A/N: This story is really kicking my booty. I love it so much and I know where I want it to go, but It's just getting it there that is the hard part. I really hope you guys can be patient with me as I work out the kinks and bumps. This is the first story that I haven't written ahead before posting. I'm loving all the reviews and the way you all have alerted this. I've said it before but it really keeps me going and makes me want to write more (and quicker too) So you guys keep that up and I'll keep this up. Deal?

Disclaimer: I own half of the NWBS-club...none of this though.

Bella POV

"What can I get for you sweetie?" The waitress asked just as I lowered myself into the booth. I had used the bathroom quickly at the bus station before waddling over here to the diner the bus had parked by in search of some kind of sustenance.

"What kind of pancakes do you serve?" I asked quietly.

"What kind do you want hon?" She asked kindly and I couldn't help but smile back. It was strange and kind of sad that she was the first person I had met in a few weeks that had looked at my face first and not my stomach. Apart from Edward that is.

"Do you have blueberry?" I asked tentatively when I realized she was still waiting for an answer.

"I'm sure we do. I'll bring out some orange juice for you too." She winked as she walked away, not bothering to write anything down as she sashayed back behind the counter and disappeared into the kitchen through the swinging double doors. I pulled my hair up out of my face and secured it on top of my head as I waited patiently for my food to arrive. My stomach was in knots and the sounds issuing from it were already far from human.

"Oh look, there's my fiancé now. If you'll excuse me Lauren." I froze at the sound of that voice. That creamy, velvety, smooth voice as it came from right behind me. I fought the urge to turn around and held my breath waiting for him to pass by me and meet up with his 'fiancé'. Though I couldn't figure out who that would be seeing as there was noone past me but a little old man with a beat up bowler hat and a lady who looked like Rosie the riveter gone bad.

I almost peed myself when I felt the hand on my shoulder and the cool breath blow across my face.

"Play along?"

I nodded my head and smiled as Edward slid into the seat in front of me and took my hand in his.

"What's for breakfast sweetie?"

"Pancakes." I chuckled as I ignored the way my heart had sputtered and the baby's feet had went into double time at the sound of his voice talking to me.

"Sounds delicious." He smiled that crooked grin of his, his full lips pulling up on one side as he glanced at something over my shoulder and then pulled the hand he was still holding up to his lips.

I was sure my reaction was probably comical as he kissed my knuckles and his eyes closed before he ran his thumb over the place his lips had touched, making them feel like I had stuck them on an open flame but had yet to feel the burn. When he opened his eyes, he was still smiling and he didn't let go of my hand as our gazes caught and we stared at each other. In those few seconds it was like no one else was in the room with us as we got lost in each other's eyes.

"And what can I get for you?" I reluctantly broke my eyes away from his as we both turned to see my waitress had returned, a glass of orange juice in her hand and a flirtatious smile on her face.

"I'll have what she's having." Edward said and I turned to find him still staring at me, his green eyes boring into me as though reading down into the recesses of my soul. The waitress left after giving me another big wink and making her way back into the kitchen. "Thank you so much for that."

"No problem." I shrugged. "What'd I do?"

Edward laughed, a beautiful, musical laugh and his green eyes sparkled brightly. I glared at him for laughing at me and pulled my hand out from under his subconsciously. That seemed to sober him up as his face became half-serious – his grin was still there, crooked on his lips– and he stopped guffawing as he pulled his own hands into his lap.

"Sorry. I wasn't laughing at you." He muttered as he looked down at his hands. "But I really do appreciate you playing along. That girl hasn't left me alone since we got here and I think she was close to pushing me into the nearest bathroom stall and having her way with me."

I laughed quietly as he shuddered. The look on his face became absolutely disgusted just as the waitress returned with another glass of orange juice to sit in front of him.

"Do you have a straw?" I jumped as both Edward and I asked the waitress the same question at the same time. She smiled politely and pulled two out of her apron before walking away again.

"Here you go." Edward stuck my straw into my juice and I mumbled a quick 'thanks' under my breath as I watched him take a long drink from his own glass.

We sat in a comfortable silence while we sipped on our drinks and stared out of the front windows, our eyes glancing at each other every few minutes. He would smile when our eyes would meet while I would hastily looked away. When our food arrived, I busied myself perfecting them with syrup and butter and then cutting them into bite sized pieces. I knew it was best to keep myself busy or I'd end up gawking at my breakfast companion and miss my mouth or something completely embarrassing like that.

"So you're heading to Seattle?" I looked up quickly to see Edward watching me with rapt attention. His green eyes burning with...curiosity? I nodded my head and took a bite of my pancakes. Little did I know they were hot and I choked on them as I gulped down the rest of my orange juice, trying to reduce the burn in my throat. "Sorry, I didn't mean to pry..."

"No." I said too quickly. "You didn't. I just... yeah. I'm going to Seattle. You?"

He nodded his head, his eyes still intently focused on me and I wanted to shrink back under his gaze. The way his eyes felt they were gazing through me and not at me. At the same time, however, I wanted to get lost in his eyes. In the way they reminded me of grass and the green beans my grandma Marie had made me eat when I was little.

"Your...your sisters wedding right?" I asked quietly, trying to shake the feeling that I was getting lost in his emerald green orbs.

He laughed lightly and stuck the bite of pancake in his mouth, nodding his head before taking a sip of orange juice. "In nine days."

"Wow, a December wedding."

"Yes, well Alice has always had a bit of a flair for the dramatics." He chuckled, shaking his head as though he were remembering some absurd story of his sister and the drama it entailed. "But she's always wanted a wedding on New Years Eve and Jasper would do anything to appease her."

"He's the fiancé I assume? Jasper?"

"Yes." Edward said shortly and I glanced up from where I had been fiddling with the napkin on my lap. Something in his voice was off. He sounded different than he had only a few seconds earlier. "Alice has him wrapped around her little finger. Some would say he's whipped."

I smiled as his eyes, which had drifted down to his plate, found mine again and immediately whatever had been there disappeared. "I think it's sweet."

He nodded his head and I ate more of my breakfast, all the while trying not to make myself look any more of an imbecile in front of him.

"So what about you?" He suddenly asked, breaking the stillness of the air around us.

"Sorry what?"

"Well I told you why I'm heading to 'The Emerald City', what about you?" He asked and his eyes met mine. No matter how much I wanted to look away, I couldn't.

"I just... needed to get away." I said, hoping that was enough to appease him.

Apparently it was as he nodded and finished sopping up the last of the syrup on his plate with the last piece of blueberry pancake. The waitress, whose name tag said 'Marjorie' in all caps, came just as we had finished the last of our meals. She picked up our plates effortlessly as she put the check on the table face down.

"Oh..this is on separate tickets." I said as she used one hand to grab our glasses.

"No it's not." Edward replied quickly from across the table. I turned to see him smiling crookedly, his wallet already out, the check in his hands. "Thank you very much Marjorie."

He winked at the flustered woman before sliding out of the booth and landing gracefully on his feet. I was jealous and in awe. But I was also angry.

"Edward, this isn't necessary..." I argued as I pulled myself awkwardly to my feet and followed behind him.

He didn't seem to hear me. Or else, he was choosing to not hear me, as he walked to the cash register by the door. I was glaring at his back and already digging around in my purse for my wallet to throw money at the poor unsuspecting clerk before Edward could. Edward seemed to sense my plan with some amazing mind reading power or something as he shifted so that he was directly in front of me and blocking my shooting range. Although, with my aim I was sure even if he hadn't been blocking me I would have ended up hitting someone behind me or something.

"Mint?" I looked up quickly to see Edward holding his hand behind his back, two peppermints in his palm. He wasn't looking at me but I could see from where I stood the crooked little half grin he was wearing. Suddenly he turned around, his smile growing wider as I heard the sound of the cash drawer closing behind him.

"You really shouldn't have..." I started to scold him but he interrupted me as he reached out and grabbed my hand gently. In those two seconds that his fingers were closed around my hand it felt like an electric current had run through my body. The babies' feet were pounding a tattoo onto every major organ in kicking range, and my heart seemed to both speed up and slow done. How did he do that?

He didn't seem too bothered by the one-thousand volts of whatever it was that was radiating from our clasped hands and I didn't know whether it was because he didn't feel it or he didn't care. Maybe he felt it all the time? Maybe I was just imagining things. I chose the latter.

"It's the least I could do for your help this morning." He crooned in that chocolate milk voice.

I wanted to argue. I wanted to tell him it wasn't necessary. And then on top of that I wanted to change seats and move away from this man who seemed to have not only a resounding effect on me but also on the unborn child I was carrying in my womb. But instead, I smiled and let him help me onto the bus and into my seat. Glimpsing into his gorgeous eyes whenever he would look my way.

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"Wait, so you can't have two numbers in the same line or box..." Edward sighed as he ran a hand through his untidy bronze hair. In the past hour he had becoming steadily more and more flustered as I tried to teach him the rules of Sudoku.

"No." I said...again, leaning over to help him with the puzzle.

"I just...don't get it." He sighed as he put the pencil down and rubbed his eyes.

"You seem frustrated." I commented, biting back the laugh I felt on my tongue. I didn't know for sure but it seemed like Edward wasn't used to being frustrated. Or not understanding something.

"I just...don't get it." He repeated. "What is the objective?"

I rolled my eyes and picked up the pencil he had dropped before erasing the number he had just put when it was clearly in the wrong place.

"The objective," I tried to mimic his tone. "Is to fill the whole grid so that each row, each column, and each of the regions contains the numbers one through nine."

He nodded his head as he subconsciously leaned closer to me, his delicious scent permeating my nostrils and momentarily making me lose my focus.

"But it can only be used one time each right?" He asked, breaking me from my trance.

"Exactly." I smiled and then I leaned slightly closer to tilt my head and look at the puzzle in his lap. "See, this region already has a nine in it."

"So I can't use it again." He declared with a slightly smug smile and I nodded my head and handed the pencil back to him.

"I think you've got it."

"I can try." He said adamantly as he threw himself back into the little game. It was funny actually to watch him scribbling so furiously over the little sheet of paper I had ripped from my book for him. He would bite his lip as he tried to concentrate on which numbers went where and then when he would find the correct placement, or what he thought was the correct placement. He would smile to himself as he wrote it in. But on those occasions when he just couldn't get it, he would scrunch up his face and concentrate so hard, I was almost certain I could see a vein pop out on the base of his neck.

I shook my head when I realized that I was watching the man beside me so closely that I knew where his veins were. Something was definitely wrong with me. I remembered reading something a few months back about pregnancy affecting a woman's libido. I had scoffed and threw the book back on the shelf, not even bothering to buy it.

"Bella..." I snapped my head up to see Edward watching me intently.

"Yes?" I asked slightly amused, thinking that he needed my assistance again.

"You're vibrating."

"Excuse me?" I asked stupidly before I realized what he was talking about. I'm sure my face must have reached a new shade of red as I pulled out the cell phone. I had stuffed it into my jacket pocket only a few minutes earlier when I wanted to check the time.

I don't know how long I sat, staring at the name flashing across the screen. I contemplated opening it, but every time my fingers would go to make the move, I would freeze. Like my mind was fighting a war that just couldn't be won. I could feel my neighbor fidgeting beside me and I turned to see him trying very hard to not look at me. I took a deep breath and pushed the button on the side of my phone and cut it off mid vibration. I turned away from the person sitting next to me as I pressed my suddenly overheated forehead against the cool pane of glass beside me. Silently hoping I was really doing the right thing and trying to assure myself that I was.

A/N: Oh my gosh. I'm sorry! I really, really am! I hate those as much as you do. But like I said..my booty. Right well, if you've read my other stuff, you know the drill. Review and I'll give you a sneak peek. Also, to anyone that's interested, I've started an Alice/Jasper story. It's quickly becoming my favorite out of everything I've ever written. And if you've read my other stuff you know I rarely work with a beta, but I need opinions on this. So if you're up for reading it (it's kind of sad at first) let me know. review it, pm it, email it, carrier pigeon it. Just let me know. I'll probably take four people.
Besos.