A/N Almost 1,000 hits! That's so amazing. Only 34 reviews....not so amazing. To those of you who have taken the time to review....kisses and love and all that jazz. Your words keep us going so thank you so much. Everyone else.....let us know what you think, what you hope will happen, anything :) Once again enough cannot be said about our fantastic beta off-the-deep-end. If you haven't read her story Good Bella Bad Bella, get your ass over there and read. And here it is....

***

The sun is actually shining today. I don't know what I did right to deserve this weather, but I am not going to wish it away for anything. I take a brief moment to soak up some of the lingering rays before turning my attention back to the task at hand.

I reach back and tug firmly at the hand attached to mine. I know he's not exactly thrilled about my choice of activities. Because no matter what he says I can see the way he sidesteps puddles and I know the smell of the elephants is chasing him wherever we go.

"Walking slower won't make getting dirty any less possible," I toss the words back playfully and watch as his face scrunches up at the sight of a discarded ice cream cone in the center of the path. I laugh and keep pulling him along. This is good for him to remember that sometimes acting like a kid isn't a bad thing.

We have a standing appointment now. Every Wednesday we both leave the offices a little early and just, well, do what ever the hell we want. We're supposed to alternate picking activities, but so far the only thing he actually suggested was going to the seaport. Which, don't get me wrong, was fantastic, but now he irritatingly wants to do 'whatever I want to do'.

So today I called his bluff. I love the zoo; I love the feeling of rushing from cage to cage and being surrounded by people and animals. But I knew that the smell and the dirt would not appeal to him. I'm pretty sure Edward was the child who didn't like to get his shoes dirty.

"Can we leave after you see the monkeys?" his voice breaks through. I shake my head. We haven't even seen the penguins yet and he is trying to make a compromise.

"You said whatever I wanted and this is what I want," I inform him. I should probably have mercy on him and let him know that I fully intend on bailing soon to take him to Simon's record shop, but I like watching him squirm.

"But, Bella, I can feel the infections festering inside of me every time I breathe in this dirty air."

Did he just whine? Wow. I underestimated his ability to adapt. I glance back at him and he is smirking at me and for a moment I worry that he is onto my plan. I roll my eyes and pull him so he's walking next to me rather than behind me. He takes a few long strides and ends up right next to me. We near the penguins and I can't help the little skip in my step.

He chuckles at me, but meets my speed. He squeezes my hand and I love the reminder that his hand is in mine and not shoved in his pocket. I want to bring up the ring again, make him explain why the hell he is toting that around when it is obviously meant to be worn by someone else. But, I don't want a repeat of that night and selfishly I don't really want to know if he is going to be down on one knee in front of Godzilla bitch any time soon.

"This is so silly Bella, I'll rent March of the Penguins for you, it'll have the same result without all this filth," he suggests. I roll my eyes once again and pull my hand from his grasp and slide down the railing, putting space between us. Only so much whining is allowed.

"I know the possibility of getting your chucks dirty is absolutely appalling, but could you just for a moment look up and around you instead of trying to find an outbreak?" I ask.

He inches towards me, but I move just as far away. There is no need for him to rain on my day. And yet as his hand reaches into his pocket I feel like I've failed him. His frown makes me sigh and I can't help but slowly slide back towards him.

A group of the penguins are following my actions and I can't help but smile. I slide back and forth along the railing watching them mimic my movements. I laugh and almost forget about the person who came with me.

After a couple of minutes I start to feel bad for making the penguins do so much work just to keep up with me and I feel eyes on the side of my face. I try to be inconspicuous when I look over at him, but the moment his eyes meet mine he grins and motions for me to come back towards him.

I move slowly, slower than I want to, but I'm trying to walk a fine line here. Because we're friends. Friends, who go on outings and happen to really, really love each others company. Friends who will not be developing any further because one friend has an attachment to a ring and more importantly a person to possibly give that ring to.

But at the same time I love the ring because it means that Edward will never be a number. That I'll never have the chance to turn my unfortunate genetics upon him and hurt this person I have come to really care about.

I stop a few feet from him and grin. Like I was going to make this easy. He arches an eyebrow and motions for me to come closer. I shake my head.

"Are you done whining?" I ask. It's his turn to roll his eyes and I feel a small sense of victory as he pulls his hand from his pocket and crosses his arms over his chest.

"Only because watching you lead the penguins around was so adorable."

I feel my heart flutter at his words, but I force the butterflies to get the hell out of my stomach. This feeling is not allowed. I clench my teeth and concentrate on pushing the feeling away. His face falls at the look on mine.

I force a smile and grip the rail even tighter. I rotate my hand around looking for a release and the pain that shoots through my hand, while distracting was not what I was looking for.

Instantly I pull my hand back the red smeared across my palm does not look good. Before I can cast a death glare at the responsible rail Edward has my hand is his and I can feel his breath drying the blood. My instinct is to pull away, but he has my wrist and is not allowing me to administer my usual remedy, my shirt and the nearest water fountain.

"It's fine," I try to laugh it off, but it is still bleeding and the cut does look rather long. He looks at me skeptically before throwing his eyes around the area. No doubt hoping for a paramedic to pop out of the pond in front of the penguins.

"Bella," he murmurs. I feel like I'm in trouble, but its not like I stuck my hand into a bag of razors. And why the hell is he still calling me Bella?

"We should get you to the hospital," he decides and my stomach drops. I summon my superhuman strength and pull my hand from his. He looks alarmed and reaches for it again. I hold it against my chest and back away. He just said the worst word in my vocabulary.

"No. Nope. I will not be going to the hospital," I state. He looks at me like I am insane. I hate hospitals, everything about them. I hate the smell, the awful colors they paint the walls and most of all I hate the evil people they call doctors. Pain mongers are what they are.

"Bella, this place is crawling with germs. You could get tetanus," He warns. Like that's scary? Ha!

"No, we'll just find a water fountain and a band aid and it will be fine," I argue. He comes at me slowly his hands extended. Carefully he pulls my hand from my chest and back into his hold. I look down at the red steak on my shirt and worry he might win this fight.

"It will probably get infected and then you'll definitely have to go to the hospital and the trip will be a lot less pleasant if that's the case. It'll probably involve shots," he rattles off and suddenly I'm convinced. I swallow thickly and can't hide the small child inside that comes out when needles and doctors are involved.

"You'll come with me though? Stay?" I ask. He lays his spare arm over my shoulder and begins to lead me away.

"Where else would I be?" And just like that I am letting him lead me to my worst fear and I'm not scared in the least. I'm just going to ignore that huge issue until after the bleeding stops.

***

Maybe I overreacted. But the sight of all of that blood gushing from her palm sent me into a little bit of a panic. If I had taken her hand back she wouldn't have cut it.

I pull her more tightly into my side when she all but stops moving when we get to the entrance of the hospital.

She's not afraid of getting tetanus but she's afraid of the hospital.

"Come on," I urge softly, "it's fine."

She looks up at me and the anxiety in her eyes relaxes slightly before she nods. We walk through the automatic doors and up to the front desk.

"Excuse me," I say to the receptionist and wait until she turns her attention to me.

"How can I help you?"

"We um… she needs to see a doctor," I say slowly. "She cut her hand."

The woman's eyes narrow before she hands us a clipboard. "Fill that out and then bring it back to me," she says.

I stare at the clipboard for a moment—I hate those clipboards. "Shouldn't she get checked out first?" I ask.

"It's standard procedure."

"If she had been in an accident and was bleeding profusely from her head would you have her sit down and fill forms out first?" I ask. My irritation is growing. These aren't emotions that I'm necessarily used to.

The woman blinks at me. "Is she bleeding from her head?"

"Maybe."

"Edward," Bella says, and squeezes my side once. "It's fine." She takes the clipboard. "Come on."

We sit down and she puts her head down and starts filling out the endless forms. There are people all around us, shrieking, running, panicking. I always find hospital emergency rooms interesting in that respect. I like seeing how people act in times of crisis, when everything is hanging precariously in the air, when everything they care about it is in jeopardy.

"She could've at least given you a tissue for your hand," I grumble after a few minutes.

She looks up at me, her face framed by her hair, and laughs. "If all I needed was a tissue, we wouldn't be here."

I sigh and start tapping my foot impatiently. "Are you almost finished?" I ask and she just shoots me a look before resuming her writing.

This is taking forever. By the time she's finished and the doctor actually looks at her, she'll probably have already bled out.

Finally, she flips to the beginning of the packet and smiles victoriously at me. "All done," she says and stands up.

"'Bout time." I follow her to the desk where she hands the receptionist her clipboard. "Should we write up a personal biography and family medical history or do you think we can see the doctor now?"

Bella looks up and stares at me in shock because the rudeness in my voice isn't exactly typical of me.

The woman evens out the papers and shoots me a look. But I've got plenty to give back and so she eventually looks away. "No, this is fine. Follow me."

We follow her back into an examination room. "Have a seat. Doctor Shaw will be with you shortly."

When she walks out, Bella jumps up onto the examination table and rustles the stiff paper they always have set out.

"You're gonna lose all of your blood by the time they get anything done in this place," I tell her.

She rolls her eyes at me and starts swinging her legs back and forth. "It's nice to know you have so much faith in the doctors who will determine my fate. Why'd you want to come here again?"

"To make sure you didn't contract hepatitis," I tell her and run my hands up and down my legs.

"Don't they have a home test we could've taken for that?"

I roll my eyes at her now. "Don't you want to make sure your wound is clean to avoid the whole issue entirely?"

"I'm just saying, you're the one who wanted to come. I would've been happy with a band-aid and a kiss to make it better," she says and her face turns red almost immediately. "I mean, sanitizer or Angela would kiss it, you know."

I look at her and feel the beginnings of a smile at my lips. "I'll kiss it when we leave and know it's fine." The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them, and her shocked eyes shoot up to mine.

Thank god the door bursts open before I can completely humiliate myself.

"Isabella Swan?" the doctor asks, staring down at her chart as he strolls into the room. Then he looks up and smiles at her and I swear her entire face lights up. "I'm Dr. Shaw."

"Hi," she says and smiles her brightest Bella smile at him. I feel my chest tighten. "You can call me Izzy."

"So what seems to be the problem?" he asks.

She shifts slightly on the table and then holds her hand out. "I barely cut my hand at the zoo and SOMEONE insisted we come in," she says and shoots me a look.

Dr. Shaw barely looks at me and then turns back to her. "If you were my girlfriend, I'd insist the same thing," he says.

She scoffs at him. Scoffs. And then says, "We're not together. He's in a relationship. He has an engagement ring in his pocket."

Back to the ring. Of course we're back to the ring. Dr. I'm-fucking-Izzy-Swan-with-my-eyes-Shaw grins at her. Apparently his dick is more important than the cut on her hand. I clench my jaw and fight the urge to remind him why we're here in the first place.

"Let's take a look at this cut," he says, and stands directly in front of her, taking her little hand in both of his monster ones. She smiles up at him, her Bella smile again, and I reach into my pocket for the ring. The fucking ring.

He hums and haws over her hand before he turns and reaches for some peroxide or alcohol or whatever the fuck doctors use to clean cuts. This is taking too long.

"This isn't so bad," he says. "It may burn for a second but that's all."

And then he starts dabbing the peroxide on her hand. She flinches and he brings her palm closer to his face and blows on it. Is this appropriate? I could've done this for her at home.

Then he unwraps a band-aid and places it over her palm. "There you go," he says and holds her hand for a little longer than necessary before he drops it into her lap. "You're all set."

I walk over and take her hand in mine. I don't know what's going on with me, but I always need to have her hand in mine. Especially now.

She looks up at me. "See, Edward? All he used was a band-aid. You could've done that," she says to me.

I nod tightly. I want to get out of here. Now. "You were right," I say and then lift her injured hand in mine. I bring it to my lips and stare at Dr. Dickhead as I kiss it once gently.

"Can we um… can we go now?" she asks quietly.

I help her down from the table and we start towards the door.

"Izzy," he says and we both turn around. He snaps his gloves off and smirks at me. "I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go to dinner with me tomorrow night."

***

I wish someone would cut through this tension and release me from it. I feel like a toy caught between two children and one of the kids already has a toy in his other hand. I lick my dry lips and try not to think of Edward's hand wrapped firmly around mine. Is this actually happening? Right now? In my personal idea of hell?

I force a smile and breathe deeply. Besides the fact that I am taking immense comfort on the hand around mine, it's not mine to take comfort from. Soon, sooner than I would like he will go home to the future owner of the ring and that's the way it should be.

People like Edward are the reason I keep my distance. People that special; that sweet should never be wounded by me. Dr. Shaw on the other hand; he's the love 'em and leave 'em type. I can see it written all over his face as he waits for my answer. And that's how I know what I have to do.

"Sure." As soon as the words leave my mouth my hand is dropped. I don't have to look at Edward to know he is now taking his strange refuge in his ring. It's all I can do to keep my eyes on the doctor and act like this is what I really want. Forget act. This is was I want.

"Perfect. If you give me your phone number I'll call you later and set everything up," He replies smoothly, too smoothly. I know that one of the reasons he is so interested is because Edward is here. Men are sick that way; they always want what someone else has.

He reaches for a prescription pad and begins to write down his information. I fumble with my own hands and glance at Edward for comfort, but he is still too busy with his ring. I swallow thickly as the good doctor hands me the pad and waits for me to write everything down.

"I don't have a cell, but I'll give you my home number and you can leave a message if I don't pick up," I explain. Edward chuckles darkly next to me. He has a personal mission to convert me to cell phones. I don't know why when his has betrayed him so fully in the past. GPS anyone?

"Not a problem. I'm sure if I want to find you I'll have no problems," Dr. Shaw answers. His answer is almost so smooth I want to laugh. I hand him the pad back and he inspects the number like he would be able to know right off if it was a fake.

"I guess I'll talk to you soon then," I finish and loop my arm through Edward's and lead him through the door. I don't want to hear any more cheesy lines from the doctor and I'm worried if Edward does he's going to need the doctor's help to fix his thumb.

Once again I find myself leading a reluctant follower as we leave. The automatic doors slide open and welcome us out of hell and I feel a small amount of the awkwardness lift. I raise my hand for a cab, willing to take the expense to hopefully ease more of the tension between us. Because even if I am trying to kill all butterflies, I don't want to lose Edward. I like him and all his shoes, dirty or not.

A cab pulls to the side and I push Edward inside and climb in after him. Once inside I hesitate. I don't know his address and I don't really know where to go from here.

"What's your address?" Edward finally decides to break his silence. I glance over at him, but he is engaged in a staring contest with the back of the driver's seat. I quickly give the cabby my address and settle back into my seat. My attention goes to my bandaged hand and suddenly I am cursing the zoo, the penguins and everything else that brought us into this awkward situation.

"He can drop you first if your place is closer, no reason for you to go all over town," I offer. I'm not going to force him to sit in this stew of awkward we have going in here. Hell, I feel bad that we brought this into the cab. Poor cabby. He doesn't deserve this.

"It's fine." And yet he is still more interested in the seat then me.

"No it's not fine. If it was fine you wouldn't be staring at the back of that seat like it held the answer to some magical math problem," I argue. I will not allow him to do this. We are friends. He does not get to pout.

"Let's double tomorrow." What the hell? He doesn't even punctuate that with any mind of eye contact. How is that going to fix anything?

"I think you and Hannah should get to know each other anyway. It'll be good," he adds. Still have no idea what good that would do. I'm pretty sure that our first encounter was more than enough for me. I can only imagine what kind of remarks she'll make given this new opportunity.

"And the back of the seat helped you make this decision?" I press. Finally he glances at me and I'm sure that all he sees is shock. I'm not on board with this idea and I'm not going to make it easy.

"What does the back of the seat have anything to do with anything?" he asks. I can't help but scoff. Really? What the hell was he looking at then? I'm tempted to get a better look for myself, but his eyes fixed on mine make it difficult.

"You can't go from not speaking to me to trying to turn this into a group date. It doesn't work that way. You have to at least be civil in between," I inform him. He sighs and leans back against the seat rubbing his face.

"I'm making an effort Bella," he insists. Some effort. Why doesn't he just offer to take me to get some teeth pulled on the way? Deep breaths. I glance over at him and his earnest eyes and I'm screwed. He really is trying.

"Fine. If you want to, I guess it could be good. I don't really want to be alone with the good doctor anyways," I give in. He smirks triumphantly. I'm not sure why though, but it makes me laugh and a little tension slips away. The cab slows and I lean towards to window to glance up at my building.

"Well, this is me," I say as I open the door and slide out. I reach in and offer the fare so far and when I hear the door close and see Edward on the sidewalk next to me. The cab pulls away and I just stare.

"Do you live in my building?" I ask even though I know the answer is no. I reach into my bag with my good hand and dig for my keys. I glance up at him between the searches.

"I wanted to make sure you get in okay. What with your injured hand and all."

Like that really justifies it, but I'm not quite ready for him to go so I'll let it slide. I make my way into the building and hold the door open for him to follow.

"I'm going to warn you that my roommate is probably the biggest pig on the face of the earth and I can't even begin to prepare you for what we might encounter," I warn. He chuckles and nods. He thinks I'm kidding and that's how I know he doesn't know Emmett.

The hot dog incident rushes to the front of my mind and I want to push Edward back down the stairs, but I push the door open instead. I hold my breath and close my eyes and I enter.

"You will never understand Helen Keller, Izzy, so stop trying," Emmett says. I hear and feel Edward laughing behind me. This I the last thing I need, for them to join forces against me.

"Edward this less than charming beast is Emmett my roommate, Emmet this is Edward former pencil neck, now friend," I spout out the intros and hope that Edward will be satisfied that I am safe and leave.

"Yeah I remember you, you were there the morning 22 ½ made his exit," Emmet chuckles. I groan and toss my bag on the floor. Fantastic.

"I really wish you would stop calling me a pencil neck, former or not. Hey man, it's nice to meet you," Edward says. Like I could ever stop calling him pencil neck. I stifle a chuckle.

"So I'm here and I made it bum hand and all, so I guess you probably need to get home." It's not subtle, but I never claimed that subtlety was my strong suit.

"Slow down, bum hand? What the hell did you do this time Izzy?" Emmett has now abandoned his perch on the couch to make his way over. I try to hide my hand under my other arm, but he rips it out.

"Again?" Emmett laughs. I glare at him and rip my hand back.

"It had nothing to do with grace or balance Emmett do you can just push that insult back down your throat," I spit. Edward laughs and I offer him a piece of the glare as well. That shut him up.

"She cut it at the penguin display at the zoo," Edward offers.

"Traitor," I hiss. And then they both laugh. I was wrong about the hospital being hell, this clearly is purgatory.

"Calm down Izzy, I won't tell your new friend that hanging around you should require additional insurance. That wouldn't be nice of me and I'm always nice," Emmett adds. Ugh. Who needs an older brother when I have Emmett? I feel a hand rub soothingly down my back and I look back at Edward. He offers me a half smile before running his hand down my arms and taking mine in his.

"I'll get going before I start some kind of war between you two," he states.

"Don't rush off on my behalf. I'll just get out of the way," Emmett adds. He slinks back to the couch and I huff and roll my eyes.

"I'm sorry about him, he thinks it's funny to get me all riled up," I try to explain. Not that anyone could ever explain Emmett. And now we must be friends because he's seen me resort to being ten again.

"Don't apologize Bella," he says and tucks my hair behind my ear. The action sends a shiver down my spine and I don't even allow the butterflies to start. A smile twitches on the corners of my mouth and he returns the gesture.

"I guess I really should get going though, it's getting late," he sighs. I nod and bite the inside of my cheek. It's what I wanted all along so why do I feel like begging him to stay?

"Yeah, I know I was a pain, but thanks for everything. I know I don't have any infectious diseases so that's a plus," I smile. He chuckles and backs towards the door.

"Call me about tomorrow?"

If he is asking a question does that mean I can say no? I catch his gaze and know the answer.

"Yeah, sure."

As soon as he's gone I lean against the door. I need a bath and I need it now. I trudge to my room and try to ignore my idiot roommate.

"He's a nice guy Iz."

That is not what I expected. I was ready for some jab about number 23. I grunt a response and keep going. I don't need to deal with Emmett and his hope of my healthy love life. Not now. Not today. I have some butterflies to kill and a bath calling my name.

***

I don't understand what it is about that woman that makes me say things and do things and feel things that are entirely out of character. A double date? What the fuck was I thinking? I don't want Hannah around Bella. The thought is just… it's wrong. I don't want it.

But I got… what was it, jealous? I actually got jealous of that stupid doctor and her agreeing to his date. And fuck if I'd rather Hannah be around Bella for a few hours than Bella be alone with Doctor Shaw for god knows how long.

I walk into the apartment and drop my briefcase on the floor. My chucks are tucked safely back inside of it.

"Edward?"

"Hi," I say warily. Lately, I can never gauge what Hannah's mood's gonna be like when I get home.

"How was your day?" she asks, coming out to greet me. She wraps her arms around my waist and squeezes.

It's a nice gesture but… well, never mind. I give her a squeeze back and then pull away. "It was good. How was yours?"

"Good," she says and walks with me into the kitchen. "I ordered pizza."

Pizza? I give her a look and she laughs. "Don't look at me like that," she says.

"You don't eat pizza."

"Warm it up," she says with a flick of her wrist. "No point in eating pizza if you're gonna eat it cold."

I slide two slices into the toaster oven and turn to look at her. She smiles slightly at me. "I um… I wanted to apologize to you," she says nervously.

"About?"

"I shouldn't have…" she pauses and her face twists up in distaste. "I shouldn't have stalked you. I'm sorry about that."

Is this even possible right now? I feel something like hope light up inside of me. "It's okay," I tell her and give her a small smile. "Actually I wanted to talk to you about something."

She lifts an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"Well," I begin and pull my pizza out of the oven, "I think we should go out tomorrow night." This has to be handled really carefully.

She nods. "We can do that. I've been meaning to try this new Vegetarian Restaurant downtown."

I almost laugh at the prospect of telling Bella that we should eat Vegetarian. Instead I shake my head. "Well, actually, I told a friend of mine that we'd double date with her." She freezes and stares at me. "Well, you remember Isabella, right? I worked that account with her freelance company?"

"The whore you were at the bar with, you mean?" she asks nastily.

"She's not a whore, Hannah; she's a friend of mine. I don't call your friends whores."

"My friends don't grind with me," she snaps.

I narrow my eyes and shake my head at her. "We were hardly grinding. You're being dramatic."

"I'm being dramatic?" she asks, her voice escalating to a very unpleasant volume.

"The point is," I continue, ignoring her, "I told her we would join her. And because she's my friend, I think it's important that the two of you know each other."

"I'm not interested," she says and crosses her arms.

"You'd better find some before tomorrow night," I tell her mildly, "because we're going."

"How would it make me look—"

But I cut her off before she can finish her question. "Like somebody that's actually interested in being with me. Be ready at 7:30 tomorrow."

And with that, I walk out of the kitchen and into my room. I lock the door and pull out the record player. I need to hear some music.