A/N: Alo, friends. For anyone reading this on FicionPad, sorry about the missing chapter. I'm trying to figure out how to delete a chapter…

I was, as Jasper would say, in a mood and a funk. Was it possible to be in both a mood and a funk?

"It's ridiculous," I complained to Jasper for the billionth time. "Emmett's grown. Overgrown. He shouldn't need a babysitter. And Charlotte is being insane anyway. Even if Emmett screwed every bridesmaid in sight, how would that ruin her wedding? And Bella." Her name came out a lot more venomous than I intended. "Bella doesn't know when to keep her big nose out of everyone else's business. She's always trying to make everything so… nice."

Jasper took his eyes off the road to give me a withering stare. "Oh no. Not nice. Heaven forbid."

"You know what I mean."

"Actually, I have no idea what the hell you're talking about."

"She's just…" I got distracted. Every time I thought about Bella, I thought about waking up in the middle of the night when Bella rolled over from her side of the bed and come to rest with her head on my chest, her hand splayed low on my belly.

I was still mostly asleep when it happened. That had to be why I didn't think it was strange. It didn't feel strange to have her there in my arms. More than that, it felt right.

Nothing had felt so completely right in my world for a long time.

But I wasn't really awake. That was the was the thing with dreams. Every emotion was pure. Couldn't I compare the pure contentment of my dream to the pure terror of a nightmare? It didn't matter that it hadn't been a dream. It was to my brain. It had to be.

That was the only explanation for what I did then. I pulled her closer and pressed my knee up between her legs. She stirred, smiled, and burrowed closer to me, moving her head to my shoulder. Her breath was hot on my neck. It should have been uncomfortable, but rather than push her away, I brushed my lips against her forehead and drifted back to sleep.

"Dude. Are you blushing?"

My head snapped over to Jasper who was throwing me incredulous looks in between glances at the road.

If I hadn't been blushing, I was then. "No," I said anyway. "It's hot in here. You need to fix your damn a/c."

"There's nothing wrong with my a/c." He snapped his fingers and barked a loud laugh. "You know, I thought that's how it was, but Emmett told me I was crazy. He said you were the one who made us all swear we wouldn't sleep with her, and then-"

"Me? I'm not doing 's the problem. I said from the beginning Emmett is going to do something, and then-"

"You just said two minutes ago that Emmett isn't actually going to do anything." Jasper paused. "It's you. It's going to be you, isn't it? You want to. You want her."

"I don't," I said automatically. The words curdled on my tongue. They tasted awful. They were a damn lie.

I wanted her. I wanted her so bad I hadn't been able to think for three days. Since I woke up with her in my arms. Since the day she said she'd go to the wedding with my stupid brother.

"You're lying," Jasper said.

I sighed. "I said someone would. What does it matter? We all promised not to do anything about it if it happened."

"And you knew that promise was bullshit the minute we made it. If one of us wanted it, it was always going to happen."

"That's what I said! At the beginning of all this, before she moved in, that's exactly what I said."

"Not exactly, and cut the crap. We both know you don't do casual fucks." Jasper hesitated a beat. "Is it because of Alice?"

"Not this again."

"Yeah, yeah. I've heard it all before." Jasper shook his head. "No one is friends with their ex, let alone best friends. Especially with someone like Alice."

I rankled at that. "What the hell does that mean?" I demanded even though I knew damn well.

Jasper had the decency to look abashed. "Ah, hell. I didn't mean it like that."

"Oh, yes you did."

"Yeah," Jasper muttered. "You can't really argue with the fact she's… high maintenance, and not in the way Charlotte or her friend Rosalie are. Not to be crude, man, but why on earth would you put up with all that, from an ex-girlfriend no less, unless you were getting something in return."

I stared at him, incredulous. "That's not even crude, it's just plain ugly. You want to know what I get out of knowing Alice? Friendship. Yes, she's…. troubled, but so am I."

"Not in the same way."

"No. Not in the same way. That means she's not worth knowing?"

Jasper didn't answer that. We'd pulled into the shopping center where I was going to meet Alice. "Thanks for the ride," I said. I was even more irritated than before, and I was sick of being so angry. "You could get to know her. Then at least your judgment would have something less shallow behind it."

He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. "Yeah, okay." He shifted the car into park and turned it off.

"What are you doing?" It should have been obvious considering he was unbuckling his belt and getting out of the car.

"I'm inviting myself to lunch, obviously."

I stared. He stared calmly back.

"Okay," I said. "Let's do this."

~0~

My teeth were clenched so hard they ached.

Ever since the morning after the party, I'd been sticking to my own room. It wasn't hard. I went to the bar early, and I hung out with Alice more than usual.

But tonight was my night off, and hunger got the better of me. I wandered out of my room and immediately regretted it.

Emmett had his big, meaty hands wrapped around Bella's wrists. He was trying to pull her up off the sofa. "Come on, Belle of the ball. You're going to dance with me at the wedding, aren't ya?"

I paused in the hallway, watching as Bella's glare softened, and she let my brother pull her up and put his arms around her. "I can't dance," Bella said in a voice that suggested it wasn't the first time she'd said it.

Emmett grinned and put his hand to the small of her back, pulling her closer. Unnecessarily close. "Eh, that doesn't matter so much." He swayed them a little, and I felt my fingernails dig into the the flesh of my palms.

"Charlotte wants us all to swing dance," Bella said. She didn't try to move away from him. "This isn't a swing dance."

"I am well aware of that."

"Then what the heck are we doing?"

My brother waggled his eyebrows, and I felt like punching him. "I just thought we should get used to each other, since you have to keep all the girls' hands off me," he said. "And let's face it." He pulled away slightly and gestured to himself with his free hand. "That's going to be a hard job."

"I'm sure." Her tone was dry, and I relaxed minutely. Emmett was trying to be charming, but she wasn't charmed. Patient, but not charmed. "But what about the swing dancing?"

"I don't know how to swing dance."

"Well, I do," I said.

I had no idea what possessed me to do it, but before I knew it, I was in the middle of the living room, pulling Bella away from Emmett. She looked at me, her eyes as startled as I felt. I'd been the one to pull her to me, but for some reason, I was startled to find her so close. We stared at each other for a long beat.

God, yes, I wanted her. I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to scream at her for agreeing to go to the wedding with Emmett. I wanted to curse myself for not asking her first, even though that was ridiculous. She wasn't mine. She never had been.

But I wanted her to be.

I swallowed hard to clear the lump from my throat so I could speak. "I…" I took a deep breath, suddenly aware my brother was staring at me with a cocked eyebrow. "It's easy."

The next hour or so was spent teaching her the basics of swing dance. It was hell and heaven all at once. Heaven to press her close, hell to push her away as the steps demanded. She fumbled a little, but when she learned to trust me to lead, she was almost graceful as she moved with me.

Emmett helpfully put on Jump, Jive, and Wail. Bella grinned, apparently up for the challenge, and we put together the moves we'd been practicing ending with a twirl in and I bent her into a low dip. She was breathing hard. So was I. I was gasping in her spent breath.

So close.

I straightened up with her, not letting her go. "You can dance with me. The swing dance, I mean," I said, wanting to say something much much different. "At the wedding."

She blinked. She looked disconcerted. "Yeah. Yeah, okay."

A/N: Many thanks to barburella and songster! How are we doing out there, everyone?