressed his tongue against his bottom lip, making it jutt out. Bella had noticed he did that every once in awhile, when he was concentrating. "What if I wanted to worry?"
Bella furrowed her brows. "About what? What do you mean?"
He huffed. "Look, Mom always tells me that thinking things through isn't my strong suit, so you have to tell me if this is way too messed up. But, what if I wanted Carlisle to make a move on her?" He made a face. "Oh, man. That is messed up, huh?"
"I don't think so."
"Come on. Sons aren't supposed to be thinking about who their moms hook up with."
"Kind of a maturity thing, isn't it? I mean, yeah, probably it's weird if you're thinking about your mom having sex with anyone, let alone Carlisle." Bella scrunched up her nose. "Just don't do that. You're just a son who wants to see his mom happy."
"And I know Carlisle. Not like, super well, but he's a really nice guy. I think."
"He is." Bella grinned. "I really don't think it's crazy. I've been thinking about that since yesterday. They were cute together, right?"
Emmett scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Right, because when has Carlisle ever helped anyone cruise the aisles."
"Yeah. Exactly."
"And you should have heard Mom last night. She kept asking about Carlisle. You know, curiosity questions. She said it was because you're the only one I ever talk about. " He straightened up, a strange look coming over his face. "Coz you're my boss, you know. You're the one I really work with."
"Yeah, of course. So you think your mom's interested?" She'd looked it, but Bella didn't know her well enough to gauge it.
"Nice guy. Got his own store. Well, technically. And good-looking?"
Bella raised an eyebrow. "You think Carlisle's good-looking, huh," she teased.
"Hey. I'm objective. Besides, pay attention. The point is, Mom's the one who thinks he's got it going on."
Bella leaned in, her tone conspiratorial. "But they need a push."
Emmett tilted his head so it was almost touching hers. "And we need a plan."
A/N: Of course, you know what the problem is, right? The problem is...if Emmett and Bella need a plan to get Carlisle and Esme together, that means I need a plan. Ah, crap.
