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"Do you remember when you called Bella a spider monkey? That was weird. In the best way." Emmett snorted and edged closer to me as Edward sent a glare my way. "Or when you watched her sleep like a creep?"

"Did we tell you about the time he hissed at everyone when he first met her? That was weird." Edward turned his glare to Emmett now.

"Those were the days. She walked around complaining she smelled bad after she met you. She took, I think, ten showers that night." Edward's glare was back to me. "You're brooding again."

"You're pretending to be funny." He retorted.

"Jokes on you, I am funny," I smirked back. We were all crowded around the living room of the house the family built for the newlyweds. Most of us had nothing better to do so we wandered over to bug Edward who was adding last-minute details to the place. We could hear laughing as Eli and Nesmee played together in her new room. "This place looks nice. She's going to love it. And if she doesn't, I will happily move in."

"I offered to build you one, you said no." Emmett rolled his eyes.

"Because I didn't like the place you wanted to put it." I looked at him annoyed. "Excuse me for not wanting to live in Edward's backyard."

"I thought you'd want to be close to Bella!" He threw up his hands as mine went to my hips.

"Not that close! We have our own families now! We need our own space." I argued. He sighed and slouched on the dark green couch Edward chose despite Alice's protests. "Someone back me up here." I turned to face his siblings and they all watched us, amusement in their eyes.

"She has a point Em." Jasper sided with me. This newfound guardian bond was my new favorite thing. I'd always been closer to Jasper than anyone else, but this skyrocketed our friendship even further. Jasper was truly like a big brother to me. He was my platonic soulmate. Which annoyed Emmett but caused overwhelming excitement for Alice.

"Thank you!" I turned to look at Emmett defiantly, who was back on his feet. He was not about to win this fight.

"His opinion doesn't count! Mother Nature bound him to you and he's your guardian angel, he doesn't get an opinion because he'll always side with you." Emmett towered over me, his eyes darkening as he argued with me.

"It does too matter! Plus he's your brother, his loyalty will always be with you even with the guardian thing." I took a step closer to him and I could feel his body shaking I knew our little argument was pushing his limits. I couldn't understand why the thing with Jasper bothered him and every time I asked, he blew me off. Emmett was a happy-go-lucky kind of guy and I knew discussing feelings wasn't his forte but I kept persisting anyway. "I'm not arguing with you about this anymore Em. I need to talk to Esme about something, can you watch Eli?" He gave me a sharp nod and I took a step back from him. I walked out of the house without another word, not sparing his siblings a glance as I did.

"Hey, Clary!" I turned my head and saw Jacob waving at me. Seth and Leah were beside him and normally I would've gone over to them and joined their little circle, but I had too much on my mind and I needed Esme to help me sort out my thoughts. I waved back and gave them a small smile before continuing my walk to the house.

Within two minutes, I was standing in the kitchen, staring at Esme as she fiddled around the room. "I can sense your anxiety. I don't need to have powers to know something's not right with you." She gave me a kind smile and I didn't hesitate to walk over to her and wrap my arms around her. We matched in height so it wasn't awkward for either of us. "What's wrong dear?"

"So much has been going on and I just feel as if Emmett and I are slipping back into how things used to be. He doesn't want to talk and all I want to do is talk." I pulled back from her and she guided me into the living room. We sat on the couch beside each other and she held my hands in hers gently, comfortingly. "How do you and Carlisle resolve your fights?"

"Despite what you may think, we hardly fight at all. After all these years together, we have a mutual understanding of how each other's feeling so we know when to push and when not to. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't always easy. Our first decade together, we were at each other's throats." We shared a quick laugh. "But then we met someone who gave us some advice and we followed it and things smoothed over rather quickly."

"What was the advice?" I laid my head on her shoulder and she rested her head atop mine.

"Never go to bed angry. Granted we don't sleep so instead we switched it to never argue in the bedroom. It was our safe space away from our kids and we didn't want to tarnish that. And secondly, never argue before you've had breakfast."

"So how'd you switch that one around?" I joked. "Don't argue until after you've hunted?"

"Something like that." She chuckled. "You and Emmett are bound to fight, it's normal. But you just always have to stay as calm as you can. You two know how to push each other's buttons, and what to say to hurt each other. You can't do that. I know it's not that easy, but you two also need to talk more."

"He doesn't want to. I've tried. I keep trying." I muttered. "The only thing we keep arguing about is this guardian thing with Jasper. He won't tell me why he's bothered by it and whenever I ask, it just leads to another argument. Like today."

"I can't tell you exactly how he feels about it but if I know Emmett as well as I think I do, he probably feels useless because of it. Emmett doesn't have power like Edward or Alice but he's always been the strongest one in our family. He's a natural-born protector. He protects his loved ones and maybe the idea of not being your sole protector intimidates him." I knew what she was saying was remotely close to how he was probably feeling, I just wished he'd told me himself.

"Should I try talking to him about it now or should I wait? I don't want to fight with him again. It's too mentally draining." She lifted her head and I turned to look at her. She smiled kindly at me and I wanted to hug her again.

"Give it a little bit. Go outside to the front, nobody's out there. Just sit and clear your head a bit." She helped me to my feet and she gave me another quick hug before nudging me towards the stairs that led down to the front door.

"Thank you, Esme. Not only for this but for everything." I smiled shyly at her. "I've sort of adopted you as my mom now seeing as I hardly talk or see mine."

She smiled widely and gave me a small nod. "You've become a daughter to me, Clary. I'll always be here for you dear." I gave her another smile before walking down the steps and onto the front patio. The porch stretched all around the house but I wanted to steer clear of the back area, where everyone most likely was.

The Cullens didn't have any outdoor furniture so my only option was to sit on the steps leading up to the porch. I sat in the middle, my feet resting on the last step. I wrapped my arms across my chest as I stared at the quiet forest. There was a slight breeze and I let out a sigh as I watched the tops of the trees sway in the wind. I couldn't have been sitting there for more than five minutes before I felt him behind me. He sat on the steps behind me and his legs formed a barrier around me as I relaxed into his chest.

His arms wrapped around me and I let out a small sigh. "She wasn't wrong." And we were finally talking. "I do feel useless. I'm supposed to be the one protecting you."

"You do protect me Em. Jasper is just added protection. He's my platonic soulmate. The universe gave me a forever best friend." I tried to reassure him. "I'll always look to you before I go to him. He's my guardian but you're my boyfriend."

"I know." He exhaled loudly. "I guess it just hurt my pride a little bit."

"I get that. But next time, just talk to me about it. I won't make fun of you Em." I looked up at him and his gaze met mine. "I love you big guy." He chuckled and I closed my eyes as his arms tightened around me.

"I love you more Clare-bear." I smiled contentedly and we sat in silence for a minute before he started talking again. "There's something I've been wanting to ask you?"

Without opening my eyes, I replied. "Hm, what is it?"

"Will you marry me?" I gasped and sat up quickly. I turned my body to face his and he had a shy smile on his face. He pulled a small black box out of his pocket and my hands flew to my mouth as my eyes widened. It was a simple diamond ring, nothing too fancy, but it was enough to make my heart stop. "Marry me, Clary." He waited anxiously for his answer.

But unfortunately, he never got one.

Alice raced to us and she squealed in delight. "Bella's awake!" Emmett and I shared a look before looking back at the bouncing brunette. "Come on, let's go!" She didn't wait for us to respond as she grabbed my wrist and pulled me to my feet. She dragged me into the house and I looked back to spare a glance at Emmett who was frowning at the black box.

"Emmett," I whispered his name knowing he could hear me. His head snapped up and he stared my way. "Yes." His face lit up and his body straightened out as he beamed. I smiled widely at him before Alice turned the corner and I couldn't see him anymore.

We were engaged.

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q&a time:
if you could be any supernatural
being, what would you be?

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