A/N: I haven't really looked this chapter over, but I feel guilty for waiting this long to update, so I'm posting it anyway. Let me know if you find any glaring errors, if you would be so kind.

Disclaimer: I don't own Edward, or Bella, or Carlisle. Mmmm… Carlisle…

And now…. I torture poor Edward some more.

Chapter 3 – Thursday Becomes D-Day

Bella was spending the day with Carlisle 'at the hospital' again, so I decided to check in on them. Since the Sunday disappearance the two of them had only been acting stranger still – I'd caught them signing at each other a total of seventeen separate times, and it wasn't in any sign language I had ever heard tell of. Each time my eyes snapped to their strange motions, Bella's face would turn bright red and Carlisle would clear his throat or chuckle under his breath, averting his eyes from me. He would occasionally glance furtively at Bella after one of these exchanges, and she would nod almost imperceptibly, before making some excuse for her and I to leave the room.

I was trying desperately to stay out of Carlisle's head, telling myself repeatedly that Bella was only trying to surprise me, and I shouldn't let my petty jealousy and need to know everything ruin it for her, but it was becoming increasingly difficult as the days went on and the two of them continued their little games with no seeming end in sight.

Finding them smooshed together in the closet put an end to my patience. Especially when Jasper accosted me as I stomped past his study.

Edward, what has you so jealous? I thought that business with the mongrel was over with?

I snarled at him in lieu of a proper response.

He rolled his eyes at me. Could you tone it down, brother? I'm about ten seconds away from throwing Alice in a sack and running for the hills with her.

Alice giggled from their room. "I'd like to see you try," she taunted him.

I opened my mouth to ask Alice if she could please look for me and find out what Bella and Carlisle were up to, but the guilt crept up on me again, and I simply muttered, "Sorry, Jasper."

He assumed my guilt was directed at him, and clapped me on the shoulder before running off to take Alice up on her challenge.

I cursed myself for not asking for her help as I glared at Carlisle's office door. There was something strange going on between them; it wasn't simply my imagination.

When I pulled into the parking lot I was surprised to find Carlisle's Mercedes still parked beside Bella's faded, red truck. I'd actually expected that the two of them would have sneaked off again, but it appeared as if they were still at the hospital after all.

Since they were present, though still as of yet unaccounted for, I decided I would tell Bella I had come to take her out for lunch – apparently hospital food was vile, so it was a believable enough excuse to be nosing around.

I walked toward Carlisle's office, fighting the urge to go at an inhuman pace. As I approached the door I couldn't hear him within, so I paid a visit to the always-helpful nurses' station.

The head nurse, Judy, really liked me, and she greeted me with her usual bright smile and inappropriate thought about the shape and obvious firmness of my ass.

"Hi, Judy," I said, breaking her out of her soon to be pornographic reverie. "Have you seen my father around?"

"Oh, yes. I sure have, Edward." She blushed as she spoke my name. "Dr Cullen and that pretty little Swan girl – I think they're in the doctors' lounge."

"Thank-you," I told her, turning in the direction of the lounge.

"Strange pair, those two," she added. I turned my head to glance over my shoulder at her. "They've been laughing like a pair of hyenas all day, high fiving each other and all sorts of silliness. I told Dr Cullen to act his age, but that just made them laugh all the harder."

She was smiling with fondness. Just like all the nurses here, she loved Carlisle. I smiled back vaguely and headed towards the lounge.

I heard their voices as I turned down the north corridor, so I ducked into an alcove to listen in, unnoticed. I didn't want Carlisle to recognise my presence and censor his words or thoughts.

"Geez, Carlisle," Bella was saying between snickers. "Act your age, would you?"

Carlisle laughed heartily with her. "If I acted my age, I'd be dead."

Bella cracked up with him, gasping and choking as she tried to formulate an answer.

"Don't forget to breathe," Carlisle said, still laughing. How could he find that funny? I was hard pressed not to run to the lounge and pound on her back myself.

They were quiet for a moment, Bella's breathing beginning to steady. Carlisle was thinking about Judy's comment and chuckling to himself.

"So, are we all set for next Friday, then?" Bella asked. My ears perked up. Plans?

"Yes, all set," Carlisle answered. "I'm sending Alice and Jasper away to celebrate their anniversary – nothing distracts Alice better than Jasper and shopping, so Paris. I have a medical convention to attend in San Francisco, and you are spending a lovely weekend in Florida, bonding with your mother."

They laughed conspiratorially.

"Do you really think Edward will let me go to Florida alone, no questions asked? He'll make some excuse to come too."

"Just tell him you really need to spend time with your mother, alone. Because even though she's given her blessing and is throwing herself wholeheartedly into the wedding preparations, you know she still has reservations and you want to alleviate her worry. She requested that you come by yourself, and you feel that is what's best."

"You're good."

"Why, thank-you," he laughed. "I do know how Edward's mind works after all this time, and he'll submit."

"I may as well work the guilt trip a little. Everyone always uses it against me."

Carlisle laughed again. "It will work out. All I have to do is keep my thoughts in check and no one will ever know. And I have gotten very good at that over the years. Our flights leave at nearly the same time, so I have the perfect excuse to drive you to the airport in Seattle. It's perfect."

"I can't wait!" Bella exclaimed excitedly.

"Neither can I. I've never done something like this before."

"What about that time in 1964?"

"Well, yes, but that was only the one. Not nearly as much fun." An extremely thin woman showing an ample amount of cleavage flashed through his mind.

Bella giggled. "No, I suppose not."

"Do you want one of those little silver get-ups to wear?" he asked her. A picture of it appeared in his head – zinging tight silver spandex-type top, a ridiculously short skirt, and thigh high silver boots. And he was picturing it on my Bella! She looked like some sort of trashy, pulp novel trollop! "I'm sure I could have one made for you," he continued, the image evaporating into nothingness.

"No, I think I'll stick with what we got in Seattle, thanks." She giggled again. "You'd look great in one of those outfits, though, Carlisle." Was it just me, or did she purposely make her voice low and sultry when she said that?

He lowered his voice to match hers. "I think I'll go with our Seattle purchase, as well. Alice liked the hat you picked, so everything else is probably wonderful too."

Oh my God. Seattle. The bag I'd touched, and Bella nearly biting my head off. It was something they'd picked out together. Something to wear for – whatever it was they were sneaking off to do that they were plotting and scheming and lying about to be sure the rest of us never discovered.

Something inappropriate is going on. Something very, very inappropriate.

What was I going to do? Should I burst into the room and tell them I had overheard everything and demand an explanation? Did I want an explanation? My phantom heart felt like it was being ripped in two simply hearing the two of them laugh about their plans and their ease at hiding them from me; how could I take actually discovering what they were doing?

God, my Bella. And Carlisle. The two most beloved beings in my existence were conspiring against me. But I didn't really know what it was they were doing, the tiny optimistic part of my brain told me. Maybe I should wait it out, skulk around a bit more until I had more information before questioning them. I could get to Alice and Jasper before they left on their trip, get Alice to check into their plans, have Jasper read the emotions passing between the two of them. That's what I needed to do.

"Let's watch the movie," Bella said in a perky voice.

I sucked in a deep breath and, with difficulty, forced myself to leave my hiding spot and the hospital for my car.

I jumped into my Volvo, turning the key violently and hitting the gas. I raced all the way home, hoping Alice would be able to ease my worry.

But neither Alice nor Jasper were anywhere near the house; the only presence I sensed in the general vicinity was Esme's.

"Esme?"

"Mmmmm?" she answered, looking up from her design magazine.

"Do you – have you –" Just spit it out, Edward! "Have you noticed that Carlisle has been acting strangely?" I said it so quickly, I wasn't sure it Esme had even understood, vampire or not.

She laughed. "Well, differently, yes, I suppose. He's really been enjoying spending time with Bella. They're bonding; it's very sweet." Her face took on a dreamy, far-away expression. "He feels very paternal with her, more than with the rest of you. Because she's human and still needs him, I suppose." She smiled at me happily.

Paternal. Right. That's exactly how he's feeling. I thought about the image of Bella tarted up like a space-age nympho that I'd plucked from Carlisle's head and was tempted to assault poor, sweet, blind Esme's ears with the truth about Carlisle's 'feelings' towards Bella.

But I couldn't do it. Not when she was staring at me with her wide, golden eyes and smiling her innocent, dimpled smile. How could he do this to her? Even if it wasn't Bella, and had nothing to do with me, what about Esme?

My mouth flooded with angry venom, and I had to swallow before speaking.

"Where are Alice and Jasper? I really need to speak with both of them."

"Oh, I'm sorry Edward, dear, they've gone. They're spending their anniversary in Paris. Romantic, isn't it? And you won't be able to reach them, I'm afraid; Alice said no phones allowed." She laughed softly.

I nodded and forced a returning smile. Dammit! They were already gone! He'd already taken care of them! Without Alice's visions and Jasper's senses, how was I going to find out what they were doing?

There was no way around it now, I would have to follow them and catch them red-handed. Until next Friday, I would have to play my part like a pro. I would endure their little game; I would go along with everything they said and did like nothing was amiss. And when the two of them boarded their plane to wherever it was they were going, I would be on the very next flight.

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