Disclaimer: Twilight and the characters are the property of Stephenie Meyer.

I only own the plot of this story.

Very special thanks to JCook169 again for her wonderful editing and also for caring for me while I deal with all that is going on in Japan.

Cardinal Sins Chapter 20

It's not like what I saw on Cosmo!

BPOV

Parting with my dad wasn't as painful as I thought it would be. I thought it would take forever to send him off, but he seemed to accept that I was growing up, and it was time for me to leave the nest. He hugged me for several minutes and told me to call anytime, day or night, and to come home whenever I wanted to.

An hour after I called Edward to let him know that my dad had left with his parents, he was at my apartment with a travel suit bag and a small overnight bag grinning. Alice pouted seeing that Jasper wasn't here with him. Jasper had a test coming up and needed to study as he had spent most of the weekend with us.

"Well, I'll leave you two lovebirds alone and retreat to my room," Alice said before she took the bowl of popcorn we had just made.

Alec just waved to tell us not to mind him. Dad agreed that only Felix or Alec would stay with me while I was at the condo, office, or at Volutri headquarters as all had excellent security. I was glad that Felix and Alec were finally regaining some normalcy back in their lives. They were dividing the day into 3 shifts so that they could do 1 or 2 shifts in a day and interchange so that the other could sometimes have the day off instead of the night. The shifts were from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., 2 p.m. to 10 p.m., and 10 to 6 a.m. so that they wouldn't interfere too much with Alice's and my schedule. Alec came at 2 p.m. and said that he was staying until 6 a.m.

I was nervous from all the freedom I had now. Here I was alone with my boyfriend, well almost since Alice and Alec were still here but they wouldn't bother us. I fidgeted with my fingers and Edward just smiled and took me in his arms and rested his chin on my shoulder.

"I dreamt of this moment. To have you in my arms without getting interrupted by anyone," Edward said and snuggled his face into my neck. "I could spend the whole night just holding you and kissing your neck but I have to work in the morning so may I suggest we call it a night and head off to bed?" Edward said grinning like a fool.

"Well, if you're so tired, maybe you might enjoy sleeping on the bed in the guest room alone so you could stretch," I said sticking my tongue out at him.

"That's mean. It defeats the whole purpose of me coming over tonight," Edward said feigning a scowl.

We waved to Alec as we headed to my bedroom. He smirked and waved back to us. I told Edward I'll be out in a minute and headed to the bathroom to get ready for bed. I was excited and nervous at the same time. Outside my bathroom on my bed was my boyfriend waiting to cuddle me. Could things get any better than this?

I opted for just an oversized T shirt to wear to bed instead of one of the nighties Alice had given me. I couldn't wipe this silly grin off my face. When I stepped out of the bathroom I was expecting Edward to be sitting up on the bed with his arms open smiling but what I was welcomed to instead was Edward fast asleep snoring and taking up more than half of the bed. I felt a little disappointed since this was our first night together at my place but chucked it up as this was what reality was really like and that not everything was going to be sweet and romantic like what I saw on TV and magazines.

I crawled into bed and snuggled up to Edward but his snores started to bother me too much so I turned my back to him and buried my head under my pillow.

I awoke to several annoying sounds coming from somewhere near me. Once I was awake enough I realized they were alarms Edward had set to get up for work. His watch, his phone, and my radio clock seemed like they were competing against each other as to who was the loudest and most annoying. I tried to move but Edward had his arms and legs wrapped around me like I was a body pillow and his chin rested on my shoulder with something wet and warm dripping down my neck.

Edward was a drooler, snorer, hugger and a tooter. It was a very bad idea for me to lift the comforter to try to release his hands off me as I was knocked out from the last one he ripped. All the pretty pictures I saw on Cosmo of couples waking up in the morning smiling and hugging each other went down the drain. I sighed as I tried to recover from getting my dreams squashed by Edward's evil fart. I couldn't escape his death grip so I started drumming my fingers on his hands and wiggled my butt at him.

"Edward, wake up," I repeated until he finally started stirring. He sighed softly and drew me closer to him and kissed me on my cheek before he sat up and turned all the alarms off.

"'G'morning Bella. I can't believe I get to wake up like this all the time now. Well, I'd better hit the shower. Go back to sleep. I'm sorry for waking you up with my alarms," he said and kissed me on my forehead before heading into the bathroom.

I pulled a robe on and headed to the kitchen to make some coffee and possibly a little something for him to eat before he headed out. I smelled coffee as soon as I stepped out of my room and found Alec and Felix sitting at the kitchen island sipping coffee and reading a newspaper.

"Good morning," I said and Felix and Alec looked surprised.

"Wow, you're up so early." Alec said smiling.

"Yeah. Edward needs to go to work," I said and felt myself blushing. It's not like Edward and I did anything last night but the fact that they could be imagining that we had sex was not something I was used to.

"I brought some cinnamon rolls and donuts. Feel free to dig in. I didn't expect you to be up so early so I only brought coffee for Alec and myself." Felix said and lifted the top off the box of the baked goods.

"You've already done more than enough getting us these," I said pointing to the box as I thanked him.

I started the coffee and took some plates out for Edward and myself and sat at the breakfast bar along with Felix and Alec. Once the coffee was done I poured a cup for myself and Edward and started nibbling on the cinnamon roll.

Edward came out of my bedroom looking extra handsome in his suit and tie. "Good morning, guys," he said as he walked towards the kitchen and wrapped his arms around me. Edward looked comfortable and I didn't even see a hint of embarrassment from him being seen by Alec and Felix.

"Felix got us some cinnamon rolls and donuts," I said pointing to the box and pushing the mug of coffee towards him.

"I'm sorry but I'm gonna have to dash out of here as soon as I take a quick bite of that. Aro wants to talk to me before Jane comes into the office."

"Oh, okay," I said as I watched Edward wolf down the food and coffee.

Felix got up and told us to wait until he stepped out and cleared the hallway. Once he was done he popped his head back in and told us everything was fine and Edward could leave anytime and stood outside the door.

Edward kissed me good bye and told me that he'd call before coming back here in the evening. I kissed him back and wished him a great day.

I felt a little lost after Edward left. Felix came back inside and Alec left a few minutes after Edward was gone. I turned the TV on and watched the morning news while Felix sat near me reading the paper.

His phone rang and as soon as he looked at the caller ID, his face became serious and answered the phone. "Good morning, Mr. Volturi… yes sir… right away sir," he said and hung up the phone. "Mr. Volturi would like to take you and Miss Cullen out to lunch today and expects us to be waiting for him in the lobby at 11 a.m."

"Okay, then I'd better go and wake Alice up now. She takes forever to get ready," I said causing Felix to chuckle.

Jane's POV

I was surprised when Aro told me to take a long lunch break as he wasn't returning to the office today. He seemed to be in a really good mood which was rare and I got very suspicious. I had picked up the rental car Irina arranged for me yesterday and followed Aro's limousine just like I had planned. I was shocked when I realized Aro's limo stop in front of the condo of the address Irina had told me where Bella and Alice now resided. I felt my blood boiling when I saw Bella and Alice step into Aro's limo with Felix trailing behind them in his car.

What shocked me more was when the limo stopped in front of the Space Needle. Aro Volturi did not mix with "tourists." I quickly parked my car and followed them as close as I can without getting noticed by them. My jaw dropped when they proceeded into the Sky City restaurant. This was definitely not the kind of establishment Aro would choose. He only had me book restaurants with private rooms. I was so angry he would step out of his comfort zone just to please that little bitch. Aro had his hands behind Alice and Bella's back as he escorted them into the restaurant. I would look suspicious if I stood around the entrance of the restaurant so I proceeded back to my car and waited for them to return to their limo.

I quickly slid down in my car and hid when I saw Emmett's jeep park just a few cars away from me. I slowly peeked from car and saw Rosalie and Emmett walk into the Space Needle. I assumed they were joining them for lunch. It pissed me off that it was no longer me who got included in these family lunches. Up until Bella Swan entered into our lives it was always me who accompanied Aro on his private lunches, dinners, and outings even if it was with the Cullens. Now I was excluded and I wasn't even asked to make reservations for him for his private affairs.

Thanksgiving was fast approaching and Aro hadn't even mentioned where he was going to take me and it was making me nervous. He usually asked me weeks in advance and let me choose where and he made all the necessary arrangements himself to surprise me. Last year we went to Cannes and stayed in a beautiful private villa. With so little time left to make any arrangements I had a bad feeling that our trip may not be happening. I was royally screwed and there was only one person to blame, Bella Swan.

Three hours later I saw them come out of the building and I noticed Bella and Alice holding several Space needle gift shop bags. It's not like I want anything from the gift shop but it enraged me that Aro would even step into such a store and that he probably accompanied them to the observation deck. It was just so out of character of him. Even when we went on trips abroad he never wanted to go anywhere touristy. He never stepped out of his comfort zone for me but seemed to have no problems bending over backwards for Bella. What was it about her that intrigued him so much?

I really needed to get rid of her, but I needed to act wisely and make sure if anything happened, Irina would take the fall, so that I could go back to where I belonged which was in the arms of Aro. I, not Bella Swan, was one day going to be Mrs. Aro Volturi.

I followed their cars again and when they all got out of their cars in front of a condo that wasn't familiar to me, I quickly jotted down the address and sent a text to Irina so that she could investigate why they were visiting this building. The building was a high rise with both offices and residences. I had wondered if maybe Rosalie and Emmett had moved here. I made a mental note to check up on their latest address.

An hour later they all stepped out of the building and left their separate ways. Bella and Alice got into Felix's car, Aro left on his own, and Rosalie and Emmett seemed to follow behind Aro's limo and probably were heading back towards the office, which meant that this was a cue for me to speed back to the office in case Aro was returning even though he said that he wasn't.

An hour after I was back in the office, Aro returned and called me to his room. "I thought you would've left for the day by now since I told you I wasn't returning."

"I needed to make sure all the arrangements were in order for next week's board meeting," I said plastering a smile on my face.

"Have I thanked you lately? Come here Jane, let me pleasure you," he said pushing his chair back and making room in front of him between his desk and chair. Lately this was all we had. Him pleasuring me while I sat on his desk or me on my knees pleasuring him. He never bothered to invite me to his mansion or visit me at my place.

I pleasured him back and he left for dinner to meet with a client after he asked me to check up on a few things for him which ended up making me stay in the office until 10 p.m. while he was probably sipping expensive wine over a fine meal leaving me with not much of an option for dinner since it was so late.

I felt cheap and used but I sucked it up. Bella was just his new shiny toy for now and she'd be gone soon anyway. I or Irina would make sure of that.

EPOV

"What the fuck?" I yelled clearly pissed from the picture that was emailed to me from Emmett.

"What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? This is wrong on so many levels!" I said flipping my phone over to show Jasper the picture.

Jasper started laughing so hard he had tears streaming down his cheeks. "Oh my God! Aro looks so out of place… but… I think he looks like he's enjoying himself. "

"Give it back," I said and snatched the phone back and really looked at the picture this time. Em, Rosalie, Alice, Bella, and Aro, really did look like they were enjoying their lunch. "Where the fuck is this?"

"I think it's the Space Needle," Jasper said still unable to control his laughs and stepped closer to me to look at the picture again. "This is too just too comical. Is that a burger in front of Aro?"

I really couldn't believe what I was seeing. Aro was dining at a restaurant in the Space Needle enjoying a burger. My uncle was most definitely not a burger kind of guy. It pissed me off that he was doing this all for Bella. He never even bothered to do any of this when Em, Alice, and I were kids when we begged him to take us there. While I angrily stared at the picture my phone buzzed again. Emmett had sent me another picture and it made my brows furrow.

"Let me see," Jasper said leaning in to see my phone. "Fuck! We have to send this to your parents. They're gonna flip."

"Tell me about it. He looks stupid in his dark suit smiling like The Count from Sesame Street on the observation deck standing between Bella and Alice."

"One, Two, Three, Four, ahhhahaha Five, Six, Seven, ahhahaha…" Jasper started imitating The Count counting the folders we were arranging placing documents into them.

"Shut up, Whitlock."

"What crawled up your ass? Come on, it's funny. Count von Aro," Jasper said and started to laugh again.

"I should've been the one to take her there. Not Aro!"

"Do I sense some jealousy, Cullen?"

"I'm not jealous. I'm just stating the fact that he shouldn't be socializing with her. She works for him. I'm pissed he's enjoying lunch and sightseeing while we're stuck here in the boardroom packing necessary documents into the folders for the board meeting next week."

"Yeah, but that's what us peons are hired to do."

"Grrrr."

"Take a chill pill, Cullen. I'm sure Duckling would've rather gone there with you but look at the pictures again. Duckling looks happy. Isn't that what you want? For Her to be happy?"

"Yeah. You're right. I'm just being an ass. I should be happy she had a nice time today and not stuck at the condo slaving away, helping Alice to organize her room," I said sighing. I missed Bella after seeing her in the pictures.

Aro was just the nail in the coffin. I had been pissy from first thing in the morning after I ran into Rosalie. She had asked me how my first night with Bella at her place went and when I looked at her like I didn't understand, she told me off that I was an idiot for not making the night special for her.

Since then I'd been in a bad mood. Rose pointed out the obvious; I was pissed at myself that none of that even crossed my mind; I'd fallen asleep while she was in the bathroom, and I had to dash out of her place without taking the time to cuddle her or anything this morning. I failed as a boyfriend and Aro had done a much better job than me taking care of her. I hate to admit that Aro was very good with the ladies.

I decided to stop sulking and get my work done here so I could leave at 5 on the dot and go romance Bella. Jasper said he was taking Alice out to dinner and wanted to know if we wanted to join them. I turned his offer down and told him I needed alone time with Bella.

Just before as I was about to fly out the door, Emmett called me to his office. "Dude, I heard you fucked up. Haven't you learned anything from me? Don't you remember all the times I had to grovel to Rosie to make her feel better for all the days she considered special like anniversaries and shit?"

"Don't rub it in, Em. Your woman already chewed me out. I will right the wrong. I just have to come up with something romantic."

"All right. Let me give you some tips. Girls love baths. I'm sure Bella isn't an exception. Remember that store I made you go to for Rosie? You know the place on Pine Street that you said you almost puked into the bowl of some kind of facial goo that looked like vomit? Rose loved their products. Oh yeah, now I remember. The place was called Lush. Go There. While you're at it, pick up some sexy lingerie for her. Maybe she'll give you a treat!" Emmett said waggling his brows.

I just shook my head but thanked him for his advice and headed out of his office. Bella and I weren't quite at the stage of buying lingerie for her so I decided to get the bath products Emmett suggested but was going to forgo the lingerie.

As soon as I stepped into Lush, I again felt like I was going to loose my cookies for the overpowering smell emanating from all the different products mixed together. I tried to breathe as shallow as I could and headed directly to the shelves where they had boxed gifts and chose a hatbox full of bath balls called bath bombs. Then I grabbed one of the girls working there and asked them to pick out some bath products and lotions that smelled like berries as I didn't want Bella to smell like bananas like ones Em got for Rose. She showed me several products and I didn't really care what they were so I told her to ring it up with the hatbox full of bath bombs.

I was relieved when I stepped out of the store. I was already getting a headache. I headed back into the car and had to think what kind of chocolates to get Bella. I didn't just want to get a box of chocolates. I wanted something more than that and then I remembered eating chocolate dipped strawberries from Godiva, which I really enjoyed, so I headed to the boutique to pick up a box. I texted Bella that I was picking up dinner and asked if she had any preference.

"Surprise me!" was the text she sent back. Yeah like that really helps. I just wanted to get home to Bella and the first place that caught my eye on the street was Chipotle so I stepped into the store and ordered a few burritos, chips, guac and salsa, and a salad and rushed back to her.

Out of my excitement I totally forgot about Felix's existence and as soon as the door opened, I shouted "Honey, I'm home!" earning a chuckle from him as he explained to me that he doesn't let Bella open the door for safety reasons.

I was embarrassed so I shoved the bag of food I got for Felix at him and rushed to the living room where I spotted Bella smiling and waving at me. "Honey, you're home," Bella said giggling.

I growled and grabbed her as we fell onto the couch. Life was good and I had the woman I loved in my arms. After several rounds of kissing, teasing, and tickling, Bella said she was hungry so we stopped messing around and started to eat.

"I'm sorry it's just burritos. I probably should've gotten you something nicer. I just grabbed the fastest thing so I can come home to you."

"What are you talking about? These are really great," Bella answered with a big smile on her face. Bella was cool like that. I don't think I've ever seen her unhappy with any of the food she was served. This fact made me both happy and sad at the same time. It reminded me of how deprived she was for the time she spent with Phil after her mother had passed away.

"How was your day today?"

"Oh my Gosh! I have so much to tell you. I had so much fun today. You know, I always thought Aro was creepy but he was actually normal and really nice today. He took Alice and me out sightseeing and to lunch at the Space Needle. Can you believe it?" Bella said excitedly.

"I can," I said chuckling. "Emmett sent me pictures." I found it funny that she mentioned Aro was normal when I thought he was so not acting like himself today.

"What! Let me see."

I pulled my phone out and showed her the two pictures Emmett had sent me. Bella started laughing when she saw the picture of her, Alice, and Aro together. "Oh I just remembered something. Can I have my phone back for a second? I wanna send those pictures to my parents," I explained to Bella and she handed it back to me laughing.

"I got you something from the gift shop there," Bella said getting up from the couch.

"I got you something too!"

"Why? Did you go sightseeing also?"

"I was slaving my ass off at work all day, but I wanted to do something special for you as I didn't do anything special last night when it was our first night together here at your place."

Bella gasped. "Did I say something while I was sleeping?" she asked; covering her mouth.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Tell me. I always want you to be honest with me."

"It's silly."

"Bella, spill."

"Well I was kind of excited that it was our first night together so when I came out of the bathroom I was a little disappointed that you had fallen asleep. But I understand that you were exhausted and had to be up early. I'm not complaining." Bella explained and I tried to not show it but I was inwardly frowning that I let Bella down. Hearing the words from her was a much bigger blow than Rosalie chewing my head off.

"So, this is my little gift to woo you. A box of chocolate dipped strawberries and some girly things for the bathroom."

"I'm officially woo'd," Bella smiled and gave me a kiss. "Oh, these strawberries look so gooood. May I share some with Felix?"

"Of course," I said smiling at her. Bella was always so considerate and caring. She never neglected or treated Felix and Alec any differently than she did others. They were never hired help in her eyes; they were her protectors; something close to a super hero. I wasn't jealous of them as in my eyes they were just like who Bella saw them as. They were ones who protected her when I couldn't and they were much more capable than I at protecting her.

I laughed when she showed me the souvenirs she had bought me including a Space Needle T shirt, mug, elevator floating pen, and salt and pepper shakers.

"Oh, the salt and pepper shakers are from Alice to you. She said to say 'at least this is more stylish than the crap you gave us.' Oh, look what Aro bought for Alice and me for a housewarming gift," she announced excitedly pulling out few bags of pasta shaped like the Space Needle, several bags of coffee, a T-shirt, a Space Needle peppermill, and a Space Needle snow globe bottle stopper.

I had to hand it to Aro. What he got for them worked great as a housewarming gift even though he probably paid an outrageous amount just because it was Space Needle merchandise.

Bella was busy opening the gift from Lush I got for her. "Edward! I love these. Oh God these balls smell so good. How much did you spend on me? I know these things are frickin' expensive because I saw them online. These balls are like 5 bucks each. You work really hard for your money; you shouldn't waste it on me."

"I only want the best for my girl," I said grabbing her and leaning in for a kiss. "What else did you do today?"

"Oh! Felix took Alice and me to the bank. We both have a bank account here. We deposited the check Aro gave me for my living expenses and I ordered Curious George printed checks. I bet Emmett is going to be really jealous!"

"How will he know you have a Curious George checks?"

"Oh, I didn't think of that. I guess I'll have to write him a dollar check," Bella answered giggling.

My girl was really happy and her excitement was contagious as I also felt giddy. Somehow the cheesy gifts she got for me at the gift shop no longer seemed silly.

After devouring all the strawberries we said goodnight to Felix and retreated to the bedroom.

BPOV

It felt good snuggling up to Edward on my bed as we just relaxed on my heavenly, outrageously high thread count sheets. Until I met the Cullens I never knew what thread counts were. Sheets were sheets; they were either new sheets, clean sheets or dirty sheets.

"So, you wanna try out the bath bomb together?" Edward asked smirking causing my jaw to drop. I blinked several times at him because I wasn't sure if I heard him correctly.

"Umm…what did you say?" I asked nervously.

"I asked if you want to try out the bath bomb. Like you and me in the tub together?" Edward repeated winking. I froze when he confirmed that I had heard him correctly the first time. "Breathe, Bella," Edward said with a worried look.

"You'll see me naked!" I gasped.

"Well not necessarily if we use the bath bars. Remember there were some shroom looking things in the box? The girl at the check-out counter explained to me that those are bubble bath bars. I won't be able to see you naked if the tub is full of bubbles," Edward explained with his puppy eyes begging for me to say yes. "It'll be fun. We can turn off the lights and light some candles. We can steal some candles from Alice. It'll be relaxing!"

Relaxing? I doubted that. I'd be too nervous in the tub naked with Edward. For me this was going to be a huge step up from where we were as a couple physically. "Okay," I replied in almost a whisper looking at my hands. I wasn't sure if he heard me but when I looked up he had the biggest smile on his face.

"I'll go and run the bath," Edward said jumping off the bed as he grabbed the mushroom shaped bath bubble bar from the box. He looked like he was almost skipping to the bathroom. I think I can… I think I can… I repeated to myself silently. This was the mantra my mom taught me to repeat when I got nervous and doubted myself. "The Little Engine that Could," was one of my favorite bed time stories when I was a child.

I quickly took off my clothes and threw the terry robe on me. I didn't want to undress in front of Edward. I felt like my heart was going to pop out of my mouth.

"Bath is ready! Oh! You're already undressed."

"Ummm. Would you stay here and come in after I'm in the tub?"

"Bella, you don't have to do this if you don't want to. I don't want you to do something that makes you uncomfortable."

"I want to but I'm nervous. Please?"

"Anything you want, baby," Edward said and wrapped his arms around me as he gave me a kiss on my nose.

I went into the bathroom, tossed the robe on the floor, and quickly got into the tub. I gathered the foams towards me and then called out to Edward to come in. I covered my eyes with my hands and waited for Edward to get in.

"Babe, you don't have to keep your eyes closed. I don't mind you seeing me. In fact I want you to see me. You're my girlfriend. I want you to get used to seeing me naked."

"Maybe another time?" I asked and waited for Edward to get in the tub.

"Okay. If that makes you feel more comfortable," Edward said chuckling as he got into the tub across from me. The tub was huge so there was plenty of room without needing to squeeze our bodies in. Edward had one of his arms behind his back and when he brought it forward he opened his hand and showed me a rubber ducky.

"Where the hell did you get that from?"

"Alice" He answered laughing.

I decided to be daring and scooted towards Edward and wrapped my arms around his neck. I lay my head on his shoulder and pressed my breasts onto his chest. Edward wrapped his arms around me and whispered " I love you," to me.

We stayed in the tub like that until we heard Alice and Lone's voice from my bedroom. "Where the hell are they?" I heard Alice ask.

Then suddenly the door to the bathroom opened and I buried my face into Edward's neck.

"What the fuck! Get out, Whitlock!" Edward shouted.

"Sorry, sorry!" Lone said laughing but he didn't seem like he was going to leave.

"Oh my God! They're so cute!" Alice said sounding like she was also in the doorway now.

"Get the fuck outta here!" Edward shouted again and threw the duckling towards them.

"Okay! Okay! Leaving!" Alice said giggling and I finally heard the door close.

"Let's get out before they come back and bother us again," I suggested to Edward.

"Sounds like a good idea. I'll just go. You stay," Edward said and I pulled myself away from him as he stepped out of the tub. "Take your time. I'll guard the door to make sure they don't bother you."

I didn't mean to but I didn't realize I was staring at Edward while he toweled himself off. "Like what you see?" he asked winking.

"Sorry!" I said and covered my eyes.

"Nothin' to be embarrassed about. I like you looking at me." Edward said and left the bathroom.

I quickly toweled myself off and threw the robe on myself. When I entered the bedroom Edward wasn't there. I changed into my yoga pants and T shirt and headed to the living room in search for him.

I noticed that Felix was gone and was now replaced by Alec. He was laughing at Edward and Lone's banter over their penis being larger and how many donuts they can hang on it. Lone was counting the donuts left over from this morning imitating The Count from Sesame Street and Edward was laughing with tears running down his cheeks and saying something about Aro and that Aro could probably only hang one on his dick. It must've been some kind of inside joke as Alice wasn't laughing along with them. Men are such kids!

"I'm going to bed!" I announced to them and Edward waved at Alice and Lone and ran after me towards the bedroom. He swooped me off my feet and tossed himself onto the bed with me wrapped in his arms.

"If you keep up with this, we're going to bust the mattress."

"I'll buy you a new one. Well, probably not the same one. You wouldn't mind a cheaper mattress would you?" Edward said batting his eyelashes at me.

"I do mind. I love this mattress. If you break it, you replace it with the same one," I feigned a scowl.

"Let's get under the covers," Edward said sliding under the covers and lifting my side up for me. "Good night, baby. I love you." Edward said pulling me closer to him.

"I love you too," I responded giving him a kiss. I rested my head on his chest and watched his chest rise up and down until I felt myself drifting to sleep as I wondered if Edward had planned on doing more in bed with me tonight but my eyelids were just too heavy and I could no longer lift my head up. I had a long and exciting day and I was exhausted.

A/N

Thank you for reading the chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave me a feedback and let me know your thoughts.

Thank you for all the messages you've all sent me. Now that almost three weeks have passed since the earthquake and tsunami hit us, we're now dealing with the aftermath.

You try to be prepared but you just never think it can happen to you. I live in Tokyo so what we are experiencing is totally different from the people living in the areas where the earthquake and tsunami hit, or where the nuclear plants are.

I thought I'd share what I experienced when the quake hit. What most of you probably see is mostly what is happening to the people living in the areas where the tsunami hit or the areas near the nuclear plant.

When the quake hit at a little before 3pm I was on the balcony with my boss in the office. When the quake started it was so strong, something I had never experienced in my life, I quickly ran down the stairs and opened the door as I had learned from an old colleague of mine who went through the quake in Kobe that if you don't open doors made out of steel if the building start to go down it would become impossible to open as you can't break that type of door that easily.

The first quake was so long and strong I was screaming the whole time. It's not easy to stay calm. You always hear who say try to stay calm, but when you start to see cracks forming in the walls and tiles falling, yeah, that's just not going to happen. We, the Japanese are used to earthquakes but this was something none of us had ever experienced before. We evacuated the building and huddled outside.

The first thing we all started to do was to try to reach our loved ones. Which wasn't happening as the cell phone access got restricted. Only the land line was operating and it took us several hours to get through as the phone lines were too busy.

Aftershocks kept coming one after the other and they were quite strong. Thankfully due to the landline semi functioning, we were able to access the internet so I got through to some of my friends and family through the internet. I couldn't thank Facebook enough.

At that point, all trains stopped running and roads were congested like crazy as taxis, cars, and buses were the only means of travel. The government had set up refuge centers at universities, auditoriums, theaters, schools, and government buildings so that people could stay there overnight since the public transportation was crippled. Many people walked hours and hours to get home. One of my cousins even hitchhiked to get home.

I was one of the lucky ones, as my brother in law drives to work so he came to pick my sister and I up and we got to go home although it took us almost 6 hours when it would normally take us only like 40 minutes by car. That's how congested the roads were..

I was at loss for words when I finally saw the devastation the earthquake and the tsunami had created on the TV. I went into survival mode and all I could think was to keep my family together and to keep them safe. For the first week I think all I really did was sit in front of the TV and watch the news or gather items we would need if we got hit by another huge quake since at that point we were told there was 90% chance of a quake just as large or larger could still hit us. I went out and bought backpacks and filled it with water bottles, food, flashlight, batteries, blanket, whistle, etc.

Then came the nuclear meltdown scare. Then came contamination of produce and water from the radioactive materials, scheduled blackouts, and food and water became scarce as well as gasoline.

Many of us started to feel very scared when foreign embassies started to encourage people to get out of the country or move to areas further south west of Tokyo. Many people I know from Tokyo went to Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto for several days while things were very tense in regards to the nuclear power plant.

Unless you go shopping in the morning, there is no water, rice, bread, and milk. It's tough when you are working because you can't go grocery shopping until after work. I had never seen so many empty shelves in the super markets before.

Things are getting a little better. We have more trains running so people aren't spilling out of train stations due to lack of numbers of trains operating now but still the trains are packed that commuting to and from work is excruciating.

We're all trying not to complain as things are incredibly better for us here than in areas where people lost their homes and their loved ones and are now living in shelters. The government is now encouraging all of us who aren't directly affected from the earthquakes and tsunamis to resume our lives as close to what it was before. Hence the reason I decided to go back to writing my story. It's quite hard to go back to how things were. I don't think many of us feel like going out to socialize, go shopping, go watch movies, etc. Entertainment is probably the furthest thing on our minds right now.

Regular TV programs and commercials are finally back but a lot of us still are glued to the news. We'll probably all stay that way until we are in the clear from the nuclear power plant problems.

I just want to thank all the people worldwide who are helping us through this crisis. We can't thank you all enough. Without all of your help I don't think things could've improved as much as it has. Thank you.