BPOV

"Bella?" Gram called while my eyes remained shut.

"Bella's not here," I mumbled, snuggling my cheek against my pillow.

I felt Gram's fingers run through my hair as she laughed at my antics. She kissed my head before she started poking me.

"It's Mommy's birthday, sweetie," she murmured in my ear.

I knew today was going to be rough not only on mom, but on me as well. Every year on one of our birthdays, Dad planned the whole day out to a tee. It always was perfect with no flaws in his plans… ever.

Last year for mom's birthday, Dad woke her up to breakfast on the beach. Charlie definitely couldn't cook, but with a little of my help we made her blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, and sausage. The sausage part grossed me out, but it was all in the name of mom's birthday.

I didn't know I was crying until Gram wiped my tears away, holding me tightly in her arms. "Shhhhh," she soothed. "No tears, Bella. Today's a happy day and your father would want his girls to be happy, would he not?"

I nodded my head against her shoulder.

"We should make her breakfast," I whispered.

"That is already taken care of. Phil and Emmett came over this morning."

"They're here?"

"Phil's talking with your mom and Emmett's knocked out on the couch," she chuckled.

"Are mom and Phil… you know...together?" I croaked.

Gram smiled at me sadly, moving my hair over my shoulder. "Your mother and I have talked about it and she says they're just friends, but she's been battling with the decision to be more."

I took a deep breath, feeling the same kind of pain that I did last week when Alice brought it up.

"Baby, talk to me," Gram murmured. "Since you both came to live here, I've noticed that you are so much like Charlie."

"I am?"

"You are," she grinned. "The first time I met your father was the day you were born. I remember Gramps tried his hardest to give him a rough time. No one was good enough for his Nee, but your dad stood his ground. He was guarded and polite and didn't let anyone know we irritated him. He just held you close, protecting you without saying a word."

I thought about what she said. "How does that make me like him?" I whispered.

"You protect everyone you love. You have your guard up so one knows you're hurting, but Bella I know you're hurting. Please, talk to me," she repeated, kissing my head.

"Isn't it too soon?" I asked. "You know for mom to move on?"

Gram sighed as she started to run her fingers through my hair again. "It has been almost a year and Phil has been a rock for her. Your father wouldn't want her to live miserably. He would want her happy. Baby, Phil's been making her happy."

"I miss Daddy," I mumbled against her shoulder.

"I know you do Bell and you can tell us when you do," she soothed. "It's okay to talk to someone. Have you ever talked to Edward?"

Knowing what she meant, I shook my head. We weren't like that; we didn't share our sob stories with each other. Our love was like an outlet for getting away from that stuff. In the beginning I knew about Lizzie and Eddie, but since Lizzie left, Edward just sort of acts like they didn't exist.

"Maybe you should," she suggested.

I nodded and she stood from my bed. "Do you want to go say good morning to your mom?"

"Yeah."

As I watched Gram leave, I let out a breath. Though talking about the idea of mom and Phil made me feel a little better, it still hurt in some ways. Phil was a good guy and if anything grew with him and mom I would gain Emmett as a brother, which would be cool I guess. Then I thought about Dad. I wasn't really religious and didn't have many beliefs, but I would like to think he was watching over us. If he was, didn't it hurt him to see Phil filling his role? Did he pine away for mom? Ugh, too much existential thinking for 7 a.m. on a Saturday.

I was walking down the hall to mom's room when I heard sniffles and whispers. Peeking in, I saw Phil sitting on the edge of the bed, holding mom on his lap. She was clinging to him, crying her heart out. I heard Charlie slip out a few times. Phil caught sight of me standing in the doorway and waved me in. I shook my head mouthing 'later'. He smiled sadly at me, but let it go.

Without a second thought I went downstairs, seeing Emmett sprawled out on the couch in his pajamas. I had to giggle at him the way his mouth was wide open as he snored and at his flannel football pants and his Forks High Football Association hoodie. He mumbled something and I moved to snuggle with my brother bear. When I settled in, he opened one eye, giving me a dimpled grin.

"We made your mom a birthday feast," Emmett informed.

"We?"

"Okay you caught me. Dad did," he snorted.

"Sleep," I told him.

"Sleep."

We didn't wake up until ten when mom literally poked us awake. She kissed both our heads when our protests stopped. Emmett gave her the same dimpled grin he gave me earlier, wishing her the sweetest happy birthday. That's when I noticed she looked at Emmett the same way she looked at me. I knew she felt for him because he lost his mom so young. Even though she didn't want to replace her, she still treated Emmett just like she did me.

"You two were sleeping so we ate breakfast," she sighed.

"Why didn't anyone wake us up?" I asked.

"I was going to, but you both were too cute to wake," she giggled. "Don't worry. Phil said he'd make you guys omelets too."

"Good ole' Pops has my back," Emmett fist pumped as he rushed to the kitchen.

"Happy Birthday, Mommy," I said quietly, leaning on mom.

I could see the tears in her eyes. It had been a long time since I called her that, but I knew she needed me today.

"Thank you, baby," she whispered, kissing my head.

"So Phil made breakfast?"

"Yeah, it was actually pretty great. I think we should keep him around," she teased. "He even made a veggie omelet for you."

"That's cool," I commented.

She looked down, catching my eye. "I miss Daddy too."

That's all it took for us too break down and it felt good to cry it out. No one bothered us for the fifteen minutes we sat there. When I finally did get to eat my omelet, I couldn't deny that Phil was an excellent cook.

I heard the front door hit the wall as Alice tore down the hallway. "Bella," Alice whined as she burst into the kitchen with Edward on her tail.

All week she had practically lived here, avoiding Rosalie's house at all cost. Edward wasn't a gossip, but he told me every time he was at Rose's house, Jasper wouldn't shut up about her. I think they were driving my boyfriend a little bit batty.

She stopped seeing our full kitchen. "Happy Birthday, Renee," she smiled big at mom before kissing her cheek.

"Thank you, Alice."

"Bella," Alice addressed me yet again.

She's insane. Edward signed from behind her.

I gave him a questioning look as she grabbed my hand. I saw Emmett stand to follow us. Alice literally dragged me up to my room where a small meeting commenced.

"Okay Alice, spill it," I sighed, cozying back under my covers.

Edward kicked off his shoes before he climbed in bed and spooned me. Emmett grabbed the blanket from the huge leather seat in the corner of my room and plopped down. Today was definitely going to be a lazy Saturday.

"So Jasper came over to my house last night… asking for me," she shrieked.

"I thought you were ignoring that douche nozzle," Em whined theatrically for Alice's benefit.

"Well, I am," she said calmly.

Edward and I exchanged a glance. His fingers traced my skin under the blanket and it felt pretty amazing.

"Doesn't sound like it, Tink," Em snorted.

"Whatever," she huffed. "Bella, what should I do?"

As her friend, I knew Alice didn't want the common knowledge answer. She wanted to hear what she wanted to hear: a sugar coated optimistic answer and I guess I was happy to oblige.

"Talk to him, I guess… see what he wants," I shrugged.

"Yeah, but he's an ass," she frowned.

Emmett and I groaned at that. There really was no winning with her. Like at all.

"Come on Tink, let's devise some sort of plan," Em offered, standing up as he led her out of the room.

And then there were two. Edward's hands started to roam and I moaned as his hand snaked into my shorts. I rubbed his arm trying to get his attention.

"Edward," I sighed, squirming under his touch.

"I missed you," he said against my lips.

The truth was I missed him too. Since Alice went on her hate Jasper crusade, I hadn't really seen much of him. I was with Alice trying to comfort her and he was busy hanging out with Rose. Rosalie felt everyone had abandoned her for me and her drug use was much more than recreational now.

I wiggled some more until I had him on his back. He propped his knees up leaving his feet planted firmly on the bed and I sat on his stomach, getting comfortable on my Edward chair as I reclined my back against his thighs.

How are things? I signed.

Great now that I have my beautiful girl sitting on me. He grinned, rubbing the tops of my thighs.

I looked down at him, watching his green eyes dance. I stared at his beard, kind of excited hockey season was almost over. Emmett informed me Edward's team was starting to tank, which meant as soon as they were out of the playoffs the bread was gone. Don't get me wrong, at first I loved the beard and thought it was super sexy. But after about a few weeks, months even, it became super scratchy and uncomfortable against my skin.

Quit looking at the beard.

It needs to go. I said waving my hands in emphasis.

So, I'm pretty sure Carlisle is going to propose to my aunt soon. He changed the subject.

He has been on the verge of proposing for months.

I think this time he means business.

She will say yes.

He got a huge smile on his face when I said that. Like this big toothy grin that makes me want to smile.

If I asked you, would you say yes?

I just stared at him, thinking I didn't understand correctly. I have to say I picked up signing pretty quickly, but there are times I can't interpret what he means.

Please repeat that?

"If I asked you to marry me, what would you say?" he said this time.

If you asked me right now, I would say no. Ask me in a couple years and I would say yes. I shrugged.

Good to know. He smirked.

Edward twined our fingers together, silently playing with mine. He grinned big up at me again.

"Carlisle's been acting weird though," he said keeping eye contact with me, playing with my fingers, which meant it was talk time.

"How so?" I asked, even though I really already knew.

I told Carlisle about Edward fixing my computer and helping me with my homework. So he took it upon himself to form a plan to get Edward out of Mrs. Cope's class and have him take his GED.

"Things keep breaking in the house," he said suspiciously. "Like a lot of things. He makes me fix them."

"That is weird."

"You wouldn't know anything about it?" he asked, cocking his head.

"Me? Nooooo."

"Uh huh," he said, cupping my face.

"You're brilliant," I pouted.

"You know what I love most about you?"

"What?" I frowned.

"You have all this… faith in me. It makes me want to prove I'm worthy of you."

"But Edward, you are worthy of me," I said, kissing him quick.

"Am I going to find out what you two are up to?"

"Soon," I promised.

"Love birds, get down here," Emmett yelled.

"Emmett is bellowing for us," I explained, lifting my leg over him.

"Does he sound annoying?" Edward asked curiously.

I stopped to look at him, not completely sure on how to take that comment.

"Be nice," I warned.

"I'm actually wondering," he said quietly. "I remember hearing certain things when I was younger."

"Like?"

"Eddie and Lizzie yelled… they yelled a lot. I hated hearing it. Lizzie seemed to always shriek when she spoke. Eddie's voice was low, rough… I guess raspy. He was always high so maybe that's why he sounded like that."

"So you think Emmett would sound annoying, why?" I encouraged, genuinely interested in his answer.

"He's big, so I can imagine him being loud. When he speaks his mouth opens wider than most people. I couldn't imagine anything soft or quiet leaving him because of that."

I had to laugh at that because it was true. Phil and my mom always had to tell him to use his inside voice.

"What about me?" I asked, biting my lip.

"You probably sound sweet, quiet… maybe a little raspy. When you speak against me, sometimes your words feel breathy?"

I blushed at his description of my voice. I'm not sure what I sound like or if I could do his description any justice. I knew I was quiet or soft spoken because a lot of people always asked me to repeat myself and teachers asked me to speak louder.

"How do you sound?" he asked, brushing his thumb against my cheek. "What I wouldn't give to hear your voice."

I leaned down, making sure my lips were brushing the side of his face. "I love you, Edward Masen."

He felt my words. I knew it in the way he hugged me tighter to him. That's what I could give him. He might not be able to hear me, but I would make sure he would always be able to feel my love.

A/N: Yo guys, hope you have fantastic holiday! Let me pick your brain; tell me what you're thinking! This week I had only one set of eyes beta so a huge thanks to rainydays23. If you reading Conversations I'm trying to crank it out now, in EPOV… and it's ROUGH!