A/N Happy Tuesday! We're getting very close to the end of this story and again I want to thank each of you who continue to read, review, fave, and alert it. For my first fanfic, I'd like to think I have done well. We're not there yet, so don't worry; there are probably still 5 or 6 chapters left, but it's definitely close. Anyway, here is the chapter. Please let me know what you think!

Chapter 65 - Back to Laughing

When Edward brought in the warm wash cloth, Bella fell even more in love with him. She hadn't really thought it possible, but she was constantly proven wrong. He treated her like a queen and she wondered again what she had done to win herself such a wonderful man.

When he excused himself to go clean up, she sat herself down on the edge of his bed and used the wet terrycloth to clean herself up. Her ribs were protesting every movement she made, but she was still in such an Edward induced haze that she didn't really notice the pain; it felt more like an annoying itch she could couldn't reach. Still, she decided to head downstairs once she was dressed so that she could grab some tylenol out of her purse. Carlisle had told her to take tylenol to get her though the day but he also gave her a prescription for percocet which she had yet to even fill.

Since her blue shirt was now ruined, lying on the floor by Edward's bed with the buttons scattered all around the room, she rifled through her bags to find another one. She took into account that she would be looking at dresses and decided to stay with a button up; it would be easier that way. She also decided to go without a bra since the ace bandage was still tightly securing her.

She slipped her arms into a pink and white striped short-sleeved shirt and then pulled on a knee-length khaki skirt with a button fly front. To finish off the ensemble, she slid her feet into a pair of white two-inch heels, hoping they would be the right height for the dresses she would try on. She quickly looked down at herself and shook her head. She would always be a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl, but she had to admit, the clothes that Alice helped her pick out earlier in the week did make her look somewhat sexy. She would try to remember to thank her when she went downstairs.

As she left Edward's room, she stopped at the bathroom door. It had only taken her about five minutes to get dressed, so she wasn't surprised when she heard the shower still running. With a smile on her face and a sparkle in her eyes, she made her way downstairs and out to Edward's car to grab her purse. She had left it on the center console when they got home because he was in too much of a hurry to get her inside and up to his room.

Knowing she would need a drink to take the tylenol with, she headed back inside and to the kitchen. She smiled when she saw Emmett, Rosalie, and Alice all sitting around the kitchen table talking. As soon as Alice looked up and saw Bella standing there, she jumped out of her seat and propelled herself over to her. "Oh my god Bella! Emmett just filled us in on what happened. Are you okay? Are you still up for shopping? What about the wedding? Is it still on for tomorrow?"

She was firing out questions one right after the other, not leaving even half a second of opportunity to speak, let alone answer. Bella started shaking her head, holding her hands up, palms out, and laughing. She was about to jump in and say something to her over-exuberant almost-sister-in-law, when Emmett's booming voice broke in. "Christ, Alice! Give the girl a break! She's had a stressful morning and does not need you firing questions at her left and right." He walked up to Bella and wrapped her in a hug before whispering in her ear. "It's all right Li'l Sis, I've got your back!" He pulled back from the hug, placed a wet, sloppy kiss on her cheek, and then went back to sit by Rosalie.

"Eww! Em that was so gross!" she told him, unable to control her laughter as she brought her hand up to wipe her cheek. "I think I would rather be bombarded with Tink's twenty questions than to have you slobber on me like a dog again!"

"Hells, Bells. That hurt," Emmett said, clutching his chest. All he accomplished though was to make everyone else laugh that much harder.

Bella was definitely feeling better after her time with Edward and it felt great to laugh again. More than that though, it felt even better making everyone else around her laugh too. Emmett may have feigned hurt at her words, but he couldn't keep the smile off his face for more than three or four seconds.

"Oh shut up, ya big oaf," she laughed out, "or I'll tell Edward to leave your ass here." There was nothing behind her threat, really, but it was fun to watch his reaction at her words. "We'll take Rose with us instead," she added, winking at Rose who looked a little shocked.

"Why are we taking Rosie instead?" Edward asked as he entered the room with a big smile on his face. He walked right up to Bella, wrapped her in his strong arms, and placed a hungry kiss on her lips. "I missed you, Love," he whispered against her lips.

Bella's smile was still firmly planted on her face. The day seemed to have made a complete one-eighty. It was so refreshing to know that things could still go on as usual despite what happened. "Oh, I was just giving your oaf of a brother a hard time," she told him before going on to explain the conversation and sloppy kiss that Edward had missed.

Edward turned toward his brother with a shocked look on his face. "Dude, you seriously need to keep those lips to yourself, Bro, or share then with Rosie if you want. You may be bigger than me, but I'll do what I have to do to kick your ass if you touch Bella again," he joked causing Emmett to erupt into a loud belly laugh.

"You're hilarious, Little Eddie. You couldn't kick my ass even if my arms were tied behind my back and I was blindfolded. Now, enough talk about ass kicking and lets blow this joint. I wanna find me a tux that'll make Rosie's blood boil, if you know what I mean," he said before attacking Rosalie and making her squeal.

Everyone but Rosalie started heading for the door when Bella suddenly stopped in her tracks. She had promised Rosalie that she had forgiven her for her harsh words the other night, but she made no effort at the time to show it. "Rose?" she asked, turning to look at Rosalie, who was still sitting at the table looking down at her hands.

At the sound of her name, she looked up and her eyes met Bella's. "Yeah?" she responded, somewhat guarded.

"I know I was joking about taking you instead of Emmett before, but I'd really like it if you would go with us. You could help me pick out my dress," she added hopefully. Bella knew if she were in Rosalie's position, with most of her family leaving her behind to do something fun, she would feel extremely left out, so she was really hoping that Rosalie would decide to come with them. It would mean that they would have to take a second car, but that didn't seem like an issue.

Emmett got a huge smirk on his face at Bella's request, obviously thinking of something perverted. "Yeah, babe! Come with us!" She watched as he winked at Rosalie before adding, "Besides, how will I know my tux drives you wild if you're not there to help me pick it out." Emmett waggled his eyebrows at her, which earned him a smile and then a hard slap to the chest.

"Geez, Em, you're such a pervert," Rosalie laughed before turning back to Bella. "Are you sure, Bella? I don't want to intrude."

Bella sighed, realizing that it was her fault that Rosalie felt the way she did. "Rose, you're going to be my sister-in-law tomorrow. I'm an only child and I lost my mother two months ago. Charlie was the only family I had when I moved here, but your family welcomed me in with no questions asked. For that, I am truly grateful. I was serious before when I said I'd like it if you came with us." Without another word, Bella walked back to the table and offered her hands to Rosalie, who had a tear sliding down her face. When Rosalie's hands met her own, she pulled her up and wrapped her in a tight hug. "Will you come with us? You, Emmett, and Alice can take your car and Edward and I can take Angela in ours. Please? It would mean so much to me to have you there."

Rosalie returned her hug as her shoulders shook with quiet sobs. "Thank you Bella," she whispered through her tears. "It would be my pleasure to go with you guys today."

...

Edward sat holding Bella's hand in his as he drove toward Port Angeles to do some shopping. Angela was in the back seat listening as Bella recounted the events of their hectic morning. Emmett, Rosalie, and Alice were following them in Rosalie's red MR2 Spyder. While Bella and Angela were lost in their conversation, Edward kept sneaking sideways glances at his beautiful girl. Today was turning out to be absolutely perfect.

Bella continued to surprise him at every turn, and somehow, his love for her continued to grow. It already felt like his heart would burst out of his chest at any moment. He didn't understand how it was humanly possible to love her more than he already did, but everyday, that love continued to grow.

He couldn't help the smile that pulled at his lips as he thought about what happened at the house just before they left. He had been so unsure of things between Bella and his sister after the harsh words that were said the other night. It shouldn't have surprised him that Bella asked Rosie to come with them after everything that had happened today, but it did. Bella was the definition of selfless; she was willing to forgive any offense, love unconditionally, do everything in her power to make others feel good, and she was his. That thought sent butterflies fluttering though his stomach and reaffirmed to him that his feelings for her were genuine. It didn't matter what other people thought. It didn't matter that they were only eighteen-years-old and were getting married. It didn't matter that neither of them had graduated high school yet. It especially didn't matter that they had really only known each other for about a week. Bella was his soul mate, his true love, his other half; she completed him in so many ways he couldn't even begin to describe it.

About halfway to Port Angeles, the conversation shifted. Okay, so it had a lot to do with the fact that Alice called Bella's cell phone and made her put it on speaker as they drove, but still. It almost seemed as if Alice was the one getting married by how excited she was.

"Okay Bella, we need a plan. Do you know what you're looking for in a wedding dress? We won't have time to get it altered, so let's just hope we can find one to fit." He could just imagine his sister bouncing up and down in her seat as they spoke.

Bella sighed deeply while rolling her eyes at Angela. "Well Tink, I don't want anything too extravagant, so it shouldn't be a problem finding something that fits. Honestly, I was thinking about a plain white, satin gown. I want it to have an empire waist because I don't know if Carlisle will let me go without this damn ace bandage. I don't care if it has spaghetti straps, sleeves, or is sleeveless as long as it fits and looks okay on me." She shrugged her shoulders even though Alice couldn't see her, before looking over at him and catching his eye. "Alice, all I really care about is marrying your brother. Nothing else truly matters," she said while a tear escaped her eye.

He brought their joined hands up to her face and wiped the tear away with the back of his hand. I love you, he mouthed to her, making her smile sweetly. She kissed his hand before he moved them back down to rest on the center console. The conversation then moved on to what Angela would wear, what color flowers were going to be in the bouquet, if the men were going to wear boutonnieres. After a while, Edward stopped paying attention to the conversation and concentrated on the road in front of him. As the miles passed, he got closer and closer to taking Bella as his wife and nothing in the world could have ruined this moment for him.

He also started thinking about the fact that he wanted to buy Bella a wedding ring set. She wore the promise ring he had given her that belonged to his mother on her right hand, but her left hand was still bare. He had the money from his parent's life insurance and was going to delve into it for the first time. He couldn't think of a better way to spend it than that. He needed her to have the perfect symbol of his love for her, so as they entered the town limits, he knew exactly where their first stop was going to be.

As he pulled up in front of Fountain Square Jewelers on 1st, Bella looked over at him questioningly. "Edward, what are we doing here?" she asked looking at the store in front of her.

Edward smirked at her, knowing how much it drove her crazy, before answering her. "Love, tomorrow you will be my wife. As much as I would still love you to wear my mother's ring on your right hand, I want one for your left hand as well. I love you Bella. I want the world to see that we belong to each other. Will you help me pick out a set for this beautiful finger?" he asked as he traced the bare ring finger of her left hand.

"Oh Edward," she sighed as she leaned over to kiss his lips. "You are incredible in every way, do you realize that?"

"I'm only perfect for you, Love," he replied. He pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed it reverently before sliding out of the car. He opened the back door for Angela and then walked around to open Bella's door for her. "Shall we?" he asked both girls, quirking an brow.

"We shall," Bella responded, looping her left arm though his right. His adopted siblings met them on the sidewalk, each with a smile on their face, and together, the six of them walked into the jewelry store.

A/N Thanks again for reading. I wanted to let you know, if you haven't noticed already, that I have started another story. This one is a collaboration I'm working on with teamedwardforever1998. It's a lot different than this one, but I'm getting good reviews so far. Check it out if you have the time. Close to Home is the title. Thanks again and see you soon!