Okay people, I promised it and here it is! The second part of Chapter 9!

This chapter was particularly hard to write... and I still have bugs in my belly about it ;)

Enjoy!


Bella stood waiting at the door with a picnic basket in one hand and our towels in the other. She was bouncing with excitement at the prospect of going outside after long lecture from Esme about the conditions of her leaving the house with me. There was no way we were going to have any problems; we called Jacob ahead of time and because his father was the unspoken leader of the Quileutes they would all heed the warning to stay away from the beach today. Their blind obedience has always amazed me and I'll never stop being feeling that way – there's hardly ever a time I obey something that isn't explained to me first.

Bella skipped over to Esme's car and waited patiently, swinging her arms and looking up at the sky. I took her by the shoulders and steered her over to my car.

"What is this?" she asked, running a finger over the passenger-side door.

"This is my car, hop in," I grinned, opening the door for her and placing our things in the back seat. She grinned back and slid in, still bouncing and examining the interior of the Volvo happily.

"Ready?" I asked, switching on the engine.

"Yes!"

"Let's see how fast this car can go," I winked. She smiled impishly and we took off, bubbles and chimes bouncing off the walls of my speeding car.

***

"You're getting it in my mouth!"

"Be quiet and stay still! You are my toy!"

"Why couldn't Edward be your toy?" Jacob whined, now up to his neck in sand. Bella ignored him as we patted on top of his shoulders. He sighed, submitting to her wishes yet again. "And when am I allowed out, Bells?" he asked with a grumble.

"Never!" she cackled, skipping away and planting herself on the blanket Jacob had brought with him. "Its lunchtime!" she called, waving me over and poking her tongue out at Jacob.

"How am I supposed to eat?" he shouted, frowning at her even though I knew he secretly loved watching her being this mischievous. Who couldn't love it?

"You're not supposed to! You don't get any food! Food is only for people, not for toys!" she replied, not missing a beat. I doubled over with laughter until I saw the lunch she'd packed for us.

"Bella what is this?"

"Lunch!" she chirped, passing me a jar of peanut butter and a spoon. Apparently her idea of a picnic consisted of gummi bears and peanut butter straight from the jar. Jacob broke free and shook the sand off, plopping down on the other side of Bella and taking his jar with a look that said 'just roll with it'.

So we ate our jars of peanut butter and drank our soda, then Bella brought out the gummi bears for dessert. She had the red bag, the yellow bag and the green bag ready for us. She handed Jacob and I our respective bags of green and yellow and cheerily dug into her own as we chatted about everything and nothing.

A few minutes in, Jacob asked Bella for a red one and was met with a scandalised 'NO'. Looking mutinous, he reached towards her bag.

"Don't..." she warned. He inched closer. "You'd better not!" she warned again, moving the bag closer to her stomach. He quickly swiped a gummi bear. "Don't eat it!" she cried, looking positively terrified as Jacob raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth. "Don't!" she cried one more time before the gummi bear disappeared into his mouth. Jacob threw Bella a smug smirk as she let out a horrified squeak. "THAT IS NOT MY FRIEND!"

The two of us guys roared with laughter as Bella sat there pouting, arms folded over her chest looking completely and utterly offended at the entire situation.

"Stop laughing at me!" she demanded, her pout growing with every snort of ours. After a minute to compose ourselves, we were still giggling slightly.

"That's not your friend?" Jacob repeated, failing to keep the laughter from his voice. Bella just glared at him and the sight of her trying to evil eye someone made me laugh again.

"Edward Anthony Masen Cullen!" she screeched in a perfect impression of Esme. "You stop laughing at me right now!"

"Or what? It won't be your friend?" I teased, smirking at her and standing to shake some of the sand out of my hair that'd found its way in while I was rolling around in hysterics.

Without warning, Bella moved into a crouch and pounced right onto my chest, pinning me down. I had always thought of sand as a soft thing. It's not all that soft when you're knocked down on it. She held me down by my shoulders, and I could see in her the jungle girl I'd met what seemed like a lifetime ago.

"Apologise," she growled.

"Bella don't be mad, we're just playing," I said, a little worried by her tone and expression. She seemed genuinely angry, and man was she strong! I couldn't move beneath her.

"Don't laugh at me," she warned, pushing down on my shoulders until it really hurt before releasing me and storming off towards the water. Jacob and I shared a stunned look.

"What the fuck?" he asked, helping me up.

"I have no idea," I breathed, gaping in her direction. She was standing with her arms folded; glaring at the waves as though they'd personally offended her in some way. "Has she ever...?"

"Not ever. She's pounced before but it's always been a playful kind of punishment. That looked painful, dude."

"It was," I admitted, wincing slightly as I rubbed my left shoulder. I sighed and made my way over to apologise to her.

"Go away," she grumbled, though she didn't protest when I took her hand.

"I'm sorry, Bella," I said as sincerely as possible. She turned to face me and her expression was pained. I wanted to stab myself in the foot for doing that to her, no matter how hard she'd just pinned me to the ground.

"Everyone always laughs at me," she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. "I still can't speak right."

"Well it takes everyone a long time to learn how to speak, Bella. It takes babies years to learn," I told her, pulling her into a hug and thanking whoever was up there that she wrapped her arms around me too.

"But I'm not a baby," she countered.

"I know, Bella, but you're learning everything like it's all brand new. And until we can figure out who you are and why this happened to you-"

"Jasper knows who I am," she blurted. I pulled out of our hug and held her at arm's length. What the hell did she mean by that?

"What-?"

"Hey are we feeling better, baby Bells?" Jacob called, tackling her and throwing her over his shoulder. I wanted to make him go away, but the sound of Bella's squeals and giggles as he spun her around were too happy for me to do that. But I wouldn't forget. And I wouldn't let it go.

***

"Can we talk to you for a moment?"

Esme had me pulled aside in the hallway. I followed her silently into Carlisle's office where they assumed their 'serious talk' positions. I didn't like the look of it.

"What's up?" I asked, eyeing them both suspiciously.

"Where are the keys to your car?" Carlisle asked; his expression sombre. I didn't quite get how my car had become the topic of conversation. As far as I knew, I had been given the all-clear to take Bella to the beach.

"In the key bowl by the door. What is this-"

"I'll be hanging onto them for three weeks," he interrupted. My jaw hit the floor.

"What? Why?"

"Edward I saw the way you took off with Bella," Esme said softly, looking disappointed in me. I rolled my eyes. This whole thing was ridiculous.

"Okay so I drove a little too fast. I won't do it again. I'll consider myself warned," I argued, standing to leave. Carlisle called me to attention.

"Edward, this is not a warning. That is my car that I allow you to use and if you don't use it responsibly you don't use it at all. Are we clear, son?"

I stared at him with the fiery hate of a thousand suns. I wanted him to burn on the spot. I knew what this was about. He was just asserting his power over me – reminding me that he was in every position to take everything away from me. And I knew that I just had to suck it up otherwise I'd have to leave Bella sooner than I absolutely had to.

"Yeah," I answered. "We're clear, Dr. Cullen."

***

Later that night, Bella snuck into my room with a tub of ice-cream and two spoons. She had heard somewhere that people use ice-cream to cheer other people up. It would have been a lie to say that my moody wasn't completely sour since the talk with Esme and Carlisle, and only Bella's efforts made me feel even remotely better. She told me stupid jokes, she made faces at me... she even pounced Emmett just for my entertainment.

I leaned over and switched on the lamp, making room for her on my bed. She looked so adorable in her little grey Mickey Mouse shorts and green tank top, her hair all loose falling down to her waist in chocolate spirals. I found a shirt on the floor and slipped it on but didn't bother to do up the buttons, it covered enough to save her the discomfort she felt since she'd learned all about nudity and sex and all that junk.

"Does ice-cream fix it?" Bella asked, licking her spoon and not looking at me for all the concentration it required.

"Yeah, it does," I lied, putting on a smile because it was just so goddamn beautiful of her to try and make me feel better even though she had no idea why I was upset in the first place. And she didn't ask because somehow I knew that she sensed that I didn't want to talk about it.

"Good," she grinned. "I wanna ask you something about what we were talking about before," she said and I did my victory dance in my head because that meant I didn't have to bring up the Jasper thing with her. She was going to bring it up herself.

"Go ahead," I said, scooping up another spoonful of cookies'n'cream.

"This whole love/kiss thing is still confusing me," she began and I had to stop myself from groaning. So she wasn't going to talk about Jasper but she was going to bring this up when I already told her I didn't want to talk about it? "Don't be mad, you're the best teacher I have. Carlisle is grumpy and Esme just doesn't word things the same way you do," she said, holding up one hand even though I was never going to argue. I gestured for her to continue. "I've decided that we should be a couple."

I choked on my ice-cream.

"What?" I spluttered while she patted my back, completely unphased by my outburst.

"Well I love you the most out of everyone," she said, matter-of-factly. "And that's how you know you should be a couple. Today on the beach when you held onto me while you were swimming in the water I got bugs in my belly. So we should be a couple," she finished, nodding definitively and taking a mouthful of ice-cream.

"You got butterflies in your stomach?" I asked, my heart beating so hard in my chest that I could hear it echoing in my ears. I never thought, not in a million years, that she would ever say something like that to me. Especially not the way that she just did. It was like it just was and it made perfect sense and that's all there was to it. No shy. No blushing. Nothing like that at all. It just was. It was so perfectly innocent, and so perfectly Bella.

"Yeah," she nodded, paying close attention to her spoon again. "And I know that if the whole world went away and you were still here with me then I'd be okay, which means that I love you the most. Do you love me the most?" I tore my eyes away from her spoon because she was looking at me now with the same curiosity as when she asked me what we were going to do on any given day.

"Yes," I answered softly, looking down into my lap.

"Why does that make you sad?" she asked, scooting closer and lifting my chin just like I'd lifted hers so many times.

"It doesn't make me sad, I just..." I trailed off, sighing and brushed her hand away. She dipped her head to catch my eye.

"You should be happy. Alice said sometimes people don't ever find the person they love the most. But you found me," she said softly and I straightened up because she was right. In all her simplicity and innocence and naivety she was absolutely right. I should be happy, not embarrassed, to find one girl that I loved more than anything. And I should be more than just happy that she was sitting here telling me that she loved me too.

"You're right," I told her, nudging her shoulder softly with mine. She grinned and moved the ice-cream to my bedside table. "What are you doing?" I asked, confused as she climbed under the blankets and laid her head on my pillow.

"We should get some sleep," she shrugged, tugging on my arm.

"You have to sleep in your room or we'll both be in trouble," I told her, pulling her back into a sitting position.

"No, because Esme said-"

"Bella we can't be a couple right now," I said over her, knowing what she was getting at. There was no way in hell that Carlisle and Esme would allow us to live like a couple. Especially if they thought sex was involved. "When you're a bit older and we can have our own place, okay?"

"But you said-"

"Bella I do love you okay?" She looked sceptical. "I do," I insisted. "But no one is going to understand if we're a couple."

"Because I'm different?" she asked so softly that it broke my heart.

"Yeah, Bella, because you're different." I didn't want to lie to her, as much as it hurt me to tell her something like that.

"But you love me even though I'm different?"

"Definitely. More than anything," I promised, taking her hands in mine and massaging them gently.

"Prove it," she said, and when I glanced up at her she had this strong conviction in her eyes. It was like fire.

"How?" I croaked, though I already knew the answer.

"I want a real kiss," she replied, confirming my fears. Should I do this? Could I do this?

"Bella, I don't think-"

"I don't think it's very fair that everyone else gets real kisses and I don't."

"Jake doesn't get them."

"Yes he does he told me there's a girl called Leah that he kisses all the time."

I cursed Jacob for being so goddamn honest with her. When did he even have time to tell her these things? Because that particular story had to be new.

"Well I don't get them," I justified, but then Bella crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at me.

"What. About. Tanya?"

And I decided to add Emmett to my hit list.

"What about her?" I squeaked, looking everywhere but at Bella, who was still scowling.

"You even did that baby-making thing with her!" Bella cried, throwing her hands in the air and looking so utterly frustrated that I was playing dumb that it was funny. Her eyes were huge and her cheeks were red and her eyebrows had shot up so fair they were barely visible under the hair that had flown into her face. I shushed her, chuckling and putting a hand over her mouth. She grumbled something incoherent, scowling again. I removed my hand and she gave a huff before pushing her hair behind her ears. "That is gross, Edward Cullen," she scolded, pointing a finger at me. I laughed and pulled her into my lap. She rested her head on my shoulder and played with the buttons on my shirt. I was forgiven, I could tell. "She's really not gonna have a baby, is she?"

"No there are ways of doing that without making a baby," I mumbled, not at all comfortable talking about sex with Bella. The way I felt about her was purely... pure, I guess for lack of a better word. I didn't want to throw her down like I did other girls. Not that I ever thought of other girls when Bella was around. She was just simply the love of my life. End of story. Nothing sexual about it.

"But why would you?"

"Because it's fun."

"It doesn't sound fun," she argued, pulling a face as she continued to play, now with my collar.

"Change the subject, Bella."

"Fine. I want my kiss now, please," she grinned, spinning in my lap until she was facing me. I rolled my eyes and lifted her off me, repositioning her opposite me. She wasn't going to let this go. And whatever, I wanted to kiss her anyway.

"You don't tell anyone about it, not even Jacob," I stressed, bopping her nose with my finger for emphasis. She nodded and leaned forward. "Shut your eyes," I instructed, and once she did I looked up to the heavens and I fucking prayed. I don't know what for. I just felt the need to beg for... something... I dunno for it all to go right and for it not to be gross and for us not to get caught.

Then I looked back down at her and she looked just as nervous as I did, leaning towards me with her eyes shut and her cheeks flaming red. She touched her stomach briefly and I knew she had bugs in her belly again. Smiling at that thought, I took her flushed little face in my hands and I brushed my lips against hers. She gasped slightly, but relaxed after a second and returned the pressure. I pulled away a little and went back in, and I felt her sigh, her fingers finding hairs at the back of my neck. I sighed too, because it just felt so... right. I didn't do anything more, pulling away after a couple more seconds. Bella was smiling into her lap – it was the first time she'd ever been shy. She glanced up and took my hands, holding them over her heart.

"Feel that?" she asked. I nodded, it was racing beneath my fingers. "You made the butterflies move up to my heart."