Disclaimer- The characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, not me.

BPOV

The weeks that followed were heavenly. The few bad times I did have were while Edward was away. I loved being around him.

We decorated the doorway to his apartment with fake spider webs and carved a pumpkin at Halloween. The kids were knocking on the doors and we took turns answering. Edward was on-call, so he was wearing a pager, destined to go off at any moment. We handed out mini-snickers bars to the few kids that came by.

"Do you want to spend Thanksgiving with my parents in Chicago?" Edward asked me after a big group of kids left. "It's also the weekend that Rosalie and Emmett are getting married. Oh yeah, Rosalie's having a dinner party tomorrow night too, remember?"

"You have Thanksgiving off?" I asked. He was the lowest of the low when it came to the doctors in the hospital- rarely got time off on holidays.

"Yes," he said. "I know that means leaving Charlie on a holiday."

"Oh no!" I cried. "I love the idea! Let me call him and ask." I got out my cell phone and called Charlie. "Hi, Dad."

"Hi, Bella!" he cried. "What are you up to?"

"We're just having Halloween at Edward's."

"How's it going?"

"There aren't a lot kids around here."

"That's okay," he said. "There aren't a lot here, either."

"Dad, did you have any plans for Thanksgiving?"

"Well… we were just going to go over to the Black's in La Push, weren't we?" he asked.

"Yes, and I was going to make the green bean casserole and the candied yams."

"You were? Why do you ask?"

"Edward asked me to go to Chicago and meet his parents the weekend of his friend's wedding."

"Oh," Charlie answered after a long pause. "Well, you're a grown woman. You don't need my permission."

"I don't want to leave you alone on Thanksgiving-"

"Thanks for thinking of me, Bella, but I'll be fine," he said. "Oh, I'm just a lonely old man. Don't forget about me on Christmas."

"Oh, I won't, Dad," I said, chuckling. "Nice guilt attempt at a guilt trip."

"What did he say?" Edward asked when I hung up with Charlie.

"He's okay with it, as long as I don't forget him at Christmas."

"I don't think I'm going to be off at Christmas," Edward said. "You might as well make plans to go to Forks alone."

"Okay, then."

"I'll reserve plane tickets for Chicago," he said, kissing me. He went over to the computer and got onto Expedia. He called his Mom and the same time. "Hi, Mom… yes, Bella's going to come home with me for Thanksgiving and the wedding…. okay, great!… Yes, everything's fine… I can't wait for you to meet her, you're going to love her…"

I let Edward talk to his mother for a while, while I made some sleepy-time tea.

Edward and his parents talked for a while. They didn't talk often, but when they did, they had a lot to talk about. I felt a little weird listening to their conversation, so I turned on the TV and watched Adult Swim while he finished talking to his mother. The kids were done trick-or-treating.

"Edward," I said as he hung up the phone. "It's pretty late, I think I'm going to head home."

"Bella, why don't you stay here tonight?" he asked. He was asking me to spend the night? What about me calling the shots? "There are a lot of people partying tonight, it's not safe to drive," he said, making an excuse.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," he said. "Let me find some pajamas for you."

We hadn't progressed past first base. Taking it slow was Edward's middle name. The subject of sexual experience had come up- I had to admit that I had never had sex before. At first, it was mortifying, I had to take a Xanax, but then, Edward told me that it was nice- I wasn't used and I was pure. I felt so much better. He assured me that whenever it happened, it would happen. I liked the idea of making love to him. He was my ideal.

Edward came back from his bedroom with a tank top and a pair of pajama pants that were way too long. "I know these are too long," he said. "It's either these or boxer shorts."

"Let me try them on," I said, thinking I could roll up the waistband. "I need to take a shower, anyway."

"My bathroom is your bathroom," he said, gesturing.

"Thanks."

"There's an extra toothbrush in the first drawer to the right," Edward called as I stepped through the door.

I shut the door. I shut the door a few more times before it snapped, and then I twisted the lock. Then, I could undress.

His bathroom was pretty much a man's bathroom. It didn't have too much in the way of grooming products asides from what I considered the basics.

I took off my panties, realizing that I didn't have another pair with me. I sighed- I was going to have to either turn this pair inside out or go commando until I got back to my apartment. I needed to call Alice to let her know I was spending the night at Edward's, too.

I climbed into the shower, not used to the water spray that was heavier than mine at home. I noticed that Edward kept only shampoo in his shower. I twisted my hair into a knot so I could keep it out of the spray. I needed conditioner if I was ever going to be able to get a comb through my hair after washing it. I glanced around for a bar of soap or a soap on a rope. There was some Dove body wash but no pouf. I smirked. How manly.

I put on the tank top after my shower, and then the pajama bottoms. As expected, they were too long. I rolled up the waistband, hoping this would help, but still, there was still about a foot of fabric under my feet. I opened the door. "Hey, Edward?" I asked. "I don't know if this is going to work."

He saw me and chuckled.

"Let me get some boxer shorts out," Edward said. He came back with a pair of boxer shorts. They were cute- Halloween boxer shorts. With short little Halloween Jack-o-Lanterns.

"These are so cute!" I cried. "Do you actually wear these?"

"No!" he cried. "Okay, yes, I do."

"You do?" I asked, shutting the door. "Perfect for the season." I took off the pajama pants and slipped on the boxer shorts and rolled up the waistband. "Okay, much better," I said, opening the door.

"You look cute," he said. I let my hair down from the knot. "Looks better on you than me."

I shivered a little. "I need to brush my teeth," I said. I found the toothbrush that was still in the packaging. I opened it.

"Bella, what time do you need to be up?" Edward called.

"About seven," I said, taking the toothbrush out of my mouth.

"Okay, I'll set the alarm," he said.

I spit. I glanced at myself in the mirror. I was rubbing the lump on my right arm nervously. As much as I fantasized about having sex with Edward, getting from point A to point B was just hitting me. Making out laying down? I loved that. But I just wasn't ready for him to see me naked just yet.

I went into the bedroom, where Edward had changed into a pair of pajama bottoms- and nothing else. I hadn't seen Edward without his shirt on before. He was pulling back the covers. He had a perfect chest- pale, smooth planes, sinews running up his back and his stomach and shoulders. I could see the V-shape leading down to his hips. It took my breath away and I felt horribly guilty and scared, suddenly.

"The alarm is set," he said.

"Oh," I finally said. "I need to call Alice," I said, finally, going into the living room, where my cell phone was. Alice didn't answer her cell phone. I left a message letting her know that I was staying with Edward tonight.

I went back into the bedroom, where Edward was laying in bed, reading a book, his perfect chest on display. I climbed onto the bed nervously. "What's the matter?" Edward asked.

"You're just half-naked."

"Bella, I could say the same," he said. "You're wearing fewer clothes that I've ever seen you in." He patted the bed beside him. I climbed in.

"Edward, really," I said. "You're lacking a shirt right now."

"I don't sleep in a shirt," he said, closing the book. He kissed me. All coherent thought left my head. I laid on my back, while Edward turned out the lights.

"You wore one when you stayed at my place," I said, finally thinking of something.

He rolled over on his side to face me. "Worst night of sleep I had in a while," he said, smiling. "Can I hold you while I sleep?"

"You want to hold me?"

"Yeah," he said. "But you call the shots."

"Okay."

He slipped his arms around me. "Can you roll over on your side, too?"

"Like this?" I asked, rolling over so I wasn't facing him.

"Exactly," he said, wrapping an arm around my middle so my back was pressed to his chest. "You can sleep like this, right?"

"Sure," I said, although I didn't know how I was going to be able to sleep so close to Edward. I felt his hand in my hair- and I felt him bring up a few locks into his hand to kiss it.

"Your hair is so beautiful," he said. His complementing my hair brought back bad memories of Victoria and Jim. I reached up to touch it. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I replied. I had long since decided I loved Edward, but I was afraid to tell him. Afraid that telling him that would scare him away.

I fell asleep. In the morning, I woke to his hands brushing against the small of my back. I jumped a little.

"What's wrong?"

I didn't want to tell him about the scars on my back that he was so close to touching.

"It's almost seven, isn't it?" I asked, checking the clock. It was. I noticed my cell phone was blinking with text messages. I sat up and got out of the bed, reaching for my cell phone. It was Alice, she had text messaged me out of panic, she didn't know where I was, but the last one said that she got my voice message and was very embarrassed and was sorry.

"I gotta get showered," Edward said, turning off the alarm.

While Edward showered, I put on my clothes from last night, leaving his boxer shorts and tank top in the hamper. Edward opened the bathroom door to air it out while he shaved. I made some oatmeal and coffee.

"You're going to come to Emmett and Rosalie's tonight, right?" Edward asked from the bathroom.

"Of course," I said, although my own paranoia kept me from meeting new people, most of the time.

"Alice and Jasper are going to be there."

"Oh, okay," I said. "Good."

He came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. I had to work to turn my face away from him, but I was blushing bright red. I poured myself some coffee. It didn't quite taste right. "Hey, Bella?"

"Yes?" I replied.

"Can you help me pick a tie?"

"Sure."

In the bedroom, he was all dressed, except for his tie. His skin was smooth and firm from being shaved. He held up a red tie or a grey one.

"The grey one- it sets off your eyes."

"Thank you," he said, kissing my cheek.

"Let me put it on."

"You know how to do a Double Windsor Knot?"

"Yes," I said. I turned up his collar and wrapped the tie around his neck. "I learned when Charlie broke it wrist when he was checking my oil on my truck, once."

"You drove a truck?"

"Yes, it was this old red truck- I can't even remember what year it was, but it was manufactured in the 1950s, and my friend Jacob, the one you met in Forks, his dad used to drive it, but sold it to Charlie when I turned sixteen," I said. "He was my best friend when I was kid, then he met Angela. They were my best couple friends until Alice met Jasper. Well, anyways, Charlie was checking the consistency of the oil, and he didn't put the hood up right, and it fell on his forearm, breaking it. So, I had to do a lot of things for him, like tie his ties on his uniform for him for a few months."

"That's great," he said. "What happened to that truck?"

"Jacob was the best mechanic I ever had, but it didn't go over fifty-five," I said. "I took it with me to college my freshman year, but around my senior year, the transmission fell out while I was driving with Alice to Jasper's after a whole bunch of things happened to it. I ended up selling it to a Ford truck collector and buying that crappy little Accord, since it was nickel and diming me to death." I turned down Edward's collar.

He looked down at the tie. "Nice job," he said. "I'll call you when my shift is almost over, alright?"

"Sure," I said.

He kissed me on the cheek.

I had just spent the night with someone and it hadn't been a total disaster.