Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight! But I do own a backlog of new books that I haven't got round to reading yet, as I spend too much of my life either reading or writing fanfiction. (Seriously, my bookclub is going to be pissed off with me tomorrow!)

Edward

I was completely unable to wipe the grin off of my face on our way back to Bella's place. We kept giving each other sneaky glances and grins as we drove, and I had to resist the urge to pull over several times.

The Chief's car was still in the driveway when we got back, and as I pulled up behind him I cursed myself for not having called Carlisle already. My confidence in him had been such that I'd never even considered the fact he may not have been able to talk Charlie into letting me stay here for now. And now it was too late. I watched the front door open, and there was Chief Swan, waiting for us with his arms crossed and a stance that meant he really wanted to show me who was boss.

Ok Charlie, you hold all the cards, so your balls are officially bigger today.

I crossed my fingers as we walked towards the house, hoping that I wasn't about to have a very embarrassing conversation in which the Chief told me to get the hell off of his property. Bella snatched my hand up as we walked, and I saw Charlie's lips purse slightly as she did. I tried to shake her hand off, but she glared at me and carried on regardless.

"Hey Dad, how did you get on with Carlisle?" She sounded bright and cheery, and absolutely confident. I glanced over at her beaming smile and hoped that she knew something that I didn't.

"Ok… I thought you were going to the store?" We were nearly at the door now, but he didn't move, blocking our entrance. We pulled up short on the porch, and I glanced back at Bella again.

"Well, I guess now you know why we really left."

"Hmmm…" Charlie took a step back, then turned and walked into the house. As we entered, I watched him disappear into the living room. I could hear a game playing on the TV and I knew that would be the last we would see of him until dinner. As we walked past him into the kitchen I spotted a pile of blankets and a couple of pillows on one end of the couch. I guess I have a bed for the night after all.

I followed Bella into the kitchen, but as soon as she saw me she started making shooing actions at me with her hands towards the sitting room, and Charlie. "Go and sit and watch sport or something Edward." She hissed at me, as she continued to try and get me out of the kitchen.

"I don't really watch sport." I wasn't sure why she didn't want me here with her, but my feelings were a little hurt nonetheless.

"Then go and sit and pretend to watch sport Edward. Go and try and bond with Charlie. Carlisle's right, it would really help us if he was on our side right now."

She kept gesturing for me to go, and I gave in and headed to where Charlie was engrossed in a baseball game. I sat down on the couch, and wondered if I should say anything. He had always seemed to take his sports very seriously, and I didn't want to disturb him, so after a moment's hesitation I settled back and watched the game. We sat in silence, with me glancing at him occasionally, but his eyes never left the screen.

"So… I guess we're going to be seeing a lot of each other for a while." I started when Charlie finally spoke to me, during a commercial break in the game.

"Er…. Yeah…. I guess." Very articulate Edward. In truth I had no idea what to say to the man. I was amazingly grateful to him for agreeing to take me in, but I hadn't needed to rely on someone else for so long, expressing my gratitude to him seemed very alien to me.

"Just don't make me regret it son. Eh?" He was looking at the bottle of beer in his hand rather than me, and I began to really hope he wasn't going to elaborate on exactly how I could possibly make him regret it.

"I'll do my best Sir."

"Bedtime - You'll be down here and Bella will be upstairs. No discussion." Ok, so he could elaborate…

"No Sir."

"And I guess you'd better call me Charlie."

"Ok. Thanks… Charlie."

The commercials finished, and we were back to the game. Charlie's focus returned to the TV, and I began to consider what he'd just said.

Obviously he wasn't just talking about sleeping arrangements, had he effectively just warned me off anything physical with Bella while I was under his roof? Well that could have been timed better…

I scowled and continued to watch the game, wondering if a child of the 21st Century would abide by the instructions of their elders without question, as I had been taught.

***

As Bella had expected, we had fish for dinner, and since waking up as a human it was the first meal that I had not enjoyed. In fact it was quite disgusting. I hadn't liked to say so to Bella, but I had tried larger fish as a vampire, and I'd found them quite repulsive even then. Actually eating the fish itself though, well that was a whole different experience, and as I choked it down I could see she was looking at me with amusement. Clearly my poker face had a lot to be desired these days.

By the time we had eaten and cleared away after dinner, there was very little time left to do anything before it was time for bed. Both Bella and Charlie had to get up early for work the next day, and I was exhausted. After I'd taken my turn in the bathroom I came downstairs to find Bella sitting on the couch, on the freshly made bed she had obviously just created for me. I wandered over and sat beside her, pulling her into my arms as I did.

"I know I'm not allowed upstairs tonight, but is there any chance of you staying downstairs?" I smiled in the way I knew she couldn't resist, but although I wished she could stay with me I didn't doubt that Charlie was waiting for her to go back upstairs to her room.

"Charlie had his little chat with me about that earlier as well; I think you're well aware of the rules Mr. Cullen." She bit her bottom lip and batted her eyelashes at me, making my cock spring to life at her teasing.

"Urgh, Bella love, please don't do that…" I threw my head back against the couch, willing my body to behave itself, as I wasn't going to get a lot of sleep at this rate.

She threw her head back and laughed a tinkling carefree laugh, and she couldn't have been more beautiful. I didn't remember a time when I had ever seen her as relaxed and as happy as she had been in the last couple of days, and I hugged her closer to me simply basking in her happiness. "Charlie's waiting for me upstairs…. We don't really want to upset him on your first night here…." I could hear the regret in her voice as she looked towards the doorway.

"I know. I don't want you to go though…" I bent down and nuzzled into her neck, kissing her gently. She was wearing the same T shirt and cotton pants she wore to bed every night, but for some reason this evening they looked just that bit more alluring.

"I don't want to go either…" I felt her hands snake around my waist, as one hand slipped under my shirt onto my bare stomach. I shivered as a trail of fire followed her hand across my skin, and I searched for her mouth with mine.

There was a creak from above us as Charlie moved about upstairs, and we both froze. Gently we eased apart, the look of longing in Bella's eyes tugging hard at my heart. I longed to sleep with her in my arms again tonight, the fact that she would be so near yet so far was going to be nothing short of torture. "I can't believe I have to spend the night away from you. I always wanted to sleep, but only so that I could do so with you."

She moved forward on the couch as if to stand, then leant back again and kissed me softly on the mouth, putting her hand against my cheek as she did. "Goodnight Edward." She ran her hand down my body as she pulled away, skimming past my shoulder, chest and stomach, showing me that she could hardly bear to leave either.

"Goodnight Bella, I'll be thinking of you."

"I should hope so." She vanished through the door, and I heard her soft footsteps scamper up the stairs. I listened, but didn't hear her bedroom door shut, for which I was glad, the thought of even a door separating us was more than I could stand tonight.

I climbed into my makeshift bed, surprised by how comfortable it was, and tried to sleep. I thought it would take me forever, my mind loitering upstairs where it wanted to be, in Bella's bed, but sooner than I'd expected I drifted away.

Bella

I lay in my bed, utterly alone for the first time in months, and searched for sleep. My bed felt strange and empty, so used was I to Edward's presence at night. I rolled over and pulled my pillow into my arms, a poor substitute, but I could pretend. The fact that he was so close made it seem even worse, and I swear my body ached to be downstairs on the couch with him.

Of course it didn't help that I was also as horny as hell, and feeling a tiny bit hard done by after this afternoon. Giving Edward pleasure was by far the most erotic thing I had ever done in my life, and I could do it quite happily a dozen times a day…. But a little reciprocation is always a good thing. I knew it was my own fault, or his, depending on how you looked at it. I'd done as he'd asked and stopped things from going too far, but that had left me… frustrated.

And now I'm lying here with my bedroom door open, as I can't bring myself to have it between us, so I can't even do anything about it……

In truth there was another reason why I couldn't sleep. After last night I was worried about Edward being alone, even just downstairs. His nightmares had been bad, worse maybe than he had realised. He'd been awake so much in the night, I just waiting for it to start all over again tonight.

As I worried, grumbled, fretted, tossed and turned, I fell asleep without even noticing.

I wasn't sure how long I'd been asleep for when it started.

I went from asleep to awake in a fraction of a second, awoken by howling; the like of which I'd never heard before in my life. I leapt out of bed and dashed onto the landing, only to be confronted by Charlie holding a baseball bat. He was wearing a white wife beater shirt with hot pink boxer shorts, and an expression I recognised as belonging to the Chief of Police.

"What in the hell was that?" He whispered to me as he crept towards the stairs, with me close behind.

The noise started again, and I pushed past Charlie and flew down the stairs, tumbling down the last two and almost breaking my ankle in the process. I dragged myself back to my feet with Charlie still only half way down the stairs behind me, and threw myself towards the living room. I knew the noise was coming from Edward, but the scene in front of me was worse than I could have even imagined.

He was thrashing around on the floor, clearly having fallen off the couch as he struggled. Tears streaked down his face as he began to howl again. I stood frozen in the doorway as Charlie finally arrived by my side. "Oh…" His breath left him almost soundlessly, his face betraying his shock at the sight before him.

Charlie's presence brought me to my senses and I ran to Edward, hurling myself down on the floor and gathering him into my arms tightly as I tried to wake him up. "Edward… baby… please wake up…. I'm here… Shhh…." I rocked him against me like a child, and whispered into his ear as he finally woke, shaking and sobbing with sweat running in rivulets down his chest and back.

I looked up and caught Charlie's eye, and he backed away and vanished up the stairs again. I didn't expect to see him again tonight.

After what felt like an age Edward calmed down, and allowed me to slide him back onto the couch. There really wasn't enough room for two, but I curled myself around him, leaning up against the arm of the couch to stop myself from falling off.

"Don't leave me Bella." His voice sounded small and frightened in the dark, and made me cling to him even tighter.

"Shhh, go to sleep, I'm not going anywhere." I gently pushed his sweat drenched hair out of his face. My fingers began to stroke along his cheek in a soothing rhythm, calming him and me down at the same time.

He found sleep again quickly, for which I was relieved, but I was awake for several hours that night. I had realised that tomorrow was going to bring a very awkward conversation with Charlie, as the couch was just not going to do.

*****

"Bells honey…. Bells…." Charlie was whispering to me, and it took me a minute to remember how to open my eyes. "Bella, you've got to go to work."

I finally got my eyes open and stared at Charlie groggily. It had probably only been two or three hours since I had finally gone to sleep and my head was swimming. I tried to move and a sharp jolt of pain shot down my neck. "Owwww…." I whispered my cry of pain, with my hand flying to my neck, very aware of Edward lying asleep so close to me that I think he was actually using me as a pillow.

"You really can't sleep like that Bells, you'll hurt yourself." He was leaning down looking down at me, his eyes concerned, and I suddenly realised the position we were in on the couch. I glanced from him to Edward and felt my face heat with embarrassment at how we looked. I thanked God that the blankets had stayed in place over us, as underneath them it was actually worse than it seemed. Edward was lying with my legs wrapped around him, and my other hand was firmly ensconced under his shirt.

Why do we keep waking up like this? Oh yeah……

Charlie suddenly noticed my discomfort and stood up. "I'll let you get yourself sorted out. I'm going for some breakfast." He turned and walked away without looking back.

I gently eased myself away from Edward. He hadn't woken again after I had joined him in the night, but he looked exhausted. I managed to extricate my arms and legs from him, and left him sleeping soundly as I headed upstairs to use the bathroom for a moment.

Rather than getting ready immediately, I headed downstairs again to join Charlie for breakfast. I knew that he would be leaving shortly, and I needed to talk to him. This conversation wasn't going to be fun, but there really is no time like the present.

"Can you pour me a cup, Dad?" He jumped as I walked into the room, clearly not expecting to see me downstairs yet. I sat at the kitchen table and tried to stretch out the kink in my neck, while he poured me a cup of coffee. He brought it over to me with his own and sat down opposite me.

"So… Carlisle wasn't kidding then." The best thing about talking to Charlie was, there was no beating about the bush.

"No. Not at all." I met his eyes and could see he was worried about this, I just wasn't sure if it was for Edward or for me.

"How long's this been going on for Bells? Is he seeing someone about it?"

"Just a few days, Carlisle's handling it. He's hoping that Edward will get it out of his system fairly quickly." As was I, seeing Edward like that last night had damn near broken my heart.

"I didn't hear him again…. you know…. after we came down." He looked uncomfortable and for a moment I felt a stab of pity for him. Charlie was not known for saying anything meaningful, and I understood that this entire thing must have been making him deeply uncomfortable.

"No, he seems to be ok if I'm there with him."

"Were you with him the night before, when you said you were with Alice?" Oh crap. I sometimes forget that he's a cop.

"Yes." My voice came out very quietly, but I did not break eye contact. I felt no shame at where I'd been, if a little at the fact I had lied about it.

"Hmm… I think I need to speak to your mother about all this." His words worried me, but the compassion I could see in his eyes reassured me that I wasn't about to be packed off to Florida any moment.

I nodded slowly, trying to get up the courage to say what I needed to. "Dad… The couch isn't really…"

He interrupted me before I could finish. "Let me talk to your mother Bella. Maybe you'd better talk to her too." He didn't seem to want to be pushed further for now, so I let it be. We sat quietly together and ate our breakfast, pleased for the company, and also the peace we brought to each other so easily.

After Charlie left for the station I had to rush to get washed and dressed myself. I had three more days left working at Newton's store, mainly to help with clearing out for the end of the summer season. I'd left a full week and a half clear between finishing there and the beginning of school to spend with Edward, knowing that he'd been frustrated by how much I'd worked over the summer. I had been determined to do so though, and was proud of the reasonably sized contribution I'd made to my college fund over the summer.

Before I left I went to wake Edward, unable to stand the rest of the day without at least being able to kiss him good morning.

"Baby… wake up Edward… Edward… Honestly Edward you sleep like the dead… Wake up." I chortled to myself a little at my unintended joke as he finally stirred, then promptly rolled over and fell off the couch.

"Ouch!" He looked up at me with a slightly dazed expression as I tried to bite back the chuckle that was bubbling up my throat. "Thanks for that Bella. I guess that's one way to wake up." The sarcastic tone he used wasn't something I was used to from him, but then a lot had changed in the last few days. He got up off the floor and promptly sat down again on the couch, pulling me into his lap and grinding himself into me as he did. "You don't have to go to work just yet do you?" He ran his hand down my side, stopping at the top of my hip as he spoke. "I can think of a better way to wake us both up."

"Fairly soon, I woke up late." I leaned my head back on his shoulder as I spoke, really enjoying the feel of him grinding his hard-on into me a little too much. "But if you keep doing that I'm gonna have to quit."

"Sounds good to me. I'm going to be so bored here by myself." He had started rubbing circles into my hip, and with each swirl of his hand he was moving further forwards, closer and closer to where I wanted him. I couldn't hold back a slight moan as I felt my body throb, desperate for his touch, still horny as hell from yesterday. "And there's so many things I can think of we can do with the house to ourselves."

"Really…" I could hardly think as his hand moved and cupped my centre through my jeans. I hissed as he began to rub gently, using just the right amount of pressure through the fabric.

"Damn… Bella… I can feel your heat right through your pants…" As he rubbed my legs seemed to fall open more of their own accord, and he moved so his legs were between them, spreading them further by pulling apart his own knees. His hand moved to the button on the top of my pants and hovered there. "May I…?"

I nodded, feeling too shy to actually say anything out loud at this point. I was glad that I was facing away from him, as although I desperately wanted him to touch me, I wasn't quite sure I could look him in the eye while he did it just yet.

He undid my pants and slid his hand in quickly. Running his hand down over the crotch of my panties he groaned loudly in my ear. I felt him stiffen further against my back as his fingers explored me over the thin layer of cloth. "Oh God Bella…. You're so wet… I want to… I want to touch you…"

My hips pushed forward as he spoke, electricity beginning to buzz through his hand into me, making me hum with pleasure. "Touch me Edward."

His hand moved up again, only to slide under the cotton of my panties. He ran his finger gently downwards; until I twitched and moaned as he grazed the bundle of nerves I wanted him to touch the most. He paused, and then stroked me there again, making my hips jerk in response.

I felt him press his hardened length more firmly against my back as he repeatedly stroked my clit, forming a rhythm between us as we moaned against each other. After a few moments I felt his hand slide down lower, until he brushed against my entrance, he froze and hissed by my ear, just stroking his finger gently against me. I felt his length surge hard against me as he pushed the tip of one finger softly inside me, moving it in and out slowly, almost reverently.

"Oh you're so wet… God I want you Bella… I want to be inside you…" He pushed his finger in a little more and I writhed in pleasure, wanting nothing more than his touch.

His thumb found my clit, and he found the most delicious rhythm against me, his finger entering slightly more with each stroke as my hips rocked against his throbbing erection behind me.

His finger curled round, stroking inside me on a spot I hadn't even known existed, and I swore as he did. He increased the pressure and I moaned, unable to keep the sounds in.

"I love it when you moan Bella. I love your sounds, they make me so hard." His hot breath on my neck sent another thrill through me, and I leant back and searched for his mouth for an awkward kiss.

His other hand slid up under my shirt, and began to tease my breast through my bra, as I felt myself begin to tighten around his finger.

"Oh… Edward… Don't stop…" I could feel the coil tightening in my stomach as he pushed a second finger into me and began to move faster against me. My hips rocked more rapidly as I threw my head back hard against his shoulder and began to moan.

"Come for me Bella…" His voice sounded strained as he panted in my ear, and the sound of the lust in his voice finally tipped me over the edge.

"Edward… Yes! …oh God Yes! ...unhh…" I felt my muscles clench around his fingers as I saw stars, finally releasing the tension that had been buzzing through my body since last night. I felt him suddenly tense behind me and groan as the final spasms rocked through me, and I felt his length twitching against my back.

We both flopped back against the couch, I lazily looked around towards him in time to see him put the fingers he had just used against me into his mouth. He saw me looking and raised an eyebrow slowly as he licked his fingers clean. "Mmmm…. Bella-y"

I wrinkled my nose at him and laughed. "Yuk Edward." He was still licking his fingers, "Isn't that gross?"

"Not in the slightest…. And I plan to get used to the taste anyway…" The look on his face made me pull away a little, even now his eyes were full of lust and I could still feel him, firmly behind me, despite the fact I knew he had finished too.

Suddenly I began to worry that I wasn't doing what Edward has asked me to. Was this something he might come to regret? "Um… Edward…. I'm getting worried here…. You made me promise you, you know…."

"I'm not going to worry about that anymore Bella… I've had a change of heart."

HUH?

"I'm going to embrace who I am now; I don't want to keep hold of my hang ups anymore."

"What…?" A big part of me was bouncing around inside my head doing a happy dance, and wondering how long I had to listen to this conversation before I could, with some grace, rip all of Edward's clothes off and jump him. Unfortunately another part was replaying a certain conversation from only a couple of days ago in my head.

"I love you Bella. I want to make love to you. I want everything with you." As he spoke he ran kisses up the side of my neck, while massaging my breasts with his hands. "I can't wait anymore, I need you."

I laid my head back again and groaned, hoping that the good bit of my brain would shut the hell up. But when it didn't, I sat up again and moved off of Edward and onto the couch beside him. "I don't think that would be a good idea Edward."

"It sounds like a fantastic idea to me…" He leant forward and kissed me again, thrusting his tongue into my mouth and making me forget all reason for a moment as I leaned into him and grasped my fingers into his hair.

He started undoing the buttons on my shirt, and I pulled away from his kiss. He looked at me questioningly, and as I stared back into his eyes I realised that Edward clearly was not himself. "I need to go to work." I pulled away and tried to stand, but he reached his arms around my waist and stopped me.

"No you don't, you never have, as you very well know. Stay with me today, come to bed with me." His voice was low, alluring and filled with desire.

I closed my eyes and groaned, my girly parts doing the fandango in excitement from just the tone of his voice, and even more so from the words he was using. But the bit of me that always put him before myself was stronger, and I managed, somehow, to pull away again. "You clearly aren't yourself Edward. Let's talk about this in a few days."

"I am myself Bella, and I know what I want. I want you. Only you. Always you. In every way. My love, my life, my wife… " He was edging towards me again, and I felt my resolve weakening. "But right now? I want you to be my lover…"

I leapt off of the couch and headed towards the door, with my fingers in my ears as I did. "La la la la. I can't hear you." I said in a loud sing-song voice as he looked at me in confusion. "I'm going to work now, la la la." I ran out of the front door, barely pausing to slam it before running to my truck. I jumped in and gunned it, as I pulled away I saw Edward standing in the window watching me, a crooked smile on his confused face.

I knew I must have looked like an idiot, running out of the room with my pants still undone and my fingers in my ears, but there were really only so many times that I would be able to say no to him in that conversation.

I looked down as I drove; making a mental note to ensure I did my pants up before I walked into Newton's store.

Edward

So what the hell was that?

Ok, so I hadn't expected Bella to leap on me and rip all of my clothes off at my little revelation (speculated about it maybe), but to run out of the door with her fingers in her ears? Had I misconstrued her feelings that much?

I stood and replayed our conversation in my head, noting how poorly timed it had been, as well as how unromantic a setting I had chosen to say what I was thinking. I groaned when I realised how much I had probably upset her, behaving with so little decorum and offering her no romance in the moment at all. I looked down at myself, my cock standing to attention again, which seemed to be a virtual constant these days.

"It's all your fault." I growled at it, as I gathered my things and headed upstairs to get ready.

*****

I pulled on the clothes I had actually thought to take into the bathroom with me this morning, a white button down shirt and some khakis. I was doing my best to forget the nightmare I'd been having last night when Bella had woken me. From the very fact that she was there I had to assume I'd been crying out in my sleep again.

This time, instead of being pursued, I had been the one doing the chasing. Bnd the most horrifying thing was; that even now, I remembered all too clearly the event I had been dreaming about; the last human life I had taken.

The horror was rising up in me, trying to take me again, and I fought it off in vain. I knew that the only thing that had kept the nightmare away for the rest of the night had been the fact I was lying wrapped in Bella's arms and legs, which had proven to be a very suitable distraction.

But the fact remained; tonight would come around all too quickly, and the nightmares it seemed were bound to come again. I closed my eyes, unable to look myself in the face as my memory replayed the nightmare again and again. I could feel my hands shaking as I saw the look of terror in my victims eyes the moment I had taken him.

No, I was not looking forward to tonight. I opened my eyes again and sighed as the despair tried to take me. For decades I had dreamed of sleep, and for months now I had longed for it, if only to lie in Bella's arms to do so, and now the thought filled me with horror. If every night I was to be tortured like this I wasn't sure I could handle it. At least when I was awake I had a degree of control over my thoughts. The sheer powerlessness I felt while asleep was the most terrifying thing about it, even worse than the nightmare itself.

You know you don't have to keep doing this… you have another option…

What the hell? I shook my head, shocked that even in my deepest darkest self I could think that, that I could even consider throwing away the gift I had been given.

I caught my own eye in the mirror and internally berated myself for an instant, before I was distracted by something.

I looked at my reflection and frowned slightly. Taking a really close look at myself I was suddenly hit with a realisation.

I look like… kind of a dick. Marvellous. I'm wearing $1000 worth of clothes, which are too old for me and make me look like I've got a stick up my butt. What was Alice thinking?

I frowned for a minute, and then I decided I was going shopping.

"Riiiiiing!" My cell phone rattled across the bathroom counter beside me.

… And think of the devil.

I picked up my cell, preparing myself for a tornado.

"Are you freaking kidding me Edward Cullen?" Ah yes, she's pissed big time. "That shirt is Ralph Lauren. It is beautiful."

"But Alice, I look like a kid dressed up to go to see my grandparents or something. I look like a complete dick."

"Nghhhh…. Argh….Tsh….!" Alice seemed to lose all reason down the phone at me for a moment, and I silently thanked God that this wasn't a conversation that we'd had face to face. After all, I was irritating a vampire; I was fairly sure that the question of me wearing these pants or not today would have become academic very quickly if I'd had to watch her react like this in front of me.

"I've got nothing better to do anyway; Bella's working, so it's either go out and do some shopping, or head to the hospital to see Carlisle." And I did not fancy the latter option one little bit. Some of the tests Carlisle had been thinking about yesterday had seemed entirely too personal and invasive for my liking. Sorry Carlisle, I know you're interested, but my ass is really a no go zone.

"And what, exactly, do you plan on buying?" Alice sounded slightly less exasperated now, well, at least real words were coming out of her mouth anyway.

"I don't know, just some more jeans and T shirts, stuff to make me… blend in a bit more." And to gain a little more of the 'just fell out of bed' look that seemed to do so well for me yesterday afternoon…

"Where were you planning on going?" I could hear Alice was angling for an invite, but I wasn't quite sure whether or not I wanted to do that, I didn't enjoy shopping with her at the best of times.

"Probably Port Angeles, I still don't really fancy the drive into Seattle."

"Oh no, you'll get no real variety there, and there's hardly any designer presence at all!" The horrified tone in her voice made me smile, and I realised that actually, maybe I would like to see her after all.

"Well, I was just thinking variety along the lines of black, grey, white, blue…." I couldn't resist teasing Alice for a moment, breaking out into a smirk as she started growling down the phone at me.

"Grr…. Edward Cullen, if you think I'm going to let you buy what you think you're going to buy, you have another think coming!"

I couldn't bring myself to tease her anymore, so I decided to just let Alice come shopping with me.

"Oooh! Excellent. I'll be there in ten minutes. I'll borrow Carlisle's car so we have plenty of room for all the bags! Do you think we should get Bella too?"

Oh how I wish we could.

"No, she's working and she wouldn't thank us if we tried."

"Ok, I'll see you in ten!"

The phone went dead in my hand and I gazed at it for a moment before I shoved it in my pocket. I ran my hands through my hair a couple of times as I watched myself in the bathroom mirror, not sure if I was more apprehensive about seeing Alice, or having to go shopping with her.

I shrugged and decided to grab some breakfast before she arrived. At least then if I needed to vomit in terror at her presence I'd have some ammunition.

A/N - Wow! Seriously everyone, thank you so much for all of your reviews and alerts and favourites, it really does make all this so much more fun for me. Hence a nice citrusy update for you today! Please keep it up - I do my own little happy dance every time my inbox tells me I have mail.

We're going to see some more Cullens in the next chapter, and if I'm feeling really happy I might convince Edward to crack about how all this came about. He's being very tight lipped though, I get the impression he's pretty embarrassed about the whole event…..

I don't usually recommend other fics, as I feel a little arrogant telling people what they should read, but if you haven't found "Bare" by stella luna sky yet, you're in for a treat, the girl is a poet! If you're more in the mood for hot Edward though, go and find "Femme Docs and Kevlar Knights" by A Cullen Wannabe. Edward in SWAT? HOT or WHAT?

Lol.

As I said at the beginning, I read far too much fanfic, so if you wanted more recs pm me, or let me know in a review…. ;)

Finally - The Eddies and the Bellies are open for nominations as of tonight. Please go to www(dot)thecatt(dot)net and nominate your favorite stories/authors!

Ria.