A/N: I don't own these characters, just the slightly warped plot that's working itself out in my head.

Thanks for the reviews – they keep me going! Sorry the last chapter was a bit short…hopefully this one keeps you happy! And since it's the weekend, chapter 4 might make an appearance tomorrow…

Chapter 3

An hour later Alice and I emerged from her room. I had to hand it to her, I looked good. She'd dressed me in a midnight blue halter top, black pants that hugged my ass, and boots with a small heel. Alice had insisted on bigger heels but I held firm – if we were going dancing, I needed to be able to stand up, and we both knew from experience that big heels were not conducive to that where I was concerned. My long hair was curled and out, and thankfully Alice had kept my makeup simple – just a little mascara, and some lip gloss.

We walked down the hall together and found Jasper and Edward sitting on the couch. Jasper had changed before dinner, and Edward must have freshened up in the bathroom while Alice had me squirreled away in her room. There was no other word for it – he looked hot. He was wearing a charcoal grey long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up to display his smooth, muscled forearms with a pair of dark low-slung jeans and the same Docs he'd been wearing earlier. I couldn't help smiling in return to the smile that spread across his face as I walked into the room. As much as I wasn't interested in him – or so I kept telling myself – it was nice to be getting a look like that from someone other than Doctor Newton. The fact that Edward was to die for made the ego boost that little bit bigger too – something else that didn't hurt.

"Wow!" Jasper exclaimed. "You girls look great!"

"Thanks – all in a day's work, Alice replied, stretching on tip-toe to kiss him on the cheek. Next thing there was a pounding on the door and Alice ran to open it, revealing a grinning Emmett and Rosalie on the other side. Emmett picked up his younger sister and spun her around on his way through the door. Emmett is a teddy bear of a man – tall, broad and muscular, with dark curly hair and a little boy face. He's not someone you'd ever want to cross, but he's a real softy once you get to know him.

Rosalie followed the spinning Emmett into the apartment and closed the door behind her, coming over to give me a kiss on the cheek.

"Hi Bella!" she said. "Long time no see!"

Emmett put Alice down and came over to give me a hug. "Bella!" he boomed.

"Emmett! Can't…breathe!" I gasped as he squeezed the air from my lungs.

"Oops!" he said as he put me down. He then turned to his elder brother. "Edward," he said, almost cordially. "Are you still being a git to Bella or did you decide to man up and apologise?"

I was about to defend Edward (who would've thought it?) but he walked up to Emmett and announced, "I decided to man up Emmett – I've apologised to Bella and she's decided we can be friends." He turned and gave me a smile and a wink.

"Ok, enough with the formalities – can we go dancing now?" Rosalie asked the room at large. Jasper picked up the phone to call a cab for the six of us, and in no time we were on our way into the city.

Jasper had the good sense to order a maxi cab for us so we wouldn't be squished. He and Alice were sitting together at the front, Emmett and Rosalie took the two single seats, and that left Edward and me to share the remaining seat behind Alice and Jasper. "Did you want the window?" he asked as we climbed in. "Nah, it's ok – I see this every day on my way to work," I replied. As we sat, he stretched his arm along the back of the seat. I didn't think there was anything in it, but the feeling of his body so close to mine sent shivers up my spine anyway.

"Are you cold?" he asked, wrapping his arm around me, which only made me shiver more.

"Yeah, something like that," I mumbled, turning my head away so he wouldn't see me blush. Rosalie didn't miss it though, grinning widely at me when she saw Edward's arm around me.

15 minutes after leaving our apartment, the driver dropped us off outside Blackbill – the newest nightclub in the city. And the line was huge – I thought we'd be waiting for hours.

"Aw man!" Alice exclaimed when she saw the line. "We're never going to get in!"

Rose just chuckled and shook her head. "Come with me folks, no line for us!" she said. Emmett just grinned, while the rest of us looked perplexed as we followed her up to the bouncer at the front of the line. I couldn't hear what she said to him, just watched as she put her hand on his arm, smiled, and indicated the 5 of us standing behind her. The guy smiled back and lifted the rope, ushering us through in front of the crowd.

"Wow Rose!" I said to her as we walked into the foyer. "How did you do that?"

She smiled at me and replied, "Honey, sometimes being an underwear model gets you more that just free lingerie!" I grinned at her response as it hit me – Rose had recently landed a job with Alice at Victoria's Secret, not in the design team but as a full-time promotional model. With long blonde hair and a body any woman would sell their soul for, it wasn't surprising that she was one of the most well-known women in Seattle at the moment.

We descended the stairs into the club itself and were assaulted with a pumping beat. "Let's dance!" I heard Alice yell over the music. We moved as a group through the tables to the dance floor, Emmett in the lead to get us through the crowd more easily. He pushed his way to the middle of the floor and immediately grabbed Rosalie around the waist, pulling her securely against him.

"Get a room, you two!" Jasper teased as he and Alice started moving to the music.

"May I have this dance?" Edward asked me with a grin, leaning in close to my ear so I could hear him over the noise. I didn't bother answering, I just started dancing in the hope that I didn't look like a marionette in the wind. I mustn't have been too bad because he started dancing along with me. I looked over at Emmett and Rose, who were completely oblivious to what was going on around them, and Alice and Jasper, who were dancing close but keeping it clean, and then at Edward, thinking how lucky I was to have a group of friends like this. I must have been smiling because Edward moved towards me with a smile on his face and went to slide his arm around my waist. As he did, I felt a sharp pinch on my ass and turned around to see Doctor Mike Newton standing there, leering drunkenly at me – the same Doctor Mike Newton Jasper said drooled after me at work.

"Looking hot, Doctor Swan!" he said to me, moving closer. Before I could react, Edward's arm was around me and he was standing between me and the drunken moron who had the hide to grope me in public.

"I believe the good doctor is spoken for this evening," I heard Edward say, "so why don't you run along?" With that, he turned and steered me towards a table in the corner, the others following behind.

Edward pulled out the chair in the corner for me and sat next to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "Are you ok?" he asked.

"She will be in a minute!" Jasper replied, setting a tray on the table in front of us. He must have detoured past the bar on the way to the table. The tray held 6 shot glasses holding a clear liquid, a salt shaker, and a dish of lemon wedges.