All characters were brought to life by Stephenie Meyer… I'm only playing with them.

I reworded a bit from a scene in the Chapter Port Angeles.

Thank you Lhiannon for being my beta!

Thank you Freesia and Bree for your help with the French! Also thanks to all my reviewers… I appreciate all of the feedback very much.

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"This outing isn't worthy of your special occasion car, is it Edward?" I questioned, eyeing the expensive-looking silver car sitting in the driveway.

"Well, this is a special occasion, isn't it?"

I groaned as we approached the Aston Martin. It looked far too costly for me to sit inside of it. Plus, I felt horribly spoiled. I made a promise to myself to do something for Edward one day- I only had to think of what.

Edward held the car door open for me and slid into the driver's seat at the same time I sat in mine. I pulled the safety belt across my chest out of habit, and he started the ignition.

When we entered the highway, I felt our speed pick up. I seized my armrests tightly after glancing over at the speedometer- he was pushing 160 mph. I looked out the window and saw that the normally individual lights were one long, continuous line.

"Do you have to go this fast?" I asked after pulling my eyes away from the window.

He shrugged. "Why buy a fast car and not go fast?"

I closed my eyes as he proceeded to accelerate.

"Tonight, you have my complete, undivided attention," he said after a moment of silence.

"That's redundant, Edward," I informed him, my eyes still tightly shut.

"It helps to get my point across."

"Well, not when both words mean the same exact thing." I dared to lift my eyelids.

"It helps emphasize my point, then."

"Okay, fine." I rolled my eyes, and then recited sarcastically, "Repetition directly corresponds to my comprehension." I was glad I couldn't see his face in the dark; I wouldn't have been able to get out a single coherent thought with it in sight. I rather enjoyed being able to keep up with my end of the teasing.

"In most cases, yes, it would-" he said. I could practically hear the smirk in his voice, and after a moment, he added, "-but not this one."

I could only sigh as I let him win.

I felt his hand cover mine. "It's only you tonight, Bella. I wish you'd believe me when I say this."

A second pang of gratitude for the lack of light struck as I felt my cheeks flush. Even if there was a chance that Edward could see me in this lighting, I decided to assume that he could not and that the dark hid my blushing. It made conversing considerably easier.

We arrived in Port Angeles in record time. The moment we parked, Edward opened my door and offered me a hand. I clasped it, and he gracefully pulled me out of the car. As we walked, I tilted my head back in order to see the streetlights play against his face. He glanced down at me and smiled.

It was only me tonight.

"Bienvenue à C'est Si Bon," a slight man with a mustache greeted us when we walked through the door.

"Cullen party. Tableau pour deux." Edward said, raising two fingers.

"Ah! Oui! Yes!" The man said and after flipping through his scheduling book, eagerly led us to our table. We walked passed a staircase with teal carpeting and then were brought to a table next to an oriental folding screen. Our host waved his hand in the direction of the table, "This will be fine, yes?"

"Very fine, merci," Edward answered. He pulled out a chair for me and I sat down, my back to the screen. Edward walked around the table and sat across from me. He then proceeded to converse with the host in fluent French. The conversation resulted in a wide smile spreading across the face of our host. Before he left, his eyes passed momentarily over me, shining with some mysterious knowledge that I knew I was not yet informed of.

"What did you say, Edward?" I whispered not a moment after he left.

"Oh," he said, examining his perfect hands, "not much."

"Edward," I warned in a low voice.

"Bella." He simply smiled at me.

I sighed and pulled the napkin out of its fanned folding and placed it in my lap. The waitress appeared soon after.

"Je m'apelle Colette and I'll be your waitress tonight," she said kindly. "What would you like to drink?"

"Just water for me, thanks," I answered, when she nodded politely in my direction.

"And for you, Monsieur?" Her eyes flicked greedily back to Edward.

"A water for me as well."

She had difficulty ripping her eyes away from Edward as she went to get our drinks. When she was completely out of sight, Edward leaned forward and draped a hand over mine. "Tu es mannifique, Mademoiselle Swan." He lifted one of my hands to his mouth and kissed the back of it, his eyes never leaving mine. I felt a blush creep across my cheeks, and he smiled into my hand. "You match the walls," he chuckled as he freed my hand.

I glanced to my right and was horrified to see that the walls were a deep maroon. I whimpered and pressed a hand to my cheek in an attempt to conceal the flush. Edward leaned back in his chair and smiled at me. My eyes dropped to the menu lying in front of me, and I propped it up. Then I hunched over behind it so my red face was hidden from Edward's eyes.

The more my face cooled, the further I pulled it out from behind the menu. After a time, I began reading off potential choices for my meal.

"What about the Escargot Curnosky?" I said, butchering the name of the dish.

He hummed quietly to himself. "But that has garlic in it Bella."

I snapped my eyes off of the menu and onto him. He was reading his with a pleasant look plastered across his face. "So?" I said, incredulous.

"You know I'm allergic, Bella." He answered, unable to prevent his lips from curving upwards.

"You are not!" I breathed.

Edward raised his eyes out of the menu and laughed when he saw the look on my face. "You're right, I'm not," he said lightly, and then he lowered his eyes back onto the menu.

I shook my head in disbelief. "Well, either way, I don't think I'm going to get it," I said in an attempt to sound nonchalant. "I don't know why I bothered asking you for your opinion on food anyways." I added under my breath. I didn't have to look up to know that he was chuckling.

I'd decided upon the Steak Aux Cinq Poivres by the time the waitress reappeared at the side of our table. I let Edward order for me, mainly to hear his voice ring with the foreign tongue. I felt a stupid grin spread across my face as I listened to each syllable spill out of his mouth. When his attention switched back to me, I was unable to wipe the expression off my facebefore he caught it.

"So, you're not mad at me for taking you out?" He teased.

"Maybe not," I answered, smoothing out my dress.

He laughed quietly, "I'm glad you're having a good time."

"I had fun at the prom, Edward." I stated simply, "I think, after accomplishing that, you're competent enough to make just about any outing enjoyable for me."

"That's always good to hear," he said, chuckling.

"That was a compliment, by the way."

"A harshly edged one," he retorted.

I shrugged. "But a compliment nonetheless."

I moved my eyes tentatively up onto his face. He curved his lips into a crooked smile, and I couldn't prevent the corners of my mouth from lifting. Still grinning, I moved my gaze past Edward's shoulder and onto the party behind him. They'd all stood up and were pushing in their chairs. I watched as the group disappeared through the exit.

It was only a few moments afterwards that a busboy came to clean up. He was fairly heavyset and had a head of dark hair. When my eyes fell upon his face, I tried everything in my power not to show surprise. Or worse, fear. I felt myself lose focus on the present and slip back to the instance in which this man and I first encountered each other.

I folded my arms across my chest in an ineffectual effort to warm myself. I was making my way swiftly under the shadows of several gloomy warehouses.

I forced myself to maintain eye contact for a fleeting moment, in order to confirm that the man from my past and this one were the same. I refused to let the shivers running through my insides make themselves evident to Edward.

I glanced over my shoulder and was disturbed to discover that two men were quietly following behind me.

I was relieved to see that no recognition passed through the dark-haired man's eyes. If that scene played through this man's head, I knew Edward would not be able to contain himself, this I was sure of.

I took a sharp turn around a corner. A turn that was supposed to lead me to safety. It was then that I realized that I wasn't merely being followed, I was being herded.

The man snapped his head away from me and began clearing off the recently emptied table.

I'd walked into a trap. "Stay away from me," I warned my pursuers pathetically after backing into the street.

"Bella?" Edward spoke quietly. His voice was swallowed by the scene replaying itself in my mind.

"Don't be like that, sugar," the man shouted.

"Bella?" I heard Edward say again, his voice laced with concern. But it was hardly acknowledged through my reminiscence.

I turned my head and saw two white lights hurtling down the road. I jumped in front of them. I needed to get out of there. The car had surprised me then, by fishtailing around and stopping with the passenger door flung open hardly three steps in front of me. "Get in," Edward ordered, enraged.

Edward. I smiled and focused my eyes on my rescuer.

"I thought I'd lost you for a second there," he said jokingly. Then after a moment of attempting to decipher the emotions playing across my face, he asked me earnestly, "What's going on in there, Bella?" He was talking about my head, of course. He'd found many ways to reword this question.

I hesitated; I didn't want to ignite Edward's temper by narrating the scene that had recently plagued my mind. "I was wondering what you had planned for me tonight." I lied.

Surprisingly, he bought it. "What makes you think I have anything planned at all?"

"Just a hunch."

"Well then," he said, "I hope you're not disappointed when you realize I have nothing planned."

"Edward," I smiled softly, "you're incapable of disappointing."

Edward leaned across the table and lightly ran his fingertips down the soft side of my arm. I sighed contentedly, and in an instant I forgot all about the recent resurfacing of my memories.

"So, while we're waiting for my next meal-" I grinned up at him, "let's discuss your next one."

Edward scrutinized me for a moment. "Why?" he finally asked, narrowing his eyes.

I shrugged, "I just want to know which day I should do all my mindless cleaning."

He laughed then. "Next Saturday, with Jasper and Carlisle. I'll probably be there until late afternoon, like today."

"At Goat Rocks Wilderness?"

"My favorite." He nodded.

I lifted my eyes past Edward's shoulder then and saw that the man had paused in his cleaning. His eyes were focused straight forward but his head was tilted in the direction of our table. After a few moments lacking conversation, he returned to his chore.

"Bella?" Edward said.

"Hmm?" I ripped my gaze away from the man.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I paused, "I was just thinking." I wondered why Edward hadn't noticed the man's presence yet. Though, come to think of it, I did remember him telling me once that he tended to tune out all the other minds in order to seem more normal. He had no reason to read these people's minds. He'd devoted this entire evening to me. He had made that absolutely clear.

Colette walked up then, with my meal in hand. She slid it down in front of me and then turned to Edward.

"Are quite sure that you would like nothing to eat, Monsieur?"

"Oui, very certain."

"Very well, then. Bon appétit!"

I felt Edward's eyes on me as I tried as daintily as possible to eat my meal. My arm got tired rather quickly due to the constant pumping motion that often accompanied the process of cutting things.

"I wonder if I could have ordered this thing to be pre-cut." I pondered out loud, but mostly to myself.

"Do you need any help?" Edward raised an eyebrow as he watched my attempts to cut my steak into pieces that I could fit into my mouth.

"No, I'm fine." I said as I continued to mangle my dinner. I expended the rest of the energy in my arm with a few more futile pumps and then threw down my fork and knife. "It would make this whole eating thing considerably easier if they just cut it up." I mumbled to myself.

"I'm sure it would." He said chuckling, and then he reached over and grabbed my plate.

I felt my nose wrinkle on its own accord as I watched Edward cut through the steak as if it was butter. I'd have something else I could add to the list of things he's better at than me: cutting steaks. The list was growing long.

I smiled at him smugly as he slid it back in front of me. He seemed thoroughly amused at my behavior.

"It's good?" He asked after I took a bite.

I continued to chew as I nodded.

Two waiters made their way over to us and lit all the candles on our table. Before the chandelier was dimmed I saw that the restaurant was completely empty.

Slowly, I set down my eating utensils and turned to stare at Edward with astonished eyes.

"You didn't think Alice reserved just one table, did you?" He asked jokingly.

I continued to scan the vacant restaurant, and was suddenly very angry. "How much did this cost, Edward?"

"Practically nothing." He shrugged.

"Not in relation to the Cullen funds," I whispered harshly, "but to normal people. How much was it?"

"It doesn't matter."

"I thought you hated that phrase."

"I changed my mind- you can circumvent answering just about every question imaginable with it."

I sighed.

"I like to keep my word, Bella."

"And what word was that?"

"That it's only you tonight."