I hope you all don't mind if I take a few chapters for character development before moving forward with the dramatics of the plot. One of my greatest qualms with the original books was the lack of explanation for evolving characters, and the fact that they only showed Edward and Bella with very little focus on the family as a whole.

Song 32- noname

Finish Line/ Drown- Chance the Rapper

I left Saturday morning to spend the day hunting with Emmett and Rose while Edward and Alice were headed to La Push with Charlie. It had been a surprisingly easy week.

We spent all of Tuesday afternoon making out like teenagers until I told Edward that Carlisle had come home, and he blushed a deep red when he realized that Esme had heard everything from downstairs.

"I've heard far, far more explicit moments from them over the past eighty years, I promise."

Edward didn't seem comforted by the fact, and I took him home, avoiding Esme and Carlisle, though both were grinning and giddy at the new development. Esme had been worried about Edward, concerned by his melancholy and worried that he was too young, that I should be waiting for him to grow up and heal. It was a thought I entertained myself, but I knew I wouldn't be able to stay away from Edward, and I didn't think he would do well without me either.

Edward slept surprisingly well that night, heavy and unplagued by significant dreams. I was glad that the step up in intimacy hadn't triggered any nightmares, and that Edward seemed at peace with his decision. And I was on cloud nine, wrapping myself in his arms and letting his heartbeat thump me into a dreamlike trance.

Alice tossed and turned throughout the night for the whole week, and my concern was mounting. I couldn't make out what her nightmares were about, but I could tell they weren't pleasant. She had taken to drinking a cup of coffee with Charlie in the morning, and the purple shading under her eyes deepened with each restless night.

By the time I departed on Saturday morning, Alice had been awake for hours, aimlessly wandering around the kitchen and living room while waiting for Edward and Charlie to get up so they could leave.

"I'll be back this evening," I promised Edward quietly, leaning over him and kissing him gently. He was still tired from sleep, his green eyes glazed as he blinked his dreams away.

"I w-wish y-you didn't have t-to go," he sighed, returning my kiss in kind. I cupped his cheek, the skin yielding to my palm so I could feel the detailed contours of his soft skin and striking bone structure.

"I know. But I won't be gone long."

"T-Tell Emmett to b-bag a b-bear for me," he teased, smiling softly. Emmett had developed the annoying habit of divulging far too much information to Edward, but Edward always seemed more entertained than anything.

"He doesn't need the encouragement, but I'll pass your message along."

I kissed him once more, deep and thorough, and sighed into his mouth. If we escalated this, it would be too difficult to stop, and Alice was bouncing around the kitchen waiting for Edward already. It would be our luck to have her burst into the room as I fisted my hands through Edward's silky hair and he sucked on my bottom lip, especially since I had supposedly left for a family camping trip yesterday.

"I love you," he said, and I drew back and smoothed my clothes down, wrinkled from a night lying in bed with Edward wrapped around me.

"I love you," I responded, smiling sadly before slipping out the window. It was a few foot drop to the soft mud outside, and I carefully slid the window closed before covering my shoeprints and running out into the woods, dashing through the backyard to avoid being spotted by any potentially nosy neighbors.

Even just for a quick hunt, I hated to leave him. It felt like a hole was growing in my heart, something in my chest eating me from the inside. I wondered if Carlisle experienced this when he went to work, and how he was able to function in surgery when every thought lingered on his mate. Or perhaps it was the result of not consummating and having the years necessary to even out our emotions and find a balance.

Emmett had wanted to range up to British Columbia in search of big game, but I couldn't take such a long trip. Even running at top speed, it would take us half a day there and half a day back, leaving no time for hunting.

"We have to at least go out of state. If we hunt anymore in Olympic, I'll have singlehandedly decimated the bear population," Emmett whined once I stepped foot in the house, hanging up my raincoat and carefully wiping my feet to avoid admonishment from Esme.

"You don't have to have bear every single time. There are other animals," I said pointedly, deciding to not pass along Edward's message just yet. He didn't need the encouragement. Emmett looked outraged, his mouth dropping at the mere suggestion that he hunt another animal.

"Don't you know he's still getting revenge on that first bear, Bella," Rose said, entering from the garage to tease her husband. His head whipped over to her so he could glare at her, a gentle growl rumbling in his chest. I couldn't hold back my giggle at the sound, Emmett's offense always being a source of hilarity. He loved to dish it out, constantly ribbing everyone around him, but the moment we dared to point out his flaws or lapses in logic…

"If we go to Oregon, you'll be more likely to find a black bear. That's the same species as the bear that attacked you," I offered, knowing I would win the argument but still wanting to assuage his fleeting frustration. I knew, deep down, he missed our long hunting trips and the time we spent together, and that was really the root of his desire for a longer trip. Even still, I couldn't leave Edward for that long. I only felt comfortable leaving for a whole day because he would be safe on the reservation under the watchful eye of Sam Uley and whatever other boy had become a wolf, and I couldn't leave Edward alone at night.

"It's not the same," Emmett grumbled, capitulating as easily as I suspected he would.

"No, it's not the same. This time, I'm quite sure you'll win."

At that, I took off running, not bothering on a coat or any other item necessary to a human façade. We occasionally drove to our hunting grounds, but I wanted to really run, and it was about the same speed anyway. This way, we wouldn't be confined to looping roads and roundabout routes, instead just running straight through Washington and down to the northern forests of Oregon.

It had been long past time for me to hunt, though I hadn't realized the intensity of the burn in my throat until I launched myself forward to sink my teeth into an elk- merely an appetizer. My feeding had been sporadic and scarce, just picking off a deer on the run to or from Edward, enough to subdue the burn but not satiate as our traditional family "camping" trips fell to the wayside.

I quickly buried the carcass and jumped from tree to tree, looking for Rose and Emmett. They were sitting at the top of a picturesque waterfall, the drops misting in the air and giving the whole place a feeling of surrealism. I wiped the dirt from my hands and picking the moss out from beneath my nails, waiting for them to conclude their embrace.

"Hey Emmett, wanna make a bet?" I called out from my perch, interrupting their deep kiss. Emmett searched the trees for me, his cheeks deeply dimpling when he found me with the appearance of a devilish grin.

"Always!" He bellowed, and a flock of birds on the other side of the falls scattered at the echo of his voice.

"If I get a bigger bear than you, you have to drink a gallon of milk, and keep it down for a whole day."

"And if I win?"

"What do you want to see me do?"

Emmett paused, his expression indicating he was sifting through thousands of ideas of punishments he could enact- I imagined most of them were physical or food-related, as our bets so often were. He just hated that I tended to win, and I promised him that when he grew older he might also be wiser. Those comments always just enraged him more, though, and he always grew sloppy as I egged him on.

"I want to spend a weekend with Edward," Emmett started, and I cocked my head in confusion, "But without you."

"Emmett," I sighed, starting to tell him that I simply couldn't let that happen. I understood that Emmett loved Edward, and that they were seemingly forging a bond of brotherhood that I would never be able to fully understand. But Emmett tended to be rough and uncouth, and I worried about his abrasiveness around Edward.

"I guess you just gotta win, if you don't want that to happen," Emmett taunted before darting off to the west, barreling through two trees when he didn't bother to dodge them. They cracked, wood splintering and the great trunks folding in on themselves as the branches whooshed through the air.

I groaned, looking to Rose for some backup but she had already started heading north, never one to get in the middle of our competitions.

I guessed I just had to win.

I slid down the tree, then ran to the edge of the falls and jumped off the precipice, the feeling of flying momentarily elating as I floated through the air. It really was quiet beautiful here, the leaves so green and lush along a surging source of water, life teeming and diverse. I could listen to the movements of fish under the current, or the work of beavers, all day long, but I had a bet to win.

The moment my feet sunk into the rich, wet soil, I was off in search of my prey. I moved quietly, careful to not alert any fauna of my presence, though the small animals fled when they sensed a predator near.

As much as I normally enjoyed my competitions with Emmett, I had an even deeper motivation to win than just watching him slosh around with sour milk sitting heavy in his stomach- protecting Edward from whatever fun Emmett decided he could inflict.

I came across a black bear easily so near the stream, but it was small, playing in the water and slashing at the fish with its sharp claws. I enjoyed it for a moment, the naturalness and ease of a content animal at one with its habitat. It looked to be only a few years old, only just growing out of its juvenile stage and still thoroughly entertained by everything the summer months had to offer. It had a long life ahead of it, one hopefully filled with many bear cubs to sustain the decimation Emmett was sure to inflict on the bear population today.

I continued my hunt, ignoring the burn in my throat as I passed over the bear and frightened off a herd of deer meandering along even further downstream. I was running southwest, the terrain sloping down and the altitude dropping as I ran down the mountainous terrain, and I began to rethink my strategy. I scented quite a few elk and deer, and even a small pack of wolves slumbering in a shallow cave, but perhaps the bears would be further up in the mountains, and not down.

I looped around, launching myself over the river and weaving through the dense, untamed forest, jumping up trees to begin climbing the mountains again. I was grateful that the rain had subsided, making the smells of everything around me clearer, and perhaps even leaving a fresh trail of a hopefully enormous bear that was fresh enough to not have been washed away.

I had no such luck, though. I had run in a massive circle, darting in and out of my path to cover as much ground as I could, and I had yet to find a bear but the small one that had been playing in the water. My time was running out, the sun was high in the sky, though still obscured by heavy grey clouds. I wondered if Emmett was having better luck, because I knew that this area was well-populated with black bears, and that if anything it was overpopulated after a busy spring of breeding.

I was almost uncomfortable with thirst after hunting for hours with nothing to ease the burn in my throat, the drive fostering a tantalizing desire to lash out at the next warm body with pulsing blood beneath its gossamer skin. But my control was, as always, near-perfect, and I sighed at the wolf I had come face to face with, longing to wrap my hands around its fragile muzzle and force its head up to bare its neck to me. Maybe some other time, but I had a mission.

I leapt up onto a boulder, then launched myself into a tree, my fingers sinking into the soft bark easily as I clung to the trunk before climbing up it. Once as I was as near to the top of the tree as I could be, the wood groaning under my weight and giving way, I launched myself to the next tree, darting from tree to tree quickly so that my body was only briefly on a tree before I was on to the next.

I had been hoping to gain a better vantage point with the height, and I was correct. It had started to rain again, the smell of water thick in the air as the drops fell heavy from the darkened sky, and I didn't have much of a chance of finding another bear by smell alone. And my chances of just stumbling upon one were slim to none.

But up in the trees, I saw something I never would have just running. It was a little cavern, surrounded on all sides by boulders and fallen trees stacked so high I was unsure of how the animal had even gotten in there.

But there it was, a hulking figure of black fur and tense sinew, pacing back and forth in the crevice and digging its enormous claws into the muddy earth. I grinned down at it, digging my fingers into the bark and sliding down far enough that the scent of the bear hit me- deep and rich and pulsating with heat. The bear hadn't noticed me yet, and it was unlike me to toy with my food as my adopted brother was so prone to, so I dropped down to the ground silently and slipped to the edge of the boulder, able to look down at the animal seemingly trapped below.

Just as I was about to jump down, my throat now burning in anticipation, I heard heavy steps thundering near me, moving quickly enough that it could be none other than-

"Emmett!" I shouted as he plowed into me from the side, our collision a thundering clap of solid skin against skin as he barreled into me from the side like he was tackling me in a football game.

He had his arms wrapped around me as he plowed through, then launched us up to throw me to the ground, sinking me deep into the ground.

"What the hell!" I shouted, squirming underneath his pin, trying to get out from the mud that was slickening and threatening to bury me. Emmett laughed, his voice booming, and I heard a startled roar from the bear still stuck in the cavern now several hundred yards away.

If Emmett wanted a fight, I would definitely give him one. And we wouldn't have to hold back since we weren't under Esme's watchful supervision.

I kept squirming, giving him the impression that he had good and truly trapped me, then swung my legs around so I could wrap them around his waist. The move caught him off guard, and I quickly squeezed and swung him around, throwing him off me so he slid away, landing on a boulder with a splitting crack.

Emmett quickly hopped up, darting around in a circle to try to catch me from behind, but he was unsuccessful and instead approached head-on, knowing his advantage in a purely physical encounter. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Rose had joined us, choosing to perch on a low branch and watch, mildly amused at her husband's antics. I could only assume that I had found the bigger bear, and he was challenging me for it.

Emmett charged at me, the only giveaway that he wasn't a real threat the enormous grin on his face, though I had never found Emmett intimidating in the first place. Sure, his overall size reminded me a bit of Felix- they were both well over six feet tall, with broad shoulders and bulging muscles. But Emmett still retained both the looks and the energy of a child, with his dark curly hair, ever-present dimples deep in his cheeks, and the mischief constantly alight in his eyes. I could probably count on one hand the number of times I had seen him truly serious in his entire existence.

I let Emmett toy with me for a while, attempting actual wrestling and getting thrown to the ground every time, but I was always able to find some weakness in his pin and twist him off of me, only to start again. With neither of us really going for the kill, it was a constant, vicious cycle with no winner.

Emmett groaned with frustration as he landed into another tree, the trunk snapping in half upon impact. He grabbed it and hoisted it out of the ground, roots ripping out from their solid grip deep in the earth, and he flung it off in the distance, launching it as far as he could manage with his unparalleled strength. In the moment of respite, I tried to brush some of the mud that was caked on my skin off, but it clung to every surface and saturated the fabric of my tattered clothing. I wondered what Alice would think if she saw me in such a state, especially considering the jeans had been a pair she picked out for me. Well, it was all ruined now from Emmett's embarrassing attempt at wrestling me.

I could help but smile over at him, thirsty but proud that I had managed to remain standing as one of the strongest vampires in the world attempted to wrestle me down, especially considering how unrestrained he was being without Esme around.

"Why can't I just pin you already!" Emmett complained, hopping up to square off against me again, his lips twitching up in a smile.

"You think I've made it all these years without a few tricks up my sleeve, little boy?" I taunted, spinning just as Emmett launched forward, arms outstretched in his attempt to wrap me in his arms. He was too easy, telegraphing all of his moves in the most obvious of ways and making it almost effortless to evade his grasp or slip away from him.

I danced backwards, ducking down from his quick grab and swiping at his legs, wrapping my hand around his angle to quickly fling him away from me. This time, though, he seemed to anticipate my move faster than I thought he would have, and he reached down to grasp my wrist and pry my hand from his body. I looked up to see my brother grinning wildly, seemingly thinking he was about to win as he twisted my arm around my back. I let him spin me around so that his torso was pressed to my back with my arm trapped between us, effectively holding me in place unless I wanted to tear my arm off in trying to get away. And, as much as I wanted to win, I wasn't going to suffer through that just to keep Edward away from Emmett.

At the thought of Edward, I felt my chest press in on itself, and my resolve in resisting weakened. However, at that exact moment, the faint smell of fresh blood wafted to us, heavy and musky and smelling distinctly of bear, and eliciting a flood of venom as the burn in my throat intensified. Emmett seemed even more distracted, and I took the opportunity to spin out, grabbing both of Emmett's wrists in my own and throwing myself at him full-force. I landed on top of him, holding his arms to his sides as I pressed him into the ground, grinding my teeth with the force I was exerting in trying to fight against his full strength in trying to rise against me. He managed to roll us over, though, and I was in the same position he had been a moment before. Just as I was about to bend my knees to plant my feet on his chest and launch him off of me, I could hear Rose laugh from behind Emmett.

"I swear, you two are such children," she complained, and I craned my neck to peer behind the hulking form of her husband to see Rose leaning against a tree. She was picking her teeth casually, looking every bit the gorgeous vampire she was in immaculate designer clothes and her golden hair perfectly coiffed but for the slight, inevitable dampness, watching her husband and sister roll around in the mud in a mismatched wrestling match for a bear.

"You didn't!" I cried, connecting the dots. Rose's smile was confirmation, and Emmett got off of me to turn to look at Rose.

"Didn't what?" he asked warily.

"I won," Rose sang, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the cavern I had found with the bear trapped in it, now surely drained, dead, and buried.

"Rose!" Emmett groaned, actually stomping his foot in the ground like a spoiled toddler, "I was just about to win!"

"You were not," I objected.

"Was too!"

"Were not!"

"Was too!"

"See! Children!" Rose laughed, and both Emmett and I spun around to glare at her, now directing our frustration and thirst at her instead of each other.

"Em, I think I'd like to see you drink that gallon of milk," she started, pursing her lips and eyeing us warily as we both slowly crept up to her, an unspoken agreement settling our wrestling match. "And Bella, you're going to give Emmett his boys' weekend with Edward." She seemed firm in her demand, but pressed back against the tree as if she could escape what was going to happen at any moment. We didn't even address her win, instead both jumping forward within seconds of each other to chase after and eventually pin Rose, covering her completely with mud so there wasn't a fold on her body or a strand of her hair that wasn't completely covered with mud.

"That was worth drinking milk," Emmett admitted, grinning after his wife as she swam through the coursing stream, trying to get as much grime off of herself as possible. I was kneeling next to him, my fingers in the soil as I covered the shallow grave of my last kill of our hunt, and my second bear of the afternoon. I was as fully sated as possible on our vegetarian diet, and surprisingly happy that I had come. As much as it pained me to be parted from Edward for any length of time, I knew it was healthy for both of us to have a bit of distance, and I had missed joking around with my brother almost as much as he missed having someone to wrestle him. Esme and Carlisle would never, nor would they pose any significant competition, and any attempt with Rose was either rejected because she didn't want to get dirty, or devolved into something explicit.

"If you do or say anything inappropriate to Edward, I swear to you, you will suffer a fate far worse than a stomach full of dairy," I threatened, eliciting a grin despite my complete seriousness.

"He's not as delicate as you think."

"He's an easy target," I pointed out, saddened by the truth in my statement.

"He's also my brother, and I would like to get to know him outside of your relationship," Emmett said, and I could see the earnestness in his freshly golden eyes. I softened, standing up to place my hand on his arm. I had known Emmett had missed me, but I didn't realize that he might also miss Edward, already having completely accepted him into our family.

"You're right," I sighed, squeezing his bicep, "Thank you. For today, and for everything."

"Ah, Bells," Emmett smiled, shrugging off my hand to wrap me in a crushing hug, "I know how hard this is for you, but we got your back." I pressed myself against his chest, my hands not fully reaching around his wide body so I flattened my palms against his back to hold him to me. It felt so nice, to hold and be held without maintaining constant control and composure, and I felt immediately guilty at my relief, as if I was betraying Edward. I wouldn't trade anything in the world for the fragile skin and delicate bones of my beautiful mate.

I was just under an enormous amount of pressure, and it felt nice to let go and play with my brother with no restraint. Between Edward's mental health, the omnipresent variable of physical danger in every human's life, my impending trip to Italy, and the newly introduced physicality of my relationship, I felt even more out of balance than I usually did since I had met Edward.

"You've got the weight of the world on your shoulders," Emmett sighed, rubbing his hands across my upper back comfortingly as I continued clutching him to me. "You're not responsible for everything, you know?"

"Edward is my world, and I'm responsible for him," I cried, my words muffled as I pressed my face into his muddy shirt.

"Is it that bad?" he asked quietly, now serious and sincere, "I thought… I thought he was getting better?"

"I honestly don't know, Em. Sometimes, it feels like we're making massive strides, but so often I don't know what he's thinking and he's just withdrawn, like he's hiding himself from me."

"But even I've noticed the changes in him in the last few months, as unobservant as you think I am. And you've been sticking your tongue down his throat every second you can the couple couple of days."

"What kind of changes?" I asked, drawing back as I focused on his first statement rather than the gentle teasing. Four days of French kissing was no match for over seventy years of constant, overt intimacy.

"Well, for one, the stutter?" Emmett started carefully, studying my face, "That's definitely improved. He used to trip over almost every word, and now he can say whole sentences with barely a stutter. And I think that's indicative of a broader improvement. I mean, he told you about what happened to him as a kid and, fuck, have I mentioned that I'm going to rip those fucking foster parents to pieces?" he growled our the last sentence, his chest rumbling anger.

"Not if I get to them first," I responded in kind, the desperation to murder those disgusting humans always present and at the surface of my psyche. Emmett pursed his lips, his dimples deepening with the expression, but he sighed and released some of the tension he had been holding.

"And haven't you taken note of what he's wearing, and not just around you? He used to wear a constant rotation of sweaters, and now he's walking around in T-shirts in front of the whole family. And with the shit all over his arms, that should show you how comfortable he's grown around us." It was my turn to growl when he referred to the soft scars on Edward's arms as shit. If anything, they were marks of Edward's survival, even the self-inflicted ones showing how he has been able to survive every ordeal that's been thrown his way. Emmett raised his hands, capitulating to his slipup. "The point is, don't think he's not getting better just because you're so wrapped up in the negative. He just needs time."

"But what if time is the one thing we don't have?" I asked weakly, my eyes stinging with unshed venom.

"You're going to have an eternity," he promised with his Emmett-exclusive confidence, and I couldn't find it in me to argue with him.

"I keep trying to tell her not to sell herself or Edward short," Rose said, emerging from the water sopping wet, her clothes dripping and her hair darkened with damp, but almost flawlessly clean.

"You know our girl- she loves to wallow."

"I do not!" I objected, crossing my arms.

"Not to mention how she holds herself responsible for literally everything," Rose added.

"I'm right here!" I yelled.

"And she thinks she has to fix everything," Emmett said. I groaned and rolled my eyes, letting them continue with their little bit.

"Always with the self-sacrifice."

"Well, what do you suggest I do, then?" I asked sarcastically.

Emmett shrugged. "Let us help, maybe?"

"Yeah, we're not useless, Bella. We may not have any mystical powers like you do, but we can still help," Rose said, running her fingers through her nearly dry hair to twist gentle waves.

"Of course I don't think you're useless. I would never think that!"

"Then why don't you want us getting close to Edward? I know you think I'm too rough-"

"And that I'm too cold," Rose added.

"But," Emmett continued, "We could be a good support system for him when you're gone, for however long that takes."

"Not to mention, I have firsthand experience with some of what Edward has gone through, and I was thinking I might like to share that with him sometime, if that's okay with you?" Rose asked softly, her brows arching delicately while she waited for my response.

"Maybe I've been too overprotective," I capitulated, "It's just…"

"I know. We know," Rose said, tightening her hold on Emmett, "You always take care of everyone around you, and you always feel responsible for things that are entirely out of your control. Let us take care of you now, so you can focus on the one thing that really matters."

"Edward," I sighed, thinking of the beautiful boy that was waiting for me a few hundred miles north of us.

"And at that, we should get you back to him," Emmett said, letting go of Rose to pull me into a quick embrace. The time had barely registered in my mind, but the sky was darkening beyond the dense cloud coverage as the sun sunk down to the top of the tree line.

"I… thank you," I said simply, unable to articulate anything concisely with how overwhelmed I felt.

"We love you, Belly," Emmett said, "Even if it's your fault that I gotta drink a bunch of milk now."

"My fault? You're the one who attacked me!" I laughed, the tension that had saturated the air like the thick humidity dissipating with Emmett's easy humor.

"I would've beaten you if Rose didn't interfere."

"She's your wife," I pointed out.

"You're the one who made her!"

I laughed, unable to respond to Emmett's fair point.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Shall we?" She asked, arching a brow and cocking her hip expectantly. After regaining our composure, we followed Rose through the forest, the heavy brush of untrekked woods no match for our quick maneuvering over the logs, rivers, and rocky terrain that was signature of the Pacific Northwest. I was no longer eager to goof around with my siblings, and pulled ahead as Emmett was hindered by plowing through trees. Based on Rose's giggling at his antics, instead of the alternative of grumbling and complaining, I'd say they were going to be greatly delayed, probably for the whole night.

My only pause came when I stopped at one highway, waiting for a few cars to pass in the light evening traffic before bounding across and continuing my path north. As I passed Aberdeen, I fleetingly wondered if Edward liked Nirvana, and with his lanky stature and messy hair, he would look good with the grunge aesthetic. I ran parallel along the one-oh-one for a few minutes, where I noticed a sign for a town called Humptulips and made note to tell Emmett so he could laugh like a twelve year old at the name.

My legs were pumping, my bare feet flying and barely touching the soil as I pushed myself as hard as I could, my patience wearing thin as the separation was getting to me, but once I leapt over the Bogachiel River, I knew I was home free.

I was home minutes after that, taking a minute to spray myself down with the garden house before jumping up to my room. I shed the tattered and dirty rags I had once called clothes quickly, tossing them in the bin, and rushed through my shower. I was in constant movement, flitting around the room as I dressed and grabbed a book I wanted to share with Edward. The only time I paused was when a small frame on my shelf caught my eye, and I pulled it out.

It was a box made of an ash wood, light colored with a soft grain, and a glass surface to display the carefully pressed flower it held. It was the flower Edward had given to me when we went to the meadow. I had forgotten about it with all that came after, not even noticing when it disappeared from the small glass vase on the kitchen counter that I had placed it in.

"I figured you would want to keep it," Esme said softly, standing in the doorway to my bedroom. I clutched the box to my chest, treasuring the precious gift that Edward had so carefully picked for me.

"Thank you," I said, for the umpteenth time today.

"Did you have fun today?"

"Yeah," I said, unable to hold back my smile, "Emmett lost a bet and he has to drink a gallon of milk. Could you make sure we have plenty for him?"

Esme laughed, shaking her head in mock disapproval. "I swear, you two would tear each other apart if no one was there to watch you."

"Oh, Rose participated too," I said, not wanting to elaborate because Esme truly hated when we played with our food. She shared in Carlisle's philosophy of compassionate hunting, and did her best to take down her prey quickly and without it noticing, though she wasn't nearly as good at it as her mate.

"I'm sure she did," Esme said, coming into my room to pick up the garbage bin with my ruined and discarded clothes. "I take it those two won't be returning tonight?"

"I doubt it."

"And you?"

I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth, chewing on the hard skin in anticipation because I knew that within minutes of finishing the conversation, I would hopefully be seeing my Edward again. Considering the hour, he was sure to either already be home, or heading there, for a quiet dinner of takeout with his sister and foster father.

"I guess that answers that question," Esme laughed, kissing my forehead gently and tucking a damp strand of hair behind my ear. "Tell Edward he must come over for dinner tomorrow. I want to work my way through my Julia Child cookbook and I need someone to eat the food."

After promising to bring him and moving a few books around on my shelf to prominently and proudly display the pressed wildflower, I launched myself out of the window and into the night.

We'll see Edward again in the next chapter, I promise :) I debated continuing here, but this felt like a natural conclusion