Chapter 89

Bella had just returned from a full day of shopping and seeing a movie with Renesme. She found herself spending as much time as she possibly could with her daughter, despite her attention being passed around from herself, Edward and Jacob.

The two of them walked through the doors, where Jacob waited with open arms. He scooped up Renesme and twirled her around as if they hadn't seen each other in months. Bella was glad her daughter had Jacob to take care of her.

Masen and Esme entered a few seconds later, and Bella guessed they had also been bonding throughout the day, seeing as the two of them were gone before she and Renesme left earlier in the morning.

Esme looked around the room, noticed Kate and Garrett playing a game of chess in the corner and sensing a few others were scattered around the house. A good number of them were missing. "Where'd everyone go off to?"

"They're all practicing different things," Rosalie told her, "Out at the usual spot."

"I've had my share of shocks for the day," Garrett joked from the corner, not looking up from the chess board, "I didn't have my man Masen there to ease the pain." He let out a laugh.

"It was kind of brutal," Rosalie told them, smiling.

"Tough love," Kate said with her back to them.

"I'm about to head back down," Rosalie told them, "Anyone with me?"

"I'm coming," Masen said eagerly.

"I heard you did good yesterday," Rosalie told him, "Took out Emmett huh?"

He nodded, "After getting beat like twenty times first."

"You'll get him today," she smiled, "Bella, Edward's already down in the field if you want to come too."

She nodded, "Sure," then raised her bags of clothes, "I'm just going to put these away. I'll meet you all down there."

Renesme turned to her mother, pulling away from Jacob momentarily, "I love you," she said, "Thanks for taking me out today."

Bella smiled and hugged her daughter, "I love you, too. It might be good for you to join them down there."

"We're going," she assured her. There was rarely a time when Renesme referred to only herself anymore. It was always "we" or "us".

"Carlisle's taking a break," Rosalie told Esme, "He's been laying down upstairs for like a half hour. He was facing off against people all day."

"Okay, thanks Rose."

Esme made her way to their room, where Carlisle almost looked like he was sleeping. He laid in a comfortable pair of sweatpants and long sleeved thermal with thick winter socks on top of the bedspread. He opened his eyes as she entered.

"Sleeping?" she asked with a smile.

"Sometimes I wish I could," he told her, returning the smile and closing his eyes again.

Esme kicked off her shoes and cuddled behind him, throwing an arm around his mid section and resting her head by the back of his.

"How was your day with Masen?" He asked.

She took in a deep breath, taking in his scent from being so close to him, "It was good," she said with a sigh, "We walked for awhile. I showed him a lot of new places in Forks that he didn't know existed."

"Sounds nice," Carlisle told her.

"Yeah, it was. We went into Seattle for a little while, too. They had that same type of Christmas set up from last year."

"I guess he's a little too big to sit on Santa's lap for a photo, huh?"

Esme snickered, "Yeah. I think Santa would have been a little weirded out."

Carlisle's chuckle sent a vibration through his body and made Esme smile. She pulled herself an inch or so closer to him, tangling her feet in between his.

"You make me feel warm," he put his hand over hers that still hung over his stomach.

Esme kissed head and played with his hair with her free hand, "Tomorrow's Christmas Eve."

"We'll have quite the party," he told her, referring to all of their guests.

"Yeah."

"Then Masen's birthday," Carlisle went on, "What should we get for him?"

"He already made me a list," Esme laughed, "I have it in my purse. I picked out a few things already."

"Emmett wants to take him hunting up in Alaska, or Canada," Carlisle said, "What do you think?"

"On his actual birthday?"

"I think so."

"As long as I get to spend the day with him."

Carlisle rubbed her hand, "I'll let them go the day after then. Is that okay?" He felt her nod.

"I wish we could sleep, too, sometimes," Esme told him in response to his comment earlier. She closed her eyes.

"Mm," he responded.

In the hall, they heard Emmett's voice, recognizing he'd just entered the house. He chatted for a moment with Bella before the two of them stood in the open doorway.

"Knock knock," Emmett said.

Carlisle forced his eyes open, "I overheard you two talking. You can take Masen the day after his birthday if you want." He closed his eyes again.

Bella looked at Emmett, "I told you it'd be fine," she teased him for a second, "He was scared to come and ask you."

Emmett shook his head, "Bella-"

Esme and Carlisle both laughed for a second. "Scared of me, Emmett?" Esme asked, sitting up.

"Hey, I just didn't want to take him away from his mama on his first birthday, you know. In case you wanted to put a party hat on him, and I dunno, get him diapers, like all the humans do on their babies first birthdays."

"I heard you were thinking of Canada or Alaska? Which one?"

"I figured we could kind of see where we ended up," Emmett said, "I mean unless that's not okay."

Carlisle rolled on his back and looked over at Esme with a shrug and a nod.

"That's fine," Esme assured her son, "We trust you guys. Just as long as Alice's visions don't change."

Emmett nodded, "Okay well, I'm going back down with the rest of them. Coming to try to challenge me, Bella?"

"Hardly a challenge," she joked, trying to sound convincing.

"Ha!" Emmett mocked a laugh.

They waved goodbye to Carlisle and Esme, making their way out of the house and down to the field with everyone else.

"Emmett," Bella said, "I wish we could come up with some kind of a plan. I feel so bad for Esme and Carlisle. They looked so peaceful just now. They don't deserve this."

"We are coming up with a plan, Bella," Emmett assured her, "Having the numbers that we have is part of it, thanks to Edward making his rounds with the Denali's."

"I know," she shook her head, "Alice just said last time that there would have been great losses on both sides if the Volturi chose to fight. What if that-"

"Don't think about it," he cut her off, "It takes your edge away." His look turned serious and he stopped briefly, "What I've learned from these types of things is.. you have to go into this with ice water in your veins. If you don't, or you hold yourself back," he shrugged, "Well, that's when bad things happen."