A/N: First of all, everyone should thank Flightlessbird11. Today is her birthday and I promised her a new chappie, so here it is. Enjoy!

Krooney… I love you too, in that planontic, fan fic friendship kind of way! LOL

Big hugs to my usual crew and their awesome reviews: melferd, mmwalker, flightlessbird11, MeghanBailey, lysvia, lovebuggkiss and MaggieMay14. If I missed anyone, I love you too!

I don't own Twilight, but I do own the movie Dodgeball. If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!

EPOV

When Bella admitted that she wanted to work things out with me, I wasn't surprised, but I couldn't formulate a cohesive thought in my brain to figure out what to say in response to her. Bella just stared at me for a few minutes before she broke the silence.

"I like what you've done with the place," she said with a small laugh that made me practically melt inside. I loved her laugh.

"Yeah well, I can be a little OCD sometimes," I replied as she looked over at the picture on nightstand and then back at me.

"Do you still love me?" she asked nervously as she tugged on the hem of her shirt, her eyes never leaving mine. I just nodded my head, still unable to speak. Part of me was also still in shock from finding her lying on my bed in the middle of the night. "Do you want me?" I nodded again, but I wasn't sure if she meant sexually or for the long term. Of course, I wanted both, but I didn't want her to think it was just about sex.

"Maybe we should start from scratch and go out on a regular old fashioned date?" I suggested casually, relieved that I could finally say something to her. Of course, that wasn't what I really wanted to do. I had her alone on my bed, something I had dreamed of for the past three weeks. I was sexually frustrated and all I wanted to do was push her onto her back and do several ungodly things to her, but I shook the naughty image from my head and waited for her response.

"I don't want to go back. I want to be where we were… I want the cuddling, the small gestures, the grand gestures and the amazing sex. I want it all." Bella looked so forceful as she spoke, that I could tell she was being brutally honest with me, which I appreciated. "We can go on a date, but I don't want to pretend that nothing happened. It will make us stronger, because we were able to move past everything and still be together."

"What are you doing tomorrow night or tonight I suppose since it's almost two in the morning?" I asked anxiously as I tentatively reached over to take her hand in mine. God it felt so good to touch her again.

"Well that would be Sunday night and I have no plans. I do have an eight o'clock class on Monday morning though," she remarked casually.

"We're gonna go out then. Dinner maybe a movie or something, I can pick you up at five. Does that work for you?" Bella nodded her head as I realized one small issue we hadn't discussed. "Do you need me to drive you home? It is pretty late." She stared at me for a moment and then pulled her shirt off over her head, leaving her before me in just a bra. Fuck me.

"We're not going back remember? We're moving forward and I am sleeping here. If we had never gotten into our fight, I'd be here, fast asleep in your arms anyways," she remarked as she stood and pulled her jeans shorts off, climbing under the covers of my bed in just her underwear. I was still immobile at the end of my bed, my mouth open a bit in surprise. "Get in bed Edward."

"Are you sure?" I asked tentatively. Bella simply nodded her head and pulled back the covers on the other side of my bed, revealing her black lace covered panties to me. I removed all my clothes as quickly as possible, with the exception my boxers and climbed into bed with her, wrapping my arm around her and pulling her close to me. We both sighed at the exact same time as I buried my face in her neck, breathing in her scent. "Alice is coming next weekend for a visit; will you be around to meet her?"

"Do you want me to be?" asked Bella as I nodded my head against her shoulder. "Yeah, I'll be around. I need to thank her for her help anyways."

"Why, what did Alice do for you?" I asked curiously. I knew they had emailed while we were apart, but I wasn't aware of the specifics. I ran my fingers through Bella's hair as I waited for her answer.

"She gave me your address and told me that you were having just as rough of a time as I was," sighed Bella as she nuzzled closer to me, her head resting on my chest. "Thank you for punching Jacob."

"No problem. Well, my hand hates you, but it's okay. I wanted to punch him from the first moment you mentioned that he emailed you. Plus, he looked like he was making you really uncomfortable, and I didn't want to see that," I replied as I kissed her temple and squeezed her tightly to me. "I've missed this."

"I've missed everything. I was so pathetic without you. If it wasn't for my dad, I wasn't sure what I would have done."

"What does your dad have to do with this?" I inquired as I felt her slide her leg in between mine, her knee almost rubbing my hard cock. I shouldn't have been thinking about it as we discussed her dad, but I couldn't help it. She was just as irresistible now as she had been in Europe.

"He just told me a story about how he once had to win my mom back after they broke up and it gave me a little confidence and determination to do something to get you back. He actually encouraged me, which was unexpected," said Bella with a yawn. Damn right that was unexpected, I thought to myself.

"What did your mom say?"

"She didn't say much, but her actions spoke louder than her words to me. She told Jacob I was single and told him where to find me. I'm guessing she would rather I was with Jacob than you." I let out a deep breath and held her tightly. "Don't worry, there's no chance in hell of that ever happening."

"You're right. It won't happen. I have you back and I'm definitely not letting you go again."

The next morning wasn't nearly as awkward as I would have thought. It wasn't as normal as it had been in Europe, but it was nice nonetheless. I woke up before Bella and let her to continue to sleep as I headed into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. Emmett and Jasper were sitting on the couch, playing Xbox again and they looked like they hadn't slept.

"Have you guys been up all night?" I asked Jasper as he jerked his body slightly, in time with the controller he was holding.

"I was about to go to bed when jerkwad over here got home and wouldn't fucking shut up," replied Jasper as he pointed over at Emmett who was smiling brightly. "So, now we're on a mission to finish the game and we're on the last level. We're going to bed after that."

"It's nine in the morning." I sighed as I pulled the coffee from the cupboard and started to make a pot.

"What happened to Bella dude? Did you take her home last night?" Had Jasper been that enthralled in his game that he never noticed Bella never left? Apparently so.

"She's asleep in my room, so keep it down," I said casually as they paused the game and both turned to look at me. "Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?" asked Emmett with a shit eating grin on his face.

"Don't look at me like you're waiting for me to spill every single thing that happened. You know better than that."

"Well if she stayed over, and I didn't hear any panting or screaming, I can only assume it was a PG rated evening," said Jasper with a bit of a frown. I simply nodded my head. "Can you tell us something? Are you guys back together?" he asked as he stood from the couch and grabbed a few coffee mugs from the cupboard for all of us. "She's good people man. After hanging out last night with her, if I didn't have Alice, I would definitely try to hook up with her."

"Ok, both of you need to stop having thoughts about Bella like that. She's mine, at least I think she's mine. We didn't necessarily label us, but we're together so that's all that matters to me."

"Thank god! Alice will be so relived. Now she can stop talking about her ideas to reunite you two. It was really starting to drive me nuts," sighed Jasper as he grabbed the sugar and cream, putting them on the counter. I was about to make another comment, when suddenly my bedroom door opened and Bella walked out in her shorts and my t-shirt, looking absolutely adorable. She wrapped her arms around my waist as I kissed her head.

"Good Morning Peanut," said Emmett with a huge smile, as I Bella simply waved at him before she started to rub the sleep out of her eyes.

"Go back to bed. I'll bring in some coffee," I suggested as she hugged me tightly. "Don't worry, this isn't a dream," I said with a laugh.

"Thank god," she chuckled as she sat down on a stool at the end of the counter and held out a mug to me, signaling she wanted her morning caffeine fix. I poured her drink and watched Emmett and Jasper quickly lose interest in us and go back to their video game.

"Do you want to go out for breakfast?" I asked casually as she took a sip of her coffee.

"Actually, I have a ton of shit to do back at the dorm if I want to go out tonight, so I'm just gonna take a cab back across town," she replied as she ran her finger around the edge of the mug.

"I have a car Bella. I'll drive you home and then I'll see you later tonight," I suggested as Bella simply nodded her head and walked back into my room. She came out only moments later with her purse and cell phone and tried to shove her halter top into her purse. "Give me two minutes to get dressed and then we can go."

BPOV

It took almost twenty minutes to get across town in Sunday morning traffic and the longer we sat in traffic, the more Edward got annoyed. "You could have walked home by now," he said sarcastically as I reached my hand over the console to intertwine our fingers. I shivered from the touch of his skin against mine, even if it was only our hands. It didn't matter, because he was mine again.

"So, what's on the agenda for tonight? Do I dress casual, fancy, in nothing at all?" I asked, hoping to get a smile out of him. Edward just grinned at me, no doubt picturing me naked and rubbed his temple.

"What have you done in New York? Have you seen any sights?"

"None," I replied honestly. "When I wasn't preparing for classes or organizing my dorm room, I was plotting ways to get you back into my life." Edward laughed at me as we then pulled into the parking lot of the dorm.

"Um… dress casual then. Some jeans or a dress would work. Nothing too fancy. The dress from Paris can stay in the closet, for tonight," he said sweetly as I leaned over and kissed him before opening the door to the car. "Five o'clock. Be ready Bella." I nodded my head at him and closed the door. As I walked up the stairs to my room, his shirt still covering me, I didn't feel like I was doing the standard walk of shame. Instead, I was beaming with excitement. When I stepped into the apartment, Rosalie was pacing around the kitchen waiting for the pot of coffee to brew.

"Where the hell were you?" she asked angrily as I tossed my purse on the counter and my shirt fell out. "So, who's the lucky guy?"

"Do you honestly think it would be anyone other than Edward?" I asked as I walked off towards my room, smiling happily. "We have a date tonight." Rosalie was all over me at this point, running into my room behind me, desperate for details.

"So, what happened? I should have guessed that was where you would be." I released a big sigh and told her the story of the events of the night before. She seemed pleased that we had worked through all of our issues. "You should know one thing Bella, as much as I like you and consider you a friend; I am on Edward's side. If something happens to ruin whatever it is the two of you have, I will always pick him because of Emmett. I hope you're okay with that?"

"I understand Rosalie, really I do. I don't plan on doing anything to screw this up. I'm just ecstatic that we're giving it another shot." With that, Rosalie stepped from the room and I began to do some cleaning and preparation for class tomorrow. I got all my clothes pulled out for school in the morning and packed my backpack with all the necessary books for my first day of class. As it approached noon, I decided it was late enough in the day that I could call Angela to tell her what happened. I was giddy when I dialed her phone number, a huge smile across my face.

"Good Morning Bella… it's nine in the morning here, so you better have a good excuse for calling," Angela said sleepily to me, as I bounced on my bed, bursting with excitement.

"We're back together," I replied hastily as I heard her say something on the other end, most likely to Ben. "We had a fairly decent talk last night, but I'm sure we'll talk more tonight because WE HAVE A DATE." I practically yelled at her as I spoke, but I didn't care. We talked for the next ten minutes about everything that happened yesterday, including the Jacob debacle. She simply laughed at my mother's persistence and Jacob's stupidity.

"Did you tell your parents that you guys are back together?" asked Angela nervously.

"No, not yet. I am going to call them tomorrow. I don't want Renee to spoil my mood before the date tonight." Angela agreed with me wholeheartedly on this issue, which I appreciated. "I know my dad will be happy though, since he encouraged me to fight for him." After talking to Angela for another half an hour, I ambled into the kitchen to fix myself some lunch and could hear Rosalie in her bedroom doing some yoga. I walked towards the door as my Mac and Cheese cooked and cleared my throat to get her attention.

"What's up Bella?" she asked curiously as she bent down and grabbed her ankle, stretching her calf muscle.

"Can you help me get ready for my date tonight? Like, help with my hair or something? I usually just toss it up into a ponytail, but I really want to look super hot tonight," I said with a reluctant sigh. Rosalie's face lit up after I spoke, she was clearly into the idea.

"Sure. The date's at five right?" she asked curiously as I nodded my head. "Shower around three and then come see me. We'll have Edward eating out of the palm of your hand before you even leave the apartment."

Rosalie was a god send that afternoon. When I came to her after my shower, she immediately set to work on my hair, and then did my makeup as we waited for her hot rollers to do whatever it was they were doing. She even helped me pick out a perfect outfit, which because of the humid weather, ended up being a pale blue belted dress I had picked up at Banana Republic in Seattle in the spring. Rosalie lent me a pair of heels that weren't too obnoxious and smiled at me happily as she inspected her work just before five o'clock. "He won't be able to resist you," laughed Rosalie as she helped herself to a Diet Pepsi from the fridge.

"He couldn't resist me when I wore old sweats, so I'm not overly concerned," I replied casually as suddenly there was a knock on the door. Rosalie opened it as I headed back to my bedroom to fetch my purse. When I walked in, she looked like she was giving him the third degree.

"And what are you intentions with my roommate?" she asked him with a sly grin and a loud laugh.

"Fuck off Rosie," he replied with a chuckle. "Are you ready to go? Shit you look good Bella." I nodded my head at Edward and as he led from the apartment, I looked back at Rosalie and shot her a quick wink.

"Don't do anything I would do," she yelled out with a chuckle as I heard the door close behind us. Edward held me tightly at the waist as we walked outside to the parking lot and stepped into his car. We drove in silence for a few minutes, his hand intertwined in mine.

"I actually have nothing major planned. I made some reservations for dinner, but I wasn't sure what else to do. I had to work on a project for school most of the day, so I hope you're not mad," he explained sweetly as I gripped his hand tighter.

"I don't care if we sit on a bench in central park and eat street corner hot dogs."

"Fuck, who told you my plans?" he said with a snicker as we pulled into a parking garage and he helped me from the car. We walked silently, hand in hand, into a small Italian restaurant that was absolutely packed. He gave his name to the hostess, who looked suddenly nervous and seated us immediately at the best seat in the place.

"Okay, why are we so special?" I asked anxiously after she had handed me the menu and walked from the table. The hostess was extremely tense around us, and it didn't get any better when our waiter, Paul, showed up a few minutes later.

"My parents are part owners here," he replied casually as he ordered us each a Coke and we stared at the menu. Of course they were owners, I thought to myself as the manager came out and introduced himself to Edward. It was a little unnerving to experience the type of service we received. We got our drinks only seconds after we had requested them. Our dinner came just as quickly, with some of the other patrons noticing that we were served before them, though they had been in the restaurant longer. "Are you okay?" he asked as I took a bite of the chicken parmesan I had ordered. It was marvelous.

"Yeah, I just feel a bit like a movie star or something," I said with a nervous laugh.

"It wasn't my first choice to come here, but when I couldn't get reservations anywhere else, Emmett reminded me of this place, so here we are. It's hard to plan a date on such short notice," he replied with a laugh as I felt his fingers reach out to touch mine.

"You know I don't care where we go. In fact, I'm kinda hoping all of our other dates will be more casual, maybe a movie or an art gallery," I replied easily. Edward simply nodded his head and focused on his dinner, before we moved into more dangerous territory.

"What did you do back in Forks?" he asked casually as he ordered us a tiramisu for dessert, with two spoons.

"Not a lot actually. I spent time with Angela, packed my stuff for college, dealt with my parents and cried over you mainly," I said honestly as his hand grasped mine.

"Sounds like what I did, minus the talking to Angela part."

"But Alice said you were really fucked up when she emailed me and they all were keeping a close eye on you. There must have been something else going down, right?" I asked curiously. Alice hadn't given me any specifics, but I would have been lying if I said I wasn't interested in knowing what Edward had been up to those three heart wrenching weeks we were apart.

"Do really want to know? And you promise you won't hold it against me?" I simply nodded my head, eager for him to continue. "I spent most of my time drinking and smoking up. I did acid one night, fuck that was a bad idea. I kept seeing you everywhere, which was honestly not a good thing. I also tried repeatedly to hook up with random girls, and Jasper or Emmett would always save me before anything happened. There were a few instances, where even though I was willing, I couldn't move. Don't worry I didn't sleep with anyone. I didn't even kiss anyone, but I thought if I did, you would stop being the only thing I thought about. "

I felt remorseful as he told me about his three weeks. He had gone a completely different route that I had, but it didn't matter to me. It was in the past and we were moving forward. I explained this to Edward and we ate our dessert together, with a casual silence between us. Once Edward had paid for dinner, we hopped in the car and drove back to his apartment where we laid on his bed together, simply enjoying the closeness.

"So, I told Alice today that we got back together," he said with a nervous sigh as I slowly started to unbutton his shirt.

"How did that go?"

"She was like a kid in a candy store. She's going to be staying with you and Rose when she gets into town next Friday. Emmett and I are making her, because we really don't want her staying with Jasper," he said, sounding completely like the over protective big brother, which was really sweet. "I am forewarning you, Alice can be a little um… excitable."

"No worries, I expected as much. How bad can it be right? After all, we both love you?"

A/N: I hope I didn't disappoint you all because there is no lemon. Next chapter Hurricane Alice blows into town and there will be a weekend chock full of drunken debauchery! Yah!