Previously…

I shake my head and get up. On my way back from the bedroom, my laptop under my arm, I grab the bottle of vodka off the side and three shot glasses.

The last thing I remember is throwing a shot down my throat in synch with the girls, and then Alice firing up my laptop.

And then, when I wake the next morning and see the computer screen, that's when everything in my life starts to go a little bit wrong.

#x#

Another day without you with me

Is like a blade that cuts right through me

But I can wait, I can wait forever

When you call my heart stops beating

And when you're gone it won't stop bleeding

But I can wait, I can wait forever

-I Can Wait Forever, Simple Plan (Keep reading, it's not what it sounds like, promise ;))

One Plus One

Chapter 2 – Shotgun Kings, Pokemon Masters and Ice Cream for Breakfast

Edward POV

*Two weeks earlier*

Friday afternoons are just the best. There's nothing like that glorious Friday afternoon feeling, especially when it's sunny and you're cruising down a highway in a rented Aston Martin DB9 with the top rolled down, sunglasses on, music playing loud; all in early September. You just cannot beat it.

I speed along the motorway, revelling in the way the engine revs when I push down on the accelerator. I only have this car for the weekend and then it's back to ol' reliable so I'm gonna make the most of it. I can't wait to see Finn's face when he sees the car. I still vividly remember the day he pointed to it in astonishment at the car dealership when we bought the Volvo more than a year ago now. It's an exact replica, even the very same shade of dark cherry red, plum red, whatever. It cost a shitload of money, but it'll be worth it. This could be our last weekend together for a while and I'm gonna make it the best damn time that kid's ever had.

I pull into the airport and roll up the roof again locking the car and checking – twice – that it's locked properly before heading inside and going straight to the terminal. The flight is actually running on time for once and the flight comes in not fifteen minutes later. People pour out of the gates and my eyes scan the people for a boy with my shock of copper coloured hair, eventually spotting him between two women with platinum blonde hair and giant sunglasses taking up at least three quarters of their faces. I roll my eyes; Tanya's gone blonde again, then.

Finn's struggling with his suitcase, even though it's got wheels, but neither women offer him help; they just chat over his head. I sigh and make my way through the crowd toward them. Finn sees me when we're about ten feet apart and his whole little face lights up, his big blue eyes glowing with adoration. "Dad!" he shrieks, dropping his suitcase and flying at me.

I bend down and catch him as he crashes into me flinging him round carefully, so as not to knock anyone with his flailing feet. Then I kneel down and hug him close to me, inhaling his smell, that smell that's so uniquely Finn all sunshine, and mown grass, and cinnamon, and orange flavoured lollipops. "Hey, buddy," I say, a stupid grin stretching across my face, "you wait 'til you see what I've got for you outside."

"What, what, what?" he clamours eagerly. "What is it?"

I wink at him. "You'll have to wait and see."

He pouts and looks as though he's about to complain but then Tanya and her horrifically slutty friend Irina materialise behind him. "Finley, how many times? You can't just drop your stuff like that," Tanya complains, putting his pull-along suitcase down next to where we're – I'm – still kneeling. She turns to me, literally looking down her nose at me. "Edward." Her tone is polite, but clipped. Irritated. She didn't want to come "all this way" to "rainy Seattle". But I sure as hell wouldn't have Finn on a plane on his own, and she wasn't keen on the idea either. So she made it a long weekend with Irina; a vacation of sorts. They would stay in a hotel and do whatever the hell they did while I get my time with my son.

I straighten up. "Hi, Tanya, Irina."

Irina smiles a wide toothy grin and I imagine she'd be fluttering her eyelashes behind her sunglasses. Finn nudges my side and I know he's smirking; even when Tanya and I were still together, she'd never made a secret of her liking for me. Yes, even in front of our then five-year-old son. Some friend she was. Mind you, I probably should have realised Tanya was just as uncommitted as I was in our relationship when she didn't bat an eyelid at Irina's more than obvious advances.

I shuffle my feet awkwardly for a moment and then ask, "Do you need a ride to your hotel?"

"It's okay, we'll get a taxi," Tanya replies, and that's more than fine with me.

"Sure." I bend down and pick up Finn's suitcase. "We'll get out of here then. See you Monday."

"Yep."

Finn looks up at his mum. "Bye Mommy," he says.

"Yeah, bye sweetheart." She doesn't bend down to hug him or kiss his cheek or anything, although I'm not surprised; she's never been very touchy feely with Finn, even when he was tiny. She doesn't look at me again, so I don't give another parting gesture.

Neither of us mention the finalisation of our dragged out divorce which will be coming through in a matter of days and yet I can't help but wonder whether she's as indifferent as she comes across or whether she's secretly as pleased as I am. Or secretly devastated. Which is unlikely.

Ten minutes later, I'm leading Finn towards the rented Aston, waiting for him to see it and catch on. At the moment, he's talking animatedly about his new hamster, Arnold, which I think is just a toy because the Tanya I remember would never let a small creature which mildly resembles a rodent in her house.

Suddenly he sees the car. He grins and points to it. "Hey look, Dad, it's just like that one we saw last time at the big car shop!"

I raise an eyebrow at him and press the button on my keys. When the lights flash and the Aston beeps, Finn's mouth drops open and he practically vibrates with excitement. "Did you buy it? Did you? Wow, that's so cool!"

"Uh, no, I didn't buy it, squirt. Just borrowed." I don't mention that I could probably buy three normal cars with the amount I paid to borrow this one for the weekend; it's worth it. Or, at least, that's what I chant in my head.

"It's so cool!" He peeks up at me through long, thick lashes. "Can I drive it?"

I laugh in disbelief. "What? Hell no, boy. You're the sergeant of the passenger seat, okay? The shotgun king."

Finn contemplates this for a moment.

"There's a present for the shotgun king."

"But my birthday's not 'til January," he giggles.

"I said it's a shotgun king present, not a birthday present."

"Okay," he says straight away and I mentally congratulate myself on my incredible parenting skills. And I'm not lying about the present.

I go to the door to open it for him, but he stops me, telling me firmly that the shotgun king can let himself in the car so I shrug and go round to the driver's side. By the time I get in, he's seated and belted up, holding the small square present in his little hand.

He looks at me. "What is it?"

"Why don't you open it and see?"

"Okay." He turns it over in his hands and I feel my heart swell as I watch. It's almost scary how much Finn looks like me. When I last went to stay with my parents in the little Podunk town of Forks not too far from Seattle I saw a photo of me when I was a kid on the wall and, had it not been for the god-awful girly dungarees I had been wearing (thank god that went out of fashion quickly) and my big green eyes as opposed to Finn's blue ones, I would have thought I was looking at a photo of my son. He acts a lot like me, too, so I've been told.

Finn carefully tears off the paper and then looks at the box. It's a plain black CD case, apart from the front which is clear so he can see the disc inside. It's silver with the words "Finn's 'Anthems'" written on in green. His little eyebrows crease. "Is it a CD?"

"Yeah. Here." I start the engine and the CD player comes on. "Put it in." I wait as he opens the case and puts the disc in.

He listens carefully for a moment and then grins when he hears the very recognisable introduction of Bon Jovi's 'Livin' on a Prayer'. "Is it a Bon Jovi CD?" he asks eagerly.

"Nah," I reply, finally plugging in my seatbelt and preparing to move off. "It's a mix. My dad made me a mixed tape back when I was a kid of all the music we both liked so I thought I'd do the same for you."

Finn doesn't reply, just sings along to the song in his little voice which sounds slightly odd along side the deep gruff voice on the track but odd in a good way. We hit the highway just as the bridge bleeds into the chorus so I reach out and turn up the volume really loud and we shout at the top of our lungs as we shoot along the road:

"We'll give it a shot! Oohhhh we're halfway there, ooooohhhh livin on a prayer! Take my hand, we'll make it I swear, ooooooohhhhh livin on a prayer!"

When the song ends, I ask, "So how was Italy?"

He shrugs his little shoulders and rests his hands in his lap, scratching the denim with bitten nails. "It was okay."

"Did you have a good time?"

He shrugs again. "Yeah, alright." Then he starts humming along to Journey's Don't Stop Believing, apparently unable to answer any more questions. I watch him for a moment, worried, but then sigh and move my eyes back to the road. I suppose if he doesn't want to talk about it I won't force him.

We don't talk much more for the rest of the journey, since every time Finn starts to say something he'll stop midsentence to sing along to the next song on the CD. I can't help but grin at my six year-old son as he sings along to the likes of the Beatles, REM and Journey; and he knew all the words to that shit before damn Glee killed it with their ridiculously high-pitched cover versions. I'd never seen an episode and I sure as hell didn't want to change that, judging by the songs I heard on the radio. Turning classic, awesome rock into pop almost as bad as that Bieber kid? No, ta.

When we finally pull into the driveway of my home, Finn falls silent for a moment and then says, "Thanks for the music. It's the bestest present ever."

I reach over the console and pull him across onto my lap, squeezing him tight. "It was no problem, buddy. I missed singing along with you."

"I missed it too." He pauses. "Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"I miss you."

I smile sadly. "Yeah, me too."

"Can't you just come back? Or just live closer? You could get a job in the hospital at home. Where you took me when I fell off the swing and hurt my arm that time. And they put it in a bandage and gave me a lolly, remember?"

"I do. Hairline fracture," I say with a smile, deliberately not answering his question.

But the boy's not stupid. He persists. "So why not?"

I sigh. "It's… it's complicated, Finn. Sometimes, you gotta take a job where you don't really want to be because… well, because there just aren't any jobs around."

"So why can't me and Mom move here?"

I feel my shoulders sink. I wish he wouldn't ask all these damn complicated questions. "You can save that question for your mother. Now, how about we call for take out tonight and then tomorrow we can go to the store and make our own dinner? Sound good?"

"Yeah! Let's get pizza from Chuck E Cheese! With extra pepperoni and cheese and onion! Oh, oh! And can we have my special invention for pudding?"

I groan jokingly. "You want me to ask them for cinnamon sticks and mayonnaise again? Do you have any idea how weird that makes me look?"

He just giggles and nods.

I shake my head with an exaggerated sigh. "Okay. But only because you're the shotgun king and that sort of royalty only deserves the best."

#x#

The next three days I spend with Finn pass way too fast. Friday evening was spent eating cinnamon sticks with mayonnaise, watching movies and playing cards. Saturday we played video games and then looked up something for dinner in the morning before going to WalMart to get the ingredients. Mom and Dad came down from Forks to join us for the dinner we made, complimenting us both since it was pretty damn delicious. They then spent all night fawning over Finn and giving him presents in between games of cards. Sunday we all went out for the day to a theme park and then out for dinner at Chuck E Cheese, once again completing the day with cinnamon sticks and mayonnaise before Mom and Dad headed back home.

What can I say? Finn brings out the kid in me.

Now, Monday morning, we lie in my bed watching cartoons on the TV and eating ice cream from the tub for breakfast. My arm is around his little shoulders, his back is against my chest. My hand is digging into the ice cream with my Daddy-sized spoon as he does the same with his Finn-sized one. Finn made me coffee as well which was very sweet although I have yet to check the kitchen and no doubt it's in a state. There's a horrible feeling hovering over the both of us that always seems to invade our time together when it's the very last day we have together, that feeling you get when it's the end of something good and you miss it before it's even gone.

I look down at Finn and feel an ache in my chest. In many ways I almost wish he'd never been born because then this mess wouldn't exist and I could have divorced Tanya years ago without worrying. Hell, I wouldn't even have married her had she not trapped me with the "I'm pregnant and my daddy will disown me" crap with her mascara-stained cheeks and wide doe eyes. Okay, that's probably a lie. I did think I loved her so I probably would have asked eventually. I just came to realise over time that we were just too… different. Everything from our thoughts on parenting, to our life's aspirations, to our music tastes were complete opposites. And, sure, it's true what they say: opposites do attract. They just don't last. Or love. It's just lust. So, naturally, it wasn't going to last.

There's no story. No big nothing. She didn't cheat on me; there was no shouting or arguing. The spark just went out. And then one evening we talked about it and decided it would be best if I moved out because we both wanted such different things. Admittedly, we did put it off for a long, long time because we were both afraid of telling Finn. It wasn't until Tanya met Aro (short for Aaron) that I actually left. Apparently Finn was inconsolable, which broke my heart but I saw him everyday. I looked after him the most, despite being in my last year of med school training as a cardiologist.

Everything was mostly fine (aside from the fact that I was exhausted) until Finn let slip to me – just after I had graduated med school and was in the process of securing myself a nice little job – that Aro bought him loads of gifts and was trying to talk him into calling him Dad and Finn didn't like it. I hated it even more because, excuse me, that was my fucking son and I was his father, not some guy with greasy black hair and skin as translucent as an onion. I didn't see what Tanya saw in him, to be honest.

And so I happened to run into him at a bar (total coincidence, really, it was…) and we happened to get into a little bout of fisticuffs, which then made Aro sue me (which, in my opinion was a total overreaction… so what if I had broken his nose?) and take me to court, claiming that I was unfit to look after my own son. This, of course, made me livid. Fortunately, social services inspected me and declared that I was fit to be his parent and hadn't technically done anything to jeopardise my time with Finn since he was Tanya's responsibility at that moment in time. He did, however, file a restraining order against me which was successful since there were several eyewitnesses agreeing that I had not been provoked into "brutally attacking" him. And so I had to move away. Seattle had vacancies and was close to my parents so that's where I ended up.

I wouldn't have moved so far had Aro not twisted everything. They had been planning to move to Edmonds, a city right on the coast a forty-five-or-so minute drive from Seattle; at least, that's what they told me. But, coincidentally after I had already bought my apartment and gotten my dream job at the hospital, they decided to stay in California. Funny that. Of course, I had no proof it was Aro who set it up but come on… it was hardly Finn, and Tanya was wrapped around that greasy-haired skankard's little finger. So she chose to ignore both my and Finn's pleas for them to move closer to me. Why? I have absolutely no fucking clue, but I'd place everything I own on a bet that it has something to do with him.

And fighting to change the custody and visitation rights would be useless. Everyone knows the dad gets the bum deal, and I doubt the restraining order on my record helps much. I'm lucky that I have to see Finn once a month, to be honest.

So now I can only see Finn when Tanya brings him a minimum time of once a month, and I can't go to him unless Aro and Tanya piss off somewhere else. Which they never do. So I can really only see Finn when he's not at school. And Tanya cruelly eliminated most of the summer holidays by taking him to visit Aro's parents in Italy. They got to spend four whole weeks with him. My parents got one day.

Just as one Spongebob episode ends and blurs into another, the doorbell rings. I sigh and grumble something about people coming way too early in the morning. I kiss Finn's forehead and leave him eating ice cream and watching Spongebob as I go answer the door. I groan lightly as I pass the kitchen and note the coffee granules everywhere and the tipped over bottle of milk, which has poured over the edge and onto the floor. I decide to ignore it for now and open the door.

Emmett grins at me from the other side. "Nice jammies, dude."

I look down at my striped flannel pants as I open the door. "Whatever. At least they don't have batman on."

As I close the door, Emmett yells through my apartment, "Where's Squirtle?"

Suddenly there's the pattering of rapid footsteps and Finn flies through the bedroom door. "Uncle Emmy!"

"Hey now," Emmett says, holding out a hand to stop him as he comes at him for a hug. "What did we say about the Emmy thing?"

Finn looks at the floor, a blush rising in his cheeks. For a moment, I'm reminded of the receptionist at work. The one with the nice ass. "Sorry, Master."

I look between my best friend and son. "What?"

Finn grins at me. "He's my Pokemon master."

Emmett just nods smugly.

I frown. "Hold up. There are two things very wrong with that. One: no non-perverted, straight man would enjoy being called 'Master' by a six-year old boy. And two… Emmett, how do you even know what Pokemon is?"

Finn giggles as Emmett puts his hands on his hips and glares at me. "One, I hope you're not calling me gay pretty-boy because I can slap your pansy ass right off this planet and two, who the hell doesn't know what Pokemon is? It's legendary!" He high-fives Finn at this point and I just roll my eyes.

Then Emmett spots the ice cream through the open bedroom door. "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!" he bellows like an excited child before running for the tub, grabbing my spoon and starting to eat it.

"Jesus," I mutter. I look down at Finn and ruffle his hair before stage whispering, "He's even worse than you."

"I heard that!" Emmett yells through a mouthful of ice cream.

Finn laughs and I love the sparkle in his eyes and the smile on his lips, and wish that they'd hang around forever.

But a few hours and many tubs of ice cream later, Finn and I are back at the airport. Tanya and Irina wait at the gate as I grip my little boy to my chest and hug him as tight as I can.

"I don't want to go, Daddy," he says in a small voice.

I bite my lip and hold back the tears. "I know," I whisper.

"Can I come again next weekend?"

I sigh. "You've got to go back to school now, buddy. It's kind of far to come at weekends."

"But my friend Nadia goes to her Daddy's every other weekend and he lives in Tennessee and that's okay. Can't I come here every other weekend?"

I look deep into his eyes. In their shiny blue depths I can see the pleading. I want to see him more often too; with all of my heart. So, without really thinking it through, I nod. "I'll sort it out. It'll be fine."

"Do you promise?" he asks cutely. "Pinky promise I can come more?"

I smile sadly and link my pinky through his. "I promise."

He beams and hugs me again, even though his arms can't fit all the way around my ribcage. "I love you, Dad."

"Finley!" Tanya yells. "We're gonna miss the flight."

"Here." I give him the handle of his suitcase and make sure he can pull it. Then I kiss his forehead and whisper, "I love you to the moon."

He smiles up at me. "I love you to the moon and back again." Then he runs off to Tanya, back to normalcy.

On the way home, I stop at the car rental place and trade the Aston back in for my Volvo. As I hand the keys back over, the realisation that my weekend with Finn has come to an end settles over me and when I'm back behind the wheel of my Volvo I have to sit and wait for a couple of minutes before my emotions stabilise enough for me to drive back to my silent, empty apartment.

#x#

The first part of the next week went past really slowly. I spoke to Finn on the phone every other day but it wasn't until Thursday that I got to speak to Tanya about Finn coming again. After much persuasion she eventually agreed that Finn could come every other week, as long as I paid for the airfare. I agreed instantly because money wasn't much of an issue if it meant I could see Finn more often. Getting time off work was more of a problem, because I did have to work weekends sometimes but I supposed if I spoke to my boss, Dr Gerandy, and offered to do overtime on other days he might be kind enough to let me have the time off; he was a good guy really so I was hopeful.

Over the next few days I spoke to Tanya again and we agreed that Finn could come not the next Friday but the one after and then hopefully every other week from then. Finn was over the moon. I spoke to Dr Gerandy and he said that he could let me have every other weekend off. Life was looking good.

And things only got better.

The next Wednesday, my divorce officially came through. I went into work with a huge grin on my face, which Emmett had noticed and realised the reason behind straight away. He had raised an eyebrow at me and said, "So you're a single man, huh? Congrats dude. Hey, we should have a party! With Jazzman!"

I had rolled my eyes at him, but it turned out he was serious as he arranged for a party with Jazz at my apartment on Friday evening. I didn't fight it because I wasn't too adverse to having a good old drink to celebrate my new status as a bachelor.

But, despite the party and general happiness of the last few weeks, when I wake up on Friday, I can't help but feel like there's a black cloud lingering over my head.

I shrug it off when I get to work, fist-bump Emmett about the upcoming party and go about my work for the day. It starts off well. I give a few patients good news, do a bit of paperwork and then find a note about having to sign for something at reception.

So I get to go to reception and tease the receptionist – Bella. She doesn't seem too happy about it but I just find her hostility kind of endearing. I'm caught off-guard momentarily when she meets my eyes though by the depth and compassion in her beautiful brown eyes. She's really a very beautiful girl.

And she demonstrates that she has a good sense of humour, too, when she mutters something about my wanting to say the word 'anal'. Which, although not true, is a very entertaining concept.

When I leave, I find myself looking back at her through the window to see her sniff her pen following a remark I made about her hair smelling like strawberries. I stifle a laugh when she looks up and sees me and her cheeks flush a light pink colour – just like Finn – and then looks away, looking around the room.

Suddenly, a longing comes over me that shocks me; making me tear my eyes from the pretty receptionist with the nice ass, turn away and walk off. But I can't help looking back at the door as I walk down the corridor.

Since Tanya and I separated I've had the odd fling. Even with the Jessica girl here at Seattle General. But none of them have ever meant anything. It was just a way to be satisfied, you know. None of them have ever made my chest ache, even in the slightest. So why has my heart just sent me a little nudge from looking at Bella? Why does it suddenly long to hold her and take care of her?

I briefly wonder how I even knew what my heart was longing for. Because I haven't longed to take care of someone in a very long time.

But my internal monologue is halted by someone calling my name. "Dr Cullen!"

I look around to see Nurse Stanley. "Yes?"

"I need you-" she pauses and then sighs, as though she wants to leave it there "-to come-" another pause. She's really laying it on thick here. "-and look over Mr King's charter. He's saying something about some kind of medication but there's no record?"

I sigh and take the clipboard she holds out. Then, I firmly push Bella out of my mind and carry on with my job.

When lunchtime rolls around I end up out on an impromptu trip to Chuck E Cheese with Emmett and Bella, for Bella's birthday. Which I find a little odd but then figure she must really like their pizza or something because, though it is pretty good pizza, why else would a grown adult with no kids – presumably – want to go to Chuck E Cheese for their birthday?

Of course, the last time I went to a Chuck E Cheese was with Finn the other weekend so I can't help but think about him and, before I know it, all I've ordered is three lots of cinnamon sticks and I request mayonnaise when the girl returns. Although, judging by the way she acts, I wouldn't be surprised if she happily gave me whatever I asked for. I totally notice Bella's look of disdain towards the waitress, but hide my smile not wanting her to get the wrong idea and hate me even more than she already seems to. Well, I suppose hate is a strong word, but she's certainly not too keen. Which is a shame because I think she's very pretty – beautiful, in fact – and clearly she's funny and when she compliments Finn's combination, there's a startling pang in my chest. It's a little like pride thing pang in my chest. It's a little like pride and little like lust but somewhere between the two. I'd certainly get in with her if she gave me the time of day but she doesn't – not in a nice way, anyway – so I won't. No biggie.

But then, when we're halfway through lunch, my phone rings. I glance at the screen and feel my face light with a smile when I see Finn's name come up. But that smile falls straight away when I hear Tanya's voice, and then remember that I saved their home number under Finn's name. I very much regret it now. Especially when the first thing she says is "Edward, I've got some bad news."

I frown. "Oh. Right. Okay, what's up?"

She sighs. "Look, I'm not sure Finn's going to be able to come to you next weekend…"

I cut her off as my brow furrows in irritation. "Hey, you can't-"

"Yes, I can, Edward. You're halfway across the country and I have to work. I'm not sending my son on an aeroplane by himself! He's six!"

I pinch the bridge of my nose; that's not what I meant. "No, that's not-"

"To be completely honest, Edward, I'm not even sure that this is feasible. How am I supposed to get Finn to you every other week anyway?"

"That's not fair, Tanya! I-" I suddenly feel eyes on me and realise I'm raising my voice. "Hold on," I tell her, standing up and excusing myself to go outside. When out the door, I say into the phone, "We spoke about this, sorted it out. You can come out one time, I'll come fetch him the next, remember?"

"Oh come on, Edward! How's that going to work on a long-term basis?"

"It'll work until you realise that it would make much more sense for you to move closer!"

She sighs, that kind of exasperated sigh you save for when Finn is beginning to get annoying. "Look, I have to go. This wasn't meant to be up for discussion. It's not happening next weekend, okay? I'll call you sometime about when he can come. See you."

"No, Tanya, wait-" But she's already gone. "Dammit," I mutter, gripping my phone so tight in my hand that I'm almost surprised it doesn't break.

I can tell that Emmett notices something's up when I go back, but doesn't bring it up in front of Bella which I'm oddly thankful for. When we're back at work though, and Bella's back at her desk and me and Emmett are the only two people left in the staff room.

"So," he says after an awkward pause, "you gonna tell me what's up or am I gonna have to guess? It's to do with Finn, right?"

"Yeah," I mumble. "Tanya says he can't come next weekend. She's working apparently."

Emmett nods sadly. "Thought it would be something like that."

"It's not even just that, though. She said that she doesn't see how he can come that often, even though we spoke about it the other week and arranged a whole plan and everything!" My frustration from before rears up again.

Emmett purses his lips before saying, "Look, to be honest, I have no idea what to say. But we're still doing that party this evening, right?" He nudges me with his elbow and raises his eyebrow. "You can get smashed and forget all about Tanya and her evil Finn-hogging ways. I'll supply the booze, Jazz the snacks, you the place. Done."

I look at him and nod slowly. "Sure. Yeah."

He grins. "Good. Now, get back to work, Doc!"

I grin back and give him a fist bump when he holds his hand out for one. And, as I start work again that afternoon, my mood improves slightly; who knows? Maybe this party will be the silver lining to my dark cloud.

#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#

Hey! And, as promised, exactly two weeks later is your update! Although I do owe apologies to those of you whose reviews I didn't get to reply to :/ And those of you whose replies to my replies I never replied to… Basically, yes, I failed a little bit with the replying thing. But the way I see it, I have the chapter on time so… I get a point? Or maybe just no minus points lol.

I AM gonna keep it short this time at least, for time reasons, but I have to say thank you thank you thank you to like everyone reading! I know I say it all the time but I was really not expecting anyone to read so 55 reviews is totally amazing and I'm so happy :D

I hope that Edward's story behind his divorce is satisfying enough for y'all and I really hope that you're all as excited about the prospect of Daddyward as I am :D Now that this little titbit is out of the way, we can get on to the juicy stuff with Edward and Bella doing their little dating thang ;)

BTW! I totally have a picture of Edward's Aston Martin… I'll upload it and link it on my profile once I've posted this :)

I was planning to do one chapter BPOV and then EPOV but, as usual, I'm being disorganised and can't fit everything I want to say in one chapter so I believe next chapter will also be EPOV, maybe both. I'm a rebel like that, you see ;) I'll just see where the wind blows I think :)

Anyway, thanks for continuing to read, hope you liked the chapter and I shall update in (probably) two weeks :) Oh, and please click the shiny little button. Every time you click it, poor unprivileged orphan elves in the Amazon get $10 towards food and shelter… promise! ;)

Thanks again!

Steph