Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all.
Rated M for several reasons.
Chapter 10 Beer Before Wine
BPOV
It's a brave new world. The same but different.
Char's now officially left Cask but we're still managing to meet up for lunch almost every day, though I'm starting to wonder if we should have a midwife accompany us rather than Demetri.
Unsurprisingly it was Tanya's BFF Irina that spilled all the messy, but deliberately misconstrued, details to the press. Edward and Tanya's failure to launch made one of the glossy magazines. She basically threw her best friend under the bus, making her sound vapid and oblivious to the fact that Edward and I had been carrying on like bunnies behind her back for their whole relationship. She also managed to make the Cullens sound like vicious snobs who disdained and belittled Tanya and her family at every turn. She even insinuated that Carlisle made a play for her on more than one occasion, which at least made Esme laugh, since they'd never met Irina and even Carlisle's mojo doesn't work over long distances.
I'm not without contacts, or rather Aro, and it didn't take him long to find out how much the scummy bitch got paid for singing like a canary. And this time my lawyers didn't rattle their sabres, they disembowelled the publishing company and frightened the 'nouveau riche' shit out of Irina. After consultation with Esme we sent the resultant cash to our favourite kids charity.
And the Old Man taught me many things. An expose of Irina's father's shady business dealings didn't take long to appear in the business press. There were plenty of even more unpleasant things I could have done, turns out Irina is a bit of a slut, but I didn't. Not that I wasn't tempted. Oh so very tempted.
And when all that had faded into obscurity, as it always does, I signed my new contract and went about the business of business, and becoming 'auntie' to the world's cutest twins.
...
I giggle at his text.
'Visiting your concrete jungle for a day or two, fancy a beer?'
'Rude! Always. When?' I text back.
'Weds, Thurs, Fri next week. Convention.'
'Horse doctors have conventions in NY? How does that work?'
'We're people too you know. We like to live it up occasionally and shake the muck from our boots.'
'Fairy snuff.'
There's a long pause.
'Show me the city if I stay the weekend?'
There's another long pause while I consider that, it's been a month, what harm can it do?
'Of course I will.'
...
"I'm disappointed." He says with a grin as a rather stunned Lauren ushers him into my office that Friday night. "Aren't you supposed to be hanging out on the top floor?"
"There's nothing wrong with the twelfth floor Edward." I laugh, returning his bear hug. "The rest of the building is rented out these days, it's a good money spinner."
"Can I get you anything Bella?" Lauren asks as we break apart.
"No and thank you for your help today, you can take off if you want, I'm not doing anymore tonight."
"Have a good weekend Bella. Mr Cullen."
"You too." Edward says, awarding her his best crooked grin.
Her jaw goes slack and her pupils dilate as she turns to leave.
"Cut that out." I grumble, slapping his bicep.
"What?"
"Never mind. What do you want to do tonight?"
"Whatever you want to do."
"You're the visitor." I remind him.
"How about we stay in with beer? Three days looking at PowerPoint presentations and talking about laminitis has robbed me of the desire to do anything more thrilling, at least for tonight."
"Okay, if you're sure?"
He nods.
"Just give me a minute to pack up and we'll go pick something up for dinner."
"You're not cooking are you?" He asks with mock horror.
"No Edward." I laugh, flipping him the finger. "You are."
...
"Spaghetti Bolognaise?"
"You love my Spaghetti Bolognaise." He reminds me while he makes a great show of feeling up an onion with his long fingers.
"True."
"Make yourself useful and grab some beer while I furckle the produce."
"Only you can make that sound rude." I huff as I walk away.
"And some garlic bread." He calls after me. "I'm too lazy to make it."
...
My poor 'culinary space' doesn't know what's hit it and neither do I. Edward takes after Esme, he does not believe in cooking alone, but unlike his Mom he's something of a martinet about it.
"God you're bossy." I complain as I wash the mushrooms under the faucet according to his exact instructions.
"Quit complaining you can shower in a minute but if we don't start dinner first we'll be eating at midnight."
...
Half an hour later I emerge from the shower to the enticing smell of cooking, real food for once, and I decide to forgive him his Gordon Ramsey tendencies.
I towel dry my hair, twisting it up out of my way and throw on some sweats hurrying out of my room to find Edward, already be-sweated, taking up all the room on my couch with two beers open and waiting on the coffee table.
He has also laid claim to the remote and is flicking channels like a dedicated pro.
"What do you fancy?" He asks as I squeeze myself in past his bare feet.
"They'd better be clean." I growl as he deposits them casually in my lap.
"Of course, I did have a shower Bella, it just doesn't take me as long as it does you." And he waggles a very clean looking big toe in my face.
"Ew."
"Some women find my feet very attractive."
"I am not some women."
"Good." He decides. "In that case you won't mind if we start with an action movie."
...
"This is all wrong." He complains as we sprawl back on the couch after dinner.
"What is?" I ask, sipping my wine.
"You're at the wrong end of the couch, how am I going to hug you from there?"
"Hug a cushion." I suggest, grabbing the remote since it's my turn to pick a movie.
"Bella." He sighs, and I can hear the smile in his voice even though I'm deliberately not looking at him. "It is not my fault that you are the perfect size, shape and texture for hugging."
"That's so cheesy." I snicker. "Does that ever work?"
He opens his arms and pouts and I roll my eyes at myself as I edge down the couch and settle back against him.
"Better?"
"Much." He says, and then. "You're going to punish me for this aren't you?"
"Oh yes, I've just noticed Dirty Dancing is on and I haven't seen it for years."
And I smirk to myself as I turn up the volume, Edward always hated this movie.
Of course I'm unsurprised to wake up some time later, in darkness, curled up in Edward's arms on the couch. I've missed this, being held, Jake and I didn't work properly on many levels but he used to sleep with his arms wrapped tightly round me. Subconsciously he was probably just trying to prevent me escaping, but I loved it anyway.
I should probably wake Edward up and send him to the guest room but I'm unbelievably comfortable, so I won't.
...
I wake up again on my back, warm all over, his body sprawled half over mine, his hips rolling languidly to rub his erection against my thigh.
Again with the sleep humping.
Feeling every inch the martyr I wiggle away from him and head for the bathroom to brush my teeth. It's too early to get up and get dressed but it's too late for me to go back to sleep so instead I pad into the kitchen and open the blinds so I can see to make myself some coffee.
While the machine does its magic I wander into the living room where Edward is still fast asleep but has his hand down his sweats, holding himself. I stifle my laugh, if it were anybody else it would be gross but somehow Edward even manages to make his horniness charming. And when he staggers into the kitchen a few minutes later, drawn by the smell of fresh coffee, his sleepiness is adorable.
"What time do you call this?" He grumbles, collapsing on a stool opposite me.
"Six am."
"You get up at six am every day?" He says with a yawn.
"Pretty much, I like to work out."
He blinks at me and then laughs.
"What?" I huff.
"Nothing." He chuckles, trying to tame his hair with his hands. "Don't get all bristly on me, it's just that if I remember correctly you once told me you were allergic to exercise."
"I am." I laugh, passing him a mug of coffee.
"Thanks." He murmurs, burying his face in it.
"De nada. Almost all forms of exercise result in a rash of bruises you will also recall. However, I have mastered the art of the treadmill and am becoming proficient on the rowing machine."
"Well I'm not going on a treadmill, too girly, but I'll run with you if you want, my stuff's here."
I hesitate for a moment, there's an obvious reason why I don't run, even though paps don't tend to be the fittest people on the planet, or the earliest risers.
"Come on Bella, its six am on a Saturday and I'll be with you, this a free country, you ought to be able to run if you want to."
"Alright, fine, but if your sweaty butt makes the news don't blame me."
...
We ran a couple of miles and I must admit it was way better than the treadmill, especially because you can stop for coffee and a danish at the halfway point. Bliss.
"I need to go and see Charlie." I confess as we're heading off to our respective showers. "Will you be alright here for an hour or so?"
"I'll come with you if you want, I haven't seen him for years."
"He might not recognise you."
"No matter." He says with his easy smile. "I'll come if you don't mind?"
"No, of course not, I'll be ready in about twenty minutes."
"And I will be patiently waiting."
"Rude." I mutter as I walk away, smiling.
...
"How is he today?"
"He's good." Monica says, giving Edward the not so covert once over, she's only human. "Enjoy."
Edward returns my wide smile with one of his own, good days are the absolute best days and my already high spirits soar.
"Bella!" He says as soon as I turn into his room.
"Hi Dad." I say, hugging him tight.
"And Edward! How are you boy, long time no see, I didn't realise you two were still dating. She never mentions you anymore."
"I'm always around somewhere Charlie." Edward responds easily as they shake hands warmly. "You should know that by now."
"Good, good, I always liked you way more than that fella she dated in High School, what was his name Bella?"
"Josh."
"That's right, his eyes were too close together as I recall. So how are classes?"
And there you have it, on a good day Charlie remembers a wide array of things, but never very much from the last decade.
We spend longer there than I'd intended since Charlie's in fine form and I don't mind one bit that he and Edward are largely ignoring me as they prattle on about manly stuff like fishing and football. And I'm grateful for Edward's almost photographic memory, sometimes we slip up and it really upsets Charlie when he realises something's not quite right with his memory, but Edward seems to pick up easily which season and players Charlie's referring to.
...
"Feeling good?" Edward asks as we drive back into the city.
"Yeah." I admit, still smiling. "It doesn't happen very often, but when it does . . . . even though he's out of date with everything it's still good to have my Dad back, even for a few hours."
"We could have stayed if you'd wanted to."
"No, it's okay Edward, I've learned the hard way not to push my luck, it can all go again in the blink of an eye and that's really hard to take."
He reaches over and takes my hand, giving it a comforting squeeze, he knows the story.
I was out at a painfully fashionable restaurant, on a date, the night I found out Charlie had been shot and that they weren't expecting him to live. I remember it vividly, an unwelcome Kodak moment in my life. The popping flash bulbs, shouted questions, my date trying to hold me up while we waited for Demetri to arrive, the company jet to flying me to Seattle where Charlie had been transferred due to the nature of his injury.
Shot in the head.
I was ecstatic when he pulled through but then the reality of it hit me. ABIs affect people in different ways. In some ways Charlie was lucky, he regained most of his mobility, but he only regained the most tenuous of grips on who he was. Sometimes it's like Renee and I never existed and he thinks I'm Grandma Swan, and sometimes he knows something is wrong and he's aggressive and unpleasant, so unlike himself it's painful to watch.
Six months after his injury we were able to move him to a specialist care facility near the city and Monica has been his constant companion ever since. I felt bad at first, and selfish, taking him away from his home and friends. But it was the best thing for Charlie in the long run, he's made more progress here than he would have anywhere else, and mostly he's happy.