Disclaimer: Twilight isn't mine. Sadly…

So, I'm back…Finally, you could even say :D But honestly, it's not intentional. I'm having a real crazy time with school and should be studying even though I'm on holiday! It sucks.

This is the first time I've not written a chapter at once, but in tiny pieces, every time I have a few free minutes. I hope it doesn't show…

And here's the next chapter.


Chapter 12

BPOV

We'd stepped out of the train ten minutes ago, but somehow were still standing on the emptying platform – standing side by side, just gazing around the dwindling traffic. It was eleven and the station apparently had no trains arriving in the next twenty minutes. Soon we were pretty much the only ones on the platform. Oh, except for the elderly man dozing on the nearby bench with a long jacket covering him.

"So…" I said. "I guess sleeping on the station is out."

Edward looked outraged that I would even voice such thoughts. "Was that ever an option? Bella, when I said that earlier…that was called joking."

I rolled my eyes. "Like I even doubted that. But still, we have to do something."

He let out a breath and ran a hand through his hair. "I know."

There was a silence.

"Any ideas?" I smirked with raised eyebrows. Even though, there was really nothing funny with our situation. We were both first-timers in Hamburg, which made searching for a sleeping place at this hour a really bad choice of action. All the tourist-infos would most likely be closed right now.

"I bet there are still trains leaving tonight", Edward said, mostly to himself.

"What are you saying?"

My question snapped him out of his pondering mode. He turned to look at me. "What I'm saying is, how much do you want to see Hamburg right now?"

"Is that a rhetoric question?"

"My suggestion is we take the next train out of here and sleep onboard."

"And not see Hamburg at all?"

"We could come back later, if we have time." Edward suggested. I knew that he at least suspected that I'd mind if we skipped something. I had told him about my habit of wanting to be thorough.

"Look Bella, I just don't want us – especially you – wandering around in a city you don't know. Who knows, you might end up finding yourself at Reeperbahn."

I raised an eyebrow at his attempt to make a joke. "But I thought this summer is all about adventure. What is more adventurous than exploring a city at night?"

Edward gazed around the station again – trying to find a way to contradict my reasoning, no doubt – when his eyes suddenly focused on something. Before I had a chance to turn around, I was being tugged away from the platform so fast I nearly fell down. I yelped in protest: Edward should know better than to try moving me unexpectedly.

And then we halted again. It was another platform, but a bit livelier than the previous one. It actually had a train waiting on it. It was small, just four carriages but at least it was lit.

"Would boarding a train with an unknown destination be adventurous enough?" Edward asked, his green eyes glinting proudly, because he had found a way to keep us from dark streets without backtracking the adventure part.

"We'll know where it's going right after we leave", I pointed out.

Edward shrugged "but the excitement is still there for a while. Please, let's board." The final question was delivered with a pair of begging eyes and a small pout that made me blush.

I rolled my eyes before agreeing. How could such amount of improvised persuasion go unrewarded? "But if we have time before we meet the others, we are coming again."

"I'll hold you to that", Edward replied as he hoisted our bags in from the open carriage door.

The train ride lacked most of the adventurous qualities Edward had promised. Actually it was really uneventful. Well, to be honest, I missed most of it, because I fell asleep soon after the train left and we found out we'd be going to Copenhagen. If anything, the ride was embarrassing for me. When I fall asleep, I tend to do stuff I wouldn't do normally, with me being unconscious and all.

"Okay, just give me the facts right away Edward. How much of a joke was I for the people onboard?"

Edward was in the process of carrying our bags out of the train – we had arrived just a few minutes ago. I was far too dazed to do anything but walk myself having woken up just five minutes before our arrival. Though Edward seemed preoccupied with the backpacks he registered my question and looked up.

"Sorry? A joke?"

"Aw, come on Edward. I'm known for my 'hilarious' sleeping scenarios, Alice makes fun of it every single time I do something."

"Well, this might ease your concerns then, because I neither noticed or heard anything that would make people make fun of you." His voice was sincere, but the eyes were opened a bit too wide to make me fully believe him.

"Edward…" I was trying to sound stern.

"What Bella? Don't you trust me? That hurts, like I would never let people laugh at you."

I laughed making him smile too. His green eyes glinted mischievously.

"All right, I'll let this slide, because I trust you. Actually, right now I trust you to lead me away from this station to explore."

Edward grinned and helped my backpack on me, then guiding me towards the main entrance. "That's my thought exactly."

We left our backpacks at the station before we left though. Since it was pretty early still, Edward had suggested we leave searching for a sleeping place for later and see some of the sights now. Copenhagen was a pretty big place which meant we had a lot of ground to cover. But first, we had to have breakfast. The first café that came across seemed appropriate enough, so we went inside and ordered some sandwiches and coffee.

"You know, I hear Denmark's pretty known for sandwiches." I let my sentence trail off. Edward cocked his head at the fact and took a huge bite off his sandwich, making a big show of tasting it.

"Well I don't know about that, but if I had known about this taste before…I would have known to stay away from this café", Edward smirked at me after whispering his opinion. I raised an eyebrow before munching down on my own sandwich, which unfortunately proved Edward right.

When we left the café, having finished our sandwiches, I sighed, feigning remorse. "This trip has been so wonderful, I was beginning to think that Europe is a utopia."

"Really? That perfect?" Edward seemed curious.

"Yeah. I really haven't had that many trips growing up. Besides from the quite frequent flight between my mom and Charlie, I've never really been anywhere. Charlie isn't the traveling type, and when mom goes away, it's usually with her new husband."

"Phil." I noticed it was a statement, not a question. I was surprised he even remembered.

"That's right. Sometimes I'd go with Alice's family, but mostly it was fishing trips for me."

Edward burst into laughter at that. "Fishing? I find that hard to picture."

I turned away, a bit embarrassed, to hide my blush that a mere memory of those catastrophic trips caused. Then, suddenly, I spotted something. I turned to Edward, who was still chortling. I'd have to get back at him someday.

"Hey Edward, look over there." I pointed his eyes to the right direction.

"Yeah? I see bikes." He was confused.

"Yep. They are free to use in the city area, and they will be transporting us today."

I could just imagine the fun of it. Mom and I used to love going biking a few years ago – an obsession of hers at the time – and after that I still liked to do it sometime. The wind in your hair, none of that dreary walking, going fast…Edward obviously didn't see my vision. The look on his face, when he noticed I was serious was worth taking a picture. I could see this would take some persuading.

"It's a trendy fast way of getting around in the city. We'd see a lot more in a shorter time."

"I'm fine with seeing a little less if we just take it slow. You on a bike is a threatening idea. For you and for the population of Copenhagen."

I ignored that last one. "It's free. And it's healthy. And it's free, doesn't cost anything."

"You do know you said 'it's free' twice, right? But if it's up to money, I'll pay you just to not go on those things. They look like they're about to fall apart. And they look filthy."

"Aw Edward, are you afraid of a little dirt? We'll drive around for a few hours, then we'll get our backpacks, find a place to stay and you can go take a shower. Please Edward, I really want to do this. Please?"

Edward was just staring at me, but I could see him caving from the look in his eyes. I somehow managed to hide my victorious smirk behind a hopeful expression. Finally, he sighed.

"Okay, but you'd better appreciate this, because I'm doing this for you."

I squealed and started dragging him towards the bikes, skipping with every other step. This was an interesting new talent I'd discovered just now. I readily admitted that I had no real dating experience (not that Edward and I were dating) but please seemed to be working. I'd have to keep that in mind, because there was no guarantee to what Edward was up to.

We took our bikes – Edward spending way too much time on picking out the cleanest and safest looking ones, and me teasing him about it relentlessly – and started to circle around Copenhagen. We drove around the beautiful parks, which were plentiful, and saw some charming old, colourful stone houses. I had to stop every once in a while to take pictures, and in turn, Edward would tease me relentlessly about that.

While driving, Edward pestered me about fishing trips, somehow dazzling me to tell embarrassing stories that involved ER's and hooks in odd places. I then wanted to know about his embarrassing stories, because so far, every single one had been about me. I was surprised, when he passed with flying colours, describing some of the pranks Emmett had pulled on him. In the end I was laughing so hard, I had difficulties keeping my bike going straight.

The only sight we actually stopped to look at for a longer time, was the Little Mermaid by the shore. The little, coppery statue was almost as striking as Mona Lisa had been. But where Mona Lisa was mysterious and secretive, the Little Mermaid was sad. After taking pictures of a dozen angles, moving around to get the cranes away from the background, I just kept looking for a long time. She was tiny, and the copper had been turned black by the air. The look on her face was devastating. Just the amount of longing she had for her old life and the prince she couldn't have.

"Bella? Are you alright?"

EPOV

Bella had been staring at the statue for a long time, even after the frantic usage of her camera that had been happening a lot today. I had to admit, the mermaid looked sad, but I thought it a bit ruined with all the cranes and cargo in the background. I looked at my watch for the first time today, and noticed we'd been driving around for nearly five hours. I'd had such a relaxed time with Bella that I hadn't even noticed the day passing. She told me more about her embarrassing stories, which made it so much easier for me to tell her mine. Not that I didn't want to share, it's just that I wasn't that used to it. I'd never really had girls for friends, so I was on a new territory and so far I liked it. I was excited to see where this went.

"Bella? Are you alright?"

She turned to me, startled by my voice that had clearly broken her train of thought. She looked alright – well better than alright naturally, but in the sense of my question she was alright – but somehow sad and pondering. She smiled reassuringly at me.

"Yes, I'm fine. The Mermaid is just so sentimental to me – it was one of my favourite stories as a child. The real version, that is: not the Disney one with talking crabs and a happy ending."

"The real story is a bit different, isn't it?"

"Totally." She turned back to face the statue one more time. "What time is it?"

I looked at my watch to check the time. "It's past three. I think we should go soon and get our bags from the station."

Bella looked shocked when she heard the time. "Oh gosh, Edward! I'm so sorry. I promised you wouldn't have to drive around for no more than a few hours. I feel terrible. I'm so, so sorry."

I stopped her rambling. "Bella, I honestly did not mind. I had fun."

"Even with the dirty, broken-down bicycles and all?"

"Yes, even with the bicycles being what they were", I laughed. She was so sweet, worrying over me, when she was just getting back at me for dragging her to the Denmark train without so much as a warning. "Come on, let's head back to find a place to stay. And then we can do something fun this evening."

We returned the bikes near the station about half an hour later and fetched our bags from the storage lockers. It was somehow nice to have the familiar weight back on – when you didn't have it, it felt like you had lost all your possessions, and that was not a nice feeling. A small city guide I had picked up from the station proved its usefulness, when we managed to find a youth hostel pretty close to the city centre. It was only after we arrived at the front desk, that problems arose:

"Good day, how may I help you?"

"Hello, we'd like a room for two please. For two nights."

The middle-aged man behind the desk looked confused. "Pardon me, I think you may have the wrong idea. This is a youth hostel. We have large rooms for about ten people. They are cheaper and especially our younger clients have enjoyed the possibility of new acquaintances."

"We'll have two beds then." Bella chipped in, probably guessing that I found group accommodation weird. She took her wallet out and paid for her share, while I grudgingly paid for mine. Group accommodation, what else? I just wanted her in the same room without a dozen others, could anyone blame me?

"Alright, then. You will be staying in room six, and you, young man, are in room nine. There should be an info sheet on your bed, and breakfast will be served at eight."

I stopped right there. "We're not even in the same room?"

Bella raised her eyebrows at me. Even I knew how my comment must have sounded. I just wasn't too keen on letting go of her company. "Well duh Edward, they have rooms divided by gender."

"But what if there are some dangerous people living in your room? You don't know what they're up to."

"I'll be sure to run away screaming, should I find any serial killers in my room. Relax, nothings going to happen."

"Okay, but if anything weird happens, you let me know okay?"

Bella rolled her eyes at me. "Okay…What are our plans tonight? I expect you'll want me away from a roomful of murderers and drug dealers."

I ignored her teasing and decided to get back at her. "It's a surprise. I'll pick you up on my way out."

She groaned. "You know I hate surprises. That's not fair. I don't even know what time your coming by my door."

"You'll see when I get there", I answered while walking towards my room. Now all I needed to do was to find a surprising thing for tonight.

I stopped it there, but I already know what they'll do! This way I may be able to update sooner.

Please tell me your opinion, I'd really like to know

Isabella Juliet