Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise, I just use their creations to have my wicked way with them. No copyright infringement is intended.

This story wouldn't be what it is without my wonderful beta, The Real Teacher, holding my hand, correcting my many errors and talking me down from the ledge when I'm this close to deleting a chapter. Thank you so much!

My dear friend Ange de l'Aube made an amazing banner for this story. It and some pictures and other stuff can be found at the twilighted thread for Absolution (www . twilighted . net / forum / ?f=44&t=13706&p=1167881#p1167881 ) as well as on her website (http : / angedelaube . wordpress . com /2010 /12/27/absolution-by-miss-baby /) . I cannot thank her enough.

- 25 -

"Edward," Alice sighed. "Don't you think you're overreacting just a teensy tiny bit?"

I rolled my eyes, catching the refection of my own gesture in the window as I stared out of the window. "Stay out of this Alice. I mean it."

I knew that the chances of her actually listening to me were slim to none, but I wanted to have the words out in the open anyway. "And no: I'm not overreacting. The woman invented a boyfriend just to keep me at arm's length, for heaven's sake! Am I just supposed to hop and skip over that as if none of that shit happened?"

This had been my general state of mind ever since I'd stormed out of the Swan's house last night. At first anger had overpowered everything else, making me hack my way through the woods in a mad rage until I finally arrived back home in the dead of night, looking like nature had thrown up all over me.

It was only when I'd stood in the shower, the warm streams washing away the dirt, sweat and cold, that other feelings started to seep in.

Disappointment.

Repulsion.

Hope.

Hope had been an unexpected sentiment among all of the negativity that had kept me company throughout the sleepless night. But try as I might, I couldn't quite ignore it because, as angry and disappointed as I was with Bella's behavior and dishonesty, the falsehoods she'd tried to feed me also made me see every conversation I'd had with her in a new light; a light that opened the door to her reciprocating at least some of the feelings I'd had for her from the very start.

She and the dog were no longer together and, though she may have been unwilling to cue me in on that very important piece of news, it did mean that Bella, right now was a free woman.

Free for me to pursue.

"She's really sorry about how this whole thing played out," Alice spoke as if she'd read my mind. "She never wanted you to find out the way you did and really…I had to work very hard to keep her from running after you last night,,,"

"She came after me?" At least that was something….. "Why did you stop her?"

Alice let out a loud snort. "Seriously, Edward? I thought you wanted my help in getting the two of you back together again, not replay history for old time's sake."

Once again, Alice had a point.

"Anyway, I think the two of you need to sit down and have a good, old-fashioned talk about this instead of trying to run each other off the road."

I cringed, remembering the way I'd acted earlier that morning as Alice went on. "Who knows? If you can keep your cool long enough to actually do some wooing, she may decide you're not such an asshole after all."

"Fuck you, Alice!" I spat, wondering why I'd allowed her to weasel her way into my love life anyway. "I'm not the one who let it get this far! She…"

"Yeah, yeah." Through the reflection I caught Alice rolling her eyes dramatically. "And then you stormed out like a fucking toddler. I swear at times my little Jack acts more grown up than you and….."

I frowned, my eyes zoning in on the driveway as a lone and completely soaked figure started to emerge from the forest as my ears started to zone out. "Bella."

"What?" I hadn't realized I'd spoken her name out loud until Alice stopped her incessant diarrhea of words.

I scowled, the outline of a determined and pissed off looking Bella now as clear as day as she stomped across the yard, her steps taking her right up to the front door. "We have a visitor."

"Bella's here?" Alice squealed, almost pushing me out of the way in her hurry to get to the window. She elbowed me in the ribs, a gesture that was no doubt meant to be conspiratorially but ended up just being annoying and slightly painful. "I bet she's here to talk to you."

I snorted. "I bet she is." Though I had a feeling it wasn't in the kind of conversation Alice was thinking off.

Alice scowled at me, her efforts to look imposing with her hand on her hip and her eyes pulled into angry little slits falling flat on the way I had to almost duck to look her in the eye. "Be-have," she snarled, her nails pricking into my chest with every syllable, before turning on her heels and heading for the door.

"Hey Cajun. You might want to put a leash on your wife before she sticks her nose so deep into other's people's business it's going to get cut off," I grumbled in Jasper's general direction.

"I'm staying out of this," Jasper stated from his position on the sofa in the corner of the room where he had been immersed in one of the ancient bound editions in my dad's library. If it wasn't for the turning of a page or a slight sniff or cough, one might forget the guy was actually in the room. "And don't call me Cajun."

I couldn't get a word in before Alice stormed back into the room. "Bella's here, she soaked to the bone and she wants to talk to you," she barked, daring me to turn a cold, wet woman from my doorstep. "So Jasper and I are going out for a walk while you and Bella have that talk."

"Alice!" I growled.

"We are?" Jasper frowned. "I thought you said rain was God's way of telling us to stay in and get cozy."

Alice merely glared at me before completely taking her husband by surprise by grabbing his hand and dragging him up and after her like a fucking lap dog. "Not this time," she huffed. "This time He is telling us to go out and do a good deed. Bella's car got stuck halfway down the driveway and you're going to use my car to get it out."

I couldn't help but smile, even in spite of all the rage that was burning its way through my system at that moment. That explained why Bella had looked like she'd pitched a fight against Mother Nature and lost.

I could hear Alice and Jasper bickering, their voices muffled by the distance and the rain as they sometimes mixed with the husky sound of Bella's voice.

My body's reaction to it was imminent and though my anger was still present and overpowering, it now had to do battle with the baser feelings inside of me.

The ones that wanted.

The ones that lusted.

The ones that needed to possess…

The ones that were focused on the soft sound of footsteps moving shuffling across the marble tiles as they moved closer and closer to where I was.

I cursed those feelings, my body turning away from the sound and out towards the cold and wet outdoors before I could give myself away.

"Edward?" I sighed, hearing her voice call out to me. I couldn't deny the pull in her voice, though I could pretend for a little while that I did.

The battle hadn't even started yet and here I was, already losing the war.

"Edward?" she repeated, a small hint of annoyance seeping into her voice.

It was just what I needed to get my head straight and my dick down again. "What the hell are you doing here, Bella?" I growled, slowly turning towards her now that I was back in command over my own body. "I thought I made it pretty clear that I don't want anything more to do with you."

She looked every bit as annoyed as she'd sounded, her hand on her hip in a gesture of fake confidence as she looked at me. "I said we needed to talk, but you ran away from me before I could actually get a word in so I'm here to try again."

"Don't bother," I chuckled darkly, trying to shoot holes in that damned attitude she was sporting. "It's not like you could come up with something new."

I was barely able to duck out of the way before my dad's first edition of The Catcher in the Rye flew past my head. Fucking hell! She'd really lost her mind this time!

I was still reeling from her sudden attack when she launched another one, though this time sticking to words – thank God. "Fuck you, Edward! Why do you always have to be such a damn jerk!" she cried.

It could have been me but her voice was starting to sound a little desperate. Almost as if she was getting close to tears.

It could just have been me, though. Bella Swan had a throw in her that would have made Major League scouts sit up and take notice if she hadn't been sporting a pair of tits instead of a dick.

"Oh, I don't know," I jested, rolling my eyes at her amateur dramatics. "Maybe because you turn me into one?"

"I was scared, okay?" Her voice was labored and hoarse as she half-whispered her explanation, her eyes pleading with me to take this and be satisfied.

But I wasn't.

It wasn't enough.

It would never be enough.

"Yeah, sure you were." I went on. "The great Bella Swan, who's afraid of no-one." Speaking the words I felt as much like an asshole as he probably thought I was. But I wasn't going to be the first one to give in. Not with what's at stake here.

"I am afraid," she admitted, her anger deflating like a soufflé that had been disturbed before it could rise to its full potential. "In fact, I'm fucking terrified of getting my heart broken again. So much so that I used Jake as a way to keep you at arm's length so that you couldn't come close enough to hurt me again."

I closed my eyes, not knowing whether to feel hope because apparently she thought herself to be in danger of losing her heart to me, or anger and disappointed because she'd lied to me to prevent it.

The more I thought about it, though, the more my sadness started to take over as I realized that for all my hard work, trying to win her over, I'd achieved nothing.

Not. A. Damned. Thing.

She was still living in the past.

She didn't trust me and I was beginning to wonder if she ever would.

She wanted to keep her distance.

We were back to square one.

"God you can be so fucking dense sometimes!" I groaned, the words leaving my mouth before I could stop them.

Why could she not see that I would never hurt her – never again – and that the thought alone made me want to kill myself just to spare her misery?

Why could she not see that the look on her face when she told me what it had been like for her in those woods would haunt me maybe even more than it did her?

Why could she not see that I fucking loved her, with my whole flawed and rotten heart?

"What?" she yelled, mistaking my pain for jest. "Then, if you're so smart all of a sudden, you probably won't mind enlightening me on why it is that I'm so fucking stupid?"

My hands fisted my hair, pain shooting through my scalp as I tore at the roots to keep myself from doing something I'd regret. "Because – dammit Bella! Can't you see? Even the thought of hurting you makes me want to run as far and fast as I fucking can, just to keep you safe. And I know we both would be better off if I did….but I can't. "

There.

The words were out.

A strange sense of calm washed over me as my heart overrode my head, speaking straight from its bleeding, fearing core.

Only to be met with the one sentiment it feared almost as much as rejection.

Incredulity.

Because apparently my love for her was something that could not be believed to be real.

Like a fucking unicorn.

"Y-you c-cant?" Bella stammered, her eyes widening with disbelief as he hand clasped her chest to protect herself from my unwanted advances. "W-why?"

I swallowed hard before speaking the words that would either finally make her see what it was that I was offering her or run away from me forever. "Because I fucking love you!"

My words lingered in the air long after they were spoken, making the silence heavy and painful.

There.

I'd said it.

The words – and my heart – were out in the open, for her to do with as she pleased.

But she did nothing.

For seconds….minutes….hell, it may even have been hours, she remained silent while the rain kept ticking against the window frames, an audible reminder that time was ticking away.

"Say something," I begged. Because even the worse I dreaded hearing were better than this God-awful silence right now.

She refused to look at me, her eyes trained to her feet and the water stains she'd left on the parquet floor on her way in. "I-I…." she started, her hair shielding her face as she stumbled through her words.

"Please." I wasn't above begging at that point, though I couldn't quite decide what it was that I was begging for.

Just an end to all of this – whatever 'this' might have meant.

"You…y-you…. love me?" she finally stammered, looking at me as if I'd just come out and told her I was having transgender surgery.

I nodded, my heart pounding in my chest as I tried to keep looking at her though every bone in my body told me to look away. "Is that really so hard to believe?"

She frowned. "Yeah….no….I don't know."

"That wasn't quite the reaction I was hoping for," I snorted, trying to mask the pain that stabbed through my chest upon being told the woman I loved thought that idea so ridiculous she didn't even want to entertain the notion of it.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, her cheeks darkening even further with embarrassment. "It's just….I don't know. You love me."

This time incredulity had made place for something else. It was almost like she was tasting the words on her tongue; trying them out for size. "I do," I answered, as calmly as I could.

Right then, for some strange reason, word vomit took over, making me blurt out all kinds of sappy confessions I never would have made if I'd had my wits about me. "I love you so much that it's hard for me to breathe when you enter a room; in fact I'm finding it hard to do anything else but look at you and want you and curse myself for being such a stupid ass."

I took a step closer, crossing the safe barrier the desk had formed between us as I went on "I love you so much that even the idea of you in the arms of another man makes me sick to my stomach."

I closed my eyes, my voice shaking with emotion as I took another few steps, almost closing the gap between us. "The thought that another man has touched you – had his fucking hands on you – is driving me mad…"

I squeezed my eyes shut, my hands fisting in my hair as my body welcomed the pain my actions caused. "And the worst thing is that I have no one but myself to blame for that. I ruined things. I drove you away. And now I have to find a way to live with the consequences."

She blushed, her hands fidgeting with the sleeve of her soaked shirt as her lip turned white from being jammed between her teeth. "I'm sorry."

I sighed. "Don't be. It's not like you did anything wrong."

She looked at me, so fragile and uncertain it broke my heart. "I lied to you, Edward. I don't know where you stand on that, but in my book that's about as wrong as you can get. But please know that I never set out to hurt you….."

"You only wanted to protect yourself," I finished, vainly thinking saying the words would make them less painful than hearing them. She blushed, confirming my statement by hiding behind her wet chocolate hair again.

"Billy had a picture of the two of you sitting on his mantelpiece. I walked straight into it when I entered the house." I'd wanted to break something when I looked at the two of them together. They looked so carefree and happy together, his arm draped across her shoulder and both of them smiling at each other. So unlike the way she was when she was with me. "You looked very…..happy."

She looked up, her eyes widening when my words registered only to dull to a strange kind of sadness as she sighed. "I wasn't."

I frowned. "Huh?"

"Happy," she explained with a shrug. "Being with him….it was everything I should have wanted in life….but it wasn't. Because…well…."

Bella looked anywhere but at me as she struggled to find the words. "I mean, he is. It's just….he wanted things from me that…I guess…I couldn't give."

I frowned, all sorts of scenario's of that involved S&M basements and random acts of depravity flashing through my mind. "He what?"

Bella laughed at me. "Calm down, Edward. It's nothing like you think! His only crime was that he wanted to move our relationship to the next level."

I must have looked as brainless as I felt because after Bella was done rolling her eyes at me she elaborated. "He wanted marriage, commitment…the whole shebang."

"And you couldn't give that to him," I mused, testing the words on my lips to try and find out where that left us.

"No," she whispered, driving me near the brink of insanity when she nervously licked her lips. "I tried to…you know…" I was insanely thankful for the fact that she seemed to want to avoid using the words 'love' and 'Jacob Black' in one sentence. "…but it never really worked."

"It didn't?" My voice didn't come out as cool and collected as I'd hoped. In fact, it sounded pretty damn hopeful and needy. Weren't girls supposed to want all that marriage and commitment and babies kind of shit?

She shook her head, her voice just as broken and needy and fucking unsteady as mine was when she whispered her answer. "I found out my heart wasn't mine to give away."

"It wasn't?' My voice sounded awfully shaky as my heart pounded in my chest, hoping against hope, better judgment and whatever kind of karma shit I had stacked up against me that she really meant what I thought she meant.

Her eyes were honest and blurred with unshed tears as they caught mine, her voice barely registering above a whisper as she went on. "It's yours….It's always been yours."

"Bella." I'd crossed the remaining distance between us in a heartbeat, my whole being screaming out to touch her. I needed her in my arms – close to my heart – to find confirmation of the words that had just been spoken.

"Please," she managed to whimper, right before my lips crashed into hers, the force of our two bodies colliding together locking her flush between me and the wall.

Right where I wanted her.

"Anything," I breathed, only removing my lips from hers long enough to pant out a reply before I leaned back in, drunk and desperate for another taste of sweet, sweet Bella.

She returned fire with fire, the need speaking out of the way her hands clawed at my clothes only kindling the flames that were stirring inside of me; the hunger to conquer and surrender, explore and be discovered, possess and be possessed.

Taking notes from the soft sounds erupting from Bella's lips I brushed my tongue over her bottom lip, giving her the chance to accept or deny. Please don't deny…..

I didn't know what I expected, but when a low groan reverberated through her body, her mouth opening eagerly to grant me access as her tongue met mine in a dance that soon turned into a struggle for power and fulfillment, I felt like I'd died and gone to heaven. She wanted this as much as I did.

She needed this as much as I did.

Emboldened by her enthusiasm I freed one hand from its hold on Bella's waist and let it wander over her body, first exploring the gently curve of her ass before allowing it to slowly creep up her back and curve round to the perfect slope of her breast.

Bella moaned, her nipple hardening under my touch as I brushed my thumb over the wet layers of clothing standing between me and her perfect body, her hips gyrating against mine bringing me to the brink of fucking insanity.

I had to have her.

Right here.

Right now.

I ground into her, pushing her body even further into the wall as I gave and took the friction I was in such dire need of as our kisses started to grow in heat and intensity, absorbing the moans of pleasure that slipped through as we both fought the need for air with our desire.

"Fuck!" I gasped, my hand hitching behind Bella's leg and pulling her up against me, her heat radiating through two layers of denim as it came into contact with my rock hard cock.

Bella's eyes closed as he she tilted her head backwards, inadvertently banging it against the wall. "Yes," she moaned, clasping her other leg around my waist and using her hold to grind her covered pussy into my erection.

I couldn't help but agree with her.

I threw my head back, closing my eyes to relish the sensation of Bella's body against mine for a few moments as our hips kept rolling against each other, the electricity between us driving us further and further into the unknown.

It was amazing.

I'd dreamed of actions like these taking places ever since my first wet dream but even in my wildest fantasies I'd never been able to come up with anything that even felt remotely like this.

The sounds of lust, the smell of arousal, the overwhelming need to possess. It took hold of me, driving me right up to the brink and I knew that if I kept this up I was going to cum in my pants like a fucking twelve year old boy who's just seen his first pair of live titties.

Fortunately, judging from the frantic movements she made, Bella wasn't in a much better state, her arms flailing wildly in an attempt to find something solid to anchor her body to the earth with, sending books crashing to the ground as they went.

"Edward," she gasped, her eyes opening up again and boring into mine as one of her hands fisted in my hair, pulling me closer to her face. "For fuck sake: stop thinking and kiss me."

And there it was again, the push and pull that seemed to dictate every interaction between us.

Love, hate and everything in between.

I growled, eliciting another moan from her lips as I forcefully pushed my pelvis into her heat but complying with the lady's request none the less, her sweet taste invading my system once again as I kissed her hard, my hands clasping hers above her head as her legs closed around my hips, pulling the two of us even closer together.

"Ouch!" Bella groaned, her eyes tightening with pain as she banged her head against the wall once more making me realize that, though I wanted nothing more than to stay like this forever, I needed to sort out this shit before Bella would suffer a concussion.

"Let's get you somewhere more comfortable." I grinned, locking my arms around her back as I strode to my dad's desk. "Much better," I chuckled as I stood back after depositing her on the smooth leather lining of the antique piece of furniture.

And it was. With the light streaming in from the windows she looked like a nymph in a Waterhouse painting

A very wet nymph, though.

"You're shaking." I cursed myself and my lust for having overseen her predicament until now.

She shrugged. "I'm cold."

"You look hot enough to me," I chuckled, rubbing my hands along her arms to warm her up.

"Asshole!" She rolled her eyes, swatting my hands away with a half-hearted kind of annoyance. "Are you always going to be like this?"

"Only when you deserve it," I grinned back, loving how she still reacted so strongly to seeing that stupid little half-smirk of mine. Her eyes widened, her lips parted and her breath started to get shallower as she looked at me. Lovely. "Now please shut up so that I can kiss you again."

She rolled her eyes at me again but leaned in none the less. "I guess you did say that magic word."

I chuckled. "Oh, honey, I haven't even come close to saying any kind of words of magic yet."

"Insufferable," she growled, playing angry though I could see her lips part, her tongue slipping over them to wet them as she panted for breath.

"And you fucking love it!" I crooned, chuckled as I felt her shiver, knowing pretty damn sure that it wasn't from the cold.

She bit her lip, the understated sexiness in her innocent gesture making me groan as she stood on her tiptoes, her lips pulling into a small smile as she noticed the effect she was having on me before she parted them slightly and brushed them over mine. "Why don't you start saying some of those magic words now?" she purred, her small hands gliding over my chest as she held on to me. "Because, you know….it's not nice to keep a lady waiting…."

"Whatever the lady wants," I purred before claiming her lips with mine again. A low grumble stirring up in my chest as Bella's hands weaved their way back into my hair again, the need to be with her – make her mine – growing until it became all but unbearable and my hands started to peel back the soaked fabric of her shirt on their own volition.

Bella moaned, her legs wrapping around my hips again, pulling me closer, as my hands slid up past her ribs, her breasts, her clavicle until finally they stumble upon the great dilemma a closed neckline offers to a horny man: break a pretty damn amazing kiss or get the girl naked.

In the end the long term advantage of nakedness won out and I detached my lips from Bella's just barely long enough to lift the heavy, waterlogged fabric over her head and throw it somewhere behind me, a loud smack breaking through the silence when it landed in a heap on the floor.

"Can I…." I started, my hands awkwardly waving at the one barrier that separated me from perfection.

Bella shrugged, hiding the uncertainty that lay naked in her eyes behind that shield of sarcasm that I'd come to know so well. "Sure. Knock yourself out."

I chuckled, shaking my head to let her know I was on to her as my hands reached around her, her heart hammering through her chest as I fumbled with the clasps that held her bra together. I breathed a sigh of relief when finally, after what could have been an eternity, the tension on the satiny lilac garment subsided and the delicate straps slid off her shoulders, slowly baring her body to me.

Instead of giving in to my urge to look down, my eyes shot up to catch Bella's, making sure she was still okay with this before I slowly let them glide over her body, hungrily drinking in the beauty of the woman I love. "You're….you're beautiful," I breathed, blushing slightly at my own awkwardness.

One of my hands reached out tentatively to brush along the cool skin of Bella's shoulder, brushing her hair out of the way before following the hard line of her clavicle before dipping into the slope between that line and her shoulder, her skin breaking out in goose bumps as I slowly dragged it down to the puckered pink tips of her breasts. "So beautiful."

Bella's cheeks took on a vibrant deep maroon color as she lowered her eyes in embarrassment. "Um, thanks…I guess."

I lifted her chin with the tip of my right index finger, forcing her to look me in the eye. "I mean it, Bella. I've never….."

I growled, wondering why my usual cockiness had suddenly deserted me. I should have been able to do this, right? I mean, I wasn't exactly a virgin. Still, I'd never felt like this. I'd never felt so….inadequate. But I guess that was just the difference between them. Those other women might have been a lot of things…but they weren't Bella.

Bella's eyes pulled into a frown, my silence obviously feeding her uncertainty. "What is it, Edward?"

I sighed, dropping my head on her bare shoulder. "I've never felt like this before, Bella, and it makes me feel so weird, so…..I don't know how to do this." I looked back at her, feeling even more vulnerable than I had when I confessed my love for her.

Her brown eyes gazed back at me with a softness and understanding that nearly broke my damned heart. "I know," she whispered, trailing her hands over my chest, the slight scratch of her nails pulling me slowly out of the funk I was in. "And I don't know either, but…."

She bit her lip, her blush returning with a vengeance as she smiled mischievously. "I guess we could learn together?"

I groaned, my dick throbbing with a need to bury itself inside her as I rested my forehead against hers. "You will be the death of me one day, Bella Swan."

"Oh, I hope not!" she cooed, her little fingers setting to work on the buttons of my shirt. "I have plans that kind of involve you sticking around for quite some time."

I chuckled before leaning in and kissing her with a renewed fervor as she all but ripped my shirt from my body before tossing it behind her on the desk, her hands gliding over my back in sweet torment.

"Edward," Bella panted when finally the need for air became too great to deny. "I want you to….."

But I guess I'd never know what she wanted me to do because as Bella gazed at me through hooded eyes, the front door crashed open with a thundering echo, heralding the return of my friends. Though my feelings towards those two at that time where somewhat less than friendly. And that was putting it lightly.

"Honey's! We're ho-ome!" Alice's voice sang through the foyer as the sounds of boots being shaken off and coats and other wet garments being hung to dry started to fill the house.

I had a feeling Alice's announcement was as much for our benefit as her own, because as happy as she may have been to know that Bella and I had come to some sort of understanding between us, I doubted she wanted to see the visible proof of it.

I had just enough time to grab my shirt and throw it around Bella's shoulders before Alice charged into the room, jokingly holding a hand in front of her eyes. "Is it safe to look?"

I rolled my eyes at her, not that she could see it. "Yes, Alice. All necessary bits are covered."

Alice's eyes widened the minute she dropped her hand and gazed at our general state of upheaval. Her arms flailed around as if she could get airborne any minute now as her voice called out shrilly. "Holy shit! Jaaaasperrrrrr!"

"What is it honey?" Jasper's voice sounded right behind her as he entered the room. I had to hand it to the guy, he was a true gentleman, because the minute he took in Bella's precarious state of half-dress he lowered his eyes to the floor, even though, with Bella frantically buttoning up a couple of buttons on my shirt, there really wasn't much to see.

Not that that didn't mean that I quickly shifted around, blocking his view of Bella – my Bella.

"Well," Alice grinned. "Apparently these two aren't fighting anymore and Edward finally found a way to get Bella out of those horrible oversized sweats!"

I looked at Alice with open mouth as she started walking around a furiously blushing Bella, appraising the 'new look'. "You can really rock the whole boyfriend shirt-look, Bella," she finally concluded. "I bet you'd look amazing with a nice studded belt and a pair of matching black boots. I'd lose the jeans, though…..They're way too soccer mom."

Bella looked at me for help but all I could do was shrug as Alice started to tie the two ends of the shirt together in a knot on Bella's stomach. "Um, Alice?" She waited for Alice to be done and lift her head. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"What do you think? I'm trying to sex you up, girl!" Alice scowled; looking like Bella's just asked something really silly. "Just your clothes, though," she as quick to add. "As nice as your boobs may look in that shirt, I still don't swing that way and even if I did – I think Edward may be all kinds of miffed if I moved in on his girl."

"You bet," I fake-growled, my attempts at being stern rather half-assed since I was still reeling from the fact that Alice had referred to Bella as 'my girl'.

My Bella.

"Now," I went on, seeing that Bella was still feeling horribly uncomfortable. "If you don't mind? I think we'll go upstairs to track down some dry clothes for Bella to wear." And with that I grabbed Bella´s hand and started pulling her towards the door, trying not to see the knowing grins Alice and Jasper were exchanging.

"Edward?" I turned to see Alice barely holding in her giggles long enough to utter five words in a sentence. "Make it snappy. Dinner is going to be on the table in half an hour. I take it Bella will be joining us?"

I looked at Bella, who barely managed a nod while she kept her eyes trained to her feet before yanking on my hand in her hurry to get out of the room.

"Well, that was interesting," I chuckled as we sped up the stairs.

"They so think we are going to have sex up here!" Bella groaned as she half-dragged me behind her onto the landing. "Yours still at the far end of the landing?" she asked, waving at the door that had been mine for as long as I could remember.

I nodded, trying to keep control of myself as Bella confidently strode into my room and plopped down on my bed. "D-d you want me to ask Alice if you can borrow something of hers?" I asked, trying not to think about the fact that Bella was sitting on my bed.

She shook her head. "Do you have a pair of sweats I can borrow or something? I have a feeling Alice's clothes are going to be kind of tight on me and well….I don't want to open the door for her to use me as a live Barbie doll anyway."

"Smart move." I grinned. "And Alice was right, by the way. You look amazing in my shirt."

"Do I?" She cocked her head at me, grinning wickedly. "I had the feeling you were liking me better out of it."

I growled low in my chest, getting ready to pounce at her when she stopped me. "I think we need to talk though," she muttered, nervously biting her lip. "Before all of this starts getting out of hand again."

I pouted. "Fine, we'll talk." Of course she was right.

But that didn't mean I had to like it.

"Where does this leave us?" Bella spoke, her eyes once again looking everywhere but at me as her hand frantically waved between her and me.

"What do you mean?" I frowned. Did she think this was a mistake? Did she even want to be with me? "I thought I made myself pretty clear. I thought we both did…."

She looked up, a scared and vulnerable little girl. "So y-you….you m-meant what you said …..when you told me…."

I walked over to her, cradling her head in my hands, forcing her to look at me as I spoke. "Every single word was the truth." My voice was thick with emotion as I went on. "I love you, Bella, and I will wait for as long as it takes for you see that."

She looked up at me with a sad smile, leaning into my touch. "Thank you. I do love you too, Edward. I always have and think part of me always will even if…..it's just…."

I smiled back at her, turning one of my hands to caress her cheek. "You're not entirely there yet. I understand that. You've got so much going on in your life at this moment and with our past history…."

She placed a finger on my lips to stop me from speaking. "Let's just forget about that for now. I want to move forward - with you. You can't do that if you keep looking back."

"True," I answered, smiling as she traced her finger along my lips. "So I guess that leaves us…dating?"

"That sounds about right," Bella beamed, pulling me into a tight hug before she places a soft, lingering kiss on my cheek. "Now, can I use your bathroom for a quick shower? I think Alice was serious when she said we had half an hour to get ready and half of that has already passed."

"Help yourself to anything of mine that you want, sweetheart," I answered, brushing back a few strands of hair that had fallen into her face. "I'll go see if I can find something for you to wear."

I watched her make her way into my bathroom after I'd tossed her a clean shirt and a pair of old sweats that were still hanging around in a drawer after ten years of abandonment before I set to work straightening myself out.

As I tried to mold my hair in something that looked somewhere in the region of acceptable I tried desperately not to think about the fact that Bella was only a few feet away from me, naked and very wet.

I could feel my cock straining against the zipper of my jeans as my mind started following droplets of water as they trickled through her hair, over her face and finally down her chest where they would come to rest on those perfect pink nipples.

I groaned, my eyes involuntarily drifting in the direction of the bathroom door as I realized that my efforts to keep my thoughts PG-13 had completely failed and I was now horny as fuck and hard as a rock.

I had a feeling that giving Bella the space she needed to build her trust in me was going to be harder than I thought it was.

Literally.

What did you think?

Were you surprised when Bella said it too?

Do you think it's a good or a bad thing Bella and Edward were interrupted before things could get out of hand?

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. I did. Though I'm going to have to put in overtime at the gym to get rid of all the extra pounds…..

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