This chapter is dedicated to my new beta, XxEddiexX. I love you girl! And a big thank you to all of my readers. Your support is one of the main reasons I write this story.

Chapter 41: Top Fourteen


Pov: Edward

"Edward, would you wake Jasper up?" Emmett asked from the corner of his room where he was digging clean clothes out of his bag.

"Yeah"

"I'm up," Came a muffled voice from the lump under the quilt that was Jasper.

"You don't look very up." Emmett commented yanking a clean shirt over his head and running his hands over his short hair to fix.

"What time is it?" Jaspers, mouth less voice asked.

I glanced at Emmett's bedside clock. "6:30."

"Five more minutes." Jasper asked and the blankets around his head pulled tighter around himself as he rolled away from me.

Emmett pulled out of his closet in a clean pair of pants and made his way over to Jaspers sleeping lump. He grabbed a pillow off the floor and lifted up above his head as he stood over Jasper.

"No more five minutes." He said bringing the pillow down on Jasper side.

There was a deep thump and Jasper growled something from under the quilt that sounded like Spanish.

"Up up time Jasper." Emmett said in a condescending tone someone might use on a small child before smacking him with the pillow again. "If you can admit to Alice that you love her you can get up and go get dressed. At the very least you need to get out of my room so I can go down to breakfast. Go sleep in the hall."

Jasper's head appeared out of the end of the blanket and his hand shot out after it to catch the pillow Emmett was swinging to hit him with a third time. "Stop that." He demanded, his hair still snarled and his eyes heavy with a need for more sleep. "I'm up, you happy?"

"Peachy, thank you." Emmett said tossing the pillow to his bed. "Now, Get out."

I shook my head at them both and started gathering my pillows together. I still couldn't believe that Jasper had told Alice he loved her. We'd put a movie in last night, but about halfway through Emmett had started asking me about Bella. I hadn't minded since Jasper already knew we were sleeping together. We'd spent almost an hour talking about them. Alice, Rose and Bella were even closer then Emmett and I had become with Jasper.

Jasper hadn't said much, but he did tell Alice that he loved her. It was obvious he did. I couldn't believe he already knew it. He said he'd known the moment he let her in. I was happy for him, Jasper was still really quiet in general, that was just who he was, but with Alice he seemed happy. Emmett had mentioned having a good chat with Rose. I didn't really understand, but Jasper must have because he threatened Emmett's ability to reproduce if he hurt his sister.

All in all it had been an interesting night. I'd seen an emotional side to Emmett I hadn't known existed and witnessed a revelation in Jaspers life. I wondered if the girls talked about us as much as we talked about them. Probably, girls did things like that right? Talk about boys.

I dragged my things down the hall and dumped them on my bed before getting dressed. I met Jasper in the hall and we walked downstairs together to get breakfast. Emmett was already sitting with the girls in the lounge by the time we got down their and by Jasper's narrowed eyes I wasn't the only one who noticed that Rose and Emmett were sitting closer together then they usually did. Rose had her legs draped across his with her breakfast plate in her lap.

I grabbed my usual breakfast and a glass of milk before taking the open seat next to Bella. Someone had opened all of the windows in the lounge and a cool breeze was blowing in off the city. Cards and pretzels were still on the floor fro our game last night. Once Alice left us, the game had closed down pretty fast. She'd taken most of the fake food money with her so there wasn't much left to play with.

Jasper and I slid in-between Alice and Bella with our food. Alice hoped down two chairs to let us in without missing a beat in her story as she recounted part of the girls movie night to Emmett.

"-so I still haven't gotten a chance to see all of Vanhelsing yet." She said shooting a fake frown at Jasper who had started chuckling at her.

"How many movies did you bring Alice?" Bella asked sipping at her orange juice. "It seems like we watch a new one every night."

"We don't watch movies every night." Alice said shrugging. "I brought most of my collection along. All of my movies are in that blue bag at the end of my bed."

"That bag's gigantic." Rose said.

Alice shrugged again. "I was hoping I'd be here for awhile; and we've put those movies to good use. What else are we supposed to do at night?"

Emmett and Rosalie choked on their drinks simultaneously and Bella put a hand over her mouth to hide the face that she was laughing too. Alice's face went blank as she realized the double meaning in her words, then she tossed her fork at Emmett.

"That's not what I meant." She said putting her hands on her little hips. "Get your minds out of the gutter."

At this point Emmett was completely lost and I was biting the inside of my cheek to keep my face blank. Rosalie set down her plate and leaned forward so her elbows were on the table and her chin was in her hands. "Alice, now that you've put your foot in your mouth, I feel it necessary to ask what your intentions are with my brother."

The inter table lost it. Alice smirked up at us threw her eyelashes and tapped her fingertips together like a mob boss from one of her movies. "I intend to seduce him with my girlish charms and rob him of his innocence." She said with a straight face before sticking a piece of muffin in her mouth and smirking at Jasper who'd gone still.

Emmett started wolf whistling and Jasper nearly blushed. Bella was holding onto my arm for support as we both tried to keep from falling out of our chairs. The rest of the dancers were staring at our table with confused looks which we ignored as best we could.

The door to the lounge swung open and we all fell silent as Cat walked in with her own personal camera crew.

"Well good morning everyone." She said waving one hand to encompass the entire room. "I'm here to go over today's schedule."

Today's schedule ended up being exactly like every other show day schedule. We would get the morning to work by ourselves or with our partners. We'd head over to the studio and met with our costume helpers, then have lunch followed by some free time before the show at the studio, then onto the dance floor where we'd all tell each other to break a leg and partially mean it, literally.

Everyone finished eating breakfast and I met Bella in a studio on the fifth floor. Emmett and Rosalie were working individually in the room across the hall from us and Erik and Angela were working one door down. Everyone else had headed to take a room on the third floor or head back up to their bed rooms.

Pov- Bella

"That was great Bella. You've really got that opener down."

I dropped to my knees and laid down on the floor of our studio. "Thanks. What time is it?"

We'd been working hard all morning trying to make sure both of our dancers were as good as we could possible make them before the show started. I whipped the sweat from my forehead and worked on slowing my breathing down.

"About ten thirty."

I nodded as best I could from the floor. "I think I'm going to run upstairs and take a shower quick."

Edward offered me his hand and pulled me to my feet. "Good idea, we don't want to over work before the show."

"Do you want to run through the waltz again?"

He shook his head. "No, it's not going to get any better in one most rep. I think we'll be just fine for today. Are you ready?"

I knocked on the wooden door frame as we stepped out into the hallway to counter any bad luck and rubbed at my sore shoulder. "I'm as ready as I think one can be, knowing that I'm going to die later tonight on stage in front of the whole country."

Edward held the door to the stairs open and followed me up. "Does your mom know your going to die tonight?" He asked.

I shook my head, stopping at the door to the sixth floor. "Nope, I didn't know how to tell her; so I decided for the easy road of simple not saying anything at all. She and Summer are going to be at the show tonight and they'll see it then. I just hope she doesn't freak out to bad."

We found the others gathered on the sidewalk out front near the bus and followed them on when the camera guys were ready to go. I had the way to the studio memorized now and had fun looking at some of the smaller shops and the people in the city. We stopped at a red light and a little girl in the van next to us waved. I wasn't sure if she could see me through the dark tint of the windows, but I waved back.

As always, the crew ninja's were waiting when we pulled up and Jason already had our costumes hanging up and ready. He ran some soft curls through my hair so he wouldn't have to do it later and then Edward and I checked with the stage manager to make sure we knew all of our cues. Once all of the stage drama was settled and everything was ready for tonight we headed up stairs to the open lounge were we would eat lunch.

Sub sandwiches, potato salad, fresh rolls, iced tea and water; the lunch of champions. It worked and tasted wonderful. I didn't like to eat a lot in the few hours before the show so I picked at my sandwich and ended up stealing a bag of chips from the table that I could munch on while Edward and I worked out the last few things we needed to smooth out.

After an hour of slow pasted work our small work room was overheating and we opened a window to let in the breeze. We turned off our dance songs and turned on the radio, sitting together with our backs to the wall mirror while we munched on the chips.

"You want to head down early and see if we can find your mom before the show?" Edward asked whipping his hands together to clear away the chip crumbs.

I licked the salt from my finger and nodded pushing myself to my feet. "If we can go out there you bet."

We dropped off the last of the chips in the main room to get cleaned up and then snuck down stairs acting like we were supposed to be there. No one stopped us until we grabbed the handle that would lead us to the auditorium.

"Bella, Edward, where are you going?"

Cat Deeley was walking towards us being followed by a man trying to work on her hair.

"I just wanted to see if I could find my mom before we went on." I explained, hopping she wouldn't send us back up stairs.

She nodded, like she'd already known that. "They're sitting in the family reserved seats. I'll have someone bring them down here so you don't get mobbed."

She sent a camera man out to get my group and told us we could go out as long as we stayed near the door where it was roped off from the general addition seats. We promised to be good and talk to no one other then my mom and Summer. She posed a guard at the door to make sure no one bothered us and then went back to finish getting ready.

"Bella!"

I spun and opened my arms at the sound of my best friend, and then Summer tackled me. Edward caught us both before we could fall over and then another pair of arms grabbed me and pulled me into a hug. "Bella, it's so good to see you, Oh surprise! I bet you didn't know I was coming to see you." The second voice yelled in my ear while jumping up and down.

"Erika?" Oh my gosh, what was she doing here?

Erika held me at arms length and looked me over. "Of course it's me, who else could walk off a plane and look this good." I laughed because I couldn't help myself and she did look good. Erika's hair was more red then brown and piled on top of her head in elegant curls. Her dance toned legs stuck out of the bottom of a short, yellow dress and she spun in place quick so I could see the whole thing.

"What are you doing here? I didn't know you were coming."

Erika rolled her eyes. "Of course you didn't know, that's why I said surprise. It was your mom's idea." Her eyes lifted to look over my shoulder. "Hello." She said as her eyes locked on what could only be Edward. "Bella, why didn't you mention that you brought your side arm with you?" Erika stepped around me and held out her hand to great him. "Hi I'm Erika, you need to come work for me."

"Edward this is the woman who owns Samba Sun." I elaborated so he wouldn't seem so confused. "Erika this is my dance partner Edward. You've already met Summer and my Mo-"

"Bella, stop talking and give me a hug."

My mom grabbed my arm and pulled me to her. "Hi baby girl it's so good to see you again, how's the show going, you look wonderful."

I hugged her back, glad to see her. "It's so good to see you Mom."

"You too baby, I've missed you at home."

I blinked hard a few time so she wouldn't make me cry. Jason would kill me if my face was all blotchy and my eyes bloodshot and puffy. "I haven't been gone that long."

"It's been almost a month and you're going to be gone so much longer. I hope you make it home for your birthday."

"The shows not that long Mom." My birthday was in September we had months.

"I know, but I still miss you. All of your friends do, when Erika heard we were coming to see you again she asked if she could join us. Phil's been real busy with work lately so I let her have his ticket. He wishes you good luck by the way and he's sorry he couldn't be here."

Well that explained it. I liked Phil, he was a good guy and good for my mom; we just didn't know each other to well yet. Mom and I rejoined the others. Summer and Erika had both taken to grilling Edward so I could have a moment with my mom.

"Can you at least tell us what style your doing?" Summer was asking.

"I just want to know who your choreographer is this week." Erika added.

That's right, I forgot they didn't know we were doing two dances yet. Edward shot me a desperate look, asking what he could tell them. I was glad he'd stayed silent. I pushed past Erika and Summer so I could stand between them and him.

"All of your questions will be answered when were on stage."

"I can't believe this. You've hardly talked to me all week and know you won't tell me anything." Summer huffed.

I shrugged apologetically. "I didn't have a lot of free time this week. I'm sorry."

"I know, I know." She said, I could tell she wasn't really mad. "Can you at least tell me what color your dress is, or are you not wearing a dress this week?"

Edward leaned forward with his arms around my waist so he could talk over my shoulder. "Throw them a bone Bella, they came all this way to see you."

I rolled my eyes and elbowed him, "Fine, Edward's wearing white."

Edward and my mom chuckled, Erika and Summer frowned at me. I knew they weren't really mad but they were frustrated with me. I felt confident with Edward at my back and all of the cameras watching us.

"Bella, Edward." Jason poked his head out from back stage and waved us to come with him. "It's time to start getting ready."

I nodded. "We'll be right there." I gave my mom a hug. "We'll come see you after the show."

My mom gave Edward a hug and they all wished us luck. "Bella," Edward said as he stepped back to my side. "You forgot to mention that I'm only wearing white in the first dance."

I chuckled again, seeing where he was going with this. Summer and Erika looked shell shocked. I just smiled at them.

"You're doing more then one?" Summer asked.

I ignored her and turned back to Edward. "There's white in both your costumes."

He nodded, leading me away towards Jason, who was holding the backstage door open for us. "True."

"Bella, this is a cruel game you play." Erika called after us.

The door to the stage swung shut behind us and Jason lead us over to our dressing room so he could get us ready for the show. Because we were going second, and wouldn't have time to change, we would both be doing the opening number in our costumes for the Viennese Waltz.

"Are you ready for tonight?" Jason asked as he pinned a couple of my curls up.

I nodded. "As ready as we can be. I think we'll be just fine as long as we don't mix our two dances together."

"You can only do your best." He said, sounding like a fortune cookie. "If you have fun and do your best they you win no matter what."

"You're sounding very philosophical today." I pointed out.

He shrugged and grabbed some eye shadow off the counter. "Were getting down to the top ten soon, who knows when any of you will go home, eyes closed please."

I closed my eyes and tried to relax my shoulders, getting tense would only make me mess up on stage, or make me sore tonight.

"Bella won't go home tonight." Edward said, followed by the swish of his changing room curtain as he came back into the room. "I see her in the top four, at least."

I rolled my eyes behind my closed lids, of course Edward would never say he'd want me to go home. I thought I was doing fine in the competition so far, but did I see myself in the top four? Not yet I didn't. The competition was too good.

"Right now I'm focusing on making it to the top ten."

"Little goals first, take the whole prize later." Jason added, "You can open your eyes now."

I opened my eyes as Jason descended on Edward's hair. Edward was dressed in lose black dress pants and a white button up that matched my dress. The cream scarf, tied around his waist, matched the longer part of my layered skirt and tied our two costumes together.

It felt like we'd only been sitting down for a few minutes when our small warning light started flashing and we had to go line up with the others for the opening theme song. Alice and Jake were the only other two already in costume, everyone else was wearing, easy to strip off, clean practice clothes or solo dresses.

The lights in the house dimed and the audience broke into screams as the lights on stage flared up and the opening theme song started. Cat Deeley's voice sounded over the PA system, introducing the show and it's producers before announcing the dancers.

One by one she called our names and we each ran forward for our two point five seconds of "Look at me" time. Thanks to the long skirt on my Waltz dress I wasn't able to do one of the flips I'd learned. I settled for a couple of quick spins and a big smile. Erik and I bumped fists as he raced out after me and I moved to the girl's side to stand next to Rosalie.

Erik, comedic as ever, did a second of robot followed by an impressive moonwalk to his place on the boy's side. "These are your girls," Cat's voice called out as we marched forward and tried to get a bigger applause then the boys. "and here are your boys, America." The boys followed us forward and won the unspoken contest of getting a louder applause.

A male voice came over the loudspeaker saying, "and your host for the evening, Cat Deeley!" The audience clapped, while I spun with the other girls to strut across the stage and trade places with the boys. While we were switching sides Cat raced forward to take her own applause, walking out between out two groups and dismissing us to head back stage.

We all spun on our toes and stayed calm until we were past the, "The audience can still see you point" and then it was a mad dash to get in place. Alice and Jake had to run to the other side so they'd be ready after the first commercial break; everyone else was racing to get changed, while Edward and I slipped into the "on call" spot to wait for the second half of the first dance block.

Cat introduced the judges, plugged the tour that the top ten would be going on, reminded America how to vote for their favorite dancer but not to do it until after the show, told everyone that each couple would be dancing twice, and introduced Alice and Jake as the first pair that would be taking the stage all within about forty seconds and I'm pretty sure she didn't once take a breath.

The volume of the audience got louder as the commercial's started playing and we were waiting for the show to come back on. Organized chaos, that was the only word for it. I might have used madness, but for how crazy it was I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

Alice and Jake took to the stage in a round of clapping. Their first song was a fast passed Salsa to a song I didn't know. Their costumes were a mix of bright reds and dark purples and they left the stage in an even louder applause. As they scurried off stage left Edward and I raced on stage right while Cat introduced our song, its choreographer, and our names.

Edward held my hand as we scurried onto the stage pulling me close to him at we hit center stage. "Good luck" He whispered in my ear before turning to head to the front of the stage.

"You too" I wasn't sure if he heard me or not.

Edward took his place on the top step of the center stairs and I lined up a few yards behind him, taking the moment that the lights were off to make sure my dress hung straight. The light material brushed against my ankles but fell still as the lights turned back on, this time in shades of gentle blue and white. I hoped that the contrast of Alice's fast dance to our slow dance would work on the audience, the dance after us was fairly fast as well.

I didn't have time to worry about it. With double the number of dances to get threw today the show wasn't wasting a lot of time with Cat talking. As soon as she was done our music started and I had to focus on the dance.

I matched Edward step for step in our synchronized sets and our assisted lift had never been cleaner. Back and forth across the stage, we moved together. We'd worked out moments with each other that we could each look up at the judges or connect with the audience. Our dance was strictly about the two of us but part of the contest was getting the votes, we could forget the audience in the second dance.

I fought to keep my breathing even, while not letting myself get over worked. Usually when I preformed I liked to work with the saying of "leave it all on the stage" It was a good motto, you could always be proud of yourself if you did you best. I was starting to sound like Jason. But, this time we needed to save strength for our second dance with was both faster and more technically demanding.

As the music drifted away, Edward wrapped one arm around my waist and we turned our back on the audience as the lights faded away. The lights hit black and the audience exploded. I spun on my toes and wrapped my arms around Edward's next pulling him into a hug. One down one to go.

Edward hugged me back as we both breathed heavy and tried to gain control over our lungs. We hurried up to Cat's side so the judges could talk to us. Even though we were trying to move quickly they still needed to give their opinions on how we did.

Mary, Nigel and today's guest judge, Katee Shean, who had been on a previous season of the show, all sat together in the judges box off to the side of the stage. I had to force myself to remember to breathe right as Cat looped one of her arms around Edward and the other around me and pulled us to her sides.

The judges kept their comments short sweet and to the point. Nigel thought we did good and said he liked seeing us in a slower number. Mary, for once, didn't scream but she praised the fact that we tried to connect with the audience and recommended we try to do that more. To bad our second dance wasn't really a good one to try and connect with the audience. There was the nasty little side effect of me dying at the end. Katee was polite, she liked our dance and was looking forward to seeing us again and it was cool to get to see a past top female dancer from the show. She hadn't won her season but she'd been the last girl standing.

There wasn't time for lengthy discussions, as soon as they were done, Cat shooed us off stage and the next pair ran on to do their first number.

I was still breathing hard as we tore into our changing room and I took the dress Jason had laid across my seat into the changing room with me. I striped out of the long Waltz dress and tossed it over the door into Jason's waiting hands so he could hang it back up.

The second dress was a light silvery color and I couldn't zip it by myself. I held it to my chest as I came back into the front room. Edward had finished changing before me and Jason already had him seated and was working on his hair. I stopped in front of him and spur around so he could reach it without Jason having to stop his work.

"Edward, can you zip the back up?"

I smirked to myself at his uncomfortable expression in the mirror and then tried not to shiver as his fingers ran up my spine. I was going barefoot for this dance so I didn't have to worry about shoes and I hopped into my chair so that Jason could have his way with my hair. He pinned some of my hair up but let chunks of it fall across my neck and shoulders so it would look like I'd been pulling at it.

Once my hair was a carefully pined mess he added black eye liner and shadowed bags under my eyes so it would look like I needed more sleep. Sonya had initially had the idea of adding red slash marks to my wrists, which I would have done if she had wanted them, but I was secretly glad she had changed her mind.

Once Jason gave us his seal of approval we wondered out into the back stage dungeon to get in line. We were a little early, but adrenalin was still pulsing threw my system from the first dance and I couldn't sit still anymore. Edward had agreed so we went out. Alice and Jake were standing in the on call spot waiting for whoever had just gone out onstage to be done. We wondered over to them so we would be out of the way.

"Wow, Alice what the heck are you wearing?"

Alice smiled at me, ruining the bad ass bicker chick image her outfit putout. "You like it?" She asked spinning around so I could see everything. "I'm not sure leathers my style."

It was definitely different, but she did look good. I was pretty sure Alice could make a garbage bag look good. Alice was dressed head to toe in black leather and fishnets. She was wearing a long sleeved fishnet shirt with a vest over it to hide her black bra and fishnet leggings lead up to the bottom of a ripped piece of gold fabric that could hardly be called a skirt. Her low heeled black boots can up to her knees and it was all finished off with a few silver chains.

"Your second dance is a hip-hop number right?" Edward asked.

"Yep" Jake said stepping forward so he could join us. He too was in black leather pants and silver chains but it looked more natural on him.

"I'm afraid to ask what song." I said, spinning Alice around so I could see the outfit again. "You better not move to fast or that skirts going up." I warned her.

She shrugged her shoulders. "That's kind of the point Bella. But, I've got shorts on under it." She said pulling up the edge of her skirt so we could see the skin tight black shorts under it.

"Short, shorts." Jake commented, and Alice smacked him.

"Well I'm curious, what song?" Edward asked.

At that moment the audience started clapping and we all jumped, we hadn't been paying attention and it was time for Alice and Jake to get in place. We wished them good luck as they headed out and took our place in the on deck spot. I took a deep breath and started to go to my unhappy place. Dead puppies, dead puppies.

I heard the music on stage start and noted that Alice and Jake were dancing to "Nasty" by: Janet Jackson, but I didn't let myself watch their routine on the stage monitor: dead puppies, poring rain, getting voted home. I tried to think of sad images as I shook off the last of the adrenalin from the first dance and switched into contemporary mode.

Edward fidgeted next to me, his back to me as he watched Alice and Jake. I let my eyes wonder over his backside which looked really good in the black half of his costume but then chastised myself for getting distracted. I was still trying to wipe the stupid smile off my face as Alice and Jake ended their song and the lights dimed so we could come out while they talked to the judges. Edward kissed my knuckles and pulled me forward with him as we stepped out onto the stage.

The lights on the stage were dark. The judges finished talking and Alice and Jake raced off the stage. Cat introduced our number and showed a short clip of Sonya talking about her depressing concept and the story behind it. I was glad they'd shown the clip so people would understand what we were doing. The clip blinked off and Cat stepped off stage to turn the attention back on us.

A single spot light fell over me as the opening guitar notes rang around the room. No one in the audience made a noise. I'd never heard the room this quiet during a performance before. The guitar chords hung in the air as the sound of a revolver spinning broke around the room. I hoped I could do this right. Dead puppies, dead puppies, dead puppies.

"Take a breath, take it deep.

Calm yourself, he says to me.

If you play, you play for keeps.

Take the gun, and count to three."

I moved slowly to the opening set by myself, center stage. Behind me Edward mirrored some of my moves, flipping back and forth so the audience would have a chance to see both sides to his costume. I'd had both Edward and Sonya help me with my facial expressions so I would look convincing. I moved forward as the lights spread out to encompass Edward and the rest of the stage. Edward moved to my side and took my hand spinning me to him and then off on the other side.

"I'm sweating now, moving slow.

No time to think, my turn to go.

And you can see my heart, beating.

You can see it through my chest.

Said I'm terrified, but I'm not leaving.

I know that I must pass this test,

So just pull the trigger."

As the next chorus ended I slowed down, dropping out of the move I'd been making unexpectedly and running a hand threw my hair acting like I didn't feel like dancing anymore. Edward moved in a circle around spinning so both sides flashed forward before ending in front of me with his back to the audience. I turned to face him, making my moves feel more lethargic while staying in time with the pulsing beat of the song, as we danced together never letting the white side turn forward.

"Say a prayer, to yourself.

He says close your eyes, sometimes it helps.

Then I get a scary thought.

That he's here means he's never lost."

We split up again, dancing side by side across the stage. I faced the audience, taking the time to try and lock eyes with each of the judges while Edward faced the back of the stage, looking like my mirror image. The bright white light above us cast hard shadows across the floor. Edward turned to face me, standing sidewise on the stage so both sides of his costume faced the audience. I kept moving to the same simple set of steps we'd been doing before. He touched my shoulder and I jumped away from him. He followed right behind grabbing my hand and twisting me back to him, holding me against his chest. The silver color of my costume looked gray next to the white of his shirt.

"And you can see my heart, beating.

You can see it through my chest.

Said I'm terrified, but I'm not leaving.

I know that I must pass this test."

As we danced I forced half of attention to focus on the moves, left step, turn right, now twist back with a half step forward. I'd run the dance so many times in the last week, now that I wasn't worried about getting it mixed with the other dance, I didn't need my full concentration. I kept part of myself away of Edward as he danced with me, sometimes leading sometimes falling back as my character pulled away from him. He was never to far away; hovering behind me in white standing out against the dark of the stage, or shadowing my moves backwards in black as fell again.

"So just pull the trigger!

As my life flashes before my eyes,

I'm wondering will I, ever see another sunrise?

So many wont get the chance to say good bye

But, it's too late to think of the value of my life."

As we moved back to the middle of the stage for the last set of partner moves the tempo of the song picked back up. This dance didn't have any of the showy lifts or flashy tosses we'd done in past numbers so we had to rely completely on the partner sets for on stage chemistry. As I got ready to pull away from "White Edward" for the last time he made an unexpected move. He was supposed to run his left hand threw my tangled hair while holding my wrist in his right hand. Instead he let his hand fall out of my hair and wiped a tear off my cheek. I hadn't realized I'd started crying. On the plus side that would add to the emotion of our dance but on the bad side I bet my mascara was running. Maybe that would add to the story too?

"And you can see my heart, beating.

You can see it through my chest.

Said I'm terrified, but I'm not leaving, no.

I know that I must pass this test

You can see my heart, beating.

You can see it through my chest.

I'm terrified, but I'm not leaving.

Know that I must pass this test."

Edward and I stopped center stage. My hands on his hips as his back we to the audience and to me. He turned slowly at the same time I did, our roles reversing as he put his hands on my hips and I turned my back on him. I forced myself to look straight ahead as I faced the audience so I wouldn't catch anyone's eyes, ignoring the cameras hanging from the ceiling catching our every move. Just one more second and it would all be over.

"So just pull the trigger."

There was the sound of a revolver spinning, and then a gun shot broke the silence our dance had created. I went limp in Edward's arms as the lights flashed off and hit the ground at his feet, my arms around my head and my hair spilled out around my shoulders. I kept as still as I possible could, my chest's rapid rise and fall the only sign that I wasn't actually dead. I felt Edward's feet shift and heard the moment of silence that followed the end of our number as the last of the music faded away. It was over, no time to fix anything, no second chances. I hoped they liked it.

I could see the lights come back on threw my hair and then the audience started clapping and shouting like they always did. There was a strong hand on my shoulder and then Edward took my hand and was helping me to my feet while I tried to push my hair out of my face. He wiped a few last tears from my face while I blinked my eyes to dry them, feeling kind of stupid that I'd actually started crying on stage.

"Are you ok Bella?" Edward asked "You didn't hurt yourself did you?"

I shook my head and grabbed his arm as we started heading over to Cat, who was waiting for us near the judges. "No, I'm fine. I promise."

"That was great."

"Thanks, you did a great job too."

He shook his head. "That number was all about you."

"Yes," I agreed, "but I would have looked silly dancing by myself."

He chuckled but didn't have time to respond as Cat took his other arm and pulled us forward. "That was wonderful you two, lets see what our judges thought. Nigel why don't we start with you; what did you think of Sonya's new number?"

Nigel clapped a few times and turned to the seats next to the judges both. "I think Sonya really out did herself with this piece. We're so lucky to have choreographers who bring numbers like this to the show, that deal with problems in our world today and I think it was danced very well." He turned back to face us with Cat on stage. "You two normally manage to impress me, I think you're a strong team and Sonya had a good pair to work with."

He turned to look at Mary as Cat asked for her opinion and I smiled to myself when I saw water in her eyes. Sonya had told us the first time we met her that she had hoped this number would make Mary cry.

Mary fanned her face for a second before speaking, and she managed to keep her voice even. "That was very beautiful you two, Nigel's very right to say we're lucky to get to work with so many wonderful choreographers and Sonya's proved time and again that she is incredible talented. My favorite part was when Bella," she pointed down at us. "You actually started crying and then Edward wipe the tear away." The large screen behind us turned on and the clip of our dance played back so everyone could see it again.

I looked like a mess, my hair was snarled and my makeup was running but in a way it made the whole thing better. I did look like I was miserable and sick of life and Edward looked pained as he tried to help me, knowing that in the end he would fail and I would die. It was very dramatic and I hoped Sonya liked it.

"I have to ask you, Bella" Mary started again, drawing our attention from the screen to her. "Was that an accident or were you supposed to cry there?"

I blushed. "It was an accident, we were hoping the piece would invoke an emotional response from the audience but I didn't intend to get so personally attached."

She nodded, like that was what she'd expected me to say. "I think it was a good mistake then." She said, "Dancers have to be involved with what they're dancing or things start to look fake."

Katee agreed with the others that she liked the numbers and thought we would do well in the competition. She whished she could have done a number like this during her season which I thought was crazy since she did a ton of great numbers on the show. Once we were done Cat showed us off the front of the stage to wait with Alice and Jake while the rest of the pairs did their second dance.

The rest of the show went by quickly as pairs danced and raced to get their comments before we ran out of time. Cat ended the show by replaying short clips of everyone's numbers and reminding them of the number to call for their favorite pairs. The three pairs with the lowest number of votes would have to dance for their lives in front of the judges who would be sending one more girl, and one more boy home tomorrow.

After the show I had enough time to introduce everyone in our little group to Erika and talk to my mom some more. They were going to be staying town for the next couple of days and invited me to come meet them for lunch on our day off after tomorrow's ellimination show.

"You could invite a few of your dancing friends if you want." My mom offered after she'd told me this. Summer moved into my side and shot a look over at the others near the stage who were all answering Erika's never ending flow of questions.

"You should bring Edward, I'd love a chance to grill him."

"Summer, be nice." My mom teased.

Summer chuckled. "Like you don't want a chance to talk to him too."

My mom actually blushed a bit before smiling at me. "It would be nice to get to met him on a more personal basic if what Summer tells me about him is true."

Now it was my turn to blush. "What exactly did Summer tell you about him?" I asked her shooting my big mouthed best friend a warning glance.

"Now Bella you be nice." My mom said. "There's nothing wrong with you taking a fancy to the Cullen boy he seems like a nice kid ands not a bad looker."

I blushed and thanked the lord when the crew started calling for us to head out to the buss. I kissed my mom and the cheek and exchanged hugs with Summer and Erika. They both wished me good luck and said they'd see me durring tomorrow's show and promised to vote all the way back to the hotel.

Edward helped me up the stairs to the stage and we made sure Jason had all of our things packed away before climbing up into the dark bus for the adrenalin filled ride back to the studio. Everyone chatted as they came down from their stage high's and compared notes on each others dances as well as how we each thought we did.

Edward and I got a ton of comments on our Contemporary number and Angela was mad she hadn't seen most of it while she changed outfits. By the time we got back to the hotel I was ready for bed. I declined Leah's offer for a girls movie night, took a quick shower to get ride of the last of my makeup and then snuck my pillow up the stairs to Edward's room.

I knocked on his door and nearly jumped out of my tank-top when the door across the hall opened up. Jasper stepped into the hall holding his pillow and smiled at me. I blushed at getting caught and then realized what I was seeing. Jasper was sneaking down to Alice's room. The only rule in the house was they boys and girls should sleep on their own floors. We were so bad. What the crew didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

"Good night, Jasper." I said as he slid to the stairwell door and opened it up. Edward's door unlocked and swung open for me.

"You as well Bella." He said before disappearing.

Edward was watching us from the doorway and he was smiling as I slid in and closed the door behind me. I stood on my toes for a kiss and then tossed my pillow onto his bed. He was still dressed in his costume and it looked like I'd caught him on the way to the shower.

"Sorry, I'm a little behind." He said tossing his pajamas into the bathroom. "My parents called and wanted to talk to Emmett and I."

I shrugged. "That's ok, you go ahead. I'll still be here when you get done."

He smirked at me and I kissed him again. "I kind of like the sound of that." He admitted. "I'll be quick."

He kissed me one last time before closing the bathroom door behind him. I tucked myself under his covers with every intention of waiting up for him to come and cuddle with me but the events of the day pulled me under before he'd even shut off the water and I fell asleep.

~Darkrose

Alright another one done! I hope everyone likes the dance in this one. I had to rewrite it about twenty times before I thought it was ready.

If anyone's looking for another fanfic to read between my updates. I recently got distracted with a very good one called "The Sovereign Six" by: Holly1980. It's an all human twilight story that's rated "M" and its amazing so go check it out.