"Are you sure you don't want me to walk up with you, babe?" Edward said looking up at my building through the front window. I nodded and rolled my eyes.
"I'm fine, you get her home." I leaned across the console between us to peck his lips. "What are you so worried about?" He shook his head and cupped my cheek, his eyes boring into mine.
"I love you." I smiled and the edges of his lips quirked up.
"I love you too." I whispered.
"Bye, Aunt Bella…" Emily whispered in her sleep. I turned and smiled at the cutie before kissing two of my fingers and touching them to her cheek.
"Bye bye, honey." I said quietly before lifting an eyebrow at Edward. "Can I go now?"
"Why don't you spend the night with me?" He asked, "You can help Emily with all her girl things."
"She's four, she has no girl things." I said rolling my eyes. "You'll be okay." I opened the door and had a leg out when he reached out touching my arm.
"Bella, I have a bad feeling."
"It's probably the cheesey eggs." I said with a pout. "You over did it with the cheese." I reached over and rubbed his stomach.
"Then you can take care of me." He said as though he was gifting me with the duty of staying with him as he pooped.
I sighed, "Edward-" He took my arm and pouted, widening his eyes.
"Please?"
"You really don't want me to go up do you?" I sighed feeling my phone vibrate in my pocket. He shook his head and grabbed my hand, pulling it up to his lips. "Fine. Let's go back to your place." I closed my door and he let out a relieved sigh.
"Thank you," He with a relieved smile, I pulled my seatbelt across my chest buckling it in. "It'll be fun, babe. We can watch The Notebook and cuddle."
"Okay…" I said turning to look at Emily who blinked sleepily at me.
"Can I come?" She asked quietly.
"Of course," Edward said, looking at her in the rearview mirror as he started the car up. "We wouldn't think of watching it without you." She smiled drowsily before nodding off in her booster seat.
"You're good with her." I observed, watching as her mouth dropped open as she snored.
"Yeah, I'm good with everyone. It's an Edward thing." I rolled my eyes even though he was right. "Everyone loves me."
"Not Ruth." I teased, referring to her many sexual harassment complaints.
"Ruth loves me too, I'm pretty sure she just complains to make the other ladies in the office jealous because she's getting more from me than they are."
"You're a little full of yourself aren't you?"
"Not a little, very." He smiled, "But I also have a lot to be… full about?" He furrowed his eyebrows and I chuckled.
"Sure." I said shaking my head, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and looked at the text Alice sent me.
Don't go home. –A
"Huh… Alice said not to go home too." I said sticking my tongue in my cheek. Edward didn't look shocked and I frowned. He shrugged and squinted out the windshield.
"What the hell?" He whispered, leaning forward. Edward pulled into the right lane of the road, letting the fleet of police cars pass us, going in the direction we'd just came from.
"What if they're after me?" I whispered loudly making Edward look at me from the corner of his eye before collapsing into laughter.
"Why in the world would they be after you?" He asked before coughing to cover his laughter.
"Katrina thinks I'm a drugging dealing, diseased, baby daddy… Maybe she got fed up with hearing your whining that she just called the cops."
"I'm pretty sure she realizes I'm not serious."
"Does she?"
"She doesn't really look like the brightest bulb in the pack…" He said raising his eyebrows and biting his lip. "She doesn't seem like the tattle type though."
"Oh my god, you're harboring a fugitive." I gasped, slapping my hands over my mouth. Edward started laughing again and I dropped my head back. "If I go down you're coming with me. You realize that right?"
"Yeah, so is Emily. It's a teamwork thing." I held my hand up to my forehead and rested my head against the window. "But I think we're safe, me and Emily. It can't be too hard to convince them that we aren't citizens."
"That's even worse." I said rolling my eyes.
"They can take it up with England."
"I don't think that's how it works, Edward. You've been a citizen since we were in first grade."
"I've still got the accent. I can make it work. And if the officers are women I can probably get you off too." I shook my head.
"I can't go to jail, baby." I whispered. "I always drop the soap." He reached over and patted my thigh as we turned onto his street.
"It's okay, honey. I'll get you some soap on a rope for Christmas." He laughed, his eyes starting to water. He pulled up his long driveway and I gasped.
"My life sucks." I frowned, stepping out of the car when he parked it.
"Bella, your parents fund the police station. You aren't going to jail unless you rob every bank in Washington and Oregon." He rolled his eyes as he opened the back door, pulling Emily out. I grabbed her bag and reached for her once I was close enough to Edward.
"Switch me, you have the keys." I said, he handed the little girl to me and I adjusted her on my hip, kissing her hair.
"You just want to get in the house so they don't find you." He laughed.
"It's not funny, Edward!" I hissed with wide eyes.
"Okay, baby." He said leading us up the steps to his front door. He quickly pushed it open and let Em and I go in ahead of him. I kicked off my shoes, and pulled Emily's off too, even though she wasn't walking.
"Where do you want me to put her?" I asked, flipping on lights as I went.
"In the guest room next to mine. I can take her; I know she's gotten heavy." Heavy was an understatement. The kid was growing like a weed and she didn't look half as heavy as she actually was. It was like her bones were made out of cement. I passed her back to him and he smirked before quickly taking the stairs.
I headed into the family room and sat in front of the television, turning on the news. They were doing some live coverage of a prostitution bust and I frowned, flipping through channels to see if there was anything about my apartment building on the news. I sighed, feeling relieved when I found nothing.
"Bella, Emily wants you!" Edward yelled from upstairs, making me jump. I yelled back up and told him I was coming before hurrying to the guest room.
"She misses Rose." He said quietly as he passed me, I nodded and pushed open the door to the room. Emily sat up in the bed, crying softly.
"Hey, hey…" I said softly, going to the bed and crawling up next to her, pulling her into my arms. "Don't cry, Mommy and Daddy will be back tomorrow." She nodded and rested her head on my chest, her tears staining my shirt.
"I miss them." She cried, sniffling. I smiled at her adorable little accent. Just like her father and uncle it was strongest when she was upset.
"Do you want to sit with me and Uncle Edward? We're going to watch a movie."
"The Notebook?" She whispered sniffling as she wrinkled her nose.
"I hope he was just joking about that…"
"Daddy says Uncle Edward is the only one that likes that movie."
"Him and a bunch of middle aged women." I snickered and she giggled with me. "Come on, you can stay with us until ten."
"At night?!" She asked with wide eyes. I widened mine too, mimicking her excited expression.
"At night." I nodded and she clapped before scrambling out of the bed.
"I feel like a big girl!" She squealed, running into the hall. She yelped and I'm assuming Edward scooped her up, taking her by surprise. I walked out to see her over Edward's shoulder as she wiggled in his arms.
"She's going to stick with us." I said, pinching her cheek. Edward nodded before trotting down the steps as she giggled. We all plopped down in front of the television as Edward turned on the dvd player. I furrowed my eyebrows as the main menu for The Notebook came up.
"You watch it by yourself?" I asked as he pressed play and sat Emily between us.
"It's a great movie. That can't be said for too many American movies." He shrugged, tossing his arm over the back of the couch. My phone rang in my pocket and I pulled it out, sighing when I saw it was my mother.
"Where are you?" She asked sounding frantic.
"At Edward's, why?"
"Turn on the news. Your building was robbed, by armed gunmen." She informed, her voice once again fading into its usual emotionless drone. I bit my lip and tugged a hand through my hair.
"Every apartment?" I asked walking out of the family room. Edward looked up and cocked an eyebrow at me as I went.
"Every one." She said, "Luckily there were only two people in the building… I mean they were both shot but… whatever." I could almost hear her rolling her eyes.
"Are they okay?"
"Aren't you watching the news, Isabella?"
"No…"
"Well, I've got other business to attend to so you may as well just turn it on." She huffed instead of answering my question. My phone signaled that the call had been ended and I groaned.
"Edward, turn on the news."
"Babe, it's at the good part."
"My building was robbed."
"What?!" He flipped over to the news and leaned forward when the Anchorman started speaking about the happenings. The image on the tv switched to a live feed of the building, as they roamed the halls. I gasped at the destruction they showed, doors were knocked off hinges and shit was strewn everywhere. It took me awhile to realize that they'd been standing on my floor the entire time.
"Katrina Dieters was shot here on the third floor after coming into contact with the robbers. She is said to be in critical condition and was rushed to the hospital only minutes ago." The woman said pointing at Katrina's doorway, I bit my lip and Edward came to stand next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. "The second victim Janice Clay was shot and killed on the first floor of the building, only moments before the police arrived." I moved closer into Edward's side, realizing he'd saved my life tonight. If I'd have gone into that building I would have been gunned down like the other two women.
"Jesus..." Edward whispered, holding me a little tighter. My phone began ringing again in my back pocket but I was a little too shocked to speak.
How could I have come so close to the terrible fate Katrina and Janice suffered through and not have even realized?
I felt Edward's hand in my back pocket and let him pull out my phone.
"It's Alice." He said quietly, answering the phone. "Alice? It's Edward." He said before nodding and moving me to the couch as she spoke. "I'll be back." He told me, dropping a kiss on my head as he scooped up Emily up. She'd been staring at the television with her eyebrows furrowed. He didn't take her far, just by the dolls she'd left out. From there she wasn't able to see or probably hear the television.
"She's fine, we just barely missed it. Literally." He sighed into the phone raking his hand through his hair and biting his lip.
After he was gone I frowned, realizing they had moved on to covering the Hostess factory shutting down. I reminded the news and watched the entire story over again as the reality of the situation sunk in. I could have been killed tonight. My eyes widened further as I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees and cupping my gaping mouth.
"Alice said she's glad you're okay and that you headed our warnings. She said she loved you and if you needed a place to stay while all of this is getting settled, you can call her." I nodded, not really listening to what he was saying. He sat on the couch next to me and wrapped his arm around me again, tucking my head into the crook of his neck.
"Oh my god... Edward..." I whispered, sounding as shocked as I felt.
"You're okay, that's all that matters for now." He said softly, kissing my temple. "Of course, you'll be staying with me until things are safer over there." He lightly squeezed my bicep and I nodded.
"I almost got both of us killed..." I whispered, pulling away from him, realizing my stupidity. I'd put him in danger… him and Emily too.
Holy fuck.
My phone rang about three more times after that and Edward took the calls, one from my dad, one from Emmett and another from his parents. After assuring all of them he went back to holding and comforting me even though he was almost in the same boat as me. He put Emily to bed and responded to everyone, while I sat around, useless in my shock.
At around eleven o'clock he guided me from the couch back to his bedroom. He pulled out my yoga pants and tank, giving them to me so I could get comfortable. After we both changed he climbed into bed behind me and spooned me, the way he always has, and he stroked his hand up and down my arm, soothingly. I pulled his hand from my arm and pulled it around my torso, just wanting him to hold me.
He shocked me by not trying anything with me... Then again he understood that I just needed him in the moment as my best friend, not my lover.
"Everything will be just fine, baby." He whispered to me drowsily. "You know I'm here for you at any time."
I nodded and turned to look over my shoulder, "I love you." I whispered, staring into his deep green eyes.
He smiled, softly brushing a strand of hair out of my face, "I love you more than anything. Anything you need, honey…" He reminded, kissing my cheek. I wiggled impossibly closer to him and sighed as his arm tightened around me, making me feel safe.
"Thank you." I whispered, smiling because I knew he meant every word.
I hope you all enjoyed!
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