Disclaimer: Twilight's characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.

A/N: Well ladies and gents…yes, I found out Saturday that I definitely have at least one male reader. So cool!

Anyway, in true vacation fashion, I didn't get much writing done on the way down because I was too busy watching the views and helping the kids when needed. The little bit of writing I did get done was on a oneshot I posted earlier this week for The Age of Edward contest. Mine was about World War II Navy Pilot Edward meeting shy wallflower Bella at a USO dance two and a half weeks before shipping out to Europe. It's M rated and called The Wallflower and The Flyboy (big surprise) if you want to check it out.

The kids were great travelers on the way down…on the way back I started this little ditty and finished BPOV just before arriving home…yep I wrote for the better part of seven hours just to get BPOV through a fussy teething baby and bumpy Missouri and Illinois roads and then finished up Sunday once we were home between loads of laundry and getting settled in. Anyway, hope you enjoy. More fluff, but a touch of intrigue too!

Thank you to my Beta Sihaya 9 for her hard work on yet another pretty long chapter. Enjoy!

14. The Inner Sanctum

BPOV

Wow…there are no other words to describe my date with Edward but 'wow'…and maybe 'whoa', and possibly 'ohmyfreakingod that was amazing!' It was so incredible how we just WERE and it was great. No uncomfortable silences, no awkward small talk, not even that weirdness where you nervously reach out to change the physical contact or a constant fear of rejection. Okay, well I admit that I was a little nervous the first time I hugged his arm when we walked. I worried that I was being too affectionate for a guy who never really had done the affection thing before, but a part of me knew that it would be fine because it was us. It was my Edward and my Edward wouldn't have a problem with me doing that.

The rest of the night seemed to continue in kind. Every touch, every caress, every kiss was simply natural and perfect, not once awkward. Not even at the very end of the night when I kissed him goodnight and felt the degree of his attraction to me digging into my stomach… Normally this would have freaked the shit out of me, embarrassing me to no end, but instead I all I felt was sort of thrilled and excited. It was like proof that he really did feel for me in all of the same ways that I felt for him.

This was all really happening and not only was he letting me behind the thick velvet curtain of intimacy, but I was no longer strictly his emotional cohort - he wanted the whole package with me. Suddenly I was filled with a confidence quite foreign to me; in that instant I felt sexy, desirable, and most importantly, in control of our relationship for once. He told me upfront that I was going to be the one calling all of the shots in this fledgling relationship and while I was nowhere near ready for that yet, I wanted to be sure he knew that it would be part of our future. So I placed another kiss on his lips, being sure to lean in nice and close before turning to let myself in the door, wishing him goodnight and blowing him a kiss over my shoulder.

If his expression was any indication, the message was well received. I closed the door quickly behind me and leaned against it, hiding my blushing face behind my hands and giggling like schoolgirl. Finally I sighed and slid my hands slowly from my face to reveal Emmett, Rose, Alice, and Jasper all sitting in the living room watching me with amused expressions.

I couldn't help but smile at them all; my lip slid between my teeth and a new flush flooded my face inciting an Alice squeal. She promptly bounced across the room, grabbed me around the waist jumping up and down vibrating me in my spot.

"Oh my gosh, the date was great wasn't it? He did everything right didn't he? And you guys had one of those mind blowing kisses again except this time it was at the right place at the right time! Oh you are so going to get it right this time!"

I didn't even get a chance to answer as she continued to chatter on. I looked over her head at the living room to see Jasper and Emmett laughing from their spots on the chairs. Rose came up behind Alice and put her hand on her shoulder.

"Ali, you're going to give her whiplash if you keep that up. Besides, I need my turn!"

Rose pulled me into a hug. "You look happy sweetie and that's all that counts…but since you obviously can't speak openly in front of your brother and Jasper, I suggest we go to your room where you can tell us all about it."

"There BETTER not have been anything going on during your first date that can't be told in front of me or else you're going to be single again before Masen can make it back to his apartment!" Emmett roared from behind us, the smile suddenly gone from his face.

I turned and rolled my eyes at him. "No need for death threats brother bear. He was a perfect gentleman." He raised his eyebrows at me and I nodded emphatically. He looked unconvinced so I walked across to the empty seat beside him as Rose returned to her place on his other side and Alice settled back next to Jasper. They all listened as I outlined the date and the girls awed at all the sweet things that Edward did and giggled at the overzealous waiter and the waving hockey player while Emmett and Jasper growled a little. I finished off with the events that happened outside the apartment door, obviously leaving out Edward's little problem, and they all smiled while Alice just kept bouncing in her seat.

When the recount was over I went to my bedroom and replayed the events of the day once more as I tried to force myself to fall asleep. I dreamed all night of kissing Edward, tasting Edward, teasing Edward, holding Edward, sleeping with Edward, suddenly my dreams became the 'all Edward all the time' channel and I didn't mind a bit. The only thing that would have been better would have been to actually have Edward here with me…to really hold him and kiss him and tease him…but that would all come in good time.

I finally got out of bed about two in the afternoon after waking every hour on the hour from about ten in the morning on. But I knew I needed to get in as much sleep as I could since I'm stuck on the night shift for the next four nights. Talk about the mother of all sucky timing too because that pretty much meant that any time I would get to spend with Edward would be at a premium and I wanted to explore this new relationship of ours, or, well we still hadn't even really named it yet.

I rolled out of bed and looked over at the clock. I didn't have to be at the hospital until ten which left me eight hours to do my laundry and catch up on the little things I had been letting slide the past week, and yet all I really wanted to do was call Edward to see if he was free. I groaned and grabbed my laundry bags and basket full of detergent and fabric softener. I pushed the basket with my foot while hauling the bags over my shoulders and made my way down the hall to the elevator.

When the doors opened to the basement I kicked the basket down the dark hallway to the small hot laundry room and immediately set about throwing coins in the machines and starting the water, hoping to hurry the process as much as possible. I soon had all of my laundry spread between four washers and sat on the tiny bench waiting for them to cycle as I stared at my phone pensively.

Was it too soon to call? What about texting? Edward and I constantly texted long before we ever started this thingy. We really need to figure out what to call what we're doing too because calling it a thingy made me sound extremely silly in my own internal monologues much less saying it out loud.

I sighed and flipped open my phone to expose the qwerty keyboard and began to type. I had typed a pretty long message before looking down and frowning. I cleared the screen, closed the lid, and then immediately opened it again and stared at the frustrating blank screen. I did this three more times before my machines all hit the rinse cycle. I slid the phone into my pocket in order to add fabric softener to each of the loads before returning to the bench.

I opened my phone and began to type again when my phone began to sing Colby Calait's Little Things and I pressed the button to read the message a smile spreading across my face when I saw it was from Edward.

Hey beautiful, what are you doing?

Laundry while debating on whether or not to bother you this afternoon by texting you.

Oh, well for future reference, a text from you would never be a bother. I've been forcing myself to wait to text you since I got up so I wouldn't wake you too soon. I know you're on night shift tonight.

I couldn't help but smile. He was doing the same thing I was.

Ok, I'll remember that. Thanks for worrying about me, but usually I don't wake up when texts come in. I have a pretty quiet text alert song, so it doesn't usually wake me up.

So what else do you have planned for today after you finish laundry? Want to grab some supper before your shift starts?

I heard myself squeal a little in joy. He wanted to spend what little free time he had with me as much as I wanted to spend it with him.

I have a whole list of things I SHOULD do, but I'd much rather let them slide a few more days and grab supper with you. Besides I'll have more than enough spare time beginning next weekend : ( I can't believe you guys are leaving right after we finally start figuring this thing between us out.

Yeah, tell me about it. Trust me, however much you are annoyed by it, I am about ten times more annoyed. Did Em tell you that they transferred Mike and Tyler out? So we have two new newbies with us now that will be training with us…Ben and Dan

No Em didn't say anything. You can complain all you want at dinner. I know you guys always get frustrated when they do that. Em says it throws off the group dynamic. What time do you want to do dinner?

I'd say in ten minutes but I know you have your laundry. I guess I could come help.

I thought about the contents of the third washing machine holding all of my delicates and I blushed violently before quickly sending a denial on the helping with laundry. I suggested that if he wanted to stop by in about three hours that I'd be ready to hang out for a while; I'd carry a duffel and change into my scrubs at the hospital before my shift. He reluctantly agreed and I refocused my efforts on finishing up my laundry.

I hurriedly shifted my clothes to four dryers, started them and tapped my foot as I waited for them to stop. While they were drying I made a trip up to my apartment to drop off the detergents and my laundry bags. Forty minutes later I was running back and forth between the basement with my four loads of laundry, quickly putting them away. Finally I sprinted to the bathroom for a shower. I opted to braid my hair so I would be ready for work before dressing and packing up a change of work clothes in my duffel. I tossed on my shoes and looked at the clock. I was ready nearly an hour early.

I huffed and attempted to distract myself, only to find when I stared at the clock four or five minutes had passed. I gave up on waiting and decided to meet him at his place and text him once I got there. I found myself unintentionally speed walking towards Edward's. Minutes later I was standing in front of his building looking up at the tall glass edifice.

Over the years I had waited for Edward in front of this building a few times, but I had never actually been in his apartment. Typically Edward came to our place and the guys had only actually been here a handful of times. I never really questioned it; it was just how Edward was. He had always been a very private person, I never took it personally.

I reached into my pocket and took out my phone to text Edward when a man wearing a nice suit opened the door to the building and smiled at me.

"Miss Swan, please come in." I know I must have looked surprised and he chuckled as I stepped through the entryway into the marble lobby of the large building. "It's nice to finally meet you Miss Swan. We were all excited to see Mr. Masen adding a lovely lady to his list of approved visitors. Up until yesterday the only female allowed access to this building was his aunt. I must say he was right, you are far lovelier than the picture he showed us."

I must have appeared to be the most inarticulate person on the planet as I stared at him with my mouth slightly agape and my brows crinkled in confusion. The kind man in the suit smiled at me sweetly for a moment, apparently amused at my reaction before he finally continued. "Mr. Masen is in if you would like to go on up. Just hit the PH button on the elevator. He's in Penthouse 3."

I swallowed hard and nodded. "Thank you very much…" I paused, feeling bad for not knowing this man's name when he obviously knew half of my life story.

"Jensen, Miss Swan. George Jenson."

"Oh please call me Bella Mr. Jenson."

He nodded with a wide smile that twinkled in his eyes. "Then please call me George Miss Bella."

I giggled, "The 'miss' part isn't necessary George."

He smiled again, nodding before gesturing toward the elevator and pushing the call button for me and then the PH button on the control panel, only returning to his computer station by the front door once the elevator doors began to close again.

When the elevator opened I was once again amazed to find myself standing in a marble tiled hallway with dark, luxurious looking paneling lined walls, only broken three times by equally luxurious looking large doors with golden letters and numbers on it. I walked down the hallway past doors marked PH 1 and PH 2 and as I approached a corner where I hoped PH 3 was hidden I heard voices.

I reached the edge of the corner and paused as I heard Edward's voice arguing with a female.

I heard a sickeningly sweet voice with a forced sounding breathy quality to it. "Eddie, come on honey. I know you want me. You picked me up months ago at Dooley's and then when we got here you got sick and had to go back to your place and never came back. You wouldn't have left with me that night if you didn't want to screw me, so what's the problem?"

I glanced around the corner and felt sick as I saw a tall leggy woman with big blonde curls running her hands up and down Edward's chest. I felt the simultaneous urge to run up to him and slap his face off or run the other way and tell him to go screw himself; until I looked at his face to see a look of absolute disgust and horror plastered there. I ducked back around the corner to listen to how the rest of this all played out.

"Lauren, I've told you time and time again I am not interested in doing ANYTHING with you EVER. I didn't realize you were my neighbor that night we met. I don't get involved with my neighbors. I was nice about this in the beginning since you are my neighbor and all, but I stopped being nice about two months ago and you still don't seem to be getting this. NO means NO! Not only that but I have a girlfriend now and am not interested in sex with anyone but her, so please leave me alone. I really need to go anyway because I'm picking her up in about twenty minutes and I don't want to be late."

I smiled and turned the corner just in time for the Lauren girl to scoff. "Please Edward; you're not the boyfriend type. If you're going to lie you really need to come up with a better one."

I watched Edward's eyes flare in anger a second before he glanced toward me when he caught my movement in his peripheral vision. His anger melted into a smile that shined in his eyes. "Bella?" He left a stunned looking Lauren standing alone in front of his door as he ran down the hall to stand in front of me pulling me into a hug and giving me a peck on the lips. "What are you doing here baby? I was about to leave to pick you up?"

I looked up at him and gave him another peck before leaning back to look into his gleaming green eyes. "I was ready early so I walked over. I was going to text you from out front, but George opened the door and said that they were all instructed to let me in right away if I ever came by. He told me you were home and to come right on up…so I did. Is it okay?"

"Okay? It's more than okay! I'm so glad you're here." We had both forgotten about the annoying blonde until she cleared her throat at the end of the hall and tapped her foot demandingly. Edward groaned and rolled his eyes before wrapping his arm around my waist and leading me toward his doorway.

"Bella, this is my neighbor Lauren in penthouse one. Lauren, THIS is my GIRLFRIEND Dr. Bella Swan."

Lauren looked me from head to toe with a crinkled nose, obviously not impressed by either my appearance or my title. She finally nodded curtly and turned her attention back to Edward.

"Well, when you get tired of this new little development, you know where to find me." With that she turned and clicked her way back around the corner on the tops of her six inch high Manolos.

I looked up at Edward through my eyelashes, suddenly feeling a bit inferior in comparison to her model like stature and classic barbie-like beauty, all of which was far from me and so typically Edward's type. He knew immediately what I was thinking though as he grabbed my face and forced me to look him directly in the eye.

"Don't even go there baby…I told you a month ago that I would choose you over someone like that any day and it's true. You are the only type I have. Do you want to know the real reason why I never dated brunettes?"

I looked up confounded and nodded. "Because for some reason blondes didn't feel as wrong. I didn't really understand before I figured out my feelings for you why it was that blondes didn't feel as wrong as brunettes did, but now I know it's because they reminded me way too much of who I really wanted to be with. It was harder not to pretend and stay detached. Now do you understand?" He waited a beat, hugging me tight to his chest and kissed the top of my head before burrowing his nose in my hair. "The ONLY type for me is you…the end."

I felt heat flood my face. I strengthened my grip around his waist, hugging as tightly as I could, burying my nose in his sternum and inhaling deeply of the mixture of Edward and Hugo that clung to his shirt. We stood in the hallway a long time simply clinging to one another taking in each other's scents greedily. Finally he loosened his grip and tipped my face up to kiss me. The kiss started off tender and gentle but slowly grew more and more heated as my body hummed at the sensations his lips brought when they grazed mine.

After several more long minutes of kissing we finally pulled apart and Edward leaned back. "Well, since you're here and everything, I'd love it if you came in and saw my place."

I smiled and nodded as he reached behind me to open the door. He led me in, wrapping both hands around my waist and followed while cuddled to my back. As I stepped through the entryway I gasped in shock. I knew Edward had money and lived in an upscale apartment building, but I seriously had no clue just how upscale it was.

He led me down a short wood paneled hallway with marble flooring and ornate trims with a large round table in the middle with a matching marble top, a large dried flower arrangement sitting in the middle looking stately in the grand entryway.

I felt Edward's warm breath as he chuckled in my ear. "Esme," he commented softly and I chuckled and nodded. One word explained it all. I knew full well that this apartment was going to be perfectly decorated with nice expensive furnishings and yet very little of it would really be Edward.

We soon crossed the threshold from the entryway into a massive living area surrounded on two sides by floor to ceiling glass walls, each providing astounding views of the city and the lake in the distance. There were touches of Edward here, but it was most definitely an Esme design. The floors were a soft looking plush cream colored carpet upon which sat comfy looking glossy black leather couch and loveset set and matching recliner that all circled a large glass and marble coffee table. The room focused on the most massive television and entertainment system I had ever seen in my entire life.

I crossed the room, ignoring all of the intricate little details that were obviously put there by Esme for the purpose of design and style and focused on the myriad of picture frames that stood on top of the various surfaces of the entertainment center. I slowly walked from frame to frame, my smile growing wider and wider as I looked from picture to picture. With the exception of one of Edward and his parents when he was young and one of Carlisle and Esme, ever single picture had the boys and I in it…and in a few were Edward and I alone.

I felt my eyes begin to blur with tears as I picked up a beautiful silver collage picture frame. Every single slot contained a shot of Edward and I together over the years on the beach at Lake Michigan. We spent a ton of time at the various local beaches on Lake Michigan the first summer I lived in Chicago as the boys tried desperately to make me as happy as they could. After the boys graduated college Carlisle and Esme deemed them responsible enough to be able to use the lake cottage on the North Shore, so for the last four years or so we all took a week off every summer to go chill on the beach together. The frame had eight slots and each one held a picture of Edward and me lounging on the beach or on the deck of the lake house with sunglasses and matching bright smiles.

The first year a sixteen year old me sat shyly next to a younger and yet every bit as stunningly handsome Edward, but with each progressive year we were closer and more comfortable together. By age nineteen I was standing behind him with my arms wrapped around his neck with my chin resting on his bare shoulder as he sat in a Adirondack chair. By age twenty-one I was actually sitting on his lap; both of us with our sunglasses resting on the tops of our heads as we stared at each other holding margaritas in salt lined glasses. If I hadn't have lived it myself, I would have sworn from looking at that picture that the two sitting there were already a couple.

At age twenty-two, just this last summer, Edward held me bridal style at the edge of the water walking into the surf; I held tightly around his neck looking slightly panicked but still happy. The big devious smile on his face was priceless. Fifteen seconds later he dumped me into the water unceremoniously and laughed as I gasped for air and cursed him up one side and down the other for dropping me on my ass. But what we had only recently discovered for ourselves was written plain as day in our faces, frozen in time. We had been in love for years; we just hadn't admitted it to one another, or in Edward's case, even himself. The last box was left empty just waiting for next summer's contribution.

Suddenly I felt Edward standing behind me with his arms wrapped around my waist, his head rested on my shoulder. He tightened his hold and then released as he kissed my neck reverently.

"So much time I wasted being a fool. If I would have just really looked at those pictures as I put them in every year, or even took the time to analyze why I chose those pictures to put in it in the first place, I would have saved us both so much time and heartache. I got this frame from Aunt Esme four years ago. Four years ago she got me this frame and I started putting those pictures in it. Four years…" I could feel him shaking his head.

I gently replaced the frame in its home and turned to face him, placing my hands on either side of his face. "You weren't ready to see it then…that's why you didn't. Just please promise me that you really are ready for all of this now. Thank you for letting me in, but please don't let me in and then wall yourself off again because I don't think I could stand that Edward."

His dark green eyes stared straight through mine and seemed to burrow straight into my soul. "Isabella Marie Swan, I promise you that I will not shut you out again. I want you to know everything about me. That's why you are here. Did you know I've never brought anyone back here? Never. My Aunt is the only woman to ever cross that threshold. Bringing you in here today is the closest thing I can do to physically allow you access into my entire life, and I promise you that my heart is as open to you as that door is. Matter of fact," he left me standing in front of the entertainment center and disappeared behind a door coming back a few seconds later smiling triumphantly.

He walked across the room and lifted my hand from where it rested at my side and placed a silver key on a heart shaped silver keychain. "You are the one and only person in the whole world that I am giving free access to my inner sanctum. Any time, day or night, you are free to come in here. Not even my Aunt and Uncle have a key." He closed my hand around the key and I stared at it as tears trickled down my cheeks, which he immediately reached up and brushed away with the pad of his thumb.

"I'm serious Bella, I'm all in." I slowly looked up from the key to look into his eyes, which were once again boring straight into my soul and I tightened my grasp on the key and brought it to my chest.

"I love you Edward," I whispered.

His irises were instantly obscured by the tears that began to flow from his own eyes, "Oh baby, I love you so much. You don't even know how much I've been wanting to hear you say that."

He pulled me to his chest and placed a long deep passionate kiss on my lips. We kissed as long as our lungs would allow before we broke away panting as he held me close to his chest and kissed down my neck and shoulder.

"I want to show you the rest, come on."

He led me quickly through the kitchen which was filled with top of the line stainless steel appliances and a massive sub-zero refrigerator, a dining room which held a massive mahogany table large enough to seat eight and a large hutch at the far end, a spare bedroom nearly as big as both of the bedrooms in my apartment put together, and a luxurious bathroom adorned with black marble swirled with ribbons of white and red, before finally leading me to a doorway at the end of the hall.

"Okay, you know how I said my apartment was the inner sanctum, well this is like the inner-inner sanctum if that's possible. Nobody has been in this room besides me since Aunt Esme finished helping furnish it. Even the maid is not allowed in here. I clean my bedroom and bathroom myself."

With that he smiled widely at me and turned the knob, opening the door gesturing for me to enter with a slightly flamboyant bow that made me giggle. I stepped through to find a room completely unlike the rest of the apartment and I felt my cheeks tense when my smile grew deeper. This was Edward, one hundred percent complete and total Edward. The outer walls here were once again floor to ceiling glass. To the right of the door a large king size bed rested with its headboard against the wall, the foot of the bed pointed toward the lake beyond. The wall above his bed was completely covered with pictures of the guys and me interspersed with various collectable White Sox and Blackhawks memorabilia.

I walked over to the dresser on the other solid wall to find it also covered in things that were precious to him. A signed baseball inside a glass box with an engraved plaque showed a 1988 date, which means it was probably from a game he had gone to with his father. Behind the ball was a picture of an absolutely adorable eight year old Edward, his messy bronze hair and red freckles decorating the bridge of his nose - smiling wider than I had ever seen, standing next to his kneeling father who was holding the ball in front of a baseball stadium. I ran my hands over the picture before looking over at him cautiously, unsure if I should be touching his things. I half expected to see a frown or his body tense and worried, but instead I found him sprawled out on his bed with his hands tucked behind his head watching me with a smile.

"I wasn't entirely sure how I was going to feel about you being in here, but now I see you standing there looking at everything that's most important to me and I find that you belong in here just as much as that baseball does. You are more special to me than any of this stuff. So touch anything you want…I want you to know it all."

I blushed and smiled before walking over to the bed and climbing in next to him, snuggling into his side and laying my head on his chest with a sigh. "Thank you. Thank you for letting me in, both physically and emotionally." I drew lazy circles on his stomach with my right hand, he wrapped me in his arms and I relaxed completely into his embrace. We lay there together for a long while as we both drifted off to sleep only to be awoken when my cell phone went off and I jumped up looking at the clock in surprise.

"Oh my gosh Edward, I have to be on the floor in forty minutes. No time for supper, although I have to say that what you did for me today was way better than any meal could have been."

Edward shot up looking as surprised as I was. "You brought your clothes right?"

I nodded. "Good, grab your clothes and change while I fix you something real quick. I'll ask Jensen to have a cab waiting to drive you to the hospital doors."

"Okay," I jumped up and jogged back to where he was standing by the bed and kissed him quickly on the lips. "Thank you and that was the best I've slept since our morning on the couch." He smiled knowingly and nodded, squeezing me tightly in his arms before letting me go. I rushed down the entryway where he left my duffel and turned to go back to his room as he crossed in front of me headed for the kitchen.

I dressed quickly in my scrubs, throwing on my lab coat and stethoscope; tossed my clothes back in my bag and quickly re-braided my hair. I rushed to find Edward waiting in the kitchen at the counter with two large cold cut sandwiches, chips, and drinks. We ate together quickly and made arrangements to spend time together after Edward got off of work then he walked me down to the lobby where, as promised, George had a cab waiting for me. I thanked George as he called out behind me. "Have a nice night at the hospital Miss Bella."

Edward kissed me and helped me into the cab, tossing some bills at the driver and as soon as it pulled away from the curb I felt such a sense of loss. I was never one of those kids that got overly sentimental when my parents would drop me off for school or summer camp or anything like that, and yet I felt this strong sense of really not wanting to leave him, even though I knew I would be see him the next day. I tried to focus on the task at hand as we drove toward the hospital, but wasn't doing a very good job.

Within a couple of minutes I was stepping out of the cab in front of hospital. I checked my watch, pleased to see that I had ten minutes to get settled in and hit the floor.

At ten on the dot I stepped into the ER nurses station where a stack of charts was waiting for me. I dived in head first taking on broken bones, stitches, and a possible concussion with ease and with that I slid into a rhythm for the night. I was two hours into my night when I felt a familiar pair of rough hands cover my eyes and a matching chill traveled my spine while a sultry rough voice whispered in my ear, "Hey there sexy."

I tensed and he backed off as I turned around casting him a warning look. "Dr. Sellers that kind of conduct is not appropriate while on ER rotation no matter the personal relationship two physicians may or may not have." He took two steps back with his hands in the air.

"Sorry to be rude, but as a female doctor I have to work twice as hard to gain respect and to maintain it. I refuse to let anyone mar my work through impulsive public displays of affection. I really do need to talk to you though. Do you think maybe we could go grab a cup of coffee later tonight while on break or after I get off duty in the morning?"

He smiled at me condescendingly. "Sure Doctor Swan. I'll swing by on my break and see if you're available then." I nodded and turned to make my way to trauma room three.

The night continued with non-stop patients throughout the wee hours of the morning and my supposed break came and went without supplying me a chance to utilize it. Trevor stopped by but the head nurse quickly informed him that I was too busy for a break and to try me again at the end of my shift. I finally got away from the chaos at five thirty and had a few minutes to down a coffee and eat a little bit before having to join the rest of the femmes for morning rounds; I was supposed to be free to go at ten.

I drowsily made my way past the rows and rows of rooms and corridors as I made my way toward the cafeteria to grab some sub par sustenance when I turned one last corner to find Trevor and the bald man from Femmes night out at Dooley's standing in the hallway. They appeared to be arguing and not wanting to see the large ugly man I slightly injured that night without my boys around for backup, I ducked back around the corner and listened for the man to leave.

"What the fuck do you mean you're not going to give me the rest of the money? I did exactly what you asked."

"No, you did not provide your full service," Trevor answered in a cold low voice.

"The fuck I didn't. I hit on her, I got all up in her grill, and it's not my fault the little bitch is a fucking ninja posing as a tiny little slut. You had several seconds to step in and make your usual first impression; you were too slow is all. Not only that, her fucking brother and his friends beat the shit out of me less than two hours later. I earned every penny of that five hundred bucks."

"No, our deal is you hit on the women and I come in and punch you and have my door open for an easy swoop and grab. Thanks to your sissy ass I've had to work ten times harder than usual to nab this one and I can tell she's already slipping through my fingers and it's all your fucking fault. That one was actually worthy of more than just a bang and fling for once and now I might never get the chance. No, you get your initial one hundred for the pain and suffering you faced at the little vixen's hands and that's it."

I was floored and torn between running away and running toward them to knock both of their ugly misogynistic faces off. I was about to make a decision when it was made for me. Alice came up shouting behind me.

"Hi Bella! You want to come get some breakfast with me?"

She grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward the cafeteria, in an instant I was out in the open gaze of the two men who had only moments before been discussing me as though I were a prize piece of meat on display for the picking. I glared at the duo before grinding out. "No Alice, I'm not very hungry right now. You go ahead but do me a favor and keep an eye on me. I'll be in to join you for some coffee in just a minute."

She cast me a concerned look; I nodded and sent her a small smile of encouragement and watched as she disappeared behind the glass doors but kept her eyes on me as the began to furiously text on her cell phone.

I walked up to stand in front of the demonic duo. "Just so you know I heard every word and let me assure you that you never would have had the chance to show off because the man who, as of this weekend is now my boyfriend, was only about a foot and half away from kicking his ass in the middle of the bar. I do believe you met him again outside a couple of hours later though…you know the SWAT team member with the reddish brown hair? Yeah. As for you Trevor, I would thank you to never touch me or speak to me again. I was planning on us having coffee so I could try to do the right thing and let you down easy. To think I felt bad for leading you on! But now I'm so fucking ecstatic that we didn't get to know each other any better and Edward's seemingly shitty timing to step up and tell me how he feels that it isn't even funny. Now if the two of you will excuse me, I need to go have some coffee with my friend and call off the lynch mob of SWAT team members that I'm pretty sure she has managed to wrangle up during our short conversation thanks to text messaging."

I pushed myself between the two of them to open the cafeteria door and stormed directly over to Alice. "Call off the overprotective brigade. I handled it."

"Are you sure? What happened anyway?"

I nodded and told her I would fill her in after I had my coffee and she was done calling off the boys. By the time I was back at the table with my coffee I was on a three-way call with Emmett and Edward.

"Bella, what happened?" Edward asked breathless and obviously tense.

"It wasn't a big deal at all guys. I was walking up to the cafeteria when I overheard them talking. I guess Trevor paid the creepy bald guy to push himself on me so he could step in and save me. It sounds like it's their usual scam, but I sort of put a crimp in Trevor's style and he refused to pay the guy the other four hundred for the deed in spite of him still getting his ass kicked by you guys. I asked Alice to keep an eye out just in case and told Trevor never to touch or go near me again and that Edward and I were together now. I was going to tell him today when I had coffee with him, but now he knows that we have nothing more to talk about. Then I told him I had to call off the lynch mob and walked past them to come in here."

"I don't like this Bella. If that guy is so low to pay a guy to hit on women so he can beat the dude up in order to reel the girl in, then god only knows what else the asshole has his hands in. Let us come pick you up…please?" Emmett pleaded on the phone.

"No Em. I still have four and a half hours before I'm off and even then I'll be fine. The thing that gets me is the fact that he's supposed to be new to town and yet he already has this working relationship with this thug? How did he manage that so fast?"

"I don't know, but I'm definitely going to do a little research today at work to see if I can find Mr. Clean in our perp files at the station to see what pies he has his dirty little fingers in. In the meantime, I'm going to see if I can get the boss to give Edward guard duty today. I don't want you left alone today until I know more."

"Em, you are totally over reacting to all of this. He's a low level thug helping a loser pick up chicks, not the ring leader for the mob."

Edward interrupted me this time. "You don't know what he's involved with Bella. You don't know this, but we've been doing some pretty big stuff in the unit lately and if someone put us all together, it could put you in danger. Just humor us. I'll pick you up, we can swing by your place to get you some things and then I'll bring you back to my place to sleep. There's more security and it would be quieter to try to sleep in during the middle of the day anyway."

"Your place?" Emmett sounded shocked.

"Yeah man, I showed her my apartment today. Trust me; it really is the safest place she could be."

"Umm…oookay. Bells, you stay put until Edward picks you up. That's not a suggestion or a request, so please just go along with us on this okay?"

I groaned before agreeing. "I'll be waiting in the front lobby at a quarter till ten Bella. Meet me there when you're done with rounds okay?"

"Okay Edward. I'll see you later I guess. I love you guys."

"Love you too Bells." Emmett mumbled.

"I love you too baby." Edward crooned seconds later causing Emmett to emit a funny sounding whimper before we all hung up.

Alice stuck to me like glue as we met the rest of the femmes on the third floor for rounds. Alice and I were the only two on night shift rotations this week so as soon as rounds were over we were sent off together to head home for some rest. Alice stayed by my side the whole time until Jasper and Edward met us both in the waiting room.

I looked at Jasper questioningly and he shrugged, "I convinced Emmett that the guys know Alice called in the infantry and could be a potential target too, so I get guard duty today too." He looked over at Alice as he emphasized the words 'guard duty' with a waggle of his eyebrows.

Edward wrapped his arm around my shoulder and Jasper did the same with Alice as they guided the two of us toward the front doors and parted ways. Alice's parents were out of town for two weeks so they were going to 'take advantage of the security at Hancock' while Edward led me toward my apartment. He waited at the door as I rushed around stuffing various items of clothing and toiletries in my duffel along with a uniform for the night shift that night and we were off.

George met us with a smile as we walked in together. Edward carried my duffel bag chivalrously while holding my hand in his as I hugged myself to his arm just like I had done on our date on Saturday.

"Morning Miss Bella, it's so nice to see you again." He said as he opened the door and tipped his hat at me.

"Thank you George; and I told you yesterday, it's just Bella."

"As you wish ma'am."

I sighed and rolled my eyes as he chuckled and Edward watched our exchange with a bit of amusement.

"Jensen?" Edward said with an air of authority.

"Yes Mr. Masen?"

"Bella will be staying here today for sure and maybe a bit longer. There is the possibility that her life could be in danger." George gasped and looked horrified as he glanced at me worriedly.

I rolled my eyes and leaned forward, "He and my brother are just overreacting George. It's not as bad as they make it sound."

Edward looked down at me in annoyance. "And she doesn't ever take anything to do with her own safety seriously enough. It has the potential to be that serious Love, please don't take your personal safety lightly because I certainly don't."

I rolled my eyes again and sighed in defeat resting my head against Edward's bicep and letting my exhausted eyes flutter closed.

"Anyway, do not let anyone through without notifying me first. I expect her brother Emmett Swan by later, but he's the only guest I am expecting, and even if it is him, still call me just to be safe."

"Yes sir, absolutely."

Edward shook George's hand with his free one and then ran it over my hair before placing a gentle kiss on the top of my head. "Come on love, let's get you to bed. You need your rest."

I nodded and yawned, Edward led me to the elevator and then when the door opened he took me to his door and opened it. With his hand in the small of my back he guided me to the bedroom where he placed my duffel on his bed. He told me to grab a shower in his bathroom and change while he fixed me some food before I went to sleep. He closed the door and left me alone in his innermost inner sanctum.

I observed a few things I hadn't noticed the last night before grabbing by toiletries and jammies and heading into his bathroom for my shower. I looked around in awe. I hadn't actually made it into his bathroom the last time and OhMyGosh it was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. Made of the same marble tile as the main bathroom, this room had a huge double sink with a massive shower tiled in like marble with at least a half dozen shower heads pointing in all directions inside it with a sunken Jacuzzi tub on the far side and a door that led to a small toilet area on the far side of the tub.

After my initial assessment I looked again, surprised at how perfectly clean it was considering he said that he cleaned these rooms himself, not willing to allow the maid in to clean his inner-inner sanctum. I finally sighed, slipped out of my dirty scrubs and grabbed my toiletries. Upon stepping into the complicated shower I spent a few minutes fidgeting with the dials and settings before finally figuring it out.

Oh my goodness…that shower was the epitome of amazing feats of plumbing genius. I had never in my entire life had a more relaxing shower.

I stepped out to towel dry my body and slip into my plaid flannel pajama bottoms and black tank top, throwing one of Emmett's old NW sweatshirts over the top for good measure. I stepped out of the bathroom with wet hair to find myself face to chest with a smiling Edward.

"You are absolutely swimming in that sweatshirt." He walked over to his dresser and opened a drawer pulling out a SWAT sweatshirt with his name on the back. "I'm a lot smaller than Emmett. Try this one. I think it will fit you better."

I smiled and took it, yanking Emmett's tent over my head to hear Edward gasp again like he had the night of our date. I giggled before tossing his sweatshirt over my head. It was still too big for me, but it was not nearly as huge as Emmett's. I held my hands out and spun for him. "Better?"

He stalked toward me grabbing me by my hips and pulling my body flush with his before kissing me hard and then moving his lips down my neck. "I love seeing you in my clothes…especially clothes that have my name on them."

I sighed as he reached the juncture where my neck and shoulder meet and then pulled away. "Come on, let's eat real quick and then we'll climb into bed and get you to sleep."

"We're climbing into bed?"

He shrugged, "You really think I'm going to give up the chance to hold you in my arms and possibly catch another one of the most amazing naps I've ever experienced in the process?"

I chuckled and reached out to take the hand he offered. He led me to the dining room where two covered plates waited for us. He pulled off the lid with a flourish to reveal barbecue baked chicken, potato salad, steamed broccoli, cauliflower, baby carrots and a warm roll.

"Okay, I know you didn't cook all this while I was in the shower….what did you do?"

He shrugged again. "I called the maid and told her if she could have lunch ready for us by the time I got you home then she could have the rest of the week off with pay. She readily agreed."

I sighed and settled into my seat taking a bite of the juicy chicken and groaned. I took a few more bites of the delicious morsels on the plate, moaning appreciatively after each bite before turning to him. "Edward, you have to give this woman a raise. This is amazing!"

He laughed and watched as I greedily gobbled down the delicious food with fervor. I finally set down my fork, feeling nearly catatonic with my full stomach and my lead lined eyelids. Edward chuckled and stood in front of me, offering his hands as he helped me out of my seat and led me back to his bedroom. He motioned me aside and pulled back the sheets and comforter before helping me slip in.

His bed felt like a silk lined cloud. I slid between the two softest, most luxurious sheets I had ever felt in my life. They had to be those thousand dollar Egyptian cotton numbers I had never actually seen in person but only heard about. When Edward and I had laid down last night, we were just on top of the comforter, which was amazing enough, but oh, this was like sleeping in a French silk pie or something. This was definitely my first really taste of how the other half lives and I have to admit, I could understand why someone would get used to it.

Edward disappeared soon after tucking me in to go clear our dishes and reappeared within minutes to slide into his side of the bed. I was barely awake when he returned, but still with it enough to wrap myself immediately into his side, resting my head on his chest and inhaling his intoxicating scent. Within seconds I was passed out, tucked comfortably into my own slice of heaven on earth.

EmPOV

Fuck! This was the worst possible time to have to leave town for a fucking training camp in Minnesota. We have to go to Camp Ripley for a week of training then have three whole fucking days of downtime that we have to fill before we can begin the second part of our training at the Shootout House and all the while Bella will be in Chicago and basically defenseless.

Fucking administrators and their need to arbitrarily trade out team members! We wouldn't need to go to another fucking training camp if we weren't having our members rotated in and out like jugs of milk at the grocery store. It's fucking ridiculous.

To say I was pissed off when I finally managed to nail down Mr. Clean's identity was a big fucking understatement. Mr. Clean turns out to be none other than James "Wingnut" Trager, a minor lynchpin in Deluca's network and also happened to be his cousin. What are the fucking odds? Well I guess with Bella around they're actually pretty good.

Bella just upped her clout from Danger Magnet to fucking Danger Gravitational Field. Of all the people to end up being wrapped up with, it just had to be this guy and then to make matters worse the guys and I practically painted a bullseye on her back by kicking his ass in the alley behind Dooley's that night, announcing our professional status. We were all beyond fucked.

I stormed my way to Edward's building, chattering endlessly with Jasper who had left Alice sleeping in her apartment to work his manipulative magic with the chief in an attempt to land a protection detail for the girls in our absence. Things weren't looking good. I made it into the lobby where I was stopped by the big ass doorman who's nametag read 'Jensen'.

"I'm sorry sir; Mr. Masen said no guests and everyone must be announced. May I ask your name please."

"Swan, Emmett Swan." Instantly the large ape relaxed and smiled. "Miss Bella's brother. It's pleasure to meet you sir. Your sister is a very kind and special person. Am I to take your gruff stance to mean that Mr. Masen was correct in his assumptions that Miss Bella is in danger?"

I grunted and nodded hoping he would let me past. "Just one second sir. He said you were the only one allowed up today, but even you were to be announced to be safe. Let me ring his line." I stood and waited and he frowned and punched the number again before hanging up and punching it a third time. "I'm sorry sir. He isn't picking up. He must have fallen asleep with Miss Bella."

"Sleeping better be all that's happening in that fucking apartment," I mumbled beneath my breath.

He raised his eyebrow but didn't respond. "Listen, I need to get up there sooner rather than later. Let me up and I'll wake his ass up, don't worry."

"Um…well I guess if you prove your identity through some sort of ID then I could let you through since he did technically already approve you."

I sighed and yanked out my wallet where I flashed my driver's license and my badge side by side. He smiled and nodded before gesturing for me to continue on to the elevator. I grunted a half hearted thanks and made my way to the Penthouse floor and the whole elevator ride I couldn't help but think that Masen better not be doing anything that would warrant an article in a different kind of Penthouse. I spent years hinting that the two of them were good together, but now that it was happening I was having some major big brother instincts rearing their ugly head.

The elevator reached the floor and I immediately stalked around the corner to bang on his door loudly while yelling for him to open up. After five minutes with no luck I changed tactics and began working my way up and down the hall beside his door banging on the walls hoping to hit his bedroom. Finally five more minutes later an irritated Edward yanked open his door with half open eyes.

"'Bout time fucker. I've been pounding on your door for ten minutes."

"Jensen was supposed to call to let me know you were here."

"He tried, three times asswipe. You didn't answer."

"Oh, sorry. I fell asleep. Come on in."

I stomped in and fell onto his couch with a growl. "Do I want to know where you were sleeping?"

"Probably not," he answered with smug smile that made me want to punch is cocky little mouth.

"Listen, We got bigger fish to fry at the moment. The thug is linked to the whole Blagojevich sting and just so happens to be Deluca's fucking cousin. Our bullshit need to show our muscle that night pretty much painted a big red target on Bella's back. Chief doesn't sound like he's going to let us have a detail for her while we're gone either. I'm at a fucking loss as to what to do. This shit is a total Fubar man."

"Fuck!" Edward yelled running his hands through his hair. "Son of a bitch!" He picked up the nearest knickknack on his end table and threw it across the room where it crashed against one of the two solid walls. "What if I called in sick or something? Maybe we can trick one of the newbs into putting himself in the hospital or something. The whole point is to bond the team with the newbies and teach us to work together as a new group right? If one of the newbs is out then there's no trip."

"Keep it down man. Let's not wake up Bella before we have some answers. Besides with night shifts all week, she needs her rest."

"Don't sweat it Em. My room is soundproof."

"Your room? Wait…you mean you actually let her into your room? You don't even let your Aunt and Uncle in that room! You don't even let the fucking maid clean that room and you're letting my little sister sleep in there?"

He smiled that big goofy grin that has been plastered on his face since the moment she forgave him. "Yep. It was my way of letting her all the way in. No more walls and barriers no more distance and secrets. I am now an open book for Bella."

"Bet she ate that sappy shit up."

He frowned. "Do me a favor Emmett and really listen to what I'm about to say. I love your sister. I know it took me a really long time to figure it out and I don't have a good track record when it comes to women, but your sister is my everything. No games, no manipulations, no bullshit. I'm going all in here, so please don't say shit like that making it sound like I'm trying to play her. I know it's not true, but I really don't want her to start thinking it is because it absolutely is not. Okay?"

I was fucking floored. He really was serious about all of this shit. That was the most sincere and heartfelt thing that Edward Masen had said to me in the entire eight years I had known him. If this was even half of what he was showing to Bella then I knew he really was being totally legit.

"Alright man, I'm sorry. I see you're being straight with her and me. I'll chill on the comments. Seriously though man, you go all out like this you better keep it up. It's going to really upset her if you pull back in your shell after laying it all out like this. Don't get all chicken shit because I'll tell you right now, if you burn her you won't get another chance. She'll run like a bat out of hell."

He nodded looking a combination of sad and determined. "I know Em. I won't screw it up. There's no way I'm giving her up now. I just have to fucking figure out how to keep her safe for the next two weeks…"

We both sighed and rubbed our hands through our hair, grunting occasionally while trying to think of ways to keep our Bella safe. Yeah, my big brother instincts were in full bloom, but even through the haze of my instinctual need to protect my sister's nonexistent virtue, I could see that he was hers, heart and soul.

Edward bent over and gripped the bridge of his nose between his fingers.

"Fuck Emmett, I don't think I can leave her with all this shit going on. Just the idea makes me want to puke up everything I've eaten for the past week. I don't know how to explain it except to say that I feel so damned protective of her, no…feel isn't the right word, its like a compulsion, an obsession. Training won't be worth shit if I'm spending the whole time worrying about her safety instead of what I'm supposed to be focusing on."

I reached over and clasped a hand on his shoulder. "I know man. I know…we'll think of something. We have four days…surely we can think of something!"

A/N: Well there you have it. Bella's been upgraded from Danger Magnet to Danger Gravitational Field. Like I said, lots of fluff here, but some good new intrigue too. Hope you enjoyed. Please take time to review. I was so excited to see all of the new story alerts, favorites, and reviews. I didn't have time to respond to everyone with being gone for so long and working so hard once back to recover and get updates on all of my stories, so I want to say a special thanks to each one of you for your awesome reviews!!!

I also want to remind you all again though, there have been a lot of people adding favorites but not alerts. If you don't do an alert then you won't get email reminders when I post new chapters so please be sure to do a story ALERT if you want those handy dandy little reminders! Thanks again for reading guys and once again…you guys rock!