I took Bella to the cabin spot today after school and hauled the old rusted stove out of Emmett's cabin, where it had fallen through the rotted floor. Bella seemed quite impressed that I could move it so easily, she really had no idea of my strength. I skipped about giving a little exhibition and she gave me a wolf whistle! I liked it very much indeed.

"Shall we choose some trees to use?"

"For the walls and stuff?"

"Yes. Let's choose a site first and I can bring them there and then get them cut into boards and shingles for the roof when you have your time with your dad tomorrow."

"How long will it take you? To cut out all the parts I mean?"

"Not long, less than an hour for everything I think." I grinned. I like being fast.

"Wow! I want to watch you do it though! That sounds amazing." Bella looked so curious I thought I should give her a demonstration. She's run with me, of course, but she didn't much like it as it made her woozy unless she closed her eyes.

I can split the wood with my hands very easily, but I need to use tools to get straight cuts and uniform sizes, a chisel, drill and saw will be plenty though. Everything else I can do with my hands, it's faster that way.

"We should pick the location we want for the cabin and then I'll get some rocks for the foundations."

"Now?!"

"Sure, why not?"

"Where would be a good place? We need a flat spot, right?"

"Yes, but I can move the Earth around to level it, so we don't need to worry about that much. Where looks pretty to you?"

Bella looked around, a lIttle lost. "I thought we'd just build it next to Emmett's cabin so we could easily move stuff across we salvage."

"No! We don't want to be next to his rotting old place! And moving things isn't going to be a problem. Just choose somewhere you think is beautiful, anywhere in this area up to the property line, or back toward the house about a mile so I can still stay in the quiet. Shall we have a look around?"

"Ok. Maybe I'll have a better idea when I see a few places. Do you have any favourite spots Edward?"

"Can I carry you? I promise I'll only go as fast as a car."

"What kind of car?" She asked suspiciously.

I sighed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Not faster than your truck then."

"Deal. Let's go!" She reached out to me and I scooped her up then started a slow jog around the area that would work for us.

"Slow down! You're rushing past everything!" She squealed. Really? I was barely going faster than a walk! Sometimes dating Bella is a bit like dating the world's most beautiful snail. I tried to slow down a little so as not to annoy her. I wanted her to be in a good mood when we did this.

I gave her a kiss as I ran and in hindsight this was something of a misstep "Watch the fuck where you're going!" I laughed but she looked at me like I was about to crash into a tree immediately. She really didn't trust my instincts at all.

"Do you think I would ever do that if it put you at risk?"

"No, but..."

"And do you think that going this slowly, relatively speaking, makes it more or less likely for me to run into a tree?"

"...less" she conceded.

I grinned. "So remind me what you're worrying about?"

She huffed and started to look around a bit more at the landscape I was showing her.

"Do we need to be near water?"

"I can bring drinking water from the house and I thought maybe we could collect rain water for washing our hands and any dishes you use when you eat. What do you think?"

"I think you've given this more detailed thought than me. It sounds good though."

We passed through a few small clearings which would work well and I stopped for a few minutes and asked her what she thought of each.

At the third place Bella commented that she thought it was pretty and that we might be able to see stars on clear nights as the trees opened out a little there.

"I can hear the stream, is it relaxing to you or is it too noisy, Edward?"

"Not too noisy, no. It's quite a soothing sound. So what do you think?" I said, smiling.

Bella nodded. "It looks lovely. Is this place ok though? I don't know what to look for."

"Well, it isn't too muddy despite the rain, the land slopes downhill a little and I've never seen it flood here. We can look at the stars together if we sit outside and there aren't any animal dens too close by either."

"Animals?"

"There are some rabbits, foxes, and porcupines, nothing big and nothing too close. They'll move once from wherever I am once I start coming to the spot regularly."

"So we'll never have mice or whatever?"

"Even ants avoid me. So no vermin problems. No."

"What do you think of this site? Do you like it?"

"Bella, I would like literally anywhere you were. This is a good choice though, I think. It is pretty here, as you said. I've always liked sitting here and thinking."

"So shall we build here then?" She smiled, she looked so excited. It was exciting, I could build us a hideaway and we could enjoy each other's company in peace, it seemed like heaven.

"Here." I agreed, embracing her and kissing her softly. "Can I get started then?"

She nodded and looked about a bit, finding a fallen tree to sit on. I took off my favourite blue sweater and handed it to her so it wouldn't get dirty. She put it on and snuggled into it and put her coat back on over it.

I want her to always be in my clothes always covered in my scent. I suppose that's quite filthy.

We chatted a little about the direction of the door, porch and windows. Once we had a rough idea settled upon, I dragged my toe along the dirt making a small trench in the shape of a rectangle where I envisioned the footprint of the cabin. Bella settled back on her perch and watched me intently.

I cleared the area so the ground was visible and began to dig with my hands. Bella laughed in amazement as I darted about for a minute hollowing out the area for foundations.

She kept giggling and I looked up at her, she looked so pretty.

"What?"

"You wiggle your butt when you dig. It's pretty cute."

"Oh! That's your take away from everything you've seen so far?" I joked.

She nodded and giggled more. I was a little self conscious about my behind now so did the rest of my digging making sure to face her. Do I really wiggle it? That doesn't sound very frightening. I'm supposed to be a feral, monstrous beast, she seems to think I'm like an oversized house cat!

"I need to get some rocks from the stream. Just stay there ok?" I was back before she could have gone more than a few yards, carrying two large flat boulders.

"Edward!" She gasped. I set them into place, laughing and made a few more trips until there was a solid foundation built.

"Can you stand up and move back a moment please?" Bella silently stood and moved out of the way. I broke the fallen tree, leaving a perch for Bella and hollowing out the rest of the large trunk to use as a huge makeshift sled bucket thingy. I carried it to the stream and hauled gravel back, which I packed in between the rocks. I did the same with sand to pack the smaller gaps.

I had to stamp and shuffle about a bit to flatten the sand down. Bella giggled again and I stopped, slowly turning my butt away from her again and giving her a stern look which only made her giggle even louder. I decided it was time for her to get involved so I told her to pick out some good dancing music while I washed my hands in the stream and wiped them on my jeans. Then we jumped about dancing flattening the foundation out together. I love dancing with Bella. It is my favourite along with kisses and scritches. After she got tired, I dashed about and was finished in a few seconds.

"That's the foundation done."

Grinning at Bella's awestruck expression I suggested we get some trees. She nodded, a little dazed. I picked her up and carried her to an area with a lot of tall, straight cedars.

"Do you like the smell of cedar? I can use Douglas firs if you don't. There are plenty of each."

"I really like the smell of cedar. Do you?"

"Not as much as I like the smell of you." I whispered, nuzzling in her hair and breathing in her fragrance. She blushed and gave me small kisses on my ear.

"You're so strong, Edward." She sighed stroking my bicep. I chuckled and said "I'm glad you found time to notice between giggling at my backside! Want to watch me carry some tree trunks?"

"Mmhmm" she blushed again and her eyes glittered. She was so beautiful, some loose strands of her hair in the gently swirling breeze. My everything.

"Choose some big trees that are nice and straight and I'll push them down."

"Will you move the bird nests? I don't want to make any of them homeless."

"Absolutely."

Bella picked out a tree, I scaled it and relocated a chickadee nest into a neighbouring bough, before pushing it over between the surrounding trees.

"Oooh! Edward!"

"Which one next?"

We carried on like that until I had enough for all the wood we needed and a little more in case we wanted any additional outbuildings or extensions.

I like kicking trees down. Esme tells us off because it's very destructive so I don't do it usually, but it's fun to have a good kicking fit. Bella told me I looked like I wanted to be in a kung fu movie and started giggling all over again.

I gathered up some of the bigger roots from the trees I had felled and tidied up the ground so it didn't look so torn up, then sat down beside Bella. She watched curiously and stroked my hair, which was a total disaster at this point, and scratching the best spots behind my ears. I twisted the roots into a large rope.

"Will you drag them back with that?"

"No, I can carry them, I don't want to turn up all that dirt."

"Ooh! Do you want me to walk back then? Which direction is it? I'm sorry I can't help. It's going to be hard to find anything I can contribute."

"There's lots you can do sweetheart. You've already had so many great ideas and found so many great things we need."

"I want to help with building too though, not just shopping." She said while I strapped the tree trunks together in a huge bundle.

"Well, we need moss, to chink the gaps between the logs and keep out drafts. "

"Would you like to collect that and help with that job?"

"Yeah! What else can I do? Sorry I'm not good at the heavy stuff. I want to try it, but it seems like such a waste of time. You're a million times faster than me."

"Well, what jobs would you like to do? What have you envisaged since we decided to do this?"

"I don't know, something with a saw or a hammer?"

"I don't have a hammer. I just use my fingers and push the nails in if I need to. But I do have a screwdriver- how about you do all the screws and I do all the nails?"

"OK! What else do you think I can help with?"

"We need to make windows, chink the cabin, seal it with varnish or oil to weatherproof it and stop mould, once the main walls are built there will be lots of things like hanging doors, putting up shelves and electrics. If you want to try to clean up the stove from Emmett's that needs doing, we can always take turns. We will also need to install insulation we got, put together any plastic pipes we use for water or guttering, any of the plumbing really. Then all the wood will need to be oiled and sealed too. The tiling in the bathroom and kitchen areas as well. There is a lot to be done aside from the heavy or dangerous tasks."

"Great! I definitely want to get involved, even though it'll slow us down a bit."

"Of course, anything you like. It will be fun to work together and I want you to feel like it's both of ours. I never mind doing things at your pace Bella. Apart from driving."

"Thank you."

I told her she didn't need to thank me for working and contributing equally. I know this is really important to her. I need to try to think of more safe small tasks that are meaningful and save them for her to do. She could have helped more with the sand, but I was showing off. And wiggling my backside as I did, apparently.

Bella went home to eat with her father and spend time with him tonight. I am distracting myself until I can go to her again with a plan to generate electricity from the stream. I saw a video on the 'YouTube' where a man had used the drum from inside a washing machine and some other repurposed components to power his home. Bella emailed me a list of things to look out for on Craig's website for free. We need some cables which could get expensive, so I need to look out for any deals I can find on that sort of thing. It is very hard not just buying everything new. I promised though. Hopefully going to Esme's job site will turn up some things that are handy.

With some work on the stove and a bit of plumbing from Bella, we'll have hot water so she can take a bath. Or I can. I wonder if perhaps she will let me wash her hair. Or maybe her ankles...

A/N: Reviewers get to watch Edward's butt wiggle as he builds your love nest.

THIS CHAPTER HAS ILLUSTRATIONS! For Edward's floor plan of the cabin and other integrated illustrations that FFN won't allow, follow this story on AO3, STARS, or check my DeviantArt 'featured' gallery. I'm LogLadyJ on all those platforms as well.

Thanks a million to my wonderful betas itsthatkindofanight and wh1teow1, please show some love and read Moirai, a reimagining of Twilight for the new decade!