A/N: To quote Alice: "It's time."

I don't own Twilight. But I do own a ceramic bust of Elvis that my dad bought for me at a garage sale. It's awesome. Ask me to tell you my blond Elvis as Carlisle story some time.

Chapter 38

BPOV

"So, is someone going to contact me to set up this interview or what?" I sighed as my fingers danced softly along Carlisle's smooth, yet still lightly tinged pink derrière.

"Do I need permission to speak, Mistress?"

"No," I giggled, marginally embarrassed. "You did very well. You may speak freely."

"Thank you," he replied, rolling over and propping himself up on one arm. "And yes, they'll call you or send another letter."

"I wished they'd just get it over with. I hate all this waiting."

"I imagine you won't have to wait long - my interview is tomorrow morning, so..."

"Tomorrow? Why didn't you tell me earlier?" I asked, sitting up to face him.

"I, uhh, didn't really get a chance...Mistress," he smirked.

I buried my face into his warm chest. "Ugh, please stop calling me that! I'm trying to have a serious conversation now."

"I'm just trying to explain what happened!" he protested with a laugh.

"Yeah, well, I get the picture, okay? I'm still trying to come to terms with what I - we - just did."

I felt his arms snake around me and pull me down until I was on top of him. "Alright, alright, no more mentions of Mistress Bella during serious conversation...as long as you promise she'll come back someday."

"We'll just have to wait and see on that. But for right now, I really wanna know what you're going to say tomorrow."

"Well, the truth, of course. And the good news is, I'm actually familiar with two of the people on the panel."

"That's good - anything I should know?"

"Let's see, Aro Sovrano is the head of the Performing Arts division of the University. He pretty much knows everything and is usually involved in these types of investigations. From what I've experienced, I imagine that he'll be extremely fair and impartial. I was somewhat surprised to learn that Marcus Black was also on the panel."

"Why? Who's he?"

"He's the head of the Human Relations department."

"I didn't even know that the University had an HR department."

"Oh, yes. But see, Marcus lost his wife in a car wreck about a year-and-a-half ago. Actually, it was the year after I started teaching here - she was an Associate Professor of Composition. I knew her pretty well."

I tightened my grip around Carlisle's waist. "That's so sad. But why would you be surprised he's on the panel?"

"Because ever since then, he's kind of shut himself down emotionally. I hear he pretty much just goes through the motions each day, and doesn't say much to anyone, unless he has to. I ran into him not long ago, and it was like he barely even remembered me, even though we'd talked several times at faculty get-togethers and whatnot."

"That's terrible. I can't even imagine what it must feel like to lose your significant other like that."

"Me either. I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost you."

"Let's hope you never have to find out." I pressed my lips against neck, and then settled myself in the crook of his arm.

We talked for a little while longer as my eyes grew heavy. And once my concerns were put to rest, we said our goodnights and agreed to see each other in our dreams.

xXxXx

In the morning, Carlisle and I tried to maintain some normalcy as we quietly showered together and got dressed. But somehow, knowing that Carlisle would face the panel had put a slight damper on our usual happy selves. I kept telling myself that everything was fine - that we had nothing to worry about and yet those tiny nagging doubts kept creeping up on me.

"You promise to call me after the interview is over, right?" I asked as I rinsed off our breakfast plates.

"Of course," he replied. "I won't leave you hanging."

"Good. Are you nervous?"

"A little," he admitted. "But who wouldn't be? I just have to keep telling myself that we didn't do anything wrong. There was no sneaking around. Nobody was hurt - we're the victims here."

"I know. They'll see that," I sighed. "They have to."

"They will." Carlisle's lips brushed lightly against my forehead, and he lightly flicked my chin with his fingers. "I better go. The interview is at 9:30, but hopefully it won't take too long. Maybe we can grab lunch together."

"Big Mike's?"

"Anything you want," he grinned. "I'll call you soon. Try not to worry too much while I'm gone, okay?"

"I won't," I promised.

He gave me another big smile, then grabbed his bag and headed for the door.

"Wait!" I cried, running over to him before he close the door behind him. He turned and caught me just as I jumped into his arms and mashed my lips against his. My legs tangled behind his back, pulling him tightly against me. His hands fisted the fabric covering my bum, until I thought for sure that it would split. But as our tongues rolled over one another, there were no signs of lust or even foreplay. Instead, it was a divine exchange of power. What amount of strength and perseverance I possessed, I gave to him. Any fears or doubts he had, I gladly accepted. We clung, burning together until time would no longer allow it.

"A kiss...for good luck," I gasped, my lungs almost too weak to breath oxygen again.

"Thank you," he smiled, resting his forehead against mine before setting me down. His thumbs brushed my cheeks with desire and appreciation. "I needed that."

A sharp cough cut through the air around us, and I turned to see Edward standing at the bottom steps. "That was beautiful - really touching - I almost hate to interrupt."

From behind, Carlisle's arms crisscrossed over my chest protectively. I could feel the tension coming off him in waves - tension I had just tried to remove. "What do you want, Edward?" he asked impatiently.

I turned my head and shot Carlisle a look and nudged him in the side with my elbow. "Be nice," I hissed, low enough so only he could hear me.

"I'd like to speak to Bella, if that's alright with you."

"Are you kidding me?" Carlisle said through clenched teeth.

I elbowed him again. "Sure," I nodded at Edward before spinning in Carlisle's arms to face him. "Calm down - it's okay," I assured him quietly, stretching up on my tiptoes to give him a light kiss. "Go to your interview and make them see the truth."

His eyes darted back and forth between me and Edward. "Fine, but call me if you need me," he said, reluctantly releasing me from his arms.

"I will. Love you."

"I love you, too." He pressed his lips to my cheek and then brushed past Edward.

"See ya," Edward smirked as the Mercedes pulled away.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Don't. I told him to be nice to you - you can return the favor."

"Yeah, I bet if he knew what I was here to tell you, he'd be kissing my ass right now. Can I come in? Or do you want to go for a walk or something?"

My heart paused for the briefest second. Even though I was now certain that I knew what he was going to tell me, I needed to hear him say it; it would most likely be the closest thing to a confession that I would get.

"Let me just grab a jacket and my keys."

Once I'd locked the door, I nodded to Edward, and we set off at a leisurely pace.

"So..." Edward breathed after we'd been walking in silence for a few minutes. "I had an interesting conversation with Angela."

"Okay."

"Well, now I partially know why you were acting the way you were yesterday."

"Partially?" I asked, somewhat surprised.

"I mean, I understand you were upset that she filed a complaint against you two, but why didn't you say anything? Why keep it from me?"

"Because the complaint was anonymous, Edward. I didn't know for sure that it was her."

"Who else would it have been?"

I didn't answer him.

"Wait." He stopped in his tracks and stared at me with hurt in his eyes. "Me? You thought it could have been me?"

I shook my head at him. "No! Not really. But how else did she find out that I was doing research for Carlisle? You were the only person who knew, Edward. What were we supposed to think?"

"I would hope that you, at least, thought higher of me than that."

"I wanted to. I kept defending you to him, but honestly, how can you blame me? You said you wanted us to get back together - you could have been trying to ruin what I have with Carlisle."

Edward started walking, but immediately turned around to face me again. "Yeah, I'll admit it." he shrugged helplessly. "I'm always gonna keep waiting in the wings, hoping you guys break up and you'll give me another chance." I flinched slightly at his words, knowing that they would never come true. "But I'd never hurt you on purpose to get what I want."

"But the kiss - "

"A spur of the moment mistake, and I'd take it back if I could. I'm sorry if it caused problems between you and Grandpa Joe."

I couldn't help but smile a little at that. "His name is Carlisle."

"Whatever. But the truth remains - I'm not a manipulator. If you come back to me, I want it to be because you know that I'm your soul mate, not because I made an anonymous complaint."

"We're not soul mates, Edward," I said gently. "We can be friends, but Carlisle is my soul mate."

"It doesn't matter," he shrugged. "The point is, you can trust me. I'm not going to try and sabotage your love life."

"Good, because I don't want to be looking over my shoulder for two people," I sighed as we started walking again. "So, what all did Angela have to say for herself?"

"She's miserable. Forks has a lot of painful memories for her, and she blames you for her having to go back there. To put it simply, she wants to make you feel as miserable as she does."

"Great," I said, "Just great."

"I'm sorry - I really am. Once she told me what she did, I tried to convince her to change her mind, but she wouldn't listen, of course."

"Of course. Did she say what she's going to do when her plan ultimately fails?"

"No...but I don't think she sees failure as a possibility."

"Edward, I don't know what she's going to do after this. She's going to be angrier than ever."

"I don't mean to be rude, but how can you be so sure that she won't ruin everything?"

"Because it isn't possible. All she's doing is creating a major headache, but that's it. She wants me to be miserable? Well, anything short of murdering Carlisle isn't going to do it."

"Don't give her any ideas!" Edward laughed.

"No, don't YOU give her any ideas!" I replied. "But seriously, she needs help."

"I know," he nodded solemnly. "Major help."

"I don't know what to do. I can't get through to her, but I can't let her go either."

Edward wrapped his arm around me and gave me an affectionate squeeze. "I always admired that about you, Bells; you never give up. But I think Angela needs more help than you can give her - it's a pretty thick wall she's put between you."

Dr. Gerandy's words flickered through my mind for a second. People often build walls to keep others out. But what if that wasn't what was happening in Angela's case?

"Maybe," I said slowly, "she just wants to know if someone cares enough to knock it down."

A/N: Awww, snap - it was Angela all along! I hope you're not disappointed, but seriously, did you really think it wasn't her?

Muchas gracias to my chicas uhyesplease and StormDragonfly for all their hard work. They make me wanna dance and sing their praises with my mouth open really wide like Ewan McGreggor in Moulin Rouge.