Although lady_vyxen looked this over, please let me know if you spot any errors.


"Oh my, it's so very nice to meet such a young couple who are fans of the opera," the older lady said after the attendant had shown Edward and Bella to the box.

"No, we're not a couple," Bella protested weakly, but nobody seemed to have heard her.

"Is this your first opera?" the lady pressed.

"No, but this is the first time that we've seen Marriage of Figaro," Edward said.

"This is probably about the hundredth time that we've seen it," the lady said. She patted her overly-large red bouffant wig.

"Martha, dear, aren't you going to introduce us?" her husband said from his seat.

"Oh, excuse me!" Martha said with an obnoxious laugh. "Where are my manners? I'm Martha Yates, and this is my husband, Rolland."

"Fredrick," the man corrected.

"Oh, whoops! Rolland was the name of my third husband. Brilliant mathematician, but horrible in the bedroom department," Martha whispered to them like it was some horrific scandal. Bella gave a slight nod of her head and looked to Edward for help— she was in way over her head with this one.

"Why don't we take a seat?" Edward said. He put his hand on the small of Bella's back and gestured towards one of the empty chairs. Bella took the one three away from Fredrick, Edward sat next to her, and Martha sat between Edward and her husband.

"So then… I don't believe that I caught your names?" Martha went on.

"I'm Edward, and this is Bella."

"How long have you two been together?"

"We've only known each other since Tuesday," Edward answered honestly.

"Oh my," Martha gasped. She held her hand to her chest like she was affronted by this, but then she laughed. "Brevity is the best sort of relationship, in my opinion. I like my men to be like Kleenex: soft, strong, but disposable." She laughed again.

"Um…" Bella gasped with a horrified look on her face. Thankfully, at that moment, the lights flickered a few times to indicate that the show was about to start. Bella heaved a sigh of relief and sunk down low in her chair as the lights dimmed. Edward reached over and grabbed her hand. She gave him a confused look, and he offered her a small smile and a reassuring squeeze.


Sometime right when Cherubino was hiding in the Countess's closet, both Bella and Edward realized with some horror and disgust that Martha and Fredrick were practically having sex in their seats next to them. Bella shot Edward a look of pure disgust as she looked around the man who sat next to her. Martha was sitting on Fredrick's lap; one his hands vanished under her skirt while the other was busy fondling her breast through under the top of her dress.

Bella gave Edward a look that told him to do something about the matter. Edward awkwardly cleared his throat, and when that proved to be ineffective, he cleared his throat louder. He looked back to Bella, who only widened her eyes and gestured again towards the couple. Edward threw his program at them, and only then did they break apart.

"Oh my," Martha whispered under her breath. Both Edward and Bella were looking at the stage with their lips pressed together, and tried to pretend like they hadn't just seen what they'd saw.

Bella found it exceptionally hard to focus on the rest of the act. When the intermission came, she wished that she wasn't on the job, or else she probably would have gone ahead to drink as much as she possibly could. If this was ever at time to get shit-faced, it was now. Edward walked over to her and presented her with a cup. She rose her eyebrow in an unspoken question. "It's sparkling water," he explained, and then she accepted the cup. "Do you think that it's too late to change our seats?"

"It was pretty filled up," Bella said. "Hence why we are sitting with Mr. And Mrs. Softcore Porn." Edward snorted into his cup. "But sometimes people leave at the intermission, so maybe we could at least ask? The seats wouldn't be nearly as nice, though."

"Were they doing anything before the second act? I didn't notice."

"Me neither," Bella said with a slight shake of her head. But when the two of them had started to get frisky, both Bella and Edward had noticed pretty quickly due to their close proximity to the older couple.

Edward put his cup down on a nearby table and gently gripped Bella's chin. "Maybe we could put on a show of our own?" he said to her. Bella flushed slightly but didn't pull away.

"How will that help?" she asked. "They only noticed when you threw something at them."

"Maybe I just want to kiss you again?" Edward whispered as he bent closer to her. Bella lifted her face and Edward closed the distance between them until their lips met. Bella's eyes slid closed and for a brief second, she thought that there were fireworks going off behind her lids as Edward gingerly nipped at her lower lip. But when Edward pulled away, she realized that it was only the lights flickering to indicate the end of the intermission.

They went back to their seats, and choose to sit in the seats the farthest away from Martha and Fredrick. Bella tried desperately to keep her entire attention on the singers up on the stage. But Edward's presence next to her was overly distracting, and she probably only caught about half of what they were singing.

When the Count started to realize his mistake between Susanna and his own wife, Edward tugged on Bella's hand to get her attention. She shot him an annoyed look and in doing so, she realized that Martha and Fredrick were back at it again. Edward leaned over the armrest and kissed Bella; gently at first, but then he started to apply more pressure and nipped at her lower lip and tongue.

"Sit on my lap," he whispered huskily against her lips. Bella was already pressed up against the unmovable armrest, and it dug rather uncomfortably into her side. She doubted that moving to sit on Edward's lap would improve the level of comfort. She firmly shook her head, pulled away from him, and chucked her own program at the other couple.

"Oh my," Martha whispered as the two of them pulled apart. The singers finished their song, the orchestra gave one final note as the actors ran off the stage, and then the audience surged to their feet for a standing ovation.

Edward tugged on Bella's hand and practically dragged her out from the box with Jasper on their tail. "Is this our new plan to avoid the mobs?" Jasper asked as they went out the back door.

"Um… yes?" Edward said hesitantly as they got into a cab. Edward told the driver to take them to The Towers. When they pulled up in front of the hotel, Edward turned to Bella. "Please come up?" he whispered to her.

Bella licked her lips and then pressed them together. "Maybe for a moment," she said after a beat. Edward paid the driver as Jasper and Bella got out. They rode the elevator up in silence, and as soon as they got into Edward's suite, Jasper immediately vanished.

Edward took Bella out onto the balcony, and then reached up to remove the clip from her hair. The sharp wind twisted her brown locks around her face, and he reached up to brush it away before he leaned in to kiss her. They backed up until Bella ran into the safety railing, and she reached backwards to brace her hands against the brushed steel. Edward pressed against Bella, and she felt his erection press into her lower belly.

Bella gave a slight start at the feel of his excitement, and pulled away slightly from him. "Are you okay?" he asked her gently as he lightly stroked her cheek with his thumb. Bella exhaled sharply through her nostrils and gave a rather hesitant nod of her head. "I'm not going to do anything that you don't want to do," Edward reassured her. Bella nodded slightly with agreement. "Would you like something to drink?"

Bella shook her head this time. Edward leaned over to kiss her again, and once more, when he pressed against Bella, she gave another start.

"I was under the impression that you'd had lovers in the past," Edward said. "Or did you only just mean the word in the most antique sense?"

"One lover, two times," Bella explained slowly. "And the entire set-up for both instances…" She trailed off, completely unable to properly explain the situation to Edward.

"Not at all like this?" Edward supplied after a long stretch of silence. She nodded. "How can I help you to feel that comfortable again?" Bella highly doubted that Edward would want for the crime lord who had filled the hit order on Edward to stand outside of their bedroom door while they got busy just for the sake of Bella's emotional health in regards to sex. Even she knew that it was a little creepy with the entire mother/daughter relationship that Bella had with Victoria. Not to mention the fact that Bella would have to explain why Victoria had been standing outside of the door the first two times.

"And don't ask me to come out as gay after," Edward said before Bella could come up with a good response. She gave a slight laugh.

"You have absolutely no idea how completely demoralizing that it was when, halfway through, he stops, looks me in the eye, and says to me, 'Bells, I think that I'm gay.'"

"What timing," Edward said with all seriousness. Bella gave a slight chuckle and shook her head.

"His timing could have been better, yes. But I think that it must have been a massive relief for him. Not only to have the courage to tell me, but also for him to admit the truth to himself," Bella said as she wrapped her arms around herself. Edward gave a slight nod of his head in agreement. "I'd known Jacob for a while, but I have to admit, I think that I was relieved a bit, too. Being with him in that way was a little too awkward for me. Which I think might have also contributed to why I didn't freak out when I was with him. I might have been just so focused on squishing my brotherly feelings for him down that I wasn't even thinking about…" She trailed off and shifted her weight from her left to right. "But I never had any sort of freak out with Jacob. Not like this. I felt very safe with him."

"I wish that I knew how to make you feel safe with me," Edward whispered. Bella looked down at the city that continued to hum with life below them.

"I wish that, too," Bella whispered. And not just for the sake of the job, but so that maybe she could go and have a life outside of her work. Like Rosalie. She was comfortable with who she was, and wasn't hindered by a disgusting past. Not only was she able to have a healthy relationship with somebody who wasn't related to her work, but she also had a pretty decent sex life.

Or at least, that's what Bella assumed from the screams that came from Rosalie's room whenever Emmett spent the night.

Bella had never craved any sort of romantic relationship. She thought that they were messy and would only end in tears. Her uncle had hurt her. And even though she knew that she wasn't in any real danger with Jacob, being with him had still terrified the everliving crap out of her.

But, after Bella had spent a few days with Edward, she began to realize that, maybe there was more to the entire romance thing than physical and emotional pain. After all, people kept going back to love, even after they'd been hurt.

Bella turned away from Edward and put her hands on the railing again. It was still slightly warm from basking in the summer sun all day long, and for some reason, the heat was oddly reassuring to her.

"Bella?" Edward said gently. His hand was close to her arm— Bella could sense it even though she couldn't actually feel or see it— but he didn't touch her.

"Sorry," she said as she looked over to him. She offered him a small smile, which he did not return. "I just get so lost in my thoughts sometimes. I know that I shouldn't, but…"

Edward reached into his pocket, came out with a handful of change, and then offered Bella a single penny. She laughed, and pushed the coin back towards him. "No, I was just thinking about Jacob. We've known each other since we were kids. We… um…" She stumbled over her words for a moment as she tried to come up with a near-truth cover-story for how she'd met Jacob. "After Victoria started to take care of me, she sent me to this boarding school. It was where we'd met. Jacob is a year younger than me, but he was super smart, and I missed out on a lot thanks to my parents dying and everything that happened with my uncle. He was always so sweet to me. There was a real nice garden there, but… um… the teachers, they'd get mad if you picked the flowers, you know?" Edward nodded with understanding. "But when I first got there, I was so broken. I wasn't quite over the death of my parents, and I was dealing with the stuff that my uncle had done to me… And then, here's this real sweet boy who comes to my room with a handful of dandelions."

"I gave you flowers," Edward pointed out.

"You gave me hyacinths."

"You want me to give you a handful of weeds?" Edward asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That's not the point," Bella said with a slight shake of her head.

"Then what is the point, exactly?"

"It's…" Bella opened her mouth to say more, found that she didn't exactly have a point for the story, closed her mouth and gave a slight shake of her head. "I guess that I don't exactly have one."

"Let's go inside?" Edward suggested. Bella took her hair clip from the railing and followed Edward inside. He sat down on the piano bench and patted the space next to him. Bella perched on the edge, and watched as Edward lifted the lid on the keys and aimlessly started to plunk at them. "Wait, I know," Edward said after a moment.

He started to play a slow, jazzy song. "I'm so unhappy, what'll I do?" Edward started to sing. "I long for somebody who will sympathize with me. I'm growing so tried of living alone." Edward lifted his fingers off from the keys after he'd finished the song and the last chord melted up into the air.

"That was real nice," Bella whispered to him. The double meaning of the song did not escape her at all. "You have a wonderful voice."

"Thank you," Edward said as he half turned to her. "Now then, I know a lot of songs, so what's your fancy?"

Bella ran through a mental list of all of the songs that she knew that Edward might know how to play as well. Then, she tried to narrow down her search to songs that had some double meaning as well. After all, two could very well play at that game.

"Okay, do you know 'Bird in a Gilded Cage'?" Bella asked after a moment.

"This one?" Edward said, and slowly started to play the opening to the song.

"That's it!" Bella agreed. "Can you start from the chorus?" Edward nodded, and started to play, and Bella joined in. "She's only a bird in a gilded cage, a beautiful sight to see. You may thing she's happy and free from care; she's not, thought she seems to be."

After the song had come to its end, Edward stilled with his fingers over the keys. He silently turned to Bella, who lifted her eyes from his hands to look him in the eye.

Their lips met in a brief but passion-filled kiss before Bella pulled away.

"I… I should go," she stammered as she scrambled to her feet.

"You don't have to," Edward said gently as he looked up at her.

"I should." Bella was already walking across the room to the door. Edward stood and followed her over, and then opened the door for her.

"I'll call you tomorrow?" he asked. Bella pressed her lips together but nodded anyway.


Edward's song is "All By Myself" by Irving Berlin. It's in the public domain, and you can find the sheet music on its wikipedia page.

Bella's song is "A Bird in a Gilded Cage" by Arthur J. Lamb and Harry Von Tilzer. It's also in the public domain. Although the song is about a woman who married a man for money instead of love, I think that Edward would read between the lines of the actual song to the reason why Bella choose to sing it.