A/N: I know, I know. I suck at updating in a timely fashion. Thank you guys for hanging in there, and all of your encouraging words. The only reason I have for the lack of flow is that since moving to the coast I have become one of the biggest beach bums on Tybee Island. Sigh. But here it is, and please enjoy...

Major thanks to my Beta, Hollowgo, for perusing this chapter for my screw ups. *hugs* I love that guy!

Disclaimer: Twilight is not mine, unfortunately... but I have ALOT of fun playing with it!

AlicePOV:

"Ahem."

My eyebrows came together, but I did not open my eyes as this sound made me resurface from the darkness of my slumber.

"A-hem," it sounded again, and I slowly opened my eyes to see Rosalie standing over me with her hands clutching tightly at her hips, her face screwed up into a look of 'what the hell, Alice?'.

"What?" I murmured sleepily, my eyes sliding closed again, and it was only then that the warm weight in my lap began to register, and I remembered the night before.

"Care to explain why you are on my couch with her head in your lap?" Rosalie said to me, and I opened my eyes to see her gesture at my thighs, which were indeed serving as Bella's personal pillows.

I looked down at Bella, who was sleeping peacefully, her arm hooked around my waist, and her face buried into my lower abdomen. I felt one side of my lips tug up into a smile at the sight, and the light feeling I got in my tummy when I realized we had slept all night in this position. Then I frowned when my neck gave a painful twinge as I looked back up at my best friend. I pried my left hand out from under Bella's neck to reach for my own, rubbing it gently as I sheepishly looked up at Rose.

"Emmett didn't tell you?" I asked her, clearing my throat from the morning husk my voice has when I wake.

"He never came home from the club last night. No call, no text, not a goddamn thing. So, can you explain that to me, as well?"

I put a finger to my lips as I glanced down at Bella, who was stirring with a mumble of my name that made me grin, and Rosalie roll her eyes, but I saw her fighting the smile tugging at her own lips. Rosalie acts like an icy bitch, but my best friend is a big softie at heart. "Where's C.J.?" I asked her as I maneuvered my way out from under Bella, replacing my lap with a down couch pillow beneath her pretty head.

"He's in the shower, and thankfully so, if you don't want him to know about the two of you," she said in a quieter tone as we made our way to the kitchen. "Now, what happened, and where is my husband?"

"Emmett is probably still at the station...what time is it, anyway?" I asked, taking a seat at her high bar and burying my face in my hands. It was surreal to me now, the events from a few hours before.

"It's eight 'o clock. Why is Emmett at the station? He didn't have to be on duty until tonight."

I gave a deep sigh and turned my face to the right as I watched her bustle around her skating rink sized kitchen, gathering things for a nice cup of coffee. "Bella's apartment was broken into last night, after she got home from hanging out with me."

Rosalie shot a look over at me from the corner of her eye. "Go on," she said, filling the coffee pot with water.

"We're pretty sure it was the same guy that drugged her last week at the club. He said a bunch of stuff, like that he was sorry they couldn't finish what they started, and that she moves as fast as he does... he was spying on us all night, I think. That means he knows where she works, and where she lives."

"What did he mean by she moves as fast he?"

My face turned red at the memory of our lips together. "He saw us kissing... and I guess he knew that we're pretty fresh into this... relationship."

Rosalie raised an eyebrow, turning to look at me, leaning against the counter. "So you kissed?"

"For quite a while," I sighed, wishing I could gush about how wonderful it was, but the situation had been tainted with this freak's touch. "I don't know how or why, but he knows my name, and threw that in Bella's face, to scare her."

Rosalie's face grew dark. "He called you by name? Could she not identify the guy by sight? Does she not remember what the guy at the club looked like?"

I shrugged. "The guy last night never came through her bedroom door. He stood outside it and taunted her." I paused, then cleared my throat. "He left her a long-stemmed red rose, when he left. Called himself romantic."

"Where does Em come into this?" Rosalie shot an aggravated glare at the clock face on the microwave oven mounted above the running coffee pot.

I explained to her that I called him, and he went into full cop mode after that, and that he was the one who sent us here after he and his back up had arrived at Bella's. "I don't know how to tell her this, but... I don't think she needs to be in that apartment, anymore," I said softly, staring at a cabinet across from me, just zoning out. What if he came back? He knew where she lived, for crying out loud. She lived alone... I lived on the other side of town, and the reason I made it to her as quickly as I did last night was because I floored it the whole way there and ran stop light after stop light. I was lucky I made it there without causing an accident, and I didn't want a repeat affair, if I could help it.

"So, what are you going to do? Allow a girl you've just met to stay at your house with you and your son?"

I had no idea... well... I guess... "No. I am going to offer to rent her the room above the garage at Mom and Dad's." My parents had a gated property north of town, with a spacious apartment above the five car garage, and if I explained to them about her situation, I was sure they would be gracious enough to rent it out to her.

Rosalie stared at me, a weird smile on her face as she slowly shook her head from side to side. "Alice, you amaze me. You meet a girl, fall in love at first sight, end up nursing her back to health after some asshole doses her, go out on one date, and then ask her to move into your parents' house." She threw her head back with a loud laugh, and I felt my face grow red with the blood of embarrassment flowing up, and I gave her the finger as politely as I could.

"Oh, shut up! It's not like that, and you know it... My parents have never even met any of my exes besides Jasper... So it's not like this routine for me, Rosalie!"

She wiped away a tear of mirth that had slid down her cheek, waving her other hand at me, telling me to simmer down. "I know," she said after her giggles had died down. "But you have to admit, it sounds hilarious when you look at it from my point of view."

I twirled a hand in the air in a way to say I didn't care. "She's in danger, Rose. I don't want to see her hurt... and thankfully, my family has the means to see that it doesn't happen." I was very grateful to have the surname Cullen, and the blood that ran through my veins. My family was old money, and old influence, and my father alone was an economic genius, on top of being the head of the board of directors of the hospital in which he worked.

"Are you at least going to call Esme and ask her, first? I mean, we can hardly show up with a moving truck and your girlfriend they've never met."

My heart tugged at the term "girlfriend". "She's not my girlfriend, technically. We've not made anything official... it's too soon."

Rose shook her head as she pulled two coffee mugs from the cabinet. "It wasn't too soon to make out with her last night, but it's too soon to consider her your girlfriend? That is ass backwards, Alice."

Who're you telling?

Before I could retort with that very thought, my son came into the kitchen, looking at me with a confused expression. "Is that Bella on the couch?" he asked me, then looked to his godmother, posing the same question silently with a scrunching of his brow.

Rosalie looked at me expectantly, and I knew what she was thinking: Explain your way out of this one, Alice. I'm not helping you.

I nodded to C.J., clearing my throat. "Yes. We hung out late last night, and instead of going all the way back to her apartment, we decided to come here because it was closer, and we were tired."

He nodded slowly, accepting my lie, and climbed up into the stool beside me at the high bar. "You and Bella are friends, now?"

"She's a really good friend. I like her."

He was quiet for a few minutes, and watched as Rosalie handed me a cup of black coffee, just how I like it. I took a sip, and it was then he said in a factual way, "Bella likes girls, too, you know."

I nearly spit my coffee across Rosalie's immaculate kitchen, and I heard Rose choking on her own drink. Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I gave my six-year-old a wide eyed stare. "How in the world do you know that, son?"

He shrugged, watching my face carefully. "It's not hard to figure out, Mommy. She wears boy clothes, and a hat most of the time. Her cell phone has a picture of a girl in a bikini on it, I saw it the other day when I was there. It's like that calendar Uncle Eddie has in his room, you know, from that magazine."

I mentally cursed Edward for his display of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit calendar... though I agreed with my baby brother that Miss March had it going on a few months ago... "Just because someone wears boy clothes doesn't mean they are gay, Christopher. I don't wear boy clothes, and I like girls. Never judge a book by its cover. It's what's inside that matters most. Please never forget that."

He ducked his head, biting his lip, fidgeting his hands in his lap. "Okay," he whispered, then he looked back up at me. "Then how about the way you two looked at each other when you met?"

I held my face carefully clear of reaction, but in reality, he had just blown a fuse in my brain, and Rosalie was not helping by turning around and making herself busy by pulling down a bowl for C.J.'s cereal. "...what are you talking about?" I said carefully, not looking at him.

"You know," he insisted, leaning towards me. "Mommy, it's okay if you like Bella, because I think she likes you, too."

"C.J., let's not talk about this right now," I said evasively, my face heating up. "I'm going to go wake her up and ask her if she wants to go to the park with us today when we walk Hyde... Where is he, anyway?"

"Outside. I let him out when I woke up," Rosalie said, finally speaking up. I gave her a death glare, and she shrugged. "What? I didn't want him pissing all over my carpet." She knew my glare had nothing to do with the chocolate lab that was probably running laps around the fence in her backyard.

"Did you take my guitar with you, at least?" C.J. asked me, cutting into the silent argument that my best friend and I were having with our eyes.

"Yes, I did, and she even taught me how to change the strings." I smiled at the memory, seeing her hands work clearly in my mind. Her hands were magical to me. I still couldn't wait to hear her play. "She sent some gifts with me, for you. A few packs of strings, and a cool little device she used to switch them."

"Where are they?"

I stopped, remembering leaving them on the end table in our living room at home. I couldn't tell him that, though... It would blow my cover story I'd already told him.

"Morning, guys." Her voice came from the door we had all entered through, saving me from an uncomfortable response to my son's question as his head whipped around as fast as mine, sending shivers through me. A grin stretched across his perfect face as he jumped down from the stool, and he raced over to her and threw his arms around her waist. "Bella! You're at my Aunt Rosie's house!" he squealed in excitement.

"You're kidding!" Bella laughed as she hugged my son back, patting him on top of his head. My heart swelled in my chest at the sight, and I heard Rosalie clear her throat pointedly at me, though I did not turn to meet her penetrating eyes. I knew that the two of them were buddies, I didn't need Rosalie's pointed stares and coughs to tell me that. "I was wondering what dark cave your mom had dragged me in last night," she went on, shooting a wink my way over the top of his head. I went crimson, biting my lip shyly and giving her a tiny smile. The things she did to me.

"Are you hungry, Bella?" Rosalie asked, surprising me and Bella simultaneously, both our eyes snapping to her face. "I've got some Lucky Charms, Pops, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch." She looked back and forth between mine and Bella's shocked expressions, a small frown forming on her face. "What?" she said, raising her hands up, palms out.

I shook my head at her. "Rosalie, you're one of a kind," I said, making a motion for Bella to enter the kitchen, and she took the seat on the other side of me so C.J. could sit in front of the bowl of Lucky Charms Rose slid across the counter.

She gave me a smirk and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, that's what your brother says, too, whenever I–"

I put my hands over my son's ears and shot her a warning glare, to which she chuckled and shook her head, looking back at Bella. "So? You want a bowl, or what?"

"No, thank you," Bella said quietly, sizing my best friend up with her eyes. I still never found out what Rosalie had said to her the morning before. "I'll grab something after while, I'm not big on eating in the morning."

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day," C.J. recited from my right, and I shook with a silent chuckle. "Tell her, Mommy."

I looked at Bella with a serious face and nodded. "He's completely right."

Bella swallowed her giggle, and Rosalie turned and walked to her sliding glass door that led to the backyard. Her sharp whistle made the three of us wince, and I gave Bella a glance. "You're about to meet the Devil Himself," I told her, referring to my son's trouble-making canine. "He's cute as a button, but don't trust him with your shoes."

Her confused look soon cleared up with the arrival of the little brown bear-like dog, tearing through Rosalie's kitchen the same way as he did at home, and then she broke out into a huge grin. "I love dogs! He's so cute!"

"Uncle Eddie got him for my birthday," C.J. told her, watching his friend zip around the counter in circles, full of energy. "I named him Hyde, like that guy on That 70's Show. He's got the best taste in music out of all of them... I don't like disco." All three of us adults cracked up at the way he scrunched his nose up at a genre of music that even the three of us were not around to live it.

"You're a rock-n-roll kinda man, huh?" Bella said knowingly, and C.J. nodded sagely.

"Give me Sabbath, or give me death," he quoted me, and I tousled his hair affectionately.

"That's my boy," I praised him, and looked up at me, giving his wide smile. I had raised him on the music that my Uncle Eleazar played for me and my cousin Benjamin when we were little kids, before they moved to Georgia when I was in sixth grade. The thought made my chest hurt. I really missed them, and my Aunt Carmen, too.

"Okay, Sabbath Boy, eat up, we've got to get a move on if we're going to the park," Rosalie said, tapping the counter to catch his attention. "Bella, if you want to use a bathroom, Alice can show you where to go."

"That'd be great," she sighed, hopping down from the stool, and I followed her lead.

She let me walk in front of her after snagging her belongings up from the table in front of the couch, and I could feel her eyes on me as I led her up the front stairs to the guest bathroom that C.J. and I used when we stayed over. I gave a look over my shoulder, grinning when I caught her eyes trained on my butt as we topped the stairs, and giggled when she blushed furiously, mumbling an apology. I turned to face her, walking backwards to the bathroom door, where I paused.

"It's okay," I assured her, not feeling so guilty for eye-raping her whenever she wasn't looking. "I look at you, too," I admitted in addition, and she slowly brought her eyes up from the floor when I told her, dark chocolate eyes lingering on my lips before meeting my gaze. I felt that feeling stir in my gut, and my feet acted of their own, closing the few feet of distance between us.

"C.J.'s right down there," she whispered as I rose onto my toes, bringing my face closer to hers, and I found that– for this moment– I didn't care.

"Rose has it under control," I whispered back, nudging my nose against hers, and she gave a tiny whimper of defeat as my lips brushed across hers, then grasped them firmly. I sucked her bottom lip between my teeth, running my tongue across it, and before I knew what was happening, I was against a wall with Bella pressed hard against me, her hands in my hair, pulling just the tiniest bit. I moaned into her mouth as her hands slid down to hold each side of my neck, her thumbs caressing beneath my jaw as our tongues battled in a frenzy, and she sucked in a sharp breath when she felt my hands grip her hips and pull her into myself even tighter. My body was screaming at me, telling me to go on, but my head was clear enough to know I needed to stop before it went too far and I ended up in the bathroom with this siren of strings. Apparently her thoughts were running the same line, because it was Bella that reluctantly pulled away with two gentle lip locks, her forehead against mine, both of us panting lightly.

"I have to shower," she whispered, and I nodded in agreement, swallowing hard as I let go of her waist when she stepped back.

"We'll be ready to go when you're done... that is, if you would like to join us?" I asked hopefully, and I melted at the smile she gave.

"I'd love to, if I'm not being a bother... have you heard from Emmett?"

I shook my head. "Nope, and neither has Rosalie. I had to tell her about... well, you know."

Bella nodded, then stepped closer for one more kiss before reaching down for her stuff she had thrown to the floor when she pinned me to the wall. The fresh memory combined with this kiss sent a wonderful tremor through me. "But I was thinking about some stuff last night while you were falling asleep that I want to talk to you about when we get a minute alone later," I hedged, looking away from her briefly, knowing she wasn't going to like my suggestion that she change living quarters.

"That's fine... Hey, Alice?" she called as I turned to go to use Rosalie and Emmett's master bath. "Thank you," she said with a tiny pink tint to her cheeks, and I smiled gently.

"Honestly, it's no problem," I answered, and she nodded, finally entering the bathroom and shutting the door behind her.

I could only hope she wouldn't freak about my idea...

BellaPOV:

I had to admit, Rosalie wasn't half as frightening when Alice was with me, in fact she was rather nice. The five of us (counting that sweet puppy of C.J.'s) piled up in Rosalie's wine colored SUV and went to the very park Alice and I had been to the night before, only in the light of the sun, it was hard to believe that a psycho was stalking me. That didn't mean that every pony tail that walked by me didn't get a hard stare down until I was satisfied that it wasn't James sneaking up to grab me and run. Alice noticed my jumpiness, and sent me a sympathetic look with a brief grasp and squeeze of my hand, though she let go as soon as she touched me, not wanting to draw C.J.'s attention. I remembered what I had heard when I woke up that morning, shocking me into lying on the couch for another full minute before I could stand: "Mommy, it's okay if you like Bella, because I think she likes you, too." I shook my head at the echo of C.J.'s voice saying that to Alice, and the evasion she used to avoid the subject.

"You okay over there?" Rosalie asked me as the two of us sat on the grass, watching Alice chase C.J., who was chasing Hyde, who was running with Alice's flip flop in his mouth.

I looked around to make sure she was talking to me, and she chuckled, shaking her head at me. "You know, I'm not... I mean, Alice is my best friend, and has been since grade school. She likes you, too much too soon in my opinion, so... I have to give you some incentive to not hurt her," Rosalie said softly, looking back at the spectacle before us, just as Alice made a dive for the dog and ended up rolling half way down a hill. We both laughed.

"I like her, too. So much it scares me," I replied, and Rosalie looked over at me.

"Emmett likes you. C.J. loves you. You don't seem half bad to me. Just please be careful with my Alice, huh?"

I nodded, thinking that Alice needed to be just as careful with me. Thinking about the kiss she'd given me in the hallway earlier, I felt a swooping feeling in my belly, and it ghosted a smile across my features. "I'm not an expert in relationships, but... this feels different. I think that this is... real?" I shrugged, blushing, not knowing how else to put it to her.

"Get Aunt Rose, Hyde!" We looked up at the sound of C.J.'s yell to see him pointing towards us, and he ran in our direction to get Hyde to follow him, the puppy's tongue trailing saliva strands behind him as the wind from the Sound blew through his dark fur.

"Oh, no," Rose said flatly, pushing herself to her feet and taking off running in the opposite direction, leaving me chuckling as she took Alice's place in the tag game the boys seemed to be playing. Alice came dragging up the hill she had rolled down, clasping her broken sandal in one of her hands, a disgruntled look on her adorable face, and fell out onto the grass beside me, huffing.

"You all right?" I asked her, giggling when she gave me a look, but her face softened immediately at my good humor, and she even gave a chuckle with me.

"Those two kill me," she panted, out of breath from her chase. "I swear that dog eats my fucking shoes on purpose... he never touches anyone else's!" She flashed me the sandal, which was indeed now useless, as he had torn the toe strap out. "He eats my shoes, drools on my Egyptian cotton sheets, poops on my kitchen floor, sheds fur all over the carpet and the sofa... I could choke my brother!"

I couldn't help but smile at her venting, because I found it cute, and she rolled her eyes at me, elbowing me in the ribs.

"Shut up, Bella," she laughed exasperatedly.

"You're twenty-three, and you're bitching like you're forty," I pointed out, and she lightly slapped my forearm, then slid her hand down to interlace our fingers. I noticed her eyes flicker to her son, but he was paying us no mind at all, being tossed around by his vivacious aunt, who was acting like a large child, herself.

We were silent for a few minutes, but I felt that she wanted to say something, and I remembered her words from earlier. "So, what were you thinking about while I was sleeping?" I prompted her, figuring that was what was currently weighing on her mind. I looked over at her to see her bite her lip, suck on it briefly, then let it fall loose.

"I think you should move out of your apartment," she blurted, and my eyes widened. What did she expect me to do? I had no money to move, and no place to move to.

"I can't," I replied, shaking my head. "I agree, it might be smart to do so, but I don't have the resources nor the destination."

"What if... what if I could get you a place? For probably less than what you pay where you are? I mean, how much is your rent?"

My eyebrows flew up into my hairline. "I pay five-eighty a month. It was the cheapest I could find in the Seattle area." How could she beat that?

"My parents have an apartment above their garage, it has a kitchen, a full bath, and two bedrooms... if I talk to them about letting you stay there, would you consider it?" She sounded very nervous proposing this to me, though I could understand why. "I'm there at least three times a week, it would give us plenty of time to get to know each other, and I can even bring C.J. there for his lessons so you don't have to go into Seattle on Saturdays. Please, Bella?"

I looked at the pout she put on, knowing it was mostly for show, but I also saw the underlying fear in her navy eyes that was serious enough to make me really think. "Wow," I breathed, looking away from Alice and out to the Sound, focusing on a sailboat that was moving across the horizon. "What a way to meet your parents. 'Hi Mr. and Mrs. Cullen, I'm Bella, you know, the girl that's falling for your daughter. Mind if I move in?'." I winced at the "falling for your daughter" part. I hadn't really meant to let that slip, and I had felt her hand flinch in mine when I said it.

"I know what it sounds like, believe me," Alice said, choosing not to address my slip up, and I felt a rush of relief. "But my parents are really compassionate people, and they'll look past the fact that we're dating. Bella, if this is your only option, I am begging you to take it. Please."

I looked back over into her eyes, and deflated under the pressure of the worry there in the deep blue pools. "Talk to them," I said in barely more than a whisper, my throat going dry with nerves.

She let go of my hand to throw her arms around my neck, burying her face in my shirt with a deep sigh of relief. "Thank you," she said softly, and I wrapped my arms around her and rested my chin on top her head, closing my eyes as I breathed in that sweet strawberry scent.

I did not know if I had been blessed or cursed the night I stepped into La Lune Bleu.

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