DISCLAIMER: I do not own Twilight. Stephanie Meyer does. Gah, why didn't I have a sexy dream about Edward Cullen? This is a work of fiction, although some events are inspired by MY real life...I won't tell you which, though. Don't judge! 3


Chapter 1 - Bella

As I was browsing the internet for more viral video clips of talking cats and dogs, I heard the ding from my Mac telling me that I had mail. I opened up the email sent from an address I did not recognize and found it to be a potential customer asking about a family photo session for tomorrow afternoon. God, I hate it when people just assume that because I'm a free-lance photographer, I don't have a life or any other customers...but I quickly reply with an enthusiastic yes, close the laptop, and go to bed.

I woke up earlier than normal the next morning to get ready before heading off to the park for the photo shoot. Boy was I in over my head. Amy Pickett, the woman who emailed me, told me she had a big family, but this is what I would call a heard, not a family. The parents, Jeff and Amy were frantically trying to round up the youngest three: Sam, Alexis, and Nicholas. The middle girl, Emma, who looked to be around thirteen, was sitting quietly watching the chaos ensue as her brother Peter, who looked to be about eighteen, was lighting up a cigarette behind the family van to keep out of sight. I'm never having kids, I thought to myself.

After three and a half grueling hours of coaxing anxious little children and unimpressed teens to look at my lens, I was finally done. While Jeff tried to lead his heard back to the van, Amy came to talk with me, Nicholas in hand.

"Oh gosh, Bella. I apologize for my little circus of kids, they can be a handful at times," she apologized, "Thank you so much. Really. Jeff and my parents will be so happy now. They've been begging us for some family photos. I can't wait to see how they turned out!"

"Amy, it was no problem, really. It's my job!" I chuckled.

"Well if there's anything I can do at all, just tell-," she didn't finish her sentence as we both heard a loud crash and the shattering of glass. We turned around to see that, while we were conversing, Amy had let go of Nicholas and he got ahold of my camera and tripod, as in, he knocked it over, and now it was in a million pieces on the dirt ground.

"Nicky!" Amy shouted and ran over and grabbed him up quickly, "Nicky, what have you done? Sweetie, why did you push over Ms. Swan's camera? That was not nice at all, Nicholas," she scolded her youngest, "Come here baby, I want you to apologize to Ms. Swan for what you did. That camera was probably very expensive, Nicky, it isn't a toy." I was in shock. My beautiful Nikon D700 had just been pushed to the ground and shattered beyond repair by a three year old. A three year old! How am I going to replace it? I can't! It was irreplaceable. And now it's gone. Does she really think that an apology from the three year old who created this mess will make it better?

"Mith Thwan," the small child said with an apparent lisp, "I'm thowwy that I broked your camewa. I didn't mean to hurt it. I'm thowwy." Oh my gosh. He is the most adorable kid I have ever heard. He moved to hide his freckly face into his mothers shirt, I suppose in shame.

"Aw, Nicholas. It's okay," I lied, "I'm not mad with you. But Nicholas, you have to promise me something," I leaned in close and took his tiny hand in mine, "You have to promise me that you won't touch anything without asking permission, okay?" He nodded his head frantically. I smiled widely, squeezed his hand and let go. Amy excused herself and walked Nicholas over to the van where Jeff was still struggling to buckle the other young ones in. I reluctantly began picking up the pieces of my poor camera when Amy came back over to help.

"Bella, I am so sorry. Truly. I wasn't paying attention. I should have been holding him, he does this so often, I should have realized," she apologized as tears came to her eyes.

"Oh no, Amy. It's fine. This happens with children sometimes, I know," I offered.

"You have some of your own?" she asked.

"No! I mean, no, I don't have kids. I used to be a camp counselor, that's how I know. Besides, I haven't even been in a relationship in, well, a long time," I regretfully replied.

"Oh. Well, you'll find someone soon, I know it," she cheerfully responded.

"Thanks. So all the pictures are on a memory card, so they weren't damaged. I'll get them uploaded and post them on your file on my website by tomorrow evening," I got back to business.

"Okay, that sounds perfect. Here's this," she handed me a small letter envelope, "And again, Bella, thank you so much for everything, and I'm incredibly sorry about your camera."

"That's okay. I have a smaller camera I can use until I can pay for a new one..." I said.

"Alright, well I'll talk to you soon!" she waved a goodbye and walked back to her van. That was...something. I took pictures for a circus of a family, had my most precious possession broken into tiny pieces, and hardly got an apology from the parents of the destructive child. Super productive day.

After cleaning up and packing all my equipment into the back of my Jeep, I climbed in and just started screaming. What am I supposed to do now? I have no extra money right now to buy a new camera and I definitely don't want to have to ask my mother for money, again. I took a deep calming breath, exhaled and started the long drive home. The early evening traffic of downtown Seattle helped me calm down a bit as I sat and listened to the soul mending sound of The Black Keys. I finally get to my apartment building, park, unload, and catch the elevator to the 14th floor. I haul my equipment into my apartment, fix myself some tea and plop down on my oversized chair facing my spectacular view. I really was quite lucky to find this particular apartment. I'm one of the only ones in the whole building with a full view of the Seattle skyline. The sunset cast shadows of the tall buildings on the busy roads below, making them drive in and out of the darkness.

The knob on the front door began to jiggle and the key began to unlatch, then re-latch to itself. I quickly sat up and walked to the front door to see who was making such a ruckus.

"Dammit, Bells! Open the God damn door! Christ, must you always use that fucking latch?" Jake yelled from out in the hallway. I chuckled to myself and looked through the peephole.

"Who is it?" I teased and prepared myself for the wrath of Jacob, the Great Over-reactor of the 14th floor. He began to pound furiously on the door, yelling at me to open up. After a few seconds I decided to let him in. He practically fell through the doorway, I guess he was leaning on it or something.

"Geez Bells, this is the fucking safest building in all of fucking Seattle, and you can't leave the fucking door unlatched one fucking time. Fuck!" he went on cursing like a sailor for ten more minutes before he settled down next to me on the couch.

"Are you done?" I asked sarcastically.

"Yes. Sorry," he apologized and put his long arm around me, "How did the shoot go today?"

"Oh my gosh, it was terrible!" I began to tell him of all the events that transpired this afternoon with the Pickett family and how my life was ruined now thanks to a clumsy parent and her misbehaved child.

"Aww, B, I'm sorry. I know that camera meant a lot to you. That's the one that Mike had given you, right?" he remembered.

"Yeah...I guess it was," I had forgotten. Jacob pulled me into a hug as I began to sob quietly into his shoulder.

I woke up to darkness. I must have fallen asleep after all that crying. As I remembered why I had began crying in the first place, my heart panged with sadness. I tried to sit up but I was trapped in the warm embrace of my loyal friend who had fallen asleep, too. As my eyes adjusted to the dark room, I could make out the sharp features of the man sitting next to me. His dark hair was almost black in the dark night and his eyelashes created feather-like shadows on his smooth tanned skin. He really was beautiful. My mother always told me we would end up together, I don't think this is quite how she imagined it, though. I carefully removed his toned arms from my torso, placed the blanket from the back of the couch across his body and silently walked to my bedroom. As I was changing out of my clothes from the day, the envelope that Amy had given me fell from my pocket onto the floor. I pulled on my favorite flannel pajama bottoms, a grey tank top and my favorite sweatshirt I stole from Jake, grabbed the envelope and the remote and settled into bed. I flipped through the channels and found a station that had The Office on, I had seen all the episodes probably three times already but I could watch this show forever. I set the remote on my bedside table and opened the envelope.

What the hell?