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.

Jadsmama deserves my undying love and gratitude for putting up with my wonky words and making them pretty. Love ya!

I'm so sorry for not updating last week. A nasty throat bug and a workload that just kept on growing kept me from my computer. Given that the next chapter is the last regular chapter for this story (there's a small epi, though), I should be able to finish this one without further delay.

Chapter 31 – The City of Counts

Where I finally said goodbye to my old life.

"Chicken or beef?" the flight attendant rattled off mechanically, her question mostly followed by a swiftly grumbled reply and an equally swift deposit of either a brownish or a reddish sludge in front of the passenger in question.

"Beef." I had a hard time trying not to snicker at the surprised look on the poor girl's face as I answered her question before she'd even asked. What? If she'd wanted to keep the meal selections a secret she shouldn't have belted them all through the fuselage like she was selling fish at the market.

Mercifully she didn't linger long, her professional smile firmly back in place as she went on serving the rest of the plane while I eyed the brownish blob in front of me with a thinly veiled distrust. Good heavens. Was this even supposed to be edible? It looked like a dog's dinner!

Following the example of a few brave souls next to me, I dug the plastic cutlery into the shapeless mass, the demands of my body outweighing the very un-stimulating visual. And what do you know? It didn't even taste half bad.

I mean, coming from the guy who up until a few weeks ago survived on bread and cheese and the somewhat edible looking green stuff that didn't look like mold in the fridge, it didn't actually taste that bad at all. Almost good even if you just closed your eyes and imagined you could actually discern the ingredients. I guess Bella was right about airplane food after all…Bella.

I smiled, closing my eyes as I remembered what it had felt like to wake up next to her again earlier that morning, her hair fanning out all over the pillow as she slept; calmly and with a small smile on her face in the crook of my arm.

Together again. At last.

In the weeks that lay behind us, I'd never dared to dream that day would come. It seemed pointless after the way I'd messed up and hurt her to even entertain the thought of her ever forgiving me. Her heart was big and pure but there were limits and what I'd done…if ever there was a thing that fell beyond those limits, that was it.

Walking out on her and denying the force of the feelings I held for her…it had been the blackest sort of blasphemy a man could ever commit. But where I deserved scorn, anger and a door slammed shut in my face, her big, beautiful heart had somehow manage to try to forgive the unforgivable and let me get close to it again. Close to her again.

There had been no comparison to the feelings coursing though me as I stole a few moments staring at her while she slept; happiness, relief, gratefulness and determination all swirling inside my heart as I replaced a few riotous locks of hair that had fallen into her face to a place less inclined to hinder her before ghosting my fingers over the bare parts of her flesh.

To touch her again…drink in the beauty of her pale skin and dark hair, knowing that after everything that happened she might still be mine? It was the best thing in the world. It was better even than it had been in London or that first day in Berlin, since now there weren't any big secrets or treacherous lies looming over us. Right then, in that darkened hotel room, there was only truth.

Truth and love.

And hope.

As I lay there, watching the sun slowly gain force as it slithered through a small gap in the curtains, I couldn't help but wonder what our future would look like. I knew it was by no means certain that Jane was going to go along with my crazy plan – in fact I rather counted on the opposite – but on the other hand I also knew that if I wanted to be with Bella, I had to be with Bella. We'd tried doing the long distance thing and though I knew that if we really wanted it to, we could do it again…but I didn't want to.

I hadn't been lying to Bella when I told her I'd settle for flipping burgers at the local Micky D's if needs be (and that scenario was actually quite frighteningly close) but what were my other options?

I didn't have any qualifications other than my experience as a photographer and unless I wanted to settle for being the kind of guy who set up shop at the local mall, taking pictures of cutesy toddlers while trying to block out their obnoxious mothers, I was going to have to come up with something else.

After all, Jane had made it perfectly clear to me, that if I went against the meticulously written out stipulations she'd drawn up, she'd make sure I never sell a picture ever again. Wait….did that also include mall-photography? Because if so….I was even more screwed than I thought I was.

My mind had been occupied like that until Bella started to stir, the nearness of her leg to a certain part of my anatomy forcing all the blood to flow from my poor, overworked brain to my slightly underworked (of late) cock.

oOo

"Good morning." There was a small, hesitant smile on her lips as she looked up at me.

I smiled back, pressing my lips to hers in the hope it would eradicate her doubt. "It is now." In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to kiss her, the light hold of my arms wrapped around her being completely inadequate to convey what I felt. But I knew I couldn't because if I gave in and kissed her now, in bed and with both of us barely dressed, I would not be able to contain myself. And that was on the odd chance that she'd actually let me kiss her.

She chuckled, rolling her eyes at me (though it didn't escape my notice that the way her leg brushed against a certain rock-hard part of my anatomy seemed decidedly deliberate as opposed to accidental). "Charmer!"

I grinned back at her, pushing my erection slightly into her hip to let her know that I was on to her (though there may have been a selfish sense of gratification involved as well). "You know you love it, sweetheart!"

oOo

Those were the perfect moments of the day, when nothing had happened to spoil it and everything seemed possible…even having hot, passionate sex with the woman you'd sworn not to touch until all the shit between you had been resolved.

I groaned, leaning my head back against the headrest as I tried to concentrate on forming a plan of attack instead of letting my mind wander back to what – or rather who – I'd left behind five or so hours ago. It had been as hard as always, leaving her behind, but this time, knowing that it was probably the last airport-goodbye we had to go through made it a little easier to walk away.

Only a little, though.

Thinking about her or the events that had led me to be in this plane wouldn't do me any good. In fact…if I didn't push them out of my mind soon to focus on the shit that needed to be done – and fast too, if I wanted to keep Jane from biting my head off for missing the deadline – I'd have to get my head in the right place. The problem was, though, that it desperately wanted to be someplace else at the moment.

"Focus, you bloody idiot!" I hissed at myself, forcing my attention on the blank sheet of paper in front of me; a sheet of paper that should by now be containing an outline or a storyboard or at least some faint kind of idea of what my report on the Arabian Spring was going to look like; a report that was due early the next morning and that was to be discussed in a videoconference with Jane that same night.

The report I should have been working on while I was jetting off to Bella.

The report I couldn't get my mind to focus on.

Pushing my notebook away I closed my eyes, leaning my head back again as I thought about early that morning and my first meeting with Bella's rather unique family.

And her dad.

oOo

If I hadn't already gotten the idea myself, Bella's frightened look cued me in just fine on who was standing behind us at that moment even before the chief himself appeared in all his passive-aggressive mustachy glory.

"Wife…offspring," he gruffed, nodding to his wife and kids as he slammed his plate on the table with enough force to make the stack of pancakes and strips of bacon on top of it do a little summersault.

His eyes turned a little soften when he glanced in Emily's direction, his mustache twitching as he leaned in. "Offspring of the offspring."

"Oh my God, Charlie!" Renee screeched. "Are you talking to the baby? That's so cute!"

And apparently it was arousing as well since Bella's mom progressed to maul her husband right there at the breakfast table and in plain view of all unsuspecting diners, much to the dismay of her children and her husband.

"Easy there, Renee!" he tutted awkwardly, trying to pry her away from him with one hand while protecting his stack of pancakes from the hungry eyes of his son and daughter in law with the other. "What did I tell ya about the right time and place for PDA? I'm a cop. I'm supposed to be setting a good sort of example for the good people of this world. Not engage in pornographic acts in front of others."

Renee giggled,waggling her eyebrows as she finally retracted back into her own seat.

"Gross!" Bella groaned, dunking her spoon back into the bowl of cereal.

Coming from a family in which the parental units made a general show of displaying loving (though strictly PG) signs of affection all around the bloody house, I knew just how she felt.

"Now, I'd like to sit here and eat my breakfast without further disturbance, if y'all don't mind," Chief Swan grumbled, righting the blue and red polka dot tie that seemed way too cheerful for a man like him as he dug into his stack of food. "With the day we have ahead of us, I have a feeling I'm going to need all the clam I can get!"

The way he was studiously ignoring me as he dug into his food didn't promise much good, though I supposed it was better than having him draw his gun on me or anything.

"Amen!" Sam muttered under his breath, wincing when one of the women (my money was on his wife) kicked him under the table.

Apparently in Chief Swan's book having a quiet meal meant shoveling food into his mouth while sending looks in my direction that made my balls want to shrivel up and retract back into my body, safely out of reach.

Yeah…he was scary alright and the worst thing about it was that he wasn't even wearing his cop-gear. Blimey, with the man looking like that I was starting to wonder if there was any crime to speak of in Forks at all. I mean…who would be foolish enough to cross the border between right and wrong if they knew he was on border patrol?

I wouldn't.

But here I was, the bastard who'd not only sullied his daughter's virtue but on top of it made her cry and left her vulnerable.

What was that phrase again that gladiators spoke just as they stepped into the arena to be mauled by wild animals?

Ah, yes. Those who are about to die salute you. I didn't realize I'd muttered those words out loud until everyone around me erupted in a raucous laughter, poor Emily having to hold onto her stomach to keep herself from…well, whatever.

"You weren't lying, Bella" Renee hiccupped in between fits of giggled. "He really is cute! A little bashful, maybe…but we can work on that!"

"Mom!" Bella groaned, glaring at me as if I had been the one guilty of inspiring those around him with a fear of death.

Unsure of how to act or even of the why of half the people at the breakfast table looked at me like they wanted me to die a slow and preferably painful death while the other half gave me those dreamy kind of looks that might have even been scarier than the death glares, I went back to the only sane thing a bloke in my position could be doing.

Shoveling food into my mouth.

oOo

And that was only the beginning.

That was when I was just sitting there, eating breakfast and wondering how much lower I was going to sink in Chief Swan's opinion if I scurried off for a quick smoke, my mind in a blissful state of ignorance of what was to come.

It was only when the plates were empty and Emily, Renee and Sam had scarpered in search of something to pass the time or a bride to tart up for her wedding day that shit got real. Really real.

I mean: when the police chief father of the girl you're seeing asks you for a one-on-one sit-down and possible interrogation when you haven't even had the time to assess if the man is carrying his service gun or not…yeah. That's about as real as shit can ever get.

I grinned, trying my best to ignore the slurping sounds of the pensioner next to me as he loudly slurped his plate clean of any reddish residue still remaining. Dear God, man, the food was palatable but it wasn't anywhere near as good as to warrant such behavior! Didn't they feed the poor sod wherever he was from?

My neighbor, blissfully unaware of the sideways inspection I was giving him, went back to the little book of puzzles he'd been entranced in ever since the 'fasten seatbelt' sign had come on, his lips smacking as he licked the last remaining memories of his meal from them as he mumbled incoherent phrases while his fingers scribbled away at his crossword.

I counted to ten, trying not to let my frustration at flying away from Bella and everything I wanted in life make me do shit I would later regret and/or get arrested for. Shaking my head I couldn't help but think that my sweet Bella deserved an award for putting up with these kinds of lunatics on a regular basis without committing murder.

She really was the most gentle soul on the planet.

Well…..unless her father threatened to neuter and/or otherwise bodily harm her boyfriend., In those cases it turned out that my cute little kitten had a pair of nails on her that could cut through solid steel.

oOo

"Don't you worry, Bells," Chief Swan grinned, his amusement at the distress his announcement had created rolling off him in waves. "I promise to bring him back unharmed."

"I don't trust you," Bella hissed, narrowing her eyes as he stared back at her completely unfazed.

"You don't trust your own old man? I'm hurt," he chuckled. "Besides, it's not like you really have a choice here, buttercup. I figure you have about three seconds before the womenfolk come back to drag you upstairs for whatever it is women do in preparation of a wedding."

True enough, just as the chief finished talking Emily, Renee and Marie appeared in the breakfast room entryway, motioning impatiently for Bella to join them.

"See?" The chief sat back, grinning triumphantly.

"You'd better get him back to me unharmed, dad," she warned, her voice low and menacing, "and that includes both physical and psychological trauma."

Charlie nodded, holding his hands up in surrender even though there was no ounce of defeat in the way his eyes shone with glee or the sides of his mouth curled up underneath his mustache.

Bugger! My brow started to break out in cold sweat as I realized he was going to make me suffer long and hard. I just knew it.

I knew I should probably have found the way they were discussing me like I was a kid in a custody hearing insulting to my manly pride, but I had to admit that watching the whole father-daughter-stare down was incredibly fascinating; my sweet, usually so timid Bella taking on a whole new and slightly scary persona as she battled her father for the general well-being of my scrotum.

Okay…now I was starting to feel a pussy.

"So Edward…."Chief Swan sat back in his chair, one arm draped over the empty seat his wife had occupied just before, one hovering where on an average workday his gun probably rested in its belt.

I swallowed, wishing I was a cute little pussycat at that moment. "Y-yes, sir?"

"Easy there, son!" Charlie grinned, looking mightily chuffed with the effects his little game of mental warfare were having. "I promised my baby girl I'd have you back to her unharmed and I intend to honor my vow, if only because I spent a lot of time teaching that girl how to kick a guy where it really hurts and I have no intention of falling victim to my own teachings."

I swallowed difficultly. Well, that was something at least.

"Let's just cut to the chase, shall we?" Charlie asked, though I was under the distinct impression that an answer wasn't really required. "We haven't got all day with the wedding and your flight and all that…."

"That's….er….okay…sir." I stammered back, figuring whether I should saw off my bollocks now or save that for later. I mean…I was acting like they'd already vacated the premises anyway.

The corners of his lips twitched under his moustaches as he stared at me, just a tad too long for comfort. "How do you intend to make my baby girl happy?"

I sucked in a sharp breath. Man, the guy wasn't kidding about cutting to the chase. "I….I know my income isn't very solid at the moment but….."

"I'm not asking you about your salary," the chief barked, looking almost insulted, "my wife and I raised our girl to be an independent woman of the twenty-first century. I'd never insult her by thinking she'd need a man to take care of her – in any way, shape or form."

"Oh." Once again the complete lack of a well-spoken, impressive answer made me cringe at my own stupidity. If it wasn't that, then what the hell did he want to hear from me?

It turned out I didn't have to wait very long to have that question answered.

"What I want to know is how on earth the two of you are going to work this thing out." Chief Swan sat back again, his brown eyes – so like Bella's – scrutinizing my every move. "I mean, that's assuming you want to."

"I want to." My voice was steady and determined, just like I was. "And to answer your question….." I let out a deep breath, steadying myself….and then I jumped into the deep, detailing my plans to tell Jane where she could stick her job and moving out to New York, with or without my boss' blessing.

Charlie just sat back and nodded throughout my story, though as I progressed to the most important part of it – the part where I promised to do anything I could to make Bella forget the prick I once was – I could see the corners of his lips slowly curl upward underneath his mustache.

I knew there and then, that in spite of the pain I'd caused his daughter, I might have a shot at gaining her father's good opinion of me yet.

oOo

To say that my answer had brought about a huge shift in the tone and atmosphere of the conversation was the understatement of the century. Apparently something in my words must have convinced Charlie that I wasn't such a bad guy anyway and that I was as devoted to his daughter as I should be.

And, much to my surprise, it turned out that Chief Swan – or Charlie as I was allowed to call him sometime near the end of our conversation – wasn't as bad as I thought he was. In fact…he was quite a cool guy once you got to know him and – more importantly – once he was convinced you weren't public enemy number one.

The rest of the day…it was a blur of family members (one more crazy than the other) presenting themselves while Rose, Emmett and I hung back, quite content to play second fiddle as an ecstatically happy Alice married the love of her life.

A year ago I would have gagged at the sight of them; so happy, in love and determined to hold on to their love for each other for all the years to come.

Now, though, having learned a lesson or two about love myself….I couldn't help but want to make that kind of commitment myself.

To Bella.

I knew we were still a long way – a very long way – off from even entertaining such kinds of thoughts but sometime in the future…who knew? It would be amazing to stand beside her, like Jasper standing next to Alice, and pledge myself, my whole life and every bit of love I could muster to her and know that the bond forged between us that day wasn't only official but also unbreakable.

And judging by the way her eyes kept catching mine as she was standing up front with the rest of the wedding party while I hung back with Emmett and some of the other Epicenter crew, I wasn't the only one who'd been thinking along those lines.

I was shocked out of my thoughts when the plane jostled violently as it broke through the low hanging clouds, the rapid descent making my ears clog up as I quickly shoved my laptop – unused throughout most of the journey – back into my bag and folded my tray table before one of the stewardess would lecture me on proper airplane etiquette. Again.

And then, there was just the soft touchdown of the wheels as the plane smoothly landed on Spanish soil..

Home. Just about the last place I wanted to be at that moment.

oOo

The shuttle bus into Barcelona was laden with a fresh batch of tourist being jostled like the little silver bullet in a pinball machine as the bus driver raced to Plaça de Cataluña; the central square at the starting point of the Ramblas. From there on out it was just a short walk to Carmen and Eleazar's place in the Raval.

I remembered what it had been like, a few weeks ago, crossing this street for the first time, my eyes exploring the stately buildings on either side as I took in the hustle and bustle of one of the main tourists attractions of the city. I'd seen it as a new beginning; a fresh start in a new city.

A way to forget, heal and grow; a place where the loss of Bella…of the love of my life, wouldn't be felt as acutely as in Rome, the place where we'd fallen in love, or London, the place where we'd first consummated our love for each other.

I shook my head, smiling with the relief of someone who was within touching range of the silver lining around the big, threatening thundercloud. I had been a fool to think that I could ever forget her. And an even bigger fool to dare thing I'd even want to.

Right now, this city seemed more like the end of something; a stepping stone between my old life and the new one I planned to make with Bella. The final hurrah of my bohemian ways.

The funny thing was that I couldn't wait to let go of that life, even though I'd clung to it like a life buoy for years. I'd never expected this to happen. I'd always thought I'd end up like Tanya and Heidi; integrating my professional life in the bohemian lifestyle. But then again…I'd never even entertained the notion of falling in love with a woman who made you see the emptiness of your present life and the fullness a life with her offered. Or being able to break into the art scene like I was doing at the moment.

That was…if I managed to complete my assignment in time for it to meet Jane's scrutiny. If not, my career would most likely plummet as fast as it seemed to be on the rise. If it wasn't going to do that anyway.

With that thought in mind I shared a quick meal with my friends, bringing them up to speed on everything that happened in the past couple of days. Judging from the way Carmen squealed as she flung herself at me when I announced my intention to leave Barcelona, she didn't exactly lament the fact that she'd soon be on the lookout for a new lodger. In fact, I got the impression that she was rather happy about it.

Settling into my room afterwards I finally managed to crunch down on my assignment, working through the night to sift the eight frames out of the many I'd shot that told the story of the Middle East as I'd seen it and working them into something that hopefully spoke for itself and might even impress Jane. The likelihood of that actually happening was slim to none but hey, a guy could hope.

Finally, an hour before my deadline, I send it in, knowing that no more tweaking would get it any better than it was right then before crashing backwards on my bed, finally giving into the demand for sleep my body had been making for hours.

When I woke up, I only had an hour to go out for a smoke (Carmen had strictly forbidden me to smoke inside the apartment) eat, take a shower and set up my laptop before Jane's sour face glared back at me from the computer screen.

"I've had a look at the pictures you've sent me," she announced, completely forgoing all ceremony. "they're not bad…though they could be better."

"I know," I nodded. I knew she was right. They could have been better if I had actually put in the time I was supposed to have put into them. Not that I regretted my decisions for even a single moment.

"If you do, they why did you send me this…mediocre work?" she challenged me, her eyes narrowing with displeasure.

"I wanted to know if my selection met your expectations," I shrugged, trying my best to keep up a confident front when inside I was a raging wreck of nerves and dying for a cigarette even if it meant that Carmen would flamenco-kick my sorry arse. "I've shot about six hundred usable frames while I was out there. I thought it would be better to see if you liked the place I was taking this first before going all the way."

"The next time you ever decide to 'think' again," Jane spat, "make sure that you do so well before your deadline. It's bad enough that you just assume we'll go along with whatever half-brained plan you doctor out on your own but it's a complete different ballgame if you endanger the magazine into the bargain! You're not as much of a genius as you seem to think you are. You are what I want you to be, you'd do good to remember that."

"I'll make sure everything is in order when it needs to be," I reassured her.

"Which should have been this morning!" she snapped, raising her eyes to the heavens. "Why is it so difficult for everybody to understand a simple deadline? It's not like it's nuclear physics!"

I sat silent; accepting her scolding like a naught schoolboy, knowing that pissing her off any further than I'd already done was going to do nothing towards the favor I was going to ask of her.

"It's a good thing your work is solid," she warned me, "or else…" She shook her head, her lips still pursed into a look of dissatisfaction as she let her eyes travel over my work.

"So you approve of what I sent you?" I tried.

"It needs some more tweaking…but yes. The report in itself is definitely interesting."

"That's very…er…good to know," I nodded, allowing a small smile to creep onto my face as my shoulders sagged with relief. At least she liked it. That was something.

Jane merely rolled her eyes. "Out with it," she ordered me. "What is it you want?"

I knew her well enough not to be surprised as I forced myself to somehow meet her iron gaze. "I'd like to relocate to New York."

"Out of the question," she replied, her answer immediate and definite.

Fuck. I knew it. "But-"

"Look…" Judging by the way she pinched the bridge of her nose and the square set of her shoulders I wasn't going to like what came next. "I know why you may want to move out here – or at least I think I do – and had the situation been different I might have even thought it was cute…but no. I'm not paying you to play house with Bella Swan – since I assume that she's the one who prompted this request."

She waited for me to nod, her eyes tightening further when she got the confirmation she wanted. "Your signed your contract with Epicenter knowing that your work for us was going to be done from Europe, did you not?"

I sighed, intuitively feeling I'd lost the battle, even though I was determined to go down fighting. "But I thought that maybe….."

"Maybe what?" She arched her brow, her cold, blue eyes silently daring me to . "You didn't think I'd pay for you to fly up and down to Europe to do your work when I could just as well find another moderately talented photographer to take you place, did you?"

I cringed, suffering the sharp blows she doled out with my hands fisted by my sides. "No…I-"

"Ah!" Jane's eyes shone with a delight so sardonically evil it made the hairs at the back of my neck stand up on end. "You thought that just because you've sold a picture or two, you're suddenly the next big thing since sliced bread!"

She chuckled, her chin resting daintily on her hands as she leaned forward. "Well, let my enlighten you, my dear boy…You may think it's you who sold that pictures but in reality those buyers wouldn't even have looked at those pictures if it hadn't been for me."

She sat back, clearly enjoying the power trip she was on. "I brought you up to this point and make no mistake: if you honor your contract I can bring you as far as you want to go. However, If you choose not to I'll make damn sure you'll never sell a damn picture again. The choice is yours."

And with that, I was left staring at a blank screen; the connection broken with a simple push of a button before I had time to respond.

"All the better," I muttered, chugging the rest of my beer down. After all the venom that bloody serpent just poured over me, I wanted nothing more than to just show up at her office one day soon and tell het exactly how I felt about her. To her face.

I sat there in the rapidly falling darkness, contemplating my revenge on Jane when another Skype call came in, this time from someone who's company was far more enjoyable than that of her viperous boss.

"Edward!'" Bella's eyes were alight as she stared back at me.

I smiled back, already feeling the loss of not having her in my arms. "Hello, love. How was your flight?"

She shrugged. "Horrid, but that's just the way things are. Yours?"

I smiled, knowing exactly what she meant. "The same."

She chuckled, fidgeting nervously with a few knickknacks sitting on her desk. "Did you talk to Jane?"

I nodded. "Yep."

"That bad?" Bella cringed, her fingers closing so tightly around a small figurine I was afraid she was going to hurt herself.

"About as bad as we thought it was going to be."

She pursed her lips. "Shit!"

"Yeah, you can say that again!" I chuckled, trying to find the humor to laugh at the situation even if all I really felt was disappointment.

Bella bit her lip, the disappointment in her big, brown eyes matching mine."So what are we going to do now?"

I shrugged. "The same thing we've been planning all along? I'll still fly out to New York, tell her where she can stick her sodding job and start living the rest of my life."

"Edward!" Bella gasped, her hands muffling her voice as she clasped them in front of her mouth. "You don't seriously think-"

"I do," I replied, hoping the finality in my voice would make her see just how much I meant what I said. "I've already made up my mind."

"But it's your career on the line here!" Bella cried. "Your life! I can't ask you to give that up, Edward. Least of all for me!"

"I don't fucking care, Bella!" I groaned exasperatedly. "Don't you see, sweetheart? For years I wandered around in the darkness, content to live and empty life because I thought that was as good as it was going to get…and then you came in and made me see just how much I was selling myself short by doing that. You're everything to me…" I sucked in a short breath, forcing my eyes to remain locked with hers. "You are my life now…and there's no way I'll ever go back to living without you."

"But your art…" Bella muttered, though I could hear by the tone of her voice that I was slowly starting to wear her down.

"As long as I have you, the rest doesn't matter. Jane may be able to stop me from selling my pictures but she can't ever stop me from taking them," I answered, knowing it was the truth only when I spoke it out loud. "If it means being with you, I'm more than happy to get my money from someplace else as long as I can still take some pictures for fun."

She bit her lip, the corners of her mouth slowly pulling up again as she let my words sink in. "As long as you're absolutely sure about it-"

"I am," I interrupted her.

She smiled, the first true, heartwarming smile I'd seen that day. "Then I'd better get used to having you around, huh?"

"You'd better!" I grinned, sitting back triumphantly. "Because I plan to be around for a long, long time."

oOo

Mum and Bea arrived early the next morning for a weekend in Barcelona while dad stayed behind to tend to the sick and needy of London.

"Look at you" mom gushed proudly, though it didn't escape my notice how she tried to stealthily pinch my waist to see if I'd lost weight or gained sores or whatever it was she was doing. "You look so good."

"Euh….thanks?" I fumbled, glad for the anonymity of their swanky five star hotel. If this had been taking place around my neck of the woods, there was no way Carmen or Eleazar would have let me live it down.

"Carmen and Eleazar have been taking good care of you?" mum fished.

I nodded, cramming my hands into my pockets. "Yeah, they're great."

"And the rest?" There was a look of cautious hope in mum's eyes.

I chuckled, knowing we could play this game and skirt around the edges for hours….but then again, what was the point really? "Just ask, mum."

"Very well," mum shrugged, smiling back at me. "Have you heard anything from Bella?"

"I have." I snorted when mum and Bea both looked as if they might break into a happy dance. "In fact…I'm just back from a quick dash across the pond to attend her cousin's wedding."

"A wedding?" mum gasped and for a moment I thought she might be having some kind of seizure. "She's letting you be her 'plus one'? That's great, Edward!"

Why did I suddenly get the feeling she was already picking out China patterns and planning my wedding in her head? "It's still early days, though," I quickly slowed her down. "Though I might be moving to New York soon…you know…to close the gap?"

"Of course!' mum shrugged it all always as if it was the most natural thing in the world for a mother to hear her son announce his plans to move thousands of miles away from her. "Do you know when?"

I scratched the back of my head. Well, this wasn't going anyway like I'd expected it. "I….erm…I'm not sure."

"But soon, right?" mum insisted.

"Bloody hell!" I gasped. "Are you in such a big hurry to get rid of me?"

"Of course!" Bea chimed in jokingly. "It'll be the day when we've seen the last of that ugly mug of yours!"

"Shut up, Bea!" I growled, pushing her slightly left of our circle.

"Children!" mum chided before turning her attention back on me. "I just want you to be happy, son, and being with Bella…it makes you happier than I've seen you in years."

"I….er…." I smiled, wishing more than anything my mum wasn't so anti-smoking. "Yeah, she makes me happy."

"Then I'm happy for you, Edward," mum smiled, pulling me into a hug, "even though I'm going to miss you terribly."

"Oh!" We both looked up when Bea blushed violently, her eyes shining as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and scampered off, her fingers fluttering over the keyboard.

"What's that all about?" I frowned, wondering why Bea was so chipper all of a sudden.

Mum grinned. "Probably her boyfriend. They've been joined at the hip ever since they got together and he's been texting her all day. Poor lad….I think he's going through withdrawals."

"What? You're letting her date?" I fumed.

Mum merely snickered, choosing the coward's way out while Bea, newly returned from texting the little creep, stood fuming next to her. "Of course she does, you silly wanker! What did you think? That she was going to lock me up in the basement with an embroidery kit and a bunch of cats to prepare myself for spinsterhood?"

"It would have been the sensible thing to do, yes," I growled back, still trying to get the horrible image of some young punk with his hand up my sister's shirt out of my mind. Now I could see why Charlie Swan acted the way he did…Was it too late now to sign dad and myself up for lessons in 'scare tactics'?

"I don't believe you!" Bea scowled, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I'd think you of all people would want me to be happy!"

"I do!" I quipped. "But not if it means having some spotty little whippersnapper try to feel you up in the back row of Odeon bloody Theater!"

My cheeks started to sting with the heat of her blow even before I realized that she'd slapped me. What was it with women doing that lately? "What the fuck, Bea?" I yelled, rubbing the sore spot.

"You had that coming you sodding idiot!" she growled back. "Where the hell do you get off thinking I'd let some guy feel me up like a bloody back alley slapper? And for you information: Darren Stone doesn't have a single blemish to mar his face. In fact: he's bloody perfect. Unlike you, you ugly ginger mutt!"

"You-"I started, Bea's old and time-honored line of defense still causing the same reaction.

"Edward! Beatrice!"Mum chose that moment to wisely step in, probably figuring that for all the entertainment value our fight offered, we were getting precariously close to a bloody slap-fight. As we had been, many times before. "You both know better than to stand here yelling at each other like a pair of fishwives!"

We both sighed, sending one last glare at the other before turning towards her.

"Well?" she demanded, looking quite similar to how Bea had looked just before with her hands crossed in front of her chest and her eyes narrowed at her rambunctious brood.

"Sorry mother," I sighed, hearing Bea mumble something similar next to me.

"Good," mum nodded sternly, "now apologize to each other."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Bea hissed, her narrowed eyes cringing as mum started tapping her feet impatiently. "I'm sorry for slapping you because you were a total pain."

I rolled my eyes, knowing that was probably about as much of an apology as I was going to get. "And I'm sorry for assuming you were acting like a nymphomaneuous little scrubber."

"God only knows what I've ever done wrong to deserve two of the most obstinate children in the world!" Mum sighed dramatically, raising her eyes to the heavens as she pulled the strap of her purse back up her shoulders. "Now let's go see some sights before it's too late…or before one of you triggers another fight."

We both grinned, following after her as she set off in a brisk pace, knowing it was only a matter of time before that happened.

As we walked, mum hooked her arm through mine, her eyes following my sister as she walked a few feet in front of us. "I knew you and Bella would patch up things sooner or later."

I looked up, a little surprised by her statement. "Huh?"

"Call it a mother's intuition or clairvoyance but I just knew it," she shrugged. "When Carlisle came back from Florence last year, he told me he couldn't believe how much you'd changed. He thought it was just the influence of time and experience but I had a feeling it might be something else." Her eyes were dancing with mischief as her grip on my arm tightened. "And then, of course, Bea came home one day, filled with stories about this amazing girl she'd met and how you were looking at her like she was your sole reason for being."

"Bea said that?" I arched my brow, giving mum my most skeptical look.

"She might not have used those words exactly," mum backpedaled, "but it was as clear as day to me that this girl – Bella – was different."

"And then I went and fucked it all up," I sighed, feeling once again the full failure of my decisions. "Like I always do."

"What happened with Vicky was unfortunate and I think we will all bear the pain of our personal regrets for as long as we live, but Edward…you can't keep living in the past." She stopped, her free hand pressing on my shoulder as she forced me to look her square in the eye. "Bella is different, you know that. What the two of you have is special and even when you came to London, thinking it was all over, I knew the two of you would somehow end up back together." She chuckled, looking rather pleased with herself now that time had proven her right. "You just needed a little time to come back to your senses and get into the fighting spirit."

"You should set up a booth at the carnival, mum!" I joked, leaning in to kiss her cheek. "You could earn some serious cash!"

"I might," she mused, "since I figure I'm going to need it, you know? For visiting my son all the way in new York?"

"We're going to New York?" Bea's eyes were huge and bursting with eager anticipation as she appeared from out of nowhere. "Sweet!"

"Who said anything about you tagging along?" Mum joked, winking at me as we started to move again. "I think I may want to spend some quality one-on-one time with my future daughter in law."

I smiled, the idea of mum referring to Bella as my future wife not scaring me nearly as much as it would have a few months ago. In fact, it sounded pretty damn good to me.

oOo

The next couple of days, mum, Bea and I explored Barcelona; taking in the sights and enjoying the food, atmosphere and liveliness of the town. It was great…..kind of like the old days, before Vicky and art school had driven the three of us further and further apart. But at the same time, it was also the end of something.

All three of us knew that, with my impending move to New York and Bea starting college soon, it would probably be some time before we saw each other again and it made all of us extra determined to make every second count.

And we did.

When we said our goodbyes again, late Sunday night, as I brought them back to Reus International Airport, all three of us knew that we were in the best place we could be and that this time, o amount of distance was every going to get between us again. We were family. No amount of distance or time could ever come between that.

But even so, I was glad to close the door to my room behind me again, knowing that for the next couple of days it was just going to be me and maybe a few minutes chatting with Carmen and Eleazar here and there.

Boy was I mistaken!

That same night, sometime after Carmen had left for the tablao and Eleazar had gone out to meet a few of his mates, I was pulled savagely away from a particularly nice dream I was having by the incessant ringing of the doorbell.

"Hold your bloody gorses!' I grumbled, trudging my tired ass to the door and fumbling with the lock.

"You fucker!" I recognized Alice only seconds before her fist connected with the side of my face, my nose throbbing as I reeled from the blow. Wait….what the fuck? Wasn't she supposed to be on her honeymoon or something? Or at least back in New York with Bella? What the hell was she doing here?

"Owch!" I groaned. "What is it with you women slapping me?"

"Ooh, I don't know?" Alice spat back sarcastically. "It must have been something you did like…say, leave my best friend and cousin stranded in a strange town?"

"We talked that out, Bella and I," I grumbled. "She forgave me."

"Well, I haven't!" Alice snickered. "In fact, if it had been up to me, I'd have had your balls on my mantelpiece instead of your stupid ass back in my cousin's bed but then again….Bella's side of the family always was the crazier one."

That's not what Bella told me. I barely resisted the urge to snort, knowing it would only get me slapped again.

"Anyway," she shrugged, waving her hands dismissively, "I'm not here to do bodily harm or even to lecture you about all of the messed up shit you put my girl through. I'm here on business."

I arched my brow. "Business?"

"Bella told me your little plan has hit a snag," Alice explained, shrugging her shoulders as if it was a small matter even though her eyes told me she was on to something. "And even though it pains me to be the instrument that get you and Bella back together, I think I may have the answer to your little problem."

"You do?" For a few seconds I stared at her, trying to figure out what she was saying as she gaze back at me calmly, obviously enjoying her power over me.

"U-huh," she finally nodded, leaning in conspiratorially. "How would you feel about giving Jane a taste of her own medicine?"

Thoughts?

As always, reviewers get teased.