It was a Wednesday the first time she saw him. Bella had spent the last few days cleaning the house and drawing, and she needed time to reconnect with the real world. She was looking at the new releases when she noticed him across the store. He was tall, dark, handsome and he had what could only be described as a teenager hanging off him.

He glanced up and her, and when he noticed her stare and smirked and winked, making her blush in embarrassment of being caught gawking at him.

Immersing herself in the new releases she didn't notice that he was walking towards her until it was too late to avoid him.

'See something you like?' the man smirked

Bella grinned, 'why yes I did' she said, grabbing any random book off the shelf and making her way to the counter.

'Wait' he called after her, grabbing at her arm.

'Let go of me' Bella sneered, ribbing her hand out of his grasp. The nerve of some people, she thought as she made her way to the counter. Back in her day guys did not grab at strangers to get their attention. Her Edward hadn't resorted to man handling her to get her attention. They'd met while at university, he was in her art class. He'd said he was taking it for fun, to lessen the stress of all the medical units he was doing. She only found out later that he'd enrolled into the unit in the hopes of meeting her. They struck up a comfortable friendship while they studied together, but he hadn't officially asked her out until after the unit was finished. Edward had then courted her for the next 2 years, and the day after she graduated from university, he asked her to be his wife.

'Okay, look, I think we got off on the wrong foot' she heard a voice behind her say.

'That's all you've got lady, two wrong feet and fucking ugly shoes'

'Lady? Hey... what wrong with my shoes? I like my shoes!'

'Look, I've got to go' Bella said, grabbing her purchases and making her way out the door.

'Wait; at least tell me your name'

'It's whatever you want it to be baby' she smirked, making her way out the door.

I can't believe I just did that, she thought, grinning as she made her way back home.

****************

The first time Edward saw Bella, she was in the plaza playing a game of giant chess with one of her friends. His attention was initially drawn to her because he hadn't ever seen anyone play a game of giant chess before. Once he'd gotten a good look at her though, he knew that he had to know her. She had her dark brown hair pulled back into a pony tail, and was wearing a sky blue dress and navy blue thongs.

'Who's that?' Edward asked, nudging his mate Jasper.

'Who? Bella?'

'You know her?' Edward questioned, 'how?'

'She was in one of my art classes last semester' Jasper explained.

'Hey Bella!' Jasper called out to her.

'Hey Jasper!' the girl called back, then began heading towards them, with her friend in tow.

'This is my mate Edward, Edward this is Bella'

'Hi' Edward said sheepishly, trying to hide his nervousness from being this close to her by looking at his feet. He overheard Jasper and Bella talking about what classes they were enrolling in for the next semester, and was annoyed to hear that they both had signed up for the same class. He looked up sharply at Jasper, scowling. Jasper stared back at him in confusion, and quickly ended the conversation with Bella, saying that he had to go buy lunch.

'What was that all about?' Jasper questioned him, 'first you ignored her, preferring your feet to meeting her, even though I know you're interested. I bet she thinks you hate her or something'

'Hate her?' Edward was stunned, 'how could anyone hate her? She's stunning'

'And she's been hurt before' Jasper explained, 'it's made her close up, she's very untrusting, and she's never going to believe that you like her after that display'

'Well I'm going to have to convince her otherwise' Edward said, hurrying off in the direction of student services.

'Where you going?' Jasper called after him.

'To sign up for your art class' he called over his shoulder back at Jasper.

***************

Bella had barely seen Edward in the last 2 weeks; if he wasn't working at the hospital then he was recovering from his last shift. Needing some time away from this house, and the situation of living with what seemed to be more of an absent roommate more than a husband, Bella rang the only person she knew that could help her put the situation into perspective, Rosalie.

Bella met Rosalie in her year 7 math class. They struck up an easy friendship over borrowing pencils and getting their workbook signed every 10 pages and had been friends ever since.

Rosalie was a down to earth, grade 1 teacher and saw the world in black and white, though did allow for shades of greys in situations which she deemed worthy.

'I'm thinking about leaving Edward' Bella started.

'What?' Rosalie choked out 'at least let me swallow before you tell me you're ending your marriage!'

'Right... sorry...'

'Now where's this coming from? Are you and Edward fighting or something?'

'That's just it' she sighed, 'we don't even talk enough to fight, the most he's said to me in the last month was 'what's for dinner?'

'Oh?'

Bella didn't know what to say, how do you explain to someone who has been happily married for 2 years that sometimes marriage can feel more like an obligation then a choice.

'Why don't you tell me what's been going on?'

'he's just... he's never home, its feels like I'm living alone, and when he is home he goes straight to bed because he's just so tired, the hospital is working him too hard and he never seems to get any time off and I hate it! I hate that I never see him, I hate that he's always too tired or too busy to see me, I hate that I knew when I married him that this is what I was signing up for and yet I can't help but resent him for it.'

'So what would leaving him achieve then?'

'It'd mean I could finally stop spending my life waiting for him'

'Do you think you'd be happier though? Instead of seeing him in between working and sleep, you wouldn't see him at all; you wouldn't talk to him at all, you'd never get to kiss him or hug him or ask him what he's thinking again. Bella, before you make a choice think long and hard, because when you end it, it's over forever'

The second time Bella saw him she was clothes shopping in Bra's and Things. It was the day after she'd met up with Rosalie and she'd been thinking long and hard about what to do about her marriage. She understood what Rosalie had said, and had to agree with her on most parts, the answer to not spending enough time with Edward couldn't be spending no time with him could it?

'Well if it isn't Gwen'

Bella turned around in shock to see the sleaze from the bookstore 'what are you doing here?'

'Shopping'

'In a Bra shop?' Bella questioned, eyebrow raised.

The man smirked, 'what can I say, I know what I like to see my woman in'

'Oh yes, the teenager, I remember her, what is she 18? 19?'

'Close, 17'

Bella looked at him appalled.

'What? She's legal'

'Barely' Bella muttered, making her way towards the exit.

'Hey, where are you going?' he called after her.

'To shop where the adults shop'

***************

Edward had been running himself ragged trying to keep up with his 4 medical units as well as his art class. He needed get at least all credits in his medical units in order to specialise in paediatrics, but he was a perfectionist and was working towards distinctions. He didn't see the point of doing something if he wasn't going to do it well. This also meant though that he wasn't putting any effort into the art class. While he didn't need that unit for his degree, he knew he needed it for Bella.

He'd been in the same lectures and tutorials as Bella for the past month and she hadn't even glanced at him. She always sat with Jasper, and he had quickly become Jasper's weird friend who didn't talk, so he heard.

Edward's lucky break came when the class was asked to split up into groups to create a group piece.
Naturally he was included in Jasper and Bella's group, and Bella had immediately started talking about different ideas for their assignment. They agreed to meet up the following Saturday to begin working on their ideas for their documentary.

When Saturday eventually rolled around Edward was beyond nervous. He'd been unable to think of anything except the fact that Bella was going to be sitting in his lounge room, on his couch all week. He'd spend an hour in front of the mirror deciding what to wear, when Jasper came in making some crack about his lack of testosterone and that maybe he'd turned into a girl in the past week, Edward knew he had to get a hold of himself.

Grabbing the first thing he saw out of the closet he made his way to the lounge room to await her arrival. That's where Jasper found him 20 minutes later.

'Hey, are you alright dude?' Jasper questioned.

'Yea, just waiting for Bella' he muttered.

Jasper glanced at the clock, 'it's only 11 o'clock'

'So?'

'So? Bella won't be here until 1, bit early don't you think?'

Edward glanced up at him, 'I can wait'

Bella lay awake unable to sleep that night, which is why she was still awake when Edward came in at 3am. He made his way into the room, quietly closing the door behind him before making his way to the bathroom in the dark.

'Hey' Bella whispered. She saw the dark figure turn towards her.

'Hey Hun' the figure whispered back, 'sorry if I woke you'

'You didn't, I couldn't sleep'

She felt the mattress dip as he sat on the bed next to her, 'Whys that?'

'Just been thinking about some things'

'Hmm, what things?'

'Nothing important'

She could hear the smile in his voice as he replied 'Ok, well I'm going to go have a shower, because I smell like gauze and blood, and then I'll be back to chase away all those thoughts keeping you awake.'

For the first night in what felt like forever to her, Bella fell asleep in her husband's arms.

*****************

'So I've got the weekend off' he said the next morning.

Bella glanced up from the eggs, and grinned at him 'really?'

He smiled back 'really really, I was thinking, how about you invite the girls over tomorrow for a barbeque?'

Bella ran around the table and launched herself into his arms.

He chuckled at her enthusiasm, 'l'll take that as a yes then?' wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close to him.

She laughed, gently dragging her thumbs over his cheeks, leaning forward to place a kiss on his lips, 'I've missed this' she whispered.

'Me too' he whispered back, drawing her closer, 'I know it's been crazy lately, hopefully it'll start settling down again soon.'

With one last kiss Bella jumped back up and into the kitchen throw out the now charred black eggs and to call the girls.