You guys can all beat me with a stick for holding off on you for so long. My only excuse is that as a high school junior, I'm a little preoccupied with school and stuff right now. (I got an invite from Yale!) So it might take a while for the next chapter too, but I just hope you guys can all bear with me. Thanks.

I sat in the tree outside of Bella's room window. I needed a minute to brace myself before I went in to watch over her as I did every night. I was getting a very bad feeling about coming back to forks, and I couldn't pin down why.

Stop being such a wuss Cullen. I said to myself. So I took a deep breath that I didn't need, opened the window, and leapt into her room with lightning speed.

The smell it me like a freight train. Literally. The sensory overload knocked me to the floor, where I curled up and tried to imagine where all the blood I was smelling could possibly be coming from. Images of blood dripping from the walls washed over me.

Well there was a scary thought. What if something had happened to Bella? I wrenched my eyes open and staggered upright, almost falling in my haste to see if Bella was alright.

She looked fine. Completely healthy. She had gone to sleep in a cute set of green Kermit the Frog pajamas and as far as I could tell, there wasn't a scratch on her.

I decided to keep watch from the rocking chair, all the same.

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I slowly woke up, warm and toasty under my comforter. Wait, why was I still warm? Where was my walking A/C? I rolled over and reached for the spot that Edward usually occupied. Empty. I sat up in a panic. What if Edward had changed his mind about coming back? I'd have to wait a whole month for another opportunity like this!

My panic abated when I saw that Edward was sitting in my rocking chair, watching me. His eyes were mostly golden now, but I could see the red undertones ready to come to the forefront at the drop of a dime. I grinned. Time to put the plan into action.

"Hi Edward. Why aren't you here next to me?" I tried to look as innocent as I could.

"Did you have good dreams?" he said, sidestepping the question, "I couldn't tell; you didn't talk much last night." I popped out of the bed and sauntered over to the rocker, enjoying the growing desperation in his eyes. I sat myself down on his lap and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Of course I did Edward! You were here to keep me safe, after all." My idiotic grin seemed to put him over the edge, since he gently extricated himself from my grip and stood up in front of my closet.

"Why don't you find something to wear? I thought since it's the weekend we could go spend the day at my house, then go to the meadow." He bedazzled me with that crooked smile of his and I couldn't resist giving one back.

"Okay!" I was laughing on the inside. Taking me to his house would be Big Mistake #1. I hadn't forgotten that Alice had promised me something to aid me in my quest to reduce him to mush. There was an evil laugh montage going through my head as I picked out a skirt and blouse to wear.

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Today was not going well. Between that scent that had me holding my breath (uncomfortable, but I figured I needed Bella alive more than I needed air) and Bella's clothes (where did she get such a low cut top?!), Alice was hiding something from me. I could tell because she was translating the Canadian national anthem backwards into Japanese. She knew something, I was sure. It was just a matter of getting it out of her.

Not that I could have gone off and cornered her, not with Bella hanging off me like a monkey. A very cute, very tempting monkey, but a monkey nonetheless.

I sit to watch TV, she sits on my lap. I walk out to the garage to watch Emmet fix his car, she grabs hold of my arm and I end up practically dragging her along with me. I go to my room (BAD idea), and what do you know, Bella comes up to spend some "quality time" with me.

And everywhere I went, I could smell it. Even holding my breath, the scent was seared into my olfactory memory. She was killing me slowly.

And I wasn't the only one. Emmet had to leave the house and jasper was being… moody. Which was beyond odd, since as his power is controlling emotions, he is usually a little detached from them himself.

So it was disconcerting when he growled at me when I sat next to him while he was watching TV. And snapped at me when I talked during the program. And then threw me across the room when I reached for the remote.

"Edward," He said after taking a deep breath, "Bella's got me in a real sucky mood that I can't seem to control as of yet. I've got some issues right now so it would be great if you would PISS OFF."

I tried to not to get too near Jasper after that. So after a few more hours of this, I sat in the Volvo while Alice gave Bella something in a pink striped paper bag. I swear Bella's blush could have powered a small city. Which was cause for (more) concern. Somehow I had a feeling this was going to be a long night.

Bella was strangely quiet on the way home, though, and when we got there she dashed off to take one of her human minutes the second the car stopped.

Confused, I went to her room and sat in the rocker to wait. I could hear Bella shower and get dressed, so I knew when she was done. She peeked her head around her room door. The grin she was wearing was giving me chills. I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"I have a surprise for you Edward!"

Oh joy…

"Oh really? And what might that be?" she stepped out from behind the door with her hands on her hips. There was nothing surprising there that I could see. She was just wearing the same robe she always wore when she got out of the shower.

And then she let the robe slip from her shoulders and pool at her feet. She was in nothing but a pair of lace boy shorts and a transparent lace camisole, both a deep shade of blue.

"Alice gave it to me. She said you might like it; do you?"

I nodded, knowing I might drool if I opened my mouth. Her smile shone like the sun and she sat against the headboard of her bed and patted the spot next to her.

"Well come here and give me a goodnight kiss then," I perched on the edge of the bed, wary of getting any closer to temptation. "How are you supposed to kiss me from way over there?" she huffed.

When I didn't answer she proceeded to crawl over and straddle my lap. "You seemed a little stressed all day Edward. You must be tired. How about I kiss you and make it all better?"

I'd been kissed before. Mostly by Bella, but id been kissed before. So why was I knocked back from the force of this one? The feel of her satin skin under my hands was heady, the weight of her breasts against my chest thrilling, my hands itching to slip off what little she had on.

I was dazed when I recognized my limit and pulled away. But I apparently, was the only one affected, because Bella just flashed a smile, crawled under the covers, and went to bed.

It was going to be a really long night.

Remember guys, Reviews equals Love! show me some love! Btw, cookie for anybody who caught the Victoria's Secret reference.