TEAM FOREVER

Disclaimer: The Cullens, the Swans, and most of the characters mentioned in the story that are known from Stephanie Meyer's beloved Twilight Saga, are all hers and hers alone. I neither have nor wish to pass them off as mine. I do appreciate the fact that she did bring them to life and allows us to play with them in our imaginations. The only thing I will claim is the current storyline.

My stories are being beta'd by dowlingnana and she is doing an awesome job. Thanks so much.

Edward made all of the arrangements for a late night dinner on one of the many riverboats that rode the waves up and down the Seine. He wanted it to be special and a beginning to show Bella how much he cared about her. And, he made special arrangements for once they got to London and she was through working for the day. From what Bella had told him the plan was to stay overnight in London and then return home. Have a few days to relax and work further on the plans for the L. A. gallery to get underway before heading back to the studio for filming the next stage of the show.

CHAPTER 15: HOPING TO MAKE HEADWAY

After Bella had completed her business at the gallery by giving her final approval concerning the way her manager had handled everything with the displaying, the advertising of the event and the way the information presented the artist and the way the refreshments were being offered as well as what was being offered. Everything was in place and the way that Bella wanted things done, so, she signed off on everything.

Then the way she handled the artist to help soothe his nerves and preparing him for the meet and greet that was necessary while displaying his pieces. It did take some time and effort, but, Bella did finally get him to laughing and responding to what she was telling him. She offered advice as to how to handle the pressure of the evening and let him know that she would be there standing by side him as everyone arrived. That bit of information seemed to reassure him more than anything else.

From there she went shopping, but, the type of shopping she was doing totally surprised Edward as he had expected to be hauled from one fashion house to another. That wasn't the case with his Isabella, though, she went into furniture stores, antique shops, fabric shops and others involved in the same line of decorating. But, never once did she ask to speak or want to take advice from a professional decorator as it seemed she had something in mind, herself.

Edward followed along the whole time more or less in a bit of a daze amazed that she wasn't going for clothes. He knew Alice and Rosalie would have been all over something like that in a heartbeat, but, not Bella.

And the biggest surprise was that she didn't buy anything at any of the places they visited. She roamed, looked and asked questions, but, never bought anything.

With all of the planned business taken care of Bella and Edward returned back to their hotel suite for a relaxing afternoon before getting ready for attending the showing at the gallery and then dinner afterwards. It had been arranged that their luggage would be sent on to the airport and checked for their upcoming flight to London at two in the morning once they checked out of the hotel and headed to the showing. They had to be at the airport by one thirty to be able to catch their flight on time. That gave Edward plenty of time to romance his lady for a short time before arriving at their next destination.

They had to be ready and at the gallery by seven thirty and it was three right now as they entered the suite. Bella mentioned that she was going to check her email on her laptop and she suggested to Edward that he take the opportunity to get some rest 'on the bed' while he had the chance.

"After you get through with that, what are you going to do?" He asked her.

"I am going to take my own suggestion and get some rest as well since it is going to be a long night." She answered his question in an absent minded manner.

Edward took the hint from her lack of attention and headed back to the master bedroom. He thought better of trying to hold an intelligent conversation with her due to how she had answered the last question. Her mind wasn't on him, but, business, so, she was shutting everyone and everything else out and entering her own space bubble. It didn't take long for Edward to notice that once she does that; anything interrupting from outside that particular area, annoyed the hell out of her and she got fighting mad. That wasn't the mood he was going for over the next few hours, especially, after the showing tonight when he took her to dinner. This whole outing tonight was the beginning of his war to show her how much he cared for her and to so winning her affection. He was fighting for a dream of a lifetime with this one woman.

He settled on the bed and let his mind begin to wander back in time to before there had been an Isabella, the time Isabella came into his life, the beginning of the desire to keep Isabella in his life, the enjoyment they seemed to share when together and planning how to continue moving forwards to get her to want to stay married for beyond ever, if, should a time and place exist.

It was as the thoughts were running through his mind that he never realized that they were becoming slower or fuzzier as he relaxed; finally as he drifted off into a peaceful sleep that his body had been crying out for all day after being confined to that torture rack referred to as a chaise lounge. So, as he sank deeper and deeper asleep he never felt the bed dip on the other side as Bella climbed into bed after spending about twenty minutes dealing with her email responses. She wanted to get some rest in preparation for a long tension filled night that was coming up. But, before settling completely she first set the alarm on her cell phone for five thirty in case they ended up sleeping that long. Once settled it didn't take long for her to fall into a deep sleep.

Both the man and woman lying together on the bed had a rude awakening with the shrill sound of the alarm going off and jarring them from their slumber. But, that wasn't as surprising to them as was how the position they found themselves in. Edward had sometime during his sleep reached out and gathered Bella close to him. And, she had sometime during her sleep accepted the gesture by allowing and then rested her head upon his chest. Then as full realization hit the minds of both persons they nearly jumped across the room in different directions.

Both began apologizing to each other as they quickly starting moving to gather their clothing to get ready for the showing. Bella did take the time to turn off the still blaring alarm that had been constantly going during their time trying to cope with the emotions that were running rampant throughout their minds and bodies. Even as they were still apologizing before Edward left the room to use the bathroom in another bedroom in the suite, neither one knew exactly what they were apologizing for.

As they each did go their own way to get ready, the tension between them started raising its ugly head. And, as they met in the living area both were determined to not let it ruin anything about the evening. They grabbed a cab and headed to the gallery then began to roam around the room for a final check as the first guests began to arrive and it kept growing. Without realizing it as the evening wore on they both did begin to relax and become comfortable with one another again; the tension was gone completely by the time they left for dinner.

As the showing came to an end and a very exhilarated artist was bouncing around from the excitement of have sold quite a few of his paintings and being on the receiving end of many high praises, Edward patiently waited for Bella to conclude her talk with her manager. Finally they were finished talking and she walked straight to Edward who held the door open and led her to a waiting taxi.

Arriving at the dock where the dinner boats load and unload their passengers, Edward pays the taxi driver and assists Bella in exiting the vehicle. He leads them towards the boat at the far end of the pier and once again helps her to board. The purser waiting to greet all of the diners and have them escorted to the correct tables recognizes Edward and also, Bella. He greets both with enthusiasm by name and then snapping his fingers for a server to show them to their reserved table it doesn't take long to be seated and served.

"Hope you don't mind that I made these arrangements and ordered our dinner ahead of time. I thought it would save time since we do have a flight to catch a little later." Edward explains with a bit of hesitancy creeping into his voice.

"Not at all, I think it was very thoughtful of you." She answers with a gentle smile.

As their meal progresses, the conversation flowed back and forth, mostly about each of their businesses. Edward talking about an upcoming movie he was scheduled to begin after he got through with his commitment to Team Challenge. Bella discussed things that were involved in running her galleries. Each found what the other had to say interesting and brought quite a few questions to mind as the evening continue wearing on. Then suddenly it was time to leave. Each felt like they had just begun to eat when the server presented Edward with the check.

Edward paid the check and they exited to find a taxi waiting to take them to the airport. It took about forty five minutes to get there, check in, go through security and then arrive at the appropriate gate. But, they didn't even get a chance to decide to go into the first class lounge before boarding instructions were called. First class passengers were boarded first along with any mothers traveling with small children and the passengers that had a disability of some kind. Once all of these were seated then the rest of the passengers were loaded and the gate arm began retracting while the hatchway was closed then locked into place.

As the plane taxied for its position to take off, the flight attendants explained the necessary safety procedures and showing where the emergency exits were located in the event they might be needed. It wasn't long before they were in the air for the short flight to London and then bed. Edward knew that he definitely wasn't going to sleep on another torture rack. That had been a first and it was definitely the last.

As the plane reached its cruising level Edward, the same as Bella, relaxed and pulled out some reading materials. After a bit of time Bella asked, "What are you reading so intently?"

"I'm going over the script for the upcoming movie I told you about at dinner. It takes time to learn the script from start to finish, but, it takes even more time and effort to get in the right frame of mind. I feel that a good actor will learn his character by trying to get into his mind, learn what his reaction and emotions would be to certain situations or circumstances; that way you can make him more of a person that people understand and breathe honest life into him. So, I study my character to understand him.

"Does that make sense to you?" he asked as he finished explaining how he felt about each role he took on. Then he asked her, "What are you looking at?"

"I have to say that your explanation of how you attack a character does make sense. I have always felt that you made them believable each time I saw one of your movies.

"And as to what I'm looking over is nothing more than the plans for the showing coming up in London in a few days."

"Damn, is this something that we need to be present for?"

"No. I have a good manager that is very experienced at this kind of thing; a lot more so than the one in Paris. The one in Paris is fairly new to the job. But, if we did stay over in London it wouldn't give us much time to return to L. A. and get any sort of rest before going back to filming the show.

"It'll be better to stay with our original plan. This is the only change I felt was necessary to make since I was so close."

All Edward did was nod his head in understanding and they both went back to what they were doing. It wasn't long after that when the captain announced they would be landing at Heathrow and they began putting their stuff away in preparation to disembark.

Upon landing and collecting all of their carryon items, Edward and Bella got off, headed to collect their baggage and then go through customs. Then exiting the airport they found a man with a sign waiting next to a taxi with instructions to pick them up. But, no sooner had all of this transpired than a belated avalanche of paparazzi rushed forward upon recognizing Edward and Bella.

The driver quickly moved them into the cab then loaded their baggage into the trunk of the car. He got in the front seat, driver's side and started the engine. Moving slowly at first so not to hit anyone, he began to gather speed heading towards their hotel as per the instructions he had been given ahead of time.

"How did anyone know to have a vehicle waiting for us?" Edward questioned.

"I had called the gallery to let them know we would be making a quick stopover with the flight details. From there my manager made the necessary arrangements for us to be picked up and our room to be booked."

"Thank heaven you had the foresight to call. I'm beat." And with that said he leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

By the time they did get to the hotel it was nearly five in the morning. It didn't take long to get checked in, escorted to their room after fighting their way once again through the paparazzi that seemed to have followed them all the way from the airport. Hotel security had handled the situation and got them safely inside.

Once the door closed behind them both Edward and Bella were feeling the need for much needed rest. Both felt that it had been a good idea to take the rest they had in Paris before the showing there yesterday.

"Love, I don't know about you, but, I don't give a damn about getting anything unpacked. Don't even have the energy to change clothes. Just going to take off my shirt and pants and head for the bed."

"Go ahead, I'm right behind you and I'm not even going to ask you to sleep somewhere else at this moment. I'm too tired like you. Just get to one side of the bed because the other one is mine."

A/N: Okay, they are in London, but, sharing a bed as they're both too tired to care about who sleeps where at that moment. Did Edward make a good showing of starting his moves towards convincing Bella to make their marriage a real one?

Your reviews are always welcomed and I will be updating this story every two to three weeks due to the number of open stories I have going at the present time.