WARNING: THIS STORY IS NO LONGER BEING EDITED FOR CONTENT. FULL DESCRPTION WILL BE INCLUDED. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED…

Disclaimer: Vampward was Stephenie's creation, Reformed Slutward is a creation of my crazy mind. None of the recognizable characters belong to me (dang it!).

Thank you my guest beta AgoodWITCH for her expedient beta work and her little notes in the chapter that cracked me up. Also thanks to Sassenach Wench. I don't have too terribly much to say.

Sorry it took so long to get this up. I've been sick and also took the week of Christmas off from writing or editing completely. So this has been in a holding pattern until I felt well enough to get it corrected and posted. This is yet another pretty fluffy chapter, but trust me, the next chapter is going to get us back into some intensity. Hope you enjoy!

Surprise, SURPRISE

EmPOV

My eyes popped open. I was laying in my bed in my old room in Lincoln. I groaned as I rolled over. I grabbed the pillow behind my head, burying my face underneath and groaning at the sun streaming in through the window and right across my face. I was still feeling the effects of the multiple beer bongs I had funneled the night before and was so not ready to face the day.

The smell of bacon hit my nose and I groaned and sat up slowly wishing for the spinning to stop and yet completely unable to resist the lure of mom's bacon. I stretched and groaned again as I stood up to survey the chaos of boxes that now filled every corner of my room. Tomorrow I would be leaving for school. I was so fucking excited to get the hell out of this one horse town and take Chicago by storm.

I sniffed the t-shirt thrown across the back of my chair and shrugged when it only had a slight hint of tang, but not enough to be totally putrid. I threw it over my head before sliding a fresh pair of basketball shorts on. I opened the door to come face to face with Bella as she and Makenna stepped out of her room.

"God Emmett, you've worn that shirt for three days in a row. Haven't you ever heard of a thing called good hygiene?"

I grumbled about her being too loud. She rolled her eyes and sighed before bounding down the stairs as Makenna giggled and followed behind her. I watched them walk away with a frustrated groan. Sometime throughout the course of my running around and enjoying my last summer with my friends before we all spread out across the state to attend our respective colleges of choice, my baby sister had hit a disturbing growth spurt at the worst possible time.

She was starting high school in a few days and turning fourteen in a little over two weeks. This was going to be the first time I've ever missed her birthday, and also the first time I wouldn't be around to keep an eye out on her. Even before her growth spurt, she had already caught the eye of a few eager Freshman and Sophomores at my football games last fall. Now that she was getting curves and actually showing them off a little more in tight fitting tank tops and microscopic shorts, I just knew all of the guys in the school were going to be taking notice of her.

I had already started taking a proactive stand making Chuck Taylor and Steve Sams promise to play cockblocker in my absence, but damn it to hell, I had even caught them staring at her from time to time and they've known her their whole lives.

I pushed the heels of my hands into my eyes and groaned one more time before following them down. Stepping into the living room at the bottom of the stairs, I found Pop was already settled in his favorite recliner with his cup of coffee and one of Ma's infamous sausage biscuit sandwiches.

When I stepped into the room he looked up at me with a raised eyebrow. "How's the head, son?"

I knew he was pissed about the parties, but he was letting me having my fun with my friends without too much grief. "I'm fine, Pops, thanks for asking."

He shook his head and chuckled. "I thought Bells was exaggerating about the clothes, son, but I have to say, that shirt has definitely seen better days."

I groaned and rolled my eyes, "The rest of my sh...stuff," Pops lifted his eyebrow at my near slip before rolling his eyes as I continued, "is already packed. I only have two more outfits that aren't already packed away. This is just until I eat and grab my shower."

He rolled his eyes yet again with a half grin as he slurped from his cup. "Well, don't have too much fun tonight. Mom and I want to be on the road bright and early tomorrow morning."

I sighed and nodded, rubbing the back of my neck where my muscles were aching. I had a hazy memory of a keg stand gone wrong when one of the guys got distracted by Becky Craig letting go of one of my legs throwing off my balance and leaving me to crash to the ground. I couldn't be too pissed though; Becky Craig was like Lincoln's answer to Jessica Simpson, blonde hair, long legs, curvy ass, and a pair of double D's with a constant case of high beams. She was enough to distract anybody.

I shifted my shorts as I tried to get more comfortable thanks my memories of beautiful Becky and her lady lumps that I had actually seen up close and personal on more than one occasion. I tugged at the front of my shirt as I walked into the kitchen to see Mom beaming up at me from in front of the stove where she continued to fry up eggs and a package of bacon for me and the girls.

Her eyes misted up as she reached up and patted me on the cheek sweetly with a sigh. "This is the last morning that we get to all wake up together in the same house and enjoy a nice breakfast as a family. Tomorrow we'll be too busy getting loaded up to hit the road. I can't believe my baby boy is moving out and into a college dorm! I'm so proud of you, Emmett."

I leaned my face into her hand. She was being overly mushy, but at least she wasn't going all flighty at the moment, so I indulged. "Thanks, Ma, I'm going to miss this place and especially your breakfasts," I shouted as I reached around her side and yanked a hand full of bacon off the plate where she was settling the ones that were done, burning my fingers slightly in the process.

She smacked at me with her towel as she laughed and told me to scoot. I settled next to Bella at the table and reached over to mess her hair.

She groaned and batted my hand away, smoothing down the long locks that usually stayed down now and had a bit of a shine to it these days. I had to admit, I missed the days when she always wore it in a ponytail and wore loose band t-shirts and baggy blue jeans. Life was much easier when her beauty was masked ever so slightly by her tomboy persona, but she was starting to get all girly and it was making my job a hell of a lot tougher.

"So what are you two dorks up to today?" I mumbled through a mouth full of pulverized crispy bacon.

Bella shrugged. "No big plans for today. We might be going over to Amy's tonight to hang out."

I hummed along, trying not to show my panic. Amy Sanderson lived a stone's throw from the house that the big party that was the last hurrah for all of us before we left for school, so there was already the probability of some of the high school guys crossing her path to begin with. Add to that the fact that Amy was a bit of a social climber, and she had glommed onto the younger sister of the guy who was hosting the party, it was more than likely she would use her new connection to crash. All this ultimately meant that I might be spending my last night with my crew wielding a metaphorical bat at any dude who even looked twice at Bella.

I sighed and groaned a bit as the frustration seeped in. Why was it that she always found a way to fuck up my fun? When we were kids she used to follow my friends and I around and I'd have to make sure she didn't get hit by the balls we were tossing around, or she would try to follow us on any of our damn fool bike jumps off the home made ramps we set up in the back pasture. No matter where I went, she was always around, making me have to take care of her. While I loved the squirt, that shit got fucking old.

I was silent as I ate my eggs in frustration, while fuming over what I was pretty sure was going to be the completely ruined last night of fun in Lincoln. Meanwhile, Bella and Makenna giggled over boy bands and talked about what they were wearing to Amy's place tonight, finally earning an actual verbal groan as I heard them mention the words mini skirt and shimmer lotion.

"What's wrong with you, Embear?" Bella whispered as she leaned over. She rested her cheek against my bicep, looking up at me through her eyelashes with her wide innocent doe eyes. "You still hurting from your night last night?" she whispered as she ran her little hand up my back and massaged my aching neck muscles as the guilt boiled up in my chest.

I smiled down at her with a chuckle. "Yeah, maybe a little bit. Thanks for the neck massage, squirt. You always seem to know exactly where I hurt and how to help."

She smiled up at me with a giggle. "I do what I can, brother bear. I know what you're worried about. I heard Amy talking about trying to get into the party. Don't worry though, her mom overheard her last night and has put the whole thing on lockdown. I don't think we'll be sneaking over, and even if they did, Mickey and I would probably just call mom to pick us up anyway. I know you wouldn't enjoy it if you were worried about me."

Well that really made me feel like fucking shit. She could be a brat and clingy as hell, but I had to admit I had the best damn little sister there was. I leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I love you, squirt, you know that right?"

She blinked up at me with a sad smile. "I love you, too. I'm going to miss you when you leave. Besides, you're leaving me alone with THEM! I have a feeling Mom's going to go overboard with you gone, trying to fight off the whole empty nest thing."

I ruffled her hair again and this time she didn't fuss or try to fix it right away. "I'm going to miss you too, kid."

I pushed up away from the table and dropped my dishes in the sink before walking back toward the living room to make my way back upstairs for a shower. Dad stopped me as I walked by his chair with a firm hand.

"Keep an eye out for her tonight, Emmett. Bella has a firm head on her shoulders, but she's also been trying harder to fit in lately. If they put enough pressure on her, she might end up giving in to the pressure. If they show up tonight, do me a favor and give us a call. I don't expect you to give up your night for her, but I need you to promise me to look out for her, okay?"

I felt a lump rise in my throat as a new set of worries about how my kid sister was going to fare in high school, especially if she was staring to go along with the crowd more to fit in, rose to the surface. The one thing you could count on was that Bella never did anything just because everyone else was doing it. It was what kept her out of trouble for the most part so far, but if that was changing, then lord only knew what havoc she might wreak.

I sighed and ran my hand over my neck again nervously, "I already planned on it, Dad. You can always count on me to watch out for the dork."

Dad looked up at me with a proud smile and sighed. "I know, son. You don't know what a relief it is to me that I can count on you to watch her back."

I nodded, "Always." He nodded back stiffly and let go of me as I headed up the stairs toward my room, feeling anxious and trying to think of what else I could set up before I left to help keep Bells out of trouble.

"Emmett? Emmett baby, it's okay." I could hear Rose before I started to wake up and realize it was all a dream. Well, really it was more like suffering through a memory flashback. I sat up and groaned as a head rush hit me full force, causing me to drop back to my pillow.

I felt Rose's hand swipe my face. It was then that I realized I had been crying. It had always been so hard to come back every year to the graveyard with Bella. I always struggled to be strong for her and support her, but it hurt like hell every damn year. This year was way fucking worse. It was fun to show everyone around, but for every fun memory, there was a painful one that reminded me how much I missed our parents.

Sitting in that house, even though it was decorated totally different with someone else's furniture, I still expected Mom to come out of the kitchen with a dishtowel in hand, snapping it at me as she ordered me to mow the lawn. It was strange not to see Dad to come in with his big ass coffee or a glass of tea and a bag of his potato chips to fall into the recliner that sat in almost the exact same spot as his always did. While it was nice to see the place and show Rose, Edward, and the goo goo eye twins where Bells and I came from, there were just too many damn ghosts there.

I felt Rose cuddle up to my side as she stroked my hair and my face. I sighed, curling up into her and soaking up her sweet smell and her warm heat. "Rose, do you think I did good by Bella? Do you think I did enough?"

I felt her shift as her hands cupped my face in the dark of our room. "Baby, nobody could have done more for her. She is so lucky to have a brother like you and she knows it. Look at how far she's come, Emmett. She's finishing up med school, she's happy and in love and getting married soon. You did a great job with her and I know she is so grateful for you. She's told me several times how much you mean to her."

I wrapped Rose up in my arms and sighed as I stroked her long silky hair. Soon I felt her stomach jump against my side. I jumped and looked down surprised. I had felt the baby move a time or two under my hand, but I had never felt anything like that.

"Wow! Was that her kicking?"

Rose laughed. She grabbed my hand, putting it over her stomach. "Yeah, she's been kicking like this for about a week now. You usually sleep through it. She doesn't usually do it during the daytime."

I rested my hand under Rose's on her stomach, feeling another hard kick push against my hand through Rose's stomach. I laughed again. "Wow, that's so amazing. This kid's going to be a soccer player for sure!"

I shimmied down, resting my head on Rose's stomach and smoothed my hand over the bump that rested there.

"Hi my baby girl, it's Daddy. You need to stop kicking Mommy so hard at night so she can sleep. You'll learn soon enough that Mommy can be pretty grumpy when she doesn't get enough sleep."

I chuckled when I felt Rose smack the top of my head and grumble lowly. The baby kicked at my hand again as I sighed. I shifted to look up at Rose as I continued to talk.

"So what are we going to name you anyway? Mommy and Daddy haven't really talked about that yet. What names do you like sweet pea? We could name you Renee after your grandma." Rose crinkled her nose slightly and I laughed. "Well if we won't go with Renee then Caroline is out also."

"Good," Rose grumbled, "didn't want that anyway."

"What do you want Rosie? Do you have a name picked out?"

She played with my hair with a smile gracing her lips. "Actually, I was thinking about using our names and combining Emmett and Rosalie to get Emmalie. If you want to get technical I was thinking that Emmalie Isabella Swan would be perfect and we could call her Emma."

I smiled up at her, feeling my eyes prickling a little. It sounded perfect. I turned my face to kiss her stomach and whispered at her belly button. "What do you think, little girl? Is your name Emmalie?"

I felt Rose's stomach shift as a lump formed under my hand and pressed for a few seconds before relaxing back into her stomach. It was almost like the baby was reaching out to touch me instead of landing a fast hard kick. I smiled back up at Rosalie. "I think we may have a winner."

Rose smiled and tugged on my hair to bring me back up to her side as we cuddled together and finally drifted back to sleep.

EPOV

I sat up on my elbow next to Bella running my fingers through her hair and watching her sleep. I was glad she was finally getting some peaceful rest. She had tossed and turned most of the night, mumbling about her parents and Emmett, and something about demon corn that I couldn't exactly make out, but still made me chuckle.

Finally, after watching her for the better part of half an hour, she shifted and yawned, her eyes fluttering open slowly. She stared unseeing at the ceiling for a moment before she blinked a few times and shifted her face to look at me with a slow grin spreading across her face.

"Good morning, beautiful," I whispered, leaning down to tuck her hair out of the way and kiss her neck a few times.

"Good morning, Mr. Perfect," she whispered back with a moan.

My mouth moved up the column of her soft neck to her mouth. Our kisses grew in intensity. I had just shifted on top of her enjoying the sensation of her warm flesh grazing mine when a loud bang at the door made us both jump a mile and Bella squeal.

"Get up, lazy lovebirds. We're heading over to Cracker Barrel for breakfast in twenty with or without you, and trust me, you want to go. The continental breakfast here sucks ass!"

I dropped my head to Bella's shoulder with a groan as she chuckled underneath me, her gently vibrating body not helping the issues I needed to tame before we joined our friends for breakfast.

Twenty minutes later, we were all in the car crossing over to the restaurant with the cozy country setting. To our surprise, there was a bit of a wait on a table. The girls forced us back out front in the freezing cold to sit in the rockers that lined the front of the building. Alice and Rose immediately settled on either side of the cloth checker board with the gigantic red and black checker chips. Bella grabbed my hand and pulled me over to a double rocker, settling in beside me, curling up to my chest. She buried her cold nose in the crook of my neck, breathing deeply with a small sigh.

Thankfully, the wait was short. The girls only had time to do about six moves before the vibrating disc told us that it was time to go in and be seated. Soon we were settled in the middle of the restaurant where two tables were pulled together near the fireplace. We all sat quietly as we waited for our food.

Slowly but surely, more stories from Emmett and Bella's time in Lincoln began to fill the quiet and we were soon all laughing.

"Oh, I have to ask," I finally interjected, "you were moaning in your sleep about demon corn last night. What was that all about?"

Bella grimaced and glared pointedly at Emmett, "Well, SOMEONE thought it would be simply hilarious to talk me into watching Children of the Corn one night after our parents went to bed. I was ten and Emmett was fourteen. He grabbed me out of bed and snuck the two of us down for a midnight viewing of one of the scariest freaking movies you've ever seen if you live on a plot of land completely surrounded by corn fields half the year."

"Oh Emmett, you didn't," Rosalie admonished, smacking Emmett's arm as he groaned.

"I got so freaked out that I wasn't able to sleep alone for three months after that, until after the farmers harvested. Every time I would look outside, I would scream and run to hide, saying that I saw someone standing in the corn with a machete."

"Hey, I thought it would be funny. I never dreamed you would get that scared over it. I mean, yeah it was a fucked up movie, but it wasn't THAT scary!"

"I was only ten, you moron. To a ten year old, it was terrifying. I kept thinking I was seeing that tall red headed kid that walked around yelling 'Outlander' in the field!"

"Well, I paid my dues. I was the one that had to sleep on your hard ass floor every night for three months and try to sleep through you babbling on and on about the movie and Tony Richardson."

Bella blushed ten shades of red, covering her face with her hand as I heard someone down the table ask who Tony Richardson was. Emmett beamed sadistically at Bella as he laughed loudly.

"Tony Richardson happened to be one of the new young cops on the force in Lincoln and Bella's first crush. It didn't matter he was like fourteen years older than her. Every time he came around, she would get all googly eyed. She followed him and dad all over the property. Matter of fact, I'm pretty sure that was how she ended up learning to shoot.

She followed them out to the range and Dad decided if she was going to show an interest, that he better teach her some gun safety."

"So what happened?" Alice asked, giggling down at Bella.

"Oh, he broke her heart when he brought his fiancée out with him one time to teach her how to shoot. Bella ran to her room and cried for an hour before Mom managed to get her to stop."

I rubbed my hand up and down Bella's back, which was exposed thanks to the fact that she was bent over the table, banging her head repeatedly on the wooden surface. I was just about to try to distract her when the food arrived, saving both her forehead and the wood any further damage.

After we finished our meal and paid for the food we ran back across to the hotel so I could grab our bags while Bella was being distracted by Rose and Alice. I tossed them in the back of the van for our trip to Springfield later in the day. I already had everything arranged for her surprise. We would have a rental car waiting for us down there, so that the rest of the crew could come back to Lincoln for the last night. Bella and I would drive up and meet them the next morning, dropping the rental off in Bloomington on our way home.

Emmett drove as we made our way down I55 to Springfield, taking a scenic route through town and pointing out places that they used to go to as a family. It was too cold to get out to explore and enjoy on a day like today. Finally, after an hour of meandering around the sights of Springfield, we ended up at a mall, much to the glee of Alice and Rose and the chagrin of Bella. They immediately drug her off to shop with them, ordering us guys to stay far away. Thankfully, this fit perfectly into our plans of picking up the rental and checking into the hotel Bella and I would stay in that night.

We quickly raced to the rental agency. Being central Illinois, there wasn't a whole lot of selection. I wanted something sleek and sporty, but as Emmett so eloquently pointed out, there was no telling what the weather would do. Considering the reason for the trip, he suggested something that would feel safer for Bella, so I settled on the black Lincoln Navagator full size SUV with all the bells and whistles.

Jasper climbed in with me. He whistled as we followed sleekly behind Emmett in the rented minivan. Once we reached the hotel for the night, I nervously went to check in with Emmett and Jasper following behind. I wanted something special, but I was hoping that the suite I had reserved for us wouldn't be overly tacky. The pictures online looked the most tasteful of the choices, but sometimes pictures didn't really give the full effect.

I took the key cautiously, making my way toward the suite. Emmett and Jasper followed me up to the third floor where the door to our suite waited at the end of a long hallway. I held my breath as I slid the keycard through the reader and opened the door, slowly peeking through the crack and sighing before opening the door completely.

Emmett and Jasper followed, snickering at the motif of the valentine themed room with its massive heart shaped bed and matching heart shaped hot tub. Across from the door was a seating area with two massive black lounge chairs that faced a large flat screen TV mounted over a gas fireplace with logs that gave the essence of a glowing embers. I crossed the room to sit our bag in the closet as Emmett and Jasper went to plop on the bed, laughing a minute before Emmett growled. I looked over to see him glaring at me.

"I really wish I hadn't gotten near the bed. I didn't need to know that there was a mirror mounted above the bed you would be sharing with my kid sister tonight."

I chuckled as Emmett got up and plodded toward the black chairs while Jasper laughed loudly, pointing out the fact that there were mirrors behind the bed and all around and above the heart shaped hot tub as well. His revelation earned another groan from Emmett.

I grabbed out the supplies I needed from my bags and made the guys help me set up the room before I changed my clothes to get ready to go meet the girls at the mall. If all went according to the devious pixie's plan, Bella would be ready for our evening together within an hour.

BPOV

Alice and Rose were obsessed with shopping for me. I was pulled unceremoniously from store to store as they insisted I purchase a blue jewel toned satin bra and panty set, followed by a short blue cap sleeve dress with a sweetheart neckline and matching kitten heels. After the outfit was in place, they pulled me off to get my hair done and a mani/pedi, leaving me reeling from the speed of it all.

While I was in the spa getting myself buffed and polished, Alice disappeared. She rematerialized later with a long, navy blue, wool dress coat, holding it out for Rose's approval. Once Rose concurred with her choice, she ushered me to a counter in one of the major department stores to get a makeover. She instructed the girl working on me to give me smoky eyes and light pink lips before ushering me into the store's restroom. Here she forced me into my new clothes, smiling at the finished product.

I swallowed nervously as I looked at myself in the mirror. About five minutes after we hit the mall, the realization hit that this was some kind of an Edward plan. We were obviously doing something special this evening. I spun slowly with a gentle smile as the girls beamed at me. Rose plucked a small blue satin clutch that matched the dress out of a bag, putting the tube of lipstick, my wallet, a tiny vial of body mist, and my cell phone inside. She handed it to me as Alice popped up behind me, sliding a pear shaped sapphire necklace around my neck, allowing the stone to settle just above my cleavage.

They both hugged me and told me to enjoy my night just as Alice's phone rang. She held it up to her ear with a wide smile.

"Yep, we just finished up. Pick us up at the Macy's entrance. She's all yours."

At this, Alice and Rose led me through the store. I got funny looks from several of the shoppers as we passed them. Soon, both ladies were pushing me through a door at the end of the store. There I found a handsome as hell Edward, standing in front of a massive, fancy looking, black SUV, wearing a pair of dark dress pants, a blue button down shirt that almost perfectly matched my dress, and a smirk that made me want to jump him right there on the sidewalk.

I heard snickers behind me and saw that Emmett and Jasper were standing beside Rose and Alice.

"You two have a good night. We'll meet you back in Lincoln tomorrow afternoon for the drive home. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." Emmett said with an eye waggle until he realized whom he was saying that to. He stopped mid waggle with a pained expression, earning a laugh from the rest of us.

I felt Edward move to stand behind me, running his nose along my neck. "You look absolutely heavenly, my love. Are you ready to go enjoy our evening?"

I sighed and nodded with a smile, thanking the girls for all of their help, and letting Edward help me into the tall vehicle. He crossed back to the driver's side and climbed in, taking my hand immediately, and kissing the back.

He hit a button on the navigational system on the console of the car and listened to the directions as the soft female voice led him across the city. I had no idea where we were going, but I didn't really care, because this was a nice break from the pain of being back in this part of the country without my mom and dad.

After a few miss-directions from the onboard computer's GPS, we finally pulled to a stop in front of a small canopied restaurant on Fifth Street, extremely close to all of the historic tourist sites. I smiled as I read the name of the restaurant on the canopy, Sebastian's Hideout. I had heard of it before, but never actually seen it in person.

We entered and were greeted by a hostess who fell all over herself to cater to Edward, making me just a little bit suspicious. Even as hot as Edward was, he didn't usually inspire THIS much personal attention based on his looks alone.

The hostess offered to take our coats. I slowly untied the belt that had held the heavy, navy blue, wool dress coat closed, revealing my dress to Edward for the first time this evening. I couldn't help but chuckle when he froze mid motion as he moved to take the coat from my body. His eyes were dark and full of longing as he slid the coat extremely slowly from my bare shoulders, only covered by the narrow cap sleeves. Once it was off, he handed it blindly to his right where the hostess had been. He immediately stepped forward to bury his nose in my neck and wrap his arm around my waist.

"You, my love, are definitely more than simply heavenly tonight. I can't wait for the rest of our evening to begin."

I shivered slightly as the excited chill ran up my back. He finally released me with a small chuckle. He slid his hand to the small of my back to guide me as we followed the hostess down a flight of stairs to the lower level of the establishment. We stepped into the room to find a partition separating the restroom area behind the stairs from the rest of the downstairs area. A large granite bar ran along one wall and a single round table with two comfortable looking chairs waited for us, along with a bottle of wine chilling in a bucket.

I looked around for a second, immediately realizing that Edward had definitely done something to earn the pandering by the hostess and the manager that soon appeared by our side, ushering us to our seats and pouring our first glass of red wine.

Once he left, I glared at Edward over the white table cloth. "What did you do, Mr. Cullen?"

He smirked as he loosened the napkin folded prettily on his plate and laid it across his lap with a flourish. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Dr. Cullen. We just came here for dinner."

I scoffed lightly and raised my eyebrows, earning a smirk and a wink. I shook my head with a sigh as he lifted his glass toward me. I lifted mine to meet his above the table as he tapped my glass lightly with his. "We've spent the past couple of days exploring your past. Tonight we are going to thoroughly explore the pleasures that await us in the future."

I gasped a little, fighting the urge to giggle as he eyed me darkly before slowly moving the glass back to his lips, slowly sipping the wine. I mirrored his action. The dark liquid was amazingly sweet and smooth as I sipped it and hummed in pleasure. One thing was for sure, he was off to one hell of a start.

We ordered from the fancy menu full of things I wouldn't even begin to anticipate what the combinations of foods would taste like. I decided to be brave though and decided to try a French dish called a cassoulet. I had no clue what it would taste like, but it sounded interesting with pork, pheasant, and bacon all in one dish.

Edward was so sweet as he continued to refill my glass and chat casually with me while we waited for our food. It was fun to muse together about the future. We discussed excitedly the things we might do, where we might live, what we wanted for our future. After a while, Edward got very quiet. He looked pensively at his plate before he glanced back at me through his eyelashes shyly.

"Bella, you do want kids some day, right?"

I smiled brightly, taking his hand between us on the table.

"Of course I do, I think about it all the time. I find myself wondering what our kids would look like."

His shoulders relaxed, He sighed with a smile and twinkle in his eyes. "I know we have to wait until you finish school and everything, but how soon afterward do you want to start trying for kids?"

I got up from my seat and walked over to his side of the table. I slid onto his lap crossways, wrapping my arms around his neck. "Are you getting the baby bug, Edward?" I asked with raised eyebrows and a knowing smirk.

He wrapped his arms around my waist. He blushed bright red, earning a loud laugh from me. It was nice to be on the other side of that reaction for a change. He nodded gently.

I sighed, running my hands through his hair.

"I'm not totally sure how things will go after I finish my residency. I'd very much like to have kids with you right away, but it may take a while to get involved in a practice and get situated before I'd be ready for that…unless…" I trailed off, thinking deeply. The thought that had just crossed my mind was one I had not actually considered before. I was not sure how well it would all work out.

I was deep in my own world when I felt Edward squeeze my waist a couple of times, urging me to continue. "Unless?"

I sighed and turned to look into his deep longing eyes. I smiled, running my hands through his hair. "Unless I took a year or two off between my residency and getting involved in a practice. I could get involved with something that wouldn't require quite as much of my time and dedication, but would still use my education and not get involved with a practice until later…if at all."

He frowned down at me in confusion.

I sighed and blushed this time. "Edward, I know you said once we were married that your money was my money and everything like that. Um, I was wondering if you still meant that, because there's something I always thought I would want to do. I never thought I would get the chance because it wouldn't be very feasible when I would have to support myself or my family, but your unique financial situation kind of lets the possibilities open up a bit more. How would you feel if I worked at a free clinic after I completed my residency? I wouldn't be bringing in any money into the household, but I would really be able to help in ways that I never thought I could. Not only that, then I wouldn't have responsibilities to a private practice or anything like that, so it would give us more leeway for letting kids into our life."

I waited for him to process the information as he frowned down at me for a split second. Suddenly, he leaned forward, pulling me hard against his chest as his mouth claimed mine eagerly.

"I love you so fucking much, Bella Swan," he mumbled as he pulled away with a bright smile and glowing eyes.

We sat there, smiling at each other goofily, as the waiter came up and cleared his throat. He sat our dishes on the table unobtrusively before walking away while we ignored him completely.

"So, we're going to start trying for kids after you finish your residency while you work at a free clinic and I'm hopefully running a training facility?"

I giggled and nodded. "Sounds like we're completely insane, but I can't say I'm anything but ecstatic!"

We traded a few more kisses before I finally slid off of his lap. I went back to my seat before we both hummed our way through our meal and finished off the wine. Once we were all done, Edward walked to the deserted bar and pushed a button on an iPod docked in an iHome that I hadn't noticed before. Once the music was beginning, he crossed over to me, offering me his hand, and leading me to the middle of the floor. We danced slowly together in the privacy of our dining area.

"Do I want to know how much you paid to have this whole room, that should be full of diners, to ourselves on a Saturday evening?"

He chuckled and shook his head no, earning a sigh from me before he kissed me slowly. We swayed side to side in the dimmed light of the room as old Sinatra songs filled the air. As we danced, the intensity between us grew until we were both dying to just get back to our room and enjoy the rest of our night 'exploring the pleasures of our future,' as Edward had so teasingly put it.

Edward walked up to the hostess stand at the top of the stairs, asking for a check and our coats. He came back with our coats in hand, holding mine for me to slide my arms inside before settling it on my shoulders. He turned back to the hostess, signing the final credit card slip, before cupping his hand at the small of my back to lead me toward the door to the restaurant. He was holding the door open when I heard a laugh behind me that I recognized. I froze solid, mid step, before slowly turning back around and finding myself staring at the profile of a man that I never thought I'd ever see again.

I'm sorry for the cliffie, but if I didn't end it here then this chapter would be something on the order of twice as long as it already is, so I had to stop here. Looking forward to your opinions!

Also, in case you're wondering, the Mr/Dr Cullen wasn't an accident. They keep using it randomly just for fun trying to get used to it for after they are married, but often revert back to their current names during serious times.

Finally, hanks so much for sharing your crazy teen stunts. They were great. If you're bored, you can always read the reviews from last chapter, some of you guys made my friends and I look like lame-o's! (and the fact that I used the term lame-o just goes to prove how lame I really am! LOL!)

As always, I'm looking forward to your opinions!