Disclaimer: I still don't own Twilight.

A/N I donated this chapter to Project Team Beta's Back 2 School Fundraiser.

Ink and Frosting

Bella

Soft lips ghosting down my neck and shoulder, and the gentle caress of a strong hand pulled me from my slumber. It had taken some getting used to sleeping alone again during the week, after spending most summer nights in Edward's embrace. Waking up like this on weekends was something I cherished, because when school had started up three weeks ago, my parents had reinforced the previous rules regarding sleeping arrangements. I had been allowed, however, to spend the night with Edward at our apartment on my birthday, even though it was a school night. We had locked the door and turned off our phones, to spend the night in a blissful bubble filled with conversation and lovemaking.

'Happy birthday, Bella,' he whispered in my ear in between kisses, aware that I was slowly waking up.

Without opening my eyes, I rolled over and molded my lips to his, sighing happily.

'Are you sleep-kissing me?' he chuckled.

I hummed in both confirmation and approval, because as he was questioning me, his hand inched down, pulling me closer to him so he could rub his morning wood against me. One of the first things we had agreed upon while decorating the apartment had been that sleepwear would be limited to skin – with the exception of panties for me when I would be on my period. I loved feeling as much of his warm skin as possible. It also made impromptu midnight sex that much easier.

'It's not my birthday anymore,' I replied.

'But you are getting another big present today,' he argued.

'True.'

'Are you excited?' he asked, absentmindedly trailing his hand over the spot in question.

'Very. But also a little scared,' I admitted. 'Will it hurt?'

'Not really. I mean, your first one was alright, wasn't it?' At my nod, he continued, 'This one is bigger, of course, so you'll be more sore and tired afterwards. And your ribs might be uncomfortable. You could take some Tylenol to take off the edge…' he trailed off, but I interrupted that train of thought.

'No! I don't want to numb myself. But you'll be there the entire time, right?'

'I'll hold your hand the entire session and distract you,' he promised before kissing me again.

After a few minutes of mingling tongues and roaming hands, I pulled back just enough to speak against his lips, 'How much time do we have?'

He rolled on top of me to reach my phone on the night stand, and I moaned softly at the feel of his weight pressing me into the mattress. Putting my phone down again, he buried his face in the crook of my neck, causing goose bumps to erupt across my skin as he spoke.

'We need to leave in about an hour.'

'Good. Seeing as I'll probably be too sore for a few days…' I suggested, wrapping my legs around his waist and guiding him inside me.

o.O.o

Diego laughed uncontrollably as Edward ripped the sarong and tape out of his hands.

'Nothing I haven't seen before, Eddie. Besides, it's just skin to me.'

Edward grumbled noncommittally while I turned around to remove my zip-up hoodie and tank. Edward fixed the sarong to cover my chest and taped it in place.

'You know he's a professional,' I whispered. 'He'd never do anything out of order.'

'I know that,' he assured me through gritted teeth. 'Still doesn't mean I like the thought of him seeing what's mine. He'll get to touch you more than enough as it is.'

Deciding not to clue him in on the fact that Gianna touched me much more intimately every time I went in to touch up on my wax, I wrapped my hands around his wrists, his hands lingering near my breasts.

'And you know it's just a canvas to him. I love how possessive and protective you are of me, I really do, but this caveman attitude won't help. I need you today, and I need you to keep calm. Can you do that for me?'

He rested his forehead against mine, closing his eyes, and exhaled heavily.

'You're right, I'm sorry. I just can't help it sometimes.'

I tilted my head to gently kiss him.

'I know, baby. Just try not to think about it today.'

With that, I turned around and walked over to Diego, who had given us some privacy and had been setting up his station.

'Ready?' he asked.

'As I'll ever be.'

'Great. I've finalized the design to your specifications, so let's have a look before I position the stencil.'

He laid out the large sheet on the stainless steel bench.

'It's gorgeous,' I praised, and felt Edward come up behind me, resting his hand on my lower back as he leaned in to study the drawing.

'That's going to look stunning on you, Bella,' he agreed.

The water used to apply the stencil was cool against my skin, and I shivered in the air-conditioned room. Observing its positioning in the full-length mirror, I was momentarily rendered mute. It had taken a while for me to get used to the idea of having such a large tattoo, but once we'd started the designing process, I'd become increasingly eager to see the result.

Most of my left ribcage was covered with an angel's wing, surrounded by a tattered banner. The wing's tips rested just below my shoulder blade. It emerged from a bundle of flowers; a rose, a lily, and some freesia. Scattered around the wing and flowers were forty-two stars of different sizes, starting on top of my shoulder and running down to just below the top edge of my panties. The banner ran around the wing twice, and had two lines of writing: Cherished Dreams – Forever Asleep.

o.O.o

Our weeklong trip to California had been filled with sun, fun, and freedom. We had done the typical touristy things like hiking in Griffith Park to visit the Observatory and take our picture with the Hollywood sign in the background, and strolling along Hollywood Boulevard to look for a variety of celebrities' stars, and handprints at Grauman's Chinese Theater.

The villa that Carlisle and Esme had rented for us had been absolute beachfront in Malibu, with a large deck overlooking the ocean, and steps leading down to the golden sand. Edward and Jasper had turned out to be reasonable surfers, explaining that they used to go to the nearby Quileute reservation in high school on weekends to surf with the local boys. I had shivered at the mere thought of braving the cold water of the North Pacific, but had to admit watching Edward expertly ride the MiniMal that was part of the villa's inventory, made me glad that he had. He had tried teaching me, but I hadn't been able to keep my balance long enough to successfully ride a wave all the way back to the beach, so after an afternoon of failed attempts and swallowing half the ocean, I had given up and joined Rosalie under her umbrella.

Newly engaged, she and Emmett had come with us after all, but had decided to take it easy. They were both very careful now that she was finally pregnant – Emmett even more so than Rosalie – to the point where she had begged her brothers to take him off her hands for a day.

We had also found time to do stuff as couples or in other combinations; Edward and I spending an evening at the Santa Monica Pier; Alice, Rosalie, and I going shopping and visiting the Getty while the guys had gone to play paintball. And of course Edward and I had gone to the Muse concert, courtesy of Alice's birthday gift. That night had been one of the best of the summer – gawking at the incredible show, singing along at the tops of our lungs, and jumping around in crazy excitement. During Endlessly, I had swayed in Edward's arms as he had whispered the lyrics to me. That's when I had known what words to get in the banner of my sidepiece.

o.O.o

'When you're ready,' Diego pulled me from my thoughts. 'Why don't you hop up onto the chair and get comfortable on your right side. We'll only do the outline today, then we'll make an appointment in about two weeks to get it shaded and filled in with color.'

I jumped when the needle first touched my skin, but relaxed at the surprisingly soothing sensation.

Diego explained, 'I'm starting at your shoulder and working my way down. The stars up here won't take that long, so I'll have them out of the way before I move to your ribs. Those are usually the most sensitive part.'

He was right; about halfway through outlining the wing and the banner, the feeling was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Not necessarily painful, more annoying to the point where I wanted to smack his hand away, which, for obvious reasons, I couldn't. Edward noticed, and took the hand that wasn't supporting my head, rubbing soothing circles with his thumb.

'Are you okay?'

I nodded, frowning in concentration.

'You're doing great, love. Just try to keep your breathing even.'

Behind me, Diego cleared his throat, calling Edward's attention, and he glanced at him before focusing back on me.

'So, has Alice called you yet?' he asked.

I knew he was trying to distract me, probably per Diego's instruction, but I wished he'd chosen a different topic.

'Do you really want to talk about that right now?'

'Now is as good a time as any. Why?'

'I don't want you to get upset or angry.'

'Who says I will?' he challenged.

'Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you.'

Diego traced the banner, moving from the side of my breast to the back of my ribcage. Edward raised my hand to his mouth and brushed his lips against my knuckles, smiling encouragingly.

'She kind of avoids me still.'

'How is that possible, you have, like, every other class together?'

'Well, you'll have to ask her. She manages to not acknowledge me. At least, not to my face. Angela says she looks at me when I'm talking to someone else, almost like she wants to come over. But she doesn't. She hangs out with Jess a lot and doesn't invite me.'

'Yeah, Jazz said you haven't been over this week. It's weird, totally not Alice. What happened to make her act like this?'

I felt the needle trace the lines of the wings between the pieces of the banner and had to suppress a giggle when it passed over a particularly ticklish spot. Then I sobered a bit. I wanted to shrug, but couldn't without messing up the tattoo, so settled for simply pulling a face.

'She's jealous.'

Edward blinked, not understanding what I meant.

'Of us. Of what we have.'

'But she has Jasper…'

'Not the way she wants him. She envies me for the freedom I have with you.'

'She calls your father's restrictions freedom?'

'That's what I told her, but according to her, I can at least come to your place and have privacy.'

'Yeah, but that's only on weekends, and only as long as you keep your grades up till you graduate. I don't get why she's acting so childish. And why now.'

Telling Edward all this actually did manage to distract me from the feeling of the needle going over my ribs, but I could tell Edward was getting frustrated.

'Then you're really not going to like what triggered it, I'm afraid.'

'Let me guess: your birthday.'

'Yup.'

'How the hell is that related to you being at our place on weekends?'

I smiled, loving how he had never once referred to the apartment as his place – it had always been ours. Squeezing his hand, I tried to calm him down from his building rage. Yes, I was upset about the situation with Alice, but I could sort of understand her point of view, too. If the situation had been reversed, I probably would have been the jealous one.

'Not directly, but… Hey,' I interrupted myself when I saw him roll his eyes in exasperation. 'Let me explain what happened, and then you can pass judgment, okay? I don't think Diego would appreciate it if I were to jump up from this chair right now to chase after you because you ran out of here in a fit of anger.'

'Neither would you,' Diego mumbled, his face inches from my skin as he worked on some details of the banner.

After Edward looked properly chastised and he settled back onto his stool, I continued.

'She wanted to throw me a slumber party. This weekend.'

'When did she spring this on you?'

'A little over a week ago. So I told her this weekend wouldn't work for me, and she thought I was blowing her off to spend time with you. Before I could tell her about this appointment, she started a rant about me forgetting my less fortunate friends, who don't have boyfriends with apartments and who have to sneak around at their parents' place. When she was finished, you were already picking me up, and after that she wouldn't answer my calls.'

'She's jealous of you and me having sex?' Edward wondered. 'That's just stupid.'

'I didn't say she made any sense…'

'I know for a fact she and Jasper have sex all the time.'

'Baby,' I interjected, not really wanting to discuss his sister's sex life. 'You're forgetting one little detail. Sex, yes. Sleep together, no.'

'What do you mean?'

'Carlisle and Esme know they're having sex, they're not stupid. I mean, they realized we were doing it right the next day. But they're not allowed to sleep together there.'

'And she blames you for that?'

'No, I think she just wanted to have a sleep-over and then took out her frustration on me when I had to decline.'

Edward just nodded, his lips pressed together into a fine line. I could see him stewing internally about all I had just divulged. I hadn't told him all that had happened before, because I had hoped Alice and I would make up after a few days of letting her cool down. She appeared to be more stubborn than I had thought, though, and I knew hearing the full story now couldn't be easy on him.

At that point I noticed it was suddenly much quieter in the room. Diego was wiping down my skin, the cool paper towel feeling heavenly against my raw flesh, and the gun was turned off.

'Why don't we take a break? From tattooing and drama?' he suggested with a wink. 'Zafrina!' he bellowed to the front of the shop. 'Has lunch arrived yet?'

Earlier during the session, Zafrina had come in, asking us what we wanted to order for lunch. She had been popping in between appointments and walk-ins, curious about the progress of the tattoo.

Edward seemed lost in thought, so Diego helped me up from the chair and directed me towards the mirror so I could see what it looked like so far. My skin was slightly red and raised, but the lines were sharp and I could already tell the end result would be worth any temporary discomfort.

'We'll do the coloring in two sittings. I'm thinking to just shade the wing with grey, and add some blue highlights. The banner can be a more golden brown color, to give it a weathered and old look, and we could have the blue feature in the print as well.' When I nodded, already seeing it in my mind, he continued, 'As for the flowers, brighter colors would work well with your skin tone. I was thinking of red for the rose, purple for the freesia, and pink and white for the lily. What do you think?'

I could only grin at him in the mirror and nod profusely, making him laugh.

'Alright, let's see about lunch, then get this puppy finished for the day.'

o.O.o

Edward was quiet as we ate, and at one point got up and stalked to the door.

'I'll be right back, I need some fresh air,' he muttered on his way out.

'Didn't he quit smoking?' Diego asked.

I nodded, 'He's probably gone to call Alice and yell at her.'

'Want me to get him for you?'

'Nah. He needs some time to cool off, too. I didn't want to tell him like this, but…'

We finished eating, and after a quick bathroom break, I climbed back up the chair, lying on my back, since he would be outlining the lily, which was on my stomach, first. I didn't know if it was the location, or fatigue, or something else, but as soon as he started, it felt different. This part was actually painful. I tensed, trying to keep as still as possible.

'Try to relax your breathing, Bella,' Diego instructed.

'I'm trying,' I groaned.

He continued for a few minutes while I tried to keep my squirming to a minimum, but finally, we both recognized it wasn't working. He put down the gun and stuck his head out the door, calling to Zafrina in the front of the shop.

'Tell Eddie to get his panties untwisted and his ass in here. His girl needs him and we can't afford to bitch about sibling drama.'

Moments later, a distraught looking Edward came rushing in, almost knocking the stool to the ground in his hurry to be by my side.

'Oh Bella, I'm so sorry, baby, what's wrong?' he cried, grasping my hand and kissing my forehead.

'Turns out her ribs are alright, but her stomach is her tender spot,' Diego offered, to which I nodded, grimacing. 'She could use your distraction.'

'What do I do?' he begged.

'For one, don't go yelling at your sister right now. Second, whatever it takes to distract her and make her comfortable. I don't care what you do, as long as you don't have sex on this chair.'

I would have laughed if I hadn't been in that much discomfort. As it were, Edward managed to smirk mischievously. I swatted at him haphazardly, and he grabbed the hand that was flying at his head, bringing it to his lips, before leaning in to kiss me. And I'm not talking a chaste peck on the lips, seeing as we weren't exactly in private. No, this kiss was toe-curling. Momentarily forgetting Diego's presence, I moaned softly into Edward's mouth, and fisted my hand in his hair. That moan turned into a hiss as I felt the needle touch my tender skin again, and Edward doubled his efforts, nibbling softly on my bottom lip.

'Good,' Diego praised. 'Just try not to move. Keep the action above your shoulders, and concentrate on him, Bella. You're doing great.'

I did as instructed, more than happy to lose myself in our kiss, as Edward leaned over me, gently stroking my face with one hand while the other teased the inside of my right thigh. Since I was already practically topless and moaning, I wasn't that concerned anymore about the tingling anticipation building.

'You'd better be ready to make good on that,' I warned him.

'As long as you keep my artwork intact, you can go at it as soon as you get home, for all I care,' Diego muttered, causing me to finally blush while Edward laughed against my lips.

'You know that I always follow through,' he whispered seductively.

He kept me occupied while Diego finished outlining the lily, alternating between softly ghosting his lips across mine and nibbling and sucking on the swollen flesh. It certainly diverted my attention from the uncomfortable sensations being inflicted upon my stomach.

'Okay, Bella, I'm almost done with this bit. We'll take a quick break so you can get a drink, and then I'll do the final part for today. But I think it'd be a good idea if you take something against the pain when we do the color on this section, otherwise it'll be too rough on you.'

'Are you sure that'll be alright?' I wondered aloud.

'As long as you don't take anything that contains blood thinners, and you only take a little bit, you should be fine,' Diego assured me.

o.O.o

After a much needed bathroom break – the vibrations of the gun that close to my bladder weren't exactly helping – and a quick drink while Zafrina inspected our progress, I settled down onto my right side again for the outlining of the rose and freesia.

'This shouldn't be as painful,' Diego promised.

Still, I braced myself for the onslaught. The first few minutes reminded me of the previous hour or so, because he was working so close to the lily. Edward held my hand and kissed me again, filling my mind with lustful thoughts. When the needle moved further back, I hummed in appreciation. This actually felt pretty nice, especially compared to before.

'So,' Diego interrupted our bubble. 'I guess I'll be seeing a lot of you guys the next couple of weeks.'

I turned my head to look at him, confused.

'I though you said we should leave two weeks in between sessions, to allow it to heal?'

'He did and we will,' Edward offered. 'But I'm coming in next week to get some new work done.' He then turned to Diego, 'Did you finish the design yet?'

'Top drawer of that file cabinet over there has a folder with your name on it.'

Curious, I followed Edward with my eyes, intrigued when his face lit up with a smile.

'What are you getting? And why didn't I know this?' I questioned.

'I wanted it to be a surprise for you,' he said, walking back over to his stool by my side.

I perked up, careful to not actually move my body while at the same time creating a better angle to look at the sheet of paper in his hands. He noticed, and folded it against his chest, obscuring my view.

'Patience, love. I'll show you, but first I want to tell you what I'm aiming for in the end.'

When I settled my shoulders back down and motioned for him to continue, he smiled.

'I want my left arm turned into a sleeve eventually. Of us.'

My brow furrowed, confused at what exactly he meant. Fortunately, he didn't hesitate in elaborating.

'I already have your zodiac on my wrist, and eventually I want to extend that upwards to include whatever else happens in our life together. Like, important dates and events and stuff.'

My mind was busy conjuring up images of a slightly older Edward holding a baby while Diego added another part to the sleeve in question, and my heart skipped a beat. In the last few months I had grown even more ready to really build a life with him, and having him confirm the same hopes made me love him even more.

'For starters,' he continued. 'Next week I'm adding this to my upper arm.'

With those words, he turned the paper around to show me the stencil. On it was a drawing of three polaroids, slightly overlapping each other. The positioning suited its intended location on Edward's toned arm, but what struck me the most were the images on the polaroids.

'Is that what I think it is?' I asked

He nodded.

'You. Or… parts of you, anyway.'

The top polaroid showed my eye, while the middle contained an image of my lips.

'I showed Diego some picture of you that I love and we decided to focus on some of my favorite parts of you,' he explained as his cheeked tinged slightly pink. 'They're going to be black and white, with only some color in your lips.'

The image on the third polaroid cause a lump to form in my throat; it was a close-up of my right wrist, showing the tattoo I had there, as well as the charm Edward gave me for Christmas. He loved seeing his symbol on me and took every opportunity to place a soft kiss onto it. It made sense for him to include it in the design. As if reading my thoughts, he picked up my hand and pressed his lips to the tattoo while locking his eyes with mine.

'I love it,' I told him, smiling.

'I love you,' he answered.

'Alright, lovebirds,' Diego laughed. 'We're almost done for the day. Bella, could you move onto your back again, so I can do the last couple of stars?'

Twenty minutes later, he shut off the gun and wiped down the entire tattoo, the cool, damp paper towel feeling divine against my tender skin. Edward helped me down from the chair and gently removed the tape keeping the sarong in place. Then he and Diego went to the front of the shop while Zafrina came in, offering to slather me with lotion before bandaging me, knowing Edward wouldn't like another man's hands on me like that.

'It's going to be beautiful, Bella,' she said. 'Leave this on for two hours, then gently wash it and reapply lotion. You'll want to sleep in an old shirt for a while so you won't stain your clothes or sheets. Be sure to treat it twice a day, and then it should heal nicely for your next sitting.'

'Thanks, Zafrina,' I said, carefully pulling my tank top back on.

'Have that boy take care of you tonight. Trust me, you'll be exhausted by the time you get home.'

o.O.o

True enough, I could barely keep my eyes open in the car. I remembered getting in, then next thing I knew, Edward opened my door and released my seatbelt before helping me out and guiding me to the elevator of our building.

I sank down onto the couch as he disappeared into the kitchen. Moments later he returned with two Heinekens and a plate with a chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting.

'What's an extended birthday without cake?' he winked, placing the plate and bottles on the coffee table.

He lifted my legs and slid underneath before handing me one of the beers. I gingerly leaned back against the armrest, sipping my drink. It was pretty much all I could muster; I was that tired – even light conversation seemed too much. Edward effortlessly tapped into my mood and simply fed me bites of the cupcake. I did try to be less of a buzz-kill by slowly licking the frosting off the fork and my lips. It appeared to do the trick. He shifted my legs away from him slightly, his eyes fixed on my lips as he swallowed thickly.

'B-Bella…' he stammered, setting the plate down.

'You promised me something earlier,' I hinted.

Unfortunately, I was still rather sore, and I winced as I leaned forward to put both our bottles back on the table.

'I don't think that's such a good idea,' Edward hesitated. 'Don't get me wrong, I'm all for it, but are you sure you're okay?'

'I'm just a bit tired and tender, baby,' I assured him. 'And icky. This bandage needs to come off. Help me take a shower?'

'You're not too sore? I don't want to wear you out…'

'You won't. Baby, you got me all worked up with your distractions. Please, make me feel good before I pass out completely,' I reasoned.

'Fair enough,' he shrugged, and got up, pulling me to my feet. 'You head on over to the bathroom, I'll be right there.'

I used the time alone to clean my face and brush my teeth. There was no point in trying to get undressed without help, not with the bandage restricting me and the lotion sticking to my skin. Best to wait for Edward to help me with that, I figured. As I was running the shower to get the hot water flowing, he came in holding one of his threadbare t-shirts.

'So you'll be comfortable while you're healing,' he explained.

We stood there, simply looking at each other for a few moments, before he approached me and carefully lifted my tank top over my head before peeling away the bandage. He then helped me step into the shower, placing my hands around his neck for support as he washed my body and hair, paying special attention to my new tattoo. When I was squeaky clean, he proceeded to make good on his promise and touched me in ways he couldn't while we had been at the shop.

A/N Bella's tattoo is a variation of my own sidepiece (http:{/}tinyurl{dot}com{/}d4tzz4b). The coloring will also be similar, but with a red rose, a white-and-pink lily, and purple freesia.

The experience was pretty much the same for me, except that I didn't have a hot guy there to distract me…

Thanks to Missrebecca for looking this over for me and making the pretty banner, and thanks to Diana Wolfskill for helping me come up with an appropriate title.