Well we hope that you enjoy this chapter, we sure did enjoy writing it.

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Chapter 15

I knock on Bella's front door and walk in. "Hey," I say taking my shoes and jacket off, before walking into the kitchen.

"Hey, how was work?" she asks me, in a happy voice.

I smile as I wash my hands. "Good, like always," I say with a grin. I dry my hands, before I jump in and begin to help Bella with dinner.

It's been just over three months since Bella's birthday. The week after her birthday, we started friend's therapy with Jasper. I'm pleased to say that it seems to be working pretty well for us. It seems that Jasper and I have been able to establish a friendship of our own. I no longer worry he's against me and Bella being together. I've even started spending time outside of his office with him. Jasper, Emmett, my dad, and I, all hang out together at least once a week, while the girls all have their time. I still go once a week and speak to Peter. Over the time I've been going, I've found it useful.

"So, have you decided yet?" I ask as I stir the sauce.

"I'm still unsure. Christmas is a family time. I don't want to impose."

"You wouldn't be imposing, and you are family. If it's too much for you, I could spend the day here with you. We could watch Christmas movies all day."

Bella just looks at me with disbelief on her face.

"I don't want to spend the day without you, Little Chef. You know what I think? We should stay here – just the two of us."

Bella lets out a sigh. "Fine. I'll come and spend the day with you and your family."

I wobble my bottom lip a little and she slaps my arm.

"You can spend the night before here, if you want?"

"I want," I say with a grin and wiggling brows. "Since we'll be spending Christmas night at my mom's, how about you stay at my place the day after?"

"Sounds good to me, but I do have a written essay to do." I nod at her.

"Don't worry, Little Chef, I will make sure you do it."

We move to the table and start eating.

"This is really good," I say after taking my first bite.

"Do you think I should open the restaurant again?" she asks me in a quiet voice.

I look up at her to see she's looking down at her plate playing with her food again.

"If that's what you want – and eat, it's good."

Bella has put back on some of the weight, but she's still got some pounds to go.

Bella lets out a sigh and eats a mouthful of food. I take a bite, too, but watch her as I do. When she swallows, I can see she has something to say, so I set down my fork as well.

"I think we should reopen. But, we will need to hire people to help run it. We'll also have to remodel and work over the menu. Do you think you'd have time to help me with all that?"

I look at her and feel hope bubble up inside. I knew we've more or less mended our friendship, but I didn't think she would ask something like this of me again so soon.

"Really – you want my help?"

Bella bites her lip and nods at me.

"Then I'd be glad to help you."

Bella gives me one of the biggest smiles I've seen in a while, before she again starts to eat.

*~FB~*

It's Christmas Eve and I'm sitting in Bella's living room, watching Christmas-animated movies. "I was thinking that we could—well I could—give you, your Christmas gift tonight?"

Bella looks at me and smiles, before running off.

"Was that a yes?" I call after her.

"Yes," I hear her call from the other room.

I chuckle moving off the sofa to pick up her bag of gifts. Bella comes back a few minutes later and hands me a large gift bag. I smile and hand her hers.

"On three?" I say and Bella chuckles as she nods at me. "One, two, three," I say before reaching into the bag.

Bella got me, a watch, three dress shirts, a few ties, a new briefcase and some stuff for my desk at work.

I bought her some cookbooks and kitchen stuff, as well as a set of knives she was talking about the other day. I also got her a dress and a teddy bear.

"Wow, I didn't know you had such good taste in women's clothing," Bella says holding up the dress.

I pull my hair and shake my head. "Yeah, you need to thank Renee for that. She helped me in more ways than one."

Bella raises her brow at me. "The woman in the shop was asking questions. She gave me some dresses that weren't very nice to choose from. I saw Renee walking by as I was picking, and she came in to see what I was up to. Once she figured out I was there to shop for you, she said she'd help. I was glad she offered when she told me the shop salesperson had picked out dresses that were three sizes too big. Renee took charge and she said this was perfect for you." Bella nods at me in understanding.

Bella's still being hounded by the paparazzi, and they have taken a few pictures of us together. They're all still printing rather negative stories about Bella, and what happened with the companies. I'm sure that her age has not helped, and then of course, there's that jackass Michael and his crew who've all been spreading their shit and lies.

"I'm starting to think Renee needs an increase in her salary," Bella says interrupting my thoughts. "She was always my dad's favorite secretary at the office."

I smile and nod. Renee has quickly become one of my favorite people within the company. "Yes, she's great and I know she was fond of your dad, and you, too."

Bella rolls her eyes. "When I first met her, I was a little worried. But it only took me to the end of the day to see that she was a happily married woman, and not after my father's money. She's exactly the person she puts herself out to be and doesn't pretend to be something else. She always seems to treat everyone the way she wants them to treat her. She was the only person that seemed willing to help me out with things after my father passed away, even without asking for her help."

I kiss Bella's head and give her a bit of a hug. "Yeah, she's something and I'm glad that you assigned her to work with me. There are a few other secretaries that I would've killed off by now. I'm not sure how some of the other guys put up with their shit."

"Tell me about it. I've seen the way some of them behave. What do you say to some hot chocolate before bed?"

"I would love some." I watch Bella walk away and pick up the pieces of tissue paper from the gift bags. After throwing away the trash, I straighten up the sofa and coffee table. By the time I've sorted the living room, Bella is walking back in with our mugs of cocoa.

"Do you want to visit your father's grave before we head to my mom's?" I ask softy, knowing she hasn't been there much and still misses him loads.

"If you don't mind, I would like to stop by." I give her a sly smile and a wink. "Oh and remind me to stop at the house and pick up those pictures I've set out for your mom."

I chuckle a little. "Yeah, it's been three months you've been trying to get them to her."

Bella goes to speak, but yawns.

"Come on, Little Chef, time for bed."

I help her up and lead her to her room. Once I have tucked her in, I kiss her head. "Goodnight," I say with a wink, before walking back out of the room.

The next morning we wake early, get showers and quickly eat breakfast. We're out the door before eight in the morning. I give Bella some alone time with her dad, but I make sure I keep an eye on her. After we leave the cemetery, we drive over to the big empty house. We go in and get the pictures Bella wants. We lock up and head for my parents' home.

"Hi," I yell walking in, carrying most of the bags, having left Bella with the photos she wants to give to my mom.

"Bella, Edward," my mom says greeting us both, "why don't you put your bags upstairs and get settled."

I give her a nod and lead Bella up to my room. I put our bags down on the bed. "You doing okay, Little Chef?"

Bella looks at me and nods. "I'll be fine."

I pull her in for a hug. "I'm right here if you need me."

Bella rests her head on my chest, and we stand there embracing each other.

"Edward, Bella, come on, we're waiting on you to start lunch," Emmett calls from downstairs.

I chuckle and then kiss Bella's head. "Come on – let's get down there, before Emmett eats everything."

I grab the gifts and Bella picks the pictures back up.

We leave the pictures and the gifts in the living room, before joining the rest of the family in the kitchen.

"Good afternoon, everyone," I say, helping Bella to her seat next to Jasper, before taking my own seat on her other side.

"We have some news," Emmett says with a grin, "it's twins! We're having twins."

"Oh, this is the best news," my mom says with a little sob as she hugs Rose to her.

"Congratulations, both of you," Bella says softly.

After several minutes of congratulations are said, my father picks up his glass and stands. "I propose a toast, to our newest family members – Jasper and Bella. We are so happy that you could join us today, and we hope you are with us for many years to come. To my son, Emmett, and my beautiful daughter-in-law, Rose, I'm so very pleased for the both of you. I look forward to seeing you both go through the journey of parenthood." We all raise our glasses at the end of my father's speech.

"Now that's done, can we eat?" Emmett asks loudly.

"Should someone say grace first?" Bella asks with a sweet smile.

"WHAT? But there's honey roasted ham and all the trimmings?" Emmett whines.

"Yes, Bella's right, we should say grace, Emmett?" Mom gives him a pointed stare and he huffs closing his eyes with his hands folded in front of his face.

"Dear Father in heaven," Emmett starts off, and I open my eyes to see Bella swipe some of the ham, with the tongs. As soon as she's done, I grab some, too. I hold back my chuckles as the rest of the family follows us, leaving no ham, Emmett's favorite, who's just wrapping up saying grace.

"Amen," he says.

"Amen," we all repeat together.

"Hey, how did you all get the ham so fast?" Emmett asks clearly confused. "You know, whatever, pass me some over." Emmett holds out his plate as he waits. "Come on, guys! Mom, tell them to share."

"Emmett, you know the rule, first one gets the most. It's not our fault you were too slow."

"Baby, you'll share with me, won't you?"

Rose just shakes her head.

"But baby, you got loads there, far more than enough for two."

"Well, I'm eating for three, so clearly I don't have enough then."

Emmett just opens and closes his mouth.

"Here, Rose, I can give you some of mine." Bella passes some of her ham to Rose who grins at her.

"Thank you, Bella," Rose says sweetly.

"You got some ham to spare for me, Bella?" Emmett asks with a grin.

"No, sorry, Emmett, I only got a little left."

Emmett sits back and pouts at all of us.

"Okay, I'll carve the chicken now," my dad says slowly as he looks at Emmett who's still pouting.

We all fill our plates up as Emmett mutters away that he didn't get any ham. After five minutes of it, Alice starts to laugh out loud, making the rest of us laugh, too.

"What?" Emmett asks with a mouthful of food.

"We were just playing with you," I say passing him some ham, as do the others.

"Oh, thank you so much guys. This is really the best gift ever. But how did you all get to it so fast?"

"We did it when you were saying grace," Bella says as she tries to stop laughing. "I can't believe this is the best gift – does that mean I don't need to give you one now?"

Emmett just looks at Bella like a sad child. "Ah, no, Bells, this is just the best gift in this moment of time. Since I love gifts, I still want that, too, please?"

Bella laughs and nods at him.

"After dinner," mom says with her brow raised at Emmett.

"But Mom, we're older now, why can't we get our gifts before we eat?"

"Because you, Emmett, decided it would be a good idea to eat all your candy at one time, then you were sick the rest of the day."

"I was three," Emmett says lowly.

"Ah, sweetie, you did the same thing this year on your birthday," Rose says as we all chuckle.

Emmett just shrugs. "That was some great candy."

The rest of the dinner seems to go by with us laughing and chatting. As soon as the dishes are done and put away, we head into the living room.

We pass out the gifts and open them showing everyone what we'd got. It's just after nine at night, when Rose is feeling too tired and decides to go home. Soon after, the rest of us all decide to head to bed, too. I leave Bella in my room, choosing to change in the bathroom myself. When I come back in my room, Bella is still standing in the middle of the room just looking at my bed.

"I can sleep on the couch, if you're not comfortable with me next to you?" I pull at my hair as the guilty feelings slowly come back.

"What? No, just well, just ..."

I raise my brow at Bella's stuttering and she takes a deep breath.

"What if I touch you when I'm sleeping?" I watch as she goes red and it clicks that she's still embarrassed about stroking my cock the one time we slept in this same bed.

I pull at my hair. "You won't hear me complaining if you do, but I would rather you were awake as well."

Bella's blush darkens and I head to bed. We both slide in and lie on our sides facing each other.

"I was awake – my arm was around you holding you to me. I only let go, when I knew you were finally awake. The only reason I did, was because I didn't want you to freak out about how close I was holding you. I knew you didn't mean to touch me, and I really didn't mind."

I wiggle my brow a little, and she chuckles slapping my chest lightly. She lets out a big yawn, and I can tell it surprised her.

"Close your eyes, Little Chef." Bella chuckles before closing her eyes. I kiss her forehead before moving my arms to hold her close to me.

"Can you tell me another story?"

I chuckle at the childish voice Bella just used. "Which one would you like to hear?"

"Hmm, tell me more about the boy and his princess. Is he doing better? Is he happy?"

"Yeah, yeah he is." I take a deep breath before I start to speak, within a half-hour she's sound asleep.

I take a few moments to enjoy the feel of her in my arms, before closing my eyes.

*~FB~*

It's New Year's Eve and Bella and I are spending it alone. The family didn't seem to mind that we're doing our own thing alone this year. Dad has taken Mom out to where they spent their first New Year's Eve together. Alice is meeting Jasper's family and Rose and Emmett are out with some friends. We're on the roof of my building, where I've laid out a nice blanket for us to sit on. We have some food and drinks on the small tray table I set up for us and we have a nice, but small electric fireplace. It normally sits in my living room, and puts off a little amount of warmth, but the lighting is perfect.

"Dance with me?" I say softly as I pull Bella to stand. Bella wraps her arms around me and we dance as Restless Heart plays. I feel my heart starting to race fast as Bella aligns her body to mine.

When the song ends, she places a kiss on my chest, letting her lips linger there. She looks up at me and I smile at her as my eyes dance between her eyes and her lips. My hand goes to her hair as I pull her head to me. I kiss her, putting all of the love and affection I feel for her into it.

Her hand slowly moves up and round my neck. Her fingers thread in my hair. I walk us slowly back to the blanket.

We keep kissing each other. I pause to look her in the eye.

"This ... us, yeah, you'll be mine, right?" I say with hope.

"If you'll have me?"

"I swear to you, Bella, my Little Chef, I will never lose you again."

The fireworks out on the Sound begin to fire off. The perfect way to begin the New Year.

"This is only the beginning of forever, my love," I say.

A/N: So they are now a couple. How do you suppose the morning after will be for them? See you all on Friday for the next chapter update. Just a few left to read now, and lots to cover.