hello, hello! i hope everyone had a good holiday season and a happy new year! sorry for the extreme delay. i had the stomach flu from before christmas all the way to new years eve... it was really great... so i hope you all had a much better time than i did.

again, i want to say a very big thank you to everyone who has taken the time to comment and review, you guys make my day! so thank you all soo much! it means a lot to hear back from you guys.

silverstaged - you rock

a BIG thanks to thecornergirl and amandacullen 84, you guys are phenomenal.

hope you guys like!

EPOV

He had ruined my night yet again. It was like he had been a step ahead of us the whole time, all the while, being away at school. And again, there was nothing that I could do to make the situation better: Jake had won the date fair and square.

Bella was upstairs in the room, with Alice and Charlie going over the auction contract to see if there was some way to get out of the date. This wasn't some kind of business merger, that needed complex clauses and rules, it was a high school charity function - you would think that there should be some way to get her out of it.

"Bro, I'm so sorry about this," Emmett whispered, while Jazz was saying final goodnights to some stragglers in the ballroom.

The event had been officially over for a while, but there were still some people lingering. Since Bella had retired for the evening, Jasper had taken on her duties as chair - which at this point just meant getting everyone out of the ballroom and making sure the volunteers were doing what they were supposed to.

I nodded my head back to Emmett. "Thanks," I muttered, reaching for dad's scotch that was sitting at the table. The event was now over, and even if it wasn't, I fucking needed a drink.

"Okay boys, I think I'm done for the night. It's past my bedtime and the baby's been wanting to leave since midnight," Esme said, gently patting her stomach before standing up. "Not too much, alright Edward?" she said, glancing at the glass with a very motherly, knowing look.

What was up with all the parents tonight giving me looks?

I half heartedly smiled back at her. "Alight mom," I said with a laugh.

"You too Em," Esme said, smiling sweetly at him as well.

Emmett nodded his head - like any obedient child would do.

"Carlisle, dear, you ready?" she called out to him. He nodded from afar. "Ok boys, see you in the morning."

Both Emmett and I got up to hug her goodbye. Em was first and then me. "Everything's going to work out. It'll be ok," she whispered in my ear, as we hugged, squeezing me a little tighter than usual.

I nodded a smile back to her before she walked over to dad and Jasper at the exit.

As dad and Esme left, Charlie finally came down from the suite; he didn't look too happy. He made his way to our table, quickly followed by Jasper.

"So how's it look?" Jazz asked.

Charlie looked down, taking a sip from his drink. "Not too good," he said, looking directly at me with apologetic eyes. "I'm going to get my contract people on it; if there's a way out of it, they'll find it, especially since they drafted the contract. The only thing I can see to negate the contract is if someone else out bids Jacob and he's willing to give up the date - which I don't think he will do. Because of all the problems that were going on with Bells, it was put in the contact that the date is non-transferable. He was the reason that was put in; obviously, he got around that. So we'll see," he finished.

Renee came over and joined up; she looked tired and worried. "How's she doing?" she asked.

"As good as to be expected. Bella's just..." he paused, thinking about the proper word choice, "perturbed over the whole situation; that she didn't see it coming. She's upset with herself, mostly."

"I'm going to go check on her and then we can go," Renee told Charlie as she started to walk away.

"Hun, I don't think that's the best of ideas; she needs some space. She actually doesn't want to see anybody - she asked Alice and I to leave. So let's just give her a little time and we can discuss this in the morning," Charlie commented.

Renee gave him a questioning look, making sure this was the best for Bella. He nodded once, acknowledging her concern.

"Alright then, let's go home. We'll see you boys in the morning. Goodnight," Renee said, hugging each of us before she left.

We started walking them out when Charlie stopped and turned around. he put his hand on my shoulder. "I'm gonna try my best to get her out of this," he told me, squeezing my shoulder, before finally turning back to Renee and leaving.

Again, a weird parent moment... He had to know about Bella and I being together, maybe even Esme knew - though I wasn't sure how. Maybe Bella just told him, which would make this a lot easier to deal with and would actually make a lot of sense.

Jasper looked slightly befuddled, looking between Em and I to see if we had that same confused look on our face that he did. We, of course, did not. "What's going on? What was that all about with Charlie and you?" he asked us.

Eh, fuck it. He's bound to find out about Bella and I at some point in the next couple days; it might as well come from me. "Bella and I are together. Have been from a while now," I explained.

I waited for the shocked reaction; for the "oh my god" moments that Alice and Emmett had, had, but it never came. There was no shocked or amazement over this revelation, merely acceptance and approval.

Jasper nodded his head a couple of times. "Ok," he said, not making a big deal out of this at all; a proper and expected Jasper reaction.

Although I thought there would have at least been a pause, "dude", or something that would have thrown him off. But I guess there's no surprising him.

Em, on the other hand, who did know about us, looked shocked. He was either stunned by the fact that I just told Jasper or that Jazz was so blasé about the whole thing. Em walked ahead, shaking his head and mumbling to himself - the only thing I could make out was "just like that", or at least that's what I thought he said.

Jasper and I walked a little faster to catch up with him.

"Em, you ok?" Jasper asked with a chuckle, trying to figure out why he was talking to himself.

He sighed loudly. "Yea," he said, pouting for a second, but then looked over it. "Let's go make sure everything's all taken care of in the ballroom so we can go," he finished.

Jasper led the way, while the two of us followed.

"Next time you've got a secret, please just tell me like that. No more making me secret keeper," Em joked, lightening the mood a little.

I smiled slightly at this. "That sounds reasonable. As long as, next time, you don't go snooping though my stuff," I told him back.

"Fuckin deal," he agreed with a grin.

I felt a little better joking around with Emmett. It seemed to relieve some of the tension that was accumulating. This was a difficult situation, but we'd get through it, like we had before. I just needed to relax a little bit now.

Alice and Rosalie were waiting for us in the hallway. It looked like they had taken care of all the final goodbyes and the necessary arrangements.

As we walked over, Rose smacked both Emmett and I in the head. "That's for not telling me in the first place about the two of you - some brother you are," she scolded, pausing and then hitting Em in the chest. "And that's for keeping their relationship a secret for like two months - oh boyfriend of mine," she finished.

Em rubbed his head. "Why do I get hit twice and he only gets one?" he asked.

"Because he's going through enough right now," she explained to Emmett before turning to me. "I'm sorry about all of this, the hitting and the whole Jake thing, but I'm so happy for you and Bells! Next time, just tell me; I am your sister after all," she squealed giving me a hug.

This was weird. Rose and I never hugged, ever; she must be excited for me and Bella. I returned the hug, pleased everyone was on board with our relationship and was now in the loop. That would make everything coming up so much easier, because I was pretty sure things with Jake were going to get a lot worse before they got any better.

"Thanks Rose," I told her.

"Is everything all wrapped up in there?" Jasper asked.

"Pretty much. Victoria and the Freshies are double checking everything and overlooking the rental pickups, so we're all done," Alice replied.

"Great. Let's go up to the room. I really want to talk to Bella," I told them, starting for the elevator.

Rose and Alice looked between each other. That was not the look that I was going for, wanted to see, or even thought I would see. Something was up; I was probably included in the "people Bella doesn't want to see" list.

"What?" Em asked.

"She doesn't want to see or talk to us... any of us," Alice explained, as gently as possible.

I was right; I had been included in her list. All of them just looked at me, seeing how I would take it. I tried to take it calmly and show them that this wasn't a big deal, that it was ok and that I could give her space - I had a good poker face. I was anticipating hearing this, but it still hurt, like someone took the wind out of me. Thoughts of doubt filled my head; was there a reason she didn't want to see me? After everything we've been through in the last couple months...

I should have just told her that I loved her earlier tonight in the courtyard, the way I had planned to. But, of course, I had pussied out, just like I had the two other times I tried to tell her. Tonight was different, though; tonight, I thought I would actually do it. Maybe I should have, if I didn't then... No, shut up, you're just being fucking paranoid. Bella doesn't want to see anybody right now, just calm the fuck down Edward.

They were all still looking at me for my reaction. "Ok, no big deal; I'll just talk to her in the morning. We'll just go upstairs and go to bed. It's almost three and we've all had a long day," I told them, continuing towards the elevator.

I didn't turn back to see their reaction or glances towards each other, which I knew they were doing. They were looks of concern and pity, which I didn't want. I knew they felt bad, but this wasn't the end of the world - I didn't want their pity. What I did want was for something to have just gone right for me.

We boarded the elevator and rode up silently. I didn't know if they were all too tired, which they probably were, or if they just wanted to give me my space and didn't know what to say. Either way, I was grateful; I didn't want to keep up the pretense that I was fine and I really didn't want to snap at any of them either, so silence was the best thing I could do.

Again, thoughts of beating Jake to a bloody pulp crossed my mind, causing me to smirk, but seeing as how he wasn't here now, the instant gratification of this was near impossible. Besides, I knew all of our close friends now knew, but I still didn't know if Bella was ready for everyone else to know. And beating the crap out of Jake would definitely be in the category of announcing our relationship to the world. The only thing I could look forward to, at the moment, was going to bed. Hopefully, I'd wake up and this would all be a dream or miraculously be resolved. Ha - doubtful.

The doors to the elevator opened and I went directly to my room. Since there were only four bedrooms in the suite, Jasper and I had planned on bunking up and letting Alice and Bella have their own rooms. Now, they could duke it out for the last room because I wanted the room to myself. No, I needed the room to myself.

I changed out of my tux and took a quick, but very hot shower. The scalding water seemed to wash away some of my frustration, just leaving me exhausted. I had been busy all day. I was up at five setting up the courtyard for Bella's surprise and then assisting with the gala, and if it wasn't for this Jake thing, I probably would have been passed out hours ago.

Before I went to my room, I looked towards Bella's door, which had her bathrobe hanging on the towel hook. I noticed the bathroom was connected to her room. I had just gone to the closest available room when I walked in the door to the suite, not even noticing if it was my own. This had to be Alice's room, since she and Bella had the adjoining bathroom. I looked to the bathroom counter where my pajama pants were laying; Alice must have switched our stuff and then put my pjs in the bathroom for me. That pixie had laid it out for me and moved all of my things around so I wouldn't have to, she even hung up my tux for me. She was really the best cousin ever.

I changed into my pajama bottoms and walked to Bella's door. I didn't open it; I just looked. I held my hand up to the door and placed my forehead against it - this is the closest I was going to come to talking to Bella tonight. I paused for a minute like this, closing my eyes. "I love you," I whispered, barely audible.

I shuffled off to bed, too tired to even dry my hair. As soon as I laid my head on the pillow, I could feel the water seeping. As I began drifting off to sleep I heard my door open. I was too tired and too close to actual sleep to care who it was and why they were in my room; besides, it was probably just Alice taking another one of her bags. I heard the door gently close, but someone was still in the room and walking towards the bed.

I felt the covers lift up a little and someone slid into bed. I groggily opened my eyes, seeing Bella moving closer to me. From what I could make out, it looked like her eyes were puffy and a bit bloodshot, but it was dark and I couldn't tell for sure. I adjusted, making room for her to come closer, since I had initially sprawled out over the bed. She scooted in nearer, which brought her close enough for me to wrap my arm around her waist and bring her even closer.

We faced each other, but neither of us said anything. I knew she didn't want to talk, and I respected that. At the moment it didn't matter, all that Jake bull shit was gone and I was just glad that she was here right now. She had taken a shower too, and I could smell her shampoo. This was the real Bella right now, the Bella that I had fallen for - the one that didn't have any pretense, the one that was just her. And right now, puffy, bloodshot, eyes and all she was the most beautiful. I pressed my lips to her forehead, giving her a lingering kiss.

She snuggled in closer to me, almost burying her head into my chest. I felt something hot and wet trickle down my skin; she was crying. She was quiet at first but then I heard small sobs escape from her throat. I pulled her even closer to me, protectively, and stroked her hair, trying to calm her down. I wanted to wipe her tears away and make her feel better, take away the pain and anger, but I knew I couldn't. I started humming a composition that I had started working on for her. This finally seemed to calm her down and eventually she drifted off to sleep. I was tired, but I didn't want to stop and risk the chance that she might wake up again. As I hummed her lullaby, I vowed, yet again, that Jake wouldn't get away with this.

Yet another gift came today at lunch for Bella from Jake. It was almost like he was baiting me; trying to force me to make a move.

And I wanted to - I sooo wanted to.

"What's it today boys, hmm?" Bella asked Jake's table, holding up the box.

Embry just shrugged. "Sorry Bells, don't know what you're talking about," he answered her, playing stupid.

Bella saw what he was doing. She knew Jake had ulterior, manipulative, motives, not just showering her with gifts to get on her good side and ameliorate her rage. She knew he was pushing to see how far he could go before one of us just snapped. So she let all this slide publicly; she didn't want to give him any more ammunition. Charlie's legal team, who had drafted the fucking contract, still hadn't been able to find a loophole to get her out of the date.

"What's it this time?" Emmett asked, annoyed, yet again.

If it was possible, I would say that Em hated Jake even more than I did. I wasn't exactly sure why, since he doesn't ever talk about it or ever told me the specifics of what happened, but I'm sure there was a justified reasoning behind it. For all I care, he could have scuffed Em's Puma's back in the fifth grade and he's been holding a grudge since then, and I would still think that Em's in the right. No longer did I stay impartial in other people's beefs with Jake - I was all for them. The more opposition towards him, the better.

Bella just stared at the box, hesitant to open it. She was getting tired of these "trinkets of affection" as the first card called them. On Monday, it was a helmet and a riding jacket. Tuesday, there were some very, very, skimpy lingerie, which caused me to punch a hole in the wall instead of Paul's dopey ass face, which kept looking over at me to see my reaction. I knew the lingerie was for my benefit more than Bella's; they wanted a reaction out of me, which they did not get... I just got a bruised knuckle. So who knew what today's gift was going to be.

"I can do it for you is you want B," Jasper offered.

Bella smiled weakly at him. "No, I can do it myself, but thanks for offering," she told him.

I gave her hand a reassuring and quick squeeze under the table before she began opening it. She smiled warmly back to me. Bella carefully inspected the box and where to begin. It was as if she was defusing a bomb - the wrong tear and it would explode. Actually, that was a very fitting metaphor for this situation; one wrong step and everything would be in pieces.

The wrapping paper was finally off and now all that was left to do was open the box. As she was about to open the lid, my phone distracted me. It vibrated twice, had to be a text.

I'll be in town soon. We should really get together and catch up.

It was from Jake. What was this all about? Why the fuck was he texting me now? I looked over to his acolytes, who were all so conveniently looking in other directions. One of them must have told him precisely when to text me, either that or it was simply coincidental and I was becoming paranoid...

Caught up in my text, I had missed Bella opening the box and her initial reaction to it. She didn't look utterly pissed off, like she did yesterday with the lingerie, so it must not have been as bad. She just looked like she was inspecting what she got, which were a canteen and a candle.

"Well, I guess you've gotta give him points for creativity. Trying to keep me guessing," Bella said dryly.

"It doesn't even smell good - cheap bastard," Rosalie said, picking up the candle and sniffing it.

I looked between the two objects, they didn't really seem to go together - or go with the other stuff he'd given her before. All of us looked somewhat confused as to what all of this meant, all of us but Bella.

"It's a citronella candle. You know those things that you burn to keep bugs away - hence the smell. It's camping, it's gotta be. That's what he's got planned," she explained.

"But you loathe camping," Em interjected.

She blinked her eyes hard and gritted her teeth. "I know. It's a long story," she said, looking down and rubbing the side of her head.

"Why do you have a text from Jake?" Alice asked, grabbing my phone.

Bella snapped her head up, opened her eyes, and snatched the phone away from her, studying what the text said. She didn't even look at me, just at the phone.

"It literally just came, not even 30 seconds ago," I told them, but only looking at Bella's vacant expression as she still stared at the phone. I couldn't figure out what she was thinking. "Apparently, he's coming to town soon and wants to get together."

"Of course he's coming soon, there's only a two week window of opportunity of the dates or something," Jasper stated.

That bit of very important information had slipped my mind. Maybe if we were able to stave off the date long enough, the expiration on the date would expire and Bella wouldn't have to go through with it. Though there was probably some clause against that or something.

"Oh yea, I completely forgot about that," Bella said, finally pulling her eyes away from the phone's screen and rejoining the conversation.

I could tell she was still thinking about the text and evaluating what it meant, even though she was now talking to us again. Her head was somewhere else. She clung to the phone, glancing down every couple of seconds; it seemed as if she was waiting for a response or for another text to be received.

"I don't think he's going to send another one Bella," I told her.

Our entire table looked at me for an explanation on why I knew Jake's texting etiquette. "It's not like we talk now, or talked that frequently before, but it was always a back and forth thing. It's kind of like a game: one would initiate, the other would either respond with a yes or no, or try to come up with a more clever comment than the other, trying to one up him. If the person never responded back, then the issue was dropped," I further elaborated.

"So it's kinda like a whose dick is bigger competition?" Alice stated.

Em nodded his head in agreement with her deduction.

Jasper shook his head thoughtfully, though. "It's not like that. Most guys are just that way with each other. Guys don't try to understand the 'emotional subtext' or 'underlying tension' of a text or conversation like you girls do: they are literal and mean what they say. It's either a yes or no, plus the occasional fuck you. Both of them are über competitive, so that would explain the whole competitive nature of their texts," he explained.

All the girls looked a little befuddled at this. I think they thought guys spent as much time analyzing every little thing that was said, just like they did. And we did, occasionally, when it involved girls, but never with each other.

"Thank you Dr. Phil," Rose said, rolling her eyes at her brother. "We've got to respond," she said, looking over to the girls.

"Yes, we do," Bella concurred.

She quickly began typing with my phone, mumbling something about the "damn Iphone" in the process. She kept writing and erasing; I guess she was trying to make it sound more like me.

"You know, it's probably just be easier if I..." I said, reaching for the phone.

"Shush!" Bella ordered, moving the phone but still not looking away from the screen.

"Did she really just shush me?" I asked, even though it was mostly rhetorical.

"Yes she did. Now shut up, so she can think," Alice directed.

As Alice said this, Bella placed the phone in the middle of the table. "Okay, done," she said.

I looked over at what she wrote. " 'I'm down. What were you thinking, bro?' When have I ever said bro?" I asked, trying to stifle a laugh.

I knew Bella was trying her best to sound like a guy via text, which I thought was adorable, but this was all wrong. I don't think I've ever uttered the word bro, unless I was joking. In fact, unless you were Emmett who could actually pull off using that word, only douches said it. Case in point Jake, he used that fucking word all the time.

"Sorry, but he's gonna know it's you responding and not me, and he's just going to mess with us even more if you send this," I told her gently.

I took the phone from the middle of the table and typed in an appropriate response, given the tone that Bella had already set. If she wanted to play along and see where this went, I'd go along with it for her.

" 'The sushi place again?' Huh?" Alice read aloud.\

"It's the place we went last time he was in town... and we were on speaking terms," I explained again.

With this Bella seemed to stiffen; something was off. Something had bothered her.

"I forgot that you guys had even gotten together before he left for school, not that I needed further explanation on what the text literally meant. I'm not illiterate; I can read," Alice quipped, as she looked over at Em.

"Hey! It was just one time that I didn't read something correctly via text," Em replied.

"Sure. Quick what does this say?" Jasper said, holding up his phone to Emmett's face for him to read.

No one else seemed to notice Bella's change in demeanor - they were all bickering between themselves and making light out of Emmett's text dyslexia. I was the only one who caught on to her shift.

"Ok sent," Rosalie said, placing the phone back in the middle of the table.

We all sat their silently, waiting for a response. All of us except Bella who was packing up her stuff to go, even though there was still half an hour of lunch left.

"Where are you going?" I asked, reaching under the table for her hand.

She pulled away, though, reaching for her bag instead. "Totally forgot that I need to go back to psych for lunch; Dr. Leonard asked me to meet with her to help her with a project for UDub. See you guys later," she said abruptly, rushing out of the room, without even a glance in my direction.

"Bye Bella," Paul called out.

"Tell him to fuck off for me," she answered back, sweetly flipping him off as she walked out the doors.

She pulled away? No, she was probably just going for her bag and had to move her hand so that she could get it... I hoped. I knew she was on edge about this whole situation, but this was something else. This seemed like something directed toward me.

Her who demeanor had changed when I brought up the last time Jake and I hung out. Maybe she didn't like that or thought it was weird, her new boyfriend hanging out with her old one. Or maybe there was something more to it. Something did seem wrong that night between the two of them when I got there. And Bella did slap Jake - not that it probably wasn't warranted, but what led up to that. I had missed something, and now I got a feeling that what I missed was crucial.

a shorter chapter but i hope you guys thought it worked. i feel like it had everything this chapter needed. the next one will prob be back to the normal chapter length.

what'd you guys think? what'd you guys think of the bed scene - i was totally on edge while writing it. thoughts, concerns?

i'm already working on the next chapter, i would say its about 75% done and its in bella's pov. so it hopefully won't take tooo long to get up, definitely not as long as this one.