I insisted on going to work the next day, although I did let my principal, Mrs. Downy, know that I had been in an accident. She had sighed, shaking her head and muttering something about "uncoordinated little girls." I left her office before breaking into an all out scowl. She had been a teacher for 35 years, and she had little patience for new teachers and young people. The students were terrified of her.

During my prep periods I researched possible plays for the spring. Thursday was the last day of school before break, so I didn't have a lot to do as far as class preparation. The more I thought about doing a classic, the more excited I got. I looked up script pricing and cast sizes, and settled on A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's a funny play, and I knew the students could have fun with it while learning more about Shakespearean theater. As an added bonus, anything by Shakespeare would be guaranteed quick approval by the administration.

I didn't bother sticking around after the bell rang. My head was pounding as I made my way down to the choir room. Alice arranged for Rosalie to give me a ride home today so I wouldn't have to drive. "Just in case," she had said firmly. No amount of arguing would change her mind. She had taken Jasper to the airport this morning after dropping me at school, and she promised a quiet evening at home tonight. I wasn't holding my breath.

When I stumbled into my apartment, I almost didn't recognize the place. It was like Christmas had vomited all over the room. Tinsel was draped artistically over the windows; ornaments hung from the lamps; a mirror, complete with miniature skater figurines and fake snow, adorned the coffee table; electric candles burned in the windows. Centered in front of my windows was an impressive fir tree, wrapped in popcorn and more tinsel, with the star my grandmother had given me when I was 12 perched on the top.

I stared around me in awe for a moment before heaving a sigh. "Alice?" I called tentatively.

She popped out of the kitchen, bouncing on the balls of her feet and grinning crazily. "Do you love it? With your wrist and your concussion and everything I thought maybe decorating would be hard for you andIloveChristmasIhadsomuchfuntoday!" Her words blended together as she darted forward and hugged me.

I laughed, a little breathless. "Where did you get all of this? I'm sure I didn't have any of it lying around or in my storage locker." I moved further into the apartment and saw a large poinsettia on the kitchen table. It smelled like cookies and pine. I panicked a little.

"Alice, why does it smell like you've been baking? Please tell me you didn't go near the oven," I begged her. We were lucky the apartment building hadn't burned down yet.

"Relax, it's a wax melt. I hit up that kitschy craft store down by the boardwalk this morning," she said, rolling her eyes at me. "Like I would be stupid enough to bake." She shuddered. "Everything will be done by tomorrow, I need to buy a few more things for the tree." She hummed happily as she adjusted a string of popcorn.

"OK, OK," I said. "Why don't I bake some real cookies then, and you can play with frosting?"

She squealed again, clapping her hands. Some days I think that if you put Alice in a pair of footie pajamas she would look exactly like an eight year old little girl.

I was mixing batter and frosting, covered head to toe in flour when someone knocked on the door.

"Alice, can you get that?" I called into the living room.

A couple minutes later Alice came into the kitchen, a grimace on her face.

"What's wrong?" I searched her face, looking for something, anything that would tell me why she was so upset.

"He sent you flowers. There's a note. I didn't read it," she said in a flat, low voice, thrusting a vase full of brightly colored blossoms at me. My heart stopped for a second as I tried to interpret her words. He sent you flowers. Edward? He didn't even know where I lived. And why would Alice be so upset about it?

Then it registered. Jacob had sent the flowers. I reached out and grabbed the card tucked into the arrangement.

Bella,

You won't answer my phone calls and I was kicked out of your hospital room, so I'm trying Plan B. I love you so much baby. I screwed up, big time. We need to talk about it so we can get past it. Please call me. I'm useless without you.

Love,

Jacob

Wordlessly, I handed the card to Alice before throwing the flowers into the trash. I kept the vase. No sense in letting it go to waste. Jacob had called me four times yesterday after I got home from the hospital. Eventually I silenced my phone so I could sleep in peace.

"Maybe I should meet up with him," I said slowly, turning back around and starting to separate cookies on the baking sheets. Alice glared at me pointedly.

"Are you kidding me? After the shit he pulled? I know you're a sucker for the boy, Bella, but you're not that stupid. Don't tell me this is about closure. You've closed the hell out of that sucker," she said.

"He's not going to go away," I whined. "What if he tries to see me at Christmas?"

"That's what police chief daddies with shotguns are for," she said, in a very "this is for your own good" tone.

"Why don't you call Edward?" she asked me, a little too innocently. "We could invite him over for a movie night. You could call Rosalie and Emmett too. Wouldn't that be fun?" This was the hundredth or so not so subtly dropped hint Alice had given about Edward since yesterday morning, and as annoying as I found it, her suggestions were appealing. The guy saved my life, for crying out loud, and looked good doing it. I sighed. I was carrying around way too much baggage right now to deal with a new guy.

"Maybe some other time… can we just order Chinese food and watch Sunset Boulevard tonight?"

She gave me a small smile. "Of course. I'm ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille!" She struck a dramatic pose. After a short giggling fit, she grabbed her cell phone and the menu I kept on my fridge and went back into the living room to call in our order. I took my chance and opened up a new text on my phone.

Stop calling me. Leave me alone. Don't send anything else.

Alice wouldn't approve, but I thought maybe if I gave him some kind of response, he would understand that we couldn't repair anything. Ignoring him was only making him more persistent, maybe a negative response would help.

*******

By Thursday afternoon, I had seven more missed calls from Jake, including three voicemails, and a bouquet of flowers on each day. Apparently my text message had just fanned the flames. Alice had been right. She always was.

"He's trying to antagonize you into meeting with him," she grumbled after I tossed out the latest floral delivery. She was perched on my couch, sketching out the long, graceful lines of a cocktail dress. In celebration of Christmas break, I had invited Rosalie over for eggnog and rum. We had gotten out of school at 1:00 p.m., and we didn't have to go back until January 3rd, the first school day after New Year's. Sometimes, my job really rocks.

Rosalie joined me in the kitchen, pouring more rum into her glass. "I told Emmett he and Edward should come over tonight, is that OK? Emmett's done around 6, and Edward should get off by 7:30."

"I guess, Rose, but I was planning on getting kind of silly tonight," I said, shaking the full liter of rum at her. "Later, we can whip out the hot chocolate and Bailey's!"

She laughed. "That sounds fabulous. I was inches from tossing my entire jazz ensemble out a second story window today. I could use a good night of debauchery." She smirked at me, winking and raising and eyebrow.

"La la la la la!" I put my fingers in my ears and closed my eyes. "I don't want any descriptions about what you will be doing with Mr. McCarty when you get him to bed, thank you very much. Save it for Alice."

To say Alice and Rosalie were getting along would be the understatement of the year. It made sense, on some weird cosmic level, that they would love each other. They had each been instrumental in my life, Alice as a teenager and young adult, Rosalie as a working professional. I fostered a slim hope that when Alice moved back to Seattle she would start taking Rosalie with her to the mall and leave me out of it.

By the time Emmett joined us around 6:30, I was half in the bag and getting loud. Rosalie and I were in the middle of an original interpretive dance to the tune of "Get Low" when Emmett walked in with a couple of bottles of wine.

"EMMETT!" Rosalie stopped dancing abruptly and jumped at him, giggling hysterically. Rose doesn't hold her liquor very well, although I can't say I do much better. She nearly knocked Emmett over, all 6'4", 230 pounds of him. He caught himself and then wrapped his arms around her, handing off the wine to Alice. Alice cheered and high tailed it to the kitchen to find a corkscrew.

"How much have you had to drink, Rosie?" he asked, laughing. "Because it looks like I have a lot of catching up to do."

We decided the best way for Emmett to "catch up" would be to play our favorite movie drinking game. Alice cued up the DVD while I explained the rules to Emmett.

"Every time a rule is triggered you have to take a drink. You get to take TWO drinks, since you're so behind," I said.

Emmett laughed. "Bella, I've played drinking games before. If not to quite such a girly movie."

"Don't interrupt!" I huffed. "The Princess Bride is the PERFECT drinking movie. Lots of repetition. So. The rules. Every time Inigo says 'Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father, prepare to die.' You drink." I raised my eyebrows. "Got it?"

"Got it. What else?"

"Every time someone has a sword fight. Every time Wesley says 'As you wish.' Any time Wesley wins a fight against anything. Every time Buttercup has a dream. And every time the movie shows Fred Savage and his grandpa!"

Emmett was staring at me now with a skeptical look on his face.

"Bella, have you seen this movie before? Because with the list you just read out, you're going to give yourself alcohol poisoning." I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever, Em. If you're not man enough to play…" I trailed off, challenging him with a half smile and a wink. That did the trick.

"Game on, Bells. You're gonna regret this."

Halfway through the movie, Rosalie was passed out, Alice was sloshed, and Emmett and I were roaring drunk. We weren't really paying attention to the rules anymore, just drinking and laughing.

There was a knock on the door. "Oooooh I bet that's Edward," I cheered, jumping up and running to the door.

"BE COOL, Bella!" Alice called, grinning from ear to ear. Pssht, right. I've been drinking for hours, no part of me is prepared to be cool.

"INCONCEIVABLE!" I called back, giggling like crazy.

With that, I flung the door open, slipped outside and wrapped my arms around him. "You're here!" I sang into his chest. I looked up, expecting to see his dazzling green eyes staring at me with that crazy intense gleam. Instead, I met a very different pair of eyes, almost black, set in a russet skinned face, his delicious eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Shit!" I cried, before dropping my arms and backing away. "What the hell, Jake?"

Now he looked really confused. "Who did you think I was?"

"It's not important. What's important is that I hate you and you can't come in," I tried to sober up, to focus, but I was wobbly and slurring my words. I hated that he was here, that he was seeing me like this. I hated that no matter how much I hated him, he was still mind numbingly gorgeous. He smiled at me as my emotions flashed across my face. Conceited ass.

"Bella," he said softly, stepping forward so that I was pinned between him and the wall. "Bella can't I come in for just a second? We can talk… just for a minute. Please?"

He was making bedroom eyes at me now, leaning in and blowing softly into my ear. He knew how horny I got when I drank. I couldn't get any farther away, and my drunk brain was incredibly confused. Wasn't there a rule about this? Didn't I get break-up sex? NO, my inner Alice yelled. He's a cheating bastard and he doesn't get to have you anymore!

Jake knew I was torn, and he used it. He moved closer still, pressing me against the wall and kissing my neck. Inner Alice got louder. I pushed on his chest, but he didn't back away, just continued to drag his lips down my throat.

"Jacob, stop," I said firmly. He just hummed into my neck a little, biting down gently. I pushed harder, trying to situate my knee between his legs.

"Bella," he moaned. That was taking things too far.

"You don't get to say my name like that anymore," I said. Then I brought my knee up sharply, coming into contact with his balls and what felt like a fully formed erection. That's going to sting.

He doubled over, howling in pain and grabbing his crotch. "What the hell, Bella? Seriously, you fucking bitch! What the hell is your problem?"

"My problem is that you cheated on me! My problem is that you were going to propose to me after cheating on me. My problem is that after all that you still think you can walk in here and OWN me!" I never would have spoken to him this way sober, but the alcohol was pulling every angry thought out of my mouth. Word vomit city.

He was struggling to his feet now, looking outraged and hurt. His face screwed up like he was going to cry, so I decided to push him further.

"Did I hurt your feelings, Jakey? Did I make you feel a tiny bit of guilt for your man whoring? You didn't think you were going to waltz into my apartment and spread my legs did you? I hope Tanya was a good piece of ass. I hope she made you come all night long. Then, maybe it would have been worth it. I doubt it though." He was walking toward me know, face bright red.

"Shut the fuck up about her! You don't know the first thing about her because you never fucking let me explain! You're going to let me explain," his voice lowered dangerously.

Without warning, his hands shot out, wrapping around my upper arms and pinning me forcefully to the wall.

"Jake," I whimpered. "You're hurting me."

"You have to listen," he sounded slightly crazy now. His eyes were full of tears. Unconsciously, his hands tightened.

"You're scaring me," I was crying, too, twisting in an attempt to get away. My legs were pinned by his, so I couldn't use the knee maneuver that had saved me earlier.

"Get the hell away from her," a voice growled down the hall.

I whipped my head around and there was Edward, in all his life-saving glory. Even as panicked and upset as I was, I noticed the way his hair swept back from his forehead and the way his biceps strained against his cotton t-shirt. Horny, drunk Bella is observant like that.

"Edward," I whispered. I was still too disoriented to move. Edward, however, was striding down the hall, his hands clenched in fists at his side. His eyes were doing that crazy intense thing, but it was scary now, directing laser beams of rage at Jake. It reminded me of how he looked at the hospital, when he kicked Jacob out of my room.

Before Jake could do much more than flinch, Edward had one arm around his neck and another at his waist. Jake let go of me and tried to wriggle free. I slid slowly to the ground, gasping as the blood flooded back into my arms.

Watching them wrestle was surreal, to say the least. Jacob is huge, but Edward is no weakling. For a few minutes, all they did was scuffle. I don't know who threw the first punch, but suddenly they were locked in an all out brawl.

My door swung open and Emmett ran out, tackling the two of them and pulling them apart.

"Get off, Emmett! Let me kick the bastard's ass!" Edward growled, struggling against his brother.

Jacob was panting, but still. The fight seemed to have drained out of him. He stared at a spot on the floor, not moving, not speaking.

"What. The. Fuck." Emmett sputtered, torn between confusion and anger. "You're grown men! Having a bar fight in the hallway! Grow the fuck up. Edward, go inside and pull yourself together. Jacob, get the hell out of here," he said firmly. Edward stood up swiftly, hands clenched back at his side, and stormed into my apartment. When Jake tried to speak, Emmett raised his hand to stop him.

"Seriously, dude, do not test me," he said. "I don't know what happened yet, but I'm betting it was not a shining moment for either of you. Leave before I have to kick your ass myself. Don't come back unless Bella invites you back. Got it?" Defeated, Jake nodded.

Emmett turned to me.

"Bella?" he said softly, stooping down to look me in the eye. "Bella, honey, are you OK? Honey, say something."

"Thank you?" I whispered, still in shock. It came out as a question, and Emmett laughed a little. He held his hand out to me, and I grabbed it, steadying myself as I stood. I wobbled back into the apartment and collapsed on the sofa next to the still sleeping Rosalie. Alice was nowhere to be seen, but the door to my office was closed again. She had probably gotten tired of waiting for me to come in and gone to bed.

Emmett sat down next to me and silently handed me a glass of water.

"You want to tell me why my little brother was beating the crap out of your ex?" he asked. He looked like he was trying not to laugh.

"Jacob came by to talk. I yelled at him, pushed him. I even kneed him in the crotch," I smiled half-heartedly at that. Emmett smiled too, but stayed silent, waiting for me to continue.

"He kept saying that I had to listen to him, he had to explain. I was… well am drunk, and I wasn't being very nice, and then … he just lost it."

"The bastard had her pushed up against the wall when I got here," Edward's voice interrupted me. He was leaning against the living room wall. He looked mostly calm, but a hint of the rage I saw earlier still played across his features. "I'm sorry, Bella," he said, looking into my eyes. "I just couldn't handle seeing him touch you like that. No one should ever touch you like that."

If Emmett hadn't been there, I probably would have engaged him in another staring contest, but as things stood I blushed and looked down at my hands instead. Emmett laughed, breaking through the awkward silence.

"Well you're just lucky one of the neighbors didn't find you first. I'm sure the cops would have gotten involved." He stood up and scooped up Rosalie, who hadn't so much as stirred in the last five minutes. "I'm going to take Rose home. Edward, can you stay with Bella until she's OK to sleep?"

"Of course," he said smoothly, smiling at me in a reassuring way.

"Goodnight, Bells," Emmett said, kissing the top of my head and making his way over to the door.

Edward and I sat in silence for a few moments after Emmett left. Then Edward crossed the room in a few quick strides and sat beside me, reaching out for my hand.

In that one simple gesture, all the tension I had been holding in released. I collapsed against him, sobbing. His arms wrapped around me, as naturally as if we had been doing this for years. He rocked me back and forth, gently whispering soothing words. He smelled amazing, like boy and soap, with a sweet unidentifiable edge. Without realizing it, I started taking deep breaths, inhaling through his t-shirt. The deep breathing, combined with his scent and the secure feeling his arms gave me helped slow my heartbeat and stopped my tears.

After I stopped crying, he began humming an unfamiliar melody. Something about it made me feel tired, and his arms were so comforting… so safe. I sighed deeply and relaxed into his chest, succumbing to sleep.

Author's Note: Jacob's ass-kicking is dedicated to driemygrl…sorry that she didn't throw anything, but a knee to the crotch is pretty good right?

Twilighted teaser:

Halfway through the movie, Rosalie was passed out, Alice was sloshed, and Emmett and I were roaring drunk. We weren't really paying attention to the rules anymore, just drinking and laughing.

There was a knock on the door. "Oooooh I bet that's Edward," I cheered, jumping up and running to the door.

"BE COOL, Bella!" Alice called, grinning from ear to ear. Pssht, right. I've been drinking for hours, no part of me is prepared to be cool.

"INCONCEIVABLE!" I called back, giggling like crazy.

With that, I flung the door open, slipped outside and wrapped my arms around him. "You're here!" I sang into his chest. I looked up, expecting to see his dazzling green eyes staring at me with that crazy intense gleam. Instead, I met a very different pair of eyes, almost black, set in a russet skinned face, his delicious eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Shit!" I cried, before dropping my arms and backing away. "What the hell, Jake?"