Author's Note: Thank you very many times. So, I wasn't expecting to, but I wrote all day and finished this chapter. As far as the fashion show stuff, it's all accurate (with possibly one creative liberty) and the model I mention is real.

P.S. I forget who it was, but whoever mentioned the licking chocolate off Edward thing in their review, thank you; that gave me a delicious visual.

Nice reviews are better than chocolate, unless maybe you're licking that chocolate off someone.

Twenty One

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

"Alice!" My quick lean away from her was reflexive; she didn't usually curse that much. She stood up from where the five of us plus the stylist were sitting on the floor of her studio, having an all-nighter before her show the next day, and ran over to a rack of clothing pushed up against the wall. "What's wrong?"

She pulled the offensive piece of clothing off the hanger. "I asked for a simple double herringbone stitch; I'm going to have to rip this out now and do it over my-freaking-self!" Suffice to say, Alice was a little worked up about her show. She went over to a little table and grabbed a large hat box of supplies she took with her everywhere.

Her stylist, an absolute godsend, jumped up and took the box, setting it back on the table. He took her hands, "Alice Angel," he'd taken to calling her that when they first met; he made it sound like one word. "Let me fix it, ok? Go sit down with Bella and finish what you two were working on." His voice reminded me of silk and I could see her shoulders relax at the sound. "Should I order some food?" He asked a little louder.

"No," she replied quickly, "not around the clothes."

I was a little hungry, but didn't say anything. Edward was double checking the seating chart and guest list on Alice's laptop; her producer was technically in charge of that, but Alice wanted to be doubly sure. He put an arm over my shoulders and used his other hand to rub his face. It was a little after two o'clock and we were all exhausted.

Alice plopped herself back down next to me and rested her head on my shoulder a moment. "We can finish this up if you want to go to sleep." I murmured. Emmett and Rose were putting together the things for her "swag bags" and Alice and I were wrapping them – another task relieved from the producer. There were white gift bags and hot pink tissue paper everywhere.

"Yeah, we've got it covered," Emmett said, holding a tiny tub of some sort of cream that Alice told me was $130 an ounce.

She stretched her back, "no, that's ok. Sorry, guys."

Rose was looking at a thin digital camera, she nudged Emmett, "we should buy one of these."

"You all can take whatever you want," Alice said, not looking up from her gift bag. "Just make sure the bags have one of everything first."

"Really?" Emmett was still holding the cream; he looked like he wanted to put it in his pocket.

I snorted a laugh and Edward put his lips to my hair; I could feel his grin as he hid his face.

"What?" Emmett asked defensively. "I'm not getting any younger."

Alice looked intently at the bag she was putting together, trying and failing to hold back a smile.

"I own a gym franchise," he continued. "I have to look good."

I pressed my lips together; across the room, I could see the stylist's shoulders bouncing.

"You guys suck," he set the tub down.

Rose leaned against him, she spoke quietly, "it's ok, honey; you can take anything…and you already look good." She kissed his cheek.

"Thanks, baby," he kissed her back.

We spent the rest of the night gently ribbing each other and working to get everything ready in time. Rose and I spent a long time hand steaming all of the outfits and putting them in marked garment bags before we all finally called it a night. Alice thanked us all profusely and told us to get some sleep before handing each of us something to wear for the show. She handed Edward an extra thick garment bag.

"The military jacket is for Jasper; he's about the same size as you, right?"

Edward grinned, "leave it to you to dress someone you've never met."

Alice shrugged.

It was barely dawn by the time Edward and I got to my hotel room. We pulled off our clothes and fell into bed; I curved a leg around one of Edward's, but that's all I had the energy for. He slipped an arm around my bare middle and kissed the top of my head. I could feel myself sliding into sleep when Edward's voice startled me. "Was Alice coming back to the hotel to sleep?" He sounded concerned despite how tired he was.

My voice was quiet and heavy with sleep, "yeah, she wanted to wait for Angela to get there first though; her and Marc were going to run everything to the park this morning." Marc was the stylist.

He made a quiet sound in his throat and nodded, his eyes slipping shut.

We woke up a little after noon and ordered room service. Alice asked us all to get their about thirty minutes early so once we were done, we lounged around, enjoying the calm before the storm.

The phone rang around three o'clock; I answered. "Hey, you up yet?" Emmett sounded enthusiastically awake.

"Yeah, I was just about to take a shower."

"Rose wants to help you get ready, so we'll be over there in five, ok?"

Alice had scared me a little bit the night before when she told us we were walking the red carpet; I didn't understand why we had to. "You have to be seen, or at least, my clothes do," she said by way of explanation. I was grateful Rose wanted to help. I told Edward they were coming and then jumped in the shower.

I could hear Emmett before I even turned the water off; he was recounting some embarrassing story about me to Edward. I put on my favorite lotion, brushed my teeth, and slipped on the hotel robe before opening the door. Rose was sitting on the bed with the guys reading a magazine; she was wearing nothing but a very short silk robe. Emmett had on jersey shorts and a white tank top. "Did you get in the elevator like that?" I asked.

"Yeah," Rose said indifferently, standing up and grabbing a little toiletry bag. "I need to shower still."

"Me too," Emmett got up with her and headed for the bathroom.

"Please don't have sex in there," I said dryly.

Edward chuckled and changed the channel on the television.

I took Rose's spot on the bed and ran a brush through my dry hair; she told me not to wash it so she could put it up. Edward sidled up to me and played with the fabric of my robe. "You know, we've never had sex in the shower."

I grinned, but didn't say anything.

They were out about twenty minutes later; Emmett was wearing the second robe from the bathroom. Rose stood in the doorway, "I'm going to put my make-up on, then you, ok?" She walked back in without waiting for me to answer.

Rose did my make-up in the main room so Edward could shower. It was different than when Alice did it; my eyes were done up with dark shadow, not gothic dark, just darker than normal. My lips were pale and glossy and my cheekbones looked very high. "You have perfect eyebrows," she said when she was almost finished. She ran her hands through my hair a few times, pulling it back from my face; she made a "hmm" sound and got to work.

She didn't let me see until she was finished. My hair was up off my neck; it was pinned in the back and messy in that perfect way I could never accomplish in the front. "Wow, Rose…thank you," I didn't know what else to say.

"It's all you," she grinned and then got to work on herself.

Rose looked stunning. She had on a tight black tube dress that went to the bottom of her knees and black patent heels that had to make her at least six feet tall – I'm not kidding. Her hair was done in a simple, loose bun at the nape of her neck; she wore no jewelry. Emmett had on a dark brown leather jacket that he announced he loved; Edward wore black from head to toe; he looked sexy. I was in a sleeveless dark grey georgette dress with a deep V in the front and the back. I wore a very long dove grey pearl necklace and black heels that rivaled Rose's.

There was a knock on the door and we all looked to each other as if one of us would be missing. "Oh," Edward said, moving to the door. "It's Jasper."

We made introductions all around before Edward handed him his jacket. He was already wearing deep charcoal and the jacket suited him perfectly. Jasper seemed amused by Alice's forwardness. We were about to go downstairs to hail cabs when the phone rang; I answered.

"Your limo is waiting outside."

"Oh…" I trailed off. I should have known Alice wouldn't let us show up in a taxi.

We were on the receiving end of many looks as we went through the lobby; I tried not to pay attention, focusing instead on staying upright. Emmett was very excited to see our driver for the night was none other than Jimmy. "Jimmy Stewart!"

Jasper looked at us in question, but we just shrugged.

Bryant Park was an absolute madhouse; I had never seen so many beautiful people in one place in my life. It made me a little nervous. Edward kissed my temple, "you look so gorgeous," he murmured as if reading my mind. Jimmy stopped near the red carpet and opened our door, holding his hand out for me and Rose. The camera flashes were blinding; why the hell were they taking our picture?

Rose leaned toward me and whispered, "they think we're part of the industry."

I hadn't realized I'd spoken the question aloud.

"Hey, ladies!" A man with a camera shouted at our group. "Let me get a picture, just you two," he motioned at me and Rose.

I looked at her, eyes wide. "C'mon," she took my hand and pulled me away from the guys.

"Oh my God," I said, hopefully under my breath. I stood there dumbly and let them take our picture.

"Can we get a smile?" One said to me; Rose nudged my side and I smiled automatically.

The photographer nodded, "thanks!"

I practically ran back to Edward.

At the entrance, Angela and another girl were holding clipboards; Angela waved us over eagerly. "Hi, you guys!" She reached for something hanging from her belt loop. "Here, this will get you backstage," she handed us passes and said our names to the other girl. "Have fun!"

Inside, people were talking in hushed voices. "We're in the front row?" I asked. I was under the impression it was reserved for the fashion elite. Even Rose looked surprised as we took our seats. Her phone vibrated a minute later and she answered it discreetly.

"Alice wants us to go back there." We stood up and hurried backstage.

Everyone working the show had on black t-shirts with the name "alice" on the front. There were models in various states of undress, people shouting, running, and using hair spray like their lives depended on it. Small bottles of champagne were being passed from hand to hand, models drinking out of them with straws. "I swear to God, if any of that spills on the clothes, I'll have your heads!" For such a small person, Alice had a very loud voice. Her tone changed when she saw us, "hi you guys!" Despite the chaos, she looked completely in her element. "You look great!"

We said hello, wishing her luck, and giving her hugs before going back to our seats. The five of us talked idly amongst ourselves, waiting for the show to start. Our energy level rose as the minutes passed.

At exactly six o'clock, the audience lights dimmed and the catwalk brightened. The sounds of a Joan Jett song I recognized began pumping through hidden speakers. The first model came out; Alice let us know the night before that getting her had been a real coup. Apparently, she was famous in the fashion world. She was gorgeous, feminine and a little androgynous at the same time; she strode out with an attitude like she might beat you up. Alice's clothes looked fantastic; I know that probably doesn't mean much coming from me, but they did. The materials were light, but then were topped off with something edgy like a leather jacket or motorcycle boots.

I knew I'd been involved since the beginning and I knew what everything looked like, hell, I'd worn most of it. But at that moment, I'd never been so proud of Alice in my life; I had to hold back the tears that wanted to slide down my face.

At the end of the show, all the models walked out in a line once more. After they exited, Alice stepped out with the blonde model from the start of the show. She had changed her clothes some time during everything and now wore black leather pants and massively high heels that still made her over a head shorter than her model. Emmett stood up and cheered; we all followed suit, fashion protocol be damned. Even Jasper stood. Alice strutted about half way up the runway until she was right in front of us and winked in our direction before turning back. My eyes watered again and I cheered louder.

Edward nudged me and I looked at him; his gaze flickered over to where Jasper stood open mouthed, still staring intently at Alice's retreating form. I saw him mouth something too low for me to hear. Edward grinned at me, "I think he liked it."

I think he did too.