Chapter 2

BPOV

I was now driving back to Seattle. It was the morning after the worst day ever of my life so far. Last night, after I had the short reunion with Demetri and he telling me my family was kidnapped, Jacob had me officially 'married' to him. There was no ceremony, I just said 'I do,' signed a document, and slept alone in a hotel room that he paid for, and cried myself to sleep. He told me 'what I need to know' which was that I just needed to get pregnant by this Edward Cullen, and stick with him for a few months. He also said where I was to meet him in three weeks, so I could see Seth. He said he wouldn't let me see my parents for four months. I was not about to argue with him in fear of him hurting them, or not allowing me to see Seth.

My brother Seth is one of the… no, the most important person in my life. I and my brother were always close growing up, and even though he was so much younger than me, we were best friends. Although we loved our parents like crazy, they didn't always understand us, but I and Seth always understood each other. We used to joke that we should have been twins because we can have our own little conversations without even speaking. It used to drive our friends and family nuts! Truth be told though, Seth and I haven't been as close as usual, and I'm starting to wonder if Jacob had anything to do with that, or if Seth knew something was about to happen and was trying to protect me. It sounds like something he would do.

I pulled into my driveway at my apartment and stepped out, locking my car, as I made my way up to my place. Once inside my apartment I looked around. If I was being truthful, I no longer felt safe here… I no longer felt safe anywhere. I went and took a nice, hot shower and changed into an outfit I thought looked good on me. I walked over to my purse and opened it to find the addresses of where Edward Cullen might be. It was his work address, and his home address; I noticed it was nearing lunch time, so I hurried out to my car so I could try to at least catch a glimpse of Edward before I started a plan of action.

I parked close to his apartment, and was shocked at how nice the building was. It wasn't new, but it was very well kept up, and I could only imagine the views they could have. As I was walking and looking up at the building, I heard a velvet voice, "No, Baxter, NO!" I turned just in time to see a giant dog running straight for me. The dog ran past, but the retractable leash it was wearing wrapped around my ankles pulling me to the ground. The leash was still going, giving me 'rug burn' when a man ran over grabbed the leash so it wouldn't hurt me anymore and tugged. The dog stopped and sauntered back toward me, giving me the most disgustingly wet kiss all over my face. I couldn't decide if I wanted to laugh or cry, because only in my life would so much crap, of any degree, occur in. I decided on none of the above, when I felt the leash being unwound from around my ankles.

"I am so sorry, I'm watching this beast for my friend, which I have decided I will never do again…" He finished unwrapping it, and I couldn't contain the hiss of pain that escaped. My ankles hurt, and my shoulder slightly hurt too from the fall.

"I need to clean these; do you mind if I take you upstairs to my apartment, or would you rather I did it here?" The dog was now calmly sitting there slobbering while looking at me, of course he was calm now.

I finally looked at the man. He was gorgeous. He had incredible green eyes, and the sexiest bronze hair I had ever seen. He looked trustworthy. Around us, there were a few people watching me.

"Um, well I don't really want to make any more of a scene, so I guess your apartment." Plus I figured I might get to see a few more people in the building; one of which might be the Edward Cullen.

"Alright then," with that he picked me up with one hand under my knees and one behind my back. "Hey! Put me down!" I was shocked, not only because he picked me up like I weighed nothing, but also for the fact that he picked me up.

"I don't want you walking until I can assess how deep the cuts are," he answered calmly without putting me down.

"What are you a doctor? And did I not just say I didn't want more of a scene?" Seriously?

He just shook his head smirked, which might I say was extremely sexy, "Baxter, come." And guess what the dog immediately obeyed, like it was the most obedient damn dog ever. I couldn't help but glare at the dog. The man hit the elevator button and chuckled as he saw my expression. "I went to med school. And that dog is extremely obedient, until you put it on a leash and he sees a squirrel. Then it is like letting Godzilla loose." I couldn't help but laugh with him at the comparison he used.

We got up to his apartment and he managed to open the door while still holding me. I tried to get him to put me down, but he was adamant that he needed to examine me first. I just rolled my eyes. I couldn't explain it, but I felt as if I could trust him, and it didn't feel completely weird that he was carrying me. After he finally opened the door, he walked over, and sat me down on his couch, while the massive dog went and lay down in the corner. His apartment was very manly, but very well decorated.

He went and grabbed a small bag out of his hall closet and walked back over to me. As he was cleaning up my wounds, I decided to learn something about him, "So, you're a doctor. What hospital do you work at?"

He paused for a moment before continuing, and without looking up at me he replied, "I went through med school, but I'm not a doctor."

"Oh." I couldn't tell by the sound of his voice if it was a touchy subject, so instead I asked, "What do you do then?" I tried to be a little upbeat when I asked.

"I mainly work for my grandfather's company, Cullen Inc." Oh. My. God. This was Edward Cullen, I just knew it. Suddenly I had realized that for the last half hour, I had unintentionally put a perfect plan into action of getting Edward to meet me, and start the 'save family,' plan.

I didn't know what else to say for the moment, so I stayed silent. I really did not want to ruin the 'first impression.' Huh… right because being mowed over by a giant dog and having to have my injuries cleaned is such a great 'first impression'… right and I'm the president…

As he finished cleaning my wounds in silence, I simply watched him. He was very efficient. I didn't even notice his touch.

Finally a crooked smile broke out on his face when he looked up at me, "All finished. If I may ask, what is going through your mind right now?"

"You're beautiful." I blushed after I realized I had literally answered what was going through my mind at that very second. He simply smirked. I didn't dare open my mouth, afraid of what else might pop out, so after a moment he spoke.

"Listen, it's my fault you're injured, let me try to make it up to you… maybe lunch?"

I smiled. I couldn't help it. "Lunch sounds great. On one condition though."

His smile faltered, "what is that?"

"The thing called a dog stays here."

A beautiful laugh replied, "deal."

He helped me up, and offered his arm. I looked at his eyes and back to the arm before taking it. He led me to a quaint bistro around the corner. I had a sandwich and pasta salad, while he had a sandwich and potato salad.

"So you know what I just realized? I don't even know your name."

"Bella." I said with a smile.

"Edward." He replied.

"So, beautiful Bella," I of course blushed, earning a chuckle from him, "what do you do?"

"Well I was going to college, but recently I decided that I should take a break and write. I'm also, maybe, trying to find a job at a bookstore or something."

"So who is your favorite Author?"

"Jane Austin. Your favorite Book?"

"I'm not quite sure. I like some of the classics like To Kill a Mockingbird, or Red Badge of Courage, or The Great Gatsby, stories like those, but I don't have a favorite yet." He said as he tried to continue thinking about the answer.

"I don't think I do either."

"So Bella, tell me about your family." It was generally a simple question, but he had no idea, nor would he have any idea, about any of them. Apparently he saw my hesitation and slight panic.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry." He said truly remorseful.

"No, it's fine, I just… I just have some family problems at the moment, but I'll figure something out." And so far the only solution is by using you, I added in my mind.

"Hmm, so favorite color?"

"Green," I answered, with another blush, because I had answered while looking back into his enticing green eyes. Edward glanced at me curiously, "Why are you bl-"

"I'm not going to answer that." I said with an embarrassed smile.

He arched an eyebrow before nodding.

"Alright I have a question for you, who's dog knocked me over?"

Laughing he replied, "That would be Emmett's. He is in charge of all security pertaining to my family. He is also a best friend, and like my brother. He and his girlfriend wanted the weekend away, so they dropped him off with his stuff, and a simple, 'have fun.' With a normal dog, I wouldn't mind, but Baxter is the biggest, slobberiest dog I have ever seen. And as you saw, can be a handful."

I laughed with him. Somehow even though he was, unknown to him, directly involved with my life's problems, he made me forget about them. For that I could not be more thankful.

"So I don't want to talk about my family, but will you tell me about yours?" I asked, hoping I wasn't to hypocritical.

"No I don't mind," he said with an easy smile. "My parents, for all intensive purposes, are Carlisle and Esme. Then I have a sister Alice. Her boyfriend, soon-to-be-fiancé Jasper, is like my brother. Then there is Emmett, who I already told you about. He is dating a girl named Rosalie. She and I don't always see eye-to-eye, but we get along well enough."

From his facial expressions and the way he spoke, I could tell he truly loved his family.

"It sounds like you all are very close." I couldn't help the sad smile when I thought that I may hurt his family just as Jacob had hurt mine.

A flash of slight confusion crossed his face before his eyes flicked up and he smiled at someone behind me. I turned around to see a petite woman with short, black spiked hair smiling back. I felt worse for a second, because if she was his girlfriend, I would have to find a way around her. That luckily was unnecessary as she ran over to Edward and hugged him as she sat in his lap like a little kid. He greeted her, "Hey Alice. What are you doing here?"

She replied with a tinkling laugh, "I am the one who introduced you to this fine establishment with their unbelievable sandwiches." She then turned to me with a look of excitement and curiosity, "So Edward, who is this?"

"This is Bella." I returned their smiles.

Alice slid off Edward's lap into the booth, scooting him further in. I laughed at the sight of this pixie-like girl nudging the tall, well-toned man to the side.

"Gee, would you like me to move over for you Alli?" Edward asked sarcastically.

Alice answered a simple, "Yes thank you." She kept her focus on me, "so Bella, how did you two meet?"

I looked at Edward and we both let out a laugh. He went on to explain how Baxter had seen a squirrel and mowed me over, blah blah blah. After he finished Alice growled, literally growled, and I near burst out laughing.

"I can't believe it, Emmett is so proud that he trained 'the perfect dog,' but it seems to never be obedient when you want it to be. Plus knowing Emmett, he probably trained the stupid dog to chase squirrels in the first place," Alice said.

Edward shook his head, "That does sound like something he would do doesn't it?"

Alice sighed. We sat there in comfortable silence as Alice ordered her sandwich, and we continued eating.

"So Bella, how old are you?" I was momentarily taken aback by the boldness and suddenness of Alice's question, "I am 22."

"Perfect! Edward is 24."

I looked at him slightly shocked, "Didn't you say you went to medical school?"

Before a hesitant Edward could reply, Alice spoke, "well he is a genius. He graduated high school at 16."

"Alice!" Edward hissed.

"What it's true. No need to be embarrassed," she said unfazed.

Edward opened his mouth to start a sibling brawl. Before he could continue though I interrupted, "That somehow doesn't shock me." I then turned from Edward and leaned towards Alice, as if asking a secret, "Does he have any faults?"

Alice smiled, but Edward interrupted when he saw Alice about to answer. "That is for her to find out."

Alice looked like her face was going to explode from her smile. Edward looked back at me, and I smiled before looking down. After a few moments of comfortable silence, Alice spoke again.

"So Bella, are you busy tomorrow night?"

I looked at her quizzically, "no, why?"

"Perfect!" she said with too much excitement, "every Monday night, Esme cooks dinner for us. You should come. Please?" she asked with a pouty lip at the end.

I looked to Edward who was also waiting for an answer.

"Alright, I guess I'll go."

"Yeah!" clapped Alice.

"I'm just curious though, why do you have dinner every Monday? Why not on the weekends?"

Edward was the one to answer, "well, no one likes Mondays, and this helps to make them better. Plus we are generally together during the weekends already."

Alice jumped in, "Plus Emmett loves Esme's cooking, so it was mainly his excuse to get more meals." I laughed at the reasoning.

Alice all of the sudden shot out of her seat. "Oh, I probably should go finish up my work at the office if I ever want to go home tonight." I looked at my phone and realized we had been sitting here for 2 hours and Edward and I another 45 minutes. Alice hugged me, "It was nice meeting you Bella, and I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you then Alice." It amazed me how I had only just met them, yet I felt I had known them a lifetime. It scared me how much it would hurt to deceive them.

After about another half hour of talking, Edward and I left the bistro. We exchanged numbers and he gave me the directions and address to his parent's house.

When I got back to my apartment, I double checked the door and windows to make sure they were locked and secured. I then changed into sweats and crawled into my bed. Even though the sun was still up, I cried myself to sleep. The reality of my life was just starting to feel real. I still fully hadn't grasped the whole situation, but at the same time, I knew ignorance was bliss. You can only stay ignorant for so long though.

AN: Thank you so much for reading, and PLEASE review! 3 I have not finished with Chapter 3 yet. I have started it, but I do not have the time at the moment to write more. :( I have finals this week though, so starting next week, I hope to continue writing more in both my stories. I am not sure yet how long this story will be or how often I will post new chapters, but I would REALLY appreciate it if you would let me know if you like the length, plot, way Bella meets Edward, etc. Another thing I'm not completely sure yet of with this story, is the seriousness of it. It can easily be made into a very serious, Bella's always guarding her emotions, etc. OR is it still ok to add slight humor into the story? Anyways, I'm rambling, and will probably delete this AN when I read it again, but until then, thank you for taking the time to read, and Stephenie Meyer ROCKS!