A/N I know I know...I'm a huge slacker. I can make a bunch of excuses like I got this amazing new job and I moved...but you don't want to hear about that. This chapter finishes their trip in Forks. I'll post another one by the end of the week...to any of my old readers that are still around, thanks for coming back! Review review!

Chapter 15

Tonight was our last night in Forks before heading back to Enumclaw for classes tomorrow. I had done so well keeping the unwelcome thoughts of school at bay, but at least my classes tomorrow didn't consist of my unbearable math class and Ms. Alvarez; whatever her angle was. Esme had invited everyone we knew to our house for dinner tonight. We never held formal dinners when we had people over, just a large, buffet style table filled with everyone's favorites. Charlie and Sue would be coming, along with both wolf packs, and all the imprintees. We thought it would be a good opportunity for Angela to meet and get acquainted with everyone.

Angela seemed to be doing well considering all the newly found knowledge she now held. I could see in her mind that she was having an internal battle as to what she wanted to do about Ben. Apparently she and him were having problems with the distance, and not as close as they used to be. She couldn't ignore her attraction to Seth, much like most imprinted humans.

After their movie night last night, I picked up Renesmee and took her home to sleep while Bella stayed at Angela's for a few more hours to fill her in on any missing details. She was now educated on everything that Bella knew; from the chase through Phoenix with James, to the confrontation with the Volturi after Nessie was born. Seth wasn't happy about the girl's night last night. He was hoping he would get to stay over. I personally wouldn't be too surprised if he pulled a leaf from my book and returned to her windowsill to watch her sleep. I can't get over how creepy I was, but more so surprised that Bella didn't run from me after that.

"What are you thinking about baby?" Bella approached me wiping her hands at the side of her pants from the sticky residue from the apples she had been cutting.

"Just thinking about how I used to sneak into your room to watch you sleep."

"Pervert."

"Yet you still love me for it." I smiled, pulling her in for a kiss. Her arms reached up behind my head reciprocating my need to always be touching her.

Seth and Angela both walked through the door staring at us.

"Since when is Bella all about public displays of affection?" Angela asked.

"This is nothing. Try living with them." Jacob retorted walking past us.

"It's a vampire thing, I guess." Bella responded barely long enough to take her lips from mine, and then returned them to where we left off.

"Love? Later at the cottage alright?"

"We're leaving after dinner, Edward."

"Damn. Meet me there in twenty minutes then okay?"

"Babe, we'll miss the festivities if we leave. You know we won't be able to come back."

"I promise we will. Just give me a few more moments at home before we have to go back to that dumb school."

"Just exactly how many times have you graduated high school, Edward?" Angela asked.

"Way too many to count, or care. If you want to count, our graduation caps are hanging in the other room."

"Seriously?"

"Yep."

"Come on Seth, let's go." She took Seth's hand pulling him through towards the other room.

"Alone at last." I murmured.

"I still promised Esme I'd finish cutting the fruit. Twenty minutes remember?"

"See you there, love."

I left my wife to her kitchen duties she'd been roped into. Charlie and Sue hadn't arrived yet, but most of the packs were here. They were all gathered in the family room on and around the couches, Emmett included, watching a football game. Renesmee was sitting on Jacob's lap as he traced random shapes on her back with his fingers. Who would have thought I'd ever welcome him into my family with open arms. I'm not sure what I would have ever done without him. I owed him my life. He looked over at me, stiffening and bringing his hand down. I just shook my head and smiled. The boy needed to loosen up with me a bit. Truth be told, I needed to loosen up with him too.

I decided to head over to the cottage a few minutes early since everyone else was otherwise engaged. Walking into our home, I closed the door behind me and dimmed the lights which changed the lighting to a luminescent purpleish glow.

I removed all the picture frames and any glass fixtures from our room and set them on the couch in the living room. This consisted of three large canvases from our wedding, and a family photo taken last Christmas. I didn't intend on being careful or quiet this time around. I unbuttoned my grey shirt and pants and laid them on an upholstered chair in our elaborate closet. When I heard the front door open and shut, it only took an instant for me to whisk Bella into my arms and carry her to our bed.

"Five star service I see." She joked.

"Honey, if we've ever been to a hotel where anyone gives you this type of service except for myself, they better be prepared for me to rip their heads off."

"I'm only yours Cullen. Now how about you help me out of these clothes."

I carefully pulled her sweater over her head and had her lay on her back to remove her pants. I never promised to be careful with her underwear. I looked down at my beautiful wife in all her glory waiting for me to pleasure her in every way possible. It took all my strength not to throw her up against the wall and take her there.

Nothing could hurt us. We had been overly cautious and quiet with Renesmee in the house, so alone moments like these were cherished more than any fortune. Only seven years ago was I still a hundred and nine year-old brooding teenager. Now I had a family. A wife I loved beyond reason, more than my own existence, and a miracle child that I was blessed with to care for an eternity. How can you ask for more than that?

I lowered myself onto the bed with Bella and took her into my arms.

"I love you baby, so much." I whispered in between tender kisses trailing down her neck.

She hitched a breath.

"I love you too, Edward. Do we have to go back tonight?"

"Shhh...we only have about a half hour before everyone finishes dinner. No talking." And then the night's silence was filled with the sounds of our love intensifying through the walls.

When we arrived back at the main house, Bella had re-brushed her hair, and our clothes were without a single wrinkle. I greeted Charlie with a hug and smile and gave Sue a quick kiss on the cheek.

"You two are going to have to come visit us up in Enumclaw." I mentioned. "There's lots of good fishing up there Charlie. We should make a day of it!"

"I'd like that. I'll arrange to get some time off work to come see you guys."

"Dad, how about you guys come up the week of Thanksgiving? You can fish the weekend before, and then we can all head back to Forks for the holiday weekend."

"Sounds great Bells. I'll see if I can arrange some time off at work. I have a few vacation days saved up."

"Can't wait." Bella gave her father a quick hug and then followed into the next room to find our daughter. I trailed in after her.

Several of the guys were sitting on the floor with Emmett and Jasper playing the Xbox, and all the girls were sitting at Esme's favorite table, looking over photo albums.

"And here's a picture of teenage Edward right around the time puberty hit." Esme laughed holding up a stack of faded, sepia pictures she had scavenged after my parent's had died. Bella ran to Esme's side to poke and laugh at my pubescent, pimpled face.

"Really Bella?"

"It's one of my favorites! I could never pass up looking at this gem."

I walked over strategically cornering Esme and Bella into the corner of the room, hoping I would have just enough time to jump over and around them, taking the pictures with me. My wife was too fast for me. She caught my left leg in mid sprint and the pictures I had taken went flying all over the room. The boys looked up from their paused game with surprise, but Emmett was already ahead of me. He had snatched up a handful of photos and held them in front of his face.

"These are the pictures you'd never let me see Eddie?" he jeered.

"Oh man, look how gangly you were! And you're totally wearing a little Newsies hat and everything!" he passed around the pictures to the other guys and they all took a few seconds laughing at it before passing it on.

"Mom!" I complained. "Stop them!"

"Oh hush Edward, I think they're cute."

My wife and daughter held in a fit of giggles as I stood myself up and brushed out wrinkles from my fall.

"Seriously man, give them here." I sternly held my hand out to the guys who knew I was serious. As soon as I had collected all twelve photos, I walked back to the table and put them back in the little wooden box they were kept in.

"Really babe, you were a darling boy," Bella tried reassuring me by wrapping her arms around me and looking up with her electrifying gaze.

"Ha yeah. I'm just grateful I got to pass my awkward phase in less than a year." Renesmee laughed at me.

It was true. She took over puberty in less than eight months, and it still wasn't even that terrible. Dumb pictures. I really should have burned them, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Those twelve photos were some of the few memories I had from my human life.

I ignored the other chortles through the room and swooped my head lower to retrieve a kiss from my loving wife. I remember showing her my photos the first time. It was about three months after the Volturi had left, and Bella was making inventory of everything in my old room. We were sorting through things to bring to the cottage, and things to leave in the main house.

"What are these?" She asked sincerely opening the box.

"Oh," why was I embarrassed? "Just a few photos of my human life. I can't believe I haven't shown them to you before."

She didn't need to say anything after that. Although her immortal eyes could gather every detail from a photo in less than a second, she cherished each picture by staring at each one for several minutes. Her eyes sparkled and her lips turned up into a smirk when she flipped to a picture of me as a baby, sitting on my mother's lap.

"Edward these are incredible. Definitely coming to the cottage."

"Actually I kind of like them here. Keeping my old family and my new family together ya know? Plus Esme paws through them every so often. Keep them in the book case and you can always look at them here whenever you'd like."

"Okay." She gave me a quick peck on the cheek and set the wooden box back in the book case.

"Remember how I said we should keep those photos here?" I asked my darling wife. "Well, I think I've changed my mind. I don't trust them in the same house as Emmett."

Her arms still clung around my back as she looked up into my face. "Okay, we can take them back to the cottage tonight if you'd like."

"Yes please." I finished the conversation with another quick kiss.

The evening was getting pretty late and we still had quite a drive back to Enumclaw. I still wasn't comfortable enough to call the place my home. I felt like it was more of a destination for a lengthened leave of absence. The time was nearly nine, and we had planned to leave by ten.

"Ness, you better start saying your goodbyes now. We need to head out in about an hour."

She gave me a little pout while sending me the message we could always take a sabbatical Dad. I think I like it here more than Enumclaw. I'd rather be a Spartan than a Hornet anyways.

I let out a laugh. "Nice try missy. We can come back and visit again soon. Start gathering your stuff. If there's anything from the cottage you want to bring back, you better think of it now."

"You guys have a cottage?" Angela asked. I should have known she'd be eavesdropping in on every conversation.

"Yes! Oh Ang you should see it! It's seriously right out of a fairy tale book!" Of all the gifts my wife had been given, the cottage was by far her favorite. One day…I would find a car amazing enough to impress and surprise my wife. It was a promise I made to myself.

"Can I? Do you have enough time to show me?"

Bella looked earnestly at me with a pleading gaze. Sheesh, she knew I wouldn't say no.

"Okay okay. Why do I feel like I'm everyone's father setting the rules?"

"You kinda are Daddy!" Ness bumped hips with me as she passed with another plate of food.

"Can I just say how weird it is for a girl that nearly looks older than you to be calling you Daddy? No offense, but it sort of freaks me out."

"I'm a hundred and sixteen Angela. That's really the weirdest part. If you want to go to the cottage, it is a quite a ways on foot, and you can't reach it by car. Bella will have to carry you if you want to be back in time."

"Bella are you strong enough to carry me?" Angela's exasperated tone was even more startled by the fact of my wife's strength, than the moment she drank a full glass of human blood in front of her.

"Pshh. Of course. Light as a feather. You better close your eyes though, it will make it easier. Hop on my back and we'll take a quick trip over."

Angela reluctantly sat her soda cup on the table and followed Bella outside where she climbed on her back. In a rush they were gone, so I decided to make good with Charlie. I joined him on the couch while waiting for them to come back.

"How's everyone handling the move, Son?" I loved that he accepted me enough to call me that.

"Alright I suppose. We all miss Forks terribly."

"You know I don't oppose you moving back, Edward. Ness could home school."

"You know that she's probably smarter than most of the teachers at the school right? We just want her to have a glimpse at a normal life. I want her to experience high school dances, finals week, and all the stuff in between. She's incredibly smothered by our family at times, so it's nice for her to make some new friends."

"I'm standing right here you know." She yelled with a mouth half full of potato chips. I turned my head to see both Jake and Ness standing in the kitchen, each with their own bag in hand. The image was honestly a hilarity.

"To be honest Edward, I'm not sure how Carlisle makes enough money to keep those two's appetites sated. I think that's Nessie's third bag of chips."

"Justh mah thecond!" she squeeled with chip flakes falling out of her mouth. Her and Jake locked eyes and began a giggle fest where they eventually had to spit out the remnants of food in their mouth into their hands. I'm glad my birth mother wasn't alive to see my daughter behave like that. She'd probably have an aneurism.

Charlie and I kept small talk for about ten minutes more when I heard Bella and Angela return.

"Finally!" Seth exhaled and ran to his new infatuation. She didn't look very amused. She was an incredibly faithful person, and was still technically with Ben. I wasn't sure how that was going to pan out, but like I thought before, things didn't really look good for him.

I approached my wife and gave her a hug and a kiss on her head. "So…Angela what did you think?"

"It was beautiful! Esme I heard you designed and rebuilt it. Whenever I buy a house, you're hired!"

"Thanks dear. It was definitely one of my favorite projects."

"Everyone, we have about a half hour before we have to make our trip back. Jake, you and Nessie are probably going to end up sleeping half the way so we need to get going quickly."

"If we're driving separately, why the rush to get back?" He was still munching away at the lingering remnants of food left on the table. He had picked it to table scraps.

"Because Jake, I don't very much like the idea of carrying you into the house. You stink."

"Fine, fine. Well boys, I guess this is it. Come say hi to us out west." And with that, the rest of the tribes were all giving Jake a slap on the back and saying their goodbyes. Bella ran into her father's arms for a hug which led to a tender father/daughter discussion, and the rest of my family was lugging down suitcases to take out to the cars.

When you add the two wolf packs, Sue and Charlie, the imprintees and my family all saying their farewells, it took nearly two hours to get out of the door. As much as I hated being away from my wife, we decided that she'd drive with Jake in the new Audi, and I'd drive Ness home. Bella hardly had any alone time with Jake recently anyways.

I barely made it to the interstate before Ness was snoring and I was left alone in silence. It had been a long time since I drove alone. Driving through Port Angeles in silence reminded me of the time I had followed Bella there that first month I knew her; again, yes I was a creep. But I can't even begin to imagine what would have happened if I hadn't have been there.

Bored, I pulled out my phone to send Bella a quick text. Thank goodness for my spidey senses. I had no problem double tasking while driving. If I ever caught Renesmee texting and driving, I'd probably rip her future license in half and never let her drive again.

Jake still awake? –E

It took about a minute for her to respond.

Nearly. He keeps mumbling incoherent sentences, but still trying to participate in discussion. Renesmee?- B

Out like a light. I'm bored L- E

Poor baby. I'll call you in a minute. Miss you- B

Miss you more. I'll wait for your call. – E

Two minutes later, my phone buzzed in the center console and I swiped my thumb across the touchscreen to answer.

"Hi baby. I feel like you're way too far away from me right now. Did Jake finally fall asleep?"

"Yeah. He stopped ranting about two minutes ago so I figured he was out for the count."

"I'm glad. Even if it means I have to carry him into the house."

"Pansy. I'll do it if it's such a big deal."

"Nah, I'll step up to be the man dear. It's my duty." I heard her soft chuckle through the line and could just imagine her delectable lips a few couple hundred feet behind me. Maybe we should stop somewhere to fill up the gas tanks? I still had half a tank left, but the gas was cheaper here surely.

"Honey, how's your gas tank?"

"Edward we filled up before we left. Don't tell meyou have a leak."

"Well, no… But I was thinking, the price of gas is almost ten cents cheaper here than it is in Enumclaw. Maybe we should take advantage?" She knew well that it wouldn't hurt my pocketbook the extra three dollars I'd save in gas, but she didn't object to it. Score! Well, I was gonna…in about five minutes.

"Excellent. There's a rest stop with a station in about five miles. Sound good?"

"Mr. Cullen, you sure do know how to show a girl a good time." I gave a hearty laugh to her response. Her voice was all sultry and playful. I loved playful Bella.

"Only the best for the love of my life, dear. So I was thinking…"

"What were you thinking?"

"While we are stopping, well there's no sense in wasting the surrounding forest. Especially when I need to loosen you up for gym tomorrow."

"Unnnnnghhhh. Honey, why did you have to bring that up? It kind of kills the mood."

I smiled because I knew my response would have an opposite effect. "Well you see love, I get to see you in your uber sexy little yellow shorts. And you get to see me in mine. Also, I seem to recall a little secret opening underneath the bleachers on either sides of the locker rooms. I know how fast you can get dressed and visa versa. What do you think? Up to the challenge"

Silence. I could hear her quickening breaths on the line. I knew I already had her, hook, line, and sinker.

"How do you do that?" she asked. She was all hot and bothered. It didn't take much these days.

"Do what?" Oh it was so fun to play innocent. She knew I was anything but.

"With just a few words, make me anxious for gym tomorrow."

"Who wants to wait for tomorrow? The exit is a half a mile away love. Deep breaths. See you in a minute." I needed to take my own advice. I was gripping the steering wheel so tight that the rubber beneath my fingers was straining into a perfect molding of my hand. I pulled up to the gas pump, locked the door, pocketed my keys, and eyed the midnight blue sedan pulling in behind me.

I had never felt more alive than the last few years with my wife. She pocketed her keys, then walked excruciatingly slow in my direction; willing me to spontaneously combust. I knew there were a dozen security cameras in the lot, so I had to walk at a boring, human pace. When I finally had her in my arms, her lips on mine, my hands tangled in her hair, out breaths interwoven with each other; I felt whole again.

"Come on. We have five minutes."

We were already mostly undressed by the time we reached coverage of the trees and darkness. Our clothes were wadded into a pile on the ground and I reached for my amazing wife.

"We can't" kiss "Be gone" kiss "long." Bella murmured in between kisses.

"Shhhh. No more talking."

Realistically, it was closer to a half hour when we emerged from the forest holding hands. When we got back to the cars, they were empty. Renesmee and Jacob were nowhere in sight.

"Where did they go? Where's my baby?" Bella dropped my hand and frantically circled both vehicles.

"Bella, baby…listen. They're inside." Through the thin glass doors to the convenient store, you could hear the laughter coming from the other side.

Bella all but ran into the store at a slightly faster than human pace. When we got inside, Ness and Jacob were sitting at an old picnic table, awkwardly situated in front of the food items in the store. They each had a bag of jerky in their hands and looked at us as menacingly as we approached.

"Well well well…you two really are seriously crazed sex addicts. You really couldn't wait another hour for us to get home?" Jake mocked. The smiles on their faces hinted the crap I was about to endure for our last hour home. I looked over to my wife who grinned back at me while taking my hand.

"Totally worth it," we both chimed at once. And it was.