I apologize in advance for any errors. I should give it another read-through, but like Bella in this chapter, I'm tired and loopy.

Here are definitions of some filming terminology I used in this chapter:

*dailies - film clips that are viewed after each day's work in order to evaluate performances and spot any technical problems.

*sides - fractions of the script usually made of paper folded in half to form a small booklet; the scenes (or fractions thereof) that will be shot in a day of filming

It was 9 p.m., and Bella was exhausted.

Actor's call had been at six that morning, and she always made it a point to arrive a half hour early. There hadn't been any scheduled breaks during the day – the cast and crew grabbed food in between takes. In case Edward's absence caused a break in production, Alice and Peter were trying to get ahead of the projected timeline, and the director kept the team's noses to the grindstone.

Bella let her dressing room door fall shut behind her and then wearily fit her key into the lock. She couldn't wait to get home and make this day a distant memory. As she turned to walk away from her room, she caught the sight of someone entering Alice's office down the hall. The door was left ajar, and while Bella did not mean to eavesdrop, she couldn't help but overhear Alice's piercing voice and the booming bass response.

"What the hell, McCarty?" Alice shrieked. "Tell me why someone tweeted pictures of your client at Logan Airport!"

"Calm down, Ali-cat –"

"That's Ms. Brandon to you, dumbass!"

Bella had reached the frame of the office door, and her insatiable curiosity compelled her to pause and listen.

Alice continued her rant. "It's bad enough that he went to Chicago during filming, though I can accept that to a certain degree. But Boston? What the hell is he doing in Boston? The other side of the continent! Has Cullen lost his mind? Why don't you have any good answers for me?"

Emmett's unconcerned laughter echoed through the hall.

"Jeez, Alley-oop, you're turning purple!"

"McCarty! I –"

"Calm down before you bust a blood vessel or two. I'm sure my man's got a very good reason for being there."

"It would be really nice if he'd share it with the rest of us!"

Bella heard a muted thud against the wall. She smiled to herself; she had a strong feeling that Emmett had just dodged a stress ball.

"I'm sure you can imagine that the pressure from dealing with his father's situation is – "

Alice cut him off. "Don't try to sell me any of that crap. I've talked to Rosalie, too, and I know Edward doesn't give two shits about his old man. McCarty, you've got a cunning girl in Ms. Hale – I hope you appreciate that. It's clever to use grief over his father's condition as a ruse to explain Cullen's disappearance, but that boy's going to blow his cover by being seen anywhere other than Chicago." She snarled. "I'd love to impose a fine on his toned ass for breach of contract, but The Powers That Be are so busy kissing it, I'm sure it would be a futile crusade."

"I don't get why he's acting like this," Emmett sighed heavily as he finally revealed signs of worry over the situation. "Ever since he signed on to this movie, he's been a brooding, moody, emo bitch. I've never seen him like this, and I'm about to –"

Two phones pinged simultaneously.

After a brief pause, Alice blew out a huge breath. "Bella, get in here!"

She was startled to be summoned, and Bella sheepishly poked her head into the room.

"Uh, how did you know I was out there?"

Alice shrugged easily. "I heard your door close, I didn't see you pass by, and this conversation is way too juicy for anyone to ignore."

"Baby Bell!" Emmett cried as he clutched her to his muscled chest and swung her around. "Was it only this past weekend that I saw you? It feels like it was months ago!"

"Emmett, please put me down!" Bella laughed dizzily.

With a big eye roll, Alice cleared her throat. "If you two are done making out, can we continue?"

Emmett deposited Bella in the chair beside his. "You'll be thrilled to know Eddie's on his way back to LA this very moment."

"Yippee skippy, the prodigal son returns," Bella muttered as she made small circles in the air with her index finger.

Alice was sitting straight and took on an air of authority. Bella knew she was now in director mode. "Thursday and Friday have already been scheduled, so we'll stick to the plan – the one without Cullen and his dramatics. After I ream the pretty boy a new one, Peter and I will work a revised sked and send it out this weekend."

Bella nodded in understanding and then tried to stifle a wide yawn. She was so glad she didn't have to be on set until 10 a.m. tomorrow.

As always, Alice's eyes caught everything. "Bella, go home and get some rest. I'll see you in the morning."

Blearily waving goodbye to Emmett, she trudged out to the front where Angela was waiting in her Prius. Bella internally congratulated herself for calling her friend before she left the dressing room. She was in no shape to drive after such a grueling day.

After burrowing under the covers on her comfortable bed, Bella expected she would fall asleep immediately and be dead to the world until her alarm buzzed at eight. She was correct in the first assumption, but when she later awoke with a start, the room was still dark. The time on her phone read 2 a.m.

Sleepy and confused, Bella tried to figure out why she had woken. She recalled dreaming, but her grasp on content was tenuous at best. Vague images of the set and sounds of an irate Alice flitted in and out of her consciousness. This lack of clarity frustrated Bella, but she was so tired that sleep quickly overtook her again.

"CUT! That was terrible! Get off my set!"

Bella bolted upright in bed. Her heart thundered in her chest, and a light film of sweat chilled her body. Darkness still enveloped the room, and a check of the time showed it was now 4 a.m.

Shivering slightly, she rose to use the bathroom and get a drink of water. Before returning to bed, she changed out of her damp night clothes.

This time, the dream replayed vividly as she tried to settle back to sleep. Although wanting to clear her mind, she couldn't stop the recollections from playing out in startling detail.

Demetri had been on set with her, and they were filming a retake of the storeroom scene. He was playing the role of Riley, and they shared the same breathtaking, all-encompassing kiss that she previously had with Edward. As if her subconscious was trying to cling to its version of reality, Demetri slowly morphed into Edward. No sooner had the change been completed than she discovered she was paralyzed. Edward continued his passionate kiss, but now she couldn't move; she couldn't respond. Dream Bella tried to return the intensity he put into each deliberate movement of his body, but it was if she were made of stone. Edward pulled away in disgust and disappointment, and although she desperately wanted to explain, her mouth wouldn't obey.

Edward turned for a moment, and when he faced her again, his hands gripped a large sledgehammer. The anger on his face was gone in favor of a dull, dead stare as he lifted the steel mallet above his head. Before he could take a swing, however, Bella's rock exterior began to crumble. Feeling returned to her body, and when her stone shell finally lay in dust around her feet, she was overwhelmed by the sweetest relief and joy. Those heavenly sensations only lasted a moment, and then Edward's sledgehammer cut an arc through the air. The tool's heavy head impacted her body with a sickening and loud thud. Bliss was replaced with indescribable pain as she crumpled into a heap on the ground and then burst into flame.

It was then that Alice started screaming and ended the scene by kicking her off the set.

Bella climbed back under the sheets and tried to rid her mind of the disturbing dream. She deemed it the product of a very busy, eventful two weeks and instead attempted to focus on the upcoming weekend. Her iPod was plugged into a Bose speaker base, and she selected a piece that never failed to swath her in it beauty – Franz Biebl's Ave Maria. Its flowing, swelling lines soon carried her into a mercifully peaceful slumber.

Bella was still tired when she arrived on set the next day. Even though she had managed a nice stretch of uninterrupted rest with the help of soothing music, both her body and mind needed more to be restored fully. Though Bella's day started a little later than usual, her scenes were demanding and didn't wrap until just before 10 p.m. She was tempted to crash for the night in her dressing room, but Angela convinced her that a cozy bed was much preferable to a lumpy couch.

With an early actor's call and another full day on tap, Bella found herself ordering a grande Iced Doubleshot coffee from Starbucks on her way to the studio the next morning. She wasn't a caffeine regular, but she knew it would be needed for her to survive the day. At least she could take solace in the fact that it was Friday.

However, as if to add insult to injury, filming on set was fraught with disaster and delay. The schedule had listed 4 p.m. as the projected end of the day, but Alice hadn't been pleased with yesterday's dailies* and demanded some of the scenes be reshot. She was threatening to bring everyone in on Saturday if they didn't accomplish her goals before wrap that evening.

By 5 p.m., Bella's coffee cup had long been empty. She grumbled upon discovering she hadn't replenished her dressing room stash of Coke Zero, her favorite soda. During a break in the action, she dashed to the closest soda machine in hopes of a miracle. Just as she suspected, all of red 'empty' lights were lit.

"Damn!" she muttered fiercely as she aimed several little kicks to the air in front of the offending machine.

She stomped back to the set and slumped in her chair to pout while waiting for Alice's call to take their marks. Bella wasn't as upset as she was pretending to be, but when exhaustion and the demands of her chosen profession weighed heavily upon her, she found minor relief in acting immaturely – as long as no one else was watching.

She was so wrapped up in her pity party of one that she didn't pay attention to the sudden increase in chatter around her. Mumbling her lines and tapping a pencil on the empty coffee cup, she had buried her head in a set of sides*.

The soft greeting almost went unnoticed.

"Hello, Isabella."

Her brain needed a second to process that someone had spoken to her. By the time she pulled her head out of the script, there was no one in her immediate vicinity except for a tall form walking toward Alice as she chastised a group of frazzled-looking crewmen. It took another few moments before Bella's eyes caught the splash of bronze showing below a fitted ballcap of the person striding away from her.

Now her cognitive processes stopped altogether. As if she had just seen a UFO, her jaw slackened as she tried to consider the impossibility.

Was that Edward Cullen?

Did he just speak to me without some sort of negative tone in his voice?

Were those spoken words unsolicited and initiated by him?

Am I so delirious from fatigue that I now am imagining things?

Bella decided the last idea had the most merit; her weary mind must have been playing tricks in an effort to keep her awake. Dismissing the event entirely, she thus turned back to the sides. After a few minutes, Alice instructed everyone to take their marks.

They were filming a scene early in the movie in which Bree confronts Sam about his gambling problem. The department heads were satisfied with what had been captured already, but Alice wanted a few more takes to increase her and the Film Editor's post-production options.

Maintaining her usual level of intensity in front of the camera when she was so spent required a tremendous effort, so when Bella finally heard the blessed "Cut, print, wrap," it was all she could do to stumble to her chair and fish out her phone. When she viewed the lock screen, she noticed two things that she immediately realized were related to each other. It was 9:30 in the evening, and she had several missed texts and one missed call.

"Oops," she sighed in somnolent embarrassment. Demetri likely was waiting for her at the jazz club. Knowing the day would run late, she already had canceled their dinner plans, but in her hazy state she had lost track of time as the evening wore on.

"Bella!" Demetri exclaimed worriedly when he answered her return call. Bella could barely hear his voice over the music and buzz of voices in the background. "Are you okay?"

"I'm so sorry, Demetri," she rasped in apology. "We just finished, and I had no idea what time it was. Have you been there long?"

"No, not long at all. I ran into a friend of mine here, and we've been catching up. Are you still coming out?"

The background noise was dimming, so Bella assumed he was moving away from the stage.

She just barely suppressed a yawn. "I can't make it tonight – way too tired. I'm going to catch a cab home and then pass out…hopefully in that order."

"There's no need for you to call a cab. Let me come get you."

"No!" she protested. "I couldn't ask you to drive out here just to take me home, especially after I stood you up."

"Bella –"

"Even if there's not already a cab outside the studio, I'm sure it won't take more than 5 minutes to get one here. Hang out with your friend. Please," she implored.

"But –"

"Please don't argue, Demetri." Bella knew she was perilously close to whining, but at this point, she was ready to pull out the stops to get her closer to the goal of her bed.

"Uh, okay, if you're sure…"

"I am. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?" She thought she heard a reply, but her finger already was ending the call.

Bella noted the cast and crew were packing up and clearing out. She closed her eyes for a moment in an attempt to gather energy for the walk out the door, but unfortunately, her prior hopes were dashed when she did indeed pass out asleep before placing the call for a cab.

It seemed like her eyes had just fallen shut when Bella was woken by a tightening sensation across her chest and lower abdomen. Although heavy from fatigue, those eyes still managed to spring open and observe that there was not much distance between them and two emerald green ones focused on the task of buckling a seatbelt.

Bella was not a shrill screamer by nature, but she did sound a yelp of surprise upon taking in her unexpected situation.

"Edward?" she gasped. "What are you doing?"

His eyes flickered to hers and then looked away as he moved to close the front passenger door. "I'm driving you home," he stated simply as the door swung shut.

Bella watched him cross in front of a silver car's hood. Glancing at the steering wheel, she realized she was in a Volvo, and by the smell of it, the car was fairly new.

As Edward climbed into the driver's seat and buckled up, Bella felt her confusion and irritation growing at equally rapid rates.

"Before you dare start that engine, I want to know what the hell is going on," she demanded in a low, agitated voice. She looked down to see her bag sitting on the floor between her feet.

Edward stared over the top of the steering wheel. "You fell asleep in your chair. I didn't want to wake you, so I called Emmett and had him find out your address. Now, I'm taking you home - like I said."

The irritation flashed to anger. "You are not taking me home. I'm calling a cab." She moved to release herself from the seatbelt.

Edward hit the locks and then pulled a cell phone out of his pocket. "You might need this, though."

Bella gaped at the sight of her phone in his hand. "What? Why? How dare you!" she sputtered in outrage.

Edward's expression didn't change as he started the engine and tucked her phone in his left back pocket. "I called your agent. Ms. Platt is expecting you home soon, and I hate to keep ladies waiting." He suddenly winced, then closed his eyes and cursed silently.

Bella considered her choices as the car pulled away from the curb. She could unlock the door and run the short distance to the nearest studio entrance. Or, she could reach across and try to wrest her phone free from his jeans. Reason quickly removed the last option from the table due to the danger inherent in attacking a moving car's driver, as well as the unlikelihood of her being able to overpower a very fit man. However, the thought tempted Bella just enough to let her gaze roam over Edward's jeans and settle on where his 'seat' came into contact with the car's seat.

She shook her head at the errant thoughts springing to mind and turned her head forward. There really were no alternatives to debate. Doing anything other than graciously accepting Edward's help would be juvenile and just plain stupid.

"Fine," she huffed. "Drive me home." Try as she might, Bella was unable to keep the petulance out of her consent.

"Fine," he echoed, then fell silent on the drive out of the lot.

Based on their prior interaction, if one could call it that, Bella knew better than to attempt polite conversation. She trained her eyes out the window as Edward smoothly navigated the streets, but the movement of the car and the engine's quiet hum soon lulled her back to sleep.

She woke briefly when she heard the car's engine shift to park, but it was physically painful to try forcing herself fully out of her restful state. Giving up the struggle, she floated mindlessly in that fuzzy world of semi-consciousness. Esme's gentle voice mixed with Edward's melodic baritone to serve as a pleasing lullaby, and Bella dimly was aware of being carried out of the car and up the stairs. The last things she experienced before succumbing completely to her exhaustion were the welcoming coolness of her sheets and the quiet "good night" of a comforting male voice.

I'm always dying of curiosity to find out what you think - please review! :)

Also, I'd love to hear any thoughts about Bella's dream. Was it a random fictitious creation of her subconscious, could it have meaning, or...?