A/N: I am so good at begging I guess! Thank you so much for reviewing the last chapter. The revolution seems to be taking off. You guys are my favorite people. Don't be surprised if you find $20 on the ground tomorrow. Those kinds of things happen when you review this story.
Thanks to profmom72 she makes me a better writer and maybe even a better person. She's the wind beneath my wings. Oh and guess what! There is apparently this weird Bella hater cult out there and I got some reviews from them! I was so excited!!! Keep em coming cult members!
Twike is the Beta. Send all complaints to her.
Characters are not mine.
Good Enough Chapter 9
I spent the rest of the day lying bed and trying to figure out what I'd done wrong. Bella didn't seem like the kind of girl who would care about her friends being in a relationship. She'd set up Emmett and Rosalie without a second thought.
Finally I called Jasper hoping he could give me some insight into the situation. I might study human nature for a living, but he was definitely more in touch with his feminine side. Jasper was a close friend of mine, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out how tough little Alice ended up with such a fruitcake.
I explained to him what went down at the coffee shop and waited for his take on the situation.
"You, my friend, are either blind or simply naïve," he said.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Edward, all anyone has been talking about for the past two weeks is that you and Bella belong together. I know it. Alice knows it. Your dad knows it. Emmett knows it. Rosalie says she'll kill you if so much as try and kiss Bella, but basically everyone knows it. I'm pretty sure Bella knows it too, so how do you think she felt when she had to sit there and watch you hit on some waitress?"
"For one thing, she wasn't a waitress. She was a barista."
Jasper growled into the phone in frustration.
"For another thing, you're wrong. Bella doesn't like me like that. We're just close friends."
"You should know by now that men and women are never just friends. At least one of them always develops feelings for the other. Haven't you ever seen When Harry Met Sally?"
"You mean the one where that chick has the orgasm in the middle of a restaurant?"
"Edward, you're missing the point!"
"Are you going to tell me what I need to do to make Bella stop being mad at me, or do I need to call your wife?"
"If I were you, I would start with going over to her house, dinner, flowers, kiss her till it takes her breath away, and then think about living happily ever after."
"You're a genius!" I hung up the phone. I had no intention of following his advice, but he did have one good idea. I needed to go to Bella and grovel. I wasn't sure what I'd done wrong, but she didn't need to know that. I'd apologize, beg her forgiveness, and everything in the world would be right again.
I rummaged through the cabinets until I found what I needed, spent a few minutes on the computer, told the uniforms where I was going, and then headed for her apartment. She lived fairly close to me, and I wondered how we'd never run into each other before. I knocked on her door and waited for an answer. Oh crap. Rosalie lived here. I hadn't considered the danger I was putting myself in by coming over.
"What are you doing here?" Bella asked in surprise when she finally answered. She was dressed in workout clothes. Her shorts were short and her tank top tight. It took me a minute to get used to the sight of her.
"I came over to apologize and make you Jello." I held up the plastic bag with the box of Jello and smiled sheepishly.
I watched her face as she obviously contemplated what she should do. I worried she would slam the door in my face, but finally she turned her lips up in a forced smile and moved so I could walk past her. I took two steps and froze. I'd almost forgotten the danger again.
"Wait, is Rosalie here?" I asked holding one hand protectively over my stuff.
Bella noticed what I'd done with my hand and giggled. "Oh how I wish she were. You and the little guy are safe for now."
"Little, ha." I closed the door behind me and headed for the kitchen. I pulled the box of Jello out and studied it. "I just need some sugar, boiling water, oh and about four hours!" I threw the box on her kitchen counter in disgust.
"How did you know where I live? I'm not listed," Bella asked.
"Oh sweet little Bella, I work for the FBI. I know a lot about you," I winked at her. My stupid body was running out of steam again. I was so tired of this happening. I was tired of resting. I steadied myself against the counter for extra support.
"Are you okay?" Bella stepped toward me and grabbed my arm.
"I'm okay. I just get tired really quickly."
"You shouldn't even have gone out today at all, and you've already been out twice. You need to take it easy."
"I've been taking it easy. I want to be normal again."
"I doubt you were ever normal." Her voice dripped with sarcasm, and I was relieved that my Bella seemed to be back. "Come on, you need to lie down."
Bella grabbed my arm and led me to her bedroom. "I don't want Rosalie to find you out napping on the couch. It's safer if I hide you," she explained.
I followed wanting nothing more than to crumple into a ball on the floor. I just needed to get off my feet. I didn't care where. When we entered her room, I wished I had the strength to really study it. I wanted to analyze every picture, every book, every CD in her music collection. I wanted to know all about her.
Bella gestured at my holster, prompting me to take it off. I undid the buckle and set in on the table next to the bed. Bella watched me intently biting her lip.
She sat me down on her bed and pulled my shoes off for me. I smile appreciatively and laid back. I was enveloped by her smell. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. This might be the most comfortable bed I'd ever been in. I started forming a plan to come over here to nap regularly. Maybe Bella would give me a key.
Bella grabbed a blanket from the foot of the bed and draped it over me. She did that soothing thing I liked so much where she brushed my hair out of my face. Bella knew just how to take care of me. Now that I thought about it, a lot of our relationship had been pretty one sided. She gave a lot more than she got. I was a jerk. No wonder she was upset with me. She was stressed out about the biggest test of her life, and all I could think about was myself.
She started to go, and I reached out grabbing her wrist again. "Don't go." I patted the bed next to me. She looked torn for a second, but gave in and sat down by me.
I found myself needing to touch her, so I reached over and grabbed her hand drawing little circles on it with my fingers. "Bella, there's something I need you to understand."
She lay down on her side so she could see my face better.
"I care about you… a lot. You've become important to me over the past couple of weeks."
"You've become important to me too." She seemed embarrassed and looked down at our hands when she said it.
"I want you to know, that you are absolutely one of the best – no, THE best friend I've ever had. I know that might sound silly since we've only known each other a short time, but I promise you I never want to do anything to screw this up. You mean too much to me."
I don't know what I expected - tears of joy, declarations of mutual appreciation, a hug maybe? Instead, Bella looked up at the ceiling, pursed her lips in a tight line, and took deep breath before she simply said, "Okay, friend."
It took me a second, but I figured Bella was probably just at a loss for words. It was a pretty intense moment. I didn't make friends easily much less have heart to hearts about it. I let go of her hand and swung my arm across her waist pulling her closer to me. I snuggled up to her and said, "Let's take a nap now."
Bella let out either a contented sigh or a frustrated groan. I had trouble distinguishing between the two, but she didn't move. As for me, I was perfectly comfortable and content.
When I woke up it was getting dark outside. I gave Bella a little squeeze trying to show my appreciation for the best nap in the history of the world, but something didn't feel right. Actually it felt quite soft. I gave another little squeeze hoping that wasn't what I thought it was. In slow motion my eyes followed my arm until I saw my hand resting flat on Bella's chest. I snapped it back at lightning speed. Oh crap, I just told her she was my best friend, and then I felt her up while napping with her in her bed. I was a total screw up.
I studied her face. Thankfully she seemed to still be asleep. I let my eyes travel down the rest of her body. She was still in workout clothes. She had a really nice body hiding under those scrubs she usually wore. She obviously had no idea just how attractive she was, and I wondered how she'd remained single for so long. I knew her excuses, but still, any guy would be an idiot not to love Bella. When she did find someone, he'd better treat her right, or I'd have to kill him.
"Take a picture. It'll last longer, buddy." Bella smirked and stretched her body trying to wake herself up more. I think I actually blushed that time. She'd caught me studying her body. I just hoped she hadn't caught me doing other things as well.
She rolled out of bed, stood, and stretched again. Her shirt rode up exposing her stomach and belly button. Was that a tattoo? I caught myself staring again, and wanted kick myself for treating my Bella like any other woman.
"I'm hungry. Do you want something to eat?" she asked.
"Sure, but I'll warn you, Jello is surprisingly complicated."
She giggled and walked out of her room. I took my time getting up and tried to ignore the dull ache that had taken residence in my body. I followed Bella to the kitchen and sat at a bar stool on the other side of her counter. She got out a pan and started pouring ingredients into it. I watched mesmerized as she started chopping celery, onion, and potatoes. How did she know what she was doing? I didn't see any recipes or cook books.
We didn't talk, but we didn't need to. This was how it should be, no need to break the silence with meaningless chatter. We were both happy just to be together.
After a few minutes of watching her, I reached over to check my phone that I'd left on the counter when I arrived.
"Uh oh," I gasped.
Bella had just started to say, "What's wrong?" when Emmett and Alice broke through Bella's front door with guns drawn.
"Freeze! FBI!" Emmett shouted in a voice that made me want to spread eagle on the ground and cower in fear.
Bella dropped the knife she was holding and held her hands in the air. I rubbed the back of my neck and braced myself for Alice's explosion.
"Where the hell have you been?! I've been calling you for three hours! You told the uniforms that you're running over to Bella's real quick and would be back soon, and then you never came back! I've been calling both of you. I thought you were hurt or dead or bleeding at least. I'm going to kill you!"
"Sorry? We fell asleep?" I shrugged my shoulders and hoped Alice didn't punch me. The last time she did that I bled all over the place.
"My phone was off." Bella had a hand on her chest like she was trying to catch her breath and the other one resting on the counter.
"Alice," Emmett got a huge grin on his face. "They just admitted they slept together!"
All the anger disappeared from Alice's face and was replaced with a huge smile. "Oh, Jasper told me about your conversation, but I never thought you'd take his advice!"
"What conversation with Jasper?" Bella asked.
"NOTHING!" I growled and gave Alice a warning glare. "We didn't do anything but sleep. You two need to get your heads out of the gutter."
"Oh." Alice looked defeated.
"Edward, are you sure you don't play for the other team? How could you be in bed with that and just sleep?" He gave Bella a wink and a nod.
"Why thank you, Emmett," Bella smiled appreciatively.
"Any time, sexy nurse Bella."
"I never should have given you to Rosalie," Bella sighed and winked back at Emmett.
"Try not to think about what might have been, baby."
"Enough!" I yelled. I didn't like Emmett flirting with my Bella even if it was just a joke. She deserved more respect than that.
Everyone looked at me like I'd lost my mind. "You guys are giving me a headache." I pinched the bridge of my nose and tried to disappear.
"I was just making some soup. Do you guys want to stay for dinner? You know, just friends eating together?" Bella asked.
"I need to get home to Jasper. He baked homemade bread today," Alice said.
"Sure! I'm starved," Emmett said, but Alice gave him a dirty look and shook her head no. I knew what they were up to, and it wasn't going to work. Emmett would change the energy between us though, and I liked having Bella to myself, so I didn't argue.
"Actually, I think I'm going to go surprise Rosalie at work and take her to get something to eat." Emmett didn't argue with Alice. Ever. He was smarter than he looked.
"Um, guys, I think you broke my door," Bella said.
"Rosie's gonna kill me," Emmett shuddered.
"I'll have someone head over here to fix it now. Edward, you need to stay here until she can lock that thing, and WHERE'S YOUR GUN? I told you to have it on you at all times. If you don't start taking this threat seriously, I'm going to give you something else to worry about! From now on, I want to know where you are at all times. Do you understand?" Agent Whitlock was back in full force. I was a little scared.
"Okay, okay. It's in the bedroom. I'll get it." I walked out of the room, and when I came back, they were gone.
"That was interesting," Bella said.
"There's never a dull moment with those two. Sorry about the things they were insinuating. I hope it didn't make you too uncomfortable."
"No, my friend, I didn't mind at all actually." Bella said and turned on a hand mixer stopping our conversation cold before I could ask her what that meant.
We spent the rest of the evening just enjoying each other's company. She made the most delicious potato soup I'd ever had, and we argued for a long time after she refused to let me have seconds. I suggested we watch a movie, and I was quite surprised by her collection of DVD's. She had The Recruit, Miss Congeniality, The Kingdom, The Sentinel, Silence of the Lambs, Point Break, Breach, The X-Files… The list went on and on. I noticed a theme.
"Whose movies are these, yours or Rosalie's?" I asked.
"None of your business." She sat on the couch and studied her nails intently.
I picked out the movie Taking Lives and put it in the DVD player. It was a completely unrealistic portrayal of a forensic psychologist, but Angelina Jolie was hot.
I sat down next to Bella, ignoring the other half of the couch that we left unused. Now that we'd established ourselves as friends who could cuddle, I planned to take advantage of it. Bella seemed tense as the movie started, but eventually she relaxed and even rested her head on my shoulder. She smelled so freaking good that I had trouble concentrating. Part of me wanted to bury my nose in her hair, but I was pretty sure that would freak her out.
When the movie ended I almost asked if I could spend the night, but there were two problems with that scenario. One, Rosalie might come home and castrate me. Two, Alice would hear from the uniforms that I never came home and get the wrong idea again. Reluctantly, I told Bella goodnight and made her promise that I could see her again tomorrow.
A/N: The next chapter there is some action – what kind of action? You'll see. Please review. Please oh please oh please review or ill just die. Please don't kill me.
