(A/N): This chapter was beta'd by RandomatGedz! Thanks girl! :)

Living Royal

Chapter Seventeen

Edward and Bella spent the week after that looking for a house near campus. With Alice's help they narrowed the list of potential houses to three choices, two apartments and a cottage. So far, Bella was leaning towards the cottage. It was a small one floor cottage near school, which was very convenient for them. It also had a homey feel to it that captured Bella right away.

Edward had said that he didn't mind where they lived as long as they were together.

Could he get any more perfect?

Bella didn't think so.

So they settled on the cottage and decided to move in right away.

"So, are you nervous?" Alice asked, as they went shopping for furniture one day.

"About what?" Bella asked, eying a living room set that she liked.

"Moving in with your boyfriend, silly."

"Um, no. Not really. I've been practically living with Edward since we went to Buckingham anyway. I don't this will be any different." She shrugged.

"You're really not nervous at all? Not one bit?"

Bella rolled her eyes, "Are you trying to make me nervous?"

"Nope, I just think this is a big step, Bella. I'm so happy that you're doing it. I just want you to be careful. I don't want you to get hurt."

Bella stilled, turning to look at her friend, "What do you mean?"

"Don't you think this is a bit too fast? I mean, you've known him for a couple of months and you're already moving in with him."

"No, I don't think this is too fast. I love him and he loves me. That's all I need to know."

Alice noticed Bella's apprehensive expression, "I'm sorry, Bella. I didn't mean to put you down when you were so excited."

Bella put her arm around Alice's shoulders, "It's alright, Ali. You were just looking out for me. That's what best friends are for right?"

"Yes, so true." Alice nodded. "Oh! We should shop for a new outfit for you."

"Um, why?" Bella asked, already afraid to know the answer.

"Because you can't just walk into your new house with an old outfit?" Alice replied, as though it was the most obvious think in the world.

Bella had learned early on never to argue with Alice when it came to shopping. So after taking pictures of a few furniture sets to show Edward later so they could decide together, Bella and Alice took a trip to a nearby mall.

By the time Bella got back to the dorms, she was exhausted. There were only so many stores she could walk into before she felt ready to drop.

"Hey, sweetheart." Edward greeted her as she walked into his room.

Bella groaned and threw herself face down on the bed.

"Hi," She mumbled, her voice muffled by the pillows.

Edward chuckled, "Long day?"

"You don't know the half of it. I have the craziest best friend ever. My body hurts in places I never even knew existed."

Edward lay down beside her and rested his head on his elbow, "I think I have a cure for that." He wiggled his eyebrows.

Bella giggled, "I'd take you up on that, if I thought I could move."

Edward pouted adorably, "Well. How about I give you a massage then?"

Bella raised her eyebrows sceptically, "You know how to give a massage? Is there anything you can't do?"

"Not that I know of," He shrugged playfully.

"In that case, I would love a massage, Mr. Cullen."

"My pleasure, Miss Swan." He grinned.

He got up on his knees and straddled Bella's back. He started working on Bella's back. A few minutes later Bella was convinced that Edward had magic fingers. The pain she felt all over her body was almost gone.

"Bella, you're going to have to stop groaning like that or I might be forced to do something about it." He said.

Bella flushed. She hadn't noticed that she was groaning like that.

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize. That was an amazing boost to my ego, I just don't think I can handle it while you're so tired and won't be able to do anything about it."

Bella moved and Edward got off her back. They sat facing each other on the bed.

"Actually, thanks to your amazing expertise at massage therapy, I feel so much better."

Edward grinned enthusiastically, "Really?"

Bella giggled and nodded, "Really."

Edward cupped her face in his hands and kissed her passionately. Bella moaned loudly. They both fell back on the bed and Edward proceeded to show her another thing that he was really good at.

A while later, Bella was lying, completely sated, on Edward's naked chest while he ran his hand up and down her back.

"I love you, you know." Edward whispered.

"Love you too. What brought this on?"

"Nothing, I just haven't said it in a while."

"You said it this morning." She replied.

"Are you complaining?" He teased her.

"Nope. Would I ever? Oh, remind me to show you the photos of the furniture. I saw some really great things in town today."

"I'm sure anything you've picked was great."

"Yes, but I want your opinion too. We're going to be living together, Edward. I don't want to pick out something you'll hate and then you'll be stuck with it for God knows how long."

"Hmm, good point. On that note, the realtor called this morning and said that we can sign the papers for the cottage tomorrow morning. Is that okay with you?"

"Yeah, I only have one class tomorrow and it's in the afternoon, so no problem."

"Bella, are you sure that the cottage is what you want?" Edward asked, hesitantly.

Bella moved a bit to look up at him, "I thought you liked it."

"I do. I like it very much. I just want to be sure that you know that I can get you something much better if you want."

Bella frowned, "What do you mean you can get me something better?"

"This is going to sound insanely arrogant, but I have more money than I know what to do with and I can more than afford to buy you the best home out there."

Bella sat up while modestly holding the blanket under her arms, "Uh, Edward, I thought you understood. You're not paying for anything. We are paying for this house. Together."

"Bella, you don't have to do that. I have more than enough money."

"Yes, so you've said." She rolled her eyes and got out of bed.

"Where are you going?" Edward asked, worried that he'd made her angry. He was just trying to look out for her.

"I'm going to take a shower."

"But, we haven't finished talking." He followed her to the bathroom only to have the door shut in his face.

He sighed and rested his forehead on the door.

"Bella, baby, I'm sorry. I just want to give you the best."

The door opened again suddenly almost causing Edward to fall on his face.

"I already have the best. I have you, don't I?" Bella said as she stood there with the blanket still wrapped around her figure.

Edward smiled, "I'm sorry. We'll pay for this together. I just don't see why…" He was cut off when Bella touched his lips with hers.

"No more talking." She whispered before dragging him into the bathroom with her and shutting the door again.

The next morning they signed the papers together and Bella paid fifty percent of the advance on the rent just like she wanted.

They started moving the furniture that they had picked together right away. The cottage wasn't that big, it was two rooms, a bathroom, a small kitchen and a living room, but it was more than enough for them.

Jasper and Alice helped them with the move and the four of them were able to put everything together in three days.

The day they were done the four of them popped open a bottle of champagne and sat in their small living room laughing and talking until the early hours of the morning.

Bella woke up the next morning snuggled next to Edward on their couch, suffering from a headache. She looked around the room, noting Alice and Jasper must've left since she couldn't see them anywhere.

She looked back down at Edward. He always looked so peaceful as he slept. She hated waking him up but they did have classes in an hour.

"Edward? Edward, wake up." She tried shaking him.

"Mmm, five more minutes." He muttered adorably.

Bella couldn't resist leaning down and kissing him quickly.

"You really have to get up. We've got classes in an hour. We need to get ready."

"No. No classes today." He pulled her back down next to him and held her close. "We have more important things to do."

"Like what?"

"Like christening our new house, starting with the bedroom." He whispered, his hot breath fanning her cheeks.

Bella was a second away from giving in to Edward's very convincing argument when his phone rang, abruptly bursting their bubble.

"Ugh, I thought we'd agreed to shut our blasted phones off every night, or at least turn them on vibrate." He groaned.

"Hey, don't look at me. That's your phone."

Edward reluctantly got up to answer it.

"Hello?"

His face fell as the person on other line replied.

"Hello father."

Bella's heart fell as well when she realized that it was King Carlisle who was calling at this hour. It must be important. What the bloody hell did he want now?

"Yes, we are. Uh-huh. Yes, thank you. I know. Good-bye, sir."

Well, that was fast.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Bella asked as soon as Edward hung up.

"Nothing's wrong, quite the contrary actually."

"What do you mean?"

"My father finally agreed that the palace should release an official statement that we are dating. I asked him to do that after Jacob Black's stupid allegations were made public. He's been thinking it over ever since, and he finally agreed that it's the best way to counter Black's attack."

"Wow, does that mean he finally approves of us?" Bella asked with bated breath.

"I wouldn't go so far, but at least this is a step forward." He shrugged.

Bella's shoulders slumped in disappointment. She hated the King for what he was doing to them, to Edward most of all. How could he be so unsupportive of his own son?

"Hey," Edward came back to sit beside her and pulled her close, "Never mind my father right now. The important thing is that we're together."

Bella nodded against his chest.

"What do you think he'll do when he finds out that we've moved in together?"

"Well, I imagine he already knows. Felix usually reports everything back to him."

"Oh, I'd forgotten about Felix." Bella muttered. "Don't you ever feel creeped out knowing you're being followed all the time?"

"Not really. I guess it's because it's been this way my whole life. I don't actually know what it's like not being followed."

"That's…actually very sad." Bella joked.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up." Edward poked her making her laugh out loud.

"Wait, how would you feel about ditching your bodyguards for a day?" Bella asked suddenly.

"And how do you propose I do that?"

She grinned mischievously, "Just follow my lead."

She got up and walked to a nearby window, opened it and started talking in a tine loud enough so that Felix who was standing right outside their door could hear.

"Oh, you really don't feel like going out today? Well, alright then, I'll see you after classes."

When she was done she slowly closed the window and walked back to where Edward sat opened mouthed, confused as hell about what his crazy girlfriend was doing.

"What was that about?"

"That, my poor, unrebellious Prince, is about Felix letting his guard down once he thinks you're staying in for the day. I'll go out as if I'm heading to class and then you can sneak out and meet me somewhere close to campus. Then we'll have the entire day bodyguard free." Bella spoke assuredly.

"Uh, I don't think that's going to work, Bella. How am I going to sneak out exactly?"

"Through the window." Bella shrugged like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"I have to say Bella, that while sometimes I doubt your sanity, I think you're bloody brilliant."

Bella giggled, "I know. I should go get ready now. We don't want to waste any time, do we?"

"Nope, we certainly don't." He smiled.

To Edward's utter surprise, Bella's plan worked without a hitch. A few minutes after Bella walked out, Edward jumped out the bedroom window, since it was the one closest to the ground and he could actually fit through it. He met Bella near their campus and they spent the rest of the day doing nothing but spending time together.

It really didn't matter where they were to Edward but Bella was completely fixated on the idea of having him experience everything without the constraint of having someone watching all the time. She even bought him a cap and scarf so that no one would know who he was.

Lord help him, but he loved her for it.

When Bella was sure that Edward had had enough sightseeing for the day, they finally decided to head back home.

Edward wished he'd had a camera so that he could take a photo of Felix's face when they returned.

He looked so angry that he could spit bullets.

"Hey, Felix. Nice evening, isn't it?" Edward goaded him further. He was in a good mood and he wasn't going to let anything spoil it.

"Yes, Your Highness." Felix muttered.

Before Bella and Edward made their way inside, Felix's voice stopped them.

"Your Highness, there's an envelope that arrived for you a few minutes ago." He handed Edward an elegant envelope that was all too familiar to him.

"Thanks." He said.

They walked inside and closed the door behind them.

"What is it?" Bella asked as soon as they were alone.

"It's a letter from the Palace." Edward replied quietly.

"Well then open it." Bella urged him. She was nervous about what was in there and she wanted it over with.

Edward slowly tore the envelope open and extracted an equally elegant piece of paper.

Edward quickly read it over.

"Oh, well it could've been worse."

"What Edward? What could've been worse?" Bella asked, losing her patience.

"We've been invited to the Annual Black and White Masked Ball."

"Huh?"

"It's just a formal ball that my parents throw every year for family and friends. I had completely forgotten about it." He frowned.

"Well, we've managed through your birthday ball. I think we can manage through this one."

"Really? You don't mind going?" Edward asked. He thought she'd at least put up a fight after what happened last time.

"As long as you'll be there, then it's not a problem for me."

Edward smiled and pulled her close, "I guess we're going back to the palace then."

(A/N): OMG! The number of reviews for last chapter was overwhelming! Thank you guys so much! Keep it up! :D

A photo the cottage is available on my profile. It's just how I imagined it would look like.

Tell me what you think! :)