Hello! I've got an earlier than usual update for your this week. Thanks to Nik Maryll who rec'd this story on ADF last week and to all of you who took her rec and gave this story a shot.

A couple of things to mention: first, the lovely SoapyMayhem has created a banner for this story, the link to which can be found on my profile. I am grateful for the work she put into it! Second, you can now find me on Twitter at LastAboard.

Enjoy!

I do not own Twilight or it's characters. No copy right infringement is intended. This story is rated M and intended only for readers age 18 and over.

CHAPTER 6

Edward tosses and turns in his sleep, a fact which is made worse (at least for me) by the fact that the bed in this room is a size smaller than my bed at home and two sizes smaller than Edward's. He's particularly active tonight and after an arm being flung across my chest and an elbow to the kidneys, I decide to get up for a bit. I'm not very tired anyway, which is part of the reason all the movement is bothering me tonight – I'm usually a heavy sleeper and barely wake up when an errant hand or leg makes its way to my side of the bed.

I read for some time, hooking my e-reader up to the wireless connection based out of the hotel to choose a new book. I go through all the recommendations the e-bookstore gives me and I'm unsurprised to see they're almost all romance novels and chit lit. If there's one thing I've learned from having an e-reader it's the don't-judge-a-book-by-its-cover lesson. Books I never would have picked up in a bookstore turned out to be awesome when spared the embarrassment of reading a book with some sweaty, beefy blonde dude with longer hair than I have on the cover.

When the street sounds coming in through the window seem to dull a bit, I glance at my phone and see that it's just past midnight. I put down my book and turn the arm chair I'm sitting in to face the window. I put my feet up onto the low window sill and fold my arms over my bent knees, resting my head and looking down at the Liffey below, black in the darkness of night. There are a couple of people visible on the street and a few cars – not as much activity as you'd see on the streets of New York at this time, but it certainly isn't dead. The street lights are blazing and the sky is just bright enough with the glow of the city that you can see the thin wisps of grey smoke rising from the chimney stacks of some of the buildings closest to us.

Edward makes a single sighing-grunting noise that's almost a little high pitched and I smile when I hear him moving around more and the soft thunk of a pillow hitting the floor before he quiets down again. Those must be some dreams he's having tonight.

The silence and relative darkness of the room is soothing and gives me a chance to think about what's occurred over the last twenty-four hours. It was like a gauntlet of emotions, something I'm certainly not used to. I still feel guilty for having upset Edward, but I didn't do it on purpose. I could have decided I wanted to take a break as easily as he could have. It's not like I'm the only one who had feelings they weren't saying anything about. But that's just the problem. Why did I have to wait for him to say something first? Am I really as lazy as Alice said I was? Do I really wait for everything to fall into my lap? It's scary to think that if that's true, I could have lost Edward over it. And I don't just mean the sex, which is great, but isn't the only reason I love him.

I run my fingers through my hair, picking through the tangles left by Edward earlier in the night. I consider whether saying that I love Edward is too strong a statement. I've never been in love with anyone before him, so I've got no comparison. We've never been officially together, not until today, but I'm not sure that matters. He is absolutely, above everyone else, my best friend in the entire world. I'm always relaxed with him. I don't think there's a secret I have that he doesn't know, even the really embarrassing stuff and with those things, it's somehow not that embarrassing that he knows. And, even though a lot of people probably think our casual arrangement should have felt cheap, there has never been any place I've felt more valued and safe than clutched in Edward Cullen's arms. Considering all that, I think it's pretty clear. I love him, and the statement's definitely not too strong.

I hear the sheets stir again and then settle just as I see a stray dog walking along the quay, sniffing as it moves along, probably looking for scraps of food.

"What are you doing over there?" Edward's low voice breaks the silence and I turn to look at him. He's still lying down on his side and the sheets are pushed down low on his hips with one hand underneath the pillow and the other flung out onto the side of the bed where I'd been laying. He's still tired, his eyes are sleepy and his long lashes cast shadows against his cheeks with each slow blink he takes.

"Just thinking," I tell him softly, giving him a little smile.

"Hmm. Come here." He turns on his back and holds his hand out to me. I unfold my legs from under myself and go over to fall into bed, letting him wrap his arms around me and pull me against him. "What are you thinking about?" he rasps, running his fingers from my shoulder down to the crook of my elbow.

"I don't know. You. Us."

"It's been kind of an interesting day." He turns his head and buries his nose into my hair.

"A good one, though."

"I was worried about what you'd say, Bella."

"What? About how you wanted to be with me?"

He nods and I can feel the fine strands of my hair catching a bit on his stubble. I turn onto my side and drape my arm across his stomach.

"You shouldn't have been worried," I tell him, but he stays quiet.

The fact that he was worried about what I'd say, and that I was worried about what he was going to say, is concerning. It certainly doesn't speak well for our communication skills. I would have thought we'd have been able to read each other better than that. But I'm not a mind reader, and neither is he, so I resolve to try harder. Starting now.

"I love you, Edward. I'm sorry I'm only telling you now."

The rush of emotion I feel now that I've said it is unexpected and the relief that comes in saying it is palpable. It seems truer than ever now that the words are out, alive, and hanging in the air.

He tilts his face toward mine.

"I love you, too. I've loved you for some time now."

"I wish I would have known."

"No use in wishing for it, Blackbird. We'll just have to try to make up for the time we missed."

He kisses me and it's tender and soft and I revel in the love I can feel it in. I wish we didn't have the no-kissing rule before. Maybe I'd have been more confident to tell him how I felt if we'd kissed.

#WL#

Edward rests his hands on my thighs, his eyes glued to my breasts where they hang in front of him, pressed together between my arms as I brace myself against his chest. Neither one of us has said anything since waking up again, which is new for us, but nice. I like being quiet with Edward as much as I like talking to him and it felt good to slowly pull myself out of the haze of sleep with a few kisses and a few touches that escalated until I pulled off my panties and nightshirt and Edward pushed his boxers out of the way so that I could climb astride his hips and take him into my body.

At first I'd leaned forward over him, knees folded beneath me and elbows resting next to his ears with my fingers laced in his crown of bronze hair. I kissed him and plunged my tongue into his mouth as my pussy brushed against the hair at the base of his cock where my pelvis came to settle against his own. Goosebumps raised on my skin when he brought his hands up to lazily stroke my thighs but as good as it felt, I was itching to move. Giving him one last peck, I pushed myself up until my arms were straight in front of me, elbows locked, fingers digging slightly into his lean pectoral muscles.

I start with a slow pace, breathing deeply with every stroke and watching his beautiful face react to the building tension. After awhile, his breathing becomes more staccato and the crease between his eyebrows appears. I know he's close and I sit completely upright, curving my back with my breasts jutting out and my pelvis tilted down to give my clit the friction I need against his pubic bone. I clench my muscles, trying to get there before he can't take it anymore and lets go. It earns me some breathy groans from Edward, who still hasn't moved his hands from my thighs. I move faster, my quads burning from the exertion of moving my body in the same quick motion over and over for the last few minutes.

Edward tenses up beneath me and his fingers dig into my hips as he bucks up a little, meeting my downward thrust and forcing himself deep into my body.

"Oh! Fuck!" I release a high-pitched, breathy cry as he holds me to him and with a couple of short, jerking motions, comes inside me. My eyes squeeze shut and my hand flies down to where our bodies meet and I swivel my hips in quick circles, desperate to tip over the edge.

"Touch me, Edward," I pant, reaching blindly for him with my free hand. "Hurry."

I feel his fingers tangle with my own against my pussy and the slick base of his cock before he directs the pressure onto my clit, moving his fingertips over me in short, rapid movements.

"Ah! Yes!" I squeak, sucking in short, inefficient breaths as my thighs begin to shake and I involuntarily clench tighter around his hips. I begin to squirm on top of him as the shaking spreads to the rest of my body while my pussy grasps onto him in rhythmic waves and my hands reach out for him, finding purchase against the flat, lean muscle of his torso.

When the tremors running through me subside and my lungs finally open up again, I collapse forward onto him, bringing my arms back up to clasp together above his head and burying my face in the crook of his neck. My breathing comes slower and deeper with each passed second, opposite to his, and my body raises with his chest each time he exhales. We lie that way for a few minutes, until the slight breeze coming off of the river and in through the window makes itself known on my damp skin and I begin to shiver.

Edward turns his face into my hair and I can feel his kiss just behind my ear. I lift my head and face the other direction, lips just centimeters from his.

"I love you, Blackbird," he tells me in a deep, gravelly tone. "I really, really do."

They're the first words he's spoken to today. I could get used to this.

#WL#

The elevator lurches to a halt and as the door slides open, I see that Alice and Jasper are already waiting for us in the lobby. Alice has always been an early riser, and she's usually the first one to arrive unless it's to a party, in which case she goes with the fashionably late approach. We've made it down in record time, I thought. I mean, forty-five minutes from peeling myself away from Edward to showered and make-up applied is pretty damn quick for me. I picked my clothes faster than usual this morning too, going for black leggings and a gauzy, oversized white shirt under my leather bomber jacket with plain, black patent leather flats. I wanted to be comfortable today since I know it will be a long one. You know, lots of foundation shots and more touristy type things than we'll probably run into for the rest of the trip. It's usually the part that I'm the least excited about – I don't love doing touristy things, I'm more about the stuff locals do to have fun. Ireland is different though – it's got a rich literary history and the bibliophile in me is pretty pumped to check it out.

Alice's eyes scan me up and down, surveying my outfit for acceptable camera-readiness, and I try in vain to put some spring in my step despite the soreness radiating through my thighs and in my knees. I suppose it's generally not advisable to be bouncing on your knees for thirty minutes straight just before you're expected to walk all over town, but oh well. It'll go away by lunchtime, and boy was it worth it.

Alice has a smug grin on her face and raises an eyebrow at me as I lower myself down into the chair across from her while Jasper goes to help Edward pack the camera equipment into a rented van. "Nice swagger, Bella. You look like you're been riding a horse all day."

"She's been riding something, alright," Rose cuts in from behind me, "but I doubt it was a horse."

"Shut up. You guys are so fucking crude," I say, but I'm grinning.

"Yeah, well. We learned it from you. At least I did. My mother was shocked at my mouth after I came home from my first quarter rooming with you." Alice crosses arms over her chest and rests one leg on top of the other. "I'm guessing you had a good night?"

"You guess right." I beam. I'm not even going to try to hide it.

"That's awesome, Bella. I'm really happy for you," Rose says, standing to pick up her bag when the boys come back into the lobby. "And I'll expect details later," she says under her breath so that only Alice and I can hear.

"I wouldn't expect any less," I say and Alice giggles as I heave myself out of the chair, ignore my aching thighs and go toward the group.

Edward sits in the driver's seat of the van – he's been here enough times to have a good general idea of where we're going, and I take the seat directly behind him, letting Jasper sit up front.

Jasper says we're headed to St. Stephen's Green first, it'll be better in the morning when there're fewer people. There are already quite a lot of people out, dressed in their business clothes and walking quickly, with a purpose. We pull up to a red light, next to a tiny Starbucks where the line inside looks to be almost to the door. Funny how some things are exactly the same the world over. I look forward and catch Edward's eye in the rearview mirror. It crinkles at the edge and I can tell he's smiling at me and I grin back.

"Bella!" Alice smacks my arm, making me jump. "Are you listening to anything I'm saying?"

"Obviously not." I tell her. "Sorry. What is it?"

She glowers at me for a moment before she starts up. "I was saying that we had a good time out last night and you should come this time. There are some great little bars with a lot of history. We should maybe even do some filming."

"Oh. Yeah, that would be cool."

She nods, placated, and turns around to talk to Rose. Being our editor, Rose doesn't really have any responsibilities today since there's nothing to edit yet. Even if it's a little unconventional to bring your editor along, she's great to have with us and one of the perks to having a small team is that we can all come along together. Plus, Edward has been known to ask her opinion for various shots since she's the expert on how it'll look all pieced together.

We don't drive very far or for very long before Edward pulls into a parking space on a little off street and says we'll walk from here. "Besides," he says, "showing a bit of you walking to the Green will be good footage."

Edward unpacks the camera and Emmett gets the sound equipment ready while Alice presses a thin piece of tissue against my face, makes me put on more lipstick, then blots that with the same tissue.

I always get a little nervous when we start filming – I'm worried I'm going to bore everyone to death. We're not the type of show that's scripted per se and it's up to me to say something at least marginally interesting. I mean, sure, there's goals about the kind of information we want to get in there, but we're more of an if-Anthony-Bourdain-was-a-girl-and-did-less-stuff-with-food kind of show. Anything scripted usually comes in during voice-overs.

When the equipment is finally ready, Edward hoists the camera onto his shoulder and Emmett mics me with a tiny wireless lavalier that is virtually invisible against my black jacket.

"You ready, Blackbird?" Edward asks as I smooth my shirt and fluff my hair one more time.

"I suppose so."

"Alright, then. Let's get to it." I see the red light on his camera go on and he gives me a wink and a grin before turning his eyes to the viewfinder.

The busy street just ahead of us is Grafton Street, one of the main shopping streets in the Dublin city center, and it's already bustling. I get a few looks as I walk ahead of the group, but I don't feel self conscious about it like I would have last year. People don't exactly find it normal for people to walk along followed by three guys lugging camera equipment and they take their opportunity to stare.

Fusilier's Arch looms ahead of me as I approach the Green and to my delight, the number of people in the park does look to be low. I'd read up on the history of most of the things we'd be visiting and unlike many things I've come upon in my travels, the Green is just as I'd pictured it to be. In many ways it's much like a mini-version of Central Park, but more closed in and a bit more lush. We film bits of the park that are less interesting (the lakes and such) before getting on to some of the things that make the park special. There's a garden for the blind where the plants are marked in signs punctured with Braille and the plants are a little sturdier and meant to withstand touching. I read that the plants are all scented as well, but the season prevents me from experiencing that to the full extent.

There seem to be a very large number of statues and monuments for the size of the park – we pass by a memorial installation for the famine, a statue of the guy who gave the park to the city, the bust of James Joyce (which I personally gush over a bit due to my love of all things Joycean) and a number of others before we're done. A few passersby looked at Emmett like he was stupid when he commented, kiddingly, that they spelled Robert Emmet's name wrong ("there's two 't's, duh," he'd said) on his statue.

By the time we were done at the Green, it was nearly lunchtime.

"Are any of you guys hungry?" I asked, feeling my stomach rumble. It was only a matter of time before it started doing that audibly. "How about an early lunch?"

"That's the best idea anyone's had all day," Emmett says as we approach the van. "Let's go to that Captain America's place I saw back there," he motions toward Grafton Street.

"Captain America's?" Rose asks, incredulously. "What the fuck is that? It's probably like Fat Ammy's or something."

Edward and I both crack up. "Is it an American styled restaurant?" Edward asks and I just laugh harder.

"Is this an inside joke?" Emmett asks, frowning at us.

"Arrested Development," Rose says in explanation. Rose and I bonded over that show when we first met. I'd initially thought she was a little too reserved, maybe even a bit icy, but busted out laughing when she made a reference to an episode during a staff meeting. I invited her over the following weekend for a viewing marathon and I learned that my first impressions of her were way off the mark. We'd been good friends ever since.

"Well, it was just a suggestion and a burger sounds good," Emmett says as he puts his gear in the van.

"Meh," Alice says, making a face. "I want something lighter than that. We've still got a busy day ahead of us and if I eat a big lunch, I'm just going to want to go to sleep. I want to go to that crepe café we passed on the way down here."

"I don't really care what it is, as long as it's edible," Edward interjects as he locks up his camera equipment. "You decide, Jasper. You're the producer. You should make the executive decisions."

"Great," Emmett groans sarcastically. "Crepes it is."

Jasper could do nothing but shrug his shoulders and follow Alice.

#WL#

For all the complaining he did, Emmett sure downed a shit-load of crepes. The café Alice had seen turned out to have a huge selection of stuff on the menu and my crepe stuffed with fontina cheese, asparagus and caramelized onions was to die for as was the grilled cheese sandwich Edward ordered. I swear, that boy could live off of grilled cheese sandwiches – I'd made him about fifty billion when we were hanging out in college and the habit was picked back up again when he moved to New York. The first time I made him one, he told me he'd only had it one other time in his life. I didn't believe him, knowing that his mom was something of a domestic goddess, but he assured me that was the reason she never made them – she loved trying new recipes and Edward was her guinea pig. She wanted something with more excitement than grilled cheese.

With our hunger satisfied, we finished up at the café and walked back to the van to pick up filming again. Edward took my hand as we walked side by side behind the other two couples and swinging our arms between us as we went. I had to take two steps for every one of his long strides and he laughed as he looked down at our legs.

"I can slow down, you know, if it's easier for your little legs to keep up."

I smack his arm with my free hand. "Shut up, you. Don't make fun of my legs. It's not my fault you're a giant."

"I'm not a giant, Blackbird. I'm six-two. I think it's more that it's not my fault your're mini."

"I'm not mini! I'm only two inches shorter than the average!" I huff, feigning exasperation.

"It's okay, I like you like that. You're the perfect height for an arm rest," he says and lets go of my hand to wrap his arm around my shoulders and pull me into his side. "You excited for Trinity?" he asks. He's referring to the next item on the itinerary, and the thing I've been most looking forward to: Trinity College and the Long Room library. I've seen pictures of the library and they're absolutely beautiful. The books there are ancient and in most cases important. You can't take pictures and you can't touch anything. That is, of course, unless you have a special temporary permit to do so for the purposes of filming a television show, which we do.

"It's going to be so awesome, I'm going to have a literary orgasm."

"A literary orgasm, huh?" he looks down at me with his eyebrows raised.

"Yes. Similar to the type you are familiar with, but brought on by exposure to books and libraries of remarkable beauty. Common in book nerds like myself."

"Does it carry the same level of intensity as the regular kind?"

I shrug. "Let's hope for my sake it doesn't. I am, on occasion, known to be a screamer."

Edward barks out a laugh. "Oh, you don't have to tell me, Blackbird. That's a fact I'm well aware of." He leans down closer to my ear and whispers, "If you're a good girl, I'll make you scream tonight."

I shiver while he kisses my jaw, just below my ear then laugh and wrap my arms around his neck.

"Edward Cullen, you should learn how to whisper more quietly!" Alice says from a few feet in front of us. "First of all, we don't need to hear all your dirty plans and second of all, you two are coming out tonight."

"Jesus, woman, do you have bionic hearing or something?" Edward scowls at the back of her head.

"No, just awesome internal radar for when people are going to fake being tired to stay in and bone, which I already let you get away with last night, so don't even try it."

It's alright. We can't exactly have screaming-orgasm-sex anyway since we're in a hotel. Man, I can't wait to get on that RV.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm hoping there's not too much lemon. The intention was never for this to be PWP, and I don't think it is, but I still worry about things like that.

Anyway, I hope you liked it!

LA