DISCLAIMER: The characters do not belong to me…they are all the creation of the wonderful Stephenie Meyer.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The guys plan a weekend camping trip with the girls.

Camping 7

The final day of our camping trip wasn't really spent camping. We packed up early and headed home to drop off all of our gear and luggage. After taking showers and changing, Emmett drove us all down to Saratoga Springs for the day. We let the girls shop, following them into every store without any complaints from us.

The girls went off toward the dressing rooms with another load of clothes while Emmett, Jasper, and I found a place to sit down and wait for them.

"This has been a really great weekend," Emmett mused. "Rose has been so relaxed and happy. She hasn't slapped me upside the head once yet."

"In her defense, you haven't said anything stupid yet," Jasper told him.

"True," Emmett chuckled.

"Jasper, how is Bella doing?" I asked, keeping my voice low so that she wouldn't hear.

"Much better. She has control over her emotions for the most part. She's only had a couple instances where they have been overwhelming, but she hasn't had any issues so far today," Jasper replied.

"That's good," Emmett said. "I hate it when Picky is sad."

"We all do," Jasper stated.

I nodded my head in agreement.

From where we were seated, we could easily hear the girls talking, but then again, they weren't exactly being quiet.

"Alice, I like the jeans, but the shirt is staying in the store," Bella told her.

"Rose, help me out," Alice pleaded.

"I agree with Bella this time. Those stripes don't work against her skin," Rose replied.

"Mutiny," Alice cried.

"It's one shirt," Rose told her. "Lighten up. You did give her twenty-seven other ones to try on."

"How come I always end up with a hundred pieces of clothing to try on and you guys get just five?" Bella asked.

"Exaggerate much?" Rose chuckled.

"We know our style. We haven't found yours yet," Alice explained.

"I had my own style," Bella muttered. "You just didn't like it."

"Yes, because your style got Edward to attack you the way mine does," Alice shot back.

"She has you there, Bella," Rose laughed.

"Fine," Bella sighed, clearly sounding defeated. "But I'm only getting what I really want today. You can take me shopping another day to force me into your style."

"So long as you do not grab any sweats or bulky shirts, I won't say a word," Alice told her.

"Do you think they always argue like that?" Emmett whispered.

"Absolutely," Jasper and I said together.

"Edward," Alice called. "Bella's going to need your help in exactly ten seconds."

"What are you –" Bella stopped speaking and then muttered a single word. "Crap."

I got up from my seat and walked toward the dressing room. Rose and Alice were snickering as they walked past me.

"Good luck," Rose chuckled.

I checked their thoughts, but they were both blocking me. "Bella?" I called, getting anxious.

"Down here," she sighed.

I followed the sound of her voice to the last stall in the dressing room. "What's going on?"

"Wardrobe malfunction. And apparently, our sisters thought it would be fun to embarrass me more than I already am by refusing to help me and sending you in here."

"Can you open the door?"

"Give me a second."

I heard her fumbling around and then the door opened. I nearly choked on my laughter when I saw her.

"Don't you dare laugh at me," she hissed. "This is all Alice's fault."

I walked into the stall and closed the door, locking it behind me. "How is this our sister's fault?"

"She picked the shirt."

"That you got stuck in," I remarked, trying not to laugh.

"I don't want to rip it, Edward. It's an eighty dollar shirt."

"You know that money is no object, love."

"Yes, but explaining how little old me, ripped a shirt to shreds would be a bit awkward, don't you think?"

"Good point," I chuckled.

"Edward," she warned.

"I was laughing at the idea of explaining a ripped shirt, not at you," I assured her. "Just hold still while I extract you from the evil fabric."

"Thank you."

"By the way, how did you manage this?"

"I don't know. The shirt's too tight and my elbow got stuck somehow. I bet that sneaky sister of ours saw this happening as soon as she touched this shirt."

I wiggled the shirt away from her arm and freed her. "Why would you suspect her of doing that?" I asked, throwing the shirt to the side and pulling my wife into my arms.

"Because she loves to embarrass me and she's certainly been known to put members of our family in very compromising positions."

"And how is this compromising?" I asked, rubbing my hands along her sides and kissing her neck.

"Do you really have to ask?" she chuckled. "Let me go so I can get my shirt back on."

"There's no hurry," I told her, kissing the skin above her bra.

"Unless you want me to walk out of here and let every man in the mall see what only you have seen, you need to let me put my shirt back on."

"You win," I replied, giving her a final kiss on the lips before releasing her.

She put her shirt back on and collected all the clothes Alice had forced her to try on. She handed me the few items she actually planned to purchase, and put everything else on the rack by the dressing room door.

I wrapped my arm around her waist and held her tightly against me as we walked toward one of the cashiers. I paid for Bella's clothing and took the bag before she could. My silly wife should have realized by now that I would never let her carry her own bags if I was near her. But it was absolutely adorable that she tried anyway. I turned her toward me and kissed away her pout.

She chuckled and rested her head against my shoulder as we left the store in search of our siblings. I listened closely for their thoughts and snorted when I figured out where they were. I wasn't sure if Bella would even allow me inside that store with her. I led her over toward our siblings and she stopped moving as soon as she realized where we were headed.

"They are not in there," Bella balked.

"They most certainly are," I chuckled.

"Why do our sisters love to torture me?" she sighed, burying her face against my shoulder.

"They aren't torturing you, my love. They believe they are helping you."

"I know, but I had hoped the first time I went into this store with you, we would be alone. I would like to keep some things just between the two of us. I know it's not really practical with Alice's gift, and I know they'll eventually find out. They always do. But sometimes, I'd like to have a little privacy, even if it's only for a few hours."

"Why don't we go to the music store, then?" I offered. "Since they are all occupied, we could actually peruse the CDs without anyone telling us to finish up."

"I love that idea," Bella said, as she grabbed my face in her hands and kissed my lips.

"Let's go before they notice," I chuckled, leading my beautiful wife toward the music store.

We walked into the store and Bella decided we should start in the jazz section and work our way over toward the alternative music. I held her close as we walked up and down the aisles, not wanting to let her go for any reason. That selfish part of me couldn't wait for the summer so I could whisk her away and keep her all to myself. I knew she would love England and Scotland, especially hearing about their histories, as well as my own. There was so much I had never had the chance to tell her yet, and I was excited by the very idea of it.

I lowered my head and kissed the hollow behind her ear. "I love you."

"I love you, too," she said, turning her head slightly to look at me from under her lashes.

I couldn't resist the call of her beautiful face and her luscious lips so I claimed her mouth with my own, giving her a passionate kiss.

She smiled against my lips and pulled away slightly. "Behave." She turned her attention back to the CDs in front of her.

I rested my chin on her shoulder, watching her fingers glide across the tops of the CD cases as she flipped through them.

"You would have loved the record stores they used to have. Most CD covers are suggestive pictures of the artist, but when records were the musical media, their packaging was art," I told her.

"Really?"

"Yes. When music came on the large record, those records were slipped inside of a cover and it was known as an LP. The cover of the record was nearly as important as the actual music on the album. Many people would hang the covers on their walls instead of posters."

"You got to witness a lot of changes in music, didn't you?"

"Yes. Just as you'll get to witness them with me now." I noticed the title on one of the CDs Bella was flipping through and I stalled her hand. "Are you familiar with this song?"

"Sure. I hear Emmett singing 'American Pie' around the house all the time."

"Did you come across any references to this song when you did your research on Buddy Holly for Halloween?"

"No. Why would I?"

"It's about his death, actually."

"Really?"

"Yes. The song talks about the day the music died, and that is generally considered the night of the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly."

"Did you ever see him, Edward?"

"Only on television, love."

"Which singers have you seen in concert?"

"None," I shrugged. "With everyone screaming and being so overly excited, it's too difficult to block their thoughts enough to enjoy the show."

Bella turned in my arms, her smile was positively beaming. "Edward! As soon as we get home, I want you to go online and pick a concert that you want to see."

"Bella, I just told you – "

"But that was before you were married to me," she giggled. "I can block you, Edward. I may not be able to completely block you with a particularly large crowd, but I can certainly dull it to the point where you will be able to enjoy yourself."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea."

"Please, Edward?" she begged, jumping up and down in front of me.

I smiled at her excitement, and at how much she resembled Alice in that moment.

"Could we at least try it? If I can control it, or I get tired, I will tell you right away and we can leave, but can we at least try?" she pleaded.

"Okay, but not right now. Let's wait until after the holidays are over."

"You mean wait until I'm more in control of myself," she sighed.

I kissed her forehead and held her close. "That, too. But please know how much it means to me that you want to give me this experience."

"You've given me so many wonderful experiences, Edward. I just want to get to do the same for you."

"Bella, my love, every single day with you is a wonderful experience."

She wrapped her arms around my waist and hugged me tightly. I put my arms around her shoulders and rested my head on hers.

"Love in the rock-n-roll section," Emmett chuckled.

"At least they're only cuddling sweetly," Alice said, sounding annoyed.

Bella and I turned to look at our siblings. Rose and Emmett were grinning like idiots, Alice looked pissed, and Jasper looked frustrated.

"Again?" I questioned Alice.

"As if you really need to ask me," Alice huffed. "I'm sure you're getting the play-by-play from Emmett since he seems to be so proud of himself.

"Actually, I knew where you all were so I've been purposefully blocking you as much as I can," I told her.

"You knew we were in Victoria's Secret and you picked music over sexy lingerie?" Emmett asked, sounding horrified. "What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong with him," Bella said, hugging me protectively. "I wanted to look through the CDs. Besides, we don't need anything from there right now."

"Can we just go home, please?" Jasper pleaded.

"Sure, Jazzy," Alice said, hugging him. "We'll go home and have some alone time. And Emmett, I swear to God, if you make one comment about Jasper being frustrated, I will not only tell everyone about your costume idea for the Frat party, I will also make sure you can't go."

"Damn, Alice. You sure know how to ruin my fun," Emmett muttered as we walked out of the store.

We headed home and Carlisle and Esme greeted us at the door, taking turns hugging all of us.

"We enjoyed our time alone, but we missed all of you terribly," Esme said, as we all sat down in the living room together.

"While we had a few days to ourselves, we –" Carlisle started to say before Emmett interrupted him.

"Dad, we know you and mom do the deed, but we don't want details," Emmett told him.

Rose's hand flew up and smacked the back of Emmett's head hard enough to knock him off the loveseat they were sharing.

"You had to say something stupid," Jasper sighed, shaking his head at Emmett.

"As I was saying," Carlisle continued, trying not to laugh at Emmett, "your mother and I decided that this Christmas would be a wonderful time for a family vacation. We have made nearly all of the arrangements and we will be spending the week of Christmas at Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia. It's the perfect time of year as the snow is thick and the days are foggy."

"Hell, yeah!" Emmett yelled. "Snowboarding!" He gave Jasper a loud hi-five.

"A new ski outfit!" Alice chirped.

"Does this mean everyone is pleased with their Christmas gift?" Carlisle chuckled.

"Yes," we all answered together.

Bella looked up at me and smiled. "Are you looking forward to teaching me to ski?"

"Absolutely," I replied, kissing the tip of her nose. "I'm sure you'll learn quickly."

"Can I go snowboarding with you and the boys after I learn to ski?" she asked, smiling sweetly.

"You don't even know if you'll be able to ski without falling and you already want to discuss snowboarding?" I chuckled.

"Hey, I haven't fallen in like a week!" she fussed.

I lifted an eyebrow at her and smirked.

"Okay, but falling last night doesn't count because you distracted me," Bella said, pointing a finger at me. "You know, this whole making fun of me thing is so not cool."

"Would you prefer me to be overprotective again?" I joked, smiling at her.

"Nope. Tease away," Bella chuckled.

"We have to rent snowmobiles and race them," Rose announced.

"But you can't tinker with them, dear," Esme said.

"Ah, mom," Rose whined.

"They're only rentals, sweetheart. If you tinkered with them, some poor human would hurt himself when he rented it next," Esme explained.

"That would happen," Rose chuckled.

"This is going to be an awesome month," Emmett announced. "The end of the first semester of college, a Frat party, and snowboarding for Christmas."

"Let's go do some research on boards," Jasper said to Emmett, the two of them taking off into the basement.

"Rose, we need to start looking at outfits and find out what colors are in style this season for snowboarding and skiing," Alice stated, pulling Rose down the hall with her.

"Carlisle, I believe we have made our children extremely happy," Esme remarked.

"I believe you are right, my dear," Carlisle chuckled. "Shall we head up to the study to make the final arrangements?"

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," Esme said, as they rose from the sofa and headed toward the hallway.

I lifted Bella and sat her on my lap so that she was facing me. "Finally. A moment alone with you, gorgeous."

She giggled and pressed her forehead against mine. "I love you."

"I love you, too." I softly kissed her lips and then traced over them with my thumb. "Bella, I know that I promised you last year that I would only spoil you for one Christmas..."

She chuckled at me and kissed my thumb. "It's okay, Edward. I know it's something you enjoy doing, but do not buy me a car or anything else near that price," she said, resting her head against my shoulder.

"Thank you, love." I held her close, running my hand through her silky hair. "Did you enjoy your weekend?"

"Immensely. Thank you so much, Edward. I feel a lot better…A lot more like myself."

"Isabella, I would do anything for you." The conviction in my voice could not relay a fraction of how much I meant that statement. The beautiful angel in my arms was my life and there was nothing I would not do to protect her and make her happy.