You cant hurry love
No, you just have to wait
She said love dont come easy
Its a game of give and take

You Can't Hurry Love ~ Diana Ross

Edward had a new resolution. He didn't care if it was already May. He was going to woo Bella, his best friend, to the best of his ability.

It has been two weeks since the phone call, and so far things have been going on well for the both of them. He had come to the conclusion to tread the water carefully. Bella was a strong woman both physically and mentally, but he didn't want to take any chances. So he was dealing his card right, with a little help from Jasper, and he hoped that it would work out.

"Hey you," he greeted as he tried to catch up with Bella. She was carrying a basketful of clean laundry to his quarters.

Bella glanced sideways and gave him a bright smile. "Hey." She tried to nudge the heavy oak wood door open before Edward held it open for her. She flashed him a grateful smile as she stepped inside.

He trod in after her. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

She looked up from unloading his folded laundry onto his dresser. "Shoot."

"Do you think maybe I should move in?" he inquired nonchalantly as he leaned against the dresser.

Bella frowned. "Move in where?"

"Your quarters."

She halted her movement and let the statement hung in the air for awhile. Edward didn't fidget. "Do you want that?"

"Are you okay with that?" he questioned back.

She shrugged. Her gaze dropped onto the laundry. "You're already sleeping there."

"But I still have to get back here every morning to get ready for work," he reasoned.

She fingered a particular black dress shirt. "Okay."

"You don't have to sound too excited about it," he teased, taking a step closer to her.

Bella laughed. "You hog the mirror, I'll dip your toothbrush into the toilet bowl," she threatened.

Edward rolled her eyes. He laid a hand on her hip and brought her closer. "Lame, Bella. Try another trick."

"Sure. I just swap your Creed with my perfume."

He grinned wolfishly. "I don't mind smelling like you all day. People are going to think I scored big with my wife," he said, his emerald eyes twinkling with mirth.

Blushing, Bella pushed Edward back a little before huffing out slightly. "Only you can take a practical joke and turn it into an innuendo." She took a look at the laundry basket and groaned. "Now I'm going to have to spend my afternoon moving your clothes. God knows with the amount of clothes you have, I'd be lucky to come out by next week."

"Hey, I resent that," Edward spoke, raising an eyebrow.

She gave him a breadbox look. "Edward, you have enough clothes for the entire population of Mongolia."

He laughed. It was probably true since Alice sometimes had a hand in choosing his wardrobe for him. He took her hands in his and swung them sideways. "Ditch the clothes for later. Up for a hotdog?"

Her eyes sparkled. "Add Italian Ice and I'm in."

"Deal."

"Hey, stop picking on my pickles," Edward reprimanded as he slapped Bella's hand away from his hotdog.

"But I don't have enough in mine!" she wailed, sticking out her bottom lip. He was sure she wasn't even aware that she was pouting.

Edward sighed. Bella and hotdogs are a handful. He noticed a slab of mayonnaise at the corner of her lips. Instead of telling her about it, he swooped down and licked it off on his own.

Bella froze. Her jaw hung open slightly.

"You got some mayo," he explained, shrugging a little. He turned his attention back to devouring his brunch.

He heard Bella mumbled something along the line of 'instead of telling me about it like other people' and 'sly guy'.

"Do you want to go on a honeymoon?" he inquired, out of the blue.

Bella chewed her food thoughtfully, swallowed and then laughed. "Are you serious?"

He turned his body fully to face her and raised an eyebrow. "What do you think?"

Bella frowned. "You're serious," she responded. It sounded more like a statement.

"So where do you want to go?"

She looked out at the water flowing down the stream. "I don't know. I haven't given it much thought before," she replied honestly.

Edward smiled. "Why don't you start now?"

"Aren't you going to be busy come midyear?" she inquired, curious.

He shrugged again. "I can make time."

Her eyes turned soft. "You don't have to, Edward. I'm perfectly content wherever you are."

Running a hand down her arm, he gave her a reassuring smile. "I want to."

She leaned back before taking another bite of her hotdog. A few joggers and kids on skateboards passed by their bench. "I want to watch Bon Jovi live again."

Edward laughed. "I can't say that came out as a total surprise."

Bella rolled her eyes. "I like Ljubljana in the summer."

"That can be arranged," he replied, dropping a kiss on her hair.

She pulled back and looked up at his face. "Thank you."

Edward smiled.

They continued eating in silence.

"Is it okay to talk about Phoenix?" Edward inquired suddenly after he tossed the wrappers into the trashcan. His eyes were fixed on hers, asking for a silent permission.

Bella held her gaze steady before finally giving a reluctant nod. She felt Edward wrapped his arms around her again and she settled back against his warmth.

"Why didn't you tell me about it?"

Biting her lip, she fiddled with her thumb. "I didn't tell many people about it, for starters."

Nodding, Edward continued rubbing his hand up and down her arm comfortingly. "What happened?"

She took in a steadying breath. It had been awhile since she had to revisit the memory. "I was in the project of putting together early 1900 Eastern Europe legacy over at the Phoenix Art Museum."

Edward gave an acknowledging nod. He remembered that summer. He did fly down to Arizona once to visit her.

"I ran into James while hiking the Camelback Mountain. I was cordial, but he had insisted we kept in touch," she continued. She played with a solitary bread crumb on her skirt. "Somehow, he found out where I was interning. He popped in everyday, always inviting me to lunch. I declined politely."

"One evening, he had waited for me at the museum parking lot. It was not as if I had a ride, so it would seem totally lame of me to turn him down. So I took his offer."

"On the way, we had stopped for dinner. He insisted, so I didn't have much choice. Everything seemed fine, we talked a bit. I ordered iced tea. You know I don't like sodas."

"I remember I excused myself to the ladies for awhile. When I came back, my iced tea tasted salty."

Edward inhaled sharply. Suddenly he didn't need to know the whole account to find out what happened.

Bella continued on calmly. "I thought maybe I had accidentally shaken some salt into it. So I left it half finished."

"We left the diner. I started getting dizzy. Next thing I saw was his smug smile, and him pulling his zipper down."

"I started to trash around. I was beyond horrified. He gave me a good smack across the cheek. I was immobilized for a good half minute after that."

"Then I started clawing him. His face, his arms. He shoved me away and gave me another smack."

"I fought with every bone in my body. I was still delirious from the shit he put in my drink, but I'd be damned if I let him stick his filthy dick into me," her voice dropped an octave. Edward noticed she was smoothing down her skirt in dead calm.

Then her lips curled into a small smile. "Somehow I got a lucky slug in. While trashing around, I managed to land a solid kick on his puny dick, and he howled in pain." She turned up briefly to look at Edward, whose face was a few shades rivalling the stop sign in town. "Much like the time I broke his nose that night, you know?" she quipped. Edward couldn't help but chuckled. He squeezed her shoulder, urging her to go on.

"I crawled out from his car and realized I was stranded in a desert just outside of Phoenix. Thankfully, a bus passed by. I took the bus, in my haphazard clothes, to the police station downtown."

"I took a rape kit. He never did get that far though. My urine had traces of roofies, not much, but it did the trick. Thankfully I ordered iced tea that night. I couldn't imagine if it was Coke."

"Apparently I didn't have enough to build a solid case against him. His family had ties with the Chief of Department. And the fact that I voluntarily stepped into his vehicle didn't help either."

"I didn't use my familial position because it was my own fight. I don't need to drag everybody into this mess."

They were quiet for awhile. Just watching the people passing by under the bright May sunlight. Edward ran a hand through his already dishevelled locks. He remembered his visit to Arizona that summer. It was not one of the best times of his life, but he had no idea that Bella was having a far worse time than he was.

"Why didn't you tell me about this when I was down there, Bella?" he questioned softly, trying to look for answer in the dark chocolate eyes.

The corner of her lips lifted slightly. "In between you moping after Tanya?"

She confirmed his fear. He shut his eyes and leaned against the back of the bench. "I'm sorry, love," he whispered, pulling her close to his side while dropping a chaste kiss on her hair.

"Don't be, Edward," she coaxed, rubbing his t-shirt clad chest soothingly. "And please leave the matter alone, Edward. I know how you function."

He peered down at her incredulously. "You can't expect me to do nothing after you told me all that??"

Bella pulled away. "That's exactly the kind of respond I was trying to avoid. You going all Incredible Hulk on me. You're too pale to pull off being green, Edward," she reprimanded, her tone serious.

Edward looked at his wife like she had grown another head, and sputtered out laughing. "Bella!"

She grinned triumphantly and returned to his embrace. "There. Awkward sappy moments gone in two seconds. I should start a business," she joked.

Chuckling, Edward shook his head in amazement. He grabbed one of her hands and played with her fingers. He found that he loved her nails. "Is that why you picked up kickboxing?"

She shrugged. "Among other things," she answered. "I figured if my heel can exert that much injury on that part of his body, I wonder if I could do the same on other, less controversial parts."

Edward winced. "Ouch. Remind me to never get into your bad side."

Beaming, Bella hopped off the bench, pulling Edward with her. "Come on. Lunch with the parents, remember?"

Edward groaned. The worse thing than being Bella's punching bag, is definitely to endure an afternoon with their parents.

"Bella, I missed you!"

Bella laughed and returned the hug from her mother, Renee. "How are you, mother?"

"Oh, same ole same ole," she replied carelessly. Renee turned her attention to Edward, who was standing by Bella, holding her hand in his. "Edward, come here and give me a hug!"

"Bella!" Another female voice floated down from the kitchen. Esme jogged into the living room and threw her arms around her daughter in-law. "I missed you, kiddo!"

"Great," Edward complained, his hand still holding his wife's tightly. "Even my own mother misses you more than she does me."

The women laughed. Both Esme and Renee sidehugged Edward from each side. "Aww, Edward. Don't hate me cause I'm lovable," Bella teased.

Edward gave her a crooked smile. "That you are, love," he remarked.

Bella didn't have time to compute any reaction when Esme and Renee started tagteaming against both her and Edward.

"I'm sure Bella isn't going anywhere, Edward. Why don't you let go of her hand for awhile?" Esme quipped. And God help the young couple, their mothers exchanged gleeful high fives.

Blushing, Bella started to tug her hand away while Edward clamped it tighter. "Are you guys stealing away my wife from me?" Edward interrogated, pushing Bella behind his back.

"Mother!" Bella whined. "Now look what you did! He goes all cavemen on me!"

Renee laughed. "Now, Edward. We can talk this over. Why don't you hand Bella over for awhile? No more than thirty minutes, I swear to you," she negotiated.

Esme shook her head furiously. "An hour."

Tapping his loafer against the marble floor, Edward held up another hand to reject the offer. "Forty five. Then she must be handed back, good as new."

Esme and Renee turned to look at each other, an amused expression on their faces. "Deal."

Chuckling, Edward turned to face his exasperated wife. He reached down to cradle her face and looked into her eyes. "Now, be good. This is a rare deal. Don't let me down."

"Yes, mama san," she replied sarcastically before marching off into the kitchen.

"No more World War II fiction book for your night read, Bella," Edward called to her retreating back. She responded by looking over her shoulder and sticking out her tongue. Esme and Renee giggled, swatting each other on the arms.

Lunch was a jovial affair. For now.

Renee and Esme had combined forces and cooked up an elaborate lunch. Irish Lamb Stew, Seafood Linguini and Panna Cotta. Before walking to Park Avenue, Bella had rushed to their penthouse to grab a Tupperware of chocolate-dipped cannoli. Edward was surprised.

"When did you prepare that?" he had questioned as they were walking hand in hand toward Park Avenue.

"Last night," Bella had simply replied. "While you were sleeping," she had added, grinning.

Edward had chuckled. His wife was too crafty for her own good. She knew he would tamper with the food if he was awake during the preparation.

Edward had left the living room and the ladies to meet up with Carlisle and Charlie on the deck. Both older men were playing checkers, and Edward had laughed at the irony of two New York big shots playing board games at the backyard of their home.

After shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries with both father figures, Carlisle and Charlie had unanimously voted to bring out the carom board.

Edward had groaned.

All animosity toward that particular family pastime was answered when Bella had stepped into the deck, bearing a bowl of spinach and strawberry salad. Suddenly, a small black disk projected into the air and landed directly into the bowl, which later had generated a mixed reaction.

Howls and laughter from Carlisle and Charlie.

"Edward!" from Esme.

"Oh my flying potato" by Renee.

And in-house favourite: "Honey, I didn't know you suck that much in board games?" by Bella.

The flying carom episode was forgotten once the entree was brought out. The Swans and Cullens sat around the teak round table, eating and chatting away happily.

"Esme, the other day you talked about refurnishing..." Renee voiced out. Edward did well by tuning the domestic talk out.

Esme nodded. "Oh yes. I was thinking about transforming the studio into a nursery," she replied, dabbing at non-existent soup droplet at the corner of her mouth.

Renee clapped her hands enthusiastically. "What a great idea!" She turned in her seat to face Charlie. "Let's do the same with our Bella's old playing room."

Bella frowned. "Are you guys doing the weird in-vitro thingy? Cause having a sibling quarter of century younger than you is so not cool."

"I second that," Edward gave his input as he shovelled another forkful of linguini into his mouth.

Renee rolled her eyes. "Not for our child. Your child."

Bella choked on her white wine while Edward almost coughed out bits of linguini and clam.

"What do you think? Yellow? Powder blue? I'm going for a more unisex look, you know? When the child grows older we can have the room customized to his or her needs," Esme suggested.

Renee nodded in agreement. "That sounds logical. How about I bring some interior magazines by later this evening so we could swap ideas?"

"Lovely, Renee. I'll have your favourite cinnamon buns ready!" Esme enthused.

"Uh, mother, Esme," Bella managed to croak out. "Aren't you being a little premature about everything?"

Edward, who was still recuperating, raised a hand in agreement. He shot a look at Carlisle and Charlie, who shrugged their shoulders helplessly.

Esme waved a hand dismissively. "Nonsense. It's better to be prepared. You know how difficult to book Pablo for decorating nowadays. It can take months, years, even."

Edward and Bella exchanged panicked looks.

"You mean, you're being equipped for, say, if Alice and Rosalie happen to pop out little Cullens and Whitlocks earlier, right?" Edward supplied hopefully.

Esme exchanged stern looks with Carlisle. "Emmett is not reproducing until he knows to differentiate between a bib and a baby napkin," she replied.

"And Alice is too consumed with her schedule to be rearing children," Carlisle put in. "But I know Jasper has been wanting a child for a while now," he added as an afterthought.

"Uh, I have school and father, the van Gogh I was talking about, it may be available soon," Bella quickly added.

Charlie flashed a serene smile. "Why don't you just send Leah to secure it?" Leah was Bella's personal assistant at the auction house, also acting as a liaison with the museum.

"You know I like to do stuff on my own," Bella protested.

"Yes. And I have to tend the takeover soon and secure very important contracts within a couple of months. Not exactly the best time for procreating," Edward agreed full heartedly.

Esme hmped, while Renee raised a delicate eyebrow.

"Bella, your mother and I are getting older by the minute. We would like a chance to see our grandchild before our passing," Charlie spoke.

Bella groaned. "Oh, please, father. You're as healthy as a horse!"

Carlisle raised an eyebrow. "I don't know about that, kids. What's with the amount of carcinogen circulating New York air nowadays," he added.

Edward rolled his eyes.

Esme placed a placating hand on Bella's lap. "Think about it, Bella. He or she would have your beautiful eyes, and Edward's hair. Don't you want that?"

Bella looked over helplessly at Edward. "No. I pity the child. Edward's loud hair is too much for the baby to handle."

"Nice, Bella," Edward replied, smiling despite his exasperated face. The elders just broke into laughter.

"All I'm saying, give it a thought, why don't you?" Esme added.

Bella sighed. She stole a look at Edward. He gave her an encouraging smile.

"Alright."

A/N: Holy crap, you guys are fantastic! Thank you for the feedback. And breaking noses IS fun! I'm glad I manage to settle the insecurity/uncertainty issues between them. Now on to more domestic dramas! There will be plenty of angst after this. I wonder how I'm going to pull it off. Anyway, lemme know what you think about this chapter =)