A/N: My third penultimate chapter this month. Fair warning. Weee, it's Friday.


Emmett checked his fly four times before he decided he could leave the office. Yeah, so, that was awkward. Bella was clearly a bit freaked out, and that was making him feel like some type of Romeo and Juliet bullshit was going to go down. He furrowed his brow, trying to figure out how that would work.

It wasn't like his mother had some vendetta against Bella's family. And Carlisle wasn't even Bella's father.

And they were adults, what the hell? No one could force them apart. He was being dumb and nervous for no reason at all.

"Hey." He reached out and grabbed her hand, spinning her back to him. "Are you okay?"

"No," she snapped. She closed her eyes and shook her head once. "I mean… It's... " She pulled away from him, running a hand through her hair. "This isn't how I wanted to tell him."

"Totally. I mean, we should have gone full frontal."

Her face did this weird contorting thing, like she wasn't sure if she should smile or continue freaking out. She ended up giggling. "God." She ducked her head. "You're horrible."

She was smiling again. Mission accomplished. He took her hand. "Come on. Let's go figure out which one of us is more traumatized by this." He flashed a grin. "So, you get the short one, and I'll take Carlisle, right?"

"Uh huh." Bella pushed up onto the balls of her feet and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. "By the way, also not the first impression I wanted to leave on your mother, you know, as the woman defiling her baby boy."

Emmett snorted. "I wouldn't worry. My mother's known me all my life. Defile my ass."

"Don't make offers you can't keep." Bella grinned back at him, kissed his chin, and pulled him out the door.

In spite of his best efforts, Emmett felt his cheeks heat. Bella's were bright red. They could hear soft murmuring at the front of the shop. Emmett glanced around a corner and had to stop himself from snickering. Carlisle and his mother were standing with their heads bent together. Sure, it was pretty clear Carlisle was in the same boat as Bella—a little freaked out—but his mother seemed to be doing a pretty good job of calming him down.

"It's at least a little funny," Esme said.

"I…" Carlisle laughed, a weird little chuckle. "How are you not more horrified than I am right now? Seeing your son like that…"

"We-ll, we really only got to see his ass. I'm his mother. I was pretty well acquainted with his ass once upon a time. It's just bigger now."

Emmett groaned under his breath, wiping a hand across his face. Beside him, Bella smothered a laugh. He shook his head, squeezed her hand, and drew her forward with him to face the music.

Carlisle's eyes darted down to their joined hands first thing. Emmett knew Bella had noticed because her grip went slack. She didn't pull away, but he thought maybe she was fighting the urge. He felt a pang but told himself it was understandable. That was probably why Carlisle was so out of sorts too. It was pretty obvious he wasn't angry, as he might have been if his problem was them being caught having sex at work. Emmett figured it couldn't be comfortable when, if life was fair, it would have been his beloved baby brother he caught with Bella in her office.

Meanwhile, his mother had her lips pressed into a thin line. She wasn't angry either. She was trying not to laugh at him. "So…"

"I'm sorry," Bella blurted. "I… We…" She looked at Esme, but her eyes kept returning to Carlisle. She let out a huff of breath and shook her head. "Can I talk to you outside a minute? Please?" She looked to Esme again. "I'm sorry." And then to Emmett with pleading eyes. "I'm sorry."

It made his heart hurt to see how disconcerted she was. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before he let her go. Carlisle nodded once at him before he followed Bella outside.

His mother watched them with narrowed eyes. "I know it's not exactly professional, but he can't be so upset you'd lose your job, right? Carlisle doesn't seem like that kind of—"

"He's not." Emmett rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean, I'm sure he's not thrilled, but that"—he gestured with his chin to what was going on outside—"isn't about work."

Hoping it was okay to share, Emmett told his mother about Edward. As he did, he kept his eyes on Bella outside. She had her arms wrapped around her shoulders as she spoke to Carlisle, and Emmett had to tamp down the itch he had to run out and hug her. She looked like she needed a hug. Even as he spoke to his mother, he had the thought that if Carlisle started yelling at Bella, they were going to have words.

But Carlisle didn't look angry. His posture mirrored Bella's—self-comforting and somewhat anxious.

"How awful. This poor family." Esme put a hand to her heart, watching the two outside. "That's just devastating." She looked to him. "That's what you meant by complicated. Not the work thing, but the fact she was married and close to her husband's family."

"Yeah. She wasn't ready to go public yet, that's all," Emmett said, crossing his arms over his chest to keep his restlessness at bay. He really hated not being able to do anything when it was pretty obvious Bella was either close to crying or crying already.

"Emmett?"

The serious note in his mother's voice drew his attention. He turned away from Bella to look at her. "What?"

She was quiet a beat, thinking. "She's not… It's not that I'm unsympathetic. It has to be confusing if she hasn't been with anyone since her husband. But that doesn't mean you don't deserve someone who's invested completely in you."

"Oh." Emmett ducked his head with a small laugh. He adored his mother. "You don't have to worry about that, Ma." He shifted his feet, wondering if it was appropriate to talk to her like this. But his mother had always been his best friend. He knew he could tell her everything. "She says I'm nothing like Edward. When she's with me, she's not wishing he was there instead. That's part of what sucks for her, because she can't help feeling guilty." He waved a hand. "You know all that crap about the subconscious making things complicated or whatever."

His mother chuckled. "Feelings. Bah."

"Right?" He relaxed slightly as, outside, Carlisle drew Bella into a tight embrace. The older man cared about Bella like a little sister. "I knew he wouldn't be an ass about it."

"Carlisle be an ass?" She cocked her head, watching him, idly twirling a lock of hair around her finger. "I'd almost pay to see him angry. I can't even imagine it."

Emmett had to press his tongue to the roof of his mouth to keep from laughing. Yeah, his mom liked Carlisle. He'd been a little distracted recently. Plan Parent Trap had fallen by the wayside, and he blamed Bella for that. Funny how consuming it could be. He'd never known he could get lost in a person, that he could like silly things like just looking at her.

He watched his mother watch Carlisle with a fond, wistful smile playing at her lips. She deserved what he had. She deserved someone who would look at her the way Bella looked at him, who would want good things for her. Plan Parent Trap had to be reinstated. That would take some thinking.

In the meantime, he tilted his head toward his mother. "Bella stressed so much about what he would think. People do that. Overthink things. She's happy. I think that's scary sometimes. Being happy when you know all the things that can go wrong. But in the end…" He gestured to the two who were smiling at each other. "It's all just simple."

"Em." Esme looped her arms around his neck, and Emmett obliged her, stooping down for a kiss. She ruffled his hair affectionately. "Are you happy, baby?"

"Yeah, Ma. I'm always happy." He tracked Bella. Whatever Carlisle had said made her blush as they came back to the door. She looked up, and when she saw him looking at her, she smiled, her red-rimmed eyes alive. "Nothing not to be happy about."

Bella's expression was strangely shy—so cute—as she walked toward him. When he extended a hand, she reached out, twining their fingers together. He winked at her, and her lips twitched up. She took a deep breath and turned to face Esme.

Before she could say something, Emmett pulled her up against his side and spoke loudly. "So! How's about a double date, huh? Let's get lunch."

~0~

"Oh, my God. Did that whole day just happen?"

Emmett strolled at a leisurely pace behind Bella as she almost stumbled into her house. She flopped down onto the nearest chair, sprawled with one leg over the arm and her arm thrown over her eyes. It was so uncharacteristically dramatic that it made him happy.

Draping himself over the back of her chair, he was thrilled to find her shirt had ridden up just the slightest bit. He tickled the strip of exposed skin and was rewarded with a little squeak as she batted his hands away and sat up. He leaned over, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her. He liked the little shivers that went up and down his spine when she made that hot, tiny moan at the back of her throat.

But, before he went down that road…

He broke their kiss. "I don't know what you're complaining about, Swan. My day easily beat yours in weirdness."

Her smile was indulgent as she reached her hands up, rubbing her fingers along his nape. "You wanna tell me about it?"

"Mmhmm." He closed his eyes, nuzzling the side of her hair. "See, first my boss totally seduced me."

She snorted. "Right, and you didn't participate in that at all."

"I wasn't the one bringing porno classics to life. Desk sex?" He gave a shameless groan. "That was beyond hot. I'm going to get hard just looking at that desk now."

"I see. So, I'm not enough for you, but you have a thing for wood."

"I have a thing for you on wood. With my wood." Emmett squinted, trying for a moment to piece that one together. "Nevermind. I'm going to move past that bit. So. After my boss committed every possible form of sexual harassment, I was caught by my mother and my boss's boss balls deep."

"Emmett!"

"And then, I had to play matchmaker for my mom."

Bella snorted. "Yeah, that was a great diversionary tactic. Changing the subject and asking them when they were going to get together."

"Heh. I decided to take my own advice and not overthink things. Nothing wrong with being direct. Plus, come on. You can't tell me it wasn't funny to watch them sputter. Sometimes, you just gotta yank the wool from over their eyes."

"Casually changing people's lives forever," she said with a sigh.

A serious kind of look had come over her face, and she stared off into the distance. He slipped his hand down the front of her shirt, catching her attention, but when she looked up, his voice was soft. "You changed my life." He cupped his other hand around the underside of her chin, tilting her face up. "I mean, as of today, I have a vlog. That's weird and crazy."

The way she smiled at him, all teeth and sparkling eyes, told him she knew he was teasing. That was a weird, unexpected change, but it wasn't what he meant. It was all this—the flowery stuff he had no words for, that made him feel all warm inside and like he could fly all at the same time. He didn't know how to say those things; how to say that he felt like a different person because she'd shifted something fundamental about him. It was weird and scary and all kinds of awesome.

Bella indulged his distraction, though. "You were so sexy today."

"Just today?"

"I mean when you had the charisma turned all the way up." Bella stood and came around to his side of the chair. She splayed her hands over his chest, walking him backward as she talked. "I think you're going to be a superstar."

"Oh, yeah?"

Her eyes met his, and if he wasn't already turned on, the way they'd gone dark with lust would have done it for sure. She stroked her hands up and down his chest. "You know, I've never fucked a superstar."

With that, she shoved him back against the wall and dropped her her knees, her hands at his fly. "Ah, hell," Emmett said with a groan, leaning his head back against the wall and cupping a hand at the back of her head.

~0~

Some time later, they were lying naked and boneless in her bed. She was curled up against his side, her fingers tracing lazy circles across his skin. A feeling grew in the pit of his belly, spreading through his blood, and making it feel like his chest was full to the point of bursting. It was so bigfor a few seconds, he felt as though he couldn't breathe.

Bella raised her head when he sucked in a sharp breath and studied him with concern in her eyes. "Are you okay?"

He wanted to laugh. He was so beyond okay it was crazy. He was kind of freaked out, because he had the sudden thought he could want this, want her, forever. And he was twenty-one. He was expecting his forever to be a long ass time. That was a lot to think about.

Taking another deep breath, he let it out slowly and cupped her cheek, smiling up at her. "I'm just peachy." He brushed her hair back over her ear. "Hey, what did Carlisle say? You never did get around to telling me."

She lay back down, draping her arm over his middle and resting her head on his arm. "He said it might be difficult. It's hard to see someone else where Edward should have been. But Edward is gone." Her voice got scratchy, and he tightened his arms around her. "Carlisle knows it's been a long time since I've been happy. Really happy," she whispered. "He said, he was glad it was you."

Emmett, hating to see Bella's pain, was sorry she'd lost her husband. But it had happened. There was no way to undo that, so yeah. He was glad it was him too. Because as much as he could understand how it might be bittersweet for the Cullen family and Bella—she and Edward should have gotten their happily ever after—he was also sure he'd been meant for this, for her. What they had was so right, he couldn't doubt she was meant to be his.

In a sudden movement, Bella rolled on top of him, her knees on the bed on either side of him. She looked him in his eyes, cradling his face in her hands and stroking her thumbs over his lips. "I love you, Emmett."

He was struck dumb by the words. All the breath left his body.

"I love you," she said again. "Not less than him. It's different. It's all yours. You know? What I feel. What we have. It's allyours."

"I know," he whispered, discovering that he really, really did. His heart was pounding so fast. His mind was kind of racing, remembering his mother and the man she'd loved. Remembering the sadness Bella had carried for five years, mourning the ultimate loss of love. It was a dangerous thing. A risk.

But why should any of that stop him?

He sat up, keeping her in his arms. He kissed her. It was a serious kind of kiss. Slow and soft. "I love you too," he said with his mouth still on hers.

She giggled—a giddy little sound—and kissed him, tangling her fingers in his hair.

"You know what else Carlisle said?" Bella asked a few minutes later when they'd kissed each other breathless.

"What's that?" Emmett asked, panting.

Bella grinned at him. "You have a cute butt."

Emmett snorted. "I have a fantastic butt." He waggled his eyebrows. "You want to take a closer look?"

She rolled her eyes, kissed him again, and pulled the blankets up over their heads.


A/N: Cuties. Hopefully I'll be wrapping up this, Worth the Wait, and Empty Chairs at Empty Tables within a week.