Disclaimer: SM owns twilight, I just steal her Barbie's and make them do dirty things.

A/N: Trying to keep it moderately short, but much love for Holidai for pointing out my little Jessica Stanley slip up. I had her as the social worker. I'm embarrassed. I've fixed it, though.

Also, sorry for the delay in updating. I haven't had very much time to write lately. And I really need to find a beta. I would prefer it if they had already written and posted a story to fanfic dot net. So if anyone is interested, PM me! Also please go around and spread the word to all of your fanfic buddies that I am in desperate need of a good beta. I will be forever in your debt.

I love every single one of you for sticking with me! Get to readin' my dearies!

EPOV

The color drains from Bella's face, making it take on an unnatural shade of white. She turns her head slightly and a look of absolute horror takes over her features. As I pull her in close to me, her arms automatically go around my waist. I get some kind of sick joy out of the look on his face, and I know I shouldn't. I have no right to feel as territorial as I do.

So this is Jacob. I take a moment to size him up, and find that I don't feel at all threatened. He's wearing a black tux with a dark blue tie, and his short hair has too much gel in it.

"Bella." He says it again and takes a small step forward. "Can we talk?" The arm around my waist tightens and I can feel her body stiffen beside me. I try really hard not to notice how tightly we're pressed together. He takes a few more steps, which is when I decide to intervene.

"Bella and I actually have somewhere to be." I pry her arms from around her and grab her hand, dragging her into the closest room and shutting the door behind us. She drops my hand and paces back and forth.

"What the fuck. What. The fuck. What. The. FUCK!" she throws her hands up before clutching her dress tightly.

"I can't fucking breathe, jesus christ I can't breathe. Edward. Unzip me." I immediately walk forward and help her unzip the beautiful contraption and as soon as it's done she continues to pace.

"Nope. That didn't help. I'm about to have a panic attack." I walk towards her again as she continues to ramble.

"Bella." She starts to fiddle with her hair and looks towards me.

"What. What do I do?" I grab her arms and run my hands down them before clutching onto her hands. She sighs and her lip puckers, and I know she's about to burst into tears. I cradle her face in my hands and look into her eyes.

"Bella, please don't cry. You have me right here next to you. I'm not leaving. I'm right here. He can't hurt you. Do you understand me?" her lip continues to quiver, but she nods her head. I pull her into me and hug her tightly. I can feel her tears soaking through my shirt.

"Why did he have to come, Edward? Why did Renee have to fucking invite him." She clutches her arms around my torso tightly.

"I don't know, baby. I don't know." She started sniffling and pulled her face away from my chest. Her mascara was a little runny, and it made me chuckle because she was still so fucking beautiful.

"Edward."

"Yes?" I smiled and rubbed my thumb along her cheekbone. She smiled up at me, her big brown eyes shining.

"Thank you. For everything." I kiss her forehead and pull her into me once again. We sat like that for a few minutes before she pulled away.

"Okay, we have to go out there. Zip me up" She turns her back to me and I catch a glimpse of her white lacy underwear. No bra. I almost groan out loud as I slowly zip her up, dragging my finger up her bare back as I go. She shivers under my touch, and this time I actually do groan.

"Edward." It comes out as a whisper, and I catch her gaze in the mirror. The intensity almost makes me look away, but I don't.

"Yes?" I pull the zipper up the rest of the way and she turns around.

"Thank you for coming with me today. I don't know if I could have done it by myself. Especially with him here." I push a stray hair behind her ear and sigh.

"If you keep thanking me I'm going to kill you." I say with a smile. She slaps my shoulder lightly and laughs. "Also, you don't have to thank me. I go wherever you go, love." The look on her face as she smiles up at me has me grinning like an idiot. I want to kiss her. God, do I want to kiss her. I don't know if it's too soon or if I should even want these thoughts at all, but I can't push them away. No matter how hard I try, I can't push down my attraction for her. Everything about her is beautiful. I hate feeling conflicted, and I hate not being able to talk about things. I am in a constant battle of whether or not to bring it up with her. It isn't usually this hard for me. But one little wrong slip could make things awkward, and we have Marcy's entire life together. I know I can't fuck this up. But these conflicting thoughts don't stop me from leaning towards her right now. It takes me a millisecond to realize that she's leaning towards me as well, and then our lips touch. And it is everything.

I pull her body tightly against mine and let my hand slip around to her neck. Her skin is soft, and it makes me clutch her tighter to me. I think I'm in love with her. The little sighs that escape her mouth as she thinks. The way her eyes light up when she laughs. I am even in love with the way her eyebrows pull together in frustration. I realize that I am fucking gone, and I don't ever want to come back. I love the way her body feels flush against mine, even under all of our clothes. This sudden clarity makes me wonder if there was ever a time where I wasn't in love with her. Everything seems hard without her. I know that I wouldn't have survived Eleazar's death without her by my side. I felt like I lost everything, and then gained back so much more. He's probably looking down on me, calling me an idiot for not doing this sooner, but still insisting that she's too good for me.

God, don't I know it. It felt like seconds before we finally pulled away, both breathing heavily. Both smiling like a bunch of goddamn fools.

"Oh my god." She sighs, and I can only nod before placing my forehead on hers.

"You have NO idea how long I've wanted to do that." I say, wrapping my arms tighter, if at all possible, around her.

"Not as long as I've wanted to." She whispers before closing her eyes. A loud knock on the door disturbs us, and I groan before reluctantly pulling away.

"Go away!" I yell, chuckling quietly.

"We should probably get back out there." She says, sighing and taking a peek at herself in the mirror. I stand behind her and hear her gasp.

"Oh no! I got makeup on your shirt!" I look down and see where my suit jacket barely covers the black smudges.

"I think it'll be okay…" I say, pulling my jacket aside to assess the damage.

"No, no, no, you need a new shirt." She opens the closet door and I can hear her cursing to herself. "Yes! It's still here!" she throws a white shirt at me and rushes to the mirror to fix her make up.

"Renee bought a few white shirts for Phil, because he can't keep a shirt clean for less than five minutes. It might be a little big, I'm sorry." She gives me a sheepish grin and I roll my eyes before taking off my jacket and unbuttoning my shirt. I see her cast her eyes sideways in the mirror and almost laugh as I pull the shirt on and button it up.

"No, it fits fine." I say, tucking the shirt into my pants. As I start to redo my belt, the door bursts open and three people stumble into the room. Renee laughs, and Leah just punches Jacob in the arm.

"They're fine. MORE than fine. What are you worried about, you idiot? Come on." Leah sighs and drags a furious looking Jacob out of the room. I definitely don't miss the wink that she throws at Bella before she turns the corner. Renee grabs the door handle and bows.

"Sorry to interrupt, children. As you were…" She grins and chuckles again to herself.

"Wait, mom, no…" Bella tries to say, but the door is already shut.

"What just happened?" I ask, looking at her. Her eyes are wide as she shakes her head.

"I have no fucking idea." She turns back to the mirror and continues applying mascara and lipstick.

"Okay how do I look?" she says, turning to me and smiling.

I smile back. "Perfect." I lean forward and quickly kiss her before pulling away. "Now where's my tie?"

"I don't know." She replies, leaning up on her toes and kissing me again.

"Ew, lipstick tastes weird." I comment, bending down to kiss her jaw instead. She only laughs and pulls away, throwing my tie around my neck in the process. As she starts to tie it, I smile at her and trace her jaw with my fingertips.

"We're going to have to talk about this later, aren't we." She frowns slightly as she tightens my tie.

"Yeah. But I don't think it will be THAT difficult." She smiles, pulling my tie down so my head is level with hers.

"Thank-" I stop her with a kiss.

"What did I tell you?" I tease as I pull away.

"Alright we really have to get out there now." I let out an annoyed sigh.

"Fine." I grab her hand tightly and we walk out together.

The rest of the night goes by moderately smoothly. At the insistence of Renee, we both walk Marcy down the aisle, both holding each of her tiny hands. When we take our seats and turn to watch Renee take her turn, I accidently catch Jacob's eye, and he glares at me. I only roll my eyes and my hand finds Bella. She turns and smiles at me, a breathtaking smile that almost makes my heart stop. Throughout the night, people stop by our table to express their condolences or gratitude that Marcy has such great people in her life. I don't know how many hands I've had to shake, or how many faked smiles I've had to plaster on my face. My cheeks hurt, but it doesn't stop me from smiling at Bella as she grasps my hand tightly under the table.

As soon as we're rounding up Marcy to leave, Leah finds Bella and pulls her aside.

"I'll only take her for a minute, Edward. Don't give me that face." She laughs at me and I roll my eyes.

"I'm going to pull the car around, okay?" Bella smiles at me and nods.

I know she's with Leah, but it doesn't stop my stomach from turning. Jacob could be anywhere, and I don't like the thought of not being by her side while he's still here. I sigh and pull myself together as I pull the car around to the front and park.

A/N: (READ IT PLEASE.) I'm so sorry for the late update. It was so hard to write this chapter and I don't know why. I've literally sat down so many times to write it, and then I write a little bit, and then I can't write anymore. And then I go back at another time to write some more, and don't like what I wrote the last time, so I delete like half of it. I totally didn't write and re-write this chapter 6 times. (Except I definitely did.) But mushy, love-sick Edward is so cute and fluffy I almost want to vomit. Almost.

In other important life news, I got a kitten. And I named her Butters. She's not really a kitten, she's kind of like…a teenager? I don't know. Anyway, my best friend was like:

"Hey. I rescued a cat. Do you wa-"

"Yes."

That is how that conversation went.

Also, the plot bunnies have completely taken over my brain, and it's so bad. IT'S SO BAD. I have so many ideas shaking through my skull and I write them down but I'm just like UGHEWRVNIQNEKNCKJNSECVKNQI3N VWEFVKJN QLEJRN FV. (emotions.)

*le sigh.

See you next time!

Love you guys who are still sticking with me. I know it's a rough patch, and things will pick up. So thanks so much!

-Olive.