Title: Dance with Me
Rating: T
Summary: A major league baseball player with a bad rep needs to clean his image. He signs on to do a reality dance show. Will he clean his image and have the right kind of chemistry with his partner?
Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer. I own nothing.
Comments: Based loosely on the reality t.v. show Dancing with the Stars.

Thank you, Candy!

Thank you everyone, for commenting on Edward's new team. I'm more than halfway decided on where he'll go now.

May 19th 2008

Edward POV

Jasper said something that triggered my mini nervous breakdown. A few days ago, when we talked he asked me how important Bella was to me. My answer came fast, 'very important.' Then, he asked me if I thought she'd stay and stick around. When I asked him what that meant, he made it clear. Was Bella the type of girl who would be patient and understand that my career came first? I know it sounded bad, but it was the truth. My career always came first. Of course family was first in a sense, but my personal life always took a backseat. Playing baseball was what I lived for. Girls were just the amenities. However, I was with Bella now and things were changing.

Jasper made a good point. Bella was certainly special to me, but would she understand when it came down to my career? So far she had been great, but that's because I only talked about playing again; I wasn't actually playing.

I told Bella that I never had a serious relationship, and that was partly true.

The reason I played the field was because girls were always jealous and needy. They said they understood my job and schedule, but they always grew whiny. I have never had time for them. I gave up on relationships altogether and did the sports celebrity thing. A new girl every other week; I had fun and so did they. I got my name and picture plastered all over the tabloids and newspapers. I was very famous. That lifestyle killed my career. I grew cocky and I failed terribly at sportsmanship. It's funny; as soon as I met Bella everything seemed to calm down. I was happier, I was a better person. I wanted to put her first, but my love for the game was not going away.

I really did not know how Bella would act once I was playing again. What would happen when I had road games? Sometimes I was gone for two weeks at a time. I would be very busy and Bella would have to take the backseat. Could she handle it?

Another thing to think about was her schedule. She was going to be back on the show, and that meant she'd be busy too. We'd be apart for a long time. Could we both handle it?

I was thinking about these things because I was serious about Bella.

I was afraid that the pressure, the distance, the priorities would all come between us. If Bella was serious about me, then I had to fight to make sure this relationship worked.

We had a long conversation about our commitments after the show. I was in the process of making arrangements to tour with her for a week. I could have opted to tour longer, but I had some off-season training to do. I needed to get back in shape so I could make my career choices. Anaheim or Seattle? I still wasn't sure.

Bella insisted that she was happy with the way things were. Of course I knew she was happy. We saw each other every single day! She admitted she wasn't sure how things would be once we were both busy, but that she was willing to duke it out. We were on the same page and for now that was enough.

"High-five!" Bella cried. "You did so awesome!"

We had just run through our two routines. All the other semi-final couples were here at the studio doing a run through.

I gave her a high-five and caught Jessica's eye. Almost everyone on the show knew about me and Bella. Even if they didn't, they all suspected. Jessica was beaming and I ended up laughing. It was funny because a lot of people thought Jessica hated Bella. That was so far from the truth. Jessica liked attention. She liked to be in charge and she wanted to know everything about everyone. A little pushy yes, but mean, no. She looked out for Bella and she was nice to us.

Bella went to sit down on one of the chairs, and Jared, Jessica's partner came up to me. Over the course of the show, I'd grown close to a few of the people. It's a tight-knit group and you can't help but be supportive to each other. Jared was an up and coming R & B star. He had yet to release his debut album, but he already had two number one singles on the Billboard charts. Jared was a fun loving guy. He had an outgoing personality and he was a great joker. He kind of reminded me of Emmett.

"Bella really cracks the whip on you, doesn't she?" he asked.

"Yeah."

He laughed. "I bet you like it."

"I'm not going there, Jared," I said with a chuckle.

"What?" he feigned innocence? "You're the one who has his mind in the gutter."

"Shut up," I laughed.

He grinned. "It's going to be me and you in the finals next week, buddy."

I fist bumped him and replied, "See you there."

Bella grabbed her stuff and came over to me.

"I have to go down to wardrobe. You want to meet at the studio tonight?"

"Sure," I replied. "What time?"

"How about we grab something to eat and then you can drive us to rehearsal?"

"Okay, sounds good."

I packed up my things, and headed out. I closed the door and fished out my phone.

"Bella is coming over to my place to have lunch. Do you guys want to have lunch with us?"

"Well hello to you too, Edward"

I smiled. "Hi, favorite sister of mine."

"Jasper and I can leave now."

"Cool, I'll see you in a few."

I grabbed a couple of pizzas from Little Caesar's and met Alice and Jasper at the door.

"Oh, pizza!" she cried. "Thank goodness. I'm famished."

I laughed as she opened the door for me. "How is it possible that you and Bella eat so much but never gain a pound?"

"Good genes I guess."

I set the food on the kitchen counter top and then opened the fridge to get a water bottle. Jasper and Alice were already attacking the pizza.

"So what are you plans for the rest of the day?" Alice asked as she chewed on some pepperoni.

"Rehearsal," I grunted.

Jasper snickered. "Bella's really cracking the whip on you."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" I cried.

"Who else said that?" Alice asked.

"Jared," I replied.

"Ooh, he's good," Jasper commented.

"Very," Alice agreed. "He just looks really cool when he dances, you know?"

"Yeah," said Jasper. "Jessica gives him some really fresh moves. I think he incorporates some hip-hop stuff too."

"I liked his Jive. He went all out with that one," Alice said smiling. "When he did a back flip over Jessica I nearly died!"

"That was spectacular," Jasper agreed with a nod of his head.

"But he's not as refined as Edward," Bella said walking into the kitchen.

"Hey!" I said. "What are you doing here?"

"The door wasn't locked."

"Oops."

"Bella!" Alice happily cried. She made a beeline for her, and wrapped her up in a big hug. Bella laughed at Alice's enthusiasm and hugged her back.

"Edward told us you guys were going to rehearse again."

"Yeah, we are," she replied.

Alice went back to her pizza and Bella went to grab a slice.

"Little Miss Perfect," Alice teased.

Bella blushed, but said, "Just a last run through."

"Admit it. You're a perfectionist."

"I am not."

"Yes, you are," I said chuckling.

"Maybe a little," she amended.

***

May 21st 2008

Alice, Jasper, and I were hanging out in my trailer. Bella was still in the makeup trailer, so I wouldn't be able to see her for another hour or two.

"Why don't we go out tonight?" Alice asked. "We can go over to Hyde or we can have dinner."

That sounded like a good idea. I knew Bella liked Alice and Jasper, and it would be nice to go out. We usually went out after the show anyway.

"Sure," I replied. "I'll talk to Bella."

Alice smirked. "She's got you wrapped around her little finger."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," she replied smiling. "That you can't do anything without consulting Bella first."

"She's my boss," I laughed.

"She's wonderful," Alice said.

Five o'clock on the dot the show started. We were set to start off the show. Bella and I danced our Foxtrot first. I admit that Bella and I both liked our song choices for the week. "I'm Yours" and "Everything I Can't Have" were good songs for our dances.

Our Foxtrot went perfectly. I really felt comfortable on the dance floor. For so long, I felt awkward and foolish, but now at the home stretch I finally felt good. I wasn't as self conscious and being able to hold Bella close to my body was a great perk.

I hugged Bella right after the music stopped. She was so beautiful in her magenta dress. It was backless just like I preferred for her. Her hair was in a stylish updo and her make up was once again applied perfectly. She looked like an old Hollywood starlet.

"Good job!" she praised. She gave me a high-five and then we walked over to the judges table.

It never gets old to hear the judges praising Bella. It was clear they liked her styling and eye for detail in the dances. I was always happy for her. Of course, they complimented her, but they judged me. Surprisingly, they weren't very critical on me. When Bella and I walked backstage, she gave my arm a squeeze and smiled.

"You did so well," she said.

"Thank you."

Two minutes later we went back on air. We got our scores. It was another perfect score. I was shocked and completely blown away.

"Oh my god," I said in a daze. Bella and I were walking in the hallway, ready to do a quick change.

"What?" she asked.

"Did we just get another perfect score?"

She smirked. "See, hard work does pay off!"

After we changed, we sat backstage and watched everyone else. The backstage atmosphere was always very hectic. There were dancers, contestants, hair and make up people, and production crew running around. On TV it looks like we do nothing backstage but wait. That really wasn't the case. With so many people running around, it was hard to concentrate and get in the zone. There were a lot of distractions. But since it was the last few weeks, I'd grown used to the craziness of show business. I talked and laughed with Jared, but I still found a way to pull it together for the dance.

Latin dancing was not my strongest point. Bella has said that I have a ballroom build. The Latin dancing is very loose and very uninhibited. Dancing in front of millions of people (on camera) made me nervous. Latin dancing was so different; it was awkward for me at times. Although I have received high scores for a couple of the Latin dances, Bella and I both knew I still struggled. The Salsa was a fun dance. It was the type of dance I'd like to do with Bella in private. It was everything a Latin dance was-sexy, flirty, free, and fun. Bella made me watch Dirty Dancing and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights I knew what I had to do, but I was sort of apprehensive about doing those types of moves. I knew I shouldn't be. It was the nature of the dance, but it looked so intimate. I feared that everyone in America would see my unguarded lust for Bella if I danced the Salsa the way she wanted me to. Even though I didn't really care what people said about me, I cared about Bella. I wanted to protect her from any type of scandal, and I knew there were some leaked pictures of us from when we went to the baseball field. The pictures were pretty self explanatory, and the attention wandered, but our Salsa was pretty intense. I knew the media would come knocking again after they saw our Salsa.

"Bella, what dance are we doing? Come on, we have to go practice."

"Edward?" Bella said confused. "We're next! What are you talking about?"

"Uh…"

"Oh no!" she cried. "Snap out of it! You're dancing the Salsa with me. And you are not going to do it half-assed! You can do this Edward. Don't be shy. It's just you and me out there, remember?"

She pulled my hands into hers and laced our fingers together. "You can't do this," she repeated. "I know you're nervous, but it's okay. No matter what happens… scores, rumors, we're in this together."

I nodded. She was right. It was just a dance. Nothing more. Oh, whom am I kidding? She choreographed a hot dance. People were going to talk.

"Let's do this," I said with a new resolve. "We're going to blow everyone's mind."

She grinned. "That's right."

We walked out to the dance floor and took our positions. Maybe I was overreacting because I know our Salsa was sexy and very flirty. Hell, in the middle of our dance I unbuttoned Bella's blouse. That was choreographed though. And okay, she choreographed everything in this routine too, but I was a lot more nervous for the dance. Maybe it was because we were officially together. The only people who knew about us were our family and some of the people on the show. Oh and, anyone who saw those pictures...

Our opening started with Bella standing in front of me. I had my hands on her hips, and Bella was going to slide down using her upper body. She swayed her hips to the music and ran her hands down my legs. I'd let go of her hips as she went down, and then when she came up I'd spin her around to face me. We'd start with me dipping her backwards and then we had some side by side stuff. There was a lot of touching, a lot of hip rotations and at one point Bella would be pressed against my chest and we'd be dancing joined. It was okay I guess. You'd see that kind of dancing at any club. The clincher was our ending pose. Bella would be lying on the floor and I'd be hovering over her. I was scared for that move, but when Bella showed me youtube videos of other dancing pairs doing that move I felt a little better.

We finished the dance and went back to the judges table. Bella was happy because she wouldn't stop smiling. She gave me a big hug, and said, "Thank you."

I was dazed and confused. I was sure I blacked out during the dance because I couldn't remember any of it. The judges had mixed reviews. The female judge loved it. The other judges thought I was off key and that maybe it was a little too sexy. The crowd was booing them and that made me feel better. I knew we were taking a risk with some of the moves, but it was already done. Everything was out of our hands now.

We cut to a commercial break and I had finally calmed down.

"You okay?" I asked Bella as we started to walk backstage.

"Yeah, I'm okay."

I looked at her and she was still smiling.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"You're not mad?"

"No," she replied. "I think I got my message through."

"What?"

Her eyes twinkled. "Now every girl knows that you're mine."

I think my mouth dropped open in disbelief. She choreographed a sexy routine to let the general public know about us? What?

"What did you do?"

"I very subtly let the female American population know that Edward Cullen is off limits."

I smirked. "You wanted the dance to be like that?"

"Well it's not like I broke any official rules," she reasoned. "This is a television show. It made good TV and I'm the dancer. I can choreograph whatever the hell I want."

I laughed. "Sneaky little thing."

We went back live and received our scores. Not a perfect score, but still high enough to place second overall. Jared and Jessica were in first.

The press interviews were just as I'd imagined. They talked about nothing but our Salsa. Everyone really liked it. The usual "are you two dating in real life?" question came up. Once again, we gave the sound byte answer: "we're very good friends, maybe after the show something could happen." A couple weeks ago, we stuck with the 'just friends' line but since we began dating Jasper and Alice decided to modify our answer. If we kept the door open for a possible relationship then the public wouldn't have a problem with us. By saying "maybe after the show something could happen" gives the general public time to adjust to us as a couple. We weren't affirming or denying anything now.

We were walking down the hallway when I asked Bella to go out with Alice and Jasper.

"Dinner?" she said hopefully. "I'm starved."

"Yeah, okay," I replied.

We went into our trailers to change. I was rummaging around for my white button down when my door opened.

"Hey," Jasper said. He sat down on the small couch and took his phone out.

"Hey," I replied. "What's goin on?"

"We on for dinner?"

"Yea, Bella is hungry."

"Great," he said. "I'll tell Alice."

"Where is she?"

"In the car."

"Where are we going?"

"What do you and Bella usually eat on a Monday night?"

"Burgers. She loves cheeseburgers."

"Hmm," he said contemplatively. "25 Degrees?"

The songs are "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz and "Everything I Can't Have" by Robin Thicke.

I think we have about 6-7 chapters left of this story. I can see the finish line with this one already. Although, that doesn't mean we're finished with this E/B.

Anyone watch the Olympics? The Hockey gold medal round is today! Go Team USA!!!

Till next time.

Tina