Chapter Four

Bella Swan

It's been a week since Edward started at the hospital.

I was really happy to see him enjoying himself. I remember seeing this glow on his face when he came home on his first day; he lifted me off the floor, ecstatic.

"Here's my beautiful girlfriend!" He laughed and started spinning me around in circles.

"Whoa! Put me down!" I screamed, half laughing along with him. He ignored my request and continued whirling us. I gripped onto his shoulder, afraid that he would drop me. But my fear was rather silly; I should have known by now he would not let me fall.

He dropped me gently on the couch, his body pressed against mine. My arms were still locked securely around his neck, my chest heaving as I panted.

"I… take… that it… went well… today," I said breathlessly.

He chuckled. "It did. Dr. Larkin is a nice man, showing me around and all that. I even got a chance to meet some of the kids staying at the hospital."

I watched with a smile on my face as the glow grew more pronounced. I hadn't seen Edward like this for a long time. Not since his last basketball tournament back in our senior year. I stared at him, not talking but still smiling as I stroked his cheek with my finger.

"What is it?" He asked, curiosity thick in his voice.

"Nothing," I said gently, dropping my hand and wrapping my arms around his waist. "I just haven't seen you this excited about something for a while."

He grinned sheepishly. "Well, I didn't suck and they didn't kick me out of the program. That's something to be happy about."

Tightening my grip on him, my voice sounded a little defensive. "Of course you didn't suck. You're good at everything."

He laughed; his laughter as light as a feather. "You shouldn't be so sure about that. It's only my first day."

"I'm sure about you," I said confidently. His gaze on me was suddenly intense. He crashed his lips fervently against mine, one of his hands cupping my face and the other one on the small of my back. I shifted so I was seated on his lap and twined my legs around his waist. Knotting my fingers in his hair, I clutched him closer to me because I simply couldn't get enough of him, no matter how close we already were.

"I've been wanting to do that all day," he said breathlessly between the kisses. "I love you."

"And I love you." I told him, my breath jagged.

"Bella? Earth to Isabella Swan?" One of my colleagues who had her desk next to mine, Tessa Mars, was waving her hand in front of me while I stared absently into blank space, remembering the sweet moments with Edward from a week ago.

"Oh sorry. Were you calling me?" I said, my voice apologetic.

"Actually, I was wondering if you slipped into a coma or something," she teased. "What were you thinking about? I called you like, five times to get your attention."

"Nothing," I answered abruptly, my face reddening. "Did you need something?"

"I was about to ask you if you've seen Mr. King. He hasn't come in to the office at all today."

I didn't notice before but now that she brought it up, I turned my head toward Mr. King's office and found it empty, just like she said. This was unusual; Dalton King was the most hardworking workaholic that I knew. He wouldn't miss a day of work for anything.

Mr. King started Media Today from scratch when he was in his early thirties. He had just celebrated his fifty-sixth birthday three months ago. He wasn't exactly the most patient employer in the world, but he was a good man. He paid good salaries, gave his employees the right amount of vacations… he told us he hated people who cheated off someone else so he would never do that himself. Overall, Mr. King was someone well respected in this company. Sure, he tended to bellow at employees who made careless mistakes, but what employer doesn't?

"This is abnormal," I muttered.

"I know. In fact, I think this should be the headline for today's breaking news. 'Dalton King missed a day of work'. It's totally shocking," she said, her tone still teasing.

"Maybe he'll show up this afternoon." I said.

"Yeah maybe. If he does, he's going to murder me if he finds out that I haven't finished the article on Senator Wellington. I better get back to work."

"Sure."

I didn't have any interviews to do today, but I had plenty of things lined up, waiting to be finished. I had my butt glued to my chair all morning, typing the latest bestseller list and trying to contact the authors to see if they were interested in being interviewed.

When I first started this job, I thought it was rather fun. But it grew old, as days went by. Especially if you happened to come across an author who thought he or she was "all that" just because their book was voted one of the bests of the month. That kind of situation didn't happen frequently. Most authors that I had encountered were fairly nice. But there were a few that were just… weird.

After seeing a few of my co-workers heading off to lunch, I decided to take a break as well. I was getting ready to leave for a deli nearby when my cell phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hey Bella. It's Jacob. Listen… you guys doing anything tonight? I thought Leah and I might stop by and say hi. Oh, and to tease Edward on his first week too, of course." He chuckled.

I smiled. "Yeah! Come on over. As for teasing Edward, Emmett beat you to the punch six o'clock last Monday morning."

"Damn," he said, sounding disgruntled. "Oh well. I'll see you guys tonight."

"Sure."

I shook my head with disbelief after hanging up the phone. Ever since we graduated from high school, Edward and Jacob had become close friends. Jacob felt that he owed Edward his college acceptance. I remember that day on our last basketball tournament, several college scouts were there to check out Edward's performance. They offered him spots on their teams after we won the state championship-again- and they came from great schools like Duke or Yale. But Edward kindly turned them down and told him that he wasn't playing ball in college. He suggested they turn their attention on Jacob, whose team placed second last year. Anyway, toward Edward, Jacob was more than grateful. He told me he didn't have the grades but after what Edward told the scouts, he got acceptances from schools that he hadn't even dreamed of going before.

Of course, Edward modestly said he had nothing to do with Jacob's achievements. But Jacob wasn't having any of that- he insisted that Edward was the reason that he got accepted to Duke. And a friendship sprout from there- there was absolutely no antagonism between the two of them at all anymore.

Leah, Jacob's girlfriend- well, fiancée now- was a nice girl. She was down-to-earth, honest, and not overly talkative. Things were somewhat awkward between us when we met because Leah was one of the cheerleaders back at Horizon High. At first, she was convinced that Jacob had a crush on me back in our high school days. But after he explained to her that the main reason that he flirted with me was to get on Edward's nerves, she became friendly.

"V. You ready?" I called.

"Yep! Coming!"

-

-

We got right back to work after our one-hour lunch break. We had a deadline due this Thursday since the latest issue of the magazine was supposed to come out next week, so nobody was slacking off work. Well, except for Kendra Martins and Lindsay Holmes, who were the kind of people who only faked dedication with Mr. King around. And assuming he wouldn't show up for the rest of the day, they extended their lunch break and didn't step back into the office until three-thirty. And it wasn't like they were contributing when they came back either. They were doing online shopping- online shopping, for Pete's sake-after they came back with their newest hairdo from a salon nearby.

I walked up to Kendra's desk; she still had her eyes glued to her computer screen and was dialing in her credit card number.

"Where are the photos that we took with J.K. Rowling two weeks ago?" I asked her.

Sounding irritated that I interrupted her shopping session, she glowered at me. "What?"

"The photos. With J.K. Rowling."

She scoffed. "I don't know. Probably somewhere on my desk."

Feeling frantic, I groaned with exasperation because it wasn't the first time that something like this happened. Kendra always volunteered to be the photographer of important events because she had to prove she was better than everyone else in her department to Mr. King. But the thing was she never took her work seriously. She just wanted to look good in front of her boss; that was her main goal.

"Somewhere on your desk? Probably?" I repeated dubiously. "Kendra, those photos are important. Readers would want a photo of J.K. Rowling's interview. Do you know how hard it was for us to get an interview with her?"

She threw me a disk and snapped, "Found your precious pictures. Good day."

After gaping at her with incredulity, I returned to my desk. I inserted the CD into the computer to see if she gave me the correct files, and she did, surprisingly.

"Got flamed by the slacker?" Tessa asked.

"Seriously. I don't understand why people like her deserve to work here. There are other photographers out there who would die for her position."

Tessa sighed. "Life isn't fair, Bella. Remember that."

Then there was a ruckus coming from a few of the tables down from us. Snapping my head up to see what was going on, I saw a blond- haired guy, who appeared to be around my age, heading toward Mr. King's office. He strode by my desk with a suitcase in his hand, a cup of Starbucks in his other.

"Who was that?" Tessa asked, sounding stunned.

Appearing out of nowhere, Vanessa replied. "That's Mr. King's youngest son. I remember seeing him once in one of our meetings; I wonder what he's doing here."

Seeing through the clear glass of Mr. King's office, I watched as the man dug through his father's shelves and drawers. Then he slammed the door behind him when he emerged from the office to get everyone's attention.

It was unnecessary since he already had every pair of eyes in the room glued on him. He smirked at us as he took in the curious gawking.

"Good afternoon," he said. "For those of you that don't know me, I'm Royce King, Dalton King's son. My father had a heart attack last night…"

Murmurs erupted from all around me. I was shocked, too, when he sprung the news at us.

He cleared his throat and continued. "The doctor has confirmed us this morning that his life is not in danger. However, in the meantime, he will be at home recovering so I am to be taking his place for now."

Again, exclamations took over the room. He scanned the room and his eyes zeroed on Kendra, who was wearing mini skirt and a tight-fitting jacket.

"You," he said, his face expressionless. "You're my new assistant."

"What?" Michelle, who had been Mr. King's assistant for as long as I could remember, asked incredulously. "With all due respect, Mr. King has an assistant. Me."

Giving Michelle a cold look, he checked her out from head to toe. Michelle, gliding her thick glasses up her nose, sniffed and straightened herself with her chin held up high.

"Miss…"

"Anderson," she finished for him.

"Right. Look, I am not my father. I don't care how things used to work around here. I'm in charge now and I am doing things my way. Now, if you disagree with my decision, you're free to leave. Otherwise you will be working as an editor like before."

Michelle, looking shocked, held her breath as tears began moisturizing her eyes. She bit on her bottom lip, which was trembling, and gave Royce a slow nod.

"But she's a photographer!" I blurted out.

Royce, who was facing me with his back a while ago, followed the sound of my voice and smirked when he saw me. The others did the same. Suddenly, I was the center of attention.

"Excuse me?" He asked, still smirking crookedly.

"Kendra's a photographer. She doesn't know the company's system as well as Michelle does."

Kendra, hearing this, shot a dagger in my direction. Michelle, on the other hand, mouthed me "thank you" with appreciation.

Great. It was totally like me to get involved into things that clearly didn't concern me.

"Then Kendra has a lot to learn," he mused, his eyes still not leaving my face. "You don't mind showing her the rope, do you, Ms. Anderson?"

Michelle didn't reply. Taking her silence as agreement, Royce smiled.

"Great. Now, I want a copy of next week's issue by tomorrow."

"What?" Dave Huang repeated, skeptical. "It's not due until Thursday. We don't even have the…"

"I like to have things done ahead of time," Royce interrupted impatiently, not bothering to listen to the rest. "I'll see it on my desk tomorrow afternoon before I take off."

Then he stalked back to Mr. King's office- no, his office- without another word. Tessa and I stared at each other with wide eyes. This man was definitely someone who was not easy to get along with. And to think he was going to be substituting for Mr. Dalton King…

Just great. As if work wasn't hard enough already without him making it hard.

None of us were allowed to take off until six o'clock that evening. The heads of the departments were frantic with the new deadline; Dave Huang looked like he could cry if he had the time.

Royce King stayed in his office the entire afternoon. He had his own personal bathroom in there so he hadn't stepped out at all since he gave out his orders. Kendra, who was trying her damn best to impress our new boss, would come up with lame excuses to go talk to him. I noticed she had her jacket removed, revealing a low-cut sweater that matched with her mini-skirt.

Huh. So she was trying to really impress Royce King. I wasn't surprised; woman like her just don't try to achieve success by working their way up. They always look for the easy way.

Tessa, V. and I were heading out to the parking lot. It was irritatingly cold outside; the roads were slippery and the grass was wet from the dew. A shiver escaped when the wind hit harshly against my face, the only part of my body that was exposed.

"It's only his first day here and I already hate him," Tessa said, her voice full of disgust. "The good lord hates him too. Just look at the unpleasant weather."

I laughed; it came out sounding more like a choke. We waved each other goodbye and scrambled to our cars. After waiting for the heaters to heat up, I pulled out of the lot and headed home.

A familiar blue truck was in our driveway when I pulled up. The ignition was still on; it was hard to see who was in it since the windows were all fogged up. But I knew exactly who the owner of the truck was. When I got off my car, Leah and Jacob were already on the porch, clattering their teeth.

"Jake! Leah! I'm so sorry! Have you been waiting long?" I asked guiltily as I fished my keys out from my purse to get the door open.

"No biggie." Jacob's voice was quivering. "Thank god for heaters, right?" Even under the circumstances, he was still trying to make a joke.

As soon as the bolt clicked, Leah and Jacob rushed inside, their arms wrapped around each other for warmth. I went in the kitchen and made some coffee; they looked up with appreciation when I exited with three mugs.

"So… how have you been?" Jacob asked conversationally.

"Same old, same old," I shrugged.

He laughed. "By that, I hope you don't mean that you've gone back to the moping state."

Gasping, I punched him playfully in the shoulder. "I did not mope!"

Leah chuckled, shaking her head. "Yeah you did, Bella. Last time we came over, when Edward was away, it was like you're physically here with us. But emotionally, you were in Canada, too."

I blushed. How pathetic.

I changed the subject. "So how's the store, Jake?"

Even though he had gotten into Duke, Jacob didn't end up having a basketball career after all. His team got into the NBA's, but right before his third game of the season, his father had a heart attack and he had to come back to Cali. Since one of his sisters was having a baby and the other one was out of the country, he had no choice but to quit the team and stay in Cali to take care of his father.

He wasn't remorse about it though. He said basketball was fun in high school and college, but after it became a career… it became an obligation rather than a hobby. He opened a sporting good shop beside a local college and made a good living off of it. Sure, he said he knew he would probably be making twice the money he was making now if he stayed on the team, but family came first.

He grinned at me. "A group of crazy jocks came in the other day and bought dozens of the most expensive shoes in the store. I think they were drunk but hey, as long as I get my money, I'm not complaining."

Of course he didn't mind. Laughing, I shook my head asked them if they wanted to stay for some pizza. They replied with a gleeful "sure" and I called the closet store around- Pizza Hut. Right after I hung up the phone, I heard the lock clicking and I jumped to my feet.

"Huh. If I knew Jacob was coming, I would have bought some food so he doesn't empty our fridge and leave us with no breakfast for tomorrow. Again."

I threw my arms around him. "Edward!"

He laughed at my enthusiasm and placed his hand on the small of my back. "Hey beautiful." Then he peered around my shoulder and greeted our guests. "Leah. Jacob."

"Hey Edward," Leah smiled. Jacob snorted.

"I don't empty your fridge. I go for the cupboard- that's where you stash all the Doritos and Lays." There wasn't a hint of shame or guilt in his tone. I laughed while Edward rolled his eyes at him. "By the way, you're running low on the sauce."

"Gee… I wonder why." Edward retorted sarcastically.

Jacob and Edward were funny together. Even though they were good friends, they were always teasing and sarcastic when they spoke. They couldn't stand being in the same room for five minutes without cracking jokes at each other. But I liked them like this; it was like watching a live comedy show.

"So how was work, Dr. Cullen?" Jacob sneered then snickered. Leah muttered an oh boy under her breath and slumped back against the couch.

Edward and I sat on the loveseat. I cuddled against him and he wrapped his arms around my shoulder after kissing me softly on the lips.

"Just fine, thank you. I actually mistook someone as you this afternoon. But he walked by the vending machines without buying anything so I figured it wasn't you."

"Hilarious." Jacob said scornfully.

Edward smirked. "I know."

Then turning to Leah and me at the same time, they muttered "jerk" and rolled their eyes. Leah laughed.

The pizzas arrived in approximately half an hour. The pizza guy seemed surprised when he handed us our stack of food; he muttered something that sounded like "Impossible. There are only four of them" before walking away. Little did he know that with appetites like Jacob's, Edward's, and mine, there wasn't going to be any left-overs. Impossible, like he said.

Leah was the most graceful one of us when it came down to eating. She chewed her food slowly and acted completely lady-like. I, however, felt like a pig in comparison because I was already on my third slice when she barely finished her first.

We played music as we ate. A Linkin Park song came on and Jacob and Edward started singing along, Jacob tapping the beats with his hands and all of that.

"So when's the date, Leah?" I asked while they continued goofing around.

"Well, we're thinking about the fourteen. It's Jacob's jersey number and my birthday," she replied, sounding a little embarrassed. "Ridiculous, huh?"

"No," I assured her. "It sounds very… meaningful."

She laughed. "That's a very nice way to put it. So when are you and Edward going to get married? You guys have been together forever."

I blushed and looked over to his direction. He was still goofing around with Jake, too preoccupied to hear what Leah and I were talking about. They seemed to be in a deep discussion over who will be the winning team this year.

"The topic was brought up casually a couple of times but we saw no need to rush into things. Especially with him just starting the internship and all of that, it would be best for us to settle down first, you know?"

"Yeah," she agreed with a soft murmur. "I know what you mean."

One of the many things I liked about Leah? She wasn't someone who would always insist on details. Jacob, on the other hand, always wanted a full story. Their attraction for each other is still a mystery to me- Jacob being super talkative and Leah being so quiet. They were the complete opposite of each other.

They left the house at ten- thirty since they still had a long drive home. Realizing Edward and I had the house to ourselves now, I wrapped my arms around his neck and crashed my lips passionately against his.

After all these years we've been together, every kiss, every touch was still something that I treasured. Even though Edward had the internship going, he was still taking a few classes at the university. Busy. Always busy. He hoped to graduate a semester earlier than the others, and I had a pretty good feeling that he would with all these credits that he had been earning.

I broke away with a frown on my face, puzzled.

"You smell like soda," I noted.

He laughed and ruffled my hair. "Someone at the nurse's station tripped and guess who the Coke landed on," he grinned. "Good thing I was wearing brown. So… I guess that's my cue to shower."

"Hurry back," I whispered.

"I will." He touched my cheek and ran his fingers through my hair. My heart sped up; the way I responded to his touch was ridiculous. Just one little caress and my heart was already flying. After he disappeared into the bathroom, I slumped down against the couch, exhausted. The comforter felt more luxurious than ever. Every single part of my body was sore; my hips, my shoulders… I didn't notice any of this a while ago because my mind was preoccupied, but now that Edward wasn't here to distract me, the aching was catching up to me.

As much was I wanted to wait for Edward and go to bed together, my eyes were getting droopier by the second. Oh well. Maybe I'll close my eyes for a few minutes. I'll wake up before he finishes showering…

Then I dozed off.

Edward Cullen

It had been a long day at the hospital. Since the second day of my internship, Gerald had me doing the morning checkups on the children everyday. I was more than thrilled, of course, to be greeted by their brilliant, optimistic smiles every morning. Even though some of the smiles were not put on without a great amount of effort, since a portion of the kids weren't in their best conditions, but it was just as heartwarming. I honestly didn't get why most people thought of work was dreadful- to me, it was a hell of a lot better than school. I actually felt useful. Maybe I was enjoying myself now because I wasn't technically working.

I found Bella asleep on the couch, her head resting against the armrest. She was curled up into a ball, her body slightly trembling from the coldness of the air. I walked over to turn the heater up then picked her up and cradled her in my arms. I checked to see if I had woken her up, but she was still sleeping soundlessly as she clutched the front of my shirt with her hands.

I quietly kicked the door of our room open and walked over to our bed to place her gently on the mattress. I pried her fingers off my shirt and pulled the sheets further up so it could cover most of her body. She stirred, the pattern of her breathing breaking as she stretched.

"Edward?" She mumbled then opened her eyes. "Oh no. I fell asleep! I promised myself I would wait until you get out!"

I chuckled and propped myself up with one arm so I could look at her face. I had already turned the lamp on before showering, so I wasn't facing pitch-black darkness. In a soothing voice, I placed my index finger over her lip as I spoke. "Don't be silly, Bella. You're tired. You didn't have to wait."

"No," she argued groggily then snuggled against me, her hands resting delicately on my chest. "I wanted to wait."

"Well, I'm here now," I whispered. She tipped her head and closed her eyes. Instantly, I knew what she was searching for; my lips moved gently against hers. She sighed.

"Thanks."

"Sure."

"We probably should get some rest. I wouldn't want you to fall asleep on one of the kids. Imagine what they would think of you."

"An exhausted moron," I smirked.

She laughed.

"Sorry. I'm keeping you awake even though I'm the one telling you to rest."

"I will go to sleep," she smiled. "On one condition."

"Condition?"

"Mmm hmm." She sounded smug. I traced her collarbone all the way up to her earlobe; her breathing was becoming uneven. I smirked.

"The condition that you mentioned…"

"Hmm?" She asked, her breath still sounding jagged.

This is nice… and fun, I thought to myself.

"What was it?" I finished.

"What was what?"

I laughed softly. She was so easy to distract. But the thought of me being the distraction was flattering.

"The condition," I reminded her.

Her face started heating up with embarrassment. "Oh. Well, I was going to say that you have to hold me…"

Without deliberation, I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her closer to me.

"Like this?" I whispered, my lips touching her neck.

She nodded her head. Quite an accomplishment, really, considering the way we were tangled around each other didn't exactly make moving easy.

"Good night, Edward," she whispered.

"Good night, Bella."

Then I reached for the lamp and turned it off.

I know it wasn't much, but I got everything that I wanted in this chapter. I really like the development of Edward and Jacob's relationship in Breaking Dawn, so I decided to bring Jake into this story. And I always thought the idea of Jacob and Leah being together was cool, so I decided to give it a try. Royce King is a new, important character of the story. Every story needs drama, and I think bringing him in woul be a good way to stir things up. Before you ask, no. It is not a Bella-Edward-Royce triangle because let's face it. The guy was a total ass in Eclipse. I would never make Bella fall in love with him- shudders. I simply meant that he will be making things a little harder for Bella:)

So... I finally finished my review on the Twilight movie! It is posted on my blog, and please check it out if you're interested. I wonder if we're sharing the same thoughts.

Thank you so much for the reviews that you left me in the last chapter. Please review this one as well so I can know what you thought of it! They really keep me going.