*Disclaimer - Sadly, I own nothing of Twilight with the exception of merchandise, bought and paid for. I do, however, own my love for borrowing the characters and playing with them however I choose to. I thank Stephenie Meyer for creating the TwiWorld and for allowing us to have our fun with it. She owns Twilight, the insanity it created in my mind is my own.

My dedicated beta-reader, Shug, pointed and snickered at my Canadianism in this chapter. I snickered along, and removed it, lest I be scoffed at! ;) Truth be told, I'm rather fond of having them pointed out. LOL If she misses any that I'm oblivious to, feel free to point and snicker along with us!

Whatever Works

Decent and Real

I was utterly disoriented when I awoke the next morning in a strange bed, until I remembered where I was. Wanting to snuggle further into the pillow top mattress, I then remembered I still had a job to do and reluctantly climbed out of bed to hit the shower. Passing through Edward's studio to get to the main hall, I wondered if I could convince him to play for me before I had to leave 'Hotel Edward.' I was halfway out the door when I remembered the key card, sticking my foot out to block the door from closing before I could go retrieve it. When I ran out for the second time, I ran directly into Edward, also emerging from his room.

"Good morning," he said with a chuckle. "Couldn't wait to get out of there, huh?"

"On the contrary – I had a great sleep! Felt like a full night even though it was only a few hours."

"It felt like a few hours to me." He wore a bright grin despite his complaint. "Do you have time to join me for coffee?"

Nodding my agreement, we headed for the kitchen. It was strange coming down the stairs with him. I felt like I should be looking over my shoulder. Sue noticed straight away that we entered together and made some excuse to vamoose back to her house, leaving us to ourselves. Edward got the milk and sugar while I poured coffee into two mugs. He sat at the counter, rubbing his eyes, and pulled the stool out next him when I carried the steaming drinks over.

"Thanks. I can't wait until I don't have to get up before the sun does."

I was used to early mornings myself. It didn't really bother me. "When is that going to be?"

"Um… this one wraps in three weeks? Something like that."

"And then…?" I stirred my coffee, watching him stretch out his fingers. He was tugging on them and bending them back and forth. As nice as his bare feet were, his hands were positively gorgeous.

"Then I have a bit of time off before it's back to the TV shit. I'll do pick-ups for whatever they need to finish the movie in between shooting the show. The network is pretty flexible that way. Shouldn't be a lot to do anyway." He must have thought I looked zoned out, because he waved one of his stunning hands in front of my eyes.

"Yeah, sorry… your work is totally foreign to me."

He smiled at me, picking up his mug. "Good. Work talk is boring anyway. Listen, feel free to use any of the rooms upstairs while I'm out. My sister will let you know if there's anything she can't handle on her own with our mother. Otherwise you'll pretty much have the day to yourself. Got any plans?"

"Actually, I wanted to look at a demo for one of the pieces of equipment I ordered yesterday. The guy gave me a link – I'd like to get familiar with all the functions before getting started."

"Sorry to interrupt, but we gotta get moving." Sam gave me a wave after urging Edward along.

He drained his cup, chugging it down despite the heat. His eyes watered as he wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. "Sorry. Thought we had more time. Look, take the laptop up with you. I can't offer you use of mine, sorry. There are scripts on it that I'd get killed for showing anybody."

I scrunched up my face, shaking my head. Like I'd use his computer – with his preference for complete privacy, the last thing I'd expect to be offered was the use of his personal computer.

~ 0 ~

Esme was fine with me using the laptop, so once they headed out to the cemetery, I took advantage of Edward's private balcony and did my research. I then began drafting up a beginning exercise regimen. I noticed the empty beer bottles by the door – he must have brought Jasper up for their talk. That got me thinking about all the things Edward had told me after meeting them, and well… curiosity got the better of me. I got a little Google madness going again. Who knew it could be so useful for things other than home therapy and recipes?

There were a few loose stories of a cover-up and rumors of a real-life fight, but no photographic evidence aside from screencaps of the fictional fight. I switched up the search to check out girlfriends, remembering Angela's relation of the story. It had involved a secret girlfriend. Again, nothing on secret girlfriends – just plenty of photo ops with some extremely beautiful women and some utterly desperate looking ones ogling him without shame. He looked three sheets to the wind in all of the pictures. No lack of companionship, but nothing indicated any sort of relationship beyond the photographed date nights.

Google can be extremely addictive. I even ended up looking up the gum incident. Sure enough, it was there. Two hundred and forty matches, thank you. For a pack of gum. I giggled to myself as I read through some of it – there was a rather intense discussion over whether it was in fact condoms and not gum, when clearly it was 5 Cobalt gum – not that I zoomed in to read the package in his hand. I just recognized it. Okay, I may have enlarged the photo just a bit. All of it was ridiculous. Edward was right. If he had any sense of humor, he would have such a laugh if he Googled himself. I wondered if he ever did.

Voices below indicated his family had returned, so I closed up my session and made sure my notes for Esme's rehab were saved before shutting it down.

"Alice, I know you're upset—"

"It's not right, Mum! You're giving him control over everything! Like he needs more money!" Alice shrieked. I ducked down so I wouldn't be seen if they happened to look up.

"It's not about the money, sweetheart," Esme warned her with a gentle tone. "Edward has better means to manage the details of the estate. I'm sure you'll approve of what he's done."

"He can't even manage his own life, Mum!"

Even while Alice raged, Esme remained calm. "You need to let Edward live his own life."

"Even while he ruins other people's?"

"Alice, darlin', we talked about this." Jasper's cool drawl came into hearing range. "You agreed to stay out of it, right?"

I heard Alice huff in frustration, and then there were soft sobs while Jasper soothed her. I slunk across the balcony as stealthily as possible. I shouldn't have been listening to their personal business. Alice's voice rang out again through sobs. "What about my life? School? My future? He lives like a bloody king here, and he's taking our money? It's not even his to take! Dad wasn't his father!"

"Mary Alice Cullen!" I froze at the sound of Esme's raised voice. I had never heard her so angry, let alone raise her voice. "Don't you dare, young lady! I never want to hear those words from you again. Edward is every bit as much a child of Carlisle's as you are! And don't," she hissed, "don't you dare even insinuate that he's not in front of him. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Mum," a weak and shameful voice replied. "Sorry. I'm sorry I've upset you. Jasper, help me get her inside?"

I dashed inside from the balcony, completely mortified by what I'd heard. Did she really feel that way about Edward? Her own brother? He'd be the first to admit he was not perfect, but with the way I'd seen him take care of his mother, and Sue and her family, as well as Emmett, there was no sane reason for her to think he'd take her share of their dad's estate. It had to be grief talking. For the first time, I was grateful for being an only child. I didn't have to fight with myself when Dad died. It must be horrible.

~ 0 ~

After I secured the balcony door and tidied up after myself, I left Edward's room. I headed downstairs to see if I could help Sue and Emily with dinner. I only found Jasper in the kitchen.

"Apparently they're not cooking today. Sue came with us this morning, and she said we're having something catered?" Jasper explained when I inquired about them.

"Ah, of course. He did the same for Rosalie. You're making tea?" I pinched in the smirk that was dying to come out.

"Uh-huh. We need us some tea."

"Sue keeps some shortbread in the pantry if you want them."

His eyes darted sideways at the mention of biscuits. He wasn't as successful at holding back his smirk. "You're aware of this family's method of closure then, huh?"

We shared a laugh over their sweet ritual and prepared the tray together. I felt bad for Jasper; he may have screwed Edward over in the beginning, but he was still part of Alice's life – obviously he loved her. Any one factor of this situation would be stressful, but dealing with high emotions over Carlisle's death and Esme's injuries, as well as closing his estate was enough without throwing in an old fight with an ex-best friend. From what I saw of him, Jasper seemed like a gentleman. A very decent young man with quiet nerves of steel.

"How are you doing with all of this?" I asked him quietly.

He smiled at me appreciatively. "Dealing, darlin'. It's what we've got to do. Of course I was apprehensive about coming here with our history, but in all honesty, we need to do this. There's not a day goes by that I don't think about Edward. He'll be the best friend I ever had until the day I die. We'll get through it." He threw a wink my way. "Ya just gotta have faith."

"Faith," I repeated with a warm smile. "Faith and tea and shortbread cookies."

"You got it!"

I joined them for a delightful afternoon with our tray of goodies and several games of Scrabble. They all acted like nothing had ever happened. An entire family of exceptional actors.

Edward wore his own practiced smile when he arrived home and came in to say hello. He cheated and helped me form a thirty point word before I saw his eyes move to the tea tray. He cocked an eyebrow at me questioningly. "Bella, about that equipment you have coming… I needed to go over something with you. Have you got a minute?"

We abandoned the game, since my thirty-pointer put me well in the lead anyway, and I followed him out. He led me upstairs and waited until we were behind closed doors to say anything further.

"Was there a problem with the order?"

He frowned as he leaned against the bar. His hands gripped the edge, and his fingers drummed underneath. "The order's fine. I just needed an excuse to get you out. Was there a problem today?"

Ohhh… he wants the scoop. "Um…"

Sighing, he stopped his drumming. "Your hesitance says yes. The tea and biscuit crumbs say yes. Let's have it."

"Well, it didn't involve me—"

"But you know about it."

Ack! I had no idea what was appropriate in this situation. He was technically my boss, but Esme should have my loyalty…

I finally steadied myself to look directly at Edward – Edward, not my boss, not the owner of this mansion who controlled his family's wealth. He was just a mourning son with family troubles. "Alice was quite upset after their time at the… with your dad…"

He huffed angrily. "She's still in a snit about me not going, right? She needs to get over herself and understand things can't always be just as she wants them to be!"

"Edward, it isn't my place to say anything, but I have something to say so I'm just going to come out with it. I hope you won't be upset."

His cocky grin played on his lips as he licked them. "Well then, speak your mind."

"I haven't been to my father's grave since the day he was buried. I can't. I just can't bear to go and look at a piece of marble and stand over it to think of him when I know he's in a box underneath me. A very expensive box, and it's just his body… but still. I can't do it. I'd prefer to think of him sitting in a La-Z-Boy, with a beer in one hand and his TV remote in the other… not in a box. But that's me. Some people need the visual to feel the connection or to get closure or whatever. I don't know where you stand, and whatever it is, it's cool because it's how you feel about it – same with Alice. Whether it's seeing the grave or just missing your dad, she's upset and emotional, and she has a right to be." I closed my eyes as soon as my rant came to an end. I was having trouble slowing my breathing.

"Point taken," Edward said softly. "I've been once. Maybe I'll go again one day, but not any day soon. I'm not thrilled with the idea of Dad-in-a-box either."

When I opened my eyes, he offered me a sad smile, and I decided to give him a softened account of the argument. "She didn't mention your absence. I guess with the upsetting visit, it got her worrying about the business end of it all."

"Ah!" He snickered and dropped his head. "That's fine. I expected that."

"It doesn't bother you?"

"What? That she's pissy about me controlling the estate? Pfft. She couldn't… she wouldn't want to have to deal with all the bullshit! She's had some concerns – you've spent some time with her now, does she strike you as the kind of girl who holds back her worries?"

Laughing, I shook my head.

He laughed with me, all signs of tension gone. "I think she'll be quite happy with the outcome. Maybe I'll tell her tonight so she's not pissy from now until we can meet with the lawyer. Her main bitch was the sale of the London property. I understand her plight – she grew up there basically. To me, it's just a house. I don't want it. Mum can't get around in it. The lawyer suggested we put it up and get the money to do what we want with. It made sense, but when I saw how upset Alice was over it, I went and took it off the market. That's why I went over before the location shoot – to take care of things like that. I bought the property for her. It's in her name. And the money goes into the estate. She wins all 'round."

His phone rang out, and he reached into his pocket to check the caller ID. "I'm so sorry Bella. I have to take this…"

"I'll just… see you downstairs!" I waved and took off to give him his privacy.

~ 0 ~

After our dinner together, I went upstairs, leaving the family to sort their business. Edward's couch was so comfortable, I even dozed off while I was waiting for him to finish up. He was standing over me with a grin when I opened my eyes.

"You're a heavy sleeper. I could have done anything to you just now. You didn't even hear me come in."

I sat up and stretched. A yawn followed. "Oh, yuck. I've got morning breath, and it's only…" I had no idea what time it was.

"Almost midnight."

"Oh."

"There's some mouthwash in my bathroom if you want to gargle. I don't know how you'd feel about using my toothbrush. It's fairly new, but so are we," he teased.

I excused myself and took him up on the use of both. The garlic in the sauce at dinner had really done a number on me. I returned minty fresh to find him holding the bowl of pretzels I'd put out earlier, with the intent to have that and his beer ready for him when he returned from the battlefield. "Yeah… that goes with the beer. Hold on…" I rushed over and opened one for him.

"That's sweet, Bella. I much prefer your soothing methods over my mother's, I have to admit."

I felt a little uncomfortable suddenly. I knew I was blushing, and I couldn't seem to keep still. It was midnight, and I didn't even know if he wanted me here. "So, um… do you want me to…?" I pointed towards the door.

"Stay? Yes, please." He tipped the bottle to his mouth and took a long swallow. Then he hooked it between two fingers and grabbed the pretzels with the same hand, leaving his other free to stretch out to me. "Come sit with me for a bit?"

My cheeks got hotter, and I knew my damned hand was sweaty, but he didn't comment. He didn't let it go once we sat together either. "Did it go well?"

"There were tears and the start of a full-on hissy fit, but I got it out in time. I think. She should be more at ease now."

"Things are looking up then, huh?" I gave our clenched hands a little wiggle in case he needed reminding that he was still holding my hand. Maybe he hadn't realized.

Instead of releasing my hand, he merely slouched down in his spot to get more comfortable, putting his feet up.

"Shoes on the table?" I scolded with a smirk.

"It's my table."

"Aren't you uncomfortable?" Truthfully, I just wanted to see his feet.

"Truth? Yeah. My feet are killing me. But you'll be more uncomfortable if I take them off. They've been on my feet since this morning."

I had to snicker. Edward Masen was worried about smelly feet? No. Edward Cullen was. "So? I've got minty garlic breath."

"I've got garlic beer breath. And smelly feet."

"All right. I'm going back to my own hotel suite." I started to get up, but he hauled me back down. "Edward, don't be ridiculous. I'm intruding on you in your personal section of your own home, and you don't feel comfortable taking your shoes off?" Honestly, I thought it was adorable that he was worried about foot odor. It made him real. He was just another guy. A really cute one. With gorgeous hands and eyes.

"Fine. It's your funeral." He sighed dramatically and toed the shoes off before bending to remove his socks as well. Sadly, he didn't put his feet back on the table to display them for me though. "Let me know if it's too revolting. I'll crack the door open so you can breathe."

We were sitting very close since he had tugged me back down. I was surprised I hadn't landed on his lap. That would have been interesting.

"I'm killing you already. You're rendered speechless," he chuckled.

"I like Jasper." That was the first thing that came to mind, and it was out before I could filter it. "I mean, we talked more today, and he seems like a really decent guy."

Edward shrugged. "I guess. I don't know anymore, he could be. He probably is. He… I just have to accept that he's with my sister and get used to how we are now."

"You'll have lots of time over the next couple of weeks," I suggested.

He turned to me, mouth hung open. "What did you say? Couple of weeks?"

I bit my lip and grimaced. "You didn't know that, huh?"

"Fuck. Couple of weeks?" He exhaled and tugged on his hair. "Well, on the bright side, I get the pleasure of your company regularly."

Snickering, I gave his shoulder a poke. "You could spend your time with your family."

"I will! I mean this… it's nice having you in like this at the end of the day. I hope you'll continue to do this." He poked me back with a smirk. "So, you like Jasper."

"Honestly? I can't see how anyone wouldn't. Sorry."

He sighed again. "See, that just proves that I'm the asshole in this. I know I was wrong… sort of. They are a good couple – they've been together for more than two years."

"You don't have a problem with Emmett and Rosalie," I reminded him gently.

"Because they did things right. There was a friendship, along with an attraction, and Emmett came directly to me and asked if I'd be freaked out if he asked her out. He laid it out, told me how he felt about her, and asked how I felt before anything happened. And they're adults! Alice was a kid."

I could only shrug. I had no idea how having a younger sibling felt. "I know I felt pretty grown up at sixteen, seventeen," I commented.

"Me too," he admitted with a guilty snicker. "But you have to remember that I hadn't been around Alice for years. I was here, she was in London. She wasn't even thirteen when I left home. That's how I thought of her… my baby sister! And Jasper was…" He rolled his eyes.

"Older. Wilder. More experienced."

"Much." He paused before turning to face me. "You do see why I'd be upset about it."

"At the time? Absolutely! Now… not so much. Sorry."

His eyes looked lost in faraway thought. "You think he's an all right guy? Now, I mean?"

I nodded and somehow ended up rubbing his arm.

"I can only think of the guy he was that day and in the years prior."

"Like you were."

"Exactly."

"He's a really decent guy, Edward. Like you are."

He tilted his head to the side with a smile. His head was nearly resting on my shoulder. "I'm decent?"

"You're decent, Edward. I didn't know you then, but the guy sitting right here, taking care of his family and worrying about them? He's more than decent."

He took my hand in his again, lacing our fingers this time, and we sat that way while he finished his beer; not talking, just being together, holding hands. It was hardly the first time Edward had touched me, but something about it just seemed so intimate and very, very real.

A/N ~ Perhaps Bella should have gone into psychotherapy? LOL I do know she needs a bit of fun. Coming up next! ;)
Thanks for sticking with me! XX ~ SR