A/N: Sorry this is late. But I hope you have a happy thanksgiving!

Chapter-5: Knight Among The Shelves

With a frustrated sigh, Isabella drops the book she has been trying to read for the past hour onto the coffee table. No matter how exciting the adventures in the book, even Jules Vern couldn't get her mind away from the bright green eyes that has been haunting her thoughts lately.

Like most days since she has met him, one thought circles her mind. Why me? Why is he so good to me?

After losing her father to a stray bullet shot by some lowlife thug when she was in college, and then with her mother falling ill, Isabella has never known anyone to act like Edward Cullen did. It's as if he cares for me, she thinks.

Of its own volition, comes the words spoken by a voice that haunts her nightmares even now. I care for you, Bells.

Stop pushing me away. I'm the only one who'll ever want you.

You fucking slut! How dare you …

Placing her hands on her ears, Isabella cries out to drown out the sounds. "No, no, no," she keeps murmuring to herself. "He's gone. I'm okay. I'm okay."

She slowly pushes the business card that has been lying next to her book inside her purse where it would stay out of her sight.

It's late evening when Isabella decides that she has had enough of the solidarity of her home and sets out to pay a visit to her mother in the hospital before the work week starts for her.

At the hospital, Reneé Swan lays in her bed, staring blankly at the wall facing her bed and not paying any heed to her daughter. That doesn't deter Isabella though. Like always, she tells her mother about every little thing happening in her life, not letting her tears fall even though they wouldn't register in her mother's mind.

It's when she steps out of the Mental Healthcare Center to breathe in the salty humid air of Los Angeles, she allows her tears to fall. There, standing underneath the star-studded sky, she feels utterly lonely. Wrapping her arms around herself, she tries to fend off the chill of the night as she waits in line at the bus stop.

Before the bus could come, however, she feels people looking and pointing at her. For a moment, she's bewildered by the sudden attention before realizing that the cast of the new movie was announced the day before on the newspapers along with brightly colored pictures of Edward and herself.

She feels her skin prickle from all the staring eyes and decides to get a taxi instead of waiting around. She barely puts her hand up before a taxi comes to a stop before her. Gratefully, she ducks into the taxi and gives the taxi driver directions to a her home.

However, when he drops her off, she finds the door to her place utterly uninviting. She craves company something her home didn't hold. So instead of going in, she decides to walk to a place she always finds solace in—a quaint little bookstore half a block away.

The tinkling sound of the little bell set on top of the store feels like being welcomed back home. Isabella lifts her face and inhales deeply, letting the scent of new books flood her senses. It's when she turns to close the door that she notices it.

A shadow.

Lurking from the building across from the bookstore. She can't make out the face hidden in the shadows, but the shiny gleam of something metallic reaches her.

It's him, she realizes by looking at the camera, the palms of her hands getting sweaty all of a sudden. Everything she has heard about the stalkerish bordering on violent behaviors of some creeps she's read about hits her like a brick wall. She glances at the elderly storekeeper and realizes that if the man on the other side of the road came charging in for her, the frail old man would never be able to protect her.

She takes a few steps into the store, hoping that would make the guy leave, but instead, her stalker takes a step forward, as if not willing to let her out of his sight. In the dim light from the streetlamps, she recognizes the bearded face she sees. She has seen him before, she realizes with a surety… around the movie set.

Shit! Cursing under her breath, she tries to walk as inconspicuously as possible to the back of the store before finding herself a quiet niche between shelves to hide among. For a moment, she hopes that hiding out here will make the man go away until she realizes that it's nearly closing time for the store and once the store closes, she'll have no other option than to walk out there … alone.

For the first time in years, her loneliness scares her.

For the first time, she craves real arms of a person around her instead of dry pages of a book.

For the first time, she wishes she had a friend.

" … if you feel like you need a friend ..." a voice seems to whisper in her ears.

One single thought is all she allows herself before pulling out her cell phone and then fishing out the piece of paper she so carelessly tossed in her purse just hours before. She doesn't let her brain stop her before dialing the number written on the paper.

The phone rings … once … twice … once more … and she fears it'll go to voicemail. Just as she's preparing to hang up, however, someone picks it up and a voice calls from the other side, "Hello?"

For a moment, all she manages to do is breath to calm herself down. The sound of his familiar voice in her ear helps more than she expected. Finally, when she could trust herself to speak, she whispered, "Edward?"

"Isabella? Hey. How are you doing?" he greets her. From the sound of his voice, she can tell he's smiling.

A small bit of hesitation slips into her heart, making her wonder whether she should tell him about it but then she remembers how kind he has been to her and decides to take a leap of faith. "Um … hi," she says back, her voice coming out shaky.

As if he could sense something in her voice, he asks, "Isabella, are you okay?" his voice filled with something that sounded a lot like … concern.

Her instincts tell her to shut him out like the rest of the world, but she decides to ignore her head for a moment. Instead of hanging up on him like her brain keeps telling her to, she says, "Can you help me, please? I didn't know who to call ..."

Her voice breaks at the last word and he seems to detect that little change in her tone because he sounds very much in control of himself when he saying something she hadn't heard in a long time. "I'm here, Isabella. Can you tell me where you are?"

She barely manages to give him the address to the store before he tells her that he's on his way to her and hangs up.

Eighteen minutes.

Eighteen excruciatingly long minutes later, the doorbell jingles again, announcing the entrance of a new customer. Isabella's first thought is that it's the stalker and she slides down to the ground, hiding herself completely behind the shelves, with her hands covering her face.

It's not until she hears a voice call out softly, "Isabella? It's Edward," that she lifts her face, her heart filling with hope for a change. One glimpse of shiny bronze colored locks and and she's running … out from behind the stacks and into his arms.

She hugs him tightly, hiding her face in his chest and cautiously breathing in the cinnamon and sunshine smell she has come to associate with Edward. She feels his arms pull her closer and a hand starts to rub her back soothingly. The simple gesture of comfort is what makes her demeanor to crack and a sniffle escapes her.

"Isabella?" he calls her name softly. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

She lifts her face from his chest to look into his eyes and something seems to shift in him. He takes her chin between his thumb and forefinger tenderly and urges her, "Tell me, please."

As if his words has broken a dam inside of her, she starts speaking. "There's a man outside. I've seen him follow me from the set everyday in the last week," she tells him, her voice barely a whisper. "Today, I came to this bookstore and saw him standing there. He's still out there. I just … I didn't know who to call."

"Shh ..." he whispers back to her, rubbing his hand up and down her back to calm her down. "I'm here. I'm here," he keeps saying over and over.

He looks out the window and then asks quietly, "Do you know him?"

With her head still tucked under his chin, she shakes her head. "No, I don't know him. When I worked at the Broadway, thought, I think I've seen him there. He'd be there to watch my plays, but I've never thought more of it. Now though ..." she trails off, wanting to pour her heart out to him, but not wanting to seem weak too.

He pulls back to look into her face and prompts, "Now what, Isabella?"

She hates the tremble in her voice as she answers him. "Now, he's been following me every day. Most days, he leaves after I leave the set; but not today. Today he tailed me here even though I had the day off. And I ..."

"Hey," he calls, nudging her chin with his fingers a little. When she lifts her head to look at him, he smiles softly at her. "I'm glad you called me. I've got you."

Then before she can protest, he takes one of her hands in his and places his other hand on the doorknob. She tightens her hand on his, her panic resurfacing again. "What if he's still there?" she asks, hating how anxiety seeps into her tone.

He gives her hand a light squeeze. "Then we'll get rid of him," he says simply before opening the door and stepping out, pulling her with him,

Isabella closes her eyes tightly, not wanting to look at her stalker and after taking in a ragged breath, she asks, "Is he g-gone?"

"No ..." Edward's voice says quietly before letting a silence fall around them. For a moment, Isabella wonders what happened to make him stop talking and then, she feels his hands on her face, holding it, cupping it between his palms. Then, soft as the flutter of a butterfly's wings, she feels lips brush to her forehead.

Isabella's eyes flutter open at the suddenness of the action. A myriad of questions flooding her mind as she stares at him, forgetting her stalker for the moment.

She watches as Edward's head leans down, his lips getting closer to hers by the second. As if out of their own volition, her eyes close again and her head moves to the side, tilting it up toward him.

One more moment passes before she feels his lips on hers … kissing her for the first time.

Her sharp intake of breath seems to echo around them, the evening star standing witness to their kiss.

A/N: Thoughts? Share them with me and leave a review.

Thanks for reading.

Granma Dee, hope you're enjoying your Turkey-day with a side of crooked smiles. Love you!

Take care.

Ann