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A/N- Capricorn75 has bullied me into posting the rest of it. Thanks.


I did put my dress back on before going downstairs. Emmett and Jasper were doing an extremely poor karaoke version of Man of Constant Sorrow from Oh Brother Where Art Thou? but their audience was loving it. Rosalie was not loving it. Alice thought it was hysterical.

Other people started doing karaoke afterwards, which brought a new sense of fun to the party. I was having a good time cheering them along and helping them pick out a few songs here and there. Angela and Jacob had to leave- they had another party on the reservation to go to before midnight. As I was listening to Jessica Stanley and her gay best friend sing Dancing Queen, I heard a deep voice in my ear. "Hi, Bella." It was Edward.

"Hi, Edward," I said. "How are you?"

"I'm doing well," he said. He was studying me, concerned. Those deep, bottle-green eyes bore into mine. He had had a little to drink. "How are you?"

"Hanging in there," I said. "Your trip to Chicago is coming up, soon, isn't it?"

"Yes, I leave day after tomorrow," he said.

"How long will you be gone for?" I asked.

"A week," he said. "It'll give me time to recharge my batteries. See some old friends."

"That's always good," I said, glancing down. He had a scotch and tonic in his hand. He smelled a little bit like that- it was kind of sexy.

"Hey everybody," Alice said over the microphone. "It's almost midnight! Hope you all have somebody to kiss!"

"Will you be my midnight kiss?" he asked.

"Edward, you came with somebody," I said. "Lauren."

"She's left already," he said. "Besides, it's nothing exclusive. So, will you?"

"Edward, I can't!" I cried. Jasper turned on the flatscreen TV over the fireplace and started flipping channels.

I slipped away to Alice's side. At this point, Emmett was up, singing Baby Got Back with some of his friends from poker. He was slightly trashed. Alice grabbed my hand. "What is it?"

"Edward just asked me to be his midnight kiss!" I cried.

"Yeah, so?" Alice asked as if it were funny.

"I can't do that!" I cried.

Alice handed me a glass of wine from the countertop full of champagne flutes that she was pouring. "Just drink up," she said. "It'll make the champagne go down easier at midnight." She winked at me.

I found Rose starting a game of Apples to Apples. I didn't play, but I sat with her. I whispered in her ear what was going on. She just smirked. "What's the problem? It's just a kiss, Bella. No harm can come from a simple kiss. You're acting like you're in high school or something."

"You're one to talk," I said.

"So, you're nothing but the frigid, scary Widow Newton, now?" she asked.

"No!" I cried. "I'm not frigid!" I hissed.

"OK, fine, tell him OK and then lay one on him," she said.

Emmett was singing with a Scottish accent, now, trying to dance, drunkenly. He had had entirely too much to drink. "Hey man, slow down, you gotta get home!" Jasper said.

"What are you talking about? I got a sober ride for the next nine months!" Emmett cried, his voice a few decibels too loud. Everything stopped. A glass broke. Alice suddenly ran from the room. "Oh shit."

Rosalie laughed politely, putting off everybody's concerns. "Well, we're only a few weeks along, but it's true," she admitted. "Excuse me." She left the room through the door Alice exited.

I checked on Jeannie, first, she was sleeping despite the noise downstairs. Her breathing was a little ragged from the cough she had developed. I went to leave, and I saw a light shining under the door to the master bedroom suite. Alice. Oh yeah, Rose was pregnant and everybody knew, now. I knocked on the door, and I could hear Alice sobbing softly.

"Alice, it's me," I called.

"Come in," Alice called.

"Hi," I said, opening the door. She and Rosalie were sitting on the bed together, Alice dabbing at her eyes with a soggy tissue.

"Hi, Bella," she said.

"We wanted to tell everybody in private, honestly," Rosalie said. "Our best friends, first. Then, Emmett had to go and announce it at a party for everybody to hear."

"I don't know why I'm getting so upset," Alice said. "It's been almost a year, and we still haven't gotten pregnant! Granted, we stopped trying for a while after the accident, but, it's just so unfair! Everybody's getting pregnant but me!"

"It's OK to be mad at me," Rosalie said.

"You just decided you wanted to get pregnant, and month later- bam!" Alice sobbed. "That take-home robot baby health class project in high school was the best week of my life! And I was always the one that played house when I was little! I wouldn't let my mom sell my baby dolls in yard sales or give them away, either. I thought you hated kids until Will was born."

"I know," Rosalie said. "I did. It's different when they're your own or a close friend's."

"Have you seen a fertility specialist?" I asked.

"We're going to see one, soon," Alice said. "Dad said he'd pay for two treatments of in vitro if fertility treatments didn't work. God, what's wrong with my uterus!"

"Maybe it's something minor that can be fixed," I said. "Really simply. You never know."

"I bet it's not," Alice said. "Jasper and I don't want to have to adopt! You'll be on a waiting list for years, unless you arrange a private one or pay for it! I don't want dirty dealings with my baby!"

"There's no shame in paying for an adoption," I said.

"Maybe I'm too physically small to carry a baby," she said.

"Alice, don't push it," I said, looking at my torso that was much different from in high school. Alice was one of those girls that stayed tiny her whole life.

The door opened- it was Jasper. "Hey, Allie," he said. "The ball's about to drop."

"Oh," she said, tossing the tissue in a waste basket, standing up and smoothing her dress. "I'm fine. I don't want to be a poor hostess."

Downstairs, feeling emboldened by the wine, but not quite drunk, either, I located Edward in the sunroom with a few of Jasper's work friends. Emmett had resorted to singing songs in the style of William Shatner.

"I'll be your midnight kiss," I whispered in his ear, sitting down next to him. Rosalie's dare was just what I needed. I was a fucking porn star, man.

"OK, good," he said. "The ball is about to drop." Taking my hand, he pulled me up off the couch.

The countdown to 2014 started. I was going to make Edward Cullen wish he had come to Forks sooner. Edward swayed a bit under the influence of the alcohol when the ball dropped for the West Coast. I cupped his face, aggressively. "Happy New Year," I said, arching an eye brow. I kissed him, hard, pressing my breasts against him. I wished I had taken my bra off after nursing Jeannie, but the girls weren't what they used to be. Frigid, my ass! I showed him. I slipped my tongue into his mouth, just for a moment, just long enough to tease him, but not long enough for anybody to notice. I let go of him and smirked when he stumbled a bit and his eyes rolled. He liked aggressive women. Good.

I helped Alice and Rosalie clean up some of the dishes and glasses and put away some of the food. People were disappearing, now. Alice was ordering us around as if nothing happened.

"Bella, can you help get Emmett out to the car?" Alice asked.

"Sure," I said. I found Edward in the living room with Emmett, who was pretty messed up, laying face-down on the couch. "Let's get him out to Rosalie's car."

"He's a big guy," Edward said. Emmett angrily muttered something into the couch cushion that we couldn't understand. Edward took Emmett's arm and helped him sit up.

"Are you OK to drive home?" I asked Edward as we each took one of Emmett's arms.

"To be honest, I'd really rather not," he said.

"I'll take you," I said. "If you don't mind being seen in a beat up Toyota Corolla."

"Not at all," he said. "I don't want to impose on Alice." We sat Emmett down in the passenger seat of his own car. His head lolled to the side. "I hope he doesn't vomit on himself. Or this car."

"Hey guys," Rosalie said, coming out of the house. "Thanks."

"We're going to have so much fun Monday morning," I said. Emmett's eyes fluttered and he flipped me off through the window. "Is there anything left to do in the house?"

"Alice says no," Rosalie said.

"OK," I said. "Edward, I'll be right back, I just need to get my purse and my keys."

"Sure."

I found my coat, purse and keys in the study. Outside, I found Rosalie and Edward helping Emmett puke out the car door.

"Nice," Rose said, shaking her head. "Is that it?" she asked.

"Mmm-hmm," Emmett muttered, still hanging down like a rag doll. She put him back into the car, like piling up a sack of potatoes.

"Sober ride my ass," she said. "Good night. Happy New Year."

"Good night, Rose."

"Good night."

"Come on."

I remembered the way back to his house. It wasn't a long drive, but I had to be careful. The fog was coming in and the heater in my car wasn't working well. I'd have to take it to Jake, soon.

"Do you want to come in?"

"Sure."


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