Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight. I am just using the names that she created for her wonderful story.

This story was pre-read and beta'd by the wonderful X-NessieCullen-X. Special thanks to you, my dear, for making this not so pretty story a little more shiny ;)

Chapter 7

Groceries, Prenatal Vitamins, and Mrs. Cullen

Bella was so into trying to plot out a good drop-off spot that it took her three tries and a frustrated sigh to click her seat belt into place. Not only did she look like a crazy person, Edward had reached over to buckle it for her just as she got it and they both ended up staring at each other awkwardly for a good many seconds. "You good?"

She nodded and, for some strange reason, she began to tear up. Leaning her head back into the just-soft-enough passenger seat, Bella closed her eyes, trying to once again find that happy haze. She smiled to herself, looking down at her old Converse shoes and plain jeans. For one night, she got to be normal. For one night, she got to pretend that she was just like any other girl her age, going for dinner and coming home to cuddle her boyfriend until sleep overcame them. For one morning, she got to wake up without fear, to come out and eat with the man she cared for and just...be happy. Like any other Cinderella story, the time had come to return to her own life.

"You can drop me off right up here," Bella said finally, pointing to the front of the 'book store'.

"You live here?" he asked, looking past her to the building as he pulled up in front of it.

"No. I think I'll hang out here during the day..."

"What about all of this food?" Edward asked, nodding towards the take-out containers left from the night before. He insisted that she take it with her. Hers was the only apartment building on the street; it was actually the only residence at all.

"I'll just take it up to my apartment and then come back over to the bookstore. Thanks for everything, Edward. You have no idea how much it meant to me."

"I can help you carry them. How much farther do you live from here?" he asked her, his head was facing the exact building she lived in.

"I live here."

"At this book store?"

"No," she said quietly, wishing that she had a nice high rise to live in like he did.

Edward's face showed a little bit of shock as his eyes got wide and he looked towards the apartment. Ever the gentleman, he wrangled in his frown and put on a fake smile. "Okay. Well...still...let me help you carry this stuff."

"It's not far. I'll be fine. Really." Please believe me. Please believe me. Please believe me. Edward didn't listen to her. Instead, he got out and started pulling cartons and boxes into his arms. She jumped out then, looking at him over the top of the car. "You don't have to do this."

"I don't have to do anything. I'm offering my help and I'm going to help you."

He knows. He knows how bad it is. He can tell just by the outside of the pitiful building, with its cracked bricks and broken stairs, that I live like someone who has nothing. I really do have nothing; he wouldn't be wrong in believing that. With shaking hands, Bella followed him into the building, unable to look at his face as they began to descend the rickety, and mostly broken, wooden stairs. "Here," she said, stepping up to her door and pulling out her key. "I can take that. Thank you, really. You've done enough already."

"Let me see you inside. Maybe we can just hang out together..."

"Edward, please." She could tell by his tone, this almost desperate voice, that he was concerned for her. Mr. Overprotective wanted to make sure she was living in a safe place. That's what this was about.If she did live somewhere safe, she would find this endearing. She didn't though, and he was about to find out how bad it really was. Knowing this was one way to make him run, she swallowed the lump in her throat and managed to get the key into the lock, her hands shaking the entire time. At one point during this long, painful task, Edward had begun to rub small circles on her back. He was trying to calm her down.

Throwing the door open a little more harshly than was necessary, she stepped in and to the side so he could enter. "Fine," she relented. "If you want to see where I live, here it is."

It was clear by the look on his face that he had been expecting this, his face kept a serious, solemn look and he nodded. After a long, pregnant pause, he asked, "Bella, are you safe here?"

She couldn't focus on him, though. It was the open door that was driving her crazy. Almost pushing him aside, she stepped over and began locking her locks. She trembled a little uncontrollably and wrapped her arms around herself before turning back to him. "Yes."

"You aren't safe in any building that you have to lock your door with more locks than there are rooms."

"I'm as safe as I can be..."

"What if someone comes here? If someone breaks in?"

She shook her head, refusing to let him crush her feeling of safety. This was her bubble. This was where they couldn't touch her. She knew he was talking about robbers but if robbers could get to her, so could they. They would find her eventually but she had to believe she was safe here. "I'll run," she shrugged, answering his question.

"Run? Run where? If someone comes in here to rob you and has a gun...or..."

"If someone comes in here to rob me, I'll give them what I have."

I have to convince him that I'm okay here. Convince him, and I convince myself. Walking over to her drawer, she pulled it open and lifted the bottom up. Edward looked at her with a confused expression before taking the hint and walking over. He looked down and gasped, stepping back before taking a deep breath and looking back down again. "Bella, if you have this, why are you living here? Why live in such a bad neighborhood? Why are you keeping this much money here? It should be in a bank! Do you have any idea what people would do, what lengths they would go to break in here if they knew you had money like this?"

Ashamed again, Bella looked to the floor. "It can't be in a bank. I need it."

"What the hell could you possibly need this much money on hand for?" He wasn't trying to be mean but he was genuinely trying to figure out what was going on. She didn't know which was worse.

"If they come, I can take it and run."

"Bella, this is why robbers would come!"

"Edward, don't be ridiculous! No one would think that some girl living in a place like this would have money! No one is coming to rob me!" As soon as the words were out of her mouth she wanted to slap herself. Her tone clearly told him that she was afraid of something other than robbers.

"Bella." He spoke her name as if it were a statement. "What the hell is going on?"

"You should go. Please, just go."

"No. I am not leaving you unprotected with all of this money in a shit-for-security building. Please, just come with me to the bank and we can get this taken care of..." he said as he walked over to the refrigerator and opened the door to put the food containers in. His voice only trailed off for a minute as his arm stopped in the middle of reaching to set a take-out box in it.

Bella looked to the floor again, knowing why he was so shocked. There was nothing in there. Well, that wasn't true. There was a bottle of water that she just kept refilling with tap water, a stick of butter, some lunch meat, and some expired milk. Dry cereal, which was her normal breakfast, and a fourth of a loaf of bread, sat on top.

"Bella," he said quietly, as if trying to control himself, "this is not okay. If you have money, you need to take care of yourself. You need to buy groceries, you need find somewhere safer to live. Do your parents or any of your family realize what's going on?"

He thinks I belong in a loony bin. He thinks I'm fucked up. Oh God, now he knows just how fucked up I am. "What does it matter, Edward? I gave you one night. That's all you asked for. This is my life, this is who I am. Please just go."

"Why won't you tell me what's wrong? Tell me what you're so afraid of? Baby, let me help you. I can..."

"You can't fix anything, Edward. I'm ruined and in danger. If you stay, you become a target, too. Everyone I love becomes a target..."

"Of what?"

"I want you to leave. I don't want to be with you. I want you to leave!" Bella said, shaking her head and fighting sobs. The tears were pointless to try to stop but the sobs would have to wait until he left. "You wouldn't want me if you knew the truth. I don't want you to want me."

He looked hurt, torn, and still very confused. Shaking his own head, he finished unloading his arms into the refrigerator and walked over to the door. "I never meant to hurt you, please believe that. I'm scared for you. I only want to make sure you're safe."

"Why?" Bella asked, exasperated.

"I care about you," he said, just as exasperated. "You might be able to turn off whatever it is we have going on, only tapping back into it when you want to fuck, but I can't."

"You told me you could! You said that you could do that for me! That's all I ever needed from you...I still need that from you!"

"I can't. I thought I could but I can't. So, here it is. I'm putting it all out there. Either accept me as part of your life or I walk and I don't look back."

"You'll never accept me. You think you already do but you don't. You can't. It's best if you go."

"I'm going to figure this out, Bella. I'm going to help, whether or not you want it. Dammit, I'm going to figure this out," he tried, his threat to walk away obviously not working.

"No," Bella choked out, pleading desperately with him. "No. You can't. You have to walk away. You have to not look back. Never look back! Edward, please."

"Goodbye, Bells. I'm going to fix this..."

"Edward, Edward, listen to me. If you start down this path...I don't know that you can ever go back. If you do this...if you start this...then I leave. I'll leave this city and I won't come back. You'll never find me. I...I'll accept you. I'll even let you check up on me...and what we have doesn't have to stop...but you have to promise me you won't pursue this. Swear it!"

Edward looked like he wanted to cry, she'd never seen a man so afraid before. That's the only way she could describe him at the moment...afraid. That knowledge scared her. She watched as his waged a battle within himself; it was almost too private to watch. "You'll really run?"

Poker face, Bella. Poker. Face. "Yes."

He nodded, looking around the apartment as if he could burn it down with only his glare. "So this is about keeping us both 'safe' from whatever it is that's trying to hurt you? You'll be more than a fuck buddy just so I don't try to do a little research?"

She was surprised by how angry he sounded. This was not at all how she expected this to end. "I care about you too, Edward. Maybe it has meant more to me...it's always only ever been about protecting the both of us."

"I can handle myself."

"You don't know what you're up against."

"I'll back off from your past on one condition, Bella."

"Name it."

"You let me help you now. We'll go now, right fucking now, and get you groceries. We'll get the money put into the bank. We'll get a gun permit...I'll teach you how to use one..."

Bella thought for a long moment, knowing she couldn't give him all of that. There were no words to describe how badly she wanted to, though. "The groceries I can do," he automatically relaxed at those words, "the bank and the gun permit I can't. I can't have my name on anything."

"How are you renting this place then?"

"Arabella Claire is renting this apartment as far as the landlord is concerned. Look around, it's not like I needed documentation as long as I pay in cash on the first of every month."

"Does James not pay you an hourly wage?" Edward asked, becoming upset again.

"Of course but it's under the table. That was the only way I'd agree to work there. Edward, no one knows where I am. I don't have the right documents to change my identity. The bank can't run a risk check on me and there's no way I can get a permit for a gun."

"What if we made an agreement?"

"What kind of agreement?"

"Do you trust me?"

There was that word again—trust. You barely know him! She did trust him, though. Implicitly. "What do you have in mind?"

"We don't need a permit for you to shoot my gun. Let me at least teach you to defend yourself with one and we'll figure it out from there. As for the bank, I have an idea but I need to make a few phone calls. I have a friend who's a teller at a bank close to my dad's night club and the manager owes us a favor anyway. For now, we'll start with groceries."

"You're not paying for anything," Bella said stubbornly.

"No, I'm not. Get into that drawer of yours. Get out one hundred. We're going to do this right."

"Should I take all the money? Are we going to the bank?"

"No. Leave it. We'll move it later, when we have the gun."

"Edward, guns terrify me."

"Guns aren't what make me people bad. Bad people make guns bad. I need you to trust me to keep you safe. Grab the money. We have some shopping to do."

The grocery store was rather busy as it was a Friday afternoon. Moms and dads bustled by, dragging small, screaming children along behind them and their carts. The elderly couples were yelling to each other and Bella realized it was probably because their hearing was going. Teenagers wondered the aisles and stared longingly at the cigarette case. Then there were the ones that really worried her, the middle aged men who were nicely dressed from a day at work. Edward had grabbed a cart when they walked in and she stayed glued to his side, holding onto the cart like it was her saving grace.

"What do you like to eat?" Edward asked, turning down their first aisle.

"I don't like to cook."

"Okay, easy meals it is. Here, what about toaster pastries?"

Bella just continued along with him, saying 'yay' or 'nay' to each of his suggestions. It was almost disturbing to see him this way, so...domestic. She tried to picture Edward, who was now dressed in another of his trademark band shirts with a flannel shirt over it and a cigarette pack sticking up out of the front pocket, working in a board room somewhere or being the CEO of some multi-million dollar corporation. No way in hell.

When the cart was full with enough food to last her about a month, she really didn't eat much, they pushed the cart over to the pharmacy. After grabbing a pack of condoms from the hanging racks and receiving a raised eyebrow from Bella because of it, Edward surprised her again by asking for 'Alice Cullen's prescription' as they pulled up in front of the white counter. The woman went through the hanging plastic bags until she came to the right one and unhooked it, pulling the packet out to scan the bar code and stuff it into a white paper bag. When her eyes caught sight of the condoms, she narrowed her eyes at Edward but turned to smile at Bella. "Congratulations, Mrs. Cullen."

Bella didn't know what to say in response and as she stood there, speechless, she realized Edward was enjoying the situation with great amusement. "Um...thank you?" replied Bella after a long, long moment.

As soon as they were around the corner, which lead to the final stretch up to the checkout counters, Bella put her arm out, grabbing and stopping the cart. "What the hell was that?"

"Prenatal vitamins," Edward shrugged. "These suckers will last until after the baby is born. The pharmacist will never be in the know. Relax."

"You pick up your little sister's prenatal vitamins?"

"Yeah," Edward shrugged. "I mean, usually mom will pick up the prescriptions...or Alice herself...but I know Alice said about needing to stop so I sent her a text when I knew we were coming here. Obviously that particular pharmacist either never met Alice or doesn't remember her."

"Why are you so amused about this?"

Edward just chuckled, "She thinks I'm having an affair and that you, the Mrs., is okay with it. Why else would a man need condoms when his wife is taking prenatal vitamins? It's not like he can knock her up..."

Bella just shook her head. "Lane three's open. Move it, Mr. Cullen. If I'm spending money like this, I'd like to get the merchandise home before it thaws out."

"So, I think that's everything," Edward said a half hour later, sitting down on a hard kitchen chair pulled up to her card table.

"I'm never going to eat this much food."

"Nothing but the bread and maybe the milk will expire before two weeks. If you'd eat three meals a day, you'd realize how much food you go through in a couple weeks. Trust me."

After looking at his phone, he looked up at her. She was still standing by the refrigerator, as if it was going to detach itself from the wall and eat her. Standing up, he ran a hand through his hair; something Bella realized was a nervous habit for him. "I have to head down to Twilight Moon. Em's expecting me."

A tightening formed in Bella's heart, slamming her with the realization that she didn't want him to leave. This was too much. Him leaving was exactly what she needed, she couldn't risk getting this attached. "Thanks for everything today...and last night...and these past couple of weeks," Bella shook her head, realizing how pathetic she really was.

Placing his hand on her jaw, he brought her face up and kissed her gently. "Thank you, Bella."

"What do you have to thank me for?" she whispered.

"Last night. Today. All of it."

She realized she was having trouble breathing, wanting nothing more than to lean in and kiss him again. He felt so good... "You should go. Emmett's waiting, right?"

"Yeah. I don't like leaving you here..." he commented, dragging a hand through his hair again. Then with sagging shoulders he said, "I'll see you later. Oh, let me get you my number. Where's your phone?"

"Um, there..."

Edward's face twisted in confusion again. "It's not even cordless," he commented as he saw what she was pointing at. "You don't have a cell phone?"

"No."

Shaking his head, he went to say something but stopped himself. It was obvious that he didn't have time to fight with her about it. "Alright, here," he said, grabbing the receipt from the grocery store and jotting down a number. Despite his annoyance, he did look rather amused as he handed her the paper. "Call me on your dinosaur of a phone if you need me."

After watching him leave, Bella went over and relocked all the locks it had taken him almost a whole minute to unlock. Seeing someone else in her bubble, struggling with her way of life, made her realize that all of those locks were a little crazy. It was especially crazy if you took the condition of her windows into consideration. If a bird flew into one, it'd probably just fall out of the wall. Seeing that it wasn't that late, she had almost four hours until she had to be at work, Bella pulled her bed down and crawled in. She needed to think.

How the hell she went from friends with benefits without the friends part to cuddling in bed with him, agreeing to let him help her, and even going as far as using the term 'boyfriend' in her thoughts concerned her. There was no way she considered him her boyfriend, that was ridiculous. He was just a friend, that's all he could possibly want with her. Yeah, because Jacob is just a friend and you kiss him before he leaves as well. It was a point well made; you didn't do these things with people given the title 'just friends'. Okay, so we are the traditional friends with benefits now. Realizing she had a headache, she pulled her pillow over her head and closed her eyes tightly.

What it came down to was trust and she was unsure of just how far that security blanket stretched. Did she trust that he was genuine in wanting to help her? Yes. Did she have any idea as to why? No. Did she trust that he would never intentionally hurt her, despite her misunderstanding of it? Yes. The problem wasn't her getting hurt. She had been hurt before, in ways some people may not have lived through, but she refused to let him get caught up in her past. His safety was her biggest concern now and she hated herself for it.

Her guard was down, she was making stupid mistakes, and now she was risking throwing away everything she had worked towards that ensured her safety by bargaining for his. The worst part was what she didn't trust him with. Did she trust that he would let her past go and not look into her life? No. She just prayed that if he tried, she'd have the courage to hold up her end of the deal and walk away forever. Unable to open her eyes and face the sun, she stayed under her pillow and drifted off to sleep. There would be no nightmares waiting for her today, it was as if Edward's presence still lingered near her.

Thank you all so much for reading! I hope you continue to enjoy it :) Review and I'll send you a little something back ;) Love, Letzigprincess xx