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

Authors Note: I promised I'd try to update at least weekly, if not twice a week. This one is short, only the first half of the chapter, really, but I will update it on Friday and add the rest!

Getting my house ready to sell has proven to be somewhat of a nightmare. Sewing room and office yet to paint and put down new carpet in the office. Hard to do with a one year old and a three year old (though the three year old LOVES to paint! lol)

Sorry my life has gotten in the way of my pleasure. I would love to immerse myself in Edward's reality and write non stop. Hopefully, as soon as this blasted house sells, life can go on and reality can stop gettin in the way of my fantasy!

Thank you for sticking with me, you guys light up my day with your reviews, and believe me - my days NEED lighting!

Chapter 103 A Romantic Evening (part one)

My son was safe, my wife loved me,

and there were no vampires that I knew of trying to take her from me.

I was going to enjoy another evening out with my wife . . .

EPOV

Everything was planned. This evening, thanks to Alice, I had reservations for two at what was supposed to be one of the most romantic spots in Paris. She and I had never had a honeymoon, never been alone for any length of time, really, and I had started to think about that a great deal. I was pretty sure it also had to do with my growing need to be with her all the time. With no impending threat to her, no vampires after her, it was time we relaxed and settled into just us.

Us. God I loved that.

For nearly a century it had always been me. I had my family, and I loved them dearly . . . but there was never an us, not like the rest of my family had anyway. Now there was Bella and Edward . . . us. Of course, we had somewhat skipped the just us part . . . now that we had a son. I had gotten everything I ever wanted and lots of things I thought I could never have.

I wanted my wife to know just how special she was to me, how much I loved her and wanted her.

I had made a trip to the jewelers a few days ago while Alice had all the ladies out shopping. I wanted to give her something special to remember our time here. I wracked my brain trying to think of something, and Alice refused to help. Neither of us ever took our wedding rings off, and I never removed the signet ring with the swan on it that she had given me for Christmas. We both liked it shown and obvious for all to see that we were taken. The sapphire ring I had given her at Disney she wore on her right hand . . . when she wore jewelry. Though she loved the pieces I had given her, she seemed only to wear them to please me. My wife cared nothing for diamonds and jewels . . . but she loved sentiment. The necklace I had designed for her for her birthday, the E and B initials overlapping, I had sent back to Tiffany's to have restored after it was damaged in the fire so I thought a necklace for her to wear for now might be good . . .

I fingered the jewel in my pocket hoping that when I gave it to her she would accept it and understand that I loved giving her things. I knew I had gone overboard with the marble sized diamond, but it was one of a kind just like my wife. She was just so beautiful, she should have beautiful things.

Emmett and Jasper had left last night for a hunt, knowing the ladies would be at the spa all day today and I had stayed home with my son. Jasper had sensed my uneasiness lately, I hadn't fed in a week or so, and he had taken two large flasks with him to bring me back dinner. It was pretty obvious I was loosing fluids quickly with Bella around me and I had started to sleep more. I just couldn't bring myself to leave them for an entire day. I was brought from my musings by the thoughts of my son. He had been quietly playing with toys with me on the living room floor for the last hour or so and we were both enjoying the alone time. I answered his unspoken.

"Yes, son, mommy has been gone a long time. Aunt Alice stole her from us and took her out for the day with aunt Rosalie and grama Renee."

"No, I have your bottle, but I also have some baked chicken that I brought home for you from dinner last night if you want that as well."

"I thought so. Let's go warm it up and you can practice eating."

I put Masen in the new high chair that Alice had delivered this morning and heated up the left over baked Chicken that Bella and I had brought home last night. I had ordered it and pushed it around on my plate and Alice had uncharacteristically suggested that I get a to go box. You had to love Alice. The dinner coming home with me and the arrival of the high chair meant that she had seen this . . . Masen starting to eat human food, other than solely nursing from his mom. I cut the chicken into small bites as Masen's mind insisted that I just give it to him. He was not terribly patient when it came to his food and I had no idea if that was the human part of him or the vampire . . . or both.

"Alright, son. Settle down and daddy will give it to you," I told him as he slapped his little hands on the tray of the high chair uttering a continual stream of 'dada dada'.

I had seen small children do just that in restaurants before over the years, but somehow it was funnier when it was my son and I knew his thoughts.

"I can bite it dad, I have teeth. You keep telling me not to bite mom or grandma Renee or anything with a noise but this doesn't make any noises and I can bit it, right?" his mind shouted at me.

"Yes, son, I know you can bite and yes, it's all right to bite this. You're eating, having a meal, and it's all right to bite the food and chews it up good before you swallow it. I don't want you to eat very much of this kind of food yet, I don't know if your tummy will like it and Masen," I changed to a stern voice, "you need to speak and think nicely to me. Please would be nice, and be patient."

He looked at me like I had slapped him and the corners of his mouth turned down as he started to cry. I had him in my arms instantly. His mind had no idea how to react, I had never spoken to him other than softly and sweetly and he was scared.

"Everything is all right, sweetheart. Daddy loves you, I just want you to be a little patient with me and I always want you to be polite," I told him as I hugged him to me and he nuzzled his face into my neck.

"It's my job to teach you, son. I have to tell you how you should act or how will you know? I correct you when you do things wrong, and I let you know when you do wonderful things. You know this, you read my mind all the time, son."

His wailing stopped and I noticed the tears that stained his face as he looked up at me. I kissed his cheek, realizing from the taste that his tears were pure venom.

"No, of course I'm not mad at you, I was just explaining how I expect you to act towards me. I'm new at being a daddy, just like you're new at all of this and we have to work on it together, okay?"

"Dada da," came from his mouth as he patted my cheek with his little hand and his mind told me he was sorry he did anything that I didn't like and he would try to remember to be patient. It was just so hard for him to understand what exactly that was. Apparently anything other than now was not a concept that small children understood.

I put him back into the high chair and gave him a dozen or so bites of chicken and some of the green vegetables that Bella assured me were good for humans, along with some rice. He used his pincer grasp quite effectively and showed a tremendous amount of dexterity in handling even the small grains of rice as he lifted them and put each one in his mouth without dropping anything. I explained to him that I only drank blood, like the bottles he had a couple of weeks ago, and he let me know that the chicken, etc, wasn't nearly as tasty as the blood had been and that neither thing was anywhere near as good as his mom's milk.

No argument from me.

He wanted to know things like why my siblings and I felt cool to him but his mom and grandma Renee felt really hot. He wondered why his grandma's eyes leaked sometimes when she rocked him and sang to him. He read her thoughts, but he couldn't understand them. He wanted to know why he got different feelings from me about his mom than he did from everyone else . . . and he wanted to know why we were so different. He couldn't read his mom's mind either, and he didn't like it.

"Well, that's a tall list son. Humans with heartbeats are always hotter than you are, so they feel really warm. Your aunts and uncles and I aren't human, and we are whatever temperature the room around us is . . . probably always seeming a little cool to you. Grama Renee cries when you're alone with her sometimes because she is just so happy to have you to herself and she loves you so much. She's afraid she might loose you. As far as your mom's mind goes, son, I can't read her mind either . . . I have never been able to and it drives me just as crazy as it does you. Just enjoy the quiet when you're with her. You'll be able to talk to her soon and communicate with her, don't worry. You're growing up so fast, little one. Don't worry. Your mom will tell you what she's thinking, and I'll tell her whatever you want me to till you can talk to her yourself, okay?" I said as I sat in a chair in front of him and caught his stare.

"As far as my feelings for your mom being different from anyone else . . . that's because she is my mate son. Your mom and I love each other in a way that we love no one else, just like we both love you in a way we will never love anyone else.

Yes, I'm sure she has the same feelings for me and for you that we have for her. Yes. No, it doesn't matter that I can't read her mind, I'm sure of her feelings. Well, I can be sure because of the way she looks at me, the way she holds me, and the fact that she tells me of her love for me, just like she tells you that she loves you. You'll understand better when you're older, son I . . . ,"

I was saved from answering more questions when Jasper and Emmett walked in, each carrying a flask for me as Masen finished his chicken.

"Thanks guys, really. Thank you," I said as I turned the first flask from Jasper up and greedily downed the now cooling liquid.

Masen stared at me and Emmett moved closer to him with the other flask.

"Emmett!" I spoke, getting his attention just as Masen reached for the flask.

Though I knew he did it to me, and he had apparently done it where Victoria had been concerned to protect his mom, but my son's powers still amazed me. He could seemingly put thoughts into my siblings heads at will, and he was busily convincing Emmet that he should hand him the flask of blood. I would have to remember to ask Emmett about it later when Masen wasn't near. Jasper was amazed at the intensity of feeling coming from such a little person as he sought to get to the container of blood. It wasn't blood lust exactly, not as much as it was need.

"You want some little buddy? You want to try deer?" Emmett cooed to my son.

Masen stretched out his arm with his hand fisting towards the flask asking me all the while if he could have some. He didn't really ask, it was more a need being expressed in his mind. We all agreed that he was thriving on his mom's milk, but we had no idea what his diet would eventually become. Emmett took him out of the highchair and held him while I shared my dinner with him, filling a bottle with deer blood . . . something he hadn't had before. His bottles back in Highlands had been the human blood we had kept in case Bella needed it during delivery. Masen drank his bottle greedily as I finished off the other flask my brothers had brought me. I wasn't sure how I felt about both of us needing blood, but he was my son after all, and there were bound to be some similarities. It was just strange somehow to be passing along vampire traits to my half human son. Emmett and Jasper went to the living room, taking Masen with them, and flipped on Call of Duty. I had explained to him not to pay attention to the emotions my brothers displayed while playing the game, and he how pretty much ignored them when they fussed and fumed at each other, sometimes laughing at them and how animated they got.

I texted Bella, wondering when she would be home.

B

Miss you.

Dinner reservations at 8.

Meet you in bed beforehand?

Love you,

Would like to be 'loving' you

Your eager husband,

E

I kept my phone in my hand, hoping for a quick response. I really missed her and though I wanted her to enjoy her time with her mother and my sisters, I hated being away from her. My response came quickly as I stood there staring at the phone.

Dear eager Mr. Cullen,

You're quite sure of yourself . . .

. . . not happening though . . .

Love you, too,

B

Damn. I had gone without her all day and now we would apparently have to go to dinner and out on our date before I had her in bed with me again. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy being out with her . . . I did. i just was so very needy lately, and I had to feel her next to me as many of the hours in a day as possible.

It wasn't long before I got a message from Alice that the limo would be here to pick me up in an hour and I was to be ready, in the new suit that was hanging in my closet. I walked into my bedroom, Mason contentedly nodding off to sleep in Emmet's arms, and grabbed the suit from the closet. It was easy to spot . . . it was the only Armani bag in there. I changed quickly, making sure I had Bella's gift tucked securely away deep in a pocket.

It wasn't long before the girls came clamoring into the apartment, Alice quite satisfied with herself and reciting poetry . . . as was Rosalie. Renee, however, had no idea how to block me and she was thinking of how beautiful Bella looked in the dress Alice had gotten for her and how dashing I looked in my suit. She was wishing she was 20 years younger and so head over heels in love. I couldn't blame her and I didn't wait to get the specifics of the day. Bella was downstairs in the limo and I had no intention of keeping her waiting . . .

~oooOooo~