A/N: I do not own Twilight, I just make them curse. Thanks to my wonderful beta! Here's the low down, this chapter was the toughest one for me to write. I had to introduce a few more characters *wink* and that was challenging. Bear with me, it will get better. Enjoy and review!


I did my best to convince Edward that his incredibly comfy, cloud-of-a-couch would suffice as my sleeping quarters, only to be thrown over his shoulder and marched upstairs. Yeah, you heard right. He made me feel like a fucking four year old who refused to obey bed time.

"Quit squirming," he muttered, climbing upstairs as I slapped the hell out of his butt. Not by choice.

"Quit holding me hostage!"

"Yep, oh yeah, that hit the spot. Mhm," he retorted with a grin as I repeatedly hit his ass.

"It's not my fault your ASS happens to be located where my hands hit, you ass."

"Ooh, word play. Double bonus for Bella."

"Ugh! Put. Me. DOWN!"

And he did; in the middle of his bed. He smirked down at me, hands on his hips, as he caught his breath. "You're like a fucking alligator," he said laughing.

"Zip it, Steve Irwin," I shot back, sitting up.

"Hey, didn't Steve Irwin die a few years ago?" Edward questioned, cocking an eyebrow.

"Yes. Yes he did. Maybe it'll teach you something."

"Oh, loosen up," he sang, sitting down next to me on his bed.

"I'd rather not negotiate with a terrorist," I muttered, crossing my arms.

"So now I'm a terrorist? Oh, this will be good," Edward retorted, rubbing his hands together then leaning back on his headboard.

I scoffed in response.

"Lighten. Up." One poke. And another.

"If you honestly think poking me is going to lighten me up, then you've got another thing coming."

"Would…tickling work?" I felt the bed adjust as Edward sat up behind me.

"Don't. You. Fucking. Dare."

"Here's one for Steve Irwin!" He exclaimed then began tickling the shit out of me.

Edward's cold hands roamed over my body, carefully as to not make me feel uncomfortable in any way, but enough to make me erupt with giggles.

"E-dward….S-stop….O-r….I-I'll….M-make…S-sure…Y-ou…C-can…N-never…R-reporduce!" I broke through the clouds of laughter.

"Aw, threatening my manhood, are we? Sad." he grinned, pulling me backwards and causing me to fall back into him. My eyes narrowing in on his; my head In. His. Lap. Awkward. He finally eased up, allowing me to catch my breath.

"You're. An. A-."

"Ass. I know, I know." he grinned, cutting me off.

I sent him my death glare as I allowed my breathing to return to normal.

"A-and and what was with your lame battle cry? That was fucking hilarious."

"Hilariously awesome?"

"Hilariously lame."

"Damn and I thought I could be cast in the next warrior movie," he smirked.

"Maybe if you're lucky you'd be cast as the guy who's the ass in the horse costume."

"Him? Oh hell no. You're so wrong. Don't you remember how I just jail-breaked you from your own house? Would a guy in the horse's ass costume be able to do that?" He laughed.

"Hm, point made."

"Point made," he confirmed.

We talked for a few hours, mostly about how lame Edward was, and occasionally about how bad ass I was. We came to the conclusion that, although, Edward was the one saving me, I would be the one doing the saving if we were super heroes; according to Edward, we already are. Edward would just mostly fly around and look pretty while I did all the ass kicking. As I said: "I wear the tights in the relationship." Naturally, Edward disagreed saying that I was the one with the good looks and that I would be the one on the cover of all the Super Hero magazines.

I quickly drifted to sleep, not one horrifying nightmare or restless moment breaking my slumber. I hadn't realized the proximity between Edward and me until I woke up, around 9:30, to find Edward's arms around me as I happened to lie conveniently curved against his side. I was spooning with Edward Cullen.

I carefully escaped the safety of his arms and rolled away from my nook before falling flat on my ass on the wooden floor, waking Edward in the process.

"Bella? Bella, are you okay?" He was already on his feet and at my side.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, I just…fell."

"Obviously," he smirked, offering his hand.

"Sorry for waking you," I murmured, allowing Edward to help me up carefully.

"Don't worry about it," he smiled reassuringly. Did you sleep well?"

I scratched my head as I steadied myself. "Uhm, it was kind of awesome, actually," I said sheepishly as a smile lit up Edward's face.

"I didn't sleep too badly either," he smirked and I rolled my eyes. His smiled faded slightly. "Sorry if that was…too much. I shouldn't have just assumed you would be okay with that. I don't know what I was thinking," Edward rubbed his forehead as his body tensed and as quickly as his expression changed, he was out of my sight.

I sighed as I tangled my fingers in my knot-tastic hair. He shouldn't be sorry; I couldn't let him even feel sorry. My head started to hurt slightly from all this new-found . . . what's the word? Care? I couldn't lie to myself anymore, there was a part of me that cared for Edward, and I just can't admit it to him yet. But then again, I couldn't let him feel guilt for something that didn't bother me in the slightest. Shocker. Bella's not bothered.. I took a deep breath and made my way downstairs to find Edward leaning against a counter in the kitchen, eating a bowl of cereal.

"You shouldn't be sorry…" I trailed off as I made my way to Edward. I leaned my back against the cold, polished counter tops. Edward turned his head slightly towards mine and set his bowl behind him. "I mean, you don't have anything to be sorry…about. You're bed is like a fucking cloud, and having you there was just a bonus," I was struggling with words; it was like trying to fit all the letters in a cross word puzzle. I wanted to say so much, say whatever would make him stop feeling guilty, but I couldn't reign in the proper words.

"Really?" Edward asked, a smile playing upon his lips.

"Mhm, really," I nodded, confirming. Okay, maybe I didn't give myself enough credit.

"Phew," Edward reached behind and retrieved his bowl once more. "Good, because I slept pretty well too," he grinned.

I exhaled, finally relieved and smiled slightly back at him.

"You're a bit of a blanket hog though," he smirked.

"Me? You were the one who was wrapped like a fucking taco!" I laughed as I, returned back to my original position beside Edward, my own cereal in hand.

Edward snorted. "A nice, warm, taco. Mmm."

"You're so strange, I swear."

"Cheers," Edward smiled, tapping his spoon against mine.


"If I tell you something, will you promise me that you won't destroy my manhood or my gorgeous face?"

"Well shit, just spit it out."

Edward took a deep breathe, sitting down on the glass coffee table before me. I sat up on the couch, resting my elbows on my knees. He closed his eyes, exhaling deeply.

"Everyone's coming home and they know you're here and my sister, Alice, wants to have a little dinner party for you tonight," He raced through the sentence, and gave me a sheepish grin, opening one eye carefully before the other.

"Edward…," I groaned.

I hate surprises. I hate dinner parties. I hate socializing. Do you see a pattern here?

"Just try to go with it, okay? It'll just be the eight of us."

I groaned louder, sinking back into the couch, rubbing my temples. "I don't work well with people, you know that."

"You work perfectly with me," he soothed as he made his way next to me on the couch.

"They're not going to like me. I'm going to be all bitchy and everything."

"They're going to love you. You need to give yourself more credit."

"And what's my excuse for having a sleep over with you, hmm?"

"A late night business meeting," Edward grinned, attempting to lighten the mood.

"Great," I rolled my eyes. "So now I'm your employee. When will they be here?"

"Soon, but dinner doesn't start until seven. We can hang out upstairs until then if you'd like."

"Can't we go out for a bit?"

"I'd rather not. Just in case…you know," Edward sighed and I knew exactly what he was talking about. Charlie.

"Yeah, right…him," I sighed as I stood up, making my way up the stairs.

"Plus, it's obvious that you're the boss in this relationship."

I put on my best purple converse and prepared to meet the Cullen Clan.

"You'll pull me aside if I start acting like a bitch, right?" I asked hopefully as I shook with pre game jitters.

"Of course, but you won't need me. You'll be great," Edward smiled, squeezing my shoulders from behind just like he did that one day inside Forks One Stop Grocery. Just like then, he eased my nerves. "It's about seven. Shall we, miss Swan?" And the nerves are back.

"Oh fuck me," I grumbled walking out the door, Edward propped open.

"I like to call it, making love," Edward smirked, closing the door and walking beside me.

"Fuck me in the brain."

"I'm not even sure one could make love to another's brain. I guess if you want to consider it psychologically…," he smirked again.

"If this is your attempt at making me feel better," I started, Edward's eyebrow raised now. "It's working," I smirked slightly as I came to the bottom of the stairs.

And there they were. The Cullens. All neatly standing side-by-side like dominoes. I felt as if I could just poke the first and they'd all fall over one by one. Not that I would want to, I mean, the first one looked like a fucking wrestler. Edward led me over to his family, starting with the biggest; the wrestler that I wanted to poke. Ah, the inner workings of my brain.

He was larger than the others, but he looked more like a teddy bear now that I examined him. He had a huge grin plastered on his pale face and brown curls that lie aloof on the top of his enormous head.

Edward sighed. "Bella, this is-."

"Emmett!" The big one yelled as he scooped me up in a bear hug. I heard a "Hmph," from the tall blonde that occupied the space next to Emmett.

"Ow," was all I could choke out.

"Sorry," Emmett grinned sheepishly. "I…like to hug."

"I can see that," I mumbled as he set me down. I smiled back slightly.

Edward put one arm around my waist and moved me down the conveyor belt of Cullens.

"This is Rosalie," Edward said un-enthusiastically.

Rosalie made it imperative that she did not care for me with the bitch face that she so perfectly maintained. Edward cleared his throat and Rosalie gave a lazy wave, keeping her eyes off of me. She looked like a pin up model, but with a classic twist.

Edward pulled me down the line to another one of his brothers. A tall, lean blonde who was clearly more focused on the shorter brunette next to him. He quickly shifted his gaze on me and smiled slightly. "Hello Bella, I'm Jasper. It's very nice to finally meet you," he grinned, shaking my hand very formally. I guess we're fucking business partners now.

"Nice to meet you," I smiled back.

Jasper gave me a nod and returned his gaze back to the girl next to him.

"And…,"

"Oh hush, Edward. Let me handle this! I'm Alice," grinned the occupant of Jasper's focus as she wrapped her arms around me. My eyes widened slightly at the openness of the Cullen family, but I returned the hug with only a tinge of awkwardness. Alice was much smaller than the others but made up for it with her enthusiasm. I found another Care Bear. Her hair intrigued me; it jutted out in all different directions and had a little tint of varying browns and blacks hidden in each piece. She smiled warmly as she stepped back.

"And Carlisle and Esme; the core of the family," Edward smiled as we ended the tour of Cullens.

"It's such a pleasure to meet you, Bella," Esme grinned as she squeezed my hand.

"Yes, we're finally meeting the famous Bella Swan," Carlisle smiled as he shook my hand.

"You too. Both of you," I smiled back. "And famous?" I turned to Edward and he shook his head, smiling. "It's all fake, don't listen to him," I smiled as they both laughed.

"Well, dinner is ready to be served. Are you both hungry?"

Edward nodded. "Perfect," Esme sang as she left for the kitchen, Alice and Rosalie not far behind her. Carlisle led us to the table, and I was fortunate to be placed next to Edward and Emmett. Emmett looked pretty easy-going except for the fact that a death-by-hug was a possibility lingering on my horizon as long as I was with Emmett. Another Care Bear. Damn, I need a fucking Care Bear Carrying Case or some other shit.

A few minutes later, Esme brought out a steaming bowl of Spaghetti followed by garlic bread, tomato sauce and a fresh, green salad. Everything looked amazing and I couldn't help lick my lips. I heard Edward chuckle next to me and the familiar red color invaded my cheeks once again. Everyone took their seat and Carlisle raised his glass, "To our lovely guest, Bella,"

"To Bella," everyone chimed in, Emmett a little louder than the others, adding in his own. "Ow! Ow!" I let out a small laugh and everyone clinked their glasses together.

"You're doing great," Edward whispered in my ear as he grabbed the spaghetti bowl right out of Emmett's grasp. He wasn't lying; I was doing exceptionally better than I thought. Hell, I thought this would end in flames. There's still time for that.

I observed the Cullens in their natural element and smiled to myself. They really were one big family; one that I was jealous of. One that I hoped to have one day. One that I wished to be apart of.

"They're here for you two, you know," Edward whispered again causing a smile to spread across my face.

"Salad?" Emmett offered.

"Mhm," I reached for the bowl. He pulled it back. I raised an eyebrow as he grinned. I reached again. He moved the bowl. Reach. Miss. Reach. Miss. Emmett roared with laughter.

"Gotta be quick around here, Bells!" Emmett grinned finally allowing me the satisfaction of capturing the bowl. I was never good at Capture the Flag.

"So Bella, how's your father? I usually see him around but-," Carlisle started but stopped as he squinted his eyes, trying to read Edward's horrified expression.

Well, isn't this just fucking perfect? What is one supposed to respond with during a question like that? Oh, well you know, it's quite funny actually. You see, your son rescued me from the clutches of my abusive father. What a great family dinner topic.

Carlisle laughed nervously as I shut my eyes tightly, gripping my fork.

"What's the problem? Daddy issues?" Rosalie asked with a smirk.

I opened my eye; returning the bitch glance, my jaw clenched firmly shut. That bitch! I could go off in so many directions right now; no one would ever know what hit them. But before I even had time to spit the words out, Edward grabbed my hand.

"Excuse us."

I wrestled free from his grip and closed the gap on the remaining stairs, rushing into Edward's room. I gripped my hair as I finally unclenched my jaw with a loud growl; the air now filling my suffocating lungs. The room was starting to close in, the walls shifting in all directions. My eyes blinked fervently trying to make sense of it all as I sucked in ragged breath after ragged breath.

Edward freed my hands from my hair and wrapped me in a tight embrace; no words needed. He pulled me close to his body as I buried my head in his chest; no hesitation on either part.

Rosalie hit the nail on the head: My name is Bella Swan and I have daddy issues.


A/N: Terrible, right? Hit the review button and let me hear your thoughts!

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