A/N: Happy to see interest in this one. It's really a fun story…or so I believe. I love the relationships that are established, and while I won't guarantee that I channeled 11-year-old boys well, I hope I did it justice. I really hope that if you like it, you'll spread the word.

SMeyer owns Twilight…I own this story, but would never infringe.

Enjoy…

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2.

"Oww!" Edward heard called from upstairs. He lifted his head to see that Alice and Esme were most certainly asleep, and since he'd already awakened them to rescue him…which didn't really work out the way he'd planned…he got up from the floor and quietly walked upstairs. He went to Bella's room and found her attempting to get out of bed. Luckily, Esme had left on a small light so he didn't fall over anything on his way to her bedside.

He picked up the bottle of pills and poured one in his hand as he sat down next to her on the bed. Her eyes shot open, and for a moment, she looked petrified. "Don't worry. I come in peace. Edward, remember? Anyway, open," he ordered as he held the pill up in front of her. She did as he asked, and then he held up the glass of water with the straw that Esme had left on the table, watching her take a healthy gulp from it.

Once she'd swallowed, she settled back a little, but the pain was evident on her face. "You want another pillow or something?" he asked quietly. She nodded so he reached to the other side of the bed and grabbed the other pillow that rested there. Bella tried to sit up, but he could see it wasn't going to happen without help, so he gently wrapped his arms around her waist, mindful of her shoulder, and then he tucked the pillow behind her. He gently eased her back against it and saw a small smile on her face.

"Why are you here, by the way? I mean, I've talked to you for about six minutes, and honestly, I only remember about one minute of it. Did you have a run-in with my dad and this is your sentence?" Bella asked him, causing him to chuckle. In his opinion, she had a pretty good sense of humor, especially for someone in pain.

"Call me a Good Samaritan. Anyway, my sister and niece are here as well, so if you need anything, just yell. I'll be downstairs as well," he offered in what he hoped was a comforting tone.

"Crap, how am I gonna…where are my parents?" she asked.

"Um, they left when I brought you up here. You need anything else?" he deflected because he didn't really wanting to broach the subject of her parents' disappearing act. She shook her head 'no' and closed her eyes. He left the room and went back downstairs, settling into his uncomfortable spot on the floor, all the while thinking of his comfortable bed a block away and wondering why in the fuck he wasn't in it.

##

"Who the hell are these people?" Edward heard one of the amateur gangsters ask. He kept his eyes closed to see what they'd come up with on their own.

"Well, that's Alice Cullen, Doc Cullen's daughter, and I think that's her mom. He's the guy from last night with the cat and…oh, shit! We're screwed. He's the guy whose car we egged yesterday," the other one deduced.

"We need to get the hell out of here," one said. Edward heard them scrambling, and he hopped up and grabbed them each by the back of the shirt just as they were almost out the front door.

"Gentlemen, let's talk," he ordered menacingly as he herded the pair into the kitchen of their home. He pushed one into one chair and the other one into a chair across from him and then he leaned against the sink and crossed his arms over his chest, ready to do battle with the two nuisances to the residents on Bennett Circle.

"Who's Jacob and who's Jared?" Edward asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"I'm Jared. Jake's got longer hair and a scar on his chin," Felon One explained.

"I'm Edward Masen, the guy whose car you egged yesterday. What the hell is up with all of the crap you two have been doing over in our neighborhood? You painted my neighbor's cat, for Christ's sake. I'm sure you recognized it last night when it came out of that tree," Edward reminded.

"Dude, the paint is non-toxic. All the old lady has to do is put the cat out in the rain, and it'll come clean," Jacob answered.

"Well, at least Pablo isn't going to meet an early demise…unfortunately," Edward thought.

"Yeah, guess what, guys? As soon as your mom is up to hearing about it, I'm telling her everything that's been going on over on my street. You've been terrorizing my neighborhood for a week, and that shit is going to stop. I'm not sure what the hell to do with you. I oughta call the cops and have you two little delinquents picked up for vandalism," he threatened.

He saw them both swallow, and he was happy to have the upper hand. "Dude, we're the product of a broken home, okay? Mom works until six, and we get outta school at three. We get bored. We never wanted to move here, but she didn't really give us a choice," Felon Two offered as their lame ass defense.

"Well, my folks moved to London and I had to get my ass out of their house, so we don't always get a say in shit, now do we? What you guys are doing is completely unacceptable. How do you think you should make it up to me and my neighbors? Those flowers you dug up or trampled or whatever, those were Mrs. Sohn's pride and joy. They're all dead now, and she's gonna have to start from scratch on her flower garden. Mr. Hamm's garden gnomes? Those were his mother's from when he was a kid. Did you bust them up?" Edward snapped, having determined that their little plea of victimhood would garner them no sympathy from him.

"No, they're in our garage. We were going to paint 'em and put 'em back…you know, like a gift," Jacob replied.

"We were?" Jared asked. Obviously, they didn't have that twin thing going on that one of them knew what the other one was thinking because, in Edward's opinion, Jared appeared just as surprised at the statement as he was sure he did.

"Yeah, I believe that like I believe Jennifer Lopez is going to show up at my front door with whipped cream and…um, never mind. That's bullshit. I'm not sure how you're mom's going to feel about this, but I think you two need to learn a lesson. You're going to make up for all the shit you did on my street," he warned the pair.

He saw them look between each other, and he could tell that they didn't like his idea of restitution which was exactly the moment he fell in love with it. He just hoped their mother went along with it once all of the facts were presented.

##

"Think she's gonna go to the game? She's our ride," Bella heard Jared ask someone, probably Jake.

"I don't know if she's gonna come to anytime soon. I guess I could call Coach Clapp and ask him to pick us up. We'll leave her a note. Come on, I smell bacon," she heard Jake announce. She opened her eyes and saw the two of them walking out of the bedroom door, pulling it closed behind them. She got up from the bed…slowly…and went to the bathroom which wasn't an easy feat by any stretch of the imagination, being that one arm was in a sling.

After her morning business was concluded, she washed her hand, which also wasn't easy, and assessed the damage in the mirror looking back at her. Oh, it wasn't pretty at all. She attempted to pull a comb through her hair but determined that it was simply no use. She wondered how the hell she was going to shower because nothing…absolutely nothing…was going to keep her from her sons' last soccer game of the season. Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Bella? Are you okay?" she heard the velvet voice of Edward Masen call through the door. She was still at a loss of what the hell he was doing at her house because she barely remembered her interaction with him, but she did remember he was quite good looking.

She opened the door and took in his appearance. He was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, and his hair was wet which led her to believe that somewhere along the way he'd showered. "Edward, you don't have to stay and help. You've already done too much for complete strangers," she said swaying slightly and suddenly feeling light headed. He grabbed her hips and moved her back to sit on the side of the tub.

"My niece, Alice, is here. She came over last night with my sister. Esme made the boys breakfast, and yours is in the oven warming. Alice said she'd come up and help you shower and dress, if you need the help," he replied with a sexy smirk on his face, knowing damn well that she'd need the help.

He held out his hand and had one of the miracle pills in it and a bottle of water was quickly produced from the pocket of his jeans. "The hot guy is a magician, no doubt about it," she thought. She took the pill and a large drink of the water and thought about what he'd said. In her drug-induced state, she truly saw nothing wrong with him helping her in the shower which led her to believe that she needed to wean herself off of the pain pills in order to keep from daydreaming about such things. In her opinion, Edward Masen was definitely daydream worthy.

"Why are you here again?" she asked after she'd swallowed the pill.

"I need to talk to you about your sons. I don't know if you're aware, but for the last week, they've been terrorizing our neighborhood. They painted my neighbor's cat pink and green. They dug up a flower bed of one of my elderly neighbors. They duct taped the McCarty's dog door closed so that their English bulldog couldn't go outside to do his business which caused him to do it in the house, thus costing them a very expensive rug. They stole an elderly man's garden gnomes, and yesterday, they egged my car as I drove down the street on my way home. Something has to be done before one of my neighbor's calls the cops," he explained to her.

Bella knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that her sons weren't angels. The loss of her security deposit at the apartment was definitely enough to enlighten her that she didn't live in the fantasy world where they were perfect. She'd tried to guide them and teach them right from wrong, but apparently, she was doing a piss poor job of it, based on what the handsome man had just told her. She couldn't help but cry at the information she'd just been given.

"I'm so sorry. I'll make it all good, I promise. It's just…it's just hard without having anyone to help me. I mean, I try so hard, but I have to work until six and they get home from school at three. We don't know anyone like we did at the apartment, so even though I tell them to stay home and do their homework, they do as they please. I'm so sorry," she sobbed. She truly hoped it was the damn drugs that were making her cry like a hysterical woman in front of a virtual stranger because she usually didn't cry.

"Shit. Don't cry, okay? I mean they're young, right? Hell, I probably did stuff a lot worse than any of that. I remember putting fire crackers in the neighbors' mailboxes. It's just…I don't want them to get into a lot of trouble, and I'm afraid they're going to. Fuck. ALICE!" he yelled.

A minute later, Alice Cullen appeared. She was the cutest girl that Bella thought she'd ever seen. Alice was about five-feet tall and likely weighed less than a hundred pounds. She was dressed in a black mini-skirt and black leggings with a white t-shirt that was torn in a fashionable way, Bella was sure. She had on a lot of eye liner but no other make-up.

Carlisle had told Bella that Alice was going through a Goth phase, so when Alice dyed her beautiful chestnut hair blue- black, her mother didn't say anything to her. She did, however, come into the office on her lunch hour and cry on her husband's shoulder that her baby wasn't a baby any longer.

One look at the sobbing woman sitting on the side of the tub, and Alice slapped Edward on the arm. "Uncle Eddie, what did you do?" she spat at him.

"Nothing! I just told her about some things that the boys had been up to and…dammit…just get her to stop crying, please? I'm going downstairs," he answered and quickly left the room.

Alice looked at Bella and smiled. She pulled off a length of toilet paper after she didn't find tissues, and she dried the woman's eyes. "Don't cry. His bark is certainly worse than his bite, okay? Those two boys are adorable, but they just need something to do in the afternoon to keep them out of trouble. I tell you what. I only go to school half a day, so I'll pick them up at three, and I'll hang out with them here. I'll make sure that they don't terrorize anyone, I promise," Alice offered with a smile.

"You don't have to do that. I'll figure it out," Bella told her as she blew my nose with one hand.

"Now, stop. It'll give me something to do in the afternoons instead of pining away for my dream man. So, let's get you showered, okay?" Alice asked. She helped Bella undress and shower, and she washed Bella's hair as best she could.

Thirty minutes later, Bella was heading downstairs to assess the damage and take her sons to the whipping post. As she settled at the table taking a sip from a cup of tea that was waiting for her, she noticed the quiet. Usually, there was a blaring television and a lot of yelling at their house on Saturday morning. That morning, it was unusually quiet which was a cause for concern.

She thought she remembered Edward mentioning that Esme was there, but the woman was nowhere to be seen, and Alice had disappeared as well, leaving Edward Masen and Bella Uley in the kitchen alone. He pulled out a warm plate with eggs Benedict on it and placed it in front of her where she noticed that the sauce wasn't even broken. She was quite shocked. "Did the boys eat this?" she asked as she took her first bite. It was heavenly, and the hollandaise was perfect.

"No. They had bacon and cheese omelets. Jake mentioned that you like eggs with ham and white stuff, so Es took a chance. He said you got it when you went to brunch on birthday Sundays after church. How's your shoulder?" he asked her as he sat down across from her drinking coffee. She decided that the guy was like no man she'd ever met in her life.

The moans and groans that were coming out of her as she ate hinted that she was about to have an egg-gasm right there at the table because it was so damn good. "Where are the accused?" she asked between bites. She saw Edward point toward the ceiling which led her to believe they were upstairs, and not that he'd killed them and they were in heaven, which was probably what they deserved, she deduced.

Suddenly, she heard the most incredible sound in the world…the vacuum. It was coming from upstairs, and Bella couldn't begin to imagine who was running it. It wouldn't have surprised her if the damn thing just took pity on her and plugged itself in, moving freely around the upstairs by itself. That or her sons were sucking water out of the toilet with it again to see if they could make a really big water balloon with the bag. It wasn't her first vacuum cleaner.

She saw Edward take in her shocked expression and heard him chuckle. "Oh, that's all Alice. She told them that she couldn't have boyfriends who were pigs, so she's got them cleaning their rooms. She told them that the two of them together were just the right age for her, but they had to clean up their act. You'd be surprised what she can talk people into," he replied with a huge smile on his face that took Bella's breath away. In that moment, she was pretty sure that he could talk people into a lot of things, or out of a lot of things…namely clothes…himself.

"Why are you here? I'll reprimand them, and I promise you that they'll make up everything to your neighbors. I'll make them go house-to-house to apologize if I need to. Look, I know that they're a handful, but I'll talk to Carlisle about cutting back my hours or maybe working from home if possible," she offered desperately.

He rose from the table, clearing her dishes and loading the dishwasher. Bella saw him run water in the sink and plunge the dirty skillet into it. Once it was submerged, he dried his hands and sat back down with his coffee.

"I don't know your story, and I won't push you for it, but you seem like a nice woman who could use a friend. You're in a new neighborhood, and for whatever reason, their dad isn't around. I have a proposal for you," he offered.

She considered what he was saying, but before she heard him out, she needed a few answers of her own. "How old are you?" Bella asked. She could tell that he was younger than her, and before she got too far into her fantasies of him, she had to know if she was going to go to jail for the thoughts that were circling her head as she looked at him sitting across from her in her kitchen.

"Twenty-four…twenty-five in June," he answered as he laced his fingers behind his head and sat back, exposing just the tiniest bit of a very toned abdomen to her which caused her mind to wander a bit.

"Great. That's just what I needed to hear. Um, I'll make sure that my mom takes them to her house after school instead of dropping them off at home. After soccer today, I'll make them right every wrong they pulled in your neighborhood and apologize. Thank you for your help," she dismissed as she placed her tea cup in the sink and started out of the room.

"Freeze. We're not done here," Edward called behind her. She stopped because she might have been a little dismissive and he'd been nothing but kind to her, so she turned around and walked back into the kitchen.

"What?" she asked impatiently.

"How old are you? I know that's not a question to ask a lady, but you seemed interested in my age, so…?" he asked with a head tilt as if he was taking in her appearance and making a judgment of his own.

Bella let out a big sigh. "I'll be thirty-one in September. Anything else?" she asked sarcastically.

"Hmmm. An older woman? Well, that's actually quite interesting. So you were…?" he began. Bella knew the discussion. It was one she hated to have, but it was one she was going to have that morning whether she liked it or not.

"I was eighteen when I got pregnant and nineteen when they were born. I was married for three years before we threw in the towel. Their father lives in Alaska with his new family," she answered, hoping that she'd cut directly to the chase and could get the kid out of her house.

She thought, "Fuck. He's six-years younger than me. That's too ridiculous to even consider. He's so damn handsome, but I'm thirty and he's the equivalent of jailbait in my mind. Hell, he's likely just graduated from college last year, and he's just beginning his path into adulthood. I've been here for a hell of a long time."

"What do you do for a living?" she asked before he commented on the fact that her kids were nearly half his age.

He sighed and placed his forearms on the table, looking at her. "Okay. I graduated from Dartmouth at twenty. I took a year off and travelled around Europe, and then I came back here and got a job working in advertising. I was in a sort-of relationship that ended a year ago, and currently I'm single. I have a house on Bennett Circle, and I drive a nice Mercedes that your sons egged yesterday," he laid out for her.

It was quite an interesting history, if Bella did say so herself. "Well, you've packed a lot in in a very short period of time. I work for Carlisle as a medical transcriptionist, and I don't date. I'm doing everything I can to corral twin eleven-year olds, and I play Russian roulette with my household finances. We really don't have a lot in common, now do we? I mean, except for the fact that my sons are a pain in both of our asses," she added.

"Let me take you to dinner tonight?" he asked rather surprisingly.

"What?" she asked. It was absolutely ludicrous to even consider, in her mind. He was far too young for her, and she needed to get ideas of him out of her head. His request to take her to dinner was the last thing she needed to be considering that Saturday morning.

"I said…and I'll say it slower if your meds are wreaking havoc with your ability to process…let me take you to dinner tonight. Alice can stay with the boys, and I'll take you out for a nice meal, and we can see what we do or don't have in common," he offered.

"Young man, you're far too young for me or my situation, so let's not beat around the bush. I'm most certain that the young ladies in town are lined up outside your house waiting for you to come home," she replied, hating herself for sounding so condescending. It was her lame attempt to just get him out of her house before she let her mind get away from her. She was blaming it on the damn Vicodin.

"Too young? That's a bit inane, isn't it? You're a beautiful woman who interests me, future felon offspring aside, and apparently, I have some sort of an effect on you because your face is flushed and you've been blinking furiously since this conversation started," he answered.

"Oh, God. Why, in the name of all things holy, is he so fucking observant?" she thought. She decided that she had to shut it down immediately. She wasn't sure what to say to the kid. He wasn't like anyone she'd ever met before, but she really needed to head him off because, in her mind, there was no way the two of them had anything in common.

"Listen, the hard sell is really sweet and cute, and I'm sure girls your age love it, but I'm way too old for you, so you might as well give up. I've got two eleven-year olds, rent, an old truck, and no desire to deflower a young man who's only been able to drink legally for three years. I appreciate that you felt the need to see that I didn't drown in my own vomit or whatever, but your obligation is non-existent because I think you know that we are not compatible," she told him rather rudely as she tried to figure out a way to get him to leave.

"Wow, I guess a shitty relationship really does taint women after all. I thought that was just bullshit. Well, I'm not worried. Oh, and you don't have to worry about deflowering me. I haven't been flowered since I was seventeen," he responded cockily. She was so taken aback that she could only stare at him.

"I make you nervous. Why is that?" he asked as he put his cup of coffee on the table and then settled back and crossed his ankle over his knee. She was still stuck to the spot she was standing in at the kitchen counter.

"You don't make me nervous," Bella defended nervously. Of course, he did, because she honestly didn't know what to do with him. She knew what she wanted to do with him, but it was completely inappropriate to think about it with him sitting right there in front of her. Hell, it was inappropriate to think about it with him sitting anywhere.

He laughed. "I think your body language speaks to the contrary. Sit down and let me tell you a little story," he responded. Of course, she was intrigued. It also didn't help that the guy had the most enthralling green eyes she'd ever seen in her life. They were like two pools of jade that just drew her in. She walked to the table and sat down across from him, facing him and waiting for his next words.

"Okay, Dr. Seuss, I'm waiting," she replied as she crossed her arm over her chest. The other arm wasn't going anywhere without a hell of a lot of pain.

"You're very attracted to me, but you're fighting it, and I can't exactly figure out why. You're thirty and I'm twenty-four, soon to be twenty-five so we're only five years apart. You've got two sons, and while I don't have a lot of experience with kids, I don't dislike them. I think if I got to know them, they'd like me."

"You can't get passed a single-digit number, which is absolutely crazy, but I won't argue that at this point in time. How about this…you spend time with me and get to know me, and if you don't want to go out with me on a date, the worst thing that you've done is made a friend. I could always use a friend. How 'bout you?" he asked.

"Well, fuck, the kid makes a lot of sense", she thought.

"So, I'm attracted to you? I'm sure most women are. You're a very handsome young man," she began as she placed her hand on the table to try to ground herself because his astute observation had nearly knocked her on her ass. Edward grabbed her hand over the table and got her attention immediately, shutting her mouth which she didn't realize was hanging open.

"First, you've gotta stop with the adjectives," he remarked, rubbing his thumb across her knuckles and sending a shock to parts of her that hadn't received a shock in a very, very long time.

"Adjectives?" she asked. Oh, she knew what he was talking about, but she wanted to hear his arguments.

"Namely, the word young. Stop thinking about me as a kid, will you? I'm far from a kid. I'm a man. I may be younger than you, but I'm not young. I'm not naïve. I'm not a virgin. I'm a man attracted to a woman, and I'm not afraid to pursue her. You just need to ratchet down the fact that you've had to shoulder so much responsibility by yourself for a long time, and you need to see that you're only thirty-years old and that…just maybe…you deserve to have a little fun, too. I understand your responsibilities, but son-of-a-bitch, you're not dead, Bella. You're a beautiful woman who, I'd guess, hasn't allowed a man in her life for quite a while. Maybe you've got good reasons, but I think if you'd just take a breath and give me a shot, you'll see that I'm not who you think I am," he offered by way of an explanation or a defense. She wasn't sure which.

Bella sat there for a minute letting him caress her hand and completely enjoying the feeling as she contemplated his comments. She'd never had another man around her sons, and she wasn't sure that it was a good idea, but she wanted to find out what had her so conflicted with regard to Edward Masen.

"Look, I need to get the boys to their soccer game. Um, I think we could be friends, and like I said, I'll make sure that they make things right on your block, but I think that you and I are at two ends of the spectrum. You're just starting out, and I'm…well…I'm in the middle, or something. Thanks for your help, but you're off the hook. You put yourself on the hook, by the way," she reminded. He laughed and got up from the table, emptying his coffee cup and washing the pots in the sink without another word.

Her head was swimming at that point, and she didn't know how long it would take her to sort it out. She wasn't even sure if she really wanted to sort it out.

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E/N: Thank you for reading.

Till next time…xoxo