Be prepared for some The Princess Bride references. Sorry, not sorry. Big hugs all around. :)

Blind Ambition - Chapter Thirteen

"So, what's your game plan?" Emmett asked, nudging Edward's shoulder with his own and making his brother almost spill the drink in his hand.

"Game plan?" Edward returned, giving Emmett what he hoped passed as a confused look, since he really knew exactly what his brother meant.

"Yeah. Your plan with the doc. You have one, right?"

Edward shook his head slowly. "No, not really. She's my friend, and I…like that."

"You don't like that."

"You don't know what I like," Edward retorted with a frown.

"Yes, I do. You like Leah. And she likes you," Emmett argued, and Edward almost expected him to start quoting The Princess Bride and talk about "twoo wuv".

"It's complicated, Em."

"Sure it is. She's a hot doctor and you're a blind asshole, that part I get. What I don't get is why you aren't over there saving her from that douchebag who just bought her a shot."

Edward groaned, "Because I'm a blind asshole."

"Would you like me to point you in her general direction? You have been glued to this spot all night."

"Go," Edward sighed. "I'll follow."

Emmett took off across the bar with Edward following carefully in his wake. He could hear conversations floating around him as he followed his brother's shape, until he felt Emmett's hand on his shoulder and heard Leah's soft laugh. The smell of her perfume was intoxicating him all over again, he wasn't sure he would ever be used it.

"There you are!" she cried, and he felt her arm slip around his waist. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Yeah, I've been, uh, looking for you, too." He smirked down at her and wondered if she smiled or rolled her eyes.

As it turned out, she laughed and pressed her face to his shoulder, so he wrapped his own arm around her and pulled her close.

"Did he leave?" Edward asked quietly, and Leah nodded against him.

"They both did."

"Where are we?"

"Middle of the room, twenty feet from the bar," she told him.

Edward's arm slipped from around her and he licked his lips, "Okay. You see the door at the side of the bar?"

"Yep," she affirmed.

"Let's go," he whispered.

"You got it," Leah whispered back. She took his drink and he heard her set it down at a near table along with her own. Then, tentatively, she took his hand in her own and he let her lead him across the room. "What do we do when we get there?"

He laughed, "Open it."

She did as he said and found herself in a stairwell that let to the top of the building.

"The roof, huh?"

"You can see all of the city." Edward smiled and counted the steps until he got to the ledge, fifteen in all. He rested his hands on the concrete in front of him and listened.

"It's beautiful," she murmured from beside him.

After a moment, "Tell me about it?" he asked quietly.

"It's alive. The lights and the people…all of it. If you close your eyes you can hear it all. The music and people… you can smell the exhaust from the streets and just…everything."

She stopped then and turned to him, watching a small smile grow on his face.

"This is what it's like for you every day, isn't it?"

He shrugged. "Pretty much."

"There's so much- does it scare you?"

"Sometimes," Edward answered quietly. "But I can always find my peace." As he spoke, he lifted his hand slowly, so she lifted hers, too. They met in the space between their bodies and she pulled his to her cheek.

He smiled. "How did you know I wanted to do that?"

"I didn't. I just wanted you to."

Edward laughed and rubbed his thumb over her smooth skin. He wanted to take her face in both of his hands, to touch her with his fingertips like he had all of his family members. He wanted to put details the shape of her, to know her…but he didn't want to scare her off just yet.

"I don't think I've ever wanted to see someone as badly as I want to see you," he said softly. It was a long moment before she reacted with a quiet laugh and threw her arms around his neck.

When she pulled away, he did exactly what he told himself he wasn't going to do. Edward took a deep breath and framed Leah's face with his hands.

"Close your eyes," he managed to say. She did as he asked, and he felt her sigh under his touch. Very slowly, his thumb ran under her bottom lip, soft and full. He smiled. Then his fingers moved, over her eyebrows, the slope of her nose, her eyelids. She shuddered when he touched the hollow part under her ear and his smile grew to a full-blown grin.

"Stop smiling like that," she grumbled.

"I thought I told you to close your eyes!" he laughed.

"They are closed. I can just tell, you jerk."

"It's different when you're under my hands, isn't it," Edward asked with his lips close to her ear.

"I like it," she replied, opening her eyes and realizing just how close he was. Leah lifted her hand, but the door leading back into the bar flew open just as she did.

"Aw, c'mon, man!" Emmett cried, and Edward pulled away, glaring in his brother's direction. "I told you to get a game plan, not get my game plan!"

"The roof is your game plan?" Rosalie shook her head, and smacked her grinning husband. "Seriously? That worked for you once, Emmett Cullen. Once."

Leah laughed and took Edward's hand. "I think we were leaving, right?"

"Sure," he replied, squeezing her hand lightly. "Bye!" he called to his brother and sister-in-law as Leah led him back down the stairs and completely out of the bar.

"Where exactly are we going?" he asked once they were on the sidewalk.

"I don't know. The city is alive, right?"

Edward nodded.

"Let's go be alive then," she laughed, leaning up to kiss his cheek and wrap her hand around his elbow.

Half and hour later, they were in a dimly lit park on a rickety wooden bench: his arm stretched out behind her and her knees in his lap. Edward's glasses rested on the top of his hand, his copper hair illuminated by the street lamp closest to them.

He was laughing, telling a story about the time Emmett had convinced him to climb onto the roof and his mother had nearly had a heart attack at seeing her middle child so nonchalantly sitting on top of their house. Leah wondered if he'd always been so quiet and peaceful, if he'd always taken everything life had to throw at him with the attitude that it could only get better. She wanted to know so much.

But, even more than that, in that little moment, she wanted to kiss him. A lot.

"We should probably get going," she said when he'd finished.

Edward sighed and rested a hand on her knee, thumb rubbing circles over the denim she wore.

"You're probably right," he agreed as he stood and held out his hand. She took it, threading her fingers with his. "We can walk to my place from here, or do you need to go get your car?"

"No, I took a cab," she explained and Edward frowned. "Don't frown at me, I'm responsible!"

"Okay, okay," he muttered, thought about where he was, and then took off in the direction he knew would lead him to his building. They were quiet as they walked the short way to his apartment; he asked about streets and she read them and followed his directions. It wasn't until they were at his front door, did Edward finally think of something else to say.

"I'm, uh…I'm glad you came out tonight," he muttered nervously and looked down.

"Me too."

"I'll call you, if that's okay?"

"I don't know. Is that a line?" Leah laughed, and Edward shook his head.

"It isn't."

"Then it's okay." She stepped closer and, for the second time that night, let her lips brush against his cheek. "Goodnight, Edward."

"Goodnight," he replied, and felt the warmth of her body pulling away from him as her footsteps retreated.

Edward closed the door to his apartment and rested his head against it, sighing deeply.

"I should have kissed her," he muttered to himself. "I'm an idiot," he said, then threw open the door. Before he could take a step, though, he could already sense her presence.

"You should have kissed me," she whispered.

"I know."

"Why didn't you?"

"I'm an idiot," he repeated.

"Yeah, you are," Leah told him, as she took a small step forward and rested her hands on his chest. "Don't be an idiot, Edward."

He swallowed and took her face in his hands. "I won't be."

"Good," she sighed and lifted herself on her toes, just enough to press her lips to his. It was soft, quick, and just enough to leave her breathless.

He held her face and pressed his forehead against hers.

"Call me tomorrow?" she asked, as she rested her hands over his.

"No. I'll call you tonight," Edward replied quietly.

"Even better," she murmured, and her face broke into a grin as she slipped out of his reach, leaving him standing in the doorway and feeling completely giddy as she walked away.