Edward's week was pure hell. Now that it was just a matter of when, not if, Cullen was going to throw his hat in the ring and vie for the party's nomination for President in the next election, things in Senator Volturi's office were going full throttle.

He was in late meeting with the Senator and other top members of his staff—including Emmett, Lauren Mallory, Director of Communications, Felix, her right hand speech writer, and several others—strategizing and preparing to make an announcement. The question remained if they were going to take their time and let Cullen make his announcement first and then wait till some of the press coverage and excitement from that died down or if they were going to make a preemptive strike and announce before Cullen did.

So far it seemed like the latter was their better option.

Of course, that also meant more work or everyone on Senator Volturi's staff. They had to line up meetings with party leadership, talking to strategists, worry about fundraising…It was a whole different ballgame.

He'd actually played some phone tag with Bella during the week. After staring at her number a couple of times he had finally gotten the courage to call her up on Wednesday to confirm that they were meeting up for dinner on Friday night. When he'd gotten her voice mail he'd left a brief message. She'd called back when he happened to be in a meeting with Senator Volturi and left a message stating that she was looking forward to having dinner with him.

Edward had smiled at hearing her voice he was actually looking forward to their date, despite all the anxiety he had felt since asking her out. He was going to try to think of her as the angel in the snow, the goddess in the evening dress, not Director of Communication for his boss' greatest rival.

In the little time he had where his thoughts weren't completely occupied by his job, he thought of her and their date, planning. He was going to take her to a small bistro that he enjoyed near the National Mall, and thought that perhaps they could go for a short walk around there after dinner was over.

Unfortunately, he only had enough time to plan that far and then he was back in the thick of things. But, everyone noticed that he was smiling a bit more and seemed excited. Everyone figured it was due to the upcoming run for the Presidency.

Emmett knew better.

)( )( )( )(

Bella had been a nervous wreck all week. In addition to preparing the main speech for Senator Cullen's upcoming announcement regarding his seeking his party's nomination for President of the United States, she was going over press releases, fielding calls from the media, and working with some of the party's more media savvy advisors who were helping her navigate this very new terrain. She was on a steep learning curve and she didn't know if she was ready, but she was going to have to be.

The only smile that had really crossed her face all week had come when she'd gotten Edward's message. She'd actually been expecting him to call and cancel, after all the very same thought had crossed her mind a couple of times, but when she heard that he was calling to confirm she'd felt excited and giddy.

She'd called back of course, saying that she would be ready at 7 p.m. on Friday and had given him her apartment number so he could pick her up.

When she got to her apartment a little after 5 p.m. on Friday Alice immediately pulled her towards her bathroom and if Bella hadn't insisted that she would be quick about it, she was sure that Alice would have stripped her down and bathed her herself. As it was, Alice barely gave her time to slip on a bathrobe before she was blow drying Bella's hair and putting on an artfully understated layer of make up on her, sticking to mascara, a bit of eyeliner, blush, lip gloss and powder.

Apparently, she'd even taken the time to pick out an outfit for Bella consisting of a pair of tight black pants, high heeled, knee high boots, and a red turtle neck sweater.

"You'll wear your black coat of course," Alice said she watched Bella get dressed.

"Um, all right. Shouldn't you be getting ready? I thought you were going out with Rosalie tonight," Bella asked in a muffled voice as she pulled on the sweater.

"Yes," Alice replied, "but I'm hanging out with Rosalie so I don't have to get to gussied up and besides, she's not going to be here till 8. I have plenty of time."

Bella smiled as she untucked her hair from the back of her sweater and smoothed it out. "How do I look?" she asked nervously.

Alice grinned from where she sat at the foot of Bella's bed. "I think Edward Masen isn't going to know what hit him."

Bella blushed and looked at herself in the full length mirror inside her closet door. She was nervous beyond belief and it wasn't because she was going out with Edward Masen, it was because she really liked him. Sure, she'd only spoken to him two times, but she'd felt a connection with him.

When she turned around she barely raised her hands in time before Alice squirted her in the face with perfume. "Agghhh! ALICE!"

"Sorry! Sorry! I was going to spray your hair and you turned around!" Alice said turning Bella around and spritzing her hair.

"Why are we putting perfume in my hair?" Bella asked with a sigh, thinking she better wash her hands since they now were overpowered with the scent of Prada's Iris perfume.

"It's a well known fact that hair is the part of the body that holds scent the longest," Alice said pertly as she went to set Bella's bottle of perfume back in the bathroom.

Bella sighed and followed her there and washed her hands.

"You look great, Bella!" Alice said with a bright smile.

Bella smiled. She actually felt really pretty. Alice had done wonders with her hair and makeup and the outfit was perfect.

"Thank you," she said, giving Alice a hug.

Alice hugged her back and grinned. "Now, you go sit in the living room and wait. Try not to fidget too much."

Bella laughed and went to wait, noting it was already 6:40 p.m.

An hour later she was still waiting.

)( )( )( )(

Edward had been trying to talk Senator Volturi out of making any rash movies, trying to argue that they need to strategize before diving into anything. It wasn't as simple as making an announcement that he was going to run.

It had taken a while to convince the team, it had taken even longer to convince Aro. By the time he left his office he was worn out and had a million other things to deal with. The phone hadn't stopped ringing, the emails hadn't stopped coming, and his Blackberry hadn't stopped buzzing. All this on a Friday night.

He was going over another email when Emmett walked into the office, returning from a meeting with some of the party's representatives. It had gone longer than planned and though he thought he would return back to his apartment after he was done, Emmett decided to go stop by the office to jot down some things from the meeting before he forgot.

He was surprised when he saw the light on in Edward's office and he knocked and peeked in.

"Edward?"

Edward glanced up tiredly from the computer screen. "Oh, hey, Emmett. How'd your meeting go?"

Emmett frowned, ignoring the question. "What are you still doing here, Chief?"

Edward rubbed his face tiredly and looked to his computer screen. "Just working. What else?"

"So you called Swan and cancelled?" Emmett asked.

Edward looked at him in shock. "What?" He looked at the clock on his desk and realized that it was 9 p.m. and he ran his hands through his hair and tugged in frustration. "Oh fucking hell!"

"You stood her up?" Emmet asked incredulously.

Edward jumped up from his chair and looked one way to the other, as if he wasn't sure what to do and then he grabbed his jacket off the back of his office chair and hurriedly jerked it on.

"Seriously, Edward, what the fuck?" Emmett said.

"Time got away from me!" Edward said as he reached for his coat. "Christ! I'm fucked!"

Emmett frowned. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know!" Edward replied as he slipped on his coat and rushed out of the office.

)( )( )( )(

Bella had insisted that Alice and Rosalie go out despite the fact that Edward hadn't shown up by 7:30. They had tickets for a show and though they had been more than willing to skip it and wait with her, she told him that she was sure Edward was just late, not wanting to ruin their plans. After an hour and a half of waiting she realized he wasn't going to show up so she changed out of her outfit, slipped into her pajamas and sat on the couch, eating from a pint of Chunky Monkey while watching Heathers.

Neither of those things really cheered her up and she still felt miserable when the movie ended and she had finished the entire pint of ice cream.

She was going through the DVD collection that she and Alice kept when she heard something outside her door and what sounded like someone cursing.

It went quiet again and she figured it was just one of the neighbors.

She had just chosen Pretty In Pink as her next movie when she jumped at hearing a knock on her door. She walked over and looked through the peephole, but all he saw was green. She frowned in confusion and called out, "Who is it?"

"Is this Bella Swan's apartment?" asked a voice that was muffled by the thick door.

"Who's asking?" Bella said with a sigh.

"It's, uh, Edward. Edward Masen…"

Bella stepped back from the door and looked at it with wide, surprised eyes. After a moment she heard the voice through the door again.

"Hello?"

She didn't think about her appearance as she opened the door, but instead of seeing Edward she just saw a large plant, a palm of some sort. Edward finally peeked around it and he blinked as he took in her appearance.

She looked adorable in a pair of green pajama pants with a brown tank top and old ratty looking brown cardigan sweater. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail and she was wearing fuzzy pink slippers that had seen better days.

When she noticed he was looking her over, she blushed and pulled the cardigan closed. "Um, hello, Edward."

"I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry! I had meetings…The Senator…It's not an excuse…I didn't want you to think I stood you up!" He dumped the large potted palm in her arms. "This is for you."

"Uh…thank you?" Bella said in a confused tone and put the plant down near the entrance since it was a bit heavy. When she looked at Edward again she noticed that he was carrying a brown paper bag.

"Have you eaten?" he asked, with a hopeful look. "I brought Chinese."