Disclaimer: All the Twilight stuff belongs to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. I'm just playing in her sandbox.

Chapter 24 Decisions

Emmett POV

"We have to get one of these!"

"What, baby?"

"One of these bikes, Emmett! We NEED to have them!", Rose demanded as she placed the helmet on the counter in the garage.

She had ridden the bike in and parked in center stage in 'her' garage. It was a joke among us, the garage that is. In every house that Esme designed, Carlisle had a study, Alice had a closet at least as large as her bedroom, Jasper had an office to keep the family paperwork running smoothly from ( id's and credentials and names that we juggled had to be kept sorted, Edward handled the money and investments), I had a huge flat screen to play video games on, Edward had a piano and Rose had the garage. Totally. I mean, we were allowed to park our cars in there, of course, but they had better be clean and you could eat off of the floor in there - well, that's what the humans say any way.

This particular garage wasn't as large as her normal ones. It had room for about six cars: her convertible, Esme's Jaguar, Edward's Vanquish, Alice's Porsche, Carlisle's Mercedes and the center stage work area. The Vanquish had been moved to Edward's new house, finally making room for my jeep if I ever managed to bring it home from the Forks house. Good thing Eddie had built that extra garage, otherwise the Volvo and Bella's R8 would have been sitting outside in the snow all winter and even the thought of that made me laugh. Hell, he would widen the living room door and just bring the damn car in the house if he had to rather than leave it sit outside in the weather!

Anyway, the walls were lined with pristine work areas and cabinets holding every tool ever made in perfect order. Rose turned and stood with her hands on her hips eying the place. I knew that look.

"Emmett, which way do you think we should go with the expansion, to the side or just deepen the garage?", she asked.

I knew it. I just knew it. Now it starts, we'd be building on again by morning if she had her way. I thought I had better head this off and make my life easier from the onset.

"Rose, don't you need special lifts and tools to effectively work on those things?"

"Well, of course you do, but I figured I could just add that here in this space", she answered.

"But if you do that, then you don't have your car work space anymore, baby. You love pulling whatever you're working on to this area and fiddling with it with all the tools you need handy. I think you should just pick a spot outside and build an addition that houses only motorcycles and bike repair equipment, kind of a garage just for the motorcycles. Don't you need special tools and shit anyway for them?", I asked her.

Then I came to my senses, "Wait, Rose, this is Bella's bike. Are you planning what I think you are planning, because I think Eddie will be ready to lite your pyre himself if you encourage Bella to ride before he changes her!"

"I'm just thinking ahead. It takes a few months to custom order bikes anyway, you know. It will even take awhile for everyone to decide which model they want and what extras and the color . . ."

I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into a kiss, "I love you, Rosie. You have this all planned, don't you. Everyone will love this, baby. I'll build the garage you want for you as a Christmas present, how about that."

"Oh hell no!", she slapped at me playfully as I kissed down her neck, "You're not getting out of getting me a new piece of jewelry for Christmas that easily!"

We walked to the house to join the others already inside.

"Watch how you bring this up to Edward", Alice squealed in delight as she literally bounded up and down, "He's going to need some time to get used to the idea of us being a motorcycle family but it will help in the long run, he needs to loosen up and get over Bella's wreck!"

"Motorcycle family?", Carlisle and Esme both looked at us questioningly.

"Sure! Rose wants to add a motorcycle garage and have everyone pick out the model they want so we can order it. Motorcycles are the way, even you can look hot on one, Carlisle! Just think how many of the nurses will go nuts over you when you show up for work on a bike", Emmett said.

"Great, son. Don't you think I have enough trouble now looking the age I'm supposed to be without adding me on a bike to the mix?"

"Nah, old guys ride all the time. I was reading in one of those HOG magazines at the track that a guy that was 93 had ridden in from Alaska to see the final race. A human guy 93! Imagine that, Carlisle. If he could pull it off, surely you can look old on a bike!"

"There is just no end to the stupid things that come out of your mouth sometimes Emmett Cullen!", Rosalie exclaimed, "Now hush before you turn everyone off on the idea before I have a chance to talk to the about it!"

"How about we all go on a hunt?", Rose asked looking around, " Are Edward and Bella not back yet?"

"They headed to their house as we pulled up, but we can all stop by there and see if Edward wants to go, I'm sure he's thirsty after all the excitement yesterday!", Jasper added, "He probably really needs to go."

~oooOooo~

Rosalie POV

"Cover up, the party is here!", Emmett bellowed as he knocked loudly then immediately opened the front door and walked in.

"Edward, could you come down here for a minute?", Carlisle called to him.

Sure enough they both appeared on the staircase, a pair of pajamas between them.

"You guys are serious? You're killing me here. Didn't I build a separate house for a reason, like, privacy?", Edward asked with a growl. We had obviously interrupted what they had just started.

"You did, brother and we helped you, remember? We just thought you would need to go hunting. We're all going and you're finished for now anyway, right, I mean you feel satiated to me!", Jasper retorted.

He knew exactly how Edward was feeling, of course, and by the way he was starting to stroke Alice's arm, they needed to leave quickly before lust overtook him.

"Come on Edward, go with them! I want to stay and talk to Bella about something anyway, alone", I said.

Edward kissed her lips and was gone in a flash, hopefully to dress, as Bella came on down the stairs and gestured me to follow her into the kitchen. The coffee had just started dripping as Edward, now dressed in jeans and a t shirt, came in to kiss her bye, the rest of the family waiting out on the porch.

"Be back shortly, baby. Are you sure you don't mind me going?", he asked as he playfully nibbled her neck and earlobe, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind.

"Go, get out of here! When have I ever minded you feeding yourself, silly vampire. I need you to have energy for later . . .", Bella purred to him.

"Oh My God, Bella, he'll never leave if you talk to him like that. Go, get out Edward, you're annoying", I told him as I sat on one of the chairs at the kitchen counter.

Bella finished pouring herself a cup of coffee and came to sit at the counter opposite me.

"What's up, Rose?", she asked.

"I just wanted to thank you for letting me ride for you at the track", I told her in all sincerity.

"You're welcome, Rose. It was fun, wasn't it!"

"It was awesome on the bike, in spite of the damned accident. I feel bad that Edward thought it was you on the bike, though. It really seemed to shake him up. It kind of took me back to how he was while he was away from you and I never want to go through that again, he was unbearable to us as well as to himself."

"I guess I should have called and actually gotten him on the phone instead of leaving a message but Rose, honestly, he has to trust me. He has to trust us."

"Whatever you say, but I'm sorry for my part in upsetting him . . . it was really fun to ride though! I thought I would die when you told Dale you would ride in one race for him, did you see the look on his face?", I asked.

"Yea, and did you see the look on Jake's face when I asked you to come into the dressing room with me! He acted like it was hot or something. Good timing though, I can't wait till I have hearing as good as yours. Coming out dressed just as they all left the garage so that you could walk down with them with the helmet on, that was perfect!", Bella said.

"Well, I had a great time and the timing was perfect, wasn't it. Bella, I wanted to talk to you about getting bikes for everyone. I thought maybe that if Emmett and I built the garage, you would go in on ordering and buying bikes for Christmas. It would be the perfect gift from you and even Edward could not object to your riding after you're one of us", I offered enthusiastically.

"You know, as long as I promised not to ride till I'm more . . . durable, as he says, how could he object! But Rose, how can I buy such expensive gifts?", Bella said as her brow furrowed and she sipped her coffee.

"Bella, please. Bikes are only twenty thousand or so each. Not even noticeable after subtracted from the monthly account and you know it. You need to get used to having money, sister. We all had to get used to it. Besides, Alice spends more than that each month on clothing and she gives it away after she wears it a time or two! You could not possibly spend what she does, believe me."

"I guess so. It just seems so strange to me. Should we let them pick the bikes they want or should we pick them for them, what do you think?"

"I say lets pick for them, you know the styles and models, right, and I can give you input on what I think they would like. We could get each of them a different bike with the style and colors matching the individual. We better hurry, she said taking a list of all available bikes and options from her jacket, we need them in only a month and we will probably have to bribe someone to get them that fast!", I laughed as I opened the list and took out a notepad.

"You know that Edward will know what's going on, but let me do the ordering for his bike and I won't tell you any of the details. That way, even though he will know he's getting one, he will have no idea of the type or color. He is so into cars and I'm learning to appreciate them, but it will be fun to give him something that I know more about than he does!", Bella said as she excitedly started jotting down options and colors. I want to order Jake one as well", Bella said.

"Are you sure that won't be a problem with Edward, I mean, you know how jealous he is", I asked.

"It will be fine, Rose, I think they are even starting to become friends."

Huh. I wondered if she was taking into account the fact that Jacob, as the next chief of the tribe, was probably a werewolf. I wasn't sure how much she knew about the treaty between us and the Quilettes, and I would have to remember to ask Edward about it. Werewolves and vampires becoming friends was a very unlikely scenario indeed.

We sat there in the kitchen, Bella occasionally fixing herself toast or eggs or such, while we hammered out all the details for each and every bike that we wanted to order. I would take care of the details for the bike garage and storage area and we would be all set.

I was really starting to see why Edward was so into this little human. She could be fiercely loyal, even as a human. She was adventurous and fucking fearless as far as I could see. She had immediately agreed to marry him not half an hour after seeing him in the hospital, gone against her family to do so, moved to an unfamiliar house with him to recover from the accident, stood up to her father and told him to get out of her house for insulting Edward, seen him hunt and it had done just the opposite of scaring her - it had turned her on.

She was adapting to having all her private moments known to us all because of our hearing and Alice's gift. She had even taken me to the garage at the track when I asked to see it and gone along with the plan to let me ride in the race for her, hell, she had come up with the plan! Most importantly, she was good for Edward. He was happy and I would do anything to keep him that way.

~oooOooo~

Carlisle POV

"What makes you think this is all Victoria, son?", I asked as we all gathered on a grouping of rocks overlooking the valley below us and the mountains in the distance.

"Think about it, dad - the wolves killed Laurent, who was probably sent by Victoria to check on Bella; Billy was killed in retaliation, probably by Victoria; Bella's accident was no accident, the bike was sabotaged; the car that crashed into the restaurant where we were sitting smelled of vampire; Jessica's body being drained and now someone 'kicked' the bike they thought Bella was riding in order to cause an accident! Too many coincidences", Edward stated calmly.

We were all in agreement then, just deciding what could be done to insure Bella's safety, when we noticed Alice staring off into the distance with her eyes glassed over.

"Alice, baby, what do you see?", Jasper asked as he wrapped his arms around her.

"He's right. Edward is right. When you put it like that, it all makes sense. I see her and she has decided", Alice calmly stated.

"What had she decided, Alice? What do you see?", Edward asked not so calmly.

"She had decided to take care of this herself, to kill Bella herself."

Edward's growl temporily interfered with hearing Alice.

"Her newborn . . . Riley is his name, he keeps messing it up, making mistakes. She has stayed out of it to keep me from seeing, but she is tired of waiting and just decided that she would do it herself! When Laurent spent time in Denali he must have found out how my gift works from our cousins and told her - that's the only explanation for how she has handled this", Alice said.

"Can you see what she is planning, Alice"., I asked.

"Yes, she is irate because the newborn, Riley, messed it up yesterday. He left the track after the accident without making sure it was Bella! They lost our trail when we left and have no idea where we live."

"Thank God for that!", Esme added.

"Yes, but it gives us no advantage if we don't know when to look for her or where she will be", Jasper added, always the tactical military man.

"She is watching Jacob. She is planning on following him, thinking he will give her a clue, drop a name or an address that she can follow. It's her only lead", Alice said as she turned to Edward.

"Call Jacob and make sure he doesn't write down where we live anywhere. Let him just contact us with the cell phones, they are still registered in Washington State, not here in Highlands. We just have to be careful and take care of this when Jacob comes for Christmas, she'll follow him then and we will have our chance."

"Well, we better plan carefully then to have Jacob here apart from the other humans, no need to endanger anyone else before we take care of her!", I said.

Everyone stared at me and I knew why.

"Yes, I said 'take care of her'", I quietly admitted, "She is a threat to my family and though I know you are all surprised that I advocate ending her existence, sometimes it seems to be the only way. She hasn't stopped yet, so we have to stop her. There are some people, vampire and human alike, that have no regard for anything and just need to not exist."

EPOV

Hearing my father speak of ending the existence of any creature came as a shock. It spoke volumes about how intense his feelings were for his family. Obviously, he saw no other way to insure the safety of the ones he loved . . . no way to deter Victoria from her attempts at murdering my wife, other than to destroy her. I was so blessed to be in this family, to have had him save me and to be considered his son.

It was not so long ago that I would not have realized just how blessed I was. I thought I didn't have a soul. Carlisle had argued that I did. He had convinced me to go on a quest to find out for ourselves. It had taken years to learn the ancient languages so that we could decipher ancient documents in their original form. We had spent years in dusty dark dungeons around the world where old scrolls were kept that had insight into religious beliefs and vampire legends. Nothing had ever convinced me, till I looked into the eyes of my wife and saw a glimpse of what she saw, a glimpse of my soul. She had saved me and I was not about to let anything happen to her.

We were all quite full as we walked back toward my house. I was sure my eyes were lighter than they had been in a long time when I walked to the kitchen and put my arms around my wife.

"Are you ladies having fun?", I asked as I watched them shuffle papers quickly out of sight.

"Just planning for Christmas, Edward! Can't we get any privacy from you!", Rose fussed.

She was blocking me, effectively this time. I wasn't worried, I would find out eventually but she had picked the perfect co-conspirator. I still could not read Bella's mind at all.

"Well, now that we are all together, I have a suggestion for us. Bella and I would like to take advantage of the honeymoon trip that Carlisle and Esme gave Bella for her birthday, but we would like all of you to come and party in Rio with us first!", I said as I sat beside my wife.

Bella was still wearing just my pajama shirt that she had come downstairs in this morning and I was finding that quite distracting, as I added "I especially think now is a good time because we would all be close together if there is a problem from Victoria. Surely she would never be able to track us there, but just in case!"

"So you want us to be the guard dogs while you and Bella do nothing but run naked on the beach and have sex for a couple of weeks, am I getting the gist of this, brother?". Emmett asked.

My temper flared, everyone turned to stare at me. Normally I would have blown up at my ridiculously insensitive brother, but Bella put her hand on my cheek and looked into my eyes before turning to him and answering for me, "Yes, Emmett, you have the idea I think."

Everyone laughed and I looked down at my wife, then to my family sheepishly as I laughed as well, "It wouldn't just be like that, Emmett! We could all stay in Rio for a few days then you could even go hunting python and anacondas like you always talked about. There are lots of exotic things to hunt there and lots of nightclubs for Rose and Alice to enjoy. I know that Carlisle and Esme love the scenery as well as the shopping there!"

"For once Edward is right", Rose chimed in, "Rio would be a lot of fun and we do need to be close enough that we could get to them if need be. I for one would love the nightclubs, and Alice and i could shop like crazy!"

"Alice, what do you think", Jasper asked. She paused for a moment, eyes glassed over, then started squealing, "Yes! Rio would really be fun for all of us!"

"You know that I have to stay here, I can't get time away from the hospital just now", Carlisle said, "but perhaps Esme and I could join you for a long weekend in a couple of weeks, would that work for everyone?"

"Excellent. I'll make the travel arrangements and we can leave in a day or two if that's alright with everyone!", I said as I hugged Bella to my side.

I followed my family outside to say goodbye as Bella finished up the dishes from her dinner. We had been gone much longer than I had intended, as she had been having breakfast when we left! Rose winked at her as she was leaving, papers folded and tucked neatly under her arm reminding me that they were up to something.

~oooOooo~

"So, wife, would you like to tell me what is going on in that sneaky little head of yours, or do I have to torture it out of you?", I asked as I reached around her from behind as she was finishing up with a plate in the sink.

My hands just happened to find a button loose in the front and managed to connect with the soft skin of her stomach before she turned to face me.

"Mr. Cullen! You are being quite forward this evening, just because your wife is dying to have you, is that just cause to go unbuttoning her shirt!", Bella said with a serious tone looking me dead in the eye.

"Did you just . . . no . . . you just said . . . Bella! Did you just say you were . . . you were dying to have me?", I stuttered, absolutely flabbergasted that she had verbally said such a thing out loud.

"That's right! Now!", she declared with her hands on her hips and her hips cocked to one side.

My Bella had NEVER talked to me like that before and it was more of a turn on than I could ever have imagined!

"Oh, now you've done it," I said, tossing her over my shoulder and heading up the stairs toward our bedroom. She struggled and accused me of abusing my strength against her and slapped me on the buttock. She SLAPPED my butt! What the hell? Who was this banshee that I had over my shoulder and what had she done with my wife?

I tossed her unceremoniously onto our bed as she continued to protest my manhandling her.

"Wouldn't that be vampire handling you, my love?', I asked as I straddled her and started unbuttoning my shirt that she was wearing.

"Edward! I hate it when you vampire handle me!"

"You're in denial, love. You love when I do this", I said as my hands caressed her face, "and this", I said as I settled myself comfortably horizontal above her,"and even this", I said as I gently kissed her, rocking my hips into her generating the friction that I knew she loved.

My wife came unglued, writhing and calling out my name . . . and I hadn't even gotten started yet.

"Edward, Oh My God, Edward!", she screamed, grabbing my face in her hands, lifting her head off the bed and staring me straight in the eyes again.

"I really really love you, you cocky vampire!"

Dear God, I had no idea what was with her tonight, but who was I to question it!

"Is this what you wanted inside, love?", I said, as she watched me intently.

She stared at me like I was her last meal . . . and she licked her lips. Licked her lips.

I covered her body with mine . . . and made love to my wife, for the rest of the evening. I could make the travel arrangements in the morning, right now I was in paradise and had no need of anything else.