Epilogue- Home visits and Memories

Several Months Later (August)

"Dad!" I exclaimed as I ran across my yard into his open arms.

His cheeks turned a shade of red and he responded, "Hiya Bells!"

I hugged him tighter to me, "Goodness, I've missed you!"

He kissed the top of my head and whispered, "It's good to have you home!" With a glint in his eyes, he teased, "I'm starving!"

I tossed my head back and laughed heartily. I raised an eyebrow and gave him a mischievous smile, "I thought Sue was keeping you well fed."

He smiled even wider and his cheeks turned pinker. "I can't help it if I'm partial to my own daughter's cooking!" He winked at me and turned around to head back into the house.

"Um, Dad, there's someone I want you to meet." I called after him as nerves caused my body to break out in a sweat.

Charlie spun around and looked straight towards my rental car, "Oh?" He looked at me then back to the car.

I also looked at the car, knowing Drake would see me and I gave him a small wave. Slowly, he stepped out of the vehicle and made his way towards me.

"Dad, this is Aubrey-er, Drake. Um, Aubrey, this is my Dad, Charlie." I placed my arm around Drake's waist and pulled him close to me as he stuck his hand out to shake Charlie's.

"Sir, I've heard a lot about you." Drake gave him an easy smile as he put his arm around my shoulder.

Charlie responded, "Well, that makes one of us." He gave me a surprised look, but smiled. "So, is it Aubrey or Drake?"

Drake grinned widely, "Well . . . my stage name is Drake, but you can call me Aubrey, sir."

Charlie's eyes flitted from mine to Drake's back to mine. "Stage name?" He inquired.

"Erm, yeah. I'm sort of a performer." I gave Drake a tight squeeze, knowing he was just as nervous as I was.

"Hmmm, a performer huh? Well, why don't you come inside so we can talk." Charlie gestured for us to go into the house and we settled for the living room. Charlie turned off the television and just stared at us.

"So, when did you two meet?" He asked gruffly.

I took Drake's hand and squeezed it, saying "Well, you remember that concert I told you that I won tickets to back at the beginning of the summer?"

Charlie nodded his head, his eyes still bouncing from my face, to our clasped hands, up to Drake's face and back down again.

I smiled, "Well, I sort of got backstage tickets and well, that's where me and Aubrey started talking. He sings with that rap group I was telling you about, Young Money."

Charlie scratched his head, "Yeah, I think I remember."

Drake spoke up from there, "Well, we sort of just hit things off. And we've been together ever since. You raised an amazing daughter sir and man, can she cook!"

I beamed in pride and Charlie laughed warmly, "You got that right!" Charlie looked at his watch and back up to me, "Speaking of which, you wouldn't mind making a casserole would you? I sort of told Sue that we'd come over for dinner."

I raised my eyebrows and sighed, "How much time do I got?"

"About two hours." He answered before standing up and brushing at his pant legs. "You got luggage in the car?"

I nodded, "Yeah and don't worry Dad, Aubrey is going to stay at the hotel in town."

Charlie shook his head, "Now, I won't have none of that. I may be old, but I'm not naïve, you two. You look like love-sick puppies and I'll be damned if I'm the one to separate that."

I swear that my jaw dropped to the floor. Sure, I was nearly twenty-two and all, but since when did my dad, Chief of Police, become okay with the idea of a man sleeping with his only daughter?

That's when he answered my question and I wasn't that surprised anymore, "This here couch is actually a fold out, so we'll set that up for him to sleep on." He grinned, looking at Drake. "That okay with you, son?"

Drake nodded his head, "Sure, sure. No problem at all."

Charlie left the living room to get our bags and I took that time to kiss Drake, fully on the mouth. A smile tugged at his lips and I laughed.

"You were great." I whispered, kissing his beautiful lips again.

He laughed against my lips, "Oh, he's just protective of his little girl." His fingers found my hair and I moaned a little as he tugged on it. "And he should be. You're quite the vixen, kitten."

I grinned, "Then maybe he should be protecting you. God knows what I'll do to you in my own house."

We heard the front door slam close and I stood up, dragging Drake into my kitchen. I had told him so much about this kitchen, about the hours I had spent with my dad, the time I put into cooking the food he loves and how Jake and I would spend hours at the kitchen table doing homework. I walked over to the table, fingering the grooves on the old wood and grinned. Life was finally going really good for me.

Dad came into the kitchen and said, "Well, I put the stuff in your room, I didn't know whose were whose and I just figured you'd handle that on your own." He looked at me and then to Drake. "You want to watch some baseball, kid?"

I looked at Drake and gave him a nod. If my dad was asking Drake to watch baseball with him, that was a very good sign. Drake smiled at me and followed Charlie into the living room. I could hear them discussing baseball and their favorite teams and I smiled widely, happy to see that my dad seemed to really like Drake.

I started pulling the ingredients out of the fridge and cupboard to make a green-bean casserole, since that's all I could find and set to work making up two batches. As I worked, I thought back on the past couple of months and how everything seemed to be coming together for me.

I was still living at the same apartment with Alice, despite Drake's pleas to move in with him. Alice had pretty much found herself a new roommate anyway in Felix and I was happy about that. I told Drake that I just wanted to be able to have my own place to go and he respected that. Drake and I spent every hour we could together, but it honestly wasn't that much. He was constantly travelling with the band, doing performances, television shows, radio shows and just working on spreading his name and music. I didn't mind too much, I knew what I was getting into when he asked me to be his girlfriend.

Flashback

We were laying in bed, tangled up in each other and the covers, his arms holding me close into his chest. I kissed his hand and I heard him laugh quietly in my hair.

"What's so funny?" I asked him, my voice low and full of exhaustion.

He kissed my shoulder and pulled me closer to him. "I'm trying to figure out how to ask you this question I have."

I grinned, figuring it was about dinner or breakfast. Drake always seemed to be hungry. I teased him about being pregnant all the time and he always went along with it, patting his stomach and going, "He's gonna be a soccer player!"

I laughed, "What kinda question is it?"

"Well, it's kinda important and it involves both of us."

I smiled, "Drake, I just fed you not even an hour ago!"

He smiled, pressing his lips to my shoulder blade and shook his head, "Can you call me Aubrey?"

I turned slowly to face him. "Aubrey?"

His chocolate brown eyes searched mine and his hands came up to cup my cheeks. "Yeah, Drake's my stage name. I don't want to pretend I'm anything but me around you, so call me Aubrey."

I smiled and kissed him on the nose, "Sure thing, Aubrey."

He took a deep breath, still cupping my face and blurted out, "Willyoubemygirlfiend?"

My eyes got wide and I sat there, completely silent for at least a minute. "I'm sorry . . ."

His face fell, "It's okay. I understand."

I shook my head, "No, wait…. Can you repeat the question? I honestly couldn't understand it!" I started giggling and his smiled as wide as the Cheshire cat's. Slowly, he turned me on my back, climbed on top of me and he poured his soul into just one look.

Strongly and much more confidently he said, "Bella Swan, will you be my girlfriend?"

I kissed him on the lips with all the passion I had inside me and I nodded my head fervently. I broke the kiss momentarily, "Yes!"

He kissed me again, returning my passion, with added vigor. We spent the next few hours revelling in each other's company, calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend and then giggling about it until our sides hurt.

I shook my head, smiling to myself and opened the can of green beans, pouring them into the pan. I smeared the mushroom cream on top and added some French onions on top. I did the same to the next pan and placed them both in the over. I poured myself a cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table, sipping my coffee slowly as I thought about the first fight Drake and I had.

Flashback

"Bella, I don't understand what the problem is!" Drake yelled at me from across my room. His hands flew up to his head and he growled.

I narrowed my eyes at him, "Don't yell at me, Aubrey! You know exactly what my problem is!"

"I shouldn't have to explain myself to you!" He roared back at me.

My jaw dropped to the floor, "You shouldn't?" I repeated, trying to find the right words to express to him what the issue was. I took a deep breath, "Get out."

He looked at me, surprise on his face, "What?"

"I said 'get out', now leave!" I yelled back at him.

He shook his head, "No. I ain't leaving 'til we've talked about whatever the hell is bothering you!"

I climbed out of my bed and huffed over to my computer, moving the mouse, to reveal the photo that I had found. I pointed at the photo, "This is what is bothering me!" In the photo, Drake has his arm wrapped around a beautiful, dark skinned girl. His face was burrowed into her neck and she was smiling broadly.

His face fell, obviously recognizing the girl from the photo. "Bella, that I can explain."

I laughed bitterly, "Oh, I'm sure you can. We haven't even been together at month and you're already cheating on me!"

Drake walked across the room and took a hold of my hands. "Bella, baby. I need you to take a deep breath, please."

I refused to look him in the eyes, but I did as he asked. He took a deep breath as well, and kissed my forehead. I absolutely hated that I could be so incredibly mad at him, but one kiss from him made all my fears and anger disappear.

"Baby, that photo was taken months ago. Way before I even met you." At this, I looked up at him in disbelief. I was surprised to see nothing but certainty in his eyes.

"Before you met me?" I asked, doubtful of his words.

He shook his head, "Yes. Her name is Keisha and we grew up together. Hell, we're best friends, sort of like you and Jake. That photo was taken at Christmas time when I went up to see her. God knows why the pops released it now."

"You got any proof of this?" I asked, still skeptical.

He smiled, "Actually, I do. I have that same exact photo when a digital date on it from my camera. And, I can have any of my boys back me up- hell, my dad would back me up." He sighed, pulling me into his arms, "I love you, Bella. And there is no way in hell that I would ever cheat on you. You are way too important to me."

I froze, his words still rolling around in my head. He loved me? "I'm sorry. Did you just say you loved me?"

He laughed easily, "I guess I did. Didn't come out like I had planned, but yeah, it's the truth. I've loved you since the first time I laid my eyes on you, baby." He kissed my forehead and my cheek bones and finally, his lips rested on my mine.

Unsure of how to respond, I kissed him back, fully. He stopped me by pulling back and looking at me seriously. "I don't want you to feel like you have to respond to that, I'm in no hurry and I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon."

I smiled and I pulled his face back to mine, "I love you too." Any feelings of doubt and confusion left my mind as I kissed this beautiful man before me and I smiled even wider against his lips. "God, I love you."

He walked me back onto the bed, kissed my lips lightly and kissed his way up to my ear. "You are so ferocious, kitten."

I growled at him and smacked him lightly on the head. "Shut up and kiss me."

I took another deep swig of my coffee and nearly jumped out of skin when I heard someone clear their throat. I looked up to see Drake leaning against the door frame of the kitchen. His arms were crossed in front of him and he had an easy smile on his face.

"Whatcha thinking 'bout?" He asked me, walking towards the table and taking the seat beside me. He stretched his hands across the table and took my hands in his.

I squeezed his hands back and leaned across the table and kissed him softly on the lips. "Just about us."

He kissed me back, "What about us, kitten?"

I continued leaning across the table, our lips centimeters apart. "About the first time you told me you loved me."

He kissed me again, "And I still do, kitten."

"I know." The timer dinged and I got up to get the casseroles out of the oven. Putting the oven mitts on, I learned over to open the oven door. I felt two arms snake around my waist and I smiled, leaning into his strong embrace. "You're going to make me burn the casseroles."

Drake kissed the back of neck and laughed, "You? Burn something? Never!" he said, mockingly.

I growled and bumped him away from me with my behind. He swatted my butt and I heard him exit the kitchen. I pulled the casseroles out, happy with the turn out. I set them on top of the stove to cool, took my mitts off and walked out into the living room.

I saw my boyfriend and my father, leaning together, whispering about something that seemed incredibly serious.

"Whatcha talking about?" I asked them.

Charlie looked up at me and smiled, "Baseball."

I nodded my head, "Uh huh, sure sure."

I swiveled around on my heel and ran up to my room to unpack. I pulled out my cell phone and quickly typed out a text to Alice.

Al- how's "meet the parents" night going for you?"- B

I trudged over to my suitcase and opened them up, slowly unpacking my clothes. My phone buzzed and I flipped it open.

Amazing. 'rents love Felix. :) –A

Yay! Same here, Charlie is digging Drake! –B

I told you he would! What you doing tonight? –A

I smirked and typed in my response, Dinner at the Rez. Drake will get to meet Jake. Can't decide if that's a good or bad thing. –B

Unrolling my clothes and putting them in my closet, I was taken back to another memory of me and Drake.

Flashback

I flew out of his bed and started running around for my clothes. Drake sat up slowly, wiping the sleep from his eyes. "Where you going?"

"I have class and I have to go home first to shower and change and I can't find my damn underwear!" I exclaimed, exasperated.

Drake laughed, "You know, if you just moved in some of your stuff over here, you wouldn't have this problem."

We'd only been "official" for a month and a half and I was still a tiny bit skeptical. I mean, what on earth could a beautiful, amazing, talented man like Drake want me for? Better yet—what would his roommates say? Some plain jane girl dating and living with rock stars. Oh yeah right, this totally happens in real life.

Drake had climbed out his bed and wrapped his arms around me, "Please Bella. You know this place never feels like home unless you're here. Having some of your stuff here might help with that."

I sighed, "Fine. I'll bring some stuff over later."

With that, I had slowly started moving things over to his place, and he slowly started placing stuff around my house as well. I had cleared out a small area in my closet for him and he did the same for me. I was still scared that at any moment, he could drop me like a hot potato, but moving our stuff into each other's homes added some sort of finality to things.

My phone buzzed again.

Dude- Jake will 3 Drake. You have no worries. –A

I smiled, and typed out, Thanks A, God knows where I'd be without you. –B

Immediately, I got a text back, Still in Texas, hehe. And def not dating a freaking music star! –A

I shook my head, knowing she was totally telling the truth. I know, I know. K, gotta go. 3 you!- B

Love you too, B! See you soon –A

I finished unpacking my stuff and sat down on my bed, looking around at my room. Nothing had changed since I had been home. In fact, the only thing that had changed was me (and Charlie just a little bit). I was right- moving to Houston had been one of the best decisions of my life. School was great, my love life was amazing and I still had the absolute best friend in the world. I sighed as I let my head fall to the pillow. I curled up under my comforter and easily fell asleep thinking that my life could only go up from here.

A/N: I know, sort of cheesey ending, but hey- nobody said I was a good concluder. lol. As always- mad love to my beta, Endlesswaiting- you are an angel :) For those of you who have reviewed this little story, thank you. You made it worth writing :) I would love for others to read and review the story as well, as I did truly enjoy writing this fic. It was fun and flirty and sexy and just well- a good diversion. I would, of course, appreciate it greatly if you shameless pimped my little story out at your will. If I find out you did- I might be persuaded to write you a one shot featuring Ms Bella and Mr Drake :) hehe. When I first started writing this story, I knew there was many ways I could have taken it. She could have become his faithful groupie, traveling everywhere he went. They could have hooked up for a one nighter and she could have gotten preg-o. Edward could have come back into the situation and thrown her through a loop. But I like the way the story ended. It reinforced my belief that crazy things can happen when you least expect it to. Anywho- for those of you who have requested me to write me- I'm sorry! I have no free time right now! But I promise that once I find it, I will put it to good use! ;) Please continue to read and review other stories- as a writer I know how important a review truly is. Thank you!

xoxo

Brandi