Disclaimer: I own nothing. Also, some of you seem to have been confused, so I'll clear it up: last chapter, the first part of it was Alice's vision (how things would play out). Hope that helps! Btw, there's, like, a lemon, so be warned folks.

The third week of March was abnormally cold.

It was always cold in the city, so it wasn't that it was a special surprise. However, fifteen degrees Fahrenheit was truly pushing it. Global warming was doing its thing, and to Royce King, firm believer of science, it was just another proof of how ridiculous people could be. Really, it was beyond him how some people could just dismiss climatic change based on the fact that it wasn't necessarily 'warmer'. He wondered who was the person that would finally manage to put it through their tiny, stupid heads that global warming was not the same thing as 'everything is warmer'. His one hope was that people would, some day, give two shits about science.

"Honey, please listen to me. You don't have to keep doing this."

Royce was pulled back into conversation. He blew out the air in his cheeks with a huff, watching the puff of air that he released. With how cold it was, he would've liked being inside with the heater on full blast but alas, that was not how his mother worked.

"Mom, I have to," Royce said, refusing to touch yet the scalding hot coffee sitting in front of him. His mother kept looking at him with eyes that begged; begged for him to try the drink, begged for him to not be such a shitty person. He could't, though. "A deal is a deal."

Wendy King was a sweet old woman —already in her seventies, having had her son a bit late in life. She was sweet, but far from stupid.

"Yes, and what in the world possessed you to, Royce? You only had a few months left of your sentence to serve, and what do you do? Side with the Russian mafia. And not just any gang, but the one that got you in this predicament in the first place. Why, son?" Wendy's eyes reflected the trouble within her, incapable of comprehending her son's actions.

Pretending to be a better person than he was, Royce grabbed one of her frail hands in his. Hers were hot to the touch, while his were ice cold.

"It's complicated, mom."

It really wasn't.

He just wanted to make the whole world his bitch.

"So, Rose managed to get Kate Denali's cooperation?" Bella asked, turning around in her seat again and again. Honestly, spinning in her chair was just too fun.

"Yes. She says it wasn't easy breezy, but that it was definitely easier than she'd anticipated. How she described it, it seems like it happened exactly as my vision predicted."

Visions. Bella still wasn't quite used to hearing from Alice about psychic visions and the like, so she was having a hard time hearing the words and not thinking Alice was a little crazy. Despite Alice's words all those years ago about believing her cryptic messages, and how the same day she bumped into Edward she'd gotten a text from his sister stating his innocence, it was hard to believe that such a thing as clairvoyance was real. Bella wasn't all that religious growing up, but Renée Swan was; as a kid, she'd been strictly forbidden from doing things like getting her palm read or doing Tarot. As an adult, the lessons had remained, as well as a belief that no benefit could ever come from knowing the future. That one of her closest friends had an unnatural gift was a bit… well, conflicting, in the sense that she didn't know what to make of it.

"Bella? You there?" Bella hummed to state her presence. "I know it's… well, that it's hard to take in. I never quite told you this explicitly that I can see the future, so I know it can be a hard pill to swallow. Does it help if I tell you I almost have no visions anymore?"

Bella made herself react.

"God, Alice, no. It doesn't make a difference in our friendship whether you used to or presently can see the future. I don't care, but… it's weird. It'll take some time to get used to, so I'm sorry if it seems like I'm not ok with it all. I am, just… a tiny bit rattled."

On her end, Alice nodded to herself. She'd had a feeling this was how Bella would feel.

"I know, Bella, and I'm sorry it took me this long to come clean. I just never knew when the right time was to confess you're clairvoyant, you know?"

Bella stopped her spinning.

"I don't blame you for anything, alright? I just wanna be clear. I don't think differently about you, and I don't think you were wrong for being hesitant to speak about your secrets. The only thing that'll take me a while to digest is what you can do… what you can see." Bella said, standing up from her chair to gaze out of her office's window. "In any case, about Kate Denali. I'm glad that things went as planned. This is a huge opportunity for Edward."

Again, Alice nodded to herself in agreement.

"He could very well be exonerated from his crimes with this new evidence. It's hard, living in society as an ex-con. Especially given that because of stupid ass differences in the law between states here he got a felony where elsewhere he could've gotten a misdemeanor." Alice huffed, having already recited her speech countless times.

A knock made Bella glance back at her open door, and seeing Jake there, waiting for her to hang up, made her sigh.

"I know, Al. Sorry, but I've gotta go. I'll call you later though, alright?" The two women hung up shortly thereafter, the older of the two also in need of going through some paperwork of her own.

"Hi boss."

"Jake, hey. Everything alright? You're always on time and you're—" Bella glanced down at her watch, which read eleven a.m. "—two hours late. You ok?"

Sighing dejectedly, Jake nodded, approaching Bella's desk.

"Kinda. Ness and I… we're having some trouble. I couldn't leave today; she wouldn't let me until we'd finished discussing some things."

Oh.

"Oh no, Jake," Bella frowned, truly worried for the relationship of her friend. She shipped them together. "What's going on? She found your BDSM stuff?"

Jacob was not amused.

"Nay, you terrible friend. She…" Jake sighed, his shoulders slumping down. "She's kinda insufferable lately. I'm not ready to get married yet, but she's threatening to break up if we don't."

Bella gave him her deadpan face.

"Dude, you've been dating for like five years already. I doubt you're looking for somebody else. Why don't you want to marry her?"

Jake shrugged, feeling as always that his lame excuses were just that —lame.

"Part of me does think I'm too young to get married—"

"You're twenty-five. You're no jailbait or anything."

"—but mostly I just don't want things to change between us. I feel like getting married could turn a good thing into a bad one."

Now she just had to roll her eyes.

"Jacob, people get married because things are supposed to be better. Now, if you really don't want to get married then obviously you don't have to —it's your life. But please, if you have no plans of getting married even though you and I both know Vanessa's sole goal in life is to get married to you so you can make cute babies within wedlock… then you should let her know. Either she can live with the two of you never getting married or she should find someone to give her what you don't want to."

Pain tugged at Jake's heartstrings.

"I never want to live without Ness. Ever."

"Then you either compromise or you give in to what she wants. Personally, I think it's dumb not wanting to get married —it's just a piece of paper that confirms commitment as well as tax benefits. But whatever, your choice and all."

Jake pouted.

"You make marriage sound so cold. Would you marry Edward right now if he asked you?"

Bella made a face.

"I really hate the whole fad about 'popping the question', ya know? I think it's something couples should talk about, like you and Ness obviously have. I would hate it if Edward asked me to marry him out of the blew; it's an important decision both of us should make." Bella said, walking back to sit on her chair. "Besides, so long as the threat from Royce King remains, I doubt Edward will even think about marriage."

Sighing, Jake approached Bella's desk, sitting down on one of the uncomfortable chairs in front of it. Bella always said she wanted the chairs to be as painful as possible so people would be deterred from lingering too long —he had to say, it worked like a charm.

"That son of a bitch has taken too much from you already, boss." Jake said, setting a file in front of her with a faint shake of his head. "Anyway, Mr. Jenkins wants to see you. Gloria said it's important, but she also seemed too chill, so I somehow doubt it."

Bella groaned; she hated having to go see that pretentious rat. Chances of it being something that actually required her to make the trip were low, but she was also kind of required to go see him.

She stood up again, flattening out the wrinkles on her skirt.

"That fucking rat," she mumbled.

Yeah, no love was lost between her and Mr. Jenkins.

"So, I'm thinking of going back to work."

The announcement almost made Bella choke on her own breath, but she managed to avoid the embarrassment. She did, however, ask her boyfriend to repeat himself.

"I am thinking of going back to work," Edward repeated himself, amused by his girlfriend's reddened face. To say he'd surprised her would be an understatement.

"When?" Bella asked, washing down the need to cough with water.

"As soon as Royce is back in jail, for one. I'm also going to have to speak to Jenks—" his lawyer "—about the legal aspect of wanting to be reinstated as the CEO of my company. I do not think convincing the board will be too hard, especially since there's evidence of me working from jail and fixing my mistakes, but I do not know if there will be an issue with the legal team." That wasn't even thinking about public opinion of an ex-con regaining full access to a successful company.

"Oh," Bella said, poking at her almost-finished Sirloin. She'd gotten home to Edward's cooking, which had been a terribly nice surprise.

Edward blinked.

"You don't sound too thrilled, love."

Bella groaned, leaning back in her seat.

"I'm happy for you, Edward. It's just… do you really think you're ready to go back? You're doing so much better, and I worry stepping back into the position of ultimate bossman will make your progress slow down."

Edward grabbed hold of Bella's hand which wasn't clutching a fork tightly.

"Bella, I need to get back there. I need my life to return to what it once was; I miss my computers, and I miss interacting with colleagues every day. It took me too long to build up my interpersonal skills as well as my company to just let all of it go. I love spending time with you and Flynn, I really do… but I also need some of my friends and my work back. I do not want to get stuck and later feel inadequate."

Even though Bella understood what he was saying, a petty part of her couldn't help but feel stung by his words. How could he think being with her and Flynn meant he'd be stuck? Sure, it wasn't the same as being a CEO as well as a father and boyfriend, but would it be so bad to take care of their son and her? It hadn't even been a year, and already he was thinking of getting back out there. Was she expecting too much from him, wanting him to be around a while longer? She'd been out on maternity leave for four months, and every fibre of her being had wanted more time with Flynn. Even now, it wasn't uncommon that as she worked a big part of her wished to be home with Edward and Flynn. Was that the difference in women and men? Maybe the instinct to provide really was stronger in men and the one to nurture stronger in women; with how much she loved academia, numbers and electronics, Bella had always thought that her work would take the number one spot in her priorities. Then Flynn had come along, and suddenly everything else was secondary. She felt like a failed genius, though she'd always hated the tag. Like maybe she'd failed somehow as a leader —like she was showing all the men that thought women weren't suited for power that they were right. Most of her knew that this was an irrational way of thinking, but the little voice inside her questioning her leadership was hard to shut up. It felt like a blow to the gut, hearing Edward prioritize work over getting to know his child. She felt as though she was hearing the average man talk about the joy of holding on to power and letting go of family. But more than that, she felt inadequate as a woman who sought power, because suddenly her efforts would never be as enthusiastic as a man's. Suddenly, she heard her boyfriend telling her she wasn't as ambitious, telling her men had other goals in life while good women would always put family first.

These were irrational thoughts, but what could Bella do? Edward had never brought out the genius in her.

"I understand, Edward. If it makes you happy, you have my full support."

It was the painful truth.

After finishing dinner with mindless chatter and washing the dishes, Edward and Bella slowly made their way upstairs, shutting off lights as they went. They swung by Flynn's room to check in on him —he was laying on his back, clutching tightly the stuffed toy of Pascal, one of his birthday gifts. The two proud parents admired the little boy for a while, thinking how amazing it was that the two of them had created the wonderful creature. Also, how Edward's genes were strong enough that Flynn was so redheaded. The kid seriously had red hair, not the orange-ish kind people usually had.

"You know, I love Flynn so much I've been thinking lately how nice it'd be if he had a sibling," Edward said casually, watching as Bella slipped out of her pencil skirt and blouse. She always left the door to the walk-in closet open, accidentally on purpose giving him a peep show. Not that he'd ever complain, especially given that the closet had a huge ass mirror that let him see the front as well. Today, she'd worn bright yellow panties and the ugliest bra she owned; Bella constantly refused to retire old underwear, as he'd found from her daily routine. He didn't want her to match her underwear or even wear the sexy kind, but… he'd appreciate her not wearing the granny panties with holes in them.

Not that he was any less attracted to her, if the discomfort in his jeans was of any indication.

"What brought this up?" Bella asked, unclasping her bra. From her peripheral vision, she thought she saw her boyfriend get suspiciously closer and closer.

"I've just been thinking how I wish I was closer in age to either of my siblings. We're pretty far apart in age, so neither of us ever really got the chance to play with each other as children. I'm closest to Alice, but a part of me wishes I could've also confided in Emmett. The age difference not only meant he wasn't around as much, it also meant I was a bit intimidated by my brother. I would really like it if Flynn had what, in a way, neither you nor I had."

Edward was suddenly right next to Bella, hands on her hips and lips on her neck. She extended it, giving him a bit more room.

"Only one bastard child, Edward. That's my limit."

He started tracing a line down from her ear to where her neck met her shoulder, his fingers clasping her panties and pulling down.

"So, no more children until we're married, huh?" He mumbled, stopping himself momentarily to chuck off his t-shirt and slip out of his jeans and boxers. He wanted this woman so much he felt his heart trying to beat out of his chest. He loved her, he loved her, he loved her.

"Not one more," Bella sighed, loving it when his hands were back on her body and his lips on her shoulder. Sex with Edward had to count as a hobby, right?

Without warning, he clutched her left breast and dipped his other hand down, feeling how wet she was. Gasping, Bella let herself relax against his body as he pumped his fingers in and out of her. She tried moving her hands back to caress him, but he had her arms in a tight lock, not allowing her to move. Tonight, he wanted to please her… and torture her, because the moment she felt her orgasm start Edward suddenly took his fingers out. Bella started whining, but she didn't have much of a chance to continue when Edward suddenly picked her up and sat her on top of one of the drawers, the top one conveniently being on hip level for him. Dumbly, she was about to ask what he was doing when he gave her a bruising kiss the same moment he rammed himself into her. Her gasp was swallowed by their kiss.

"You like it when I'm rough with you?" Edward whispered, backing out and then thrusting back in. "You like it when you can feel my cock kiss your cervix? Huh?"

Bella orgasmed on the spot. YES! She loved dirty-talking Edward.

"Oh, fuck me harder," Bella cried out, her arms coming around Edward's neck for support. And he did; he rammed himself harder and faster into her.

"Look down, love," Edward said, and as if in a trance, Bella obeyed. She saw him piston in and out of her, leaving her breathless. The two of them watched, mesmerized, as his pace never slowed. "I'm gonna fuck you so hard you're gonna have trouble standing up tomorrow."

Please!

"I really love doing it raw with you," Edward leaned in to whisper in her ear, angling her leg a bit higher. Fuck, she was clamping down on him like a vice today; he swore he wasn't going to last much longer. "When I think of my cum making it all the way inside of you… Shit, it gets me fucking rock hard."

Bella was going to definitely pass out form pleasure. She wasn't saying anything, and that was a testament to her state near Nirvana.

"If you weren't on the pill, I'd definitely leave you pregnant," Edward groaned, thrusting so particularly hard it left Bella breathless. Oh God, it felt like it was her birthday; it was incredibly difficult to get Edward to talk dirty, and much less to get him to be rough with her. To have him be both? She suspected the two weeks without had sex had done the trick; dire times called for dire measures, ok? She hadn't had time, what with organizing Flynn's birthday party and their fight. Then again, she really liked sex with Edward Cullen, so perhaps punishing them both wasn't a smart idea.

"I—"

Edward shut her up with a kiss, and it didn't take much more than a minute before the two of them were coming together. The shot of warmth that coursed through Bella's belly made her definitely glad that she was on the pill and, crazy as she felt, have another orgasm.

Heaving, Edward didn't back out for a good few minutes, even as he went limp and they recovered their senses.

"So, we can have another kid if we get married?" He asked, smirking when he felt Bella twitch around him.

"We can have another kid if you didn't destroy me inside," Bella joked, laughing when upon pulling back she saw Edward's horrified eyes, ready to ask if he'd hurt her. "Joking, Edward. I'll probably be sore tomorrow, but it was so worth it."

Edward pouted.

"Someday, you'll be as happy when I make love to you as when I fuck you."

Silly man.

Fucking made her happy; making love made her delirious.

But she wouldn't tell him that, she decided, letting her legs drop down from his waist.

"I don't know, man, that's a tough one."

And they laughed, because both of them knew Bella Swan was full of shit.

Hey folks, sorry for being late in the updates. I've been in and out of sickness, exams and writing another story. The lemon is my way to apologize, as well as the longer chapter. I promise I'm not about to forget this story, though, so rest assured. Anyways, thank you so much, as always, for your continued support!

Leah.