A/N: So many questions…so much speculation…

Read on, my lovelies, read on…

All characters belong to S. Meyer. I'm just putting them through a semi-typical family holiday…

Michelle Renker Rhodes, as usual, worked her Christmas magic here.

Chapter 6 – On the Sixth Day…

The next morning I awoke to winter sunlight streaming in through closed blinds, to light blue curtains muting harsh rays; to an opaque glow bathing the room in warmth.

I woke up to Bella.

To doe eyes gazing at me through long lashes, body lying sideways, head resting on pillow.

"Exactly what color would you say your hair is?" she whispered softly.

I drew in a deep breath and exhaled, grinning and digging my hands under my pillow, the way she had hers. "My driver's license says light brown."

Her eyes moved up to my hair, absorbing each and every strand; scanning carefully.

"I'd call it more of a…bronze."

"I don't think 'bronze' is an option on driver's license applications."

She chuckled, eyeing my hair speculatively. Her hand twitched under her pillow and for a second it looked as if it might actually come out, but the twitching stopped; the hand stilled.

"No, I don't think I recall bronze being an option."

Her eyes trailed down slowly, meeting mine. The circles that had been rimming them appeared fainter this morning.

"I have my father's hair, like you have yours," I murmured.

She nodded. The hand twitched again. "Where did the green eyes come from?"

"That would be my mom, and her mom."

She nodded once more. "Does your brother have bronze hair and green eyes too?"

I shook my head, grinning wider at her curiosity about such simple facts. "Emmett has dark brown hair, like our mom, and blue eyes, like our dad."

Once again, she nodded slowly. "Opposites."

"I suppose in some things." I shrugged, enjoying our mundane conversation, as if the real world weren't waiting just outside this soft yellow room. "But in lots of things, we're very much alike."

She smiled. "Like what?"

"Like, we both love sports, though Em prefers basketball and I prefer hockey."

"I hate hockey," she smirked.

I chuckled, burying my head into my pillow for three seconds. It smelled sweet and pure, like her.

"That's okay." I gazed at her thoughtfully while at the same time searching my memory for more facts for her. "We're both tall, though Em's a couple of inches taller." I reached up and tapped my chin. "And we both have this cleft, though his is more pronounced."

Her eyes moved down to the cleft, hand twitching away.

"He's got a bit of a sick since of humor," I said, making Bella laugh, "but he's a cool guy. He's built differently, a lot more brawny than I am."

"I think you're…" – she swallowed – "built just fine."

I grinned while her cheeks reddened. "Thank you."

"Sure," she smirked again. "Anyway, green eyes are rare, you know. In a couple with both blue and green eyes, their child will almost always be blue-eyed."

I nodded at that bit of information. "And in a couple with brown and green eyes?"

She gazed at me, blinking slowly. "Probably brown."

My face split in two. I reached out with one hand and gently ghosted two fingers across her eyes, first one, then the other; back and forth. Her eyes slowly fluttered, long eyelashes dancing.

"I love your brown eyes."

She smiled, eyes closed. "Brown is the most common eye color in the world."

"Not yours," I murmured with a shake of the head. "Yours are different. Open them."

Gradually, she opened her eyes back up and let me search them; open and trusting,

"Your eyes are speckled with green…and yellow…and even gold…and they're…so warm. The shade changes depending on what you're feeling."

She held my gaze quietly.

"Did you sleep well?" I asked.

A deep sigh.

A small smile.

"Yes. I did."

"I did too."

My fingers made the circuit across her smooth face, across her jaw line, around her eyes once more, down her cheeks, over her lips…she closed her eyes again…

"Edward…" she breathed, "what are we going to do?"

"Bella, I can't pretend this doesn't exist."

I waited, chest heaving while her eyes remained closed, while she held my heart in her hands.

She drew in a deep breath and exhaled, sweetness and warmth washing over me, and opened her eyes.

"I can't pretend either."

I let out a long gust of air.

"But I can't hurt my sister, or my family, Edward. Not right now. I can't allow myself to touch you…the way I want to touch you, the way I know you want me to touch you…" She dropped her gaze. "I don't know how to handle this."

My heart clenched at her words, but fuck, of course I understood. It was why, in a few short days, she'd become everything; because she cared so damned much – about trees, about her family, about dogs, about chemicals in plastic bottles. And despite how Rose treated her, she would never, ever deceive her; not this way.

I reached up and pulled out the hand she'd buried under her pillow to keep it from wandering, lacing our fingers together and bringing our hands between us. I could see her breathing sped up; almost feel her heart racing against her chest. Slowly, with her eyes on mine, I brought our hands up to my lips and kissed her hand.

"Does this feel wrong?"

She shook her head.

"To me neither. It's not wrong, Bella. It's just going to take a little work to make everyone understand. But Bella, we can handle this any way you want. If you want to tell Rose and your family now, we'll do it now. If you want to wait a few months, until your mom is better, until Rose has had enough time to realize that she and I would've never worked out despite you and me, then we'll do it that way. Either way, she and I are over, Bella. I'm going to end things with her as soon as we're back in New York."

For a long while, Bella searched my eyes, holding me locked in her gaze. When her fingers reached out and softly circled my lips, I kissed them gently too.

"I want to wait," she whispered. "I need to wait."

I tried to suppress my disappointment, to hide the way my heart sank because what I wanted, what I needed was to crush her against me, to feel her lips on mine, to feel her warm body bare and in my arms.

But I'd wait. For her, I'd wait as long as it took to do this right.

I nodded, kissing the tips of her fingers once more. "So what do we do now?"

"Now," she sighed, "we get up and go to the hospital. We go on. And when the holidays are over, I go back to my life, and you go back to yours."

"Can I see you? Can I at least talk to you?"

Her brown eyes held me intently. "In a few months, if you still feel the same-"

I wrapped both of my hands around hers and gripped tightly. "Listen to me. I will always feel the same."

She smiled. "When my mom's better then, we'll talk to Rose. I'll come down to New York, and then you can come back home with me - if you want," she qualified carefully, "and we'll tell my family."

"Of course I'll come back with you," I said roughly. "Do you really think I'd let you do this alone? Bella, I'll go along with this, but please, tell me we can at least talk during these next few months. Tell me I can at least hear your voice."

She bit her lip, gazing at me. "I'd like that."

And God, I wanted to kiss her right then. I wanted to take that bottom lip that always pouted when she was deep in thought and finally taste it, finally feel its softness, bury my tongue in her mouth and savor her warmth. And the way she looked at me, the way her eyes kept dropping to my mouth before finding my eyes again, I knew she wanted it too.

But she'd never forgive herself if we gave in right now, and I'd never forgive myself for that.

OOOOOOOOOO

I left Bella in her room so that she could shower and change, and went to Rose's room to take my own shower. Yes, we'd agreed to wait, and yes, I understood why it was necessary, but I couldn't help fantasizing about the day when I'd finally be able to truly call her mine, truly make her mine in every way…and that got me thinking about how we were alone in this house right now, how she was in the shower, naked and warm, how easy it would be to go back to her room…

I dropped my head and leaned up against the shower wall, groaning quietly.

I'd promised to do things right; I needed to do things right by her so that someday when we looked back on this, we could say that despite the messed up situation, we'd handled things the best we could. Bella deserved that.

And no matter what, so did Rose.

OOOOOOOOOO

After grabbing a backpack I found in her room and filing it with a set of clothing for Rosalie and the toiletries bag I found in the bathroom, I headed downstairs.

Bella was on the phone in the kitchen, standing over the stove and apparently making eggs.

"Alright then, meet you there in about an hour. Give the girlies a kiss from me. See ya."

She looked up at me and grinned, that sweet, carefree grin that had become so damn familiar to me in a few short days.

"That was Jasper. He and Alice and the girls'll meet us at the hospital."

I nodded. "You want help, here?" I jerked my head toward the stove.

"I've got the eggs. Make toast?"

I smirked. "You and your mom keep giving me the easy jobs."

She snickered, turning back to move the eggs around before they stuck to the pan.

"That's because Jasper and my dad can barely find the kitchen and my mom finds it hard to believe that you actually enjoy being in one."

I walked up behind her, only meaning to peek down at what she was preparing, but she smelled so damned good, and her creamy neck looked so soft and tempting that I leaned into her and then had to fight the overwhelming urge to put my mouth on her, to wrap my arms around her waist and pull her back and against me.

"Someday, Bella," I whispered in her ear, "we're going to recreate this scene. You'll cook for me and I'll cook for you, but not in this kitchen. It'll be in a kitchen that you picked out, that you designed. And we won't have to deny ourselves anything…"

Her arm froze over the pan, body vibrating right under me, heat seeping between us. For what felt like ages I stared at her creamy neck, wanting to lower my mouth to it so badly my entire body ached with need.

But I pulled back. Her shoulders rose and fell. And then slowly, her scrambling resumed.

"I'll make toast," I murmured.

"Yes. Toast," she agreed shakily.

OOOOOOOOOO

We ate breakfast, talking and laughing and joking. No, things weren't completely resolved yet, but there was light at the end of the tunnel; we could envision a time when our interactions wouldn't have to be hidden or limited, when we could truly show each other how we felt without holding back. There was an airiness; a light-heartedness that hadn't been there twenty-four hours ago.

When Romeo and Juliet finished their morning kibble they came and stood sentry around the counter, staring up at us through huge, sad eyes.

"Oh no, guys," Bella laughed. "Don't give me those puppy-dog eyes. I'm not falling for that today."

I grinned and watched as she rolled her eyes and tore off a piece of bread for each dog, and then first Juliet followed by Romeo came to claim their pieces.

"I fall for it every day," she laughed.

"How do they know which one goes first?"

"Easy," Bella shrugged, cutting off a couple more squares. "Romeo always looks out for Juliet. She's his girl, even if he can't actually verbalize it."

I grinned at Bella. She looked down at her plate and grinned at her eggs.

OOOOOOOOO

We climbed into the truck, on our way to the hospital. We'd taken Romeo and Juliet for a morning stroll after breakfast, and then I'd thrown Rosalie's bag in the back and Bella had thrown another one back there too.

"What's in the bag?" I asked as I started up the engine.

"Overnight stuff for me. I want to stay with my mom tonight."

I nodded.

When we arrived at the hospital, Jasper, Alice and the girls were just arriving. We walked to Renee's room together while Alice reminded the girls that they had to be quiet and calm because we were in a hospital.

"Is nanny going to be okay?" Charlotte asked in her four-year old little voice.

Bella picked her up, carrying her the rest of the way while Vicki gripped her other hand.

"Girls, nanny is going to be just fine," she assured them. "She's got a boo boo, but the doctors are going to make her all better. You'll see."

Charlotte grinned widely and wrapped her arms around Bella's neck while Vicki beamed up at her. I watched them with a grin while Jasper opened the door for everyone. I held the door for Alice, who'd been trailing behind. She watched me softly, murmuring a slow "thanks, Edward," before walking through.

OOOOOOOOOO

We spent a pretty pleasant morning visiting with Renee. She was in even better spirits than she'd been last evening now that they'd adjusted the chemo. Her appetite had even returned. Charlie joked about how he'd had to run to the cafeteria twice already for her, even though she'd inhaled her entire breakfast this morning.

"Hospital food doesn't count," Renee complained jokingly. "It's nothing but seasoned cardboard."

Charlie smirked, but the way his dark eyes took his wife in made his relief obvious.

"That's great, mom," Bella breathed happily.

As for me, I was glad Renee was feeling better, but it was Bella's huge and genuine smiles that cheered me, that reminded me that this moment here, with Renee in the hospital and with Bella and I pretending there were no feelings between us, wouldn't last. We'd get through this mess. Renee would get better. We'd tell everyone. There might be hard feelings and confusion at first, but there was a lot of love in this room despite the hardships. We'd all come out of it okay.

I kept telling myself that.

OOOOOOOOOO

In the afternoon, we all went to the cafeteria for lunch. Well, all except Charlie. He asked us to bring him something back, and honestly I understood him. The family was fun; Jasper and his jokes, Alice added to everything Jasper said, the girls were pure sweetness. Rose tended to Renee's comfort while Bella smoothed her hair out of her eyes, told her funny stories. I ran any necessary errands; went to find a nurse when needed because Jasper joked they'd come for me quicker than for anyone else, I figured out how to work the TV for Renee, brought back snacks and drinks. And all the while, Rose and I circled around each other like two people who no longer knew how to be in each other's company.

When evening came, Bella quietly approached Rose, who was watering the flowers we'd all brought Renee at some point or another during the past couple of days.

"Rose," I heard her say gently while I pretended to listen to what Jasper was saying, "I'm going to stay with mom tonight, so that you can go home and rest."

Rose kept watering the flowers, not sparing Bella a glance. "That's fine. But if mom has to stay again tomorrow night, I'm staying with her. I've got to fly back to New York to take care of some things after the holidays, but I've already warned them I'm going to be taking some time off at the end of the month. In the meantime, I want to spend as much time with mom as possible. You live a lot closer and get to see her more often."

"Alright, Rose," Bella conceded. "I don't have to be back in school until the second week of January, so you just let me know what works best for you, okay?"

Rose nodded, refusing to look up even after Bella walked away.

My hands fisted at my sides.

OOOOOOOOO

That night, it was Rose and I alone in Bella's pick-up. The silence was uncomfortable, but in a completely different way than the silence during me and Bella's drive home yesterday.

Bella had asked me to feed Romeo and Juliet when we got home, and to let them out into the back yard. She said they'd find their way back home when they were ready. So I fed the dogs, but then decided to take them for a walk instead of just letting them out.

I walked into the family room, where Rose was making a few phone calls back to New York, and caught her in between calls.

"Rose, I'm going to take the dogs out."

I drew in a deep breath and sighed, suddenly overwhelmed by guilt though I knew I'd had no other choice; my heart hadn't had a choice. Despite it all, Rose was Bella's sister and that would always be the case. I didn't want us to end up as enemies.

"You want to come along?"

She stopped dialing and looked up, staring at me as if she weren't sure who I was anymore.

"Thanks, but I've got a couple of more calls to make, and then I'm heading up for a shower."

"Alright," I nodded and walked back into the kitchen.

OOOOOOOOOO

I stayed up and watched TV for a while, and then gauging that enough time had passed and Rose should've been off to slumber land, I made my way upstairs. My eyes glanced longingly at the closed door to Bella's bedroom, at the room where I'd enjoyed my best night of sleep in a while. But for Bella's sake, I had to keep walking. I had to-

Rose was sitting up on the edge of the bed, wearing a red silk robe that barely reached her thighs, only loosely tied in the front.

She grinned; a slow, seductive grin I recognized. "I was getting ready to come down and get you."

I stood by the door; hand still on the knob, cursing my life.

"Are you coming in or what?" she breathed huskily.

"Rose…"

"Yes?"

An image of she and I just a week ago - back in her apartment while she moaned under me - invaded my mind.

But then another image pushed that one quickly away. Soft, doe eyes; an impish grin, a warm touch, the promise of so much more.

"Rose," I exhaled heavily, "we've barely said two sentences to each other in the past few days."

"We can talk afterwards," she simpered, getting up and walking slowly towards me. Her robe shifted, breasts popping through. I swallowed and kept my eyes firmly on hers. "We can talk when we're back in New York, like you said the other night."

I shook my head, gripping tightly to the knob still in my hand. "What's the point in waiting, Rose, when we both know this isn't working?"

She kept walking, and for a second I thought I was going to have to run out the door like a scared little girl again, but then abruptly she paused in her steps, cocking her head to the side and studying me the way she had earlier.

She snorted and dropped her head. "God, I don't even know where it went wrong. We were fine when we got here just a few days ago."

"Were we? Were we really?" I waited for her to look up. "What have we really had these past few months, Rose, other than good companionship and good sex?"

"Isn't that enough?" she smirked, but despite everything, I could tell that she got it.

She drew in a deep breath and sighed, and out of my periphery I saw her adjust her robe and tie it properly. She turned and walked away towards the dresser.

"I always knew you'd want more someday, Edward. And honestly, I hoped that when that day came, I'd be ready to give it to you. But these past few days, since I found out about my mom, I've realized how short and…unexpected life can really be. I don't want to force myself into something I'm not ready for."

"You shouldn't." I swallowed thickly and let go of the doorknob, taking a hesitant step into the room.

No, I wouldn't tell her about Bella and I just yet, because Bella wanted to wait until Renee was better. But I'd lay down the foundation. I had an opportunity now to let Rose know that she and I would have never worked out in the long run, whether her sister had come into the picture or not. Because that was something that Rose had to accept when the day came to tell her about Bella and me.

"Rose, what I want is someone who knows me and understands me as well as I do her, someone who'll never feel like she had to reorganize her life and priorities around mine. I don't even know if New York is where I belong," I said, throwing my hands up, "and I know how much you love the city…"

She snorted and then was silent for a long while before turning around and meeting my gaze.

"You're a good guy, Edward. I wish I could tell you to wait until I'm ready, until I'm sure about what I want..."

She trailed off; watching me, waiting; for what, I wasn't entirely sure, but I held her gaze steadily.

She sighed and ran a hand through her long hair. "You don't have to hang around, you know."

"I know I don't have to, but your family's become important to me."

No matter what, that was the truth.

"I'm…going to sleep on the couch for the next few nights."

She cocked her head sideways, shaking it. "You don't have to do that either, Edward. We're two grown, consenting adults. I think we can handle this without letting it get confusing."

I shook my head. "No, Rose. Good night. I'll see you in the morning, alright?"

She stared at me. "Good night, Edward."

And then I turned around and closed the door behind me, exhaling through narrowed lips because I was a free man now.

Free for her.

A/N: Thoughts?

Twitter: PattyRosa817

See you tomorrow…