A/N: Hey! It's good to be back :) Thanks for the awesome reviews. Thanks for following my story. I'm sorry for the long time coming... and here's the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership over the original books/characters.

Chapter 13: A Little To Deep

[Bella POV]

After that Monday, the rest of the week passed without much event. Edward has decided to join our group for lunch—and I was surprised he actually got along with my friends, considering how crazy they were compared to him—and, on Friday, as promised, Esme came around, even cooking us dinner—Yey!—and I've learned much about Ace.

Actually, his birthday was coming up in a week. I did not know why I was so nervous about it, I just was. No one knows about the strange arrangement I have with Edward yet—not Alice, not Rosalie, not Jasper, not anyone—and, to be perfectly honest, I was afraid of letting them know about it.

If you knew my friends, you'd agree with me. They'd have my head for this…

…but well, they did not understand. They could get into their dream schools without a hitch, while I on the other hand… my sickness was one thing, but money? That's another story.

It was Saturday, and I promised Ace a tub of ice cream as soon as Esme woke up from sleep.

My head was pounding at the thought of 'last night'. I shook my head, to clear it, at least, but I was pretty damn sure I will never forget that night.

**Flashback**

It was near six PM, and I was just coming into the house since Edward told me he had to do some stuff before coming home.

"Ace, go change before you do anything else."

"Okay, mommy."

The kid ran off. Tuesday when I received a little bag from Edward with a copy of keys for some major doors that need to be locked every time someone had to leave. I was kind of surprised when he gave it to me—I couldn't believe they trusted me enough.

"It's part of the fun," he said as he shrugged and left me. I shrugged right back and kept it in my bag. It has been with me since.

I was sure I'd be alone until Edward came around, so I was a little startled when the door opened and Esme came in with a large smile on her face. I blushed when I saw her—remembering my attack last week when I met her for the first time—but then it passed when she came up to hug me.

"It's good to see someone is caring for my children enough," she said and then winked. I laughed.

Ace then came bouncing down the stairs, shrieking when he saw his mom and jumping straight into her arms.

"Hewwo, ma," he said. I gulped nervously.

"Hello, baby, how are you?" Esme asked.

"I'm fine, you?"

I smiled. It was so cute knowing how mature he is at his age. Or civil.

"I'm great, too. Did you have a good week with Bella?"

Ace cocked his head to one side, blinking in confusion, staring at his mother as if what she had just said was the most confounding thing ever. And then he shrugged and asked to be put down. Esme did so, slowly, and then turned to face me, her face etched with concern and confusion.

"He doesn't know you?" she asked. She was about to say something else when Ace tugged at my hand and raised his arms, a child's certain gesture when asking to be carried. I smiled at Esme as I bent to pick up her son, hitching him against my hip and walking out of the kitchen to the living room.

"Actually," I started, "he does. I don't think he knows my name, though."

"What does he call you, then, dear?"

"Mommy."

I jumped… for the second time in as many hours. I looked up to the door and saw Edward, his handsome face pressed to a hard mask of indifference as he stared back at me. He merely nodded at his mom as he caught his brother—who, astonishingly, slipped out of my arms without me noticing.

"What?" Esme asked, confused. She looked between Edward and me, not finding answers from our expressions at all.

"I said, Ace calls Bella mommy," Edward answered, his voice cool as he carried his brother into the kitchen. As they passed, I heard him murmur to Ace: "You like mommy, don't you?"

I slowly turned my head to look at Esme, expecting to find some sort of negative reaction—resentment, anger, anything—and found that she was smiling at me fondly. I blinked.

"You know, I'd understand if he calls you his mommy," she said and sighed. "You look more like him than I do. Sometimes I stare at his eyes and I start to think, maybe he should have been my sister's son, not mine." She fixed her eyes on me. "My sister, Elizabeth, had the same brown eyes and brown hair as the both of you. Do you want to know why?"

For some reason, I wanted to nod and shake my head at the same time. I wanted to know, but I didn't, either. I gulped and nodded instead.

"Your grandmother Marie, and Edward's grandfather Joe… they were cousins. And Daddy Joe didn't like Grandpa Adrian one bit. So they were always in fights. Now when your mom Renee and Carlisle stepped into the picture…" She shook her head, her eyes glazed in reminiscence. "There was finally peace. Charlie, Liz and I never stopped laughing about those times, you know? And then Daddy Joe died…

"All in all, it was a pretty rough childhood. Renee and Liz both had miscarriages. Your mom with your younger brother and my sister with her first child. Both their children were lost the moment I had Ace. And I think the reason behind his looks is because that's how he's supposed to look, had both his cousins been alive.

"Charlie and Liz look a lot like each other. Some would even mistake them for siblings. Brown eyes, brown, curly hair… freckles… I loved them both." She turned her eyes to look at both of his sons in the kitchen. "You know what, Bella? I think I'm bothering you too much. I'll cook dinner, leave you to eat, go take a warm bath and go to sleep. Good night, honey." She kissed my forehead and walked up and away.

Edward came in a few seconds later, his eyes trained on his mother as he pushed the now half-asleep two year old in my arms.

"His birthday's coming up," he said idly, taking my hand and playing with it as his free hand grabbed the remote control and turned the TV on. "What do you want to do?"

"When is it, exactly?" I asked.

"The twenty seventh, next Wednesday."

I nodded, trying to keep my mind away from the fact that his fingers were prodding mine, twirling around my palm, tickling me and sending an unfamiliar sensation up and down my whole body. I gulped.

"What if we go out on Wednesday? I think we're having a half-day 'coz the seniors are having an affair that day."

I looked at him and saw that he was thoughtful. He shrugged and nodded, his eyes trained on the show being played on television. I laughed when I saw it—How I Met Your Mother.

"Edward, are you seriously going to watch this?" I asked incredulously.

"It's better than Jersey Shore, don't you think?"

I nodded. "Or One Three Hill."

He made a strange noise and then shut up, but I could still feel his hand closing around mine, slipping, playing. I sighed, and managed to choke back a girlish giggle.

I sighed.

On Edward Cullen.

If I was right, he might be my cousin. I gulped.

Oh crap, I think I'm falling for Edward.

**End of Flashback**

And that night, after dinner, when Edward drove me home, I had invited him into the house for a cup of warm choco. That was all I intended that night as I sat down on the couch and he sat beside me, stretching one of his long legs to my side so it dangled off the arm rest behind me.

I did not intend for us to talk. Well, not that much.

We talked about families first, and then plans for college—and he finally found out why I suddenly became Momma Bear—and then our topic slipped onto the more personal stuff… until we ended up sleeping in the couch at one thirty.

Edward woke me up at five to tell me he was going home, and I think I groaned a bit, and felt him spread my body across the couch before… did he kiss me? I'm not sure. But I sure felt something warm and soft against my lips before I heard the door open and close again.

So now, four hours later, I'm at his house, watching his little brother doodle on a piece of paper in the living room, my foot up against the coffee table, just watching the little boy giggle and flip the paper over and over.

"Maybe you should draw a house," I suggested. He looked at me and then looked at his paper again, contemplative. I laughed, and, probably not understanding why, he laughed with me. Kids are so silly. But this one's really cute.

Half an hour later Esme woke up, and she invited both Ace and I to the kitchen for ice cream. Ace kept telling and retelling the stories I've narrated to him every night since Monday, some of which earned me an incredulous glance from Esme.

When the kid heard his dad in the living room, he ran off to meet him. And that left Esme and I to look at each other. She smiled, a loving, motherly smile that warmed me from the top of my head all the way down to my toes. But somehow, her smile made me nervous, too.

"So. I heard Edward came up at around five thirty this morning," she started conversationally, her eyes now on her cup of ice cream. "Mind telling me what you've been up to."

I laughed. This was easy. "We slept on my couch. Talked till one this morning. Good thing he actually woke up before dawn, though."

She laughed at me, too. "Well, I have a bigger question. Do you have any plans of dating Edward, Bella?"

I choked. I had been swallowing my cold, deliciously sweet spoon of ice cream and I began choking. She patted my back gently until it was out of my throat and I could swallow better.

"What?" I asked.

She glanced up and then smiled like a Cheshire cat. And suddenly, I knew Edward was right behind me.

"Don't you worry," she whispered in my ear. "I approve."

"Esme," I groaned, putting my head against my hands, now propped up against the counter. "That is…"

"…perfect," she finished, tapping my nose with the tip of her finger. "I'd love to see it soon."

I stared at her, dumbfounded, as her son came up from behind me and began scooping ice cream, eyeing the both of us. I gulped nervously.

"I was about to say unhealthy," I told Esme. She just laughed and left, leaving me… with the son she just practically told me to date.

"What was that about?" Edward asked.

"Nothing," I answered quickly. Too quickly, I thought, because Edward smirked and sat beside me. And then he leaned over and pressed his cool lips against my temple before whispering:

"You do know I can make you tell me?"

I snorted to hide the fact that I was beginning to get really nervous. My heart was pounding against my chest in… that way, that way where I knew I wouldn't be having a heart attack but I still knew that it wasn't healthy.

"We'll wait and see," I told him as I took a spoon of my ice cream and put it in my mouth. He chuckled and then sighed.

"We're in a little too deep, don't you think?" he asked. His hand took mine and he squeezed before letting it fall against my lap.

Are you crazy? I screamed at him in my head. We're both in too DEEP!

A/N: So, I was reading through the reviews again. And I'm soooo happy :) Keep supporting me, okay? Hihihihihi. I'm doing my best and I'm sorry if the story line is a little boring. Review?