This chapter was inspired by Maroon five. I'm a fan of their work and this song in particular. I'll write the full dance during the next show. A quick thank you to all of my reviewers, and to my beta.

Chapter 32- Aspirin and ice packs; the breakfast of champions

Pov-Bella

I was sore when I woke the next morning and at first my body protested the movement. The long hours of dancing were starting to take their toile on my body. I rolled over and glanced at the clock. Holy Crow! I flipped out of bed so fast I almost fell flat on my butt when my legs didn't cooperate. It was 6:10 and I was late for breakfast.

I stripped out of my pajamas tossing them on the end of my bed and scrounging around for a pair of sweats and a lose top I could wear. I tossed a dance skirt, my water bottle and a pair of dance heels in my bag incase I needed them during practice and started yanking a brush through my hair.

There was a soft knock on my door and I pulled it open to see Edward standing in the hallway, his hair wet from an early shower and ready for the day. Apparently I was the only one over sleeping today.

"Good morning Bella, you ready?"

"Almost, come on in."

I finished brushing out my hair and tied it back in a pony tail before slipping into my slippers. Edward garbed my bag for me and smirked at my hectic scrambling to get ready.

"Did you over sleep?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that's a first."

"It's good that you're catching up."

My door clicked behind us as we walked down the stairs and I made sure we were alone before I questioned him. We hadn't gotten a change to talk about operation Switzerland last night and I was curious about the hiding place he'd found.

"So where'd you find to stash our things?"

He smiled opening the door to the stairs for me and checked, like I had, to make sure we were alone. "You know the laundry room on the seventh floor?"

I nodded, the laundry room was a place for the dancers to wash their clothes. It had five washers and five dryers and no one was aloud to do their laundry late at night because the noise kept some of the boys up.

"Well one of the washers isn't bolted to the floor like the others are. I was doing my laundry and I noticed that it moved. There's a panel behind the washer in the wall that you can pop out so workers can get to some of the water pipes. There's some extra space so I stuck our things in it. No one will think to look in the wall."

"You did." I pointed out.

He shrugged. "True, but its better then anything else we've found."

I nodded. "True."

"We've pretty much got everything we need, we'll have to get the pies right before the prank and we need to decide where to set to it up."

I smirked at him. "Where else would we set it up? The door to the lounge has been part of this prank war since the very beginning. It makes sense that we would end it there."

"You don't think they'll be expecting that?"

I shrugged. "Maybe, but they wont have a choice. If they want food they have to go into the lounge at some point and we'll be waiting."

"When?"

"What about Monday night? That's gives us two days to get everything ready and a day for everyone to get over the prank afterwards before the show on Wednesday."

"Sounds good."

I couldn't help the stupid smile on my face as we walked into the lounge and got our food. I couldn't wait to see the look and Emmett and Alice's face when we got them. One of us would have to get a video recorder from the tech guys before the big day.

"Morning Bells." Jake greated me, kicking out the chair next to him so I could sit down.

"Morning Jake."

Edward and I slid into the table.

"Morning Everyone." Edward greeted as he passed me the orange juice. Emmett waved his fork in our direction, but he was engrossed in some conversation with James and Erik.

"What are they talking about?"

Victoria rolled her eyes. "Their debating guys who've been on the show before."

Erik turned to face us. "Bella, you agree with me right? Benji was totally a better dancer then Twitch right?"

James rolled his eyes. "Let it go man, Twitch could have danced circles around Benji."

"He so could not have."

"You're both wrong, so shut your mouths." Emmett interrupted. "Joshua from season four could have whipped them both with one hand tied behind his back."

"Bella you pick." Erik said pleading with me to choose him.

"Why do I have to pick?" I didn't want to be in the middle of this.

Victoria set her head down on the table and groand, her main of red hair sprawling around her shoulders. "Just pick one so they'll all shut up already."

I bit my lip and sent Erik an apologizing smile. "Sorry Erik but I think Emmett's right. Joshua was my favorite male dancer."

"Yes!" Emmett whooped and threw a fist in the air. "I told you. Thank you Bella."

Erik whined. "Ah Bella, why couldn't you just lie to him."

I shrugged. "I'm sorry Erik, Benji was great but Joshua could have kicked his ass twice before breakfast and once again after lunch."

Erik stuck his tongue out at me so I stuck my fingers in my mouth and made a face at him. Emmett laughed and I shot him a dirty look. "What?"

"Real mature Bells."

I shrugged. "It's early."

"Good point."

Conversation jumped from topic to topic with no real flow or reason until it was time to find out who we would be working with this week.

"Who do you think we'll get this week?" Edward asked as we climbed up the stairs to the fifth floor.

I shrugged. "I'm not sure, who's choreographed a Rumba on the show before?"

"I'm not sure. I can't remember any names off the top of my head."

Roger found us in the hallway outside our studio and turned his camera on us, taping us for the rest of the world to see.

"So Bella, Edward, what are your first thoughts going into the Rumba this week? Are you nervous?"

"We both have some back ground in Rumba so I think we'll be ok." Edward said.

I nodded along. "Looking forward to it."

"Anyone you want to say hi to back home?" He asked.

Edward shook his head but I felt a stupid smile on my face. "I got one." I made a face at the camera. "Hi Summer, Hi Sam."

Edward laughed at me and swung open the door to our studio. "Let's see what were up against this week."

I didn't know the name of the man waiting for us but I was sure I'd seen him on the show before. He smiled warmly when we came in and moved to shake both of our hands.

"Edward, Bella welcome. My name's Alex Da Silva." He waved a hand at a younger woman standing with him. "This is one of my dance students Maria. She's going to be helping us this week. Are you both ready for the Jazz Rumba?"

"Definitely."

He smiled. "Ok Bella, why don't you go with Maria she'll get you some practice clothes."

What was wrong with what I was wearing? "Ok"

Maria took my hand and I followed her over to the other side of the room while Alex and Edward started talking music. Maria had me change into a pair of high heeled shows with wider heels then I was use to and a long white skirt.

"There." She smiled once I was ready. "You and Edward will have your fitting latter tonight before diner, but if you practice in these you'll be able to transition into the costume better later. The dress is full length."

"Thanks."

She smiled again. "No problem, you're going to love this dance. Alex and I have been working on it for weeks."

"You helped choreograph it?" I asked and I laced the heels tighter.

She nodded. "It's my big final project. I've been working with Alex for four years now and I guess you could say I'm about to graduate. I'm actually kind of surprised he's letting me do something for the show, but he really liked the dance so, here I am."

"What song is it to?"

"It's to "Secret" by: Maroon five. I hope you and Edward are close because this dance gets kind of heated."

I blushed and she laughed. "You'll be fine Bella, I've been watching the show and your one of my favorites, come on."

She took my hand and we rejoined the boys just as Alex started the music.

"Watch the sunrise,
Say your goodbyes,
Off we go.
Some conversation,
No contemplation,
Hit the road."

"Here watch us."

Maria and Alex moved to the center of the room and started dancing to the lyrics. The moves started slow, as the lyrics started they met center stage.

"It's slower then I thought." Edward commented as we watched them move.

I nodded. "I've done a Cuban Rumba before, but that was way faster."

When they were done it was our turn. Maria pulled me aside to work on the opener and while she showed me the moves she talked about the concept of this weeks dance.

"It's sort of the story of a one night stand." She said as I mirrored her moves. "Two strangers met at a bar and even though they know nothing about each other they instantly want each other. It starts out kind of slow with a few really showy lifts and then it gets more passionate as the two characters dance together. You're going to love the dress, its gold."

I nodded along and she coached me through a pirouette.

"Point your left foot more."

I fixed my foot.

"After the spin you'll met up with Edward."

She took Edward's spot and showed me where to place my hands for the first lift.

"No offence Bella, but it'll be safer for both of us if I don't try lifting you. I'd probably drop you on my head and we'd both die."

We laughed and Alex interrupted us, walking over with Edward.

"What's with all the laughing? You're supposed to be working."

Maria rolled her eyes. "Calm down Alex. Bella got the moves down like a natural. But I need Edward if I'm going to show her the lift. I can't lift Bella."

Alex nodded. "You can have him. We're finished with the opener as well."

"Good, Bella you stay here, Edward." She took Edward's hand and pulled him to the other side of the room. "You start over here. I'll set the music up."

"I need to borrow them both for interviews when you have a free moment." Roger interrupted from his place in the corner. He'd been filming our work all morning, catching clips of Maria and I tripping over each other.

"Let me get them through the first lift then you can have Bella."

She pushed play and started counting as the guitar played the opening cords. I took a deep breath and tried to match my pulse to the slow beat of the base drum as I started moving. My first set was a combination of four sixteen counts moves. I'd always struggled more with slow songs then fast songs. In fast songs if you miss a step or your face isn't just right, you're moving so fast that sometimes it doesn't get caught. We would be completely exposed in this song. Every flaw evident before the expert eyes of the judges.

As I moved forward I tried to let myself fall into character. It wasn't hard to flirt with Edward as we neared each other and that only made our performance more believable. On the first of my spins I grabbed the tie holding my hair back and pulled it out letting my hair fall loose around my shoulders and batted my eyelashes at him. Eat your heart out Cullen.

Maria loved it. "Just like that Bella. You've got to tease each other in these first moves. I'm adding that hair move to the final dance. I'll talk to Max about changing your hair style so you can pull it out on stage. Why didn't I think of that?"

Edward missed one of the steps and she stopped us, running back over the moves to refresh us and had us start from the top. Once we could get the entire opener down she let Roger take me for my interview.

"We'll get to the lift after lunch." Maria promised.

I followed Roger out into the hall and he pulled a couple of chairs out of a closet so we could sit down near a window looking over the city.

"Ok Bella, now that you've had a few weeks to get to know Edward. What's your favorite part about working with him?"

He's a great kisser, I blushed, glad that Roger couldn't read my mind. That would have been embarrassing. "Um…? That's a good question. My favorite part about working with Edward? Edward's a very strong dancer but, in a very subtle way. He's always very confident in both of us and I think that makes me a stronger dancer and us a stronger team overall."

"Ok" He nodded. "Now the opposite, what's the worse part about working with Edward?"

"He's got a hard jaw." I said instantly holding up my bandaged hand. He laughed at my joke like I hoped he would and continued with his questions.

"How is your hand, since you brought it up?"

"It's getting better. As long as I don't push it to fast, I should be able to take the brace off by the end of next week. The break wasn't too bad and it's healing well."

He adjusted his camera. "Have you gotten a chance to get to know some of the other dancers on the show?"

"Oh sure I have. Everyone hangs out after practice and we eat all our meals together."

"Have you made any particularly strong friendships?" He asked.

I nodded. "Well I've known Jake for years so we were already really close. He's practically my brother. But other then him, I've really gotten to know Alice and Rosalie probably the best. I've spent some time with Leah and Jasper. Emmett's always fun to hang out with. Angela was my room mate for the callbacks so were pretty close and I auditioned in Phoenix with Erik so we've gotten to know each other. Their all really good people and it's an honor to get to work with them+."

"Is there anyone in particular that you don't get along with?"

I wasn't about to say anything bad about Tanya that would get aired on TV. I didn't need bad publicity making me look like a bitch and I didn't have it in me to bash her publicly either. What I thought or said about her in privet was a different matter. Sometimes I wish that I was capable of being a purely mean spirited person. It just wasn't my style.

"No, we all get along pretty well for the most part. We tease each other a lot, and then there's the prank war, but it's all in good fun."

"So there's no fighting back stage? No one's playing any mind games to try and throw off the competition?" He asked, trying to get me to be more specific.

I shook my head. "No." That wasn't a lie, completely. Tanya and I weren't fighting, she just didn't like me and I wasn't particularly fond of her as a person either and I would certainly never try to sabotage her either. I'd kick her butt fair and square.

"That's all I need Bella, you can go back now."

"Would you like me to send Edward out?" I asked as I stood up.

He nodded. "If you wouldn't mind, thank you."

I let myself back into the lounge just as Edward was lifting Maria up onto his shoulder. She kicked one of her legs straight up and rolled across his shoulders. Edward helped her drop down and she hooked one of her legs around his hips.

"Just like that, very nice." Maria complimented him as they finished the lift. "Now you've got to do it with Bella."

"I'm not sure I can bend like that." I admitted walking forward. "That was a sick lift."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment." Maria said untangling herself from Edward's hold and dancing to my side. "Does Roger need Edward now?"

I nodded. "If you can spare him for a moment."

"Go head. Alex can try the lift with Bella while you're gone."

Edward ducked out of the studio and Maria pulled Alex out into the middle of the room.

"Ok Bella, watch closely we'll show you a couple of times."

She ran through the last eight counts of my opener and spun into Alex's arms. He put his hands on her waist and she braced hers on his shoulders. They bent their knees together and he hoisted her into the air as she jumped. Once she cleared his face Maria twisted and kicked her leg up so she was sort of straddling Alex's right shoulder. Alex had one hand on her thigh, keeping her from slipping off his back and held her up as she laid across his shoulders.

Alex switched his hold from her leg to wrapping one arm around her waist as she slid down his side and hooked her leg around his waist, using his body to help her regain her balance. The entire lift lasted only about ten counts but if we could hit it, it would be amazing.

"Wow" I was doomed.

Maria was all smiles, obviously proud of her hard work on this routine. "You like it?"

"I've never done a lift like that before." And I'm not sure I can.

"Do you want to see it again?" She asked

I nodded. "Please and thank you."

I watched Maria and Alex run the lift two more times before Maria demanded that I try it out myself saying that I would only learn by doing. I grimaced, and apologized in advance incase I kicked Alex in the face.

"Don't worry about it." He said with a smile. Had he not seen my work on the show already? I'd manage to hurt myself and my partner.

"Why don't you start at the beginning to warm yourself up and make sure you remember all of the moves. Then you can get the feel for the whole start of the dance." Maria suggested setting the music back up at the beginning.

I nodded along and started at the top focusing to make sure I got all of the moves right. I needed some work to clean them, but that would come with repetition. Maria was talking as I worked, pointing out things I needed to clean and counting off the steps for me. I did my best to listen but I found it easier to count to myself. Listening to an outside voice threw me off, I was good at mussel memory and got all of the moves right.

"Ok Bella, get ready."

I moved into the pirouette and then spun on my right foot so that I was right next to Alex. He put his hands on my hips and I braced myself on his shoulders as I jumped. I over shot the landing and slipped off his shoulder before he could settle my landing.

My legs were still hooked around his torso so Alex fell with me as we crashed to the ground in a rather ungraceful pile of limbs. "Ouch."

"You two made that look so much easier." I mumbled pushing myself to my knees

"We've been working on it for a long time." Alex said rubbing his head.

Maria pulled Alex to his feet and offered me her other hand. "At least you didn't kick him in the face."

"It's not the legs you got to watch out for, she's got a mean left hook." Edward joked as he and Roger came back into the room.

I groaned. "Roger go away, I'm just going to fall on my ass again."

He grinned and hooked his camera up on his shoulder. "It's my job you catch you falling over each other."

I debated flipping him off but thought better of it, the camera was running and FOX was a family station, they wouldn't want me flipping anyone in the audience off. They could always edit that part out, the less noble side of me said but I shoved the un-polite Bella away.

"Just don't stand to close or you'll get a lens full of Bella feet." I warned.

Maria set the music up at the beginning and had us run the start of the opener a few times to refresh our memories before we started on the lift. After the fourth time in a row of me pulling us both to the ground she let us go to lunch.

At lunch we got two trays of food and I pulled two ice packs out of a small fridge on the counter ment just for them. I gave Edward and ice pack and he passed me some aspirin.

"Thanks."

We sat down the others gave us funny looks.

"You two look beat." Jake commented as we sat down.

I couldn't decide where I wanted the ice pack the most. My whole body was one big sore spot. In the end I sat on it once it became clear I was not going to be able to sit down properly without it. Edward pressed his against his head and I apologized again. On our last fall he'd hit his head against the floor pretty hard.

"We've got a particularly nasty lift this week." Edward said in explanation to the others who were waiting for one.

I shook my head. "The lift is great, I just suck at it."

"Maybe you could talk to your choreographer and asked him to change the lift for you." Tanya suggested as she and James slid into seats at the table.

I shot her a dirty look. "We'll get it down eventually, we just need to work on it some more."

She shrugged. "It might be a good idea not to push yourself to hard this week Bella. You've already been injured once. Next time you might not be able to continue dancing in the competition. If you can't do it I'm sure they'll understand."

I bite my tongue from a particularly nasty come back and was grateful when someone else stepped in for me.

"I'm sure they'll be just fine. I bet everyone's having trouble today." Alice said shooting me a understanding look. Ever since the incident last week I'd been noticing more and more the little things Tanya did to belittle me around the other dancers and it was clear that Alice was taking notice too.

"We'll get it down T don't worry." Edward said swigging from his water bottle, completely unaware of the secret meaning behind her words.

I glanced around the table. The only ones who'd caught Tanya's double meaning was Alice and I. Emmett, Jake, James, Erik were all blissfully unaware, eating their food or talking amongst themselves. I mentally rolled my eyes. Boys could be so thick sometimes.

After lunch it was back to work were I got to know the floor on a very personal level. Once I could keep my balance on his shoulder there was the fact that I had to not kick him in the face then once we got that down. I had to role across his shoulders without falling off, not kicking him in the face and falling on my butt when my feet got back on the floor.

"Ouch" I let off a couple more colorful words as I landed on the ground again and Alex clapped his hands.

"I think you two can be done for the day. Your fitting's in ten minutes upstairs."

"We'll get that lift down tomorrow." Maria promised and I felt the odd sensation to skip rehearsal tomorrow.

We thanked them for working with us and said we'd meet them tomorrow. Maybe.

"Come on Bella, let's head upstairs."

I followed Edward out into the hall and took off the shoes Maria had let me wear. We made our way down to the costume shop and sat just inside the door out of the way to wait for our turn. Angela and Erik were already there both in full costume.

Angela was moving slowly in a full length, deep purple dress full of pins and Erik was pulling on the bow tie around his neck in a crisp black suit.

"Looking good guys."

Angela smiled and spun in the dress for me wincing when one of the pins poked her. "I'm not sure if purple is my color."

"We could try a dusty rose colored dress I have in the back if you want?" The woman helping Angela get around offered, as she adjusted some of the pins. "It might be closer to your size too." She added as an after thought.

Angela swapped dresses and we all agreed that the second one was better. The lighter color commplimented her pale skin and was closer to her size. Once they changed out of their costumes it was time for Edward and I to get fitted. A woman dressed in Max's team uniform had me strip down and helped zip me into a floor length gold dress.

The dress hugged all of the right curves and had a slit on the right side that stopped just an inch sort of my waist. She pulled the hem up just a couple of inches and pinned the fabric in place before passing me the shoes. They could have been worse. The shoes were the same bright gold as the dress with a thicker heel and straps that laced up my calf. They almost reminded me of the kind of shoes you saw Greek goddesses wearing in old Ittalion paintings.

Once I was declared decent she let me out into the main room so I could see Edward in his outfit. Edward was dressed in black dress pants and a button up shirt the same gold color as my dress. He had a gold scarf tied around his waist and looked completely edible. I blushed and thanked every god listening he couldn't read my mind. How embarasing would that be?

I got the satisfaction of watching his eyes widened when I stepped out before he could compose his face and spun in a circle so he could get the full effect of the high cut slit. "Like it?"

He nodded and held his arms out, spinning like I had. "You?"

"Very nice."

We changed back and headed down to diner for another round of hot food, ice, and aspirin to help heal the aches and pains. I was sitting with my back to the door so I missed the grand entrance but all at once the other dancers who already had their food started clapping and laughing.

I twisted around in my seat to see what was so funny and clapped along with the others. Emmett and Leah were still in costume. Leah had on a light purple bikini top and a bright green grass skirt with matching wrist band. Emmett was wearing brightly colored board shorts and a flower lay. They took turns bowing and then got their food.

"So what's with the outfits?" I asked when they slid into seats next to Edward and myself.

"It's for our jazz number." Leah said.

"We're supposed to be from Hawaii." Emmett added. "We're dancing to that song 'Hawaiian rollercoaster ride'. It's a lot of fun."

Leah nodded along. "And I get to be a hula girl."

"You too look like your dance is coming along." Emmett commented as he looked us over and noted the icepacks.

"We're getting there."

It didn't take long for the others to join us. With only sixteen dancers left we'd taken to pushing the tables into the middle so everyone could sit together. Angela and Erik were having more fun then they thought they would with their Argentine Tango. Jake and Heidi had spent all after noon kicking each other as they tried to learn all of the quick kicks in their quick step dance. Over all everyone was doing fine for the first day, I think the biggest shock of the night was when Jasper and Victoria announced that they couldn't wait for their disco dance because it was going to be amazing.

I was particularly worn out after today and decided going straight to bed after diner was the smartest move in my book.

"You going to bed already Bells?" Jake asked as I stood up and dismissed myself from the table.

I nodded and rubbed at my sore shoulder. "I'm going to boil myself in the shower until I resemble a lobster then I'm going to bed, yes."

I dumped my tray and waved goodnight before letting myself into the hallway. I made it to the stairs before I heard the door to the lounge open again and Edward caught up to my before I'd gotten more then a few steps up the stairwell.

"Bella."

I turned to face him and had my hands locked in his hair before his even wrapped around my waist. For about the length of a minute I let myself forget about the show and everyone in it. It was just me and Edward sharing a rather heated kiss in the cement stairwell of a giant Las Vegas dance studio. Nothing odd about that sentence, nope.

When we finally pulled away to catch our breath he pressed something into my hand. I glanced down at the little black rectangle and grinned.

"When did you get a video recorder?"

"I talked to Roger about our plans during my interview and he loved it. He said we can use that camera to film the big moment and he also told me where we can find some pies in the kitchen downstairs that the crew uses for their meals."

"You're a genius."

He smiled my favorite smile. "Thank you, you coming up tonight?"

"I need to shower first but, yes. I'll be up later."

He dropped me off at the door to the sixth floor and I raced to my room. I hid the camera under my bed and took a record breaking three minutes shower in almost hot water. I tied my wet hair behind my head and slipped into my pajamas and snuck upstairs.

~Darkrose

I'm sorry this took so long but I'm not going to sit here and give you some long windded excuse. I should get the next chapter up soon hopfully before NewMoon comes out. Nine Days left! give or take a few hours depending on where you are in the world.