Chapter 3 – Overprotective

Bella's POV

As we entered Mike Newton's diner, I noticed Emmett obviously checking out one of the younger waitresses, leading to Rosalie smacking him on the back of the head.

Seriously, has the man never heard of subtlety?

We sat down at a table located right in the corner of the diner away from all the other customers. Edward sat beside me, with Emmett opposite him and Rosalie opposite me.

Whilst getting comfortable, I noticed Mike walk out and greet the elderly couple seated several tables away from us.

I don't know why he bothered; it's not like this was a first class restaurant. Obviously, it was good that he respected his customers, but it was definitely too much sometimes.

What can you say, Mike aimed to please.

As I shrank down in my seat, hoping he wouldn't notice me, Rosalie leaned forward, placing her elbows on the table and smirked at me. "Oh look, Bella! It's your own personal stalker." She joked as her eyes quickly gazed over to Mike.

I noticed Edward stiffen in his seat next to me at the mention of the word 'stalker' at the same time as Emmett placed his hands on the table bent into fists.

"What the fuck, Bella? Who's the dick who thinks he can get away with that kind of shit? Why didn't you tell me?" the big oaf growled.

I rolled my eyes. "You do realise it was just a joke, Em, right?" really, mike was definitely not a stalker, he was just overly friendly and persistent, unable to take no for an answer.

He folded his arms across his chest, "Well, maybe next time you'd make that clearer." he spoke in the same manner as a child who wasn't getting their way.

Rosalie smacked him on the back of the head for the second time. "I'd be a lot more concerned for Bella if there was anything like that going on don't you think? Idiot."

I laughed and Edward instantly relaxed.

Not completely understanding why he was so tense in the first place, I asked "you all right, Edward?"

"Yeah, fine." He replied unconvincingly.

I shrugged, was probably just nothing.

"Hey guys, welcome to Newton's!" I heard Mike's cheery voice from beside me, "oh Bella! Always good to see you here, how are you?" he smiled having noticed me.

Four things happened simultaneously: Rose tried and failed to hold in her laughter, Edward turned in his seat to get a better look at Mike, Emmett raised his eyebrows at him and I blushed as I turned my head to look at him.

"I'm good, Mike thanks, you?"

His smile widened. "Great now," he winked at me, "tell you what, I think I'll be your waiter today."

After taking our orders and talking for a bit, Mike left our table - clearly bored with his unrequited, shameless flirting – giving Emmett the chance to tease me.

"Oh look at Bella and Mike getting all cosy." He grinned massively.

Edward, who had previously been considerably quiet so far, glared at him. "Shut up, Emmett! He clearly doesn't know how to take a hint. Didn't you see him looking at her? He was eye fucking her, Em. Do you know what that means? It means he was fucking her with his eyes!" he almost shouted.

My eyes were wide at his comment with my jaw slack.

Was he always like this? It was odd, this was the first thing he'd said since coming in.

Em and Rose had expressions similar to mine. Okay, obviously this wasn't common behaviour.

After a few moments, Emmett laughed and said to the whole table "not to worry, must be Eddie's time of the month."

Not wanting to piss Edward off any further, I placed my hand on his shoulder, forcing him to look away from his brother to me.

I looked into his eyes and smiled.

"It's fine, really. You get used to Mike's ways. Please don't worry about it. No harm done."

He closed his eyes briefly and opened them, bringing a calm expression to his face. What the hell?

"Sorry, Bella. It's just even the little things seem to be getting on my nerves at the moment. I haven't slept properly for weeks now, I think it's starting to get to me. I'm not usually like this."

Hmm lack of sleep huh? Would it be over the line to ask why?

Not even getting the chance to come to a conclusion, Edward explained that he had been working a lot at the hospital – oh nice he was a doctor – and all the extra work he was putting in was getting him stressed.

"So what sort of stuff do you deal with at the hospital then, if you get me?" I asked him, embarrassed by my lack of knowledge on hospitals despite the amount of time spent there when I was younger.

"I'm a cardiologist." He answered simply with a smile.

Okay, I knew that one; he was a heart doctor.

I returned his smile. He was clearly proud of what he did, it showed in his smile and eyes, and I definitely couldn't blame him for that.

For the next hour or so, the four of us sat talking, giving me and Edward the opportunity to get to know each other a little.

He was amazing from what I could tell. His reaction to his divorce was a lot better than you would expect. I had no idea why him and his wife split up, but by the looks on everyone else's faces, I assumed it wasn't exactly a mutual decision. He was passionate about his job as well as his friends and family. When I got to talk about my self a bit, he actually seemed to be listening and even asked questions which he actually appeared to be interested in the answers to.

It was definitely the best lunch break I've had for a long time.

The only issue – for me at least – was when Rosalie mentioned Abby in discussion. Though she didn't say who she was – it was only a question about how she was getting on – it caused my mind to wander.

What if Edward and I hit it off but he hated kids? What if they met and Abby hated him? What if he had his own children that I didn't know about? Would they get on with Abby if he did? Would he be put off that I had a teenage daughter?

In the end I figured I'd get to that when it came to it.

I still had no idea if Edward was even the slightest bit interested in me.

When Rosalie announced that it was time to get back to work – she couldn't dare have her employees slacking, even if it was down to her – the four of us stood having paid for our meal and left the diner, running out before Mike could say anything more to me.

Somewhere on the way back to the office, Emmett stated that he needed to head over to the gym – he was a personal trainer – and that he'd see us all later before engulfing us in our own personal bear hugs and departing.

On arrival at the office, Rose, telling me to be no longer than five minutes, headed into the office leaving Edward and I alone outside.

"So…" I started, not really knowing how to continue. I wasn't sure what to say. I mean I knew what I wanted, but whether he felt the same was yet to be discovered.

"Yeah," he continued, "look, I was thinking maybe we could get together some time. Maybe come to dinner with me on Friday? I don't feel like I've had enough time with you yet." He smiled shyly at me.

He was adorable, and his question made me blush. It wasn't just me, then. Good.

"Definitely." Was my brilliant answer.

I blushed further, as he laughed lightly. "Okay, well I'll pick you up at 7. I'll get your address off of Em."

With that he waved and stepped into his Volvo, giving me a nice view of his amazing ass.

I waved back with that image in my mind, my cheeks still not losing their colour.

I would have sworn that he had done that on purpose.

Stupid, shiny Volvo owner.

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"So, what did Edward say" Rose asked when I came back inside the office.

I blushed "he asked me to go to dinner with him on Friday."

She smiled, "I take it you're going right?"

I nodded and she squealed. Her and Alice too alike for their own good.

"Oh! I meant to ask you earlier, do you wanna come to ours for dinner tonight with Abby? Jasper and Alice are coming too and Emmett misses Abby. He's been dying to get her on that bloody x box again; he reckons he has a good chance of beating her now." She laughed.

I smiled at her and agreed to be at hers at 7.30 before heading back to work.

I knocked hastily on Em and Rose's front door; it was freezing outside and my stubborn daughter had refused to wear anything other than a fucking skirt, no matter how hard I tried to convince her otherwise.

Rose answered the door and Abby ran inside to find warmth.

I greeted Rose before she claimed that she was needed in the kitchen other wise her fiancée would most likely destroy their house.

I headed towards the living room, assuming Alice and Jasper were already here – I wasn't wrong.

"Bella!" My pixie of a best friend squealed at me before flinging herself into my arms at full speed.

Even though she was so petite and weighed basically nothing, I was still knocked back by her force. If you saw her in the street, you'd assume she was high on sugar all the time; she actually never stopped moving.

I had to move my face so that her short, dark, spiky hair was out the way of my mouth before I answered, "Hey Ali." I laughed and looked over at Jasper to greet him.

"Hey Jazz" I said whilst still in Alice's grasp.

"Alright, Bella." He smiled at me.

As I returned his smile, I noticed for somehow the first time that though Edward, Emmett and Jasper were all blood related siblings, there were very few similarities in their appearance.

Other than their seriously above average heights and the fact that they were amazingly good looking, you wouldn't be able to tell they were related at all.

Emmett had curly, dark brown hair and eyes. His muscles were massive, and his dimples definitely matched. Despite his intimidating appearance though, he wouldn't hurt a fly – at least as long as that fly weren't screwing with someone he cared about.

Jasper was the complete opposite. He had dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He was probably the most lanky of the three, though he had a small hint at muscles and was pretty damn strong from what I could tell.

Edward was somewhere in the middle. Bronze hair, green eyes and an amazing glimpse of muscles with out going too over the top.

I was suddenly extremely curious as to what their parents looked like.

I let go of Alice as we were called to the dining table and the three of us headed into the dining room.

Em, Rose and Abby were already seated in their regular seats waiting for us.

Sometime after digging into our meal, Jasper turned to me, "so I hear you met Edward today." He stated.

"Who's Edward?" Abby asked me with a raised eyebrow and a smile.

"Our baby brother!" Em and Jazz answered simultaneously.

"Oh right," she smiled, "he's so hot, Mum. You better go for it!"

I almost choked on my food, "How would you know what he looks like?"

"Oh, well there's a couple pictures in the study of Em, Jazz and this other guy with… reddish hair, that's him right?" When everyone agreed, she continued, "well, he's pretty damn good looking. It's a shame he's so much older than I am…" she trailed off, not wanting to offend anyone I suspected, considering everyone here other than her was at least the same age as him besides herself and Alice.

I shook my head at my daughter, feeling amused, but her response put Emmett into 'over protective mode'.

"Now hold on a minute! You're way too young for all this stuff." He claimed.

She laughed "Em, I'm 16, I've been old enough for this stuff for a while now."

"No, you're not," he countered, "you should be concentrating on school and doing your homework and staying away from boys. Oh and you can forget wearing a skirt again until you turn 21." He huffed.

I had to admit, it was sweet how much he cared for Abby, but this little talk was just a little late.

"What's wrong with me wearing a skirt?"

"Well there's nothing wrong with long skirts, but that one your wearing," he waved a hand towards Abby, "is pathetic. People are going to think you're easy, do you want that?"

She rolled her eyes at him, "Sorry, Dad," she sneered sarcastically, "why do you even care so much? It's not like it even matters." She said licking her lips and her eyes focused on nothing in particular.

"I don't want you to get hurt. I want you to be happy and I don't want anyone to take advantage of you. Is that such a bad thing?" he asked, his feelings clearly hurt by Abby's question. It was common knowledge that Emmett's heart was his biggest muscle and he didn't like people questioning his behaviour.

Abby didn't react at first, just sat licking and biting her lips in thought. Eventually, completely disregarding Emmett's query, she said, "So… for me to be happy, I should be like a nun then?" Abby questioned him with raised eyebrows.

"Well, it wouldn't do any harm would it?" Emmett almost snapped at her.

Rose, Alice and I laughed knowingly, causing Emmett and Jasper to look at us curiously.

"What's so funny?" Jasper questioned, feeling out the loop for the first time.

"Nothing really, but to be honest, Em your little speech is going to have little effect." Rosalie said.

"Yeah Em, don't waste your breath." Alice chuckled.

Emmett obviously wasn't as amused as us, "Why not?"

"This one's on you, Abs." I said when no one else answered. If she wanted to admit it, then that was up to her, but just because the rest of us had to tease Emmett, it didn't mean she had to unwillingly give up information she may want to keep private.

She blushed and put a hand on Emmett's arm. "I already have a boyfriend, Em." She smiled apologetically. This was the sort of thing Emmett would want to hear about before everyone else.

His eyes widened. "What?"

While the rest of the table laughed, Abby mouthed the word 'sorry' at him. To be honest, Emmett's main concern at the moment was probably that he hadn't had the chance to interrogate him until he deemed him not worthy of my daughter and sent him away.

"Just one question… have you… well… you know?" Okay, maybe that was just his second greatest concern.

Abby blushed furiously and looked at him with wide eyes, "EM!" she exclaimed, "oh my God! Seriously, you know... whatever..."

Jasper stopped laughing immediately and his jaw went slack and his eyes wide as he turned to look at me.

None of the girls were phased. I found out a while ago and Alice and Rose had had their suspicions for some time even before that. Apparently she had asked them to go to Victoria's Secret with her to pick out lingerie 'just in case'.

"Anyway," I said, trying to relieve some of the tension, but was cut off by Jasper.

"Wait a minute, you guys knew about this? Don't you care?" Even Jasper could be a little protective when he wanted to be.

"Of course we did, silly!" Alice smiled at Abby then turned back to her husband, "of course we care, but she's happy, so we're happy for her. Besides, it's not difficult to figure these things out when a teenage girl asks you about what kind of underwear guys find as the biggest turn on."

"I… don't… excuse me?" Emmett asked.

Abby blushed, so Rose decided it was time to put an end to this conversation. "Look, the poor girl's clearly embarrassed. It's too late to do anything about it now; she can't go out and live the life of a nun or whatever, what a shame." She said sarcastically, "Now, Em, she's not your daughter and Bella's fine with it, so can we please change the topic?"

Abby smiled appreciatively at Rose and looked to Emmett.

"Hey, when we finished you wanna see if you can finally beat me at x box? Haven't had much practise recently, I probably suck ass now."

I could swear I heard him mumble "yeah you've probably been practising a different type of two player game" under his breath, but no one else seemed to notice. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself then looked at her and smiled his winning dimpled smile and agreed to her challenge.

"Oh, Bella, before I forget, you're coming shopping with me on Thursday." Alice declared.

"Err, why?" I asked her, confused.

"I mentioned that you were going out with Edward on Friday and she figured you'd probably need a new outfit." Rose interjected.

Right, should have expected that from Alice. "Okay, sure, fun." I said unconvincingly.

"You have a date with Edward?" Abby smiled at me.

I nodded in return.

"This could get interesting." She smirked and declared it was time to 'thrash Emmett's ass' and left the table with Emmett and Jasper trailing after her.

After some time, I put Emmett out of his misery and declared that it was late and Abby needed to get home in order to get up in time for school.

Both Abby and Emmett sat looking at me with their arms crossed and huge pouts on their faces before eventually giving in and calling it a night.

We said goodbye to everyone and left the house.

The moment we sat in the car, Abby faced me and asked, "so, when do I get to meet the gorgeous Edward then?"

I smiled and shrugged, not knowing when – or if ever – she would meet him.

Well, at least so far everything was going to plan.

Well in comparison to the last chapters, this was pretty long actually. I'm not sure how happy I am with this one though, but I can't actually imagine it happening any other way.

OH! Just btw, although the last bit at Emmett and Rosalie's seemed like a bit of a filler, it was actually pretty important:
you know, it established relationships between those characters, Abby found out about Edward and Emmett got to be over protective.

Anyway, feel free to review or something =]