Although this has been looked over by the wonderful lady_vyxen, we're both still human. If you spot any errors, please, let me know so that I might fix them.

Also, a bit of an aside, I only saw Black Swan once when it came out, so maybe I might have forgotten some small detail. But my point on the issue still stands.

Bella took a seat opposite of Edward and gingerly picked up the plastic-coated menu that the waitress had dropped on the table for her— it was exceptionally sticky, and Bella wished that she didn't have to touch it. "I really liked that," Edward said from behind his own menu. "I think that I would like to do more things like that."

"Museum tours?" Bella asked as she looked at Edward over the top of the menu.

"Yes, and if you can, I'd like to go see a symphony orchestra, or a ballet, or maybe some opera."

"I'll see what I can find for you," Bella said. "I'm sure that all three will be doable."

"Great, great," Edward said. He flashed Bella a bright, crooked smile over the top of his menu. "Now, if only you could make this menu be less sticky, then that would be really amazing."

"I can get you tickets to Swan Lake; I'm not a miracle worker," Bella said sourly. Edward laughed.

After lunch, Bella followed Edward around as he helped to contribute to the foot traffic on the sweltering, New York sidewalks. He had a Yankees cap pulled on over his copper hair and dark sunglasses on, but he was still frequently stopped by fans. After waving goodbye to another fan, Edward stopped short in front of a record shop tucked between a Starbucks and a pharmacy. "Wow. You know, I knew that there were all of these older places in New York, but I didn't exactly expect to see them."

"What, like they don't have record shops in London?" Bella asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh yes, there are, but it's not the same as going into an old record shop in New York." He moved his head back and forth slightly for a moment. "Well, sort of, but the music atmosphere in New York is a lot different than in London." He pushed open the door, and Bella followed him in.

"Hi, welcome," said a worker who was putting records into boxes. "Can I help you find anything?"

"Classical?" Edward asked her.

"Over there," the lady said and pointed to the far wall.

"Ah yes, under the posters of the classical musicians," Edward said and he went over there. Bella stood awkwardly near the door with Jasper and watched as Edward thumbed through the classical music records for a moment. Then, she moved off towards the section labeled with a sign that said Rock.

Pretty much nothing but the big-name stuff that the yuppie hipsters would buy. Bella was honestly a little disappointed with that. "Find what you're looking for?" Edward asked from behind Bella; she jumped a little because she hadn't heard him approach. She frowned as she turned to face him. She hadn't been that interested in finding some records, had she?

"Not really," Bella said as she shoved the stack back into place.

"Never really took you for the classic rock kind of girl," Edward went on.

"I'm not, not really," she said with a slight shake of her head. "I listen to Bowie, and that's pretty much it. But they don't appear to have any."

"Yeah, not exactly an impressive selection here," Edward said. "Shall we go?" Bella nodded in agreement, and they quickly left the shop. Once they were outside, Edward looked over to Bella. "So then, Bella. What sort of store do you frequent?"

The first thing that came to mind was the weapons "shop" where Bella would get new stilettos and an occasional box of ammo every couple of months. But that was not something that she was ever going to tell Edward about. The second was the grocery store. While that seemed much more pleasant to tell somebody about, she doubted that Edward wanted to hear that.

Instead, she tried to think about what Edward might actually like, and try to supply him with suitable places. Her mind first went to parties, but then she dismissed it as soon as she thought of it because she didn't know of any sort of "rave store". Then, her mind wandered back to the interview, and she had an idea.

"There is this one book store that I like a lot," Bella said slowly. "It's on the other side of town, though. Let's take a cab." She waited for his agreement before she stepped to the curb and hailed a taxi. Within minutes, Bella found herself pressed between the left side door and Edward's side. She told the driver where they wanted to go, and then she pulled out her phone to pretend to be busy.

"I'm sorry; I'm probably taking up all of your time right now," Edward said when he noticed that she was flipping through her phone.

"It's my job to make you happy," Bella said absently.

"But surely you must have other clients right now?"

"Not at the moment, no," Bella said as she looked over to Edward. He flashed her another smile; she frowned and looked back at the old messages from Rose. "You were put on high priority. My boss wanted to make sure that all of your New York tourist needs were met."

"Well, you are being a splendid guide, if I do say so myself," Edward said. Bella was about to reply when a new message from her liaison with Victoria came in.

"Good news, babe: I got some pretty sweet tickets to Swan Lake," the message said.

"Good news, Edward: Tickets to Swan Lake," Bella said to the man who sat next to her.

"Amazing," Edward said with a bright smile.

"Great, two hours of men in tights with cod-pieces," Jasper said.

"Grow up," Edward said to his bodyguard. "I heard you singing along to every stupid song in Lion King."

"Yes, but Lion King is a classic."

"And Swan Lake predates the birth of Walt Disney, so maybe some culture will be good for you."

Bella just sat and watched the exchange between the two men in silence. It was honestly a lot like her own relationship with Rose: one who went kicking and screaming into culture, and the other who dragged them there.

"But maybe it won't be so bad if there's some hot girl-on-girl action," Jasper went on. Bella dropped her facade of not paying attention to give Jasper a scything look around Edward."

"That was a very loose and very crappy adaptation of the ballet, Jazz," Edward said. "And, quite frankly, I'm certain that it only got the notoriety that it did based solely upon those scenes. Don't you agree, Bella?"

"What? Don't drag me into this; I don't even know what you're talking about," Bella said quickly.

"Black Swan?" Edward said. Bella continue to give him a blank look. "The movie tries to convince us that it's some 'modern' and 'new' adaptation where they get the lady to play both Odette and Odile at the same time."

"Um, did they even watch the original play?" Bella asked with some confusion. She typed "Watch Black Swan" into her phone and sent it as a text to Rose without meaning to.

"I know right? But the story follows the ballerina who was cast to play the lead role, she slowly descends into madness," Edward said with a roll of his eyes. "And there's some weird masturbation scenes as well as the aforementioned girl-on-girl scenes. Of course, I believe that they only included it just to pander to those who get off on soft-core lesbian porn."

Bella's phone flashed with a new message. "Please tell me that that is your work telling you that you got me orchestra tickets?" Edward said with some annoyance.

Bella checked; it was from Rosalie, in response to the message that Bella had accidentally sent her, "Sorry, but I saw it when it came out. It was okay."

"No, it's just my friend," Bella explained as she put her phone into her bag just as the cab pulled up in front of the four-story book store.

"Is that what I think it is?" Edward asked as the driver said the amount that they owed him.

"If you think that it's a four-story book store, then yes," Bella agreed as she pulled out her wallet.

"No no, I got this," Edward said, and handed the driver a hundred dollar bill. "Keep the change."

"Thank you very much," the man said; it was a massive tip for the man. Bella slid out, and waited as Edward and Jasper got out.

"I thought that this might be of interest to you," Bella said with a slight smirk as they walked inside.

"No, this is really amazing; thank you," Edward said. "I think that we're finally starting to understand one another, and hopefully, this will be able to help you make some more recommendations for things to do while I'm here."

"Of course; I'm here to help you," Bella replied quickly. Her smile felt too strained, but Edward wasn't paying attention.

"Shall we meet back here in an hour, then?" Edward said almost absently as he looked around the first floor.

"Yes, of course," Bella agreed. She didn't really have anything to buy except to maybe look into that "Black Swan" movie, but she knew that if she followed Edward around at a distance, Jasper would notice and start to question her. And that was the last thing that she wanted. She stalked off towards the movie section while Edward and Jasper disappeared into the Shakespeare section.

After Bella had purchased a copy of Black Swan, she stuffed the DVD into her bag and went to find out where Edward and Jasper had gone off to. She checked the Shakespeare section, but they had left the area in the ten-plus minutes that Bella had spent in the movie area.

She wandered up and down the various isles in a rather listless manor. She tried to tell herself that she wasn't looking for Edward, not really. But if she just happened to run into him again…

She'd just walked up to the third floor when her phone rang; it was Edward. "Hey, where are you?" he asked.

"I'm on the front stair on the third floor," she replied.

"Wait, I see you; look up!" Edward exclaimed. Bella looked up at the overhanging balcony for the fourth floor and saw Edward and Jasper waving at her. She waved back and went to go join them.

"What's up?" she asked him.

"He waved his phone in front of her. "Got an invite to another party that sounds really neat. Please come with me again?" Edward said; he had a rather hopeful look in his eyes. Bella knew that she was going to accept, regardless of how she felt about going to another rave. But she also knew what her job was, not to mention the fact that she was curious to find out what the leggy blonde had given Ed last night. Was it drugs? She knew that he was a party boy, but in the four-some years that he'd been in the public spotlight, not once had the name of Edward Cullen ever come up in conjunction with illegal drugs. Not even a drunk driving charge, either.

The man was frequently spotted going into, at, and leaving clubs. But there was no supporting evidence of drinking, now that Bella thought of it. The guy might be seen with woman after woman, night after night, but he had never once been photographed with a beverage of any sort in his hand. Not even an unidentifiable cup.

Sure, she'd seen him with a cup the night before, but it had disappeared in much the same manor that hers had, and she hadn't actually seen him drink from it, either.

"Come on, please?" Edward pressed. She'd hesitated too long.

"Fine, but don't leave me again like you did last night," Bella insisted.

"I promise. It's super casual, so just jeans and a t-shirt. Closed-toed shoes are recommended," Edward explained. Bella just gave a slight bob of her head in understanding. "Was there something else that you wanted to show me today? Because I'd like to head back to the hotel now."

"It's not like you're going to be here for an entire month or anything," Bella said with a roll of her eyes. Edward gave a short laugh of agreement.

"I'll see you at nine, then."

Bella walked with them outside, put them into a cab, and then got into one herself, where she told the driver to take her to The Towers. When she got to the luxury hotel, she went inside and walked up to the front desk.

"I'm Mr. Cullen's tour guide of the city, and I have something to deliver to him," she said to the lady who was working at the desk. "Will you call up to his room to make sure that he's in right now?"

"Yes, of course," the lady agreed quickly as she picked up the phone. "Mr. Cullen? Yes, there's a… wait, where did she go?"

Bella, having already confirmed that Edward and Jasper had indeed gone back to their hotel like they'd said they would, had gone back outside. She went across the street and ducked into an alley where she shucked both her cream blazer and navy blouse, which left her in a lacy, teal camisole. She then pulled a pair of jeans out from her bag, pulled them on under her skirt, which she proceeded to remove as soon as her jeans were on. She stuffed her suit into her bag before she exchanged her low navy pumps for some Converses.

Finished with her quick make-over, Bella left the alley for the cafe that was across the street from the hotel. She ordered a cup of coffee, bought a newspaper, and sat down in a seat by the large picture window; she shook out the paper and settled in to wait.

Stake-outs were a completely tedious part of being an assassin, but they sometimes had their upsides. Bella loathed having them more than anything, but she also knew that she'd gotten some exceptionally valuable information because of her patience. But, more often than not, she ended up wasting her time.

Today, Bella was in luck. Edward, with the same cap and glasses that he'd been wearing earlier, came out from the hotel with Jasper about an hour later. He hailed a cab, they got in, and the cab took off.

Bella had already memorized the cab number, so she pulled out her phone and dialed the New York Taxi Commission. "Yes, hi, I was in a a cab earlier and I left my wallet in it. I'm so stupid," Bella said after she managed to get through to a real person.

"No worries, sweetie," the woman on the other end said. "It happens all the time. Do you remember the cab number?" Bella slowly repeated the number; less questions would be asked if she rattled it off like she went around and memorized the numbers of the cabs she rode in. "It… looks like that cab is currently in transit right now," the lady said after a brief pause.

"Just tell me when it stops somewhere, and I can go and get my wallet," Bella said.

"I can tell the driver to wait until you get there?"

"Um, yes, okay," Bella said. She waited about ten minutes on hold while the cab got to the final destination, and then the lady came back on the line and rattled off an address. That was all that she needed, so she hung up, went outside, and hailed a cab of her own.

The neighborhood that Edward had gone to was the same sort of seedy place as the rave had been the night before. Was he were for a party? But it was barely 5 PM; no decent party like that would ever start that early.

After she located the building, Bella pulled her hair into a baseball cap and went inside. It was a complete repeat of that morning: the club, after hours, only somebody had cleaned up all of the used condoms in preparation for people to drop more of them onto the floor tonight.

"Hey, we're closed," a male voice said from an office behind the bar.

"I'm just looking for some information," Bella said as she walked behind the bar in order to get into the office. The man came out, and holy cow, was he huge. Bella was quick to pull a hundred out from her pocket and handed it to the guy. "Edward Cullen."

"Yeah, he came in here," the man said as he stuffed the money into his back pocket. He said that he was looking for something, but he didn't tell me what, though. Paid me $500 just to look around the club. I watched from my office, because I don't trust nobody who does things like that. He looked under maybe half of the tables before he pulled something off from under one of them, and then he and his body guard left."

"Which table, do you know?"

"It was over in the corner," the man said as he pointed to the far corner.

"Do you mind if I take a look?" Bella asked. The man made a "come hither" motion with all of his fingers, palm up. Bella slapped another hundred into his hand.

"Help yourself."

Bella huffed with annoyance as she walked over to the tables. What in the world was Mr. Cullen involved in that had him removing gum from the bottom of tables in night clubs after hours?

After Bella looked under the fifth table, that's when she saw it. The faint remains of tape stuck under the table. Edward had come here to get something, but what? Why all of the secrecy? She ran her fingers over the remains of the tape, and tried to puzzle out what might have been there, but it was hard to say. Something small, judging by the indentations left over from the tape, and something that would have been rather flat, or else somebody else would have spotted it.

A baggie of drugs wouldn't be all that big, especially not if it was something small but in a high dosage. But again, why all of the secrecy? Why not just do the hand-off in some bathroom stall like everybody else did? Was it because he was considered a high-profile celebrity? But if somebody with a camera phone spotted Edward leaving the club at 5 in the afternoon, it would look even more suspicious if they saw him leaving the ladies bathroom at some club.

Now even more confused than before, Bella left the club and started to walk back to where she could hail a taxi. What in the world was Edward Cullen up to?