Sorry for the lack of chapters the last two weeks, I was in the process of getting ready to move. But now that I've arrived the chapters will be coming more often. Thanks as always to mizzdee for her beta work and for the roof over my head. Love you gal!

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 7

The rest of the weekend passed too fast for my liking. After our 'morning after', we spent all of our time with the kids, which meant that Edward and I really didn't get our chance to talk. He kept promising that it would happen, but with every hour that passed, I grew less sure.

We packed the kids up Sunday afternoon and with the kids awake and chattering in the back, we could hardly have our discussion then, so a ping on my phone saved me from an evening of wondering.

Lady, I'm taking you to dinner tonight…we have celebrating to do!

Laughing at Angela's text, I told her that I would be ready around six-thirty.

"Who's that?" Edward asked as he noticed the smile on my face.

"Angela, we're going out to dinner when we get back," I told him.

"I thought we were going to talk?"

"We can't do it with the kids awake, and she has some kind of news, so just get them to bed and we'll talk tonight," I said before going back to my phone.

The rest of the ride passed by quicker than it should have coming back from the Hamptons on a Sunday and once we had the kids and our bags back inside, I went to get ready for dinner with Angela.

After showering and getting ready, I came downstairs to have Edward waiting for me by the stairs. "I can't tell you not to talk to Angela about this, but her fiancé is my employee, and I'd rather he not know about us until we know what's happening."

"Fine," I said, walking out the door before he could say anything else.

Seeing as it was a nice evening, I decided to walk the mile across town to Saigon 48 where Angela wanted to eat. It took about twenty five minutes, but when I arrived Angela was already at a table.

"You look refreshed," Angela said as she stood up to hug me.

"It was a fun trip out there, I really love that house," I told her honestly, before turning the inquiry on her. "But that's not what we're here to discuss. You said we have celebrating to do, so what happened this weekend?"

"Okay," Angela said as we sat down, "I went for the interview at the company I had interned for, and it took them a few days to finish their interviews, but I got one of the positions. It's a great job with plenty of opportunities and between Ben's job working as one of the assistants under Edward and my job we can get ourselves a great apartment."

"That's amazing, now you just have to find a place-" I started but Angela cut me off.

"No, we already found it. We used a broker, because it would be insane trying to find a place without one, and Ben's dad said he would pay the broker fee to make sure we found a place and he found us what we wanted in Jamaica. It's a cute, modern little building and because it's in Queens instead of Manhattan we are paying $1900 for a two-bedroom."

"Wait, why are you getting a two bedroom?" I asked, now wondering if there was a completely different question I should be asking her.

"Relax, I'm not pregnant, but it is easier to have the extra space and use it for an office or a guest room than it is to try and get a two bedroom in that building if we find ourselves needing it. And the difference in rent isn't much. We were provisional before I got the call Thursday, but now with the contract I'm going in to sign tomorrow we'll get our apartment August 1st."

"See, I told you everything would work out," I said as the waitress came over to take our drink orders.

We took a few minutes to figure out our orders and then after they were in Angela turned her attention back to me. "I know something's going on, but I'm putting faith in you to tell me. Because if it was important you wouldn't keep it a secret."

"I want to tell you, but I need you to not tell Ben, and I don't want to have to make you promise that," I told her.

"Do I have to keep the whole thing a secret, or can I just not tell him something specific about it?" Angela asked and I thought about what Edward had said.

"You couldn't tell him who the person was, but if you were general about it until everything was figured out then that's fine." I knew I sounded incredibly cryptic and in a minute she was going to tell me to cut the shit.

"Okay, so I won't tell him who the mystery guy is. Now what happened?" she asked.

"Edward and I slept together," I whispered.

"What? What does that mean for you? Are you still working for him? What are you going to tell Carlisle and Esme? Or was this just a onetime thing?" Angela fired off her questions and I was about to answer when our food arrived.

We thanked the girl and then I started to explain it. "It just kind of happened. But he didn't seem to regret it and he said we would talk even though he's been stalling a little on that. But the truth is that I don't know. I love my job and I don't want to lose it because of this not working out, but at the same time I don't want to throw away the most amazing sex in the world because I'm afraid of what comes next."

"So the sex was that good, huh?" Angela teased. "I could tell that man was a champion."

"Okay, enough of my hypothetical love life." I tried to change the subject. "Have you set a wedding date?"

"October 4th," she fired back. "So when you say best sex in the world, did you mean for anyone, or because James was a sack of shit who only cared about himself, and the two guys you saw before him were two minute men?"

"When are we going to look at bridesmaids dresses?" I tried to head her off but she shook her head.

"David's Bridal has the perfect color, you can pick the style. All I ask is that it's not full length and that you don't get the same style as my cousin Jessica. Samantha will be getting a dress from the juniors department there, so you won't have to worry about her," Angela told me and I smiled. Out of her two cousins, Samantha was my favorite, we had a lot in common and she and I had become close since she moved in with Angela's family.

"Have you decided when you're going to look for a wedding dress?" I continued.

"I'm made an appointment at David's Bridal for next week. I figured we could meet my mom, do the whole afternoon and you could try on bridesmaid dresses too." Angela was moving this at a brisk pace, but she had told me that if the venue she wanted on Long Island had been available, then she was going to move heaven and earth to make it happen on that day.

"I'll be there," I said.

After another hour of her asking me about Edward, many of the answers being ones I didn't have at the moment, we parted and I started my trek back to the brownstone. It was just after nine when I came in and Edward was waiting for me in the living room.

"Can we talk now?" he asked.

"Sure, but do you want to go downstairs into your office so we have a little more privacy?"

"That's probably for the best," he said, leading me down the stairs into his basement office and over to the couch that sat against the wall. "Bella, before we start with all of this, I want you to know that I don't regret what happened, just how I jumped into this. So I'm asking for a little patience with me."

"Okay," I said, bracing myself for the worst.

"You're still the kids' nanny, and I'd prefer it if we at least tried in the beginning to keep our relationship separate from that. I told you that nights and weekends were your own time, so that is when we can take time to explore what we are trying to build."

"Please tell me that this isn't just about sex," I had to ask.

"No, it isn't…though we shouldn't discount its importance either." He winked and I felt the air re-enter my lungs.

"I want to move slowly because I can't hurt my children again. I need to know that we're solid before I tell them and our families that you're someone special to me. But I also want you to know that your job is more important than anything. My children have bonded with you and if I think that this isn't leading somewhere meaningful I will choose you as my children's' nanny before my lover. That may sound harsh but I -"

"I understand, but if something is bothering you, you will talk to me before you kill our relationship, right?" I asked, worried that I would never have equal footing in this.

"Of course, we're partners in this, Bella," he whispered and I couldn't help but smile.

"I love hearing you call me that," I answered the question in his eyes.

"I was an idiot thinking that what I called you would make a difference," he said as he leaned over to kiss me. We stayed downstairs for a little while longer before returning to the main floor of the house and our separate rooms.

With the summer officially in full swing, I planned a bunch of fun city trips and then checked each one off the list of things I did with all the kids. The city had a lot of great programs in the parks with concerts and movies and fairs, so besides our regular trips to play at the park, we got to go out as a group and explore. The summer seemed to move fast in those first weeks, with Tanya asking me to send pictures to her after hearing about all the fun things the kids got to do, and before I knew it, it was July 28th.

It had been a normal day; we went to the museum to see Jasper's dinosaurs and the planetarium show, spending a good part of the afternoon looking at the exhibits. Esme had arranged for a sleepover at her house for the kids that evening and the date hadn't dawned on me because she had just told me that she would take the kids on Friday night. We'd come home and I got everyone ready for Esme and soon after they left, my phone rang.

"Hey, Dad," I smiled as I answered.

"Hey, Kiddo, how are you holding up today?" As soon as he said the words, I realized what today was.

"I'm doing all right, the kids help keep my mind off it," I told him because they had done just that today.

"That's good, I still can believe you're wrangling five kids at once," he said with a laugh.

"Charlotte and Tia are great and one of Edward's is fifteen, so I just have to make sure she doesn't break his rules and she does help out with the younger ones when she isn't in a mood," I told Dad.

"All right, well, I just wanted to check in and see how you were doing. I'll talk to you soon, Bells."

"You too, Dad, bye."

I hung up the phone and put it down on the island in the kitchen. From there I made it three steps before I collapsed onto the cold tile floor and cried my eyes out.

Eventually I heard movement behind me and I was scooped up into strong arms as Edward tried to get my attention. "Bella, Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

"I forgot…how could I…they're…" The tears didn't stop, but Edward just found somewhere to sit with me and held me until the tears slowed.

"Bella, you're scaring me. What happened?" he asked, his beautiful face marred with concern.

"Today is the sixth anniversary of the accident," I said and Edward pulled me closer.

"Oh, Honey, that's why Esme took the kids tonight, so you would be able to do what you needed to without having to worry about them?" Edward assumed, but I just shrugged.

"I don't know, Edward. I'm assuming that's why, but the point is that I didn't even remember it was today. My dad called to check on me a little while ago and I realized what the date was and I just felt so terrible. How could I forget them, Edward? They're half my family and I went around the museum today like it was nothing."

"Bella, you're allowed to keep living your life. I'm sure your mom and step-dad would be proud of you, not just for what you've done with your life, but for spending the day laughing and smiling instead of being locked away. Now, do you normally fly down to visit their graves at some point?"

"No, they're upstairs," I told him and almost laughed at his reaction.

"What?"

"Their ashes are in two urns in my room. But I would like to get cleaned up and go light a candle for them at St. Patrick's before it gets too late," I said and he held me a little closer.

"I didn't know you were catholic," he whispered.

"We have a lot to learn about each other, now I better run upstairs."

"Do you want some company?" he asked and I nodded.

"I'd like that."

I went upstairs and splashed some water on my face before putting on a pair of pants and a blouse since I had to change out of the clothes I'd worn around the city with the kids all day. I was surprised when Edward was standing in my room, looking at the urns. My mom and Phil were in a wooden urn with their names and dates prominently displayed along with the footprints in the sand image. Beside them was a weeping angel statue with a small plaque with a teddy bear and Bree's information. Edward stared at them for a while before turning to me.

"I didn't realize…your sister was a week older than Jasper. He was born two days after Valentine's Day," Edward said as I wrapped my arms around his waist. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah," I said, grabbing my purse as we went downstairs.

It didn't take too long to walk up to the Church and once inside Edward followed my lead. I walked over to the prayer candles just to the right of the center aisle and took three candles from the bottom container, and reached over to light the first one from one of the candles that was already lit. As I did so, I saw Edward slip some money into the offering box and place his hand on the small of my back. I lit the three candles and then said a short prayer before walking along the right side aisle towards the back of the sanctuary where the Lady Chapel was. Edward stayed with me, slipping into the pew beside me as I bowed my head in prayer.

At first Edward knelt beside me, praying as well, but soon he rose to sit on the pew, rubbing my back as I somehow found more tears to shed. I prayed that they were well and happy where they were, that my life brought them some bit of joy as they watched down on me, and that they would continue to guide me in my life, especially with regards to Edward.

As I sat back, Edward pulled me into his side and kissed my temple. "Do you feel better?"

I nodded.

"Good, now let's get some dinner and then head home. Esme has the kids until noon tomorrow so we can relax tonight. It's time someone takes care of you for a change," Edward whispered into my hair before we left the church and began the walk home.