Love and thanks to all the readers, reviewers, rec'ers, community adders and thanks again to, AA'sW, who nominated me for a Hidden Star Award. :) That was wonderful of you and fantastic for me.

Thanks MC. xo

Reminder: Twilight and its characters are owned by Stephenie Meyer.

As I'm sure you expect from the last, this is a heavy chapter…

Enjoy.

Chapter 25: Baggage Claim

"Bella?" I heard Alice's voice call into the bathroom.

Alice was here? I didn't realize she had come to the Premiere. I should have realized though that Edward's family would be here, not just Emmett. I guess I had gotten kind of caught up in the moment and it didn't register.

I shook my head at myself; it didn't matter, I didn't have any intention of replying. I wanted to be left alone.

I sniffled reflexively due to my running nose as I leaned over the toilet, still nauseous but hoping the purging had subsided. I felt absolutely awful.

I rolled my eyes at myself, realizing that I'd just given myself away. I felt embarrassed enough as it was that I reacted the way I had, I didn't want to have any witnesses to my neuroses.

I heard the door close. Then it opened again a brief moment later, followed by the sound of heels clicking on the floor, walking toward the stall I was hold-up in.

"Bella?" she said gently.

"Just leave me alone, Alice," I pleaded. "Give me a few minutes. I'll be fine."

Alice didn't reply, but I didn't hear her move either.

I glanced back at the stall door that was still cracked open from not having the luxury of time to lock it in my haste to make it to the toilet; she was still there. I sighed with petulant resignation.

"You're not going to leave, are you?" I ascertained, annoyance coloring my tone, knowing it was true.

"No," she replied gently. After a few beats of silence, she added, "Please come out here Bella and let me help you."

I sighed, leaning into my hands, my elbows resting on the seat. Then I stood and took a deep breath, making sure I was relatively certain I was done throwing up before grabbing some toilet paper to wipe my face and mouth. I flushed the toilet and opened the door all the way.

The look on Alice's face when she saw me told me I looked as awful as I felt.

I quickly averted my eyes from her as I walked past and headed to the sink.

Catching my reflection in the mirror, I confirmed what I'd gathered from Alice's reaction; I looked like hell. My eyes were red and puffy with smudged eye make-up blotching out and running down my flushed and swollen face. I tucked my hair back and leaned over the sink, splashing water on my face, in attempt to wash off at least some of the ruined make-up.

"Did you want to talk about it?" she asked gently as I toweled off the water with one of the small cloth towels that were rolled and stacked in perfect little baskets by each sink.

"No," I replied tersely as I threw the towel into the ornate hamper and turned back toward the counter, finding I couldn't face her. I really didn't want to talk about it. Talking about it would only evoke the images that were so much worse than the original one that I wanted locked away forever.

I took a quick glance at the mirror and saw Alice's reflection nodding.

"Okay. You don't have to talk to me about it, but you do really need to talk to him about this," she urged, still speaking soft and calm; something that was odd coming from Alice. She always seemed to be permanently stuck on cheerful and bubbly; it was strange to see her outside of that norm.

"There's nothing to say," I told her. "It's stupid."

"Whatever caused that isn't stupid, Bella," she argued.

No, it was stupid. It was stupid that something so unrelated to Edward would weed its way into my head when I was least expecting it, turning into something about him. Something I was convinced he wasn't capable of, but now was seriously affecting my relationship with him. And I was completely pissed that it'd happened.

"I'm fine," I insisted with a roll of my eyes, wishing she'd drop it. I didn't need for her to pretend she understood or pretend that I hadn't had a complete overreaction.

"He's worried about you," she said softly, trying another tactic. "When you left the theatre so abruptly it scared him; I've never seen him so upset."

I spotted a package of mints in the large basket on the counter that contained a large variety of things from tampons and nylons to sewing kits and breath mints sitting there ready for anything a woman might find she needed unexpectedly. I grabbed one of the packets of mints and opened it, popping a couple of them into my mouth, keeping my eyes on the package as if I was going to be tested on every last nuance of it later.

I paused momentarily, wanting to lie to her, wanting to tell her my bout of illness must have been something I ate—food poisoning—but then thought better of it. I knew she wouldn't buy it. She would know immediately I wasn't telling the truth as soon as I opened my mouth to speak.

I stood there, trying to articulate myself into words and found it angered me more and more the longer I thought about it. My words came out angrily.

"He's worried about me?" I scoffed, finally replying looking up at her. "I had a completely irrational reaction to a movie, Alice. Who does that? No one. That's who. No one sane anyhow," I ranted and saw Alice's expression change—she had thought it was something else that had sent me bolting from the room—but I was too angry at myself to worry about it and kept venting, my words bubbling thickly with my anger and embarrassment. "No. What he should be worried about, is what kind of nutcase he got himself involved with and which direction will take him as far away from me as possible," I clarified, my eyes finding the package of mints in my hands again, ashamed at myself.

How was I ever going to face Edward again after behaving so irrationally?

It was just a movie, I knew it wasn't real. What the hell was wrong with me? Well, I guess I was living proof that the saying "once betrayed never truly forgotten" was very much true.

A warped image speared through my mind with remembering the movie, not quite a memory, not quite reality, not quite the scene I'd just watched on screen, but enough to make me swallow back a threatening heave. My hand flew to my mouth. I closed my eyes, trying to shut off and push the image out, trying to block it from my head.

"Bella," Alice said in a soothing tone, "to be honest if it were Jasper on that screen, I don't think I could have handled watching that either. Real or not, it would have been a hard thing to stomach."

I breathed a disbelieving laugh through my nose doubting her confession making it seem as if she could understand. I knew she was trying to make me feel better, but what she didn't know was it was so much more than just that. Had it been simply what she'd described, it would have been uncomfortable and difficult to endure having to watch, sure, but not something to elicit such a violently strong reaction. It would not have been something that would have sent me running from the room, literally sick to my stomach.

The images threatened again, testing my barrier I'd put up to keep them out. I swayed under the assault, but managed to beat them back before they took over my head. Though even just the threat of their re-appearance brought on another wave of nausea I had to overcome.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, biting back the unstable feeling in my gut.

"Bella?" Alice's concerned voice interrupted my attempt to pull rank over my body.

"I'm fine," I said through my teeth.

"Okay," she said as if in concession, but the way she said it told me that she was doing anything but. She knew I wasn't fine.

So much for her being taken with me, after tonight, she was going to be the one guiding Edward which way to run away from me and then follow close on his heels.

"I'm going to go," I said out loud, not sure if I was telling Alice or myself, but I needed to get out of there.

"What do you mean, 'you're going to go'? Where are you going?"

I opened my mouth to reply but I had nothing. I hadn't thought of that. Where was I going to go? I didn't know. I bit my lip unable to come up anything. I didn't even know where Edward's place was to either retreat to or retrieve my suitcase from. I didn't even have my purse, I'd stuffed it in my suitcase.

Her reflection nodded as if I'd spoken aloud.

"He's waiting for you," she said as if to deter me from bolting without a word to him, which, to be honest, had crossed my mind; I was too mortified. Instinct to run home and crawl under my covers to hide from this was overwhelming. I didn't want to face him yet. I wasn't ready.

I closed my eyes in resignation. Shit. Of course he was waiting for me. I wasn't going to get to go crawl into a hole and hide from this. I couldn't be the coward I was, I had to face him.

"Here," she said, her heels clicking on the floor toward me.

I looked up at the mirror to see she had the clutch purse she'd given me in her hand, something I'd left behind me in my haste to find the bathroom.

"Let me help you touch up," she said setting it on the counter and opening it up. "You very well might have an audience when you leave," she explained as she pulled out the contents. "There are still people with cameras everywhere. If they see you like this, they're going to pick it apart. With not being a person who exactly lives for the limelight," she said beginning to apply the makeup, "I'm certain you wouldn't want the extra attention that would bring you, especially since even most people who do, wouldn't embrace that."

She was right, it was true. I didn't want any attention, much less noxious attention like that. So I helped Alice hide how much of a wreck I was at the moment.

When we were done, I surveyed our work. It wasn't even close to the flawless perfection I had been when I'd left the spa that afternoon but the purse only held a few key things. Still, it was a vast improvement from how I'd looked just minutes ago.

I took a nervous breath knowing there was nothing left to do but go out and face Edward. Realizing this caused a flash of nervous sweat travel across my body and my cheeks light up.

"Come on," Alice said, grabbing the door handle. "It'll be alright," she assured me.

I felt myself make a face, but I walked forward when she pulled the door open, stepping past her as she held it for me. I forced myself to pull my eyes from their downcast position when I walked into the open space, past the partition that obscured the restrooms from immediate view. My eyes fell on Edward in the otherwise empty space, who was mid-pull through his hair with one hand and had the other shoved into his pants pocket, pacing agitatedly. When he turned caught sight of me, he strode hastily to my side.

"Bella, are you alright?" he asked me intensely and then his deep green eyes darted to his sister, as if asking for her to tell him what he figured I might not.

"I'm fine," I assured him and his eyes darted back to me. "I'm just not feeling well," I lied. It was a kneejerk reaction with desperately not wanting to delve into the truth. I knew he would catch the lie easier than Alice would have caught the one I nearly told in the bathroom, but my aversion of telling him the truth—that I was apparently a complete nutjob—was so strong, it had me going for the slim odds he'd buy the lie.

Edward pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes, catching my lie but didn't call me on it—though he did flash Alice another look, lingering at her face for a moment. I was sure she was relaying some unspoken communication to him, but I didn't look at her. I already knew that I wasn't; I didn't need to see her confirm that fact to Edward.

"Let's get you out of here, alright?"

I nodded, not even wanting to claim I could go back into the movie for fear of anything else that might stir another unwelcomed reaction.

After two steps, I stopped short, a realization dawning on me, "What about everything else you're supposed to go to tonight? Like the after parties? You can't miss all that, Edward."

"Don't worry about that, love. You are far more important. Come on, let's get you home," he replied, his tone and expression full of grave concern.

I tried to protest, but he was adamant.

Edward thanked Alice and slipped his hand around my waist, guiding me to the back of the building without another word. I abashedly stared ahead, forcing myself to raise my eyes from the downcast position they desired to set into.

I was grateful he didn't press for answers, make accusations, or ask me to stay as we walked in silence, though I could feel his concerned and questioning glances against my skin along the way.

When Edward opened the metal, unmarked door at the back of the venue into the muggy night, I saw that there was a limo already there and waiting. The driver moved quickly upon our appearance and opened the car door. Edward gestured me ahead of him and then slid in behind me.

"Edward, I'm so sorry," I told him honestly as the limo pulled away from the curb, wanting to make sure he knew at least that. Hot tears quickly spilled over my eyes, running rapidly down my face, ruining the work Alice and I had just done.

Damn it.

"Don't be sorry, love," he told me futilely wiping at the tears with his thumb before tucking my hair behind my ear. "Just help me understand. What happened?" he asked, completely unsure of what had happened or why and sounding—understandably—frustrated. "The truth this time," he added.

"I don't know," I told him, my voice cracking helplessly with the tears that wouldn't stop, sounding as desperate and manic as I felt. It was the truth but it was a lie too. I did know—at least kind of—but I didn't know why it happened now, with Edward, with something completely separate. "I'm so sorry, Edward," I told him again, not sure what else to say other than that, because I was, more than he'd ever know. I took a breath, closing my eyes. "I can't believe that happened. It's so stupid."

"It's not stupid, Bella."

Why wouldn't anyone believe me? It was stupid; it was all so horribly stupid.

"I—" my voice quivered but I couldn't continue. I looked at him with manic, beseeching eyes as silent tears rolled down to just drop the subject. I felt my head start shaking back and forth, communicating what I couldn't; I couldn't rehash this. Not now. Not yet. I just couldn't.

"Come here," he murmured softly, pulling me into his arms, where he held me silently for the rest of the ride to his place, understanding that I needed time.

XXXXX

It was peaceful, laying there with Edward in his bed. I really liked his place. No, I loved it. It held the same feeling Edward's presence held; like I was home.

But that could have been just because I was there with Edward.

Edward had complained that even though it was a condo, it was still too much for what he needed or wanted. But in order to be afforded the privacy a person such as him sought, it came with a price tag and all the amenities he thought completely unnecessary associated with the adjective "luxury" that was attached to the place.

While there was no doubt the place was beautiful, that wasn't at all why I liked it so much. It was how Edward had made it so him that made me love it instantly. Like he had entire walls full of shelf after shelf stacked with vinyl records and CDs. And it was that he had a room dedicated to just his music—a place that was obvious he used to both write and play where the disheveled chaos of the room seemed to still be symphonic—but maybe it felt that way because the chaos was symphonic in the literal sense of the word. He had countless scribble-filled papers I knew were songs—whether full or bits and pieces—dotting the room that held a beautiful, black baby grand piano and countless guitars of all kinds—acoustic, electric, bass—that were surrounded by speakers, amps and things I couldn't name much less know the purpose of.

I couldn't help but laugh in loving adoration of the man who held me in his arms.

"What?" he asked curiously at my sudden found humor, something he'd not seen since before the viewing of the movie.

"Nothing," I promised with a smile, "just you."

"You find me funny, do you?" he asked, propping himself up on his elbow, quirking an eyebrow at me in the dim light.

"More like adorable," I amended as I gently dragged my fingertips across his face and grabbed his chin toyingly.

"I don't get it," he said after studying me for a minute as if he was trying to pull the explanation from my face.

"You don't have to," I countered. "I do and that's all that matters."

"You're not going to tell me then?"

I lightly rolled my eyes, "Just how every last corner of this place is so you."

Edward flashed an annoyed look telling me the vague answer I'd given wasn't going to be answer enough, even if it was true. In turn, my smile grew wider as I stared back at him. He was more than gorgeous in so many more ways than just his appearance and I loved that I knew that. I loved the adorable quirks he had, how loving he was with me and with his family. I loved how much he cared about others. And I loved how, despite everything his life had brought him, he still had this boyish vulnerability about him that was so incredibly endearing.

"I still don't get it," he pressed, not satisfied by my enamored gaze for an answer.

"That's why I love this place so much," I elaborated, telling him honestly, "because of all the things that make it you. Like how there's music everywhere in every form. You have more sheet music, records, CDs and instruments than I ever thought one person would ever have. You have guitar picks scattered in every single room and pencils and sheets of paper that have notes scribbled on them with lyrics you don't want to forget or pieces of melodies jotted down because you just need to get it out or it'll drive you mad, tossed aside because with it being written down you're freed of them, the paper holding them for you until you turn them into something more than that. Each slip of paper is like its own snippet of genius disguised as chaotic, senseless ramblings and indiscernible tunes because they don't make sense to anyone but you until you pick one up again, adding to it until it becomes something the whole world can understand and finds just as captivating as the first few notes or words were to you," I paused for a beat. "It's aweing," I concluding, taking a deep breath, because I was, once again, finding myself in sheer amazement of the man who lay beside me.

"I don't have guitar picks in every room," he countered, picking out that detail instead of how remarkable I knew he was. "You're exaggerating. Most of the time, I don't even use them."

"Go check," I challenged confidently with a laugh.

Edward looked at me, gauging me with my challenge. He apparently didn't think I was serious.

"Alright then, where was one in the bathroom?" he quizzed instead of leaving my side, sounding confident that I'd not included the bathrooms as part of every room.

"Which one?" I retorted raising my eyebrow because I knew where one was in each, but depending on which one, depended on the location of the pick.

"This one," he said nodding his head to the en suite bathroom for his bedroom, calling my bluff. Or so he thought.

"Sitting upright, leaning against the back of the faucet," I smiled smugly.

Edward narrowed his eyes at the obvious fact that I wasn't lying.

"Kitchen," he fired.

"There is one next to the package of cookies on the counter," I said, my smile growing bigger. I could play this all night. "But I spotted two others besides that one in there too if you'd care to know their whereabouts as well," I said cockily.

Edward laughed, scratching the far side of his cheek with the back of his thumb, surrendering, knowing I wasn't spouting stories.

Mmm, I could feel his simple mannerism send a slow warmth to spread through my body.

"I think you might want to start picking them up," I added. "You probably have quite the collection accumulating, hiding in all the crevices of this place. What do you do? Just keep buying guitar picks to feed to your house that seems to have a healthy appetite for them?"

"Something like that," he laughed and reached over and began drawing mindless designs on my body, making me hum in contentment.

"I love it here," I confessed.

"I love you here," Edward replied.

I smiled a lazy smile in response as he continued to graze his fingers over me, my eyes softly closing with the feeling.

After several moments of blissful silence, enjoying being wrapped up around Edward and his electric touch, I broke it with something that had been sitting at the back of my throat for hours.

"I'm really sorry about tonight," I whispered softly, feeling Edward's fingers pause for just a second before they resumed their trek over my side in their soothing patterns.

"I told you, love," he replied just as quietly, as if we were both afraid to wake the bed we were laying on if we spoke too loudly, "don't apologize. It's alright."

I nodded silently, choking back tears of frustration brought back up to the surface that it had even happened in the first place. It wasn't alright. I knew that. And it shouldn't be alright. Edward had it wrong. It never should have happened. And I was angry that he had to deal with something he had no part in contributing to, that he had to accept this baggage I hadn't even realized I was carrying.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" he asked, in a low voice.

I took a lightly broken breath in an attempt to calm myself, trying to ward off the threatening tears and then I forced myself to continue, hating that my tear ducts were hard wired to every emotion I had.

"I'm not really sure what happened. God!" I spat, breaking the quiet stillness the room had held with my frustration and anger. "It was like my mind was unable to separate what I was seeing from reality, despite the fact that I knew it wasn't real," I continued, trying futilely to sum it up, trying to say it right, but knowing after the words were spoken, I'd failed to.

I saw realization sweep over his face with my inadequate explanation. Edward pulled in a breath to reply, but I cut him off before he fed me another line of placation. No matter what he tried to tell me, it wasn't okay and it wasn't fair to him.

"No, that's not exactly right," I continued, pulling my hands to my face in frustration, because it wasn't right, though I didn't even know myself what was exactly right, so how I expected myself to explain it to Edward was beyond me. I let out a sigh that sounded more like a growl. "I mean, it is what happened," I amended. "But I don't know why it happened— "

I stopped, realizing as soon as the words were out that that wasn't entirely true. I did know why I had trouble stomaching what I'd seen. Literally. But Edward was completely different. Why did my mind make it about him? It didn't have anything to do with him. That, I didn't know.

"I—" I tried to continue, but a lump in my throat set up a road block. The memory ripped through me—the hurt, the betrayal, the anger—it burned in my chest and sat in my throat. But it was amplified, turning into something so much stronger than the emotion of that day ever held, a past that I thought I'd finally left behind only to find it creep back to ruin what I had now.

I struggled to find a way to navigate past it. I was frustrated that it was still so difficult to think about. I was so angry that I could not get the vision of James and that woman out of my mind and that Edward had to deal with this crap because of something so wholly unrelated to him. I wanted to scream out with how unfair it was to Edward that I'd broken down at the Premiere. Scream because I had this baggage. Baggage I'd not realized I'd had. Instead, I pressed the heels of my hands to my eyes.

I wanted to hit something. No, I wanted to hit James—the jackhole ass crack.

Damn him to hell!

I didn't deserve this. Edward didn't deserve this.

I was so goddamn frustrated! I thought as I let out a growling scream I couldn't hold back any longer.

Fuck James! Fuck him for ruining not only our relationship, but tainting my relationship with Edward with the memory my mind now sickly altered. I hated him far more than I ever had before.

"Hey," Edward said soothingly, tugging at my wrist to pull my hands from my face. When I resisted, he turned, sliding a knee over me, so he could grab ahold of both wrists, successfully pulling my hands from my face this time, holding them down against my ribcage. "Look at me," he whispered in soft demand, his body on mine, straddling me.

I took a breath, wishing the tears that had wet my face weren't there, and then obeyed him, opening my eyes to look back into his heart stopping, green eyes that stared intently into mine.

"This is my fault, Bella," he began, shaking his head and placing his fingers on my lips when I began to protest. "I should have warned you. I guess I didn't think to, since part of that scene was in the clip that was shown at The Tonight Show—" he let out his own aggravated sigh. "Who am I kidding? Even if it would have come to mind beforehand to warn you, I was so focused on the fact that I had you here, with me, that I didn't think of anything else from the moment I saw you. If anything or anyone is responsible for this, it's me for not giving you warning. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." I shouldn't need a warning.

"We've never really talked about that part of my job and if you can be okay with that or not," Edward murmured carefully, as if bracing himself for an inevitable but dreaded reply he thought I'd give him. "I know it's something not everyone is able to deal with."

"It wasn't really that," I told him. "I didn't have any false beliefs that the moment we started seeing each other, that would mean the roles you had would suddenly no longer have any romantic interests. It didn't particularly thrill me, but I knew that. But—" then I completely freaked out. I finished in my head.

Edward nodded as if he had read my mind, followed by a long silence filled with the both of us trying to figure out what to say and how to say it to the other.

"I wish you could be on set when those scenes are filmed," Edward growled in frustration, "then you could see that there really isn't anything romantic about them when they're being filmed. They're usually really quite sterile. It's mostly camera angles and editing that makes them look like that. I think seeing what actually goes on would help you understand that what those are, is nothing the same as this," he said sliding the palm of his hand tenderly along the side of my face. I turned my head slightly, pressing my cheek into his hand. His eyes intensely locked with mine as he leaned forward, closing the distance between us ever so slowly, until our noses touched. Edward paused there for a moment before he closed his eyes and pressed his electric-charged lips softly against mine, making me hum in contentment. He pulled back just enough so our lips only brushed lightly before he came back in, pressing his lips harder against mine as our mouths moved together. Then his tongue slipped across my top lip before he went in for one more kiss. "They couldn't be more different from that," he insisted when he pulled away.

I opened my eyes and stared back at him for a moment, enjoying the charge in the air between us that lingered from our kiss.

"But didn't you date Tanya?" I blurted the question that I'd been trying to ignore but had kept tugging on me, refusing to be shoved aside.

The mood changed instantly, like a book you were deeply engrossed in being abruptly slammed shut on you.

Crap. I was just full of golden moments tonight.

Edward's eyes tightened with the question as he pulled his face back further from mine. I bit my lip in regret.

"Yeah," Edward said, his eyes hard and guarded, making me regret my question further. "Unfortunately, for awhile, until it became apparent to me the kind of woman she was and that was the end of it."

"So sometimes it turns into more," I ascertained searching his face for answers. "Right?"

"It happens," Edward admitted making my stomach knot uncomfortably, "but that could be said with co-workers at any workplace. Though I've never begun a relationship that way," he assured me. "And if you're concerned about that scene you saw tonight, whoever was able to make that into something that looked believably something other than the distain for her I was unable to hide deserves some serious noteworthy recognition."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked. It shouldn't matter who you've been with, no matter who it was," I said trailing off, pulling my eyes from his.

"Don't apologize," he said, shaking his head. "It was a valid question given the reason behind it, especially since the media makes it seem like it happens on set far more often than it actually does."

"Would you just promise to tell me?" I asked, feeling desperation around the question. "If it comes down to that, no matter the situation, I just need to know that you'll tell me. Before…" my voice cracked and my hands began to shake.

Silence stretched out as he looked intently into my eyes.

"Is that the problem?" Edward asked and then rephrased his question. "Is that what he did to you? He cheated… and you caught him, didn't you?"

I didn't answer. I didn't think I could. Besides, from what he'd just said, I knew he could read it all over my face without me having to saying a word. At least he now knew my issue—just without all the horrible details.

Edward's eyes hardened with anger that was not targeted at me.

"Bella, I could never do anything like that to you. I promise, I never will. But you need to learn how to trust me on that," he said, his eyes honest and searching. "How can I get you to believe me?"

"I don't know," I breathed, honestly. "I know I have no reason to doubt you, but yet I have trouble believing, trusting. Then when I saw you and Tanya," an involuntary shudder ran through me, "it was like it all came rushing back," my voice broke. "But believe me Edward when I tell you that I love you and I am working on getting past my insecurities."

Apparently I just had far more work to do on that than I'd previously thought.

"You know, you don't have to tell me exactly what happened if you don't want to, but I hope you do someday so I can fully understand. But regardless if you do or not, you need to remember that I'm not him," Edward said in a way that brought tears to my eyes though I wasn't certain what emotion carried them there. "Remind yourself that, okay? Because you need to learn to trust me or this isn't going to work."

I nodded.

Edward slipped his fingers into my hair, drawing it back, away from my face, stroking the strands. "I love you," he murmured.

"I love you too," I said in return, pressing my face into his hand.

"There's only you," he affirmed sternly stroking my cheekbone.

I nodded. "You know that it's just you too," I replied softly, reaching up to touch his face.

A small, crooked smile cracked through his expression as he nodded.

"Are you okay?" he confirmed.

"Yeah, I think so."

An ebbing silence draped over us, creating a calm that came with resolution and understanding. I could feel both of our bodies relax under the feeling of it.

"I know people say this all the time, but I really don't want to go to work tomorrow," he admitted in a whisper, as he continued to draw the backs of his fingers down the side of my face and along my jawbone.

"Why's that?" I asked sleepily as my eyes closed heavily. The day had exhausted me.

"Because it means I have to leave you again. I thought the reason would be obvious. Apparently not," he said sounding slightly offended, smiling softly.

Immediately a smile I couldn't hold back, spread across my face from something I knew and hadn't shared with him yet.

"What the hell is so amusing?" Edward asked with a mixture of worry and cautious anticipation.

"You don't have to," I said, opening my eyes, my smile getting wider.

"'I don't have to' what?"

"Leave me tomorrow," I said, biting my lip, trying to hide my smile.

"What do you mean?" he asked taken off guard. I could see the guarded excitement brewing in his eyes.

"I took the rest of the week off work," I said, my voice an octave higher than normal with my excitement about the potential of not having to have another month or longer of not seeing Edward in front of me just yet. My smile growing so big it hurt as I watched a goofy grin spread across Edward's face. "So if you want, I can go to Atlanta and spend the next few days with you."

Edward kissed me soundly on the lips. "You're coming with me tomorrow?"

I giggled. His excitement turned him into a young boy on Christmas morning.

"Yes, if you want me to join you, it's all set thanks to Alice and Irena," I told him.

"I have a feeling that the three of you getting along so well is going to be trouble for me some day," Edward teased. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, I didn't know if I'd be able to manage getting the time off or not," I told him. "I didn't want to say anything if I couldn't get the time off. So I mentioned it to Alice and next thing I knew she told me Irena booked me on your flight before I'd even secured the days."

"But I thought you told me that getting time off would be impossible."

"That's why I didn't tell you beforehand. I had to beg, borrow and steal to get these days off," I told him, impressed with myself in my ability to negotiate. Though to be honest, I was pretty much ready to say screw my job anyway, but until I decided anything for certain, I'd keep that to myself.

Edward let out a joyful, disbelieving laugh as he rolled onto his back and pulled me with him, settling me on top of him, grasping my hips in his hands as I pulled my legs astride him. "I can't tell you how happy I am that you're coming with me," he breathed.

"You don't have to, I can tell," I teased leaning forward, rotating my hips, pressing myself more firmly against him, ready for me.

"Your fault," he murmured with a smirk.

"Hey!" I huffed teasingly. "You can't use that, it's mine!" I demanded, failing horribly at giving him an angry face.

"Sure I can," he said with a mischievous grin as he slid his hands up from my hips, grabbing my sides, tickling me, making me laugh out, loudly. "But only because it's true."

I was still giggling when Edward wrapped his arms around me, pulling me in tightly against him and began kissing me thoroughly.

I hummed in contentment feeling I could swim in this moment—of me surrounded by Edward—and live there happily for the rest of my life.

As always, I hope you let me know what you think. Click the [Review] button and tell me.

TJE