This is our last regular chapter before the epi. I hope you like it. I've been chuckling at all the reviews. You'll get your answers in this chapter. Hope you enjoy.

Thanks to AgoodWITCH for her beta work on this. Wishing her a happy and relaxing vacation!

Chapter 23

Once we got home and finally unloaded and returned the big truck, the tension began. It took a couple of days before it all really came out, but when it did, it was a mess.

First of all, our parents didn't think I should give up a free ride. I understood that, but I couldn't help but worry that I'd never be able to keep my GPA up while missing Edward so much and end up losing it anyway. Not only that, University of Washington was barely tolerable with him there. I could hardly imagine what being there without him would be like. I'd have Em and Rose, but it just wouldn't be the same without Edward.

The second argument was that if I did go, it would be throwing away money for us to live together when Edward's scholarship would include room and board just as mine did at UW. They had us there until Edward said that he'd probably end up sleeping at my room anyway because we hadn't been apart more than a hand full of nights since we got together anyway. Mom wasn't happy with that, which then led to the discussion of our living habits in Seattle and a renewal of the rules of this house.

That then led us completely off subject as a new argument developed about the double standard they had for Rose and Emmett and the two of us. My mom tried to play dumb to what happened in Emmett's room, but I wasn't going to stay quiet about it anymore. This led to the entire New York discussion being delayed two days while Mom gave me the silent treatment.

I felt awful. I could tell I was coming off like a brat, but at the same time, was the double standard at all fair? How do you toe the line between being an ungrateful kid, and being an adult making a sound argument? For me it was another underline on my list of reasons to go to New York. As long as we were in Seattle, we were the kids, trying to grow up while still being someone's kid and someone's responsibility. In New York, it would all be up to us, both the good and the bad, and we'd be able to really grow up.

It took three days before the discussion continued, during which time I began making query calls to Columbia, trying to keep my name on the forefront of the admissions office's mind. I also made out a bullet point argument sheet for why Columbia was right for me, Edward and me living together, along with all the things I was willing to do to make that happen, and research of all the available apartments for rent or sale between Julliard and Columbia. In addition, I included detailed print outs about the safety of the area.

I was as ready as I'd ever be when Mom and Pop called us down to conference in the living room. It felt eerily similar to our discussion just a few months before when Edward and I came clean about our relationship with them, although this time, we were going to have a much tougher sale since neither of them were on our side, even a little bit. They were all for Edward going to Julliard…they just wanted him to do it without me.

"Before you guys say anything, may I please say my piece?"

They nodded, eyes growing wide as I began pulling my piles of papers out of my bag, standing up the trifold board that I taped a professional looking presentation to, and turning back toward them with a deep, stabilizing breath.

"I've put a lot of thought and research into this. First, I want to say that as far as my own personal career path, transferring to Columbia is one of the best options for me. I've put in for backups, but Columbia is my primary goal. Columbia Law is a great program for my post graduate work and even though they officially state that you don't get preference if graduating from their undergrad program, I know there has to be some level of preference, especially over UW, which is not well known for their pre-law prep. Secondly, if I don't transfer in this year, I will not be eligible to transfer into Columbia after another full year in Washington. It gets completely removed from the table."

"Now, if I do manage to make the cut for Columbia, I won't be eligible for housing as a transfer student. That being so, I will have to live off campus. In the neighborhood separating Julliard and Columbia, which happens to be the Upper West Side, one of the safest areas in the entire city, I have found this pile of apartments available online for rent or sale. The prices are quite steep, but workable."

I pulled a listing from the pile and handed it over. "This is a 700-square-foot, one bedroom, fifth floor walkup two blocks away from Columbia campus for $1,800 a month. Now typical room and board for one year at Columbia is about $16,000, but I can include that total in my student loan to help offset the cost if necessary. I intend to get a job, however, to pay for my personal expenses. This will mean taking a lighter course load, but it is worth it to me."

I pulled out another apartment on Broadway in a co-op only a couple of blocks from Julliard. "Now this is one that is for sale. It's a two bedroom in a coop building on Broadway, and if you look on the map…here it is, and here is Julliard. It however is one that would have to be purchased. But if you consider the long term arrangements, Edward working in New York, probably in this very area after graduation, and my having three years of undergrad plus three more years of Law School. Plus the probability of having to work summer internships as part of the program, we will both need housing beyond the seven to eight months that school is normally in session. The price sounds ridiculous for this area, but it's actually quite a steal for the city."

I showed them the photos of the modest apartment, cringing as I slowly mumbled the $600,000 ticket price. This however is where my negotiations fell apart as both Mom and Pop flipped their lids shouting things like that was more than the price of our rather large family home and the prices for housing were outrageous. It was all starting to get out of hand again when Edward stood up and calmly walked over to pick up the papers and examine them.

He finally set them down with a sigh before moving to stand in front of his father. "Here is what it boils down to, Dad. If you want me to go to Julliard, then you have to let Bella come with me. One way or another we are going to make this work. The rent for the apartment near Columbia would be about 21,000 dollars a year. I have almost enough for two years of rent saved up in my hiding spot in my room right now. I love you and Mom and I appreciate all you have done for us, but this is non-negotiable. I come into the trust Grandpa Masen left me in another two years. You know how much is in there. It would be tight and we would have to work hard and be careful, but you know I can make this happen for us. We don't want to go against you. We don't want to cause a problem. But you have to understand, we're not Edward and Bella, two separate people anymore…we are a package deal. I almost turned down Julliard because I wasn't willing to leave Bella. She was the one who convinced me to accept it and that she would come with me, but I won't hesitate to walk away right now if I have to."

I watched him talk, tears streaming down my face as I covered my mouth. Part of me was so touched and another part was freaking out. When he let loose that last little tidbit, I moved in front of him, laying my hands on his chest.

"NO…I won't let you. You are never going to throw away your dream because of me…and I don't like you spending all of our inheritance on this either. We can find another way, but please don't walk away from Julliard."

Edward looked down at me, softness in his eyes, but also absolute sincerity. "I go nowhere without you, Bella. End. Of. Story."

I smiled, feeling another tear drift down my cheek as I lifted a hand to cup his chin. "I love you."

Edward smiled, running his hands down my arms. "I love you too, and where you go, I go. If that means New York, then awesome. If that means Seattle, then that's fine too."

I tipped forward to catch his lips, totally forgetting our parents were watching until Pop cleared his throat. I blushed and spun toward him, moving my hand down to twine my fingers with Edward's.

"The both of you are so damn stubborn. We'll discuss things a little more and do more research, but until Bella finds out if she got into any of those New York schools, you don't have any real leg to stand on. You are also putting a lot of faith in her getting Columbia, but there's a very real chance she could get any of those other schools on the south end of Manhattan and suddenly your little cohabitation plans becomes less convenient. Let's just play this by ear and see where we end up. Your mother and I will discuss the financial situation as well and see what we come up with. This still isn't a blessing, but I can see that you're serious enough to try to do this on your own, and as legal adults I have no way to stop you besides cutting you off financially, and I don't want to do that. My father did it to me and I resented it greatly because of the circumstances in which he did it. Is that satisfactory for now?"

I swallowed and glanced at Edward who smiled down at me with a small nod. I looked back and smiled gratefully. "Thank you. We love you and we don't want to hurt anybody, but this is important to us. We feel it's crucial."

Pop laughed. "Everything's crucial at your age, but I understand. Like I said…just wait and see."

…And wait we did. Edward received a package an inch thick full of information about the school facility, rules, location in the city, and so on. So while Edward began mentally preparing for his trip to New York, I ran out to the mailbox every day praying for the late acceptance letters that just weren't coming. I wasn't too worried though. At the very least, I would hopefully get into Berkeley. It wasn't as high in prestige, but it's rolling admission policies and quarter system meant I could keep the pace I was going now and could catch the winter quarter if my application was too late for the fall. That might even be better since then that would give me some time to settle Edward and I into an apartment and get vetted at work before I added classes to my hectic life in a new city.

St. John's rejection came first, although they did encourage me to consider them for post-graduate study, which was nice. St. John's was very prestigious and had even been noted in the Princeton Review, so I thought that I would definitely add them to my list of Law Schools that I would apply to post-grad.

My acceptance to Berkeley came next, although as I suspected, my application came in too late to be able to take fall courses. I would be able to hop right into the swing of things come January, something that didn't please Mom and Pop, but when Pop started complaining about the commute to downtown, I called him out on his bluff. Either he didn't understand New York, or he was trying to discourage me, but most New Yorkers considered a twenty minute train ride nothing at all, and if I got to go on the midtown campus, it would be far less than that. Either way, this was my fallback. I still had to wait with baited breath for Columbia and NYU.

In the meantime, Edward learned that Julliard didn't have much housing and typically worked on a stipend system and had an office to help students find housing somewhere in Manhattan. Normally this stipend would cover a shared apartment with several other students and food, Edward's cash stash allowed him to ask housing services to find him a single apartment in the upper west side for he and I to share and his stipend would then help cushion the expense. Now that Berkeley was in my pocket, there was no stopping him as he pursued apartment hunting like he did composition, with total focus and determination.

I finally got my rejection from NYU, but it sounded as though it was mostly on the grounds that my application had arrived too late and there was no room left for the fall semester. I was disappointed, but greater than that, it made me even more apprehensive about my Columbia application. It was even more sought out than NYU. My stomach sank at the realization, but at least I had a reason to go to New York. I was a good student, with Berkeley's quarter system, I would make up the loss quickly enough. Besides, having some time to work without the hindrance of classes was probably a good thing…or so I tried to convince myself.

Mom and Pop were not pleased that my only positive response had been Berkeley. In their minds, I was passing up the golden goose for a pipe dream, and maybe they were right, but I just KNEW it was where I was supposed to be. Although we were both reluctant to take a place without having stood inside it, the age of digital photography and the internet we both felt relatively confident that the 674 square-foot, two bedroom apartment in a building with a laundry room, gym, and doorman for $2,400 a month was going to meet our needs quite nicely. The bedrooms were tiny and the kitchen and living room were combined in one 300 square foot living area, but it was going to be ours and ours alone. Edward sent off the deposit right away, securing us with a home for the next few years, or at least we hoped it would be.

When the letter finally came from Columbia, it wasn't what I wanted, but it wasn't as bad as I feared either. I was waitlisted, which meant that if by some stroke of luck someone dropped out for the semester, I had a chance of getting in. It wasn't enough to fully appease Mom and Pop, but it was a little better than an out and out rejection. I was going to be in New York anyway, so if I did end up getting a last minute admission, I would be able to willingly jump right in.

Throughout the whole time we had been planning, Mom and Pop had stayed relatively silent, but when the waitlisting notice finally came through, they finally sat us down for another discussion. I was tense as I sat next to Edward. I felt bad how we'd basically steamrolled them through the entire process, but it was our life and our future. This was what we were supposed to do.

After an awkward silence, Pop started in. "While we haven't been completely pleased with the way you have gone about all of this at times, your mother and I are quite proud at your determination and certainty. That being said, we want you to stand on your own feet, but we don't want your education to suffer. So, here is what we have decided. Essentially, we will be in the same place financially as we had been when Bella was the one with the free schooling. It will be up to the two of you to provide your own utilities, food, etc, but we will put forth the cost of Bella's schooling that she cannot pay through student loans, just as we did for Edward at the University of Washington, including books and fees. We expect you to take full time courses and to keep your grades up, Bella, but in all honesty, we know that you would do that regardless. In addition, Mom and I will be going out with you to help you get set up. You are going to need the basics for your apartment and I insist on seeing it with my own eyes and ensuring it is up to code and a safe place for the two of you to live."

As soon as he was done, I shot off the couch to lean over and hug both parents at once. They laughed and hugged me back as I chanted 'thank yous.' When I was done, Edward thanked them with hugs of his own. We had three weeks before the big move and a lot to do in the meantime.

Three weeks later, Mom, Pop, Edward and I were at the airport, hugging Emmett goodbye before boarding a flight to the east coast. We had packed our belongings and purchased a few small things for the apartment, which we shipped ahead. If all went according to plan, we would arrive the morning before our belongings arrived, giving us one day to go buy some essentials for the apartment before everything else arrived.

My goodbye with Emmett was particularly difficult and tear-filled. With one last demand for a promise that he would come visit us soon, we walked through security. I held tight to Edward through the flight, feeling overwhelmed by the insanity of JFK. Seatac seemed tiny and calm in comparison. I felt claustrophobic as we grabbed our bags and took a very expensive and crowded cab from JFK to our new apartment on the upper west side. The city was so crowded and busy…I felt overwhelmed by it all.

I was excited as we pulled in front of the building, impressed with the façade and the security. Edward and I showed our IDs before we tugged our luggage up the four flights of stairs to reach our floor and down the hallway to stand in front of apartment 402, which faced the small shared yard behind the building which backed up to the rear of another building. It was even smaller than it seemed online, but I was okay with that because it was ours.

Once we shoved all of our luggage in the two miniscule closets, the only storage space in the whole tiny apartment, we began to divide and conquer. Mom and I ran down to a nearby store to buy cleaning supplies and paper to line the seven tiny cupboards one little drawer while Edward and Dad began making the calls to ensure that the futon, bed, dresser, and small round pub table we ordered were scheduled to arrive on time.

It was hot, sweaty work, as the shoebox of an apartment without air conditioning seemed to suck in the summer heat. Smelly delivery men came and went leaving the meager furnishings we would have, which actually took up the majority of the apartment. We wouldn't really have much else in the place. The second bedroom was going to be turned into an office for Edward and I with a small computer desk and some workspace and Edward's small TV and DVD player were going to be our only source of entertainment, not that we were going to have much time to enjoy it anyway.

We ordered some Chinese food from down the street, pleased to discover that they were fast, efficient, and delivered right to our door once we gave the doorman permission to let him up. We ate supper, Mom and Pop utilizing our new table and chairs, while Edward and I sat on the floor, not wanting to run the risk of staining our new futon. After supper, we all showered and settled in for the night, Mom and Dad sleeping on our new bed covered in one of the two sets of sheets we had packed in our luggage, while Edward and I took the futon. We were actually surprised at how comfortable it was as we slept hard, wishing we had a fan, but beyond that, quite content.

The next morning we rose early and went to a nearby diner for breakfast before swinging through a small grocery store to buy some supplies for lunch and supper. Mid-morning, our shipment from home arrived and we spent the rest of the day putting away clothes, and assembling some of the smaller furniture we had brought from home after first unearthing the fans to get some air movement. Mom and I folded the towels as small as we possibly could and put them under the sink before quickly realizing we needed to go invest in some over the toilet shelving for our toiletries since the apartment didn't even have a medicine cabinet in the bathroom.

We sent the boys after the few things we realized were a necessity to create more storage space before setting to work hanging the few decorations we had brought from home. I was even more grateful now that we were here and walking on the wood floors that mom had talked me into bringing the area rug from my bedroom back home, because it really helped to break up the monotony of the room. Before the boys returned, we had called them with an order for a tension rod, which we intended to use to create another place to put our hanging clothes in the spare room/office. We also had them pick up a hanging shoe rack to place on the back of the closet door to help store the massive amounts of shoes Edward and I apparently had. By the time the boys got back, we had managed to transform the apartment from a white walled shoebox into something quite a bit more welcoming. For the most part, we had transformed the tiny space into a home for us in two short days. We were both so grateful for our parents help.

The next morning, Mom fussed over us, asking us for the twentieth time if we had enough money to get us through the first few weeks and reminding us that she had hidden an emergency credit card in our dresser in case of something big and unforeseen arising. She hugged us tightly with tears in her eyes before stepping back to let Pop hug us. He told us to take care of ourselves, his eyes moist and shimmery as well. They hugged us one last time as we walked them to the door of the apartment before they climbed in a cab. We waved until they were out of sight before turning and walking back into our building together to begin eking out a live together in the big city.

We spent the rest of the week before Edward's Julliard classes started hunting like crazy for jobs. It was harder for Edward since the Julliard program was so demanding, which made me all the more determined to make up for that by finding a really good job. As the days moved past, making Columbia look less and less like a possibility, the opportunity for me to work full time until January meant I could shoulder the lion's share of the burden for a while and make things easier on Edward, which pleased me.

I applied everywhere from Cinnabon to larger businesses in search for clerical workers and receptionists, hoping to find something…anything…as soon as possible. To my huge surprise, I got two calls two days before Fall courses for Columbia were to begin…one was for a clerical position at the prestigious law firm of Douglas and Hannabee in midtown. They were a very different law firm, Mr. Douglas, coming from a big law family in charge of the big corporate accounts, while Mr. Hannabee, a man from humble beginnings championed pro bono work. They were also big on giving poor law students a leg up and latitude with work in order to gain experience while completing their schooling. It was the perfect place for me and even though it was just the mailroom, I managed to get my foot in the door.

I was already excited for Edward to get home from school that day to share my great news, but my day got even better when I got the call I had all but given up on…Columbia. I had two days to go to the campus bursar's office to pay my upfront fees and purchase my books and register for whatever courses were available. I'd probably be stuck with the worst classes at the worst times this late in the game, but I didn't care because my foot was in the door and I'd be the first one in line when the next semester registration began to be at the front of the line to get the courses I needed.

I ran into our bedroom and grabbed out the emergency credit card, which Mom and Pop told me outright to use if Columbia did contact me and ran straight for the subway station, texting Mom and Edward along the way. I texted back and forth with Mom and Edward the rest of the afternoon as I waited in line at fifty different places for each thing I needed, but I didn't care, at all…I got what I had wanted most behind Edward and I was so happy.

Five hours later, I stumbled back through the door with fifty pounds worth of textbooks in my arms and a huge smile on my face. Edward rushed to help me put down the books before sweeping me up in a huge hug, spinning me in circles as I giggled.

"I am so proud of you, Bella!"

He kissed my lips and I kissed back before finally breaking away to tell him the other exciting news about Douglas and Hannabee. It was a night for celebration that bypassed the kitchen as our stomachs were forgotten completely, and landed in our bedroom. My successes of the day were the final sign I needed to know beyond all doubt that I had done the right thing. I had my Edward, my dream college, and a job that could hopefully lead to my dream job down the road. All the pieces of the puzzle had fallen into place, and now we just had to keep it together until we could get through school and on with our life together.