A/N: Omg, we're back. Thanks for your patience, kids!

It took Bella two months to get her ducks in a row, and by that time, Edward was beginning to wonder if he'd overreacted. He'd spent a lot of time with Tanya and Bella now. He knew there was nothing romantic between them, knew it both consciously and subconsciously now. He knew it well enough that when he saw Tanya touch Bella, friendly touches, he didn't think twice.

He still thought once about it though, and that's what stopped him from calling the whole thing off. But because he knew she was making a huge sacrifice for him, Edward went out of his way to make the move easier.

To that end, Edward enlisted the help of his older brother. Emmett worked for an airline in Tennessee, and he could get last minute tickets at inexpensive rates. As a result, he didn't think it was a big deal to hop on a plane to come see his siblings. It didn't take much to get him to come help with the move, especially given that it meant he was finally going to meet his little brother's new girlfriend.

"It's not like you've never seen her before in your life," Edward said as they drove to Orange County. "You lived in Forks too."

"Pssshhh." Emmett waved a hand at him. "I was already a grown up. I didn't pay any attention to you high school kiddos. I remember Chief Swan because he had me arrested for underage drinking twice. You remember that?"

"Of course I remember that. I couldn't believe you finally found something that made Dad lose his shit. The three of us pulled a lot of crap in our childhood, and he was cool as a cucumber but you-you almost broke him."

"Ah, I did. I really did." Emmett chuckled. "Hey, I got my act together."

"At least they always had me and Alice."

Emmett punched Edward's arm. "And now look at you. Mom and Dad don't have to go through with the grand gesture they had planned to let you know it's okay if you're gay."

"Bella isn't the only girlfriend I've had."

"No, but she's the first one that isn't an obvious beard."

"I'm already regretting asking you for help."

"I know, right? It's like you haven't known me for twenty-seven years."

~0~

"Please. When am I going to have this chance again? I've got all these burly men around."

Emmett looked over his shoulder at Edward and then back at Bella. "You're talking about me and Jasper, right? It must be difficult having this as a boyfriend." He slung his arm over Edward's shoulders. "See, bro. It's a bad idea to let her know there are real men out there."

"Hey, Buffy." Bella tapped Emmett on the shoulders. "Try to concentrate. Less making fun of my boyfriend and more answering my question." She stretched out on the couch, currently on the lawn outside her new apartment. She pointed toward the open door. "Come on, please?"

Edward crossed his arms and grinned at his brother. "I'll let you real men handle this," he said, picking up a box and carrying it inside the apartment as his brothers carried the couch-and Bella-in behind him.

Bella didn't own all that much stuff. They were able to get her all moved in and relatively settled within the day.

"You guys are my favorites," Bella said. "And my favorites get the good stuff."

"Look at that. Pizza and wings," Emmett said, vaulting the couch to sit down.

"And…"

"Cookie pizza. Score," Jasper said, plopping down next to Emmett. "This almost makes moving worth it."

"Really?" Alice asked.

"No." Emmett, Jasper, and Edward said at the same time.

Bella grinned. "Well, anyway. Thanks, guys. Tanya and the others would have turned that into an all weekend debacle if they showed up at all."

Edward looped an arm around Bella's waist and drew Bella down onto his lap. "We're just going to add that to the Edward is a better boyfriend than Tanya list."

She twisted her head to look at him. "Who's keeping track?"

"I am."

"Ah." She kissed the tip of his nose. "You want pepperoni, olives, and mushrooms, or canadian bacon, regular bacon, and pineapple?"

"Pepperoni."

"Ah, see. That's a point in Tanya's column. Who doesn't go for the bacon?"

"Are they always like this?" Emmett asked, looking at Jasper.

"They have two modes. They're either cute as buttons or circling each other with machetes drawn."

Bella pointed to herself. "Always cute as a button."

"Who can argue with that?" Emmett nodded at Edward. "What are you doing with my kid brother, anyway?"

"Oh, Emmett." Bella licked Edward's cheek, wrapping her arms around his neck. "You don't want to ask that question."

"Man, don't make me nauseous when there's a pizza feast in front of me." Emmett took a huge bite. "Anyway. Check this out." He picked up the remote control to the TV. "I hooked up all your systems."

"Obviously the most important part of any move," Edward said, taking the plate that Bella offered him.

They settled down to inhaling their pizza. At some point, after Bella offered him a bite of her bacon pizza to prove how superior it was to the pepperoni, Edward caught his brother staring. He looked amused. Edward quirked his eyebrow in question, and his brother tilted his head in a mocking gesture. Edward belatedly realized it hadn't been that long ago he'd teased his big brother and his wife Rosalie for being a disgustingly handsy couple, and here he was eating his dinner with his girlfriend in his lap.

Edward was distracted from that line of thought when Bella bent her head, nuzzling her nose at his neck. "Mmmm."

The vibration of her hum sent a shiver down his spine. "What are you doing, baby?" he murmured so only she could hear.

"You smell amazing."

He laughed. "Honey, we've been moving all your crap all day. I'm sweaty and disgusting."

"Hey, eau de sweaty man does something for me. It's primal or something."

Edward shivered again. "Should I throw all these people out of your place?"

"This is so sad. Don't change the channel, Emmett," Alice said.

Reluctantly, Edward stopped himself from making out with his girlfriend. He looked with the rest of them over to the news report on the TV.

A young woman had been found, beaten, raped, and murdered a few days before. She had been identified as a twenty-year-old prostitute.

Emmett, who didn't know how Bella paid her bills, huffed. "That's sad, man, but not exactly unexpected, huh?"

Edward felt Bella stiffen in his arms.

"What do you mean?" Alice said, oblivious to the shift in the atmosphere.

"Just that they put themselves out there with all the crazy, you know?" Emmett shrugged, serving himself another wing. "It sucks, but it's not a surprise."

Edward rubbed Bella's back, but she shrugged him off. "So what, it doesn't matter?"

"Didn't say that," Emmett said, still cheerful. "I'm just saying, murder is inevitable, right? No such thing as a perfect society."

"Emmett," Edward tried, but his brother wasn't listening.

"So if murder, rape, all that is inevitable, pick a job where all that is less likely."

Edward winced. He wasn't even remotely surprised when Bella got up and walked out of the room. "Fuck," he said under his breath when she was out of earshot.

Emmett blinked, confused. "Dude. Is she mad?"

"Yeah, just...don't worry about it," Edward said, pushing himself to his feet and heading after her.

Bella was storming around her room, unpacking boxes with much more ferocity than was necessary. Edward watched her for a minute, but she didn't acknowledge his presence.

"You can't be mad at him. He doesn't know."

It was the wrong thing to say. She turned to glare at him with a look so fierce, he shivered, chilled to the bone. "You think I'm angry because he doesn't know not to speak his mind because of what I do?"

In hindsight, he could see clearly that it had been the wrong thing to say, and he could have kicked himself. "Bella, he's like everyone else. He just hasn't taken the time to think about what he's saying. He doesn't think about social injustices unless they're biting him on the ass. He just doesn't. He's the culmination of our culture and our society, just like you and I are. We fight it. He doesn't."

"Oh, was that what you were doing, sitting there, not saying a word? That was you fighting it?"

Edward ran a hand over his eyes. "What do you want me to say to him? He's not going to understand. He's not going to get that he shouldn't have said those things about that girl. The way he sees the world makes sense to him."

"And what he said makes sense to you."

"You know what? Yeah. Yes, it does." Irritated, Edward picked a fight he knew damn well he shouldn't. "You know what I think every time I hear a news story like that? I'm terrified next time it'll be you. Every time."

She stared at him. "You think he's right? That I'm opening myself up to something like that?"

"Oh, give me a break, Bella. There's the way the world should be and the way the world actually works." He began to pace the room, running a hand through his hair. "The way the world should be is that all porn should be like yours-empowering. You're strong and gorgeous and sexy. That should be celebrated, okay?

"But the way the world actually is, a lot of porn is degrading, and a lot of it isn't only disrespectful toward women, it's downright violent."

"You think you're telling me something I don't know?"

"What I'm telling you is that I'm like any other person out there. I've seen a lot of that porn. A lot. And you know what? I fucking liked it." He shook his head hard. Since he'd been with Bella, it had struck him often how ashamed he was, and right then, he needed her to understand. "The women I've been with...Fuck, Bella, you know I'd die before I treated a woman like that. I know the difference between fantasy and reality. But at the same time, I did...enjoy those fantasies. I got off on that shit. When the women were nameless bodies, I got off to it." He took her by the arms, giving her a little shake. "Don't you get it? To other guys, to the people who've seen you, you're one of the nameless women."

Her eyes searched his, as though she wasn't sure at first how to react, but then they hardened. "So that's what you think? You think if something happens to me, it'll be because I was asking for it. So what? If you ran into the woman, the real live woman, who made the degrading porn, what would you do? Would you beat the shit out of them?"

"No. I wouldn't," he said, his voice as hard as her glare. "But you know damn well that a lot of guys out there would."

"So one of those guys finds me and beats me and rapes me, that's not because he's an asshole. It's because I chose to do this."

"That's not what I said."

"That is what you're saying." She yanked out of his grip and moved away from him. "For fuck's sake, Edward. You're supposed to be a feminist. This is rape culture 101. You've reblogged shit like this. It shouldn't matter if I'm running around naked, waving my tits in every guy's face. I don't deserve to be raped. That girl didn't deserve to be raped and murdered. You're not supposed to tell me it's because of what either of us chose to do to make a living or what we were wearing or weren't wearing. You're supposed to say the motherfucker who did that was an asshole. Period. End of sentence."

"Reblogging a fucking Tumblr post and living it are two different things."

Bella pressed her lips into a thin line, and her eyes went glassy. All Edward's irritation drained away, and his heart twisted. He felt low as a cockroach realizing he'd made her cry. He took a step toward her, but she twisted away.

"I think you should go home now. Thanks for your help."

"Bella-"

"Please tell Emmett it was nice to meet him. If I don't see him before he has to leave tomorrow, tell him to have a good flight." She grabbed a small box off the dresser and disappeared into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

"Fuck." Edward rubbed the back of his head, trying to figure out what to do.

After a minute, he headed back out to the living room. His siblings were studiously staring forward at the television, the room awkwardly silent. Emmett chanced a glance in his direction, and when he saw Edward was alone, he looked relieved. Contrite but relieved. "Dude, I didn't mean to start anything."

Edward grunted, but he sat down in the same chair he had been just twenty minutes before. "It's a long story, Em." He rubbed his hands together, still considering his options. "You think you guys can do me a favor? Go home." His lips quirked downward. "I'm sure I'll be right behind you."

"Damn, man. What did-"

"Emmett, come on." Jasper stood up and clapped Emmett on the shoulder. "I'll fill you in on the way home." He looked up for permission, and Edward nodded. He hadn't had any intention of keeping it a secret from his brother longterm anyway.

In another few minutes, Jasper, Alice, and Emmett were gone. Edward picked up the pizza mess as he tried to figure out what he was going to say.

"I thought I asked you to leave."

Edward turned around to find Bella staring at him. Her arms were crossed over her chest, her expression and voice much more tired than furious. He had to swallow down the lump in his throat. She looked, more than anything, vulnerable right then, and he wondered just how badly he'd wounded her.

"You did ask me to leave," Edward said, taking a careful step toward her. "But I don't think I will. This is your first night alone in your new apartment. I thought maybe you'd want some company."

At that, her eyes sparked and narrowed. "Well, you think wrong. I don't want your company right now."

But despite her words, as he took another step and then a third toward her, she didn't move. When he took her hand, she didn't protest. Edward led her into the living room and tugged her down beside him on the couch. Angling his body toward her, he took both her hands in his.

"I'm sorry," he said and kissed her fingertips. "It was a stupid thing to say, and I shouldn't have said it. I know better than to say that shit out loud even if I do think it sometimes. You were right. It doesn't matter. Nothing that girl did justifies her being hurt that way." He squeezed her hands. "But honey, I'm half-right too."

She made to pull away from him, but he held her fast. "Bella, listen. I love you."

Her eyes went wide, and she stopped trying to tug her hands out of his grip. Edward swallowed hard and spoke again, his voice soft. "I love you, and I'm terrified for you. The world is what it is, and I want it to change. I want it to change as much as you do, but until it does, I can't help being scared for you. I love you, and it makes me say things without thinking sometimes."

She stared at him, her lips working, as though she wanted to say too many things. Finally, she chuffed and threw her arms around his neck, squeezing tightly. Edward, taken aback, wrapped his arms around her. He closed his eyes, just relieved to be holding her again.

"God damn you, Edward Cullen," she muttered, her voice shaky. "You're not supposed to say that for the first time in the middle of something like this."

He laughed, rubbing her back. "I told you. It makes me say stupid things or at least, it makes me say the right things at stupid times."

"And what you said before was still a stupid thing to say. Most rapes are committed by someone the victim knows. And most murders are too, so it doesn't even make rational sense."

He smiled and pulled back, taking her face in his hands. "I know that." He sighed and kissed her, a soft kiss, testing the waters. "I do love you, Bella. I love you so much it makes me crazy sometimes."

Her lips curved up though he could tell she tried to fight it. When he kissed her again, though, she melted into him, kissing him back. Then she kissed him once. Twice. She giggled and kissed him again. That kiss turned slow and serious. Her finger traced his hairline at the back of his neck.

After a blissful few minutes of this, she pulled back with a sigh and stroked his cheek, looking on him with adoring but heavy eyes. "I love you too. That's why it hurts so much worse when you say things like that."

He pressed her hand against his cheek and then brought it to his lips, kissing her palm. "I know. I shouldn't have said. And I shouldn't have let Emmett say it either."

Bella grimaced. "Fuck, I made a bad impression on your brother, didn't I?"

"With Emmett?" Edward traced his fingers along her spine, his eyes on her lips. "Don't worry about that. We'll go to LA tomorrow, and he won't even mention it. Em's great that way. Everything just rolls right off his back. Plus you got him pizza and wings. He'll officially love you forever."

"We'll go to LA, huh?" Bella said, her eyes glinting with mischief. "Are you inviting yourself to stay the night, Edward Cullen?"

He hummed, letting his fingers skim down to her thigh. He kissed her cheek. "Well, we have this apartment to christen." He ducked her head and sucked a little bit at her neck. "And I heard you had a thing for filthy, sweaty men."

"Filthy, sweaty you." She moved to straddle him in one smooth motion. "It's a sickness," she said, and, taking his face between her hands, she kissed him.

Edward reached between them as he kissed her back, working to get her out of her pants as quickly as possible. He did love her, this strong, passionate woman. Ups and downs, heavy moments and times like these, when he was about as giddy as a schoolboy, he loved her.

"Edward," she said, between kisses. Her breath fell hot on his lips. "I love you too."

A/N: Many thanks to myonlyheroin, barburella (who will have you know that she is NOT a bacon slut), and songster.

SO. How you doing, kids?