Author's Note: I had originally thought this would be the party chapter, but as usual, the plot had a mind of its own. Next chapter WILL be the party, and it begins with another bit of a chuckle before the drama begins. I'm going to post a teaser on my poor neglected blog. (Acullewannabe dot blogspot dot com) .

A big thanks to my beta AgoodWITCH. I have to thank her for convincing me to join a WC, which I'm not addicted to joining and helps me crank out chapters much more quickly! Also thanks to my WC ladies who have commented on the last few chapters. I'm sorry that I didn't take note of who helped with this, I must get better about that. You know who you are though, and I'm grateful!

Finally, I had the great honor of winning Kharizzmatik's Judge's Pick for the A Picture Says it All Anonymous contest for my oneshot Someday. Any of you who have read my stories for a while know that I'm a massive fan of Emancipation Proclamation. It's my drop everything to read story...so needless to say, that was quite an honor for me. Then last night, before I went to sleep, I got an cc of an email from my editor to someone in PR at the publishing house talking about book signings around the time of Convergence's release in JANUARY! Needless to say, I didn't fall asleep for another hour and a half after that. It's so surreal seeing all of this coming together. I'm so scared, excited, and nervous all at once! Thank you all so much for your support. I hope you all know that I would never have had the courage to even try to get published were it not for all of your kind words and encouragement. I owe you guys so much gratitude, more then words could ever convey! I love you guys hard!

Chapter 16

I woke up the next morning to gentle knocking and the smell of bacon. I smiled as I slid out of bed and walked to the door, cracking it open to peek out into the hallway. My smile widened at the sight of a rumpled, tired Edward smirking down at me.

"Ma asked me to let you know breakfast is ready."

I nodded and thanked him, promising to come right down before running a brush through my hair and tying my robe around my waist. I slid back into my fuzzy slippers before rushing down the stairs to join Edward at breakfast, forgetting for a moment that there was one person left who was still completely infuriated with us.

The memory lapse didn't last for long as I happily rounded the corner to the kitchen only to come face to face with my glowering older brother. The smile on my lips instantly fell as his eyes burrowed through me.

"Good morning, Emmett." I mumbled, feeling my face heat.

He just grunted before turning back to lock his gaze on his plate, eating almost mechanically. Edward cast sad eyes my way from where he sat across the table from my sullen older brother before nodding toward Mom at the stove. I turned to see her smiling compassionately at me as she held a filled plate toward me. I took it, kissing her on the cheek, and thanking her before crossing the room to slide into my regular seat next to Edward. As soon as my butt landed in the seat, Emmett tensed and stared at my plate.

I chewed my lip for a long moment before deciding that I was sick and tired of the silent treatment. Granted, the next conversation would have gone better if I had started with a better intro, but my frustration with him had been simmering long enough that it had reached a boiling point.

"Would you just grow up already and stop giving us the silent treatment? I swear you would think you were three the way you keep walking around pouting."

Edward tensed next to me as Emmett's head popped up, his eyes blazing in unchecked anger. "You want me to talk? Are you really sure about that, Bella? Because I figured you'd prefer the silent treatment to the earful I've been holding back for two days."

I sat down my fork with a sigh. "No, Emmett, because if we don't talk about stuff then we're never going to get past it! I hate you treating me like I don't even exist. You weren't even this bad to me when I accidentally melted all your collector's item Gi Joes when I was eight. Heck, you weren't even this mad at me when I told your girlfriend in the tenth grade that you made out with Gretchen Miller behind her back! So tell me, Emmett. Is what Edward and I have done really THAT horrible?"

Emmett's hands slammed the table making all of our plates jump with a noisy clatter. "YES! It is that horrible! It's like incest or something! He's our brother, Bella!"

I rolled my eyes, about to reply when Mom stepped in. "It's okay to be angry son, but battering the furniture and yelling at the top of your lungs will not help matters. I expect you to calm down this instant."

Emmett's eyes softened as they flashed up at mom before they dropped back to the table. He muttered an apology before taking a deep breath. I waited for him to take a few more and his shoulders to relax a bit before I started again.

"I told you the other night, though. It was never really like that for us, Emmett. We never really felt like a brother and a sister. We were always more like best friends. It's not as if we're related by blood or anything. Our parents just happened to marry when we were younger. That doesn't automatically make being together wrong."

Emmett sighed, his fist tightening on his fork again, but he managed to keep the physical reactions to the utensil this time. When he spoke, it was with a modulated volume, but the way in which he ground the deep, harsh tones out made it more than apparent exactly how angry he was.

"Well, to me he was my brother, just as much as you are my sister. To me it just feels sick."

Edward started to speak but stopped immediately when Emmett jerked in response to his voice before standing up quickly and stomping to the sink where he dropped his plate before stalking out of the room. I watched him leave with a tired sigh before turning back to my plate where I did more pushing around of my food than eating.

A little later, Pop came in, taking a plate and sitting across from us. After a while, he cleared his throat to get our attention. We both looked up warily, surprised to see a small smile playing at his lips.

"It was a long night, and I did a lot of thinking. This is what I finally decided, with your Mother's help. We will support you in this, seeing as how you have a groundwork that most people who have been together for years never manage to develop. You're starting ahead there and we respect that. We do, however expect you to be respectful in our house at all times. A little kissing is okay, although I would not suggest that in the presence of your brother for a long time yet, but nothing more under this roof or while in town. You are adults and I know I cannot dictate what you do at school, but here, I must insist you respect our wishes."

I blushed and nodded as Edward reached under the table to hold my hand, nodding alongside me.

"As for the party, we expect you both to assist in getting ready for it today, then after that, it is up to you what you want to do. You can either keep your distance from one another, and have a little more time without the public scrutiny, or you can face this thing head on and reveal to the world your relationship status. The choice is yours. If you feel you want to wait, but cannot bear to pretend any longer, you can make an appearance and then find an excuse to return to your room early. Watch a movie or something along those lines, but again, be respectful of our wishes."

I couldn't help but smile. Even in the midst of all this, they were giving us options, letting the decisions regarding all of this fall to us. I had never been more grateful for the parental units God had given me until that moment.

"As for damage control, I am going to talk with Emmett today, but you two must find a way to reach out to him. Your decisions, for better or for worse, have hurt him. He needs some sort of olive branch extended in order to mend your relationship. It will not be easy, but I believe it will be possible with time. Also, if you ever find you're having trouble in your relationship, please call Esme and I to help you. Don't let things build up and then blow up when there might be a chance that communication and advice from someone who has been there before might save the drama. Do we have a deal?"

Edward and I squeezed one another's hands under the table before I let go and ran around the table, hugging Pop's neck. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

He chuckled, as did Mom and Edward, as he patted my arm. "You're welcome, sweetheart. Anyone can see that the two of you have something special. Now you just have to protect and nurture it. Don't ever let anything come between you, and don't ever jump to conclusions. That's a recipe for disaster. If you have a problem or worry, talk it out, don't let it fester."

I felt myself chuckling as I watched Edward's eyes crinkle on the other side of the table. "Do you feel like you've stepped into an episode of Dr. Phil?"

Edward laughed harder as he nodded, mom's giggles echoing behind me.

After a moment, we settled down. Mom started us off with the first of decorating assignments and then sent us off to get dressed to work. Fifteen minutes later, I was walking back out of my bedroom in a pair of yoga pants and a sweatshirt to meet up with Emmett feeling up a giggling Rosalie outside his bedroom door. I huffed as I walked by, feeling jealous of how easy it was for them. We had to promise all this respect of their house stuff to Mom and Dad, and it was a sacrifice we were fully willing to make, but in the meantime, Emmett and Rose had been doing the nasty in Emmett's bedroom for more than two years with not a word spoken about it.

I was almost past when Emmett growled my way and warned me not to start. I turned toward them, my hands propped on my hips. I chewed on the inside of my lip to stay my words and choose something a bit less venomous when Rose turned to me with anger in her eyes.

I looked at her and felt my anger bubble again as my filter slipped. "Oh would you please stop giving me that look! It's not my fault he found out a night early. I didn't hurt him on purpose, so you have no reason to be so pissy with me, Rosalie."

Rosalie's eyes bugged and I tensed, realizing what I'd just said. Ironically, it wasn't until Emmett saw our reaction that he thought anything of what I'd said. Once the pieces started coming together, he pulled back from her with more hurt on his face.

Rose immediately started apologizing before turning to yell at me for throwing her under the bus, while I apologized and swore it wasn't intentional. It was chaos, as I begged Emmett not to be angry with Rose and explained how I begged her to let us tell him since it wasn't really her story to share. That digressed into a bigger yelling match. I kept expecting Mom or Dad to appear and break it up. To my surprise, the voice that eventually called out over the noise was not Mom or Dad; it was Edward.

"This is ridiculous, guys! We need to clear the air of this once and for all. Emmett, I love you like a brother, man, but with Bella, it's always been different. I love her. With. All. Of. My. Heart. Nothing is ever going to change that. I don't know any other way to make you understand this than to put it to you this way. What if it hadn't been your Mom and my Dad that had gotten married, but Rosalie's Dad instead? Would the fact that her Dad married your Mom make you feel any less love or attraction for her? We've talked about this before, how your whole existence revolved around her once you found her. Do you think that you could have ignored that simply because she was your step sister? If something fucked up happened that made your families merge that way today, would you be able to stop being with her and start treating her like a sister?"

Emmett just blinked blankly at Edward as he spoke, not even trying to interrupt. Edward moved closer, taking my hand in his and twining our fingers with a loving squeeze as he took a breath and finished his speech.

"You don't even have to answer, because I know the answer to every one of those questions is a big, fat NO. So why is that not all true for Bella and me? She is every fucking thing to me, Emmett. She's earth, water, air, and gravity. She's what keeps me grounded and sane on this rock of a planet, and it's been that way since we were ten, even if I wasn't able to admit the full extent of it. So this is how things are, and are going to be from now on. I love your little sister, and I'm going to keep loving her till the last breath leaves this body. Now it's up to you whether you can accept that or hate me forever, because it's not going to change."

With that, Edward lifted my hand to his lips and kissed the back before casting an apologetic look to a stunned Emmett and Rose before tugging me gently toward the stairs. We moved down to the living room where we started moving furniture and setting up the decorations Mom had requested. Before long, a quiet Rose and Emmett helped us move some of the heavier pieces, never once talking about anything other than furniture.

Once we got to work, things went quickly and we finished up way sooner than expected. Edward and I were lounging in the sun room with glasses of water when Mom walked in a with a twinkle in her eye.

"I need you guys to make one last supply run for me to Port Angeles. Now don't rush. I don't want you having a wreck on these roads. Take your time, enjoy the drive, and be back in time to get ready for the party."

She walked away after handing me a small slip of paper with one word, "Napkins."

Edward smiled over at me with a raised eyebrow as I started giggling. We personally opened and arranged the thousands of napkins on the tables earlier that morning. There was no way we needed napkins. Mom was just giving us a chance to go relax. We had discussed it earlier and told her that we had made up our minds. We were done hiding. Tonight we were going to come out of the proverbial closet to Forks society and let the chips fall where they may. Mom seemed proud, but also a bit worried. I had a sneaking suspicion that she wanted us to have some time to enjoy first before we faced the social firing squad later that night.