Hello guys! This is Annilaia! Katie (or Brunettezki. you can call me Emma, btw.) is gone away to North Carolina. So, here I am to update. there were a few set backs this chapter, including my work eating my life, and my fingers potentially falling victim to arthritis, but here it is!

PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO THIS!
We're going to be using alternating point of views, much like I did in my story Across the Ocean. First chapter is in Edward's pov, then Bella's, then Edward's and so on until the end. PLEASE DO NOT ASK TO SEE A CHAPTER IN SOMEONE ELSE'S POINT OF VIEW BECAUSE CHANCES ARE THE NEXT ONE IS IN EITHER EDWARD OR BELLA'S POV. I WON'T BE WRITING OTHER CHARACTER'S POV'S, AND I WON'T BE REPEATING CHAPTERS. THANKS.

I wanted to make that clear because I got it a lot when I was writing Across the Ocean. Sorry I sound mean. I realise I'm becoming a bit of a Burgermeister :(

Anyway, onward with your read!
We're really excited about the response to this!

Chapter Two:

I love my job.

You cannot even imagine how happy I am to work at this newspaper.

Seattle's Advocate is a newspaper run by my best friends, and all our friends work in it, too. We were lucky enough to fall into a group of excellent writers.

Me being a columnist, I was required to write one witty piece of literature per week. I was basically of no use to the office; I just sent Jasper my pieces when I finished them. Usually I had more than one written too, it was so easy to think of things to write. But, I liked to help out my old friend. Jasper convinced me to do a bit of editing here and there. That was when I liked to go into the office.

I had my own office, poked away in one corner of the building. I edited the pieces there so that if I had to ask one of the writers about something they were easy to access. Most of the time I dealt with Emmett's articles, or Jessica's. They were the worst in terms of being grammatically correct. I knew Jasper valued my English degree in times like those.

So yeah, basically I love my job.

I get to sit at home like I am right now with my pets. They're the coolest people I know.

Except for the fact that they're a hermit crab and a cat.

"Hey Colossus," I said after getting out of bed. I put more food into his terrarium and picked him up, letting him walk around on my hand as a good morning before I put him back down. I felt a pressure on my leg and an adorable little meow. There was Magneto, my brown cat curling between my legs.

"Hello pretty girl," I said, picking her up and letting her rub her face in my chin. She was purring loudly, waiting for me to feed her.

I put her down and she immediately flopped over, rolling onto her back and lying there with her feet in the air. I grinned at her and went into the kitchen, pouring her up a bowl. I was mixing in some wet food when I felt her rub my leg again and I brace myself. She then jumped onto my back and used her claws to climb onto my shoulder and watch me, purring loudly in my ear.

When I set down her food she jumped off and began to eat. I sat at my desk, next to Colossus and in front of a big bay window overlooking the city.

I opened up my laptop and logged on to seattlesbrew. My username was Bella, since the site was still new and obviously it fit. I ignored the journals and went straight to the forums. Since my column had been published there had been in increase in members. The only one I really noticed was Mason, who had been making some excellent arguments in a few of the threads.

He was a newbie, but he was a smart one. He was forgiven of his crime. None of the 'noob' jokes could get to him, since everyone knew he was right. It was only a matter of time before he racked up enough points to be looked at as a veteran.

I spent a few hours reading and responding to various comments in the thread, most of the time responding to Mason and being very impressed with his intelligence on many matters.

By the time I had decided I'd been online too long I'd gotten an email from Jasper asking me to come into the office anyway. So, I put on some more work appropriate clothes (I.e. a blouse, cardigan and jeans), poked Magneto who was fast asleep on her back again.

I walked the few blocks to the office and hurried inside to get away from the cold air. I waved at Angela as I walked past, down into the hallway where my lonely office was. I hung up my coat and various other winter garments before turning up the heat considerably. Then, I made my way to Jasper's office.

"I got you some coffee," Jasper said, holding out a mug without even looking up from his computer. Alice was sitting in a chair next to the heater, her laptop balanced on her legs as she furiously typed away at it, probably working on her advice column.

"Oh, Jasper. You know the way to my heart," I sighed, taking the warm mug from him and sipping deeply. Alice shot me a look and I couldn't help but giggle.

"Bella, I'd like you to read this, please," he said, holding out a piece of paper. It was a short, but moving article about a local musician that our reporter had found busking on an intersection. The author was Edward Masen, a name I didn't recognize.

"Who's Edward Masen?" I asked Jasper softly.

He and Alice both looked up confused.

"You don't know Edward?" Alice asked lightly. I nodded.

"You've been working here how long and you and Edward have never met?" Jasper said.

"I hardly come into the office!" was my only excuse.

"Edward's office is at the end of the hall on the left. Walk by and peek in at him or something," Alice said, returning her gaze to the laptop.

I nodded, placed the paper back down on Jasper's desk. "What did you want me to read this for?" I asked.

"What do you think of it?" he asked.

"I thought it was amazing, really well written."

"Yeah…" Jasper murmured. I thought that too. I sighed. He was looking at his computer again, no longer taking notice of me. I shook my head and wrapped my arms around me, leaving Jasper and Alice behind and closing the door to his office.

I stood there for a moment, staring down the hallway where Edward Masen's office was. I debated in my head; did I want to see him because of his writing, or because I was curious about him. This was someone I'd worked with for the past three years, at least, and had never once seen before.

So, I started walking. Angela was standing at reception, talking at the phone and waved at me, smiling. I gave a small smile back and stopped in front of the door.

Edward's office was small, the only thing he needed was a desk and a chair, basically. He had a small shelf next to his window, filled with different books. His laptop was opened on his desk, papers scattered over the top and a coffee mug sitting next to his hand, steaming.

He turned out to be the man who was staring at me during the Christmas party. He was sitting, his hand scrolling through a page and I watched his eyes scan it. What I thought last night was definitely true. He was, without a doubt, the most attractive man I'd ever seen. God only knows why I hadn't noticed him before.

I watched as his lips quirked into a smile and he began to type something. I allowed myself a few extra minutes to stare before I turned away, every intention of getting in my car and driving home now that my creeping for the day was done.

Of course, me being as vertically challenged as I am resulted in my shoe catching in my jeans, and my entire body launched towards the ground. I let out a yelp, catching myself on the door jamb to his office, landing in an awkward position with my head jerked back to keep from breaking my nose on the door.

"Jeez, are you alright?!" Edward exclaimed. He jumped out of his chair and hurried over to help me stand up properly. I blushed.

"Yeah I'm fine," I said, folding my arms into myself. "It's a regular thing for me, to trip and fall and the like." He nodded and smiled. Both of us stood there staring, not moving. Just looking at each other. I smirked at the thought running through my head that he'd been staring at me all throughout the party last night, but I couldn't help but slap myself for never coming into the office more often.

He was gorgeous.

"I'm Bella Swan," I said, holding out my hand. He shook it and shone a genuine smile.

"I'm Edward Masen," he replied. "It's amazing we've worked here this long and never met." I had to laugh at that.

"It is. I just read your article, a new one. Jasper gave it to me."

He thought for a moment. "Buskers?" he asked, the subject of the article. I nodded. "You know Bella, if I'm being honest I'll have to admit that the only thing I read in this newspaper aside from Alice's hilarious advice is your column." My stomach fluttered.

"Really? I basically only read Alice's stuff. Though apparently I have to pay more attention to the Entertainment section." We both grinned.

"Actually I should probably be getting home. My cat will be wondering where I am. She's such a baby," I said, pulling my house key from my pocket.

"Same here. Lewis is probably screaming from hunger or something," Edward murmured, retrieving his coat from the rack behind his desk.

"Who's Lewis?" I asked.

"My cat," he said, smirking bashfully. 'What's yours' name?"

I blushed. "Magneto," was my quiet reply.

Edward let out a bark of laughter. "Where did you ever come up with that?"

"Well Magneto was a pretty badass guy. I figured this kitty should be able to instill terror into the hearts of thousands at the mere thought of her name." By the time I finished we were both laughing again. I waved goodbye to Angela at the reception desk as Edward and I walked outside.

"I guess I'll see you around," I said, almost sad to see him go. I was of course feeling a bit arrogant in the fact that he'd probably miss me more, if he was that interested in looking at me last night.

"Yeah," he said quietly. "See you later, I guess." We both waved awkwardly, our smiles no longer reaching our eyes and I turned to start walking down the street.

"Bella?" his velvety voice called. I turned quickly, my hands in my pockets and my scarf flying back over my shoulder. "Can I give you a ride home?" I smirked.

"Sure. I don't live too far from here," I said, climbing into the door he was holding open for me.

"That's alright," he said before closing the door. "Neither do I."

It turned out that he lived just one street away from me. It was ridiculous how we'd been so close for so many years and never once crossed paths until last night.

When I went into my apartment Magneto launched herself into my arms, purring loudly and nuzzling my chest. I held her like a baby as I carried her into the kitchen, pouring her up more water and giving her a few treats before I started on making my own dinner.

Of course, I had to waste some time online while I was waiting for my meal to cook. I logged on to seattlesbrew, searching through the forums for any interesting topic I hadn't already beaten to death with my arguments. It hadn't been ten minutes before my cell phone rang, and I picked it up, fully expecting Alice's cheerful voice.

"So how was meeting Edward?" she asked simply. I smiled.

"He's cute. I don't know how I've never managed to meet him before though." Alice giggled. "He was looking at me all last night too. I couldn't help but notice it."

"Ooh maybe he has a thing for you. Isn't that exciting?" Alice offered. I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, I wanted to call because I know you haven't had a date in a while, and I was think about setting you up with… a friend. Would you be opposed to one harmless blind date?"

"Meh, go for it. What harm is one date. Just let him pick the time and place and I'll meet him there, I guess." Alice squealed a little, a normal reaction for her.

"Perfect! I'll let you know soon!" I sighed and we said goodbye at the perfect time. I found the exact sort of topic I wanted to be discussing. And what made it even more exciting was the user Mason also in the discussion, online at the same time as me.

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