A/N: Still don't own Twilight!

So sorry for the late update! And sorry the chapter did something weird on the first upload! It worked on the app but not the website...ugh...Ha ha.

I hope that you enjoy this story! I've felt inspired to write this and I'm glad that I am able to share it with you again!

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!

Chapter Six

I try to heed Jasper's words as I continue to live in the Cullen household. The more I reflect on the situation, the more Jasper's words make sense. I should butt completely out of Edward Cullen's business. I should focus solely on Reneesme and only concern myself with things that will concern her and me.

Jasper was right. I didn't need to be involved.

Over the next week, we see less and less of Edward. He is always at work and calls to Nessie become less and less frequent. I'm wearing myself out explaining to Nessie that her father must be busy and I knew he was going to be home soon to tell her goodnight before he went to bed.

It's the first time I've actually seen Nessie worried. This is a deviation from her routine. She doesn't understand it. I can honestly understand why it is distressing to her. I try to brush off the near anger I feel by telling myself he's dealing with a lot at the moment.

On Friday night, I put Nessie to bed and wander down to the kitchen. I smell the beautiful smell of coffee being brewed and it makes me feel like I'm home. I'm shocked to see Jasper in the marbled room, pouring himself a large mug. "Evening, Miss Bella," he says, not looking away from what he's doing.

Jasper is dressed in grey plaid sweatpants and a pullover sweater to defend against the cold evening air. He has the large doors open in the living area, and I'm assuming that he's going to be sitting on the balcony. I sit down at the island. "Aren't you going out?" He definitely doesn't seem like the kind of person who would wear that outfit in public, especially given that he is wearing his house slippers.

Jasper shakes his head and holds up the French press. "Coffee?"

I nod, but still am anxious as to why he isn't going out. It's confusing. Jasper goes out almost every night and especially on the weekends. "Why not?"

Jasper, again, doesn't take his eyes off the mug. "You want cream and sugar, right?"

The fact that he's not answering makes me wonder if it's one of the things he was telling me I should butt out of. I decide to just drop it. I assume that he doesn't want to answer. "Yes, please," I murmur. Jasper skillfully mixes my coffee and hands me the cup of extremely warm liquid. It feel wonderful between my palms as I take a small sip.

Jasper leans against the counter, completely at ease. "You have any plans for the evening?"

I shake my head, still wondering what's wrong that he is staying home with me. "I don't have any friends in the city, so, I don't really go out," I take another sip from the mug. "That, and, normally, no one is home on Friday nights to look after Nessie, so, I like to stay in." I smile at Jasper. "Besides...this is home. And I don't really need any entertainment that I can't get here." Jasper rolls his eyes.

"Isn't that a little cliche?"

I laugh at him. "Not all of us have a sexual exploit for every day of the week, Mr. Whitlock!"

Jasper and I share a nice companionable silence before he speaks again. "Do you have a boyfriend back home, Miss Bella?"

I feel my eyebrows furrow. "No. I broke up with a guy right before I moved to New York. He didn't really believe in me coming here, anyway." I shrug, not really worried about it. My past is pretty vanilla and I'm an open book. My stability always comes before a relationship, anyway.

Jasper frowns. "How can a pretty girl like you stay single for that long?" He jokes with me. But, I feel like there's something deeper behind the questioning. "Edward said he's probably not going to be able to come home tonight. There's...a lot going on at the offices and he is dealing with a few legal matters, as well."

"Oh," I say, trying not to act like I know anything about it. "Well, Nessie misses him. I hope he can settle everything soon, then, so that he can spend some time with her."

Jasper nods. "Bella, if...if things blow up.. I just want to warn you that you're going to learn some things about Mr. Cullen that you're not going to like...and you might be asked to testify in court."

I raise an eyebrow. "Ok...I'm not sure what that's supposed to mean. But, if it involves Mr. Cullen or Nessie, of course I'd be happy to do anything they need." I smile. "This is my family."

Jasper sets his mug on the island and ruffles my hair. "That's good to hear." He turns and looks through one of the kitchen drawers and grabs out a deck of cards. "You know how to play five card stud?"

I roll my eyes. "Only if we're losing money."

I love Jasper. Hours and hours later, we are still playing poker, still losing money in our pajamas, and still insisting that we are going to pay each other the thousands of dollars in debt we have become. We've even started betting random household items on our hands.

The Cullen refrigerator is now mine, if you were curious.

We are so loud that I am shocked Nessie hasn't been woken up. On top of that, we also do not hear the elevator ding or the footsteps from the front of the penthouse as we are yelling at each other and I am practically wrestling my hand back from Jasper across the Island counter. It isn't until a loud throat clearing is heard that we both freeze.

Jasper and I both immediately go back into professional mode.

Jasper backs up dramatically and begins to pull the cards back into a neat deck. I jump up onto my stool and stare at the hem of my bunny printed shorts and tank top.

I glance under my eyelashes at the clock. It's past one in the morning.

Edward Cullen stands in the doorway of his kitchen with an almost furious look on his face. His clothes look rumpled and he looks like he hasn't slept in days. I guess he probably wasn't expecting to find Jasper and I opening an illegal gambling establishment in his kitchen. He also looks so tired that our volume and rambunctious nature probably is annoying. The air can be cut with a knife, so, it is at that point that I look up at Jasper, who is glaring at Edward as hard as Edward is glaring at him.

The awkwardness gives me enough pause that I think I should probably get out as quickly as possible. "Well...I should get to bed," I mutter, jumping from the bar stool and striding with my head down toward the door.

"No."

Edward Cullen's voice makes me freeze in my steps. Oh, shit. Did I just lose my job over playing a couple rounds of poker with Jasper?

I feel my skin flush. Lucky for me, Jasper comes up and wraps an arm around my waist. I'm shocked because the contact is very close. "Do not take it out on her. She's not the one you're really angry with. If you want to punish anyone, punish me." Jasper is practically growling. I shrink in on myself, my shoulders collapsing over my chest.

"My employees are showing a severe lack of professionalism in the same home in which my daughter is sleeping." Edward Cullen growls back. I cling to Jasper because I'm not really a confrontational person. "Miss Swan, you should be setting a better example, given your history."

I feel hot tears spring to my eyes. I will not cry in front of my boss. I have to acknowledge that there is some truth in his words, but Edward has never said anything about Jasper and I having a playful attitude or relationship before. I chew on my lip.

Jasper barks back before I have the chance to say anything. "Do not speak to her that way! You know damn well that she is the best thing that has happened in this house in the last year. And you're going to let your frustration ruin that? You do not have the right to talk to her that way!" I feel Jasper's muscles tighten. I'm worried that he's going to hit Edward.

"I will do as I please in my house."

I must be tired...or just insane. Because, instead of staying silent, I snap. "Yes, your house," I mutter. "Where I take care of your daughter, and have been for the past few months. Not to mention, I am the one who has to put her to bed every night for the last week with her asking me why daddy didn't call her and why daddy isn't home. I'm the one that gets to deal with the fallout of whatever bullshit you're dealing with at work because it affects her, too, whether you want to admit it or not." I realize that I am now in Edward's face, free from Jasper's grasp and angrily seething at him. Edward's face is a mix of hurt and shock. "She waits and she waits for you to call her and you haven't for the past two days. So, excuse me if having to pick up the pieces of your daughter's heart doesn't give me the right to play a card game on a Friday night."

I've probably said too much and I've probably taken out the anger I had been feeling at him for Nessie's heartbreak. It was inappropriate, but, I'd be damned if I lost my job because he was an asshole. Jasper gently takes hold of my hand and guides me past Edward. "Go to bed, Bella. I'll see you in the morning. And, don't worry. If Nessie gets up early, I'll take care of her. Sleep in."

He pushes me gently out of the room, closing the kitchen doors behind him. I rush up the stairs, listening for raised voices, but I don't hear any. I slink into my room and sit heavily on the bed. I wasn't sure what I had done to make Edward so angry, but, I knew that I should apologize. The most safe thing would simply be to apologize for being unprofessional while his daughter was in the house, albeit, she should have been sleeping. I'm sure that didn't make a lot of difference to Edward. We were the help and we were not acting like it.

I feel so guilty in that moment that I can't help but be drawn to go check on Nessie.

I walk to the adjoining door and gently open it. Nessie's nightlight illuminates the room in a soft light. Nessie is laying peacefully in bed on her side, snuggling with her stuffed bear. In the large chair next to her bed sits Edward Cullen, his head in his hands.

Butt out! Screams in my head and I carefully start to close the door and retreat to my room.

"You can come in, Miss Swan." Edward says, softly. I hadn't realized I had made any noise. Was it true what they said about depriving one's senses? Maybe because his eyes were closed his hearing was amazing?

"That's alright," I whisper, trying to sound genial. "I just wanted to make sure Nessie was alright before I went to sleep. I apologize for intruding. I'll leave you be."

Edward shakes his head. "Please, Bella…" he looks at me and, for the first time since I've met him, I see a desperation and vulnerability in his eyes that makes him look like a child. "Please...stay."

I think I understand that desperation. I think I understand that darkness. My mom used to struggle with mental illness issues - part of the reason for my parents' divorce - and I had seen that look of utter helplessness. He was begging me not to leave him.

I take a deep breath and, against everything inside me that probably had common sense, I step inside the room and shut the door.

I walk slowly and cautiously to the chair where he is sitting and put a hand on his shoulder. "I apologize, Mr. Cullen, for the lack of professionalism that you witnessed tonight. Jasper and I did not mean anything by it. We simply…"

Edward shakes his head, his copper hair whipping around his face as he does so. "I was not angry with either of you. I'm sorry. I should not have taken my frustration out on you. You're both family." He gently takes my hand. "There's a lot going on, Bella...I am tired and I am stressed and I should never have taken it out on you."

I push my lips together, unsure of what to say next. I squeeze his hand in what I hope is a reassuring way. It's what I do to Nessie when she gets anxious. Edward, in turn, stands up from the chair and pulls me into an embrace that I was not expecting. It wasn't unwelcome and it definitely wasn't unpleasant. I return the embrace, part of me understanding that this is what he needed right now.

I feel his cheek rest against the top of my head and then, in the most odd display of affection yet, he kissed my hair. "Bella, I am so sorry for the way that I treated you this evening...and I am even more sorry for the way I treated my daughter." I feel my eyes go wide. Why was he apologizing to me? He pulls away so that I can see his face, his hands resting on my shoulder. "Can you ever forgive me?"

I blink, shocked. "Of...of course, Mr. Cullen."

He sighs and shakes his head. "Please call me Edward. I appreciate your professionalism...but, I can't stand that you won't call me by my name."

"Of course...Edward." I almost choke on my own words. It feel incredibly odd to call him by his first name alone, given that we just had a confrontation.

Edward pulls away and runs a hand through his hair. "Do you know that I was married before?"

I grimace. "Yes. I...may have Googled you."

Edward laughs lightly and looks away. "She wants Nessie back." I feel my face crinkle. "After 7 years, she wants to take Nessie away from me."

I feel myself tense in some kind of primal, maternal way. "That is utter bullshit!" I feel my hand fly to my mouth. Probably shouldn't be cursing in front of Nessie, even if she is asleep. "Sorry...I don't know the entire situation, but...that's not right. I'm sure the courts won't allow that to happen!"

Edward shakes his head and leans heavily on the chair next to Nessie's bed. "After we separated, I wanted nothing to do with her. She wanted the fame and fortune of my company and my business...and, with it, she had all the pitfalls. She drank, she used drugs. She didn't want to be a mother. I didn't even know she was pregnant until she showed up seven months after we separated with a baby, telling me she didn't want it." Edward's eyes never leave Nessie in her bed, snuggled up with that silly bear. "I wasn't ready to be a father...but I'd be damned if Tanya was going to bring that baby down with her. I thought about adoption. I thought about sending her to live with my adopted parents...but, I fell in love with her the moment I held her."

I pursed my lips. "Is Nessie...your daughter?" I ask the question cautiously. I head Jasper screaming Butt Out in my head more than once.

Without hesitation, Edward answers. "Yes."

I narrow my eyes. "Biologically?"

Edward sighs. "Yes. I made sure of it."

I nodded my understanding. I couldn't imagine what he was going through at this point. No wonder he was so short and had been spending long days talking to lawyers. I gently walked to him and took his hand, squeezing it. "Edward, Jasper and I won't let anyone take Nessie from you. Whatever you need from us, we're here. If you need us to testify, we'll be happy to do so. If you need her whisked away to a country that doesn't extradite to the U.S. I think Jasper and I would both be ok galavanting in a foreign country for a while," I try and make a joke of the situation, hoping he would see the humor. I smile at him in what I hope is a comforting way. "You just tell us what you need."

Edward Cullen is silent and still for a moment before he reaches out and gently touches my face with his free hand. "Bella...are you and Jasper...involved?"

I think I'm about to die. I start to giggle so hard that I'm fairly certain hyenas as somewhere in my family tree. "Oh, God, no!" I cover my mouth with both hands. This is ridiculously hilarious to me. "Oh, no. Jasper is definitely unattached. He's my only friend in the city but, if you're asking me if I'm sleeping with your butler, the answer is no!"

The look on Edward's face is...strange. It almost looks like he's relieved. He reaches out for my face again and strokes my cheek with his thumb. "That's good to hear," he whispers, so lightly that I almost don't hear it. His next action probably shouldn't have shocked me, given the context of his words. Like a whisper, his lips graze over mine. Even though the kiss is chaste, I feel it searing within me. I resist the urge to wrap my arms around his neck and draw him closer and kiss him again.

I'm left standing in Nessie's room, shock covering my face. Edward pulls away. "Good night, Miss Swan," he says, his face a mask of calmness.

I blink to clear my head and stammer over myself. "Good night...Edward."

He silently leaves Nessie's room and I'm still left in shock. I sink to the floor. Oh, God. What have I done? What should I do? I resist the urge to run back to my room and call Alice because I feel like only bad things can happen from that. I take a deep breath and haul myself off the floor.

"Oh, Ness," I whisper, "You are only too blissfully unaware of what just happened while you were sleeping."

A/N: Should I keep writing?

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