A/N : Ok, so we'll chat at the end. Here it is, chapter 10!

Chapter 10

BPOV

My vision blurred a little as I stared at the tiny numbers displayed at the bottom of my computer screen, willing them to move faster. These were the same digits that had been ticking by inexplicably slowly all morning. I closed my eyes for a moment, squeezing them a little in an effort to coax some moisture back into my abused conjunctiva. When I opened them I noticed that the numbers had finally managed to align themselves to read eleven o'clock. It was a small victory, but one that certainly merited a celebration, so I spun around once in my ergonomic office chair and took a large sip of my Cherry Coke.

It was Friday, the Friday, and the only way I could have been any less productive would have been if I had actually spent the last two and a half hours asleep. My mind swam with thoughts of my upcoming date with Jasper, a date which required my packing a suitcase and clearing my schedule for the next seventy two hours. I continued running through the possibilities in my mind, ticking them off one by one as I had been doing for most of the morning.

The beach seemed a definite possibility, considering that Jasper had called the night before to make sure I had packed a bathing suit. I closed my eyes and imagined white sand between my toes and a salt seasoned breeze in my hair, sipping something fruity while Jasper strummed his guitar and…and complained about sand erosion, litter in general, and how lights from all of the development confused the fragile sea turtle population?

I giggled a little at my imagined scenario and wondered how accurate it was. One person would know for sure, so I flipped open my cell phone and dialed Alice's number.

"Not telling you," she sang by way of a greeting.

"What's Jasper like at the beach?" I asked, ignoring her teasing.

Alice snorted.

"He doesn't "lounge," he's a sunscreen Nazi, and those stores that offer a free hermit crab with purchase depress the shit out of him. Do you happen to know how long hermit crabs live when they're not harvested and made to live out their days in neon plastic prisons?"

I laughed at her sarcasm.

"Thanks!" I giggled and flipped my phone closed, scratching the beach off of my mental list of possible destinations.

The mountains seemed a more likely possibility. I could certainly picture Jasper "roughing it" in the woods. I couldn't help but imagine him as a "hiking slave-driver." My muscles actually felt sore just thinking about his endurance, and how mine surely paled in comparison. He may have been 17 years my senior, but I had seen that man run, and I was quite certain that my pathetic excuse for a cardiovascular system wouldn't stand a chance. Of course, tents, campfires and naked marshmallow roasting gave the camping idea great potential, but Jasper hadn't mentioned a need for sturdy hiking boots, insect repellent or calamine lotion so it seemed unlikely. Come to think of it, Jasper hadn't really mentioned anything specific, aside from the call last night about swimwear. "Pack some clothes and stuff," had been the extent of his instructions. My thoughts began to wander back to naked marshmallow roasting, and images of naked Jasper with melted chocolate and graham cracker crumbs stuck to his lips suddenly made me willing to hike the entire Appalachian Trail, endurance deficits be damned.

Suddenly a knock on my cubicle wall had me jumping to look like I was actually working and I was sure the heat I felt in my cheeks gave me away for the pervert that I was. I looked up to see Tanya, my supervisor, regarding me with no small amount of humor dancing in her sparkling blue eyes. She rolled those gorgeous eyes in my direction and sighed, her mouth turning up into a smile.

"Ok," she started, holding out her hand, "Let me see the picture again."

I grinned and pulled out my worn graduation photo, the one Alice had taken the day she officially dubbed me her future stepmother, the same day of my drunken and disastrous first kiss with her father. In the photo, Jasper and I stood smiling, his arm draped casually over my shoulders.

"Geez," Tanya muttered, shaking her head. "How old were you here?"

"Eighteen," I replied, a little more defensively then I had planned.

She chuckled lightly and fanned herself with the picture.

"Well honey, you'll hear no judgment from me. That man is all kinds of gorgeous."

I nodded, retrieving the photo and propping it up between the keys of my keyboard. We were silent for a few minutes before Tanya slapped my desk and shook her head.

"I almost forgot what I came in here to tell you. Mr. Cullen wants to see you in his office in thirty minutes." She stopped and glanced down at her watch. "Well, twenty minutes now I guess."

I immediately felt the warmth drain from my face at the mere mention of my Editor's name.

"Why?" I managed to squeak out.

Tanya shrugged dismissively. "I'm sure it's no big deal. He probably wants to officially welcome you aboard or something."

She offered a reassuring smile that did nothing to allay my panic.

"Or, he wants to tear apart that article I turned in yesterday." I held my head in both hands, massaging my temples. "Ugh! Why today?"

"When does Mr. Perfect pick you up?"

"Twelve thirty, I've got one hour." I cast a quick and wistful glance toward my suitcase, packed and waiting by the door.

"Well, in that case, you'd better hop to it."

Tanya surveyed my appearance, tucking a stray hair behind my ear and dabbing a little at the lower lid of my right eye. I had known her less than one week, but the woman charged with supervising my workdays was quickly on her way to becoming a great friend.

"You'll be fine," she assured. "Come on, I'll walk you up."

When my feet refused to move on their own Tanya grabbed my hand and dragged me towards the elevators. Three floors and 4 pep talks later I sat fidgeting alone in Mr. Cullen's massive office, staring at the imposing solid walnut desk in front of me.

"Holy shit," I muttered under my breath.

The expletive had barely passed my lips when the office door flew open, and the Editor-in-Chief of The State newspaper strode inside, tossed a stack of papers on the desk and began digging through a filing cabinet that's organizational system must have broken down when I was still playing with Barbies. I wondered if he even realized I was in the room, and I shuffled around and nervously cleared my throat. So far, no response from Mr. Editor. He kept searching for something in that clusterfuck of a storage device. I watched the clock on the wall as the second hand clicked its slow way around. One minute passed, then two. I was about to execute another not so subtle indication of my presence when he finally spoke.

"I'm sorry to keep you Ms. Swan. I'm afraid they didn't hire me for my organizational skills."

After a few more minutes of searching he pulled a manila envelope out of the cabinet and held it over his head in a gesture of victory.

"A-ha! Here it is."

Mr. Cullen turned to face me, fixing me with a friendly smile. I remembered reading somewhere that one way to make a great first impression was to be the one to initiate a handshake. So, I jumped out of my seat, hand extended, but my foot caught on the desk, causing my body to pitch forward and the contents of the envelope to spill to the floor. Then, as if the gods had somehow ordained that this would be the exact moment I would pay for all of the good fortune that had found its way to me this week, an expletive came pouring, unbidden, from my mouth.

"Fuck," I muttered into the echoing silence.

JPOV

"Wait a minute. You're going where?"

Greg looked up from the DVDs scattered in front of him.

"Disney World," I answered, staring at my guitar and trying to decide whether to subject it to the perils of air travel. I ran my thumb along its smooth finish before placing it carefully inside my best hard shell case. From across the room I could hear Greg snort.

"Damn, dude. You want me to leave you two alone or what?"

I rolled my eyes at his overused expression.

"Have you decided yet?" I asked, nodding toward the entire contents of my DVD collection, scattered around my living room.

"And by the way, you're cleaning all this shit up before you leave."

Greg nodded and resumed his quest for the perfect date night movie. I checked my bag and glanced at the clock for the thousandth time this morning.

"Dude."

Once again I turned toward the sound of Greg's voice, and found him dangling a copy of The Little Mermaid between his thumb and index finger.

"It's Alice's," I shrugged, ignoring his mocking. "You'll have to ask her if you want to borrow that one."

I heard the sound of the disc as it clattered to the table just as a cloud of dust outside my window indicated the return of my one and only offspring.

"Speak of the devil," I murmured.

When Alice made her appearance I pointed toward the living room.

"Greg wants to know if he can borrow The Little Mermaid. He's got a hot date tonight."

Alice made a face and quickly retrieved the DVD from the table, cradling it to her chest.

"Greg," she said, nodding in his direction.

"Alice," Greg replied, barely looking up, and nodding vaguely in Alice's direction.

Suddenly, Alice's face brightened.

"Is Charles here?" she asked, glancing around expectantly.

Greg and I exchanged simultaneous groans. We had met Charles several years ago at a half marathon, and despite him being 18 years younger, our common love of hunting and distance running had forged an unlikely friendship. Alice, upon meeting him, had declared him a "fox." Greg and I had declared him off limits.

"Pity," Alice quipped, shrugging and flopping onto the couch. She turned to face Greg.

"Big date tonight, huh?"

Greg nodded and I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned in the doorway. My best friend and my daughter had an interesting relationship, to say the least.

Alice looked to be on the verge of hysterics as she watched Greg rifle through the DVDs, his expression serious. He was either oblivious or pretending not to notice her mocking gaze. Alice shook her head when her attempts to rile him proved unsuccessful. She turned to face me.

"So, she started, glancing at her watch. "You leave in 41 minutes?" She glanced toward the door.

"Ye-es," I answered warily. "Why do I get the feeling you're trying to get rid of me?"

Alice nodded her head in Greg's direction and winked dramatically..

"I've got a hot date," she stage whispered, elbowing Greg in the ribs. "Ain't that right, hon?"

We both looked at Greg who didn't seem to notice. He was lost in thought, glancing back and forth between two DVDs, his brow furrowed in concentration.

Alice sighed.

"You're no fun today," she pouted, hopping off the couch and going to stand by the window.

"And, for the record," she continued, glancing at me over her shoulder, "I am not trying to get rid of you. My weekend plans are embarrassingly nonexistent."

"Got it!"

Alice and I both turned to see Greg holding the chosen movie over his head in triumph. Alice walked over to read the title.

"Die Hard 2," she read. "What a lucky girl."

She rolled her eyes and walked into the kitchen at the same time that my back door suddenly swung open, and Charles strolled in clad only in knee length running shorts and tennis shoes. He was sweaty and out of breath as he made his way to the refrigerator. Charles was training for his first marathon and my house marked the halfway point on his route. He stopped here for water so often that I had taken to keeping a pitcher in the fridge especially for him.

Charles waved a greeting to Greg and I as he opened the refrigerator and retrieved his pitcher. Alice, I noticed, stood frozen in place on the other side of the open door. I managed to make eye contact with my daughter and shook my head when I saw her smooth her hair and take a deep steadying breath. Charles, oblivious to the scene around him, was busy pouring ice cold water down his throat. Finally satiated, he kicked the door closed with his foot and found himself two feet from my baby girl, who was grinning at him shamelessly.

Greg and I exchanged a look as Charles choked on his water, coughing and sputtering as he tried to keep from drowning on my linoleum floor. Alice observed the whole scene with an amused expression, and I reached into my bag and threw a t-shirt to my asphyxiated friend. Charles threw me a grateful glance and pulled the shirt over his head. When he finally recovered, he extended his right hand towards Alice.

"Sorry Alice," he stammered, "I'm not used to ladies being here."

Alice gave him a dazzling smile as she took his hand and squeezed it.

"It's okay," she said sweetly, glancing in my direction. "As much as the thought of those two walking around topless disturbs me, don't you ever feel it necessary to cover up. Not on my account." She dropped his hand and patted him lightly on his reddened cheek., then ducked under my arm on her way to her bedroom.

Charles looked cautiously in my direction, cheeks still blazing.

"No," I mouthed, shaking my head at him.

He nodded and dropped the pitcher in the sink.

"Well, I guess it's not much of a training session if I stop halfway. See you guys later." Charles waved over his shoulder on the way out the door.

I turned toward Greg, my eyes hopeful.

"Don't look at me," he said, waving the DVD in my face. "Hot date, remember?"

I sighed.

"I wasn't going to ask you to babysit," I muttered.

"Sure you weren't."

BPOV

"So, when do I get to find out where we're going?"

Jasper had picked me up, and by that I mean literally picked me up just as I had pushed through the glass doors of the highrise that housed The State newspaper. He had held me tightly muttering something about urban sprawl and cell phone waves. I soon found myself being deposited gently into the passenger seat of his truck, while my slightly manhandled luggage was tossed into the back. We had been driving across town in silence ever since, with Jasper grinning widely, refusing to speak, as though he had a secret so fabulous that the very act of opening his mouth would cause it all to spill out. He was driving erratically, turning down side streets and executing u-turns in what I could only assume was an effort to further conceal our destination. It had taken thirty minutes to drive what I guessed was about three miles. At this rate I could only assume that wherever we were going, it better be close, if we were going to make it there by midnight.

I leaned back in the seat and watched this wonderful man as his plan unfolded. No one had ever made such an effort for me before, and despite the thoughts racing through my head since my meeting with Mr. Cullen, I was sure the grin on my face was even bigger than his. Every once in awhile Jasper would turn and glance at me, his smile growing impossibly wider, as he stared a little longer than was probably safe considering our current location inside a moving vehicle.

I leaned over when his eyes finally returned to the road and pressed my lips to his temple before lowering them to his ear.

"I love you," I whispered.

Jasper reached across the center console and took my hand, squeezing gently and rubbing the back with his thumb. I squeezed back and turned to look out the window. My mouth dropped open when we pulled into a large parking lot and under a sign that read "Columbia Metropolitan Airport."

"Is this a joke?" I gasped, turning towards Jasper again.

He shook his head, "no," and approached the valet stand, tossing his keys to the attendant before opening my door and pulling both of our bags from the back of the truck.

So, our date involved an airplane ride?

"You know..." I said, giggling and skipping ahead, "This really raises the bar for our second date."

I heard him chuckle behind me as he placed his free hand against my back, steering me toward the check-in counter. He stopped me a few feet away and reached into my purse, snagging my wallet. He carefully removed my ID, returned my wallet to my purse and kissed my forehead.

"Stay," he whispered, running his fingers down my cheek and winking playfully.

I stood, frozen in place and buzzing with excitement. I watched the other travelers milling around me. Jasper returned from the counter and replaced my ID, grabbing my hand and dragging me towards security. We were through fairly quickly, mostly due to the fact that I hadn't really added anything to my purse since the last time I had flown. As we headed for the gate Jasper bent to whisper in my ear.

"We're going to Disney World."

A/N: Words cannot describe how much you all mean to me. Really, everyone who reads, reviews, favorites, alerts, or recs this fic, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for hanging in there with me. This chapter took a bit of an unexpected turn so we didn't quite make it to Disney. We'll get there next time, which I sincerely hope will be in less than 5 months. I have an outtake to write for my lovely (and eternally patient) FGB auction winner, and then it's on to chapter 11. I'm trying to get as much writing done as possible between semesters. For those of you who don't know, I'm currently in grad school studying to be a Family Nurse Practitioner. It's exciting, but time consuming. That is the predominant reason for the delay in updating. That, and the short period when I had an odd obsession with the Duggar family. ;) Anyway, I hope you are still enjoying this story. Thank you again for reading and please review! I hope everyone who celebrates it has a very Merry Christmas! MWAH!