"Bella…Bella," I heard in my ear. My dreams swirled and bounced before me. "Bella," sounded again in my ear. I swatted at the offending sound only to find my hand hit something rock hard. I rolled over and cracked open an eye to find that it was night and that Edward was here. Wishing for some coffee or something, my mental self drop kicked my brain out one ear in its attempt to wake me up. I shook my head and slowly came back to the land of the living as Edward waited patiently for the rest of me to catch up.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Edward," I exclaimed as a blush worked its way up my cheeks and I realised that Edward's head was where my hand had stopped. He was holding onto both my hands now; probably to keep me from hitting again and looking at me concerned.

"Are you awake yet Bella?" he asked peering into my eyes. I just nodded and that seemed to satisfy him because he gathered me into a hug as a chuckle worked through his chest. "I was worried you would miss the ball-game love, you where quite hard to wake up this time." I blushed deeper. I was still warm and sleepy from the nap and hugging Edward felt nice. I sighed and snuggled into his shoulder briefly. "Your so warm love," he said. I yawned and he extricated himself from my embrace and grabbed a hoodie that I had left lying out for tonight.

"Do you have a rain jacket Bella," he asked already rummaging through my closet. I pulled on the sweater before just walking over and grabbing the one that I had left out next to the hoodie.

"All set Edward, let's go." He grinned and pulled me up onto his back before jumping onto the sill and closing the window almost all the way.

"I don't want the room to be cold when you get back," he explained before jumping off into the night.

He ran as fast as I remembered and to me it felt like flying through the night on a very low flying plane. It only took half an hour to get to the field and meet up with the rest of the Cullens. By the time we got there they had already mostly set up. Emmett was just running back from having secured the bases and Alice was warming up with Rosalie while Jasper took some practice swings with the metal bat. It was a good thing that you could now buy metal bats quite easily. I could just imagine the explosion of splinters if they had played this with something made out of wood. Edward stopped over by Esme and Carlisle. They both smile warmly.

"Bella, good to see you again," Carlisle greeted me. I smiled back. Carlisle and Edward had been even more cautious of me since the whole Italy debacle. Part of why Charlie was all upset was that I had been going over to the Cullens almost every night after school. He couldn't really say anything because Esme and Alice where there but he would have preferred it if I had not decided to stay with Edward. The Cullens, especially Esme seemed to be using it as an excuse to feed me large amounts of food for after school 'snacks'. I have a feeling that Carlisle and Edward where behind it. They thought I was still thin. I probably was so I didn't complain… much. Basically I was stuffed by the time I got home to cook dinner for Charlie and usually I just used leftovers of whatever Esme had made. It's kind of ironic that she can cook way better than I will ever be able to accomplish.

Edward put me down carefully before a smiling Esme came up and gave me a hug and then began tugging me in the direction of the embankment we sat upon last time as Edward and Carlisle went to join up with the rest.

"Nice to see you again dear," she exclaimed. "I hope you got that nap in that you promised Edward. It's going to be a late night." She glanced up into the sky and I saw in the distance the thunderstorm that Alice had promised. Another ten minutes and it would be close enough to start the game. Suppressing a yawn I answered that yes indeed I had managed to get in a nap.

"Oh good," Esme said a look of relief crossing quickly over he face. "I also packed some food in case you got hungry and some hot chocolate." She pulled a thermos out of a bag while she was talking and offered me some. I was barely able to contain my grin as I accepted; it was after all hot and smelled delicious and got rid of the still pesky tickle in my throat. Esme was perfect.

Edward popped by once more just before the game was about to start to give me a kiss for good luck. He glanced around quickly in what I assume was an attempt to make sure that we were in fact right out of the way before running over to home plate. He was first up to bat. Esme's eyes tightened a little at the corners as she began to watch her family like a hawk. She got up before calling out the rules.

"Alright everyone I want a nice, clean game. No cheating," she added with a particularly long glance in Emmett's direction. "All calls are final." She paused and you could have heard a pin drop. They really take their baseball seriously. "Play ball!" Esme shouted signalling Alice to start pitching.

Esme settled herself back down next to be never taking her eyes off the field even for a second. Alice had already warmed up and Jasper was catching. Carlisle was roaming around in the outfield getting ready to catch the ball when it was inevitably bashed out towards him. During the first inning Edward scored once I and cheered him in. Carlisle caught Rose's hit so she, Emmett and Edward went into the field with Rose as pitcher and Emmett as catcher.

By the time the bottom ninth inning rolled around it was two in the morning, I'd almost fallen asleep once, the thunder was deafening and we were tied at 6 all. Although I had been consuming hot chocolate like mad for the past four hours my throat was killing me. I took another swig and said a silent thank you to Esme as the first pitch came in for Edward. He missed by a hairsbreadth. Alice got an evil glint in her eye, probably already smelling victory. Edward's face closed in concentration. Alice wound up, launched the ball and Edward whaled it out of the park before booking it around the bases. I was screaming hoarsely, jumping up and down as the rain began poured down in sheets. I don't even know how Esme saw but apparently Edward got to home before Carlisle got the ball back in and we won!

Suddenly Edward was in front of me and then kissing me lightly. He pulled the hood of my jacket over my head a look of concern on his face as he asked me:

"Bella, what's wrong with your voice."

I immediately realised that the game was over in more ways than one.