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Chapter 8

I would wake up each and every morning to the sound of my alarm, believing that the entire day before had simply been a dream. But when I would look at my phone, and see a text message there each morning from him, telling me how much he loved me, I realized that all of this was real...very real.

I was his, and he was mine.

Hiding it however was proving to be more difficult than we originally expected. You have no idea how hard it is, to know that this amazingly wonderful person is the person that you're dating, and not being able to let anyone know that. He was even having trouble with hiding things from the general public.

But we worked on it, and we tried our best to act in the same manner around each other at work as we always had. We could still flirt, just not too much. It was incredibly hard to resist the urge to kiss him.

The nurses had suspected things between the two of us even long before I ever really even accepted the fact I loved him. Again, I think they just watch far too much TV. But every day it was funny to come into work and hear their new theories about Dr. Cullen and I's relationship. It was kind of amusing one day when I was walking by three of the nurses in the hall, and they were talking about me and Dr. Cullen. I don't think they had any idea that I was near them, because they claimed that my favorite song just had to be "Bad Case of Loving You." I had never thought about that before, so I went home and listened to that song like crazy. Sure enough, I was singing it the next morning at the top of my lungs in his office, and he caught me. He just laughed for the longest time, and saying I was embarrassed was a complete understatement.

Gertrude surprisnly was more observant than the rest, she immediantly caught on to something going on between the two of us. She's slower with her therories though, and isn't near as outspoken with them as the nurses.

It seemed though no matter how hard we tried, that we couldn't keep it all hidden. People seemed to be picking up on something there, but I guess they maybe just figured it was a slight attraction, rather than an actual relationship between the two of us.

Despite having to keep it hidden to the general public, we both decided early on that I didn't have to hide it from my family. That was a relief to me, because I never could have imagined lying to my grandfather about anything, let alone something as big as the fact that I had a boyfriend. So I had told him not to long after we started dating that I was seeing the doctor I worked for, and my grandfather didn't seem to mind.

I couldn't tell Natalie though. Even though she knew I kinda liked Dr. Cullen, she could not know that we were together. Something as big as that would not be able to be kept to herself. And besides, she knew about Viviene already, and that was the entire reason behind us having to hide all this in the first place.

I didn't even know Viviene...never seen her, never met her, nothing. But still I really disliked her. I think it was just because I knew that she was the reason we had to constantly act like this. She was the reason we had to hide our relationship. And she was also the reason why Dr. Cullen had suffered so much in the past few years.

I just couldn't like someone like that.

And besides, when you're involved in a relationship that includes more than two people, doesn't the one girl always hate the other one?

I'm sure if Viviene knew me that she'd hate me too.

And then I'd probably be dead.

I had just gotten home from work one afternoon and barely had time to walk in the door when my phone rang. I fumbled around in my bag until I found it. Recognizing the ring tone as my aunt's, I decided to answer it.

"Hey Aunt Molly." I said.

"Hey Brooke, how have you been?"

I kicked my bag across the floor over by the kitchen counter as I tried to shrug of my raincoat.

"Pretty good. How about you?"

"Not too bad actually."

"That's good."

"Brooke dear are you doing anything on Friday?"

Friday. I had the day of that day. I was sure I was going to do something that day but Dr. Cullen and I had exactly discussed what yet.

"Um..well maybe."

"Maybe? What do you mean by maybe?"

She didn't yet know about Dr. Cullen yet. "I might have plans with someone else, we haven't discussed it yet though."

"Well we already invited your grandfather over on Friday to come have Lasagna with us, and we figured we'd ask if you'd like to come too."

Aunt Molly's Lasanga? I was not going to miss that.

"Yeah I'd love to come, I'll just have to talk to..." I paused for a second, getting an idea, "Hey Aunt Molly, would you mind if I brought someone else?"

"Well of course not. It'd be absolutely fine for you to bring over one of your friends."

I laughed as I sat down on my couch. "Well he's not exactly a friend."

"He? Brooke are we talking about a boyfriend here?"

I blushed. "Yes, we are."

My aunt squealed for a second, and then regained herself. "You, Brooke Jeffers....the girl that would never love anyone...has a boyfriend?"

"Yes, Yes I do."

"I thought the only guy you would ever love was that McDreamy guy."

I rolled my eyes in response, glad she couldn't see.

"Aren't you the owner of his fan site?"

"Yes Molly." I said laughing. "My obsession with McDreamy has nothing to do with this."

"Oh, sorry." She said. "So tell me about him."

"Who? McDreamy?"

"No Brooke, you silly girl. Tell me about your boyfriend."

"Oh...well he's really sweet. He's very mannerly and polite. Kind, caring, compassionate, intelligent, and he has an amazing sense of humor."

"Sounds a lot like Mr. Right."

"Oh every time I'm around him I swear I'm Cinderella and he's freaking Prince Charming."

She laughed.

"Only he's even better than Prince Charming."

"What's he look like?" She asked.

"He's tall and very fair-skinned. He has blond hair, and the oddest colored eyes I've ever seen. They're gold in color, almost topaz-like."

She sighed. "He sounds perfect."

"He is, he really is. And to top things all off he's a doctor."

"The doctor you work for?"

I sighed. "Yes."

"Brooke girl, you are living the ultimate medical TV show."

"I know...I know."

"Is he rich?" She asked.

I laughed. "Yes very. You should see his car. It's picture perfect...I swear."

"I always did love a guy with a nice car."

"And you married Uncle Todd, who drove a Mini-Van for the longest time."

She laughed.

"His money doesn't matter though." I said, laying down and twirling my curly hair. "I'm telling you Molly, be prepared when I bring him in there, warn the girls and everything."

"Why?" She asked.

"He has this overwhelming charm that seems to take women over and prevent them from breathing."

"Oh my. I guess I should warn the girls."

I laughed, and we talked just for a little longer before we hung up. I decided that maybe I should indeed call Dr. Cullen to let him know what we were going to be doing on Friday.

I hit the number one on speed dial, and waited for him to answer.

"Hello beautiful." He said.

I giggled like a little girl.

He laughed at me. "You are so adorable when you do that."

"Thanks." I said and yawned. "Listen, where are you at?"

"At home."

"Ok...I think I found something for us to do on Friday."

"Ok what is it?"

"What would you think about dinner at my Aunt and Uncle's house?"

"It doesn't sound terrible...why...what brought this around."

"Well," I said trying to move my cats tail out of my face. "My aunt called and asked what I was doing Friday, and she asked me over to their house. So I asked if I could bring you."

"I suppose that wouldn't be too bad. I guess I can go with you."

"Alright. I don't exactly know all the details as of what time and such...but I'll let you know when I do."

"Ok, sounds alright."

"Oh and my grandfather's going to be there too."

"Your grandfather?" He laughed. "Well I guess it's impress the family night for me on Friday."

I laughed too. "Oh you won't have a problem impressing them. Well, at least my aunt and my three teenage girl cousins. My grandfather and uncle shouldn't be too hard to handle."

"Easy for you to say."

"Oh come on. Talk to my grandfather about medical stuff and he'll be fine with you right away. And..." I laughed. "My uncle and you are about the same age, so you should get along fine."

"Funny Brooke, very funny."

Calling him was a mistake. Every time I called him I ended up on the phone for hours. Two hours went by before I finally realized that I should probably hang up and eat something. Less than five minutes after I hung up with him, as I was eating a bowl of cereal, my phone rang again. It was my aunt, telling me that we could come over around six on Friday. So of course I had to call him back, and I was talking to him until eight o'clock that night.

I didn't even want to look at my phone bill the next time it came.

I was getting around in my apartment on Friday, when I heard a knock on the door. This time I was ready, and I had cleaned my apartment up.

"Come in." I called. "The door's unlocked."

I heard the door open as I finished putting in my earring and looked around the bathroom door, and saw him standing there in my living room, grinning at me.

I shook my head at him and laughed. He was far too overdressed. He was wearing a blue dress shirt, and tan dress pants. I was wearing a nice pair of jeans and a white blouse.

"You know," I said walking by him to shut off the TV, "You really have the tendency to make people feel under dresed."

"How so?"

"Well you're always wearing dress shirts and dress pants." I turned to him and laughed, fixing the collar on his shirt. "Do you even own a pair of jeans?"

He smiled, resting his forehead on mine as he placed his hands on my cheeks. "Oh I'm sure I do somewhere."

I giggled and he kissed me softly, before pulling away and looking around.

"This is quite a nice apartment you got here." He said.

"Thanks." I said as I got out a bag of cat food. I poured her a bowlful and she came running.

"Nice cat."

"Her name's Fluffy." I said.

He nodded and looked around some more.

I grabbed my coat out of the hall closet, and unplugged my phone which I had had to charge earlier. Talking on it for so many hours straight kind of kills the battery.

"Are you ready?" I asked.

He nodded again and followed my down the hall. I prayed that none of my neighbors would see me and ask questions. Thank goodness no one did.

I was actually going to drive for once. But he still insisted upon my taking his car. I think he just wanted to show off, but I couldn't really argue with him. I had waited a long time to drive that Mercedes.

My aunt and uncle didn't live too far away and we got there in no time at all. However he complained about how slow my driving was, when I was going the speed limit. For a doctor, he sure drove pretty fast.

It was raining when we got out of the car at my aunt and uncle's house. He had been acting strange all night, and as we walked up on the porch, I asked him about it.

"What's wrong with you?"

"What do you mean what's wrong with me?"

"Your acting all, odd." I said.

"Well I have to go in here and leave a good first impression with your family, shouldn't that be enough to make me nervous?"

I laughed at him. "You really think that you are going to have a problem impressing my family?"

He just shook his head.

"Now when I had to meet your family...that was different. Talk about being nervous about leaving a good impression."

He still didn't say anything.

"Oh come on. My family is normal...completely normal. Impressing them is going to be easier than preforming a thousand operations." I said.

"Fine, you have me convienced."

I laughed, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before I knocked on the door.

"Coming!" My aunt called.

I smiled at him as my Aunt Molly opened the door.

"Brooke hi!" She said, hugging me as I walked in the door. She pulled away from our hug, and starred behind me at him, and I had to do everything in my power to keep from laughing at my aunt's face.

"Aunt Molly, this is my boyfriend Dr. Cullen." I looked at him and smiled. "This is my Aunt Molly."

He took her hand and shook it. "It's quite a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Jeffers."

Oh my gosh, my poor, poor aunt. She had no idea what she was getting into when she knew that I was bringing over a guy.

"Where's the girls?" I asked, trying to see if I could get her out of her trance. I heard my uncle and my grandfather talking in the living room.

"The twins are in the kitchen working on the food, and Sandra went back upstairs to change." She said, still not taking her eyes off of him. "When I told her that you had a potentially good looking boyfriend, she decided to change into something more attractive."

I laughed.

"I don't even bother asking anymore." Molly said smiling as she walked upstairs herself.

I led Dr. Cullen to the hall closet where we hung up our coats.

"See it's not so bad." I said.

"Well your Aunt was easy. It's your Grandfather I'm more worried about."

I laughed at him as I took his hand and led him into the kitchen, where my two fifteen-year-old twin cousins were at. One of them was tossing the salad, the other was keeping an eye on something in the oven.

"Hey girls." I said.

They looked up at the sound of my voice, and both their jaws dropped. The looks on their faces killed me. I remembered the way I looked the first time I saw him.

I guess I really wasn't the only one.

I was just finishing introducing them to each other when I heard my other cousin yell my name.

"Brooke...where's this hot boyfriend at?" She called. My cousin Sandra, who was two years younger than me, appeared in the kitchen doorway, wearing a blue jean mini-skirt and a halter top.

He had turned around at the sound of her voice as well, and I felt very bad for him right then.

"Oh...my...gosh." Sandra said, her eyes glued right to his face.

"Sandra, this is my boyfriend Dr. Cullen. This is my cousin Sandra."

He shook her hand as well. "Pleased to meet your aquantince Miss Jeffers."

"Oh...my...gosh." She said again, looking at me. "Where in the world did he come from? Straight out of a book of fairy tales or what?"

We both laughed.

"You are so..." She said looking at him, "wow."

"Wow. That's a new one." He said. I took his hand again, dragging him away from the starring eyes of my cousins. "Come on, I'll take you to meet my uncle and grandfather."

I pulled him into the living room, where my Uncle Todd and my grandfather were sitting in chairs, watching TV. My uncle saw me, and walked over to me, giving me a hug. When I introduced my uncle to Dr. Cullen, I could have laughed. Just like the girls, he starred at him wide mouthed.

Wow, and I always thought that I acted odd around him.

I walked over to my grandfather and hugged him. More than anyone there, I really wanted my grandfather to approve of Dr. Cullen.

"Grandfather...this is Dr. Cullen." I said, gesturing toward him.

"Pleased to meet you Mr. Jeffers." He said, shaking his hand as well. "Brooke's told me a lot about you."

"Thanks, she's told me a lot about you as well." My grandfather said. However I don't think anything I had told him could have prepared him for what he was seeing now.

"Would you mind staying out here with them?" I asked Dr. Cullen.

He actually looked scared, and I laughed.

"I think I'll be fine out here." He said.

"Ok." I replied as I flashed a last smile at him before heading toward the kitchen to help out my cousins.

I tried to listen in on their conversations. Him and my grandfather almost immediately got on subjects pertaining to medical matters. They were asking him a lot of questions about him, and his family. When my uncle asked him how old he was, and he replied that he was thirty seven, my uncle exclaimed enthusiastically how cool that was, since he had just turned thirty five.

I laughed at that for a while, and I think my cousins thought I had issues.

Dinner went good, except for the fact that the only people that could actually concentrate on eating were my grandfather, my uncle, and myself. Dr. Cullen didn't eat anything, and I tried to sit there and see if I could ever remember him eating anything ever.

I couldn't.

We didn't stay too long after dinner, and we managed to tell everyone goodbye and get out of there rather quickly. I laughed as I pulled out of the drive and saw my cousins and aunt starring out the window at us.

"So how was tonight?" I asked him.

"Not as bad as I thought it would be." He said.

"Oh come on, you could have went in there, tripped flat on your face...and they still would have reacted the same way."

He thought about that for a moment and then laughed. "Yeah, you're probably right."

We were actually quiet for the rest of the ride back to my apartment, until I stopped in a parking space not too far away from the building.

"I really like driving this car." I told him.

He sighed. "Yeah it's a pretty nice car isn't it?"

"Pretty nice would be an understatement."

I looked out the window at the rain falling all around us, gently hitting the pavement outside.

"This is all so unreal." I said, leaning back in my seat and closing my eyes.

"How so?"

"Just being here, with you." I opened my eyes. "I keep thinking that one of these days I'm going to wake up and find out that I've been dreaming this whole time."

"Yeah this all does have kind of a dream-like feel to it doesn't it?"

"Yeah...yeah it does."

He leaned over to me and kissed me, and I ran my hands through his perfect, soft, blond hair. I found myself doing that a lot when I kissed him. It was becoming a habit.

I thought we had been kissing for a lot longer than we normally did, but at that moment, I really didn't care. If I could, I would spend every second until I died kissing him.

We finally pulled away from one another when the sound of sirens startled us. Two cop cars were chasing down a speeding yellow truck.

We both moved back into our seats and sat in silence for a while before he finally broke the silence with his laughter.

"What are you laughing at?" I asked.

"The look on your face."

"What? What do I look like?"

He laughed. "You look like you just saw a ghost or something."

"Well excuse me for not being able to recover as quickly as you did after that."

"So my kissing skills did this to you?"

I laughed, leaning back in my seat."Gosh you're already perfect...why do you have to be such a good kisser too?"

"So it was my kissing skills."

"No I just can't breathe because I ate too much Lasagna." I said sarcastically.

He smiled, leaning over toward me again. "I guess I better tell you goodbye." He said.

I groaned.

"Well we can't sit here in my car until we have to go to work tomorrow."

"Gosh can we please? I really don't want you to go home." I said.

"I have children you know."

I sighed. "Darn kids."

He leaned over and kissed me. "I love you Brooke, I'll see you tomorrow morning alright?"

I sighed. "Alright. I love you too." I said, kissing him one last time. "You amazing kisser you."

We got out of the car and he took my spot in the driver's seat as we told each other goodbye. I walked back into the apartment complex and watched him speed away through the rain.

I still swore I was dreaming.

Thanks again for taking the time to read my story!

Sorry this chapter was kinda blah, I had a pretty bad case of writer's block last week, and this is what I came up with....lol.

Please shoot me a review letting me know what you think so far. I'm always open to suggestions as well! Thanks!

~Hazl~