Chapter 7

The next morning I hesitantly make my way downstairs to the kitchen, curious as to how I will find Bella. Surprisingly, I don't see her anywhere, nor any sign that she was up before me. Making a snap decision, I check that her truck is still in the driveway before I write a quick note, throw on some shoes, and grab my keys.

Twenty minutes later, with my hands full I enter the kitchen to find Bella standing at the island reading my note. Her head swings in my direction when she hears the door, eyeing my hands.

"I thought that I would take care a breakfast for once," I explain lifting the tray of drinks and box of food in my hands. "Since I didn't feel like poisoning anyone this morning, I went to the bakery down the road," I explain further setting down my purchases on the counter next to her.

"That's thoughtful of you," she replies cheekily.

I laugh lightly, "I didn't know if you liked any drinks besides coffee, so I got a black coffee, cappuccino, hot chocolate, and tea. Take your pick," I say motioning to each of the drinks respectively.

"Thank you," she says choosing the hot chocolate. "For future reference, I like all of those. If I just want something warm I go for hot chocolate, but if it's caffeine I'm after then it's coffee all the way. Unless of course I feel like splurging then I'll go for the cappuccino or perhaps an espresso. And tea is good as long as I have sweetener," she embellishes.

"Duly noted," I say taping my temple. "As far as food goes, I just picked up a few baked goods. There's croissants, muffins, scones, donuts, and bagels," I follow by pointing out each item in the bakery box.

"Wow you sure went all out," she chuckles.

I shrug my shoulders, "like I said, I didn't know what you like so I just got a little of everything. And if we don't think we'll eat all of it in the next couple days, we can always donate it to the Emmett fund."

"Touché my friend," she smiles.

Choosing a butterscotch scone and the cappuccino, I select a seat at the counter and sit down. Bella grabs a croissant and takes the seat next to me, sipping her drink.

"So what are your plans for the day Ms. Bella," I ask.

"Well I should probably finish up some of my homework and then probably just reading a little bit. What about you Mr. Edward," she asks raising an eyebrow.

With half my mouth lifting into a smile I say, "probably the same. Except perhaps I'll throw a movie in there to mix it up."

After finishing up our breakfast, we walk into the living room and I motion for Bella to sit on the couch next to me. I place my left arm against the back of the couch with my cheek resting in my palm I say, "So Bella, I feel bad, you've been working for me for quite some time now and I don't know that much about you. Where did you grow up?"

"Um," she says sitting on the opposite end with her arms wrapped around her legs facing me. "I grew up in a small town called Forks. My dad is the police chief there and my mother is a teacher. I am an only child. What about you?"

"I grew up in Seattle here. My dad's a doctor and my mom is an interior decorator. And you've met my siblings. Emmett is two years older than Alice and I. We're twins if you didn't know that. We used to be pretty close, but," I shrug, "you know how that goes."

"I wish I had siblings. Even if you aren't as close as you used to be, I can still tell how much they love you. I don't mean to put you on the spot or anything, but I think they miss you. I mean just from what I caught Emmett saying last night when he came earlier, I think he wants to spend more time with you."

Running my hand through my hair nervously I confess, "I know, they've mentioned it to me before. But I just don't know how, if that makes any sense. I'm not the same person I was when we were younger. I don't even remember when it started exactly, but I just started separating myself from people. Now I barely even know how to act around my own family. I mean you saw me last night, I couldn't even tell that the waitress was trying to hit on me until you all pointed it out to me."

"Hey," she soothes, scooting closer and rubbing my leg comfortingly. "Don't even worry about that girl last night, that was nothing. And as for the others, they're your family; I know they understand. That's why Alice suggested that I help you scare off the waitress, she knew you were uncomfortable," she says while moving the hair that fell into my eyes.

Looking at her sadly from under my lashes I chuckle humorlessly, "here I wanted to get to know you more, and instead we discuss my social dysfunction. Great."

She gives me a sad smile, "there's plenty of time to get to know me; I'm not going anywhere. School will be done in a couple more weeks, and we'll have all the time in the world."

"Speaking of," I say standing slowly, "I should go do my homework."

She looks up at me and follows, "you're right, I have to do mine as well. If you decide to take a break and watch that movie, let me know and I'll watch it with you."

"Will do," and with that I hide away in my office to brood over our conversation while attempting to complete my homework.

A few hours later a knock at the door brings me out of my stupor. Bella pokes her head around the side of the door and looks over me appraisingly, "have you eaten," she asks.

I shake my head in the negative, "no," I reply.

Bella huffs a little before saying, "I'll make you something to eat, come down in ten minutes," and closes the door behind her before I can reply.

Too distracted to complete anymore of my homework, I follow Bella to the kitchen a few minutes later, feeling like a chastised child. I find her fishing around in the fridge looking for something to make. "I can make myself something to eat," I mumble, causing her to jump.

Looking at me over her shoulder she says, "If I left that up to you, you wouldn't eat at all. Or you would heat up something frozen or give yourself food poisoning."

Huffing exasperatedly I say, "I can take care of myself. I don't need you to do that for me."

Turing around fully, slamming the refrigerator door in the process, she yells at me, "are you firing me now? Cause that is what you're paying me for, is it not?"

Starting at her with wide eyes and open mouth I stutter, "No I'm not firing you," my feelings of annoyance disappearing immediately. "That's not what I meant. I just feel bad that you are always looking after me. It makes me feel like a child sometimes." Feeling tired all of a sudden, I slump down on a chair at the island. Resting my elbows on the counter I run my hands through my hair, eventually cradling my face in them.

Speaking more to the counter now than Bella, I continue, "with Maria I never really felt this way about her helping me. I just figured it was because she was a mother and she didn't want to give that up so she always did those things for me. But with you, with you I just feel incompetent. I mean you do everything for me. You make my food, do my laundry, and clean my house. The only thing you don't do is pay my bills it seems."

I hear Bella moving towards me and feel a hand on shoulder turning me towards her while the other runs soothing through my hair. "I don't mind doing those things for you Edward," she says quietly. "Really, I don't. It may be part of my job description, but I actually enjoy being able to do those things for you. You brought me into your house without even knowing me. You're so trusting, especially after finding me in a strip club of all places. Not many people would do that. It really meant a lot to me. And because of all of that, I was able to reconnect with my two best friends.

"So thank you. Doing things for you is just my way of repaying you for that. I do most of those things for myself anyway, so doing it for you is not a problem. The only problem I have is you always saying I don't have to do things for you. If I didn't want to do those things, I wouldn't. Don't question me every time, okay?"

"Okay," I nod in agreement. " And I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for. I'm the one that should be apologizing; I didn't mean to yell at you. I just sort of snapped."

"I think we both did, so how about we just call it even," I suggest.

She smiles at me, "that sounds good to me. Now what would you like to eat?"

"A sandwich is fine, thanks."

After we eat our sandwiches, we decide to watch a movie. Bella surprises me picking out The Bourne Identity. "I love this movie," I comment when she sits down next to me.

"Me too, but I like the third one the best."

"Agreed."

Half way through the movie, I hear a quiet snore coming from next to me. I look over at Bella and find her curled up in a ball at the other end of the sofa. Turning off the movie, I gently move Bella into a more comfortable position on the couch before covering her with a blanket.

As I turn around to head upstairs, a soft, "Edward," comes from behind me. Surprised, I turn back to Bella and notice she's still sound asleep. Confused, I crouch back down in front of her to see if she'll say anything else. After several minutes of silence, I softly stroke her porcelain features from her temple to the tip of her chin, "beautiful," I whisper. Snapping out of my trance, I realize how creepy it is that I'm watching my housekeeper sleep, and quickly go retrieve a book from the library. Instead of being cooped up in here like normal, I decide to take my book back to the living room and sit in the window seat.

An hour later, stirring on the couch brings my attention away from the book in my hands. "Have a nice nap," I ask, causing her to jump in surprise.

"Oh, you scared me. You usually never read in here," she observes. "But yes, I slept well. Thanks for the blanket," she motions to her lap.

I smile, "you're welcome. I didn't want you to get cold."

"So why are you reading in here," she presses.

I shrug, "I didn't feel like sitting in the library, I thought a change of scenery was in order."

Nodding her head she asks, "What time is it?"

"I think it's just after six. Do you want me to order something for dinner?"

"No, that's ok. I can make us something," she says heading towards the kitchen.

Losing interest in my book, I follow Bella to the kitchen and sit at the island watching her work. "You know, you could make yourself useful instead of just watching me," she mock scolds.

Giving her a sheepish grin I stand and wash my hands, "what can I do chef?"

She laughs, "You can stir that while I finish cutting up the vegetables for it," she says pointing to the fry pan on the stove.

"Yes ma'am," I salute. After several minutes of silence I say, "you should teach me how to cook, that way I won't kill anyone with my frightening cooking skills, or lack thereof," I add on.

"I guess I could do that," she agrees.

"I mean, you won't always be around, right," I ask rhetorically. "You'll get a boyfriend and move out eventually, I'll need to know how to fend for myself once you're gone. And I don't think I would be able to give up your delicious meals everyday," I say looking at her with my crooked grin, thinking about her amazing cooking skills.

I'm confused at the sudden look of pain crossing her features before she quickly controls her expression. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she says softly. Straining my ears I think I catch her mumble something along the lines of, "or you'll find a wife to cook for you," under her breath, but I couldn't be sure. "You can help me make dinner at night, and then we can eventually move on to breakfast after that," she says louder.

"Sounds perfect," I say turning back to the stove.

We finish making dinner, with Bella giving me a few cooking tips every now and then. We settle down to eat and I ask Bella how she learned to cook so well.

"Well, when your mother can't cook anything without burning it, you tend to pick it up. Unless of course you like eating that sort of thing," she says.

"If I did, I would cook more often," I smirk.

"Very true," she smiles. "It's a good thing your teacher is such an excellent cook."

"That she is," I emphasize by taking a big bite and moaning slightly. She rolls her eyes and laughs.

"So how did you meet Rosalie and Jacob?"

"Oh gosh, I've known Jake practically my whole life. My dad and his dad were friends. They always went fishing on the weekends and my dad would bring me every now and then. Jake went to school on the reservation in La Push so I didn't see him at school ever.

"That's when I met Rose and we became friends. Her and Jake didn't get along too well in the beginning, but once they realized that I wouldn't give either of them up, they started getting along. As the years went on, they had a mutual love for cars that brought them closer to each other. That's their thing now, and I'm always the one left out," she chuckles.

I smile at her carefree demeanor when she's speaking about her friends. I hope one day I can make her smile like that. After we're done eating, we clean up the kitchen together before returning to the living room. We watch the rest of the movie we were had on earlier before retiring to our rooms for the evening.

The next day after returning from class, Bella and I are eating lunch when I mention visitors coming over on Thursday. "I have a project for one my classes, so my group is coming over after class. I just wanted to let you know so that you're not surprised when other people are here. And I don't want you thinking that you have to make anything for us, I'm just going to order some pizza."

"Oh, okay. Thanks for letting me know. I'll make sure that I'm out of your way that day and that I do my work the day before so I don't disturb you guys."

"Don't worry about 'being in our way,' we'll manage just fine. You don't have to hide yourself in your room or anything." Running my hand up the back of my neck I say, "I was just thinking, how would you like to invite your friends over tomorrow night and I'll have my family come over and we can all hang out. I think that everyone would get along nicely, don't you?"

She laughs, "Yes, I think that they would. Jake and Emmett would have a blast and Rose and Alice could discuss shopping for hours. I'll call them up tonight and ask them."

"Man, my family will think something's wrong with me. I never use my phone ever, and now I'll be using it twice in one weekend. On top of that I'm making plans for us to hang out again."

She gives me a huge smile, "I think that's progress Edward. I'm sure they'll be very happy to hear from you again, even if you did just see them a couple days ago. Are we going to make dinner for everyone or are we going to order in?"

"Oh, I guess we can make something. That way I can show them some of my new cooking skills. I'm sure there will be vast improvement in the past two days," I laugh at myself.

"You'd be surprised," she winks at me.

That night after Bella and I made dinner, I call Emmett and Alice to make arrangements for tomorrow evening. To say they were shocked to hear from me again so soon would be an understatement.

Tuesday after classes, Bella and I went grocery shopping to get ingredients for dinner. As much as I hate shopping, going with Bella is a treat. She knows exactly what she needs and makes the whole process as painless and quick as possible, if only Alice would pick up some tips from her.

Walking into the kitchen, we drop the vast amount of bags haphazardly on the floor and counter. I start putting away extra ingredients and supplies while Bella starts prepping for dinner. I plug my iPod into the stereo and fill the room with Bon Iver, David Gray, and the like.

"I never thought this would be your type of music," Bella comments.

I shrug my shoulders, "I have a wide range of musical likes; I am just in a mellow, alternative genre mood I suppose. I can crank up Muse if you'd rather," I offer.

"No, no, it's fine. I love Skinny Love. I just never pictured you listening to it."

"And what pry tell did you peg me for?"

"Um… Mozart," she says questioningly as she cleans the vegetables.

I chuckle, "I do love the classics, don't get me wrong. But just because I play the piano doesn't mean that's all I listen to. My rock and alternative genres outweigh the classical by far. And what do you listen to?"

"Anything except country and heavy metal I suppose. Lately I have been listening to a lot of Kings of Leon and The Script."

"Good choices," I comment. "Now what would you like me to do?"

After a couple hours of chopping, stirring, slicing, sautéing, etc, Bella and I take turns getting ready for our friends to arrive. At six o'clock, the doorbell rings signifying the start of the circus act I'm going to be attempting to keep under control.

As I start making my way to the door I hear Bella call out, "I'll get it," followed by the door opening and voices coming towards the kitchen.

"Hi Edward," Alice sings, embracing me in a hug.

"Alice, Jasper," I nod in his direction. "You used the doorbell," I state smiling.

She rolls her eyes, "Jasper insisted upon it tonight, saying something about it being proper."

"That's very considerate, thank you Jasper."

"Anytime," he chuckles. Stepping forward he offers me a bottle, "we brought wine."

"Thank you," I say finding a bottle opener, "this will go excellent with dinner."

As I start pouring glasses for us, Jacob and Rosalie wander in and I give the introductions. Just as we finish Emmett finally saunters in, "no need to worry, I'm here now. Eating can commence at any time."

I hear someone say, "Jesus," under their breath as Alice stage whispers to me, "Did Emmett just say 'commence?'"

"Hm… I think he did. I wonder if it's the word of the day," I ponder out loud.

The group laughs as Emmett says, "shut up."

Bella finally introduces Jacob and Rosalie to Emmett, and I have never seen Em stumble over himself when he sees Rosalie for the first time.

"Um… nice to… meet… you," he gets out eventually.

She looks at his hand as if it will give her an STD if she touches it, but reluctantly accepts it, "pleasure," she says with disgust evident in her voice as she quickly drops his hand.

Bella and I usher everyone into the dinning room after getting everyone a drink and promptly serve dinner.

"This is fantastic Bella," Rosalie comments.

"Yeah Bells, you really outdid yourself tonight," Jacob agrees as my siblings offer the same sentiments.

"Actually, Edward helped with a lot of it. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have been able to make this all," she corrects them.

"Don't be ridiculous Bella, I hardly did anything."

"Now you're just being modest Edward, you helped a lot," she insists.

I blush slightly at her persistence. "You cooked," Alice asks shocked.

"A little, Bella has been giving me cooking lessons. We just started a couple days ago, so it's not much, but it's a start," I explain.

"I'll say," Emmett agrees. "If I would have known before I started eating, I don't know if would have tried any of it, and that's saying something."

"Oh stop it," Bella chides, "Edward isn't that bad. He's helped me a couple times before, and now he is even better."

"That's because you're an amazing cook," Jacob says. "It's been far too long since you've cooked for Rose and I, Bella. Thank God Mike's gone."

"No, thank Edward," she says smiling at me as she pats my leg under the table.

I stiffen momentarily at the contact, but quickly relax squeezing her hand with my own before releasing it. "Yes thank you Edward," Rosalie agrees. "You brought us our friend back."

After dinner, the girls retreat to the kitchen to clean up, as the guys get comfortable in the living room. "So Edward, twice in one week, what's the occasion," Jasper asks.

I run my hand through my hair nervously, "nothing, Bella and I just thought that everyone would get along really well so we decided to throw a dinner party," I shrug.

"So Jacob, who's better in bed, Bella or Rosalie," Emmett says wasting no time, earning a smack on the head from Jasper and a death glare from me.

Jacob laughs heartily, "I couldn't tell you Emmett; I've never had that type of relationship with either of them. But from hearing them talk, I'd say Rosalie is more adventurous."

I see Emmett's eyes glaze over slightly, and I finally speak up, "Emmett, don't go there. I don't want you scaring off Bella's friends already."

"Don't worry Edward, Rose can definitely handle herself when it comes to attention from the male population. I'd say go for it Emmett, I'd like see you get your balls handed to you on a silver platter."

Jasper and I chuckle as a look of determination crosses Emmett's features. "Here we go," Jasper says under his breath as the girls enter the room. Alice climbs on to Jasper's lap as Bella sits between Jacob and I on the couch, leaving Rosalie next to Emmett on the loveseat.

Emmett clears his throat, "So Rosalie, did it hurt?"

She looks over at him crossing her arms over her chest defiantly, "did what hurt?"

"When you fell from heaven-," he starts before Rosalie places her hand over his mouth, effectively shutting him up.

"I could ask you the same thing when my stiletto is shoved up your ass, shall we try it out," she asks sweetly.

He shakes his no, as we all laugh around him. We settle into comfortable conversation over two more bottles of wine. Around ten, everyone says their goodbyes making plans to meet up again soon. Bella had fallen asleep leaning on Jacob; when he left he carefully rested her on the couch. After closing the door behind Alice and Jasper, I make my way back over to Bella, trying to decide if I should leave her or wake her up.

I ultimately decide to pick her up and carry her to her room, not wanting to wake her. As I lay her down on her bed, she clutches my shirt in her hand mumbling my name in her sleep. I smile fondly at her and run my hand down the side of her face moving her hair from her eyes. I gently remove her hand from my shirt and walk to the door. Looking over my shoulder I whisper, "sweet dreams Bella," and close the door, retreating to my own room for the night.

A/N: Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I had a partial chapter for forever and then got writer's block. This chapter didn't really go how was planning it, so I'm sorry if I've disappointed you. I have been caught up writing my other story, and it's a lot harder to balance the two than I thought it would be. Please review, the more reviews I get the more incentive I will have to keep writing. Let me know what you think.