A/N: Hello, lovelies. Okay, so, Long Distance peeps… I'm ⅔ done with the chapter, but it takes concentration I don't have right now. I have half a day off work tomorrow so I'm hoping to get 'er done. Thanks for your patience.

Now onto THIS fic!

Edward stayed over the night before the opening of Bella and Tanya's restaurant. Typically, he didn't acknowledge four in the morning existed unless he hadn't gone to bed yet, but he'd make an exception for his wanton witch.

Of course, he didn't have to make it easy.

"Edward. You have to let me go."

"Uh-uh," Edward mumbled, burying his nose in her hair at the back of her head and tightening his arms around her. "Don't wanna."

She reached behind her, tickling his sides. Edward chortled but held on stubbornly. That ended predictably with them rolling and writhing until they were both hot and bothered. When that situation resolved itself some twenty minutes later, they lay in bed beside each other, panting and sticky.

Bella groaned. "Okay. Now I have to shower."

"Hold on," Edward said, stretching as he got to his feet. "I'll come with you."

"Uh, stud. Not that your prowess isn't impressive, but I have a restaurant to open."

He slung an arm around her waist and pulled her onto his lap. "I meant to get clean, not dirtier. We don't have time to take separate showers."

Bella twisted a bit to look at him. He had to laugh because she looked so shocked. "I told you I wanted to help," he said.

"Well, yeah, but you can come later. There's no need for you to be there so early."

He kissed her cheek. "Oh, no. I'm coming with you. I want to be there."

Her eyebrows shot up. "All day?"

"Yeah, of course." He tightened his arms around her. "You're going to be there all day, and I want to be there for you."

She took his face between her hands, her eyes intense on his. She stroked her thumbs along his cheek bones and up under his eyes. She kissed him and kissed him again.

~0~

"Jesus Christ, Bella. Are you trying to kill me? You're late." Tanya put a towel in her hand. "Clean something. And you." Tanya pointed her finger in Edward's face. "I swear to God if I find you two in the supply closet…"

Edward held his hands up in a placating gesture. "Put me to work, Tanya."

She glared at him for another second before she relented. "Can you please inventory the fridge? I know we did it three times yesterday, but-"

"I'm on it."

He knew Tanya was just nervous. There had been a number of setbacks not the least of which was the majority of the staff abandoning them as opening day was pushed back. No one could blame them-if they couldn't work, they couldn't get paid. James was the only one who remained of the original staff.

Too bad, Edward had thought privately. James irritated the ever-loving fuck out of him. The man thought he was a stud when he really didn't have much to offer. On top of that, he was woefully ignorant and tactless to boot.

"Hey, man," James said when they were alone in the back, sorting dishes for the expected lunch time rush.

"Hey," Edward said.

"So... your woman's bi, huh?"

Edward's defenses prickled, but he kept his tone steady when he answered. "Your boss is bi, yes."

"Man." James huffed and shook his head. "That's not something I would put up with in my woman. That kind of crap."

Edward stopped what he was doing to stare at the other man. "That kind of crap?"

"Bisexuals," he said in a tone that suggested he thought they were bros. "It's like...shit or get off the pot, right? Be gay or be straight. Shit or get off the pot, for fuck's sake. It's a dick move, if you ask me. They just want to have their cake and eat it too."

Edward counted to ten and reminded himself why this kind of thinking was common. "She's not gay and she's not straight. She's bi. It's a normal part of the spectrum, and if you want to know the truth, it gets a lot more complicated than that." He shrugged and got back to taking down stacks of dishes and setting them on James's cart.

"Come on. You think she doesn't cheat on you?"

"Why? Because she's bi?"

"If she likes both and you're not a woman…"

"Man. We don't have time to unwind how fucked up your logic is."

"You know what I think? I think a woman thinks she's bi just hasn't been fucked right. You do it right, she's going to forget all about girls."

Edward slammed his fist down on the counter, making the dishes rattle. "Hey. You are so far out of line right now I don't know whether to punch you or fire you."

James raised his hands, looking amused. "Didn't mean to step on your toes. You think you're satisfying your woman, more power to you."

Edward clenched his jaw. "The woman you're talking about is your boss, and this isn't an appropriate conversation for the workplace. Now it's a busy day, and I'm not going to leave Bella shorthanded because you're a fucking idiot." He took a deep breath. "I remember being your age and stupid, so you get one chance. I hear you talking like that about Bella or anyone else, it's your ass, get it?"

"Hey, man. Whatever." James took his cart of dishes and headed for the front.

~0~

Many, many hours later, the front door was locked, and the nighttime staff was finishing the clean up. When that was done, Tanya and Bella sent their staff home with profuse thanks and then turned to each other. They both squealed in that way only excited women could and hugged, both of them bouncing as though they were little children. When Tanya released her, Bella turned to Edward, and he swooped her up into his arms, spinning her around

"Proud of you, baby," he said, setting her down and kissing her neck. He gathered her closer, tucking her against his side, but he looked at Tanya with a smile. "I'm proud of both of you. This place seems like a hit."

"We got through the day with relatively few disasters," Bella said.

"Relatively." Tanya frowned.

"So you couldn't make any smoothies that included bananas. It's a minor detail," Edward said, reaching over to clap Tanya on the shoulder. "No one cared that much."

"Yeah, yeah." She looked at Bella. "You tell him about Sunday?"

"Sunday?" Edward asked.

Bella looked up at him with sleepy eyes. "Tanya is insane. Instead of understanding that she's going to want to sleep all day Sunday, when we're closed, she wants to throw a private party." She yawned. "Alice and Jasper are invited too."

"Sounds like a good time. Can I bring meat?"

Bella smacked his chest, and he chuckled, leaning in to kiss her hair.

"Okay then. I'm going home. All alone. To my empty bed," Tanya said, fetching her purse from the tiny office and handing Bella hers. "You two have fun."

Edward drove to Bella's place and they walked, hand in hand, to the door. Inside, he tugged her to him and kissed her like he'd wanted to all day. It was hard to be so close to her and not kiss her-not that she wouldn't have welcomed it, but they'd both been so busy.

He hadn't meant it to be such a thorough kiss, but the woman was addicting. Would he ever get enough of the little sighs she muffled against his lips? He loved the feel of her against him and the way her hands moved, sending shivers down his spine.

When he moved to kiss her chin and the side of her mouth, she looped her arms around his neck. "Edward?"

"Hmm?" he asked, sleepy and distracted by the taste of her skin.

"You're not actually up for this, are you? We smell like tempeh and chickpeas. And I think my feet are actually going to fall off."

He chuckled and ducked his head to skim his nose along her neck. "You smell delicious." He straightened up and nipped at her lips. "No, of course I'm not up for this. I'm not built to stand on my feet all day. For god's sake, woman. I have an office job for a reason."

They both laughed. She tugged at his shirt, helping him take it off. "Yeah, it's going to kick my ass for a while."

He unbuttoned her jeans and helped her balance while she slipped them off. "You can't keep at this pace forever."

"I know. Tanya and I figure we'll both come in until we're sure things are running smoothly - hopefully a week or so. Then she'll take the morning shift, and I'll take the evening or vice versa. We'll overlap in the middle." Bella scratched her fingers through his hair as he unbuttoned her shirt. "Then hopefully we'll start to trust one of those college kids enough to make them a manager, and we'll have a little breathing room."

"Oh, the fresh-faced college kids." Edward handed her pajamas over and stripped down to his boxers. "Amber seems competent. And Mary. Benjamin maybe too. But not James."

"He has his strong points. As a potential leader, anyway."

Edward grunted, pulling her down into bed with him. "Well, it's too early to know, I suppose."

Bella yawned, snuggling up against him. Just as quickly, she gasped and pulled back. "Edward. Don't you work tomorrow?"

He'd taken the day off to be with her, but only the one. "Yeah." He kissed the tip of her nose. "Don't worry about me, Bella. I'm going to wake up at some ungodly time in the morning, and I'll be out of the house before you wake up."

Bella tsked, caressing his face. "You're too good to me sometimes." She kissed him. "You know what they say about karma, Cullen. It'll come back to you.."

~0~

Edward usually left to go see Bella directly from work on Friday evenings, but that night, she asked him to bring a bag she'd left at his apartment. Edward jaunted up the stairs and stopped short when the door opened a crack before he touched it. He balled his fists at his side, but then he saw two familiar eyes peering out.

"Bella," he said in relieved admonishment. Then, when he pushed the door all the way open, "Bella," he said, his voice low and gravelly.

His girlfriend stood in his entryway in a pleated skirt, knee high socks, and mary-janes. Her hair was up in a ponytail, her face devoid of all but the simplest makeup. Such a pretty little schoolgirl, Edward stepped inside the doorway and slammed the door shut before anyone could see her and get the wrong idea.

For a few seconds, he could only gape at her. "I hope you're not wearing that to the party," he said when he could speak again. He winced. It wasn't what he'd wanted to say.

Bella's lip quirked. "The party that's on Sunday, two days from today?" She stood on her tiptoes, looping her arms around his neck, and kissed him. "No. This is for you."

"I require a costume?" He found the soft skin of her upper thigh and had to stop his eyes from rolling back in his head. "What if I don't have a schoolgirl fetish?"

"Everyone has a schoolgirl fetish." She hitched her left leg up at his waist and pulled him with her as she leaned back against the wall.

Edward pressed his body against hers, hiking up her skirt as he kissed her with gusto. "Oh, god." He pulled back enough that he could look her in the eyes. "Are you not wearing any underwear?"

She waggled her eyebrows at him, grinning devilishly. "Turns out everyone also has a naughty schoolgirl fantasy."

"Well, if I didn't, I do now. Christ." Edward attacked her neck, nipping and kissing until she squeaked with feel of it, her fingers pressing into his back. "Is this what you meant when you said it would come back to me?"

Bella hummed, running her hands up and down his sides and around to his ass. "I've been an inattentive girlfriend this week, and you've been good to me." She pulled his head up so she could nuzzle his nose with hers. "I love you, and I like making you happy."

"Ah, witch." He took her face in his hands and kissed her more slowly then-hot, long kisses that drew out tiny whimpers. "I'm very, very happy."

"Right now?" she asked.

"With you," he answered, and then he tossed her over his shoulder and took her to his room. There, he laid her down on the bed and got inside her as quickly as he could manage. He fucked her with her legs in the air, her knee high socks and mary-janes still on.

~0~

"Good. You made it."

Edward winked at Tanya as he ushered Bella through the door, his hand at the small of her back. "Wouldn't miss this for the world."

"Uh huh. In other words, Bella put an embargo on sex long enough to please me." Tanya screwed her face up. "Wait. That wasn't what I meant."

Bella tilted her head. "Have you been drinking already?"

"Eh." Tanya held up her thumb and forefinger, making the space between them slight.

"Oooooh. Is this the boyfriend I keep missing?"

Edward turned as a strange looking man with wild eyes and straggly blond hair stepped to Bella's side. He pulled her into a tight hug and, upon releasing her, looked at her expectantly.

"Edward, this is Alistair. We've been friends since sophomore year of college. Alistair, this is my Edward." Bella patted his chest in that affectionate, possessive way.

"Not an ex-boyfriend, right?" Edward asked, only half kidding as he shook the other man's hand.

Alistair's grin spread wide, and he shook Edward's hand emphatically. "Not an ex-boyfriend. Don't worry." He winked. "You won't have to make her move again or anything like that."

Edward's smile faltered, and Alistair raised his hand in a placating gesture. "Just teasing." He gave Edward's arm a guy-punch and grinned again. "It's hard to be a vanilla in a neapolitan and chocolate chip cookie dough world." He extended his hand, palm up, toward Edward. "How about a dance?"

The middle of the floor had been cleared of tables and chairs. Many of Bella and Tanya's friends were, indeed, dancing. Edward raised his eyebrows, looking from Bella to Alistair and back. He wasn't sure how he felt about the offer. He knew a lot of people here were gay or bisexual or otherwise not at the straight end of the spectrum.

Bella laughed and rubbed his back. "Don't worry. Alistair is asexual. I promise he doesn't want you."

"Yeah, you think you're out of your element, imagine being me." Alistair started pointing randomly at the gathered guests. "Neapolitan, baseball crunch, pralines and cream." He pointed at himself. "And I don't even like dessert!" He reached out, taking Edward's hand. "But I do know a pretty boy when I see one, and I like dancing."

Amused, Edward let Alistair lead him out onto the dance floor.

When they were so hot Edward's glasses fogged up, Alistair shook Edward's hand again, thanked him for being a good sport and being such a good dancer, he made him look good, and sent him on his merry way. Edward found Bella at a booth with Alice and Jasper.

"Oh good," he said as he plopped down in the seat beside Bella. "You made it."

"So," Alice said, leaning with her elbows on the table and her chin propped on her folded hands. "Discovering new and exciting things about your sexuality, little brother?"

Edward smirked at his sister and turned to plant a big smooch on his girlfriend's cheek. "I'm Bella-sexual, thanks."

"That's pretty kinky, Cullen. Have you told your parents yet?" Bella tickled his side, her smile wide and happy. "This isn't the kind of thing parents want for their precious baby boys."

"Bella, Bella, Bella. My witch." He grabbed her around the waist, pulling her even closer to him. "If they don't love you immediately, just cast a spell on them like you did with me."

Across from them, Jasper whistled. He leaned down to speak to Alice. "Don't look now, sugar, but I think your brother was replaced by an alien. The boy is gone."

Edward just flashed a goofy grin at his friend and kissed Bella's cheek again.

He was over the moon happy, and he couldn't find it in him to give a fuck if he looked like the world's biggest goofball.

A/N: SO. That was a drama free chapter, eh?

Many thanks to Barburella and songster. And thanks to all of you! Have a fabulous weekend.