Title: Sinful Thoughts
Author: Readingmama/Vampiremama
Beta: AcrossTheSkyInStars

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of its characters. No copyright infringement is intended.

Continuity: AH/AU
Rating: M cause you never know when a lemon writes itself.

Chapter 18

By the time we had arrived back at our apartment, Edward and I were too tired to do much other than cuddle. We were both okay with that though because just being able to snuggle and hold each other in our own bed was like heaven.

"Let's never leave this bed again," Edward said, yawning as we fought to stay awake in each other's company a little while longer.

"Sounds good to me," I replied allowing my hand to slip over his side and run up his back.

I remember exchanging loving words just before drifting off to sleep.

I awoke to Edward nuzzling my neck. Just a simple touch by something as small as his nose caused my body to sing. When he started kissing me, my body reacted, but the reminder of the nasty-ass plane food I ate the day before caused me to recoil from his affection.

I placed my hand over my mouth before saying, "I'm going to brush my teeth and then I think we should continue this in the shower."

Edward laughed and then covered his own mouth, obviously catching a whiff of yesterdays beef surprise. Yet another reason I hate the word surprise, nothing good comes from it.

Watching Edward in the mirror as we both brushed our teeth made me feel like I was seeing him for the first time in two weeks. I had trained myself carefully to think of him as my brother for the majority of the time at home that it was like I was on a vacation away from my lover. But now that we were reunited, I needed to be reunited.

I spit the toothpaste in my mouth out and turned on the shower. I peeled out of my clothes and saw Edward watching me from the corner of his eye. I got in the shower and grabbed my razor. I shaved my legs in less than a minute, hoping to have smooth legs by the time he got into the shower.

Seeing his glorious body after a two week drought was like finding the Atlantic Ocean in the Sahara desert, and man did I need a drink. I also thought that this might be a good place to try something new. I had gone down on Edward a few times but I had always gotten out of the way before he came. I figured that the best place to try this was in the shower when he was nice and clean and I had a minty fresh mouth to counteract the taste.

I took the soap and lathered up his body, spending extra time on his manly bits. There is nothing nastier than putting your mouth somewhere that's not clean. Once I was convinced that he met my squeaky clean standards, I slipped down on my knees and took him in my mouth.

His arm reached out and grabbed the side of the shower wall for balance. He made many fun noises that all seemed to begin or end with a swear word. I picked up my pace as my knees were starting to burn from kneeling on the hard tub.

"Bella, I'm going to cum," Edward said, giving me the warning he always did. I chose then to hum as to let him know I had heard him. That was apparently the right thing to do because Edward shot into me. The first stream was okay but the second and third hit the back of my throat, causing me to gag, which resulted in the semen sitting on my tongue.

"Holy shit that is gross," I said, spitting the remainder of his juice down the drain.

"Baby, you didn't have to do that," he said trying to hold back a laugh.

I tilted my head back and let the water run in my mouth; I swished it and then I spit it back out. After repeating this process for the fourth time, I deemed my mouth clean. I turned to face Edward and was actually kind of glad he wasn't offended.

"Was it really that gross?" He asked.

"Yes, yes it really was," I replied. "Did it at least feel better?"

"It feels just as good when you finish with your hand."

"Good, then I won't feel guilty for never doing that again."

"Don't ever feel guilty for not wanting to do anything sexual with me Bella. It's only fun if you like it too."

"I love you," I said, leaning up to kiss him.

He stopped me and held me still. "Not until you brush your teeth again. You didn't give that stuff a very glowing recommendation." It was my turn to laugh.

After drying off, and Edward repaying me for my morning shower kindness, we decided to head over and see Vicky and Riley. Vicky answered the door and invited us in.

"Hey guys, we missed you," she said, closing the door behind us. "Riley! Bella and Edward are here."

Riley entered out from the bedroom door and smiled when he saw us. "Hey guys, how was your break?"

"It was good," Edward replied begrudgingly but then perked up, "Bella's gift to me was great!"

"What did she get you?" Riley asked.

"A video camera," Edward responded.

Vicky started giggling and I turned beet red. Riley raised his eyebrows as if to ask what was up. Edward's face darted over to hers and immediately he knew that she knew.

"You knew?" He asked, shocked.

"Who do you think helped her pick out the underwear?" Vicky said and then started laughing again.

"Underwear? For wha…..oh. OH!" Riley said as he caught up.

"Yeah, it made quite an impression." Edward smirked at his own comment.

"So did you guys tell your parents that you are dating yet?" Vicky asked.

"No," I replied.

"Come on, what are they going to do about it now? It's not like you can get dorm rooms this late in the year."

"There is more to it than that. It's complicated. Our parents see our relationship as innocent and they wouldn't like it that we are seeing each other," I said, hoping that was enough.

"Vicky, just butt out. If they want to keep it a secret, let them. People know what's best for them." Riley's words made me happy; he was truly a great friend.

There was a small uncomfortable silence before Vicky jumped up off the couch and headed into the kitchen.

"Before I forget, there was some mail that came for you that ended up in our box. They screwed up your name Edward. Riley and I were laughing so hard."

I knew before she gave the envelope to Edward what it would say. He handled it with grace.

"Edward Swan, huh. Well I guess Bella does wear the pants in this relationship."

Vicky and Riley laughed, but I just breathed a sigh of relief that there was another slip that didn't out us.

The few days off before school started up again were great, but once we headed back to classes, we became busy again. Exams and papers took up a lot of our time but we always seemed to be able to make time for each other.

By the end of February, I was looking forward to reading week in March.

"What do you want to do with our time off?" I asked Edward. He looked at me and raised an eyebrow. Did I mention how delicious he looked like that? "Besides me, you perv."

"I don't know," he replied.

Little did we know, we were going to have plans, and they were going to change our lives dramatically.

EPOV

I grew up with Bella, so I had been around her while she was sick before. They say you never know how much you love someone until you see them sick. What I never realized was I had never tended to Bella when she was sick before.

I was surprised to see her home when I had come back from my class. She usually came in later than me on Wednesdays. Her tiny body was curled up on the couch and she was covered in a blanket and hugging a large plastic bowl. I tossed the unread mail on the table and went to her.

"Baby, are you okay?" I asked, coming around the couch to get a better look at her. Her pale face disappeared as she pulled the blanket up over her head.

"Go away, leave me alone." Her words were strong but her tone was weak.

"Is there anything I can get you?" I inquired.

"No, just don't look at me, leave me alone." I put my hand on her shoulder; well I think it was her shoulder as she was still holed up under the blanket. "Please, just don't touch me. I just want to be left alone," she begged pathetically.

I felt absolutely useless; all I wanted to do was help but she was pushing me away. I considered briefly if this was some sort of sneaky, girl trick, but Bella wasn't the type to play games, and if it made her feel better to be left alone while sick, I would give her that.

"Okay, Sweetpea. Just let me know if you need anything." I heard a muffled 'thank you' come from under the blanket and I excused myself to the kitchen to catch up on some of my reading.

About a half hour into the life cycles of some sort of disgusting bug, I saw the movement of Bella sprinting for the washroom. Knowing that she didn't want me looking at her while she was just lying there, I figured that she definitely didn't want me there if she was tossing her cookies. I did, however, fill her a glass of water and leave it outside the bathroom door.

When she emerged five minutes later she shot me a weak smile and then lay back down on the couch. Her hair was sticking up all over the place and her eyes were half closed, and I thought to myself, I must really love this woman to see her in such a state and still think she is the cutest thing alive.

I decided to make her soup, knowing that was something I had the ability to make. I fished out some saltine crackers and a glass of ginger ale then placed the spread before her on the coffee table.

"Are you feeling any better?" I asked her carefully.

"Yeah, a little. My stomach is really sore though," she replied.

I rubbed her back lightly as she ate her soup slowly. I think she tried to purr, but with her dry throat, it didn't come out the way she had intended. When she finished her meal, I took the dishes to the kitchen and washed them. I know all the ladies reading this are hot for me right now, but as you all know, I'm taken.

I returned to the couch and she nestled her head into my lap. I ran my fingers through her hair, but when I encountered the knots, I changed my tactic and just petted the top of her head.

"You shouldn't be here, I'm going to make you sick," she said weakly.

"I'll take my chances," I replied and continued stroking her until she fell asleep.

I was stuck as Bella's pillow for almost two hours as I hadn't really thought of my plan. If I had, I would have at least brought some of my recommended reading to the couch with me. Cause really, there is only so long you can watch someone sleep before it becomes boring.

When she finally woke, my left butt cheek was numb and pins and needles were shooting up my leg. I stood up and stretched as Bella sat up a little wobbly. She decided to go take a bath and then head off to bed. I enjoyed a couple games of Halo before joining her.

When I came to in the morning, my body was stiff and sore. Bella was already out of bed so I was hoping that meant she felt better. As I stood up from the bed, I was instantly aware that I had caught Bella's stomach flu. My legs took off nearly without me on their mission to get me to the toilet in time. Luckily I made it before I started heaving into the white porcelain.

"Edward?" Bella called from outside the bathroom door.

"Ughhhhh," I replied.

"Baby, are you sick?"

"Uuuuuh HUhhhhh." That is yes, by the way.

"Do you want me to bring you a glass of water?"

"Uuuuuuh HUhhhhh."

Bella returned a few minutes later with a glass of water. She sat down and rubbed my back as I groaned and sweated and was generally disgusting. She helped me back into bed and assured me that she was completely okay so I just had to wait it out. Less than twenty four hours, I thought. Bella asked if I wanted her to stay home and look after me. I really wanted to say yes, but I knew that she missed classes the day before and I didn't want her to get any more behind.

I spent the day between the bathroom floor and the bed. I got a few saltine crackers in me and some ginger ale but anything else I tried came right back up. By the time Bella got home from school, I felt so sorry for myself. When it comes to being sick, I'll admit it, guys really are wimps. I am sure it is one of the reasons that girls are made to have the babies.

Bella crawled into the bed with me and I looked up at her from underneath my lashes. The puppy dog eyes were making an appearance so that I could get some attention. Not that she would leave me be, she always knew exactly what I needed.

"Did you get the mail?" I asked, cuddled in her arms.

"Yeah, let me grab it, okay." I grunted my displeasure but then relinquished her from my arms.

We got a surprising amount of mail due to the fact that we lived so close to campus. Most of it was flyers and advertisements but it always amounted to a large handful.

"We still have the stuff from yesterday too," she said, handing me a stack.

We sat on the bed and flipped through our mail. It was a mundane thing to do but it made me feel closer to her, that this perfect love of ours was actually rooted in reality. The more real it felt, the better chance we had to keep it.

I tossed the food flyers quickly off the bed as the greasy offerings of the local establishments were turning my stomach. I was looking over our phone bill when I heard Bella's voice, quiet and panicked.

"Edward?"

"Yeah?" I said worry not helping my nauseous state.

"We have a problem."

"What?"

"Alice is coming."

"What do you mean Alice is coming?" I asked in horror.

"Here, read this," she said shoving the offending paper at me.

Dear Edward and Bella,

Isn't it great to receive mail just like in the olden days? This is way more fun than e-mail. Jasper is going to be super busy during the reading break so I thought I would come and visit you guys. I have an Aunt and Uncle in the area I haven't seen in a little while so I figured I could just come and see everyone.

I can't wait to meet all your new friends and see your place. I have my tickets already and have enclosed the itinerary.

Give me a call when you receive this, cause I am jumping up and down just thinking about your surprised faces.

Love you both,


Alice.

I looked over at Bella and her face was white as a sheet. I looked back down at the paper. My stomach swirled and I ran to the washroom, narrowly missing my intended target. Somehow I didn't think that one was a result of the flu.