Summary:

After going through a handful of unsuccessful figure skating partners, Bella Swan is on the verge of giving up her skating career. When her coach pairs her up with Edward Cullen, she decides to give her gold medal dreams one last shot.

A/N (Author's Note): ALL HUMAN.

*IMPORTANT*: I will be posting pictures that correspond with some chapters, so if you see text followed by a bold (number), that indicates that there will be a link to the picture on my profile.

I hope the pictures give you a better sense of all the skating positions... so please check em out!

Just as a clarification in advance, 'Chris Rockne' is who you think he is… If you don't get what I said just now, you will once you read the chapter C:

OH. I'm sorry for the DELAY! This is SUPER LONG though so hopefully that compensates for it.


Chapter 29: Down to Business

Edward:

My phone rang the familiar ringtone I'd set for Bella.

I wasn't ashamed to admit that my heart soared the moment it came on. As if I were afraid the world would end, I snatched the device off the table and slammed it to my ear.

"Bella! Thank you so much for calling, let me explain—"

"Shut your trap, it just me," Tatiana's voice came from the other end. From her tone, it was obvious that Bella had told her about what had happened. My insides burned with shame.

My shoulders visibly hunched in disappointment.

"I meet you at your apartment in ten minute. Tasha better be already gone," she said lowly.

I didn't bother to tell her that her name was Tanya, not Tasha. It didn't matter what her name was anyways. The result was still the same.

"Okay, but why are you—"

A click sounded on the other end, followed by silence.

That was two women abruptly ending a phone conversation with me in the past hour. Women never hung up on me until now. My record was getting pretty badly tarnished today…

Tatiana would be here in ten minutes, and my place looked like shit.

Tanya had 'accidentally' knocked over a glass vase on her way out, and the sharp chunks were scattered across the floor.

Bella's books were strewn all about the room, but I didn't have the heart to move them back to the bookshelf. Seeing her novels laying around made me feel like a part of her was still with me. I wanted to leave it untouched.

I checked myself out in the mirror.

The reflection that glanced back at me looked like hell. There were bags starting to form under my eyes and my hair had taken on its own life form and was sticking out in different directions. Whatever, Tatiana had seen me in my ballet clothes and this wasn't much worse than that.

My chest was bare. Tatiana might go a little easier on me if I'm not shirtless. I think she's impossible to charm with a pack of abs.

Quickly, I threw on a shirt. The doorbell rang just seconds after.

"Hello, Mr. Cullen," she greeted me coolly.

"Tatiana."

"You have shirt on backwards," she noted.

I blushed and looked down. Hopefully she wouldn't jump to conclusions about that.

She poked her head through the door and wrinkled her nose. "Is Tasha leave yet?"

"Yeah, I had her leave."

"Good."

She made her over to my couch, and sat daintily on the cushion. I followed and sat opposite of her.

Tatiana's fingers drummed the side of the sofa. I wasn't sure if she was doing it unconsciously or just to make me nervous.

"I must say, Mr. Cullen, I am suffer from quite disappointment for your action," she began. I sucked in a breath.

"I do have question for you though," she continued. "Are you going start skate with Tasha again?"

Before she finished her question, I started shaking my head. "No, no you've got this all mixed up. It was Tanya who came in and—"

"I don't care what you saying," she snapped back. "All I care is one of my good student, Isabella, very troubled and you are cause."

I hung my head in remorse. All this time, I'd been worrying about whether or not I'd be able to continue my partnership with Bella. Never once had I thought of what was going through her mind when she saw Tanya on top of me.

"I thought you were one to make Isabella believe."

"I am!" I protested. "The whole Tasha—I mean Tanya thing was completely her doing. I didn't—"

"I do not care who start it."

"You've gotta trust me, coach, I didn't intentionally try to hurt Bella or make her—"

"I know. I trust you," she cut me off solemnly. I looked up, surprised with what I was hearing.

"That is why I going to try my best to give you second chance with Isabella," she patted my shoulder warmly.

"Really?" I squeaked.

"Yes. You prove to me that you worth it," she confirmed.

I could have kissed her 'old-person' lips at that moment. That was how happy I was.

So in the end, it was really Tatiana who came through for me. If she was on my side, Bella would take me back in a snap. I mean, the girl practically kissed the ground her coach walked on.

"I only help you to certain extent though," Tatiana said.

The psycho lady could read my mind.

"The rest has to be you."

I groaned. If she left the reconciling up to me, I'd probably just make it worse. It didn't really matter anyway though. I had nothing left to lose.

"So what's the plan?" I asked eagerly.

"Well, early I already set up Bella for meeting new partner. They all going to meet her at Starbucks," she said.

"What? Aren't you supposed to be helping me? Not finding Bella other guys to bounce around with!" I hissed, exasperated.

"No worry, I know Isabella won't be happy of ones I set up…That is, except one," she answered mysteriously.

Except one? What if Bella decided to drop me for that 'one'? What the hell was I going to do if that happened?

"Who?" I panicked. Losing her was one thing. Losing her to someone else was another.

"You."

"What?" Now I was confused.

"I make you one of her potential partner!" Tatiana replied, with a scheming smile.

Was she stupid?

"Bella doesn't even want to see me. I doubt she'll think it's funny if I show up as one of her 'potential suitors'," I retorted dryly.

"She won't know it's you if you change clothes, hair, and add mustache." Her eyes gleamed animatedly against the light.

"By hair, you mean wig, right?"

"Of course not! Wig so easy to spot fake one. We going to dye and style it different way!"

Her plan wasn't sounding all that great anymore. I looked my hair the way it was.

"I don't think that I want to dye—"

"Do you want Isabella back?" she demanded.

"Yes, but—"

"If you not willing to dye your hair I think I wasting my time. You not even agree to sacrifice your hair—that grow eventually grow back— for sake of you and Bella's partnership," she put her hands on her hips.

"No! I'll dye my hair," I added quickly. "I'll even dye it rainbow or pink if necessary."

Pink, maybe. Rainbow, I dunno.

"Good. I know best hair dresser! I make appointment right away!" she beamed. "We go to same person that do my hair for me!"

I eyed her short bob haircut. Personally, just by looking at Tatiana's hair, I didn't think mine would turn out all that great. After all, the best way to get to know a hair stylist is by their creations.

"I need borrow your phone. Mine is piece of crap and signal isn't work," she held out her hand. Wordlessly, I handed her my cell phone.

"Why American make phones like this? No key pad! How you dial?" she complained.

"It has a touch screen," I explained, opening up the 'touch dialer' for her.

She started dialing a number, but kept pressing missing the keys and having to restart again.

"Why they make phone this way? My finger isn't so small can touch individual key," she complained.

"Fat fingers…" I muttered.

"What?" Tatiana's head shot up.

"Nothing," I answered angelically.

I grabbed the phone from her struggling hands. She recited the number for me to dial and held the device to her ear.

"Hello, hello, this is Tatiana. I need make appointment for my student with Alexei. Dye and cut."

She paused to listen to the person on the other end. A disgruntled frown shaped on her face.

"Are you sure you have no just a little bit later opening?" she pressed.

Another paused and the corners of her lips turned further down.

"Okay, okay, we be there in ten minutes then. Bye, bye."

She handed the phone back to me.

"Let's get move on, Mr. Cullen. We must be downtown in ten minute," she grabbed her purse.

All I'm going to say is that a ride in her car gave speed a whole new meaning.

Miraculously, she made what was supposed to be a thirty minute drive into ten minutes.


Bella:

An hour later, my hair was brushed out of its tangled mess, makeup was reapplied, and lips were glossed. My clothes still appeared a tad sloppy, but they would do.

I watched the door open and close, not so eagerly awaiting my interviews.

In a sense, it felt like dejavu of the first day I'd met with Edward Cullen. At the thought of his name, another bitter wave washed over me.

The door jingled open again, snapping me out of my thoughts.

A tall, russet skin, and dark haired man walked in. My jaw dropped. I almost didn't recognize him without the cast he had worn when I last saw him.

"Jacob Black?" I called out incredulously.

The head turned and our eyes locked.

"Bella?" he gave me a funny look.

"Jacob!"

I pushed my chair back and ran towards him.

"I can't believe that Tatiana called you!" I said breathlessly.

I thought Tatiana would be calling some fresh meat for my candidates, not ones from the past… Was Jacob possibly interested in a partnership again?

He gave me a confused look. "You mean Tatiana? Psycho, hellish, Tatiana?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." I hesitated agreeing, not wanting to disrespect my coach.

"I didn't get any call."

What? He didn't? Then why was he…

"Why are you here then?" I asked stupidly. "I thought you'd come to see me…" I trailed off, thinking of how positively arrogant and 'Edward-like' that had sounded.

"So it's all about you isn't it?" he joked, nudging me in the side. We both knew that I hated the spotlight shining on me anywhere besides on the ice.

"I'm here to visit my father—you remember, Billy."

"Oh."

"Where you expecting me?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"No, yes, well kind of," I blushed.

"How so?" he pressed.

"Well, it's just that, I've been set up with a few guys and they were supposed to meet me around this time…"

He cocked an eyebrow. "You're finally dating?"

"No!" I turned red again. "Not romantically. It's for, er, a new partner."

"I thought you were with Newton."

"God no. I broke it off with him months ago."

"Oh," he frowned. "So you've been partnerless for how many months then?"

"About three hours now," I answered mock brightly.

"You mean three months, right?"

"No, hours." I gave him a serious expression, as if to say: 'That's right buddy, just hours ago.'

He looked dumbfounded, his eyes were clouded with confusion. I guess I wasn't making much sense.

"I had a partner after Mike," I admitted.

He stifled a chuckle. "You couldn't give the poor guy at least a six month 'try out'?"

"Uh, no," I responded flatly. "It was kind of the other way around. He couldn't give me six months."

A blank expression crossed his face.

"Oh."

An awkward silence followed.

I decided that it was time to discreetly change the subject.

"How's your knee? I mean, I haven't seen you since after your ski trip…"

My partnership had ended with Jacob due to his ski accident.

"It's recovered nicely. Practically good as new. The doctor says that I can't put vigorous amounts of strain on it though," he filled me in wistfully. "I really miss participating at the annual

"Oh," I answered softly. My hopes were dashed—again. Except this time, it was for a completely irrational reason.

"It really was a shame, Bella," he tilted my chin up to meet his gaze.

"Yeah," I mumbled.

"We could have been great," he sighed, as if imagining where we would be right now if he hadn't been injured.

"I know."

"I haven't been able to really talk to you after that mishap," he mused thoughtfully. "I still think about how you're doing every once in a while."

"Yeah, well you left kind of abruptly…"

"I guess I haven't been able to say that I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I messed it all up for you."

Without having to elaborate, I knew he was talking about my gold medal dreams.

The word 'sorry' seemed to tell the story of my life.

"It's not your fault that you banged up your knee."

I shushed the part of my mind that was screaming: 'Yes. It was. Why the hell did you go when I told you not to!'

"Maybe not all of it," he agreed. "But I could have been more careful. I could've not given into Sam's constant pestering about how he had a great time share up in the pass. I could have listened to you when you pleaded for me to just take a 'staycation'. I could have—"

"What's done is done," I exhaled.

"If I could, I would go back in time to that fateful day and decided not to tag along with Sam," he told me sincerely. Then he looked down at his watch.

"I gotta get back to Billy's now. Only came down here to get him his ice tea, and he'll probably be as cranky as a pack of angry wolves if I'm not back with it by the time he wakes up."

"Alright. I'll see you around."

"Yeah, see ya."

We gave each other an awkward hug, considering the staggering height difference. After we broke apart, he strode away and I made my way back to the table I'd been sitting at.

I sat alone at my table for a few more minutes, watching people come in and out. The employees were giving me strange looks since I'd come in two hours earlier in a sobbing mess. I even started recognized the music playing quietly in the background since the CD had restarted.

The buzz of the people around me seemed to be droning on like a lullaby. I yawned resting my head against the table. It had been a long day; a quick power nap… just for a second couldn't hurt…

"Isabella!"

I jumped out of my position, startled by a nasally voice from behind.

"When the enchanting Miss Zablosky rang, I rushed over here as hastily as I could! I must admit that I went five miles per hour over the speed limit. Luckily the police force didn't catch my awful production," a man winked.

How scandalous. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Going five miles per hour over the speed limit was nothing compared to what he had done. Gah! I was already turning paranoid and comparing everyone I met to him!

And did he just call Tatiana Zablosky enchanting? Never heard that one before. Never thought I would either.

I turned to see who was addressing me.

A medium height, pole-looking man stood before me. His hair was a dull black, successfully bringing out the dandruff scattered across his scalp.

I followed my gut reaction to lean away from unhygienic men.

"… I mean I'm absolutely ecstatic that I didn't get caught by cops, but I do think that they should be monitoring our streets more carefully. Accidents are at such an alarming rate…"

Bla bla bla.

This guy sure seemed to know how to pump up a party. (If you didn't notice, that was spoken in sarcastic terms)

"And who are you?" I asked groggily. This guy had interrupted me from my beauty sleep. Okay, maybe not beauty sleep, but you get my drift.

"Oh I am so sorry madam!"

Did he seriously just call me 'madam'? I thought that word was extinct.

"How rude of me for not properly introducing myself earlier," he chattered. "I go by Eric Y-Yorkie."

His eyes started to water and I instantly became concerned. What had I done to make him cry? I couldn't have came across as too bitchy or—

Without any warning, he erupted into the largest, most earth shattering sneeze, I had ever watched.

Worse yet, he did it into his hand.

Ew.

"Ah, it's allergy season for me," he sniffled, wiping the remaining snot hanging out of his nose with his palm.

Finally, he recovered. "Where was I? Oh yes, I'm Eric Yorkie. Pleased to be of your acquaintance."

"Bella Swan," I managed a weak smile through gritted teeth.

To my repulsion, he held out the hand that he'd sneezed into for me to shake. I felt my eyes widening in disgust. I wanted to soak the germ infested thing it in hand sanitizer for at least 24 hours.

"Uh," I stuttered, desperately trying to come up with an excuse to not have to touch him. "I have hand cancer. Wouldn't want it to spread."

I could have slapped myself in the forehead. That was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard.

He looked taken aback, then snorted in laughter. "You're hilarious! We all know cancer isn't air borne!"

Ha-ha. Yeah. That's me. Hilarious. Whoop-dee-do.

Still refusing to shake his hand, he dropped it to his side. Afraid that I hurt his feelings, I studied his expression carefully. It was unfazed.

"Well," I began to stand up. "My time is up. It's great meeting you and I'll give you a call if I think things will work out."

"But we just—"

"Goodbye now!"

Quickly, I escaped out the door and sprinted to my car.

I sat there for a few minutes to catch my breath. After a few minutes, a dazed Eric Yorkie stumbled out and drove off.

It was safe to go back in.

The employers groaned when I reentered. I gave them an apologetic look and sat back down at the same table.

A cool breeze of air rushed in as someone swung open the door. My hair blew back due to the force of the wind.

He had a pair of dark sunglasses on even though it had turned cloudy and gray outside. Not a beam of sunlight was in sight.

I shivered, and not because I was cold.

Even with his eyes shielded, I could tell he was gorgeous. Somehow, he seemed oddly familiar, but I couldn't quite place it.

He took his sunglasses off and scanned the room. It was obvious that he was looking for someone—perhaps me?

Just my luck, he caught me staring, and his gaze bore into my own. My breath whooshed out in a single puff, surprised by the intensity of it. His hair was jet black, complimenting his eyes that were so dark that you could barely see his pupils.

I could see his bicep muscles poking through the sweatshirt he was wearing. They were huge. I didn't want to get on his bad side; he could beat me up easy.

There was something about his appearance that sent a chill through my spine. For lack of a better term, he looked and radiated danger… I've been told numerously that I'm a danger magnet. Perhaps this was a 'sign', as Alice liked to put it?

Stop. I told myself. I was jumping to conclusions again. That was what had brought me down with Edwa—the last time.

I took a closer look. There seemed something 'off' about his face. His hand reached up and awkwardly stroked a patch of hair above his upper lip as if he were exploring foreign territory. That was what had been bugging me. If we ended up partners, the mustache would have to go.

Stop. I wasn't even sure if he was here to see me. Hell, I wasn't sure if he even knew how to skate.

However, I couldn't make myself break away from his hypnotic stare.

A few seconds later, he started making his way towards me. My brain malfunctioned, causing me to hold my breath.

"Hello," he leaned against the table smoothly. "Are you by any chance, Isabella Swan?"

His voice sounded so much like Edward's… Rich, velvety, and—gah! I was hallucinating things again.

"Yes," I squeaked. "They call me Bella though," I tried to talk as smoothly as he had, but it came out awkward and jumbled.

"You look like a Bella," he winked.

My cheeks warmed, remembering how Esme and Carlisle had commented on how 'Bella' meant 'beautiful'. Thanks mom and dad. Of all the names you could have chosen, you picked the one that I could never live up to.

"Thank you."

"I'm Chris Rockne."

He ran his hands nervously through his shiny dark hair. Huh. Edward used to have that habit too.

"So Chris," I said, trying to start a conversation. "How are you do you and Tatiana know each other?"

He paused, looking stricken. "W-we go way back… Uh, she was my nanny when I was younger."

I almost burst out laughing, not being able to imagine Tatiana as a nanny. From what I knew, she hated handling little kids.

"Yeah, our mother's have always been on pretty good terms… Well as good of terms you can get on with Tatiana, if you know what I mean," he winked.

I giggled. I did know what he meant.

"Wow, you would think that we would have ran into each other before then. Since you're a skater, and I'm a skater…" I wondered aloud. "I thought I knew every one of us in the area."

"Yeah," he fiddled with his collar. "I would think the same."

"What rink do you skate at?"

I was curious. There was only one other ice rink in Forks besides Forks Arena, and I'm pretty sure I'd never seen Chris's name on the membership lists.

"I actually go up to Seattle to for practice. My coach's facility is there," he explained.

That made sense. I once had a rink friend who drove three hours a day so that she could train with her coach. Figure skaters tended to go to extreme measures to become successful.

Okay, Chris. I thought. Chit chat time over. Let's get down to business.

"So motivated you to consider a working relationship with me?" I asked, emphasizing the working part.

"Well, I've been searching for a partner for almost two years now, but no luck. I thought I'd looked everywhere for someone, but I guess not," he eyed me.

I nodded. "Yeah, it's crazy how we've never crossed paths before this. I thought that I'd already met all the eligible 'skating bachelors' in the Pacific Northwest region."

"Yeah," he mumbled. "Crazy…"

"If we were to work together, would you be willing to train six plus hours a day?"

"Don't you think that would be necessary if we wanted to make the Olympic team?" he retorted genuinely.

I was a little taken aback. Finally, I'd found someone who took their Olympic dreams as seriously as I did. This guy, Chris, meant business.

"Of course," I muttered.

"You're a good looking guy," I admitted. "You probably have a pretty busy social life. Are you willing to give up some of that to train?"

There was no beating around the bush today. I wanted to know if Chris knew exactly what training with me would entail. Apparently, I hadn't been clear enough with Edward.

"You don't have to worry," he ensured me.

I stifled a snort. That's exactly what Edward had told me. And as soon as I'd let my guard down and stopped worrying, he'd betrayed me.

"I understand exactly how much time and effort this will take if we want us to work," he continued.

"I'm glad," I breathed a sigh of relief.

Chris seemed nice enough. A tad too good to be true, but maybe I should just go with the flow and stop overanalyzing my insecurities.

"I look forward to seeing you again, Chris. I think we really connected," I smiled, surprised that I'd actually meant what I said. "I've been through a few really disastrous partners and I'm hoping we can be different. I'll have Tatiana call you to schedule a 'try out'."

I grabbed my bag and started to stand up.

"Wait—Bella…"

Suddenly, he started fingering with his mustache. Then he grabbed the corners and started to tear it off.

I gaped in horror as I watched the scene unfold. "What are you doing—what the hell?" I screeched.

'Chris' peeled off the line of hair above his lip as he watched my shell shocked expression carefully.

It took me a second to absorb what had just happened in a mere three seconds. But when I did, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

No. It couldn't be...

"Edward?"

End Chapter


A/N:

A review would be greatly appreciated.

If you guys didn't see the little clarification at the beginning of the chapter, 'Chris Rockne' was Edward.

I also put a little Bella/Jacob background info in there…It might come into play later on as the plot develops.

REVIEW for any CLARIFICATIONS, SUGGESTIONS, or MISTAKES

Thanks.