A/N

First things first, I'm truly sorry for the cliffy at the end of the last chapter, but Edward is demanding his time to speak, and who am I to argue with him?

Secondly, I know which chapter everyone really wants to read, but in effort to keep these crazy kids somewhat in character we are just going to have to be patient.

Having said that I promise no heavy angst leading up to it and I also promise that we are almost there.

So as a reward for your patience, I will give you a sneak peek at what's coming in the very near future. Let's just say that once the monsters are let out of the cages, there will be no putting them back.

Oh and of course I still own none of the characters, just the sticky situations that they find themselves in.

Chapter 12

EPOV

"Hey Bella, I heard that the girls abandoned you, do you mind if I sit and watch with you?"

It seemed that hours ago I was sitting on my bed playing my guitar, trying to get thoughts of Bella out of my head.

I knew that she was spending the night with Alice and Rosalie tonight and I was doing my best to avoid her altogether.

It wasn't that I didn't want to see her, quite the opposite in fact, but I was afraid of what I might do if I did see her.

Alice had told me yesterday that they were going to have a spa-day and come back here for pizza and movie night.

I really was afraid for Bella, not knowing what torture Alice and Rosalie would inflict on her at the spa.

When I heard them come into the house earlier, I tried to clear my mind and brace myself for what was guaranteed to be the longest night of my life.

I would not come out of room unless it was absolutely necessary.

I had thought about going out but truthfully I had nowhere to go and there was the fact that now that she was so close, I didn't want to leave her.

So there I was a prisoner in my own room, with nothing but my thoughts and my music to keep me company.

I was lost in those thoughts when they barged into my room.

"What the hell Alice?" I yell.

I mean, I have the whole third floor of the house to myself, one would think that would entitle them to a little bit of privacy.

"Quit yelling Edward." Alice said.

"We've got a problem."

"Does that problem involve you forgetting to knock?" I asked sarcastically.

"No, but it does involve me making the rest of your life miserable if you don't help me out." she retorted.

"What can I do for you Alice and Rosalie?" I sighed, Alice always gets what she wants, so why fight it?

"Well, first of all you have to promise not to tell mom and dad" I groaned when she said that, I knew that it couldn't be good.

"OK, I promise, now please tell me what's going on."

"Well, it seems, that Jasper and Emmett were out partying in Port Angeles and they ran into a couple of guys from La Push."

Oh no, I knew where this was going already.

"Well it seems, that there were still some issues from when they were on the wrestling teams and one thing led to another and all four guys were arrested for fighting and public intoxication."

"Fuck, damn Emmett and Jasper knew better than this."

"Ok I'll go bail their dumb asses out."

"No" the girls yelled at the same time.

"Why?" "Are you really going to leave them there overnight?" It would serve them right.

"Well no of course not" Alice says "but we need two people to go get them so the other person can drive the jeep back"

"They've been drinking so they can't drive, naturally."

"And since you won't let me drive your car and I am not even close to being tall enough to drive the Jeep back, that would mean you and Rosie going."

"Yeah Eddie, and do you really want to spend an hour in a car with me." Rosalie asked.

She already knew the answer to that. We have a barely civil relationship at best.

"So where do I come in?" and then it hit me.

"Oh no, you two are not going to abandon her, this is her first night here and I'm sure that's she's already feeling uncomfortable as it is."

"This is cruel." I add.

"Edward please" Alice began to pout.

I'm trying to find an excuse any excuse to not to do this.

I don't know if I can control myself while being alone with her, I know how pathetic that makes me.

"You know that you two can be real bitches don't you?"

"Yeah whatever" they knew that they had won. "We'll be back in three hours, four hours tops."

I gave myself a few minutes in order to try to get myself together and to calm my nerves.

I knew that she would be upset and I wanted to be able to comfort her, without her feeling my agitation and I really didn't want her to know what was causing that agitation.

When I stood up I noticed a pink piece of paper that had fallen to the floor.

I picked it up and began to look at it, it took a minute or two for me to realize what it was.

It was Bella's homework assignment.

"Seriously, she did it?"

I knew then that Alice must have left it here for me, but as to why I couldn't begin to guess.

I started reading the list, dying to know something else about her.

I read the list and then read it again, taking note of the songs on it.

Some I had already known about, some I should have guessed, some impressed the hell out of me, because they were some of my favorites and the last song on the list left me speechless.

It was currently my favorite song, Smile by Sixx A.M and then I noticed the emotion that went along with it.

"I'm so fucked" I groaned.

I knew that I needed to get downstairs to her before she could become any more upset; but seriously that revelation left me in need of something else more.

"Grow up" I tell myself, she shouldn't be left alone like this and then I knew what I had to do.

I folded the paper and slipped it into my back pocket; knowing that after we discussed it a little, I would hold on it, a little piece of her, for the rest of my life.

Somehow I convinced my legs to carry me to the family room.

Yeah right now movement is good.

As I approached the couch from behind, I was able to see her really well.

She had done something different to her hair, it was beautiful last time that I saw her but now it's spectacular.

I saw that her nails were polished and that the color that she was wearing made me smile. If angels wore nail polish than it would be this color.

I saw her sitting with her knees pulled up and her chin was resting on them, I was able to take in her pajamas then, I never knew that a tank top and boxers could be so sexy.

I quickly pulled my phone out of my pocket and snapped her picture.

Fortunately the camera on my phone was silent and she never knew that I was standing behind her imagining all of the things that I wanted to do to her at that moment.

Man, I wish that I could draw, she would be a masterpiece.

I never knew that a woman could be so innocent and so sexy at the same time.

God I want to solve the mystery that is Bella Swan.

After a few minutes or hours, I'm not sure which, my addled brain detects something else.

My angel is crying.

I'm going to kill those girls when I get my hands on them, that is of course after I kill Emmett and Jasper.

They should have never put her in this uncomfortable position.

I knew then that I needed to go to her, say something that could hopefully stop the tears and bring a smile to her face.

I really need her to smile.

I change my direction of walking and try to make enough noise so that I don't startle her.

When she saw me she gave me a sad smile.

Well it's a start at any rate.

I ask if it would be ok if I joined her to watch the movie, please let it be ok I silently plead.

She said that I could and my inner douche was doing his happy dance.

"Edward, you really don't have to stay and baby sit me.""I'm sure that you have better things to do then sit down here and watch chick flicks with me."

I wanted to tell her that as long as she'd let me stay, I would be happy to watch a Hannah Montana marathon if that's what she wanted.

Thankfully it wasn't.

"Bella, I can honestly say that I don't have anything that I would rather be doing than this." and I was not lying.

"Well, if you're going to be watching with me, why don't you go pick something out that you would rather watch."

I wanted to tell her that I wasn't really watching the movie anyway, since I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

"Well the ending is coming up anyway and it's really sad and I don't want to cry, so please feel free to choose something."

Since she was afraid of crying I concede and leave my spot to go to the shelves to find something.

Maybe I could find something date-like.

"Well, we have Love Spelled Backwards is Love" I said; she just wrinkled her adorable nose at that.

"Stupid title, so I don't even want to think about how bad the movie is."

"OK, why don't you come over here and we'll pick something together."That made her smile. Yes, finally. Giving myself a mental fist bump.

"Face Punch?" She asks.

"Hell no, that's Emmett's crap." I say.

Then she see's something that makes her face light up. Bingo I thought.

I look to see what she has chosen and it makes me laugh.

It's a boxed set of all seven seasons of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

"I love this show" she giggled.

Hmm, Bella giggles. I love that sound.

"Yeah, those are Alice's, but if you promise not to tell her I will let you in on a little secret." I tease.

"I promise" she crossed her heart, while saying that.

"That show is kind of a guilty pleasure of mine also." I whispered.

"It will be our secret" and she winked at me.

I swear that wink went straight to my dick.

Get it together, before you embarrass her and yourself for that matter, I thought.

She started going through the disks to find the episodes that she was looking for, skipping the first season all together, she said that season was lame and no Spike anywhere.

I see, she's a Spike girl. I had to fight the little spark of jealousy that created.

Hmm, I wonder if she has an inner bad girl?

Oh not now, I thought.

After we watch a couple of episodes including her favorite, "Once More with Feeling." I begin to wonder when everyone will be back.

How much more time did I have with her like this? Pleading for it to never end.

"Bella," I say,

"Yes Edward?" Gah, I love it when she says my name like that.

"I was wondering if maybe we could just uh maybe uh talk for a little while?"

"I mean it's fine if you want to keep watching, but I was just wondering." Jesus, when did I become inarticulate?

"Sure" she smiled "What do you want to talk about?"

"Well, I know that you don't have a lesson until tomorrow, but I thought that maybe we could spend some time tonight talking about this." as I pulled out the folded sheet of paper.

She blushed when she saw what it was and I knew that she was wondering why I already had it.

"Uh sure, ok I guess." she looked doubtful "but would you mind playing for me while we talk?" It was then that she started biting that lower lip.

Man I want to do that for her, "down boy" I scold myself.

I grab her hand and help pull her up from the couch, "your wish is my command."

Hell if my playing is what she wants, then that's what she gets. I will play for her until the end of time, if that's what it takes to make her happy.

We start talking about the lists, laughing at some of her songs.

I wasn't making fun of her and she knew it, she had admitted how silly some of them were and then began to tell me about the memories that prompted the choices.

This is what I had hoped for but definitely not expected when I had asked her to do this for me.

Maybe one day I will confess this to her; I'd like to think that I will anyway.

As she was talking, I began playing, moving seamlessly from song to song as she discussed them.

She seemed so at ease talking to me like this. I'd like to think that I was the one that made her feel at ease, but deep down I knew it was the music.

It appears that Bella is as passionate about music as I am.

If this is what it takes to connect to her then I realize how fortunate that I am to have discovered it.

I had not even realized that we had both become very quiet over the past few minutes and I assumed that we had reached the elephant in the room, or on the page as it so happened.

I saw her take a deep breath and watched as she turned a lovely shade of pink.

"Bella" I say soothingly "You don't need to explain that."

"I asked you for your honesty and you gave me that."

"I feel so honored that you chose to share that with me, but if you're uncomfortable then we won't mention it again."

"No Edward, it's ok." "I appreciate that you won't push me into talking about it, but for some reason I want to."

"I've got an idea" I say, "Let's put that aside for now, if I may I would love to play something else for you."

The words had no more left my mouth when I noticed her breathing returning to normal.

I began playing one of the most beautiful modern rock songs that I had ever heard.

"I know that you like Sixx A.M."

"Do you know this one?"She shook her head no and as I continued to play I began to sing it for her.

After I finished, I looked at her and noticed that she had tears streaming down her face.

I was beginning to panic, I needed to find out what I did wrong and fix it.

I started gently wiping the tears from her face with pads of my thumbs when I asked her "What's the matter sweet girl, did I do something wrong?"

"No" she whimpered and I so badly wanted to hold her and make it all go away when she continued "it's just that song was so beautiful, so powerful, it was sort of just too much."

"I know that I'm being stupid, and you must think that I'm such a child"

"I can't really articulate what I'm feeling, I'm sorry."

I can't help myself, I'm too far gone, I pull her into my arms to embrace and comfort her when I found myself whispering to her "That's passion baby"

"What was that song anyway?" she sniffled while I continued to hold her and ran my hands though her hair as soothingly as I could.

"It's called Skin and that song is almost as perfect as you are."

I kiss the top of her head and know that I've got to do something to lighten the mood somehow, things are getting pretty intense at this point and I knew that if this continued that I would probably do something that she would hate me for.

I take a couple of steps backwards trying to pull myself gently away from her, feeling the loss immediately.

"Do you want to watch some more T.V I ask?"

"No, I'm not really in the mood right now, sorry." She gave me another one of her sad smiles.

I was so desperate to kiss those lips that I didn't know how I was going to be able to stop myself.

"Honestly Edward, I've been such a bother tonight, why don't I just go to bed?"

"Bella, I promise you, that you have been no bother at all. I'm enjoying this time with you. Are you really tired or are you just trying to give me an out?""I'm not really sleepy yet" she confessed "I just don't want you to be put out."

"Well since you're not tired and I'm not tired, can I show you something?"

"Uh, sure" she accepted.

"Well, let's go get something to drink and then I will show you my room."

She looked slightly panicked for a moment, when I realized what I had just said.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I promise that I am a gentleman."

"It's just there are some things of mine in there that I would love to share with you, I think you will appreciate them."

I reach into the fridge and grab a beer and then I offer her one.

I know that she's only 17 but one beer won't kill her I'm sure.

"No thanks, but if it's not too much trouble, I would love some more Malibu and pineapple juice."

She mentioned that Alice had given her one earlier and that she had loved it and it did help her relax a little.

Speaking of Alice, when were they going to get home?

As far as I was concerned I didn't care if they came home at all this weekend. I would be more than happy to have Bella to myself, especially since the "rents" were in Seattle until Monday.

But I also knew that Bella didn't deserve to be abandoned by her new friends either.

After I made her drink, I took her hand and started leading her towards the third floor.

Now it was my turn to get nervous; I have never had a girl in here before.

I mean sure Alice and Rose comes in from time to time, but other than that. This space is sacred to me and I don't share well with others.

God, I hope she likes it.

I manage to keep it neat, but everything in here is a reflection of who I am and I've never had a longing to let someone else in on that before.

"You have a whole floor to yourself?" she asked.

"Yes, I said"

My family gave it to me, because I spend so much time alone playing guitar and listening to music, sometimes way into the night."

"I think that they didn't like the disturbance."

"It's amazing" she whispered.

I led her into my room, still not letting go of her hand, and I began to start showing her pictures.

I had lots of pictures that had been taken while at Julliard.

I had pictures with Slash, Elton John, Ronnie James Dio, Brian May, Matt Bellamy, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, Paul McCartney, B.B King, the list went on and on. She seemed particularly interested in those.

I then wanted her to see my guitars, I showed her my 64 Les Paul that I had received for graduation from mom and dad.

I tried to explain the significance of that guitar and while she may not really get it, she knew that it was very special.

She moved on to my built-in shelves which housed thousands of cds, albums and I think that I had about a million cassette tapes in boxes somewhere.

I took her to my study next to my bedroom, she was amazed by the books.

I have shelves that completely cover the walls in this room all beyond full.

In the center of the room was nothing but a desk and a good chair for reading.

"I take it you like it?" I ask.

"Wow" was her reply "I see that you like to read."

"Other than music, books are what I relate to most." suddenly embarrassed.

I could tell that she could relate to that.

I promised then that she and I would spend a day in this room together.

I have some pretty rare books in here and I'm sure that she would enjoy them.

I realize that it must be really late and I'm beginning to suspect that Alice had no intention of coming back tonight.

I don't know whether to buy her something very pretty and very expensive or to kick her ass.

We'll see how the rest of the night goes before I make my decision.

"Bella, would you maybe want to go back to my room and listen to some music and chill out for a while."

"Sure, we can, but if you're ready to go to sleep, I can go to my room."

"Please don't go I beg."

Yes, I'm reduced to begging, but I don't want to let her go now.

"I promise you that I will be a gentleman, I would just like more time with you." I say honestly.

She looked shocked at that statement.

I realize that it was a little bold, but I'm sure that she feels something too.

"Why, would you want to spend time with me?"

"I'm so plain, so ordinary, so no-one."

"You don't see yourself very clearly" I tell her.

"The first time that I saw you all I saw was extraordinary."

"But what if we fall asleep? I don't want your parents to think badly of me."

"Or what about when Alice comes home, won't she be pissed that she asked you to babysit me and we wind up asleep in your room?"

I couldn't help myself from laughing until I notice that she looked hurt.

"Bella first of all if my parents were here, they would be thrilled."

"They want me to find someone that makes me happy and you do that."

"But" I continue, "They are not here and won't be until sometime Monday, they are in Seattle.""Second, as far as Alice goes: Look at the time sweet girl."

"I think that we have been set up."

"In fact I very seriously doubt that Emmett and Jasper got into trouble tonight."

"Emmett, I could totally expect that from but not Jasper. He has a level head and I've never seen him lose his cool before."

"But why would Alice try to set us up?"

"I'm nowhere near good enough for a guy like you."

"You deserve the best and I don't have anything to offer you."

"I've never even been kissed before, let alone have any other experience.""Bella, this is not about sex."

"Don't tell me that you're not good enough, like I said you don't see yourself clearly enough."

"Where you see imperfections, I see perfection."

"There was a reason I played that song for you earlier."

"To me, you are perfect."

"Please Bella, say that you will give me a chance."

I finally find the courage to look at her and I see the tears falling again.

"Good Job Edward, now she feels sorry for you."

But as I look closer, I see something else.

Could it be? It is a smile.