Disclaimer: I own everything but their names.

August 6, 2001 – Santa Cruz, California

"Jesus, Swan, don't you like me anymore?"

I turned to look at Jasper, smirking. "Eh, I guess."

I had been distracted today. Instead of listening to Jasper telling me about…oh, something or other, I was counting the minutes until Edward showed up. He was running late and it'd been far too many hours since the last time we'd seen each other.

I couldn't blame Jasper for asking the question, though. I'd been spending so much of my time with Edward that Jas and I had barely spoken at all outside of work related things. I was sure he wondered why practically the moment he'd introduced me to his friends, I'd suddenly turned into a ghost.

Of course, I couldn't explain why, but his comment told me I had to give him something, even if it wasn't completely truthful.

"Thanks," he said, all straight-faced as he turned away from me.

"Ah, come on. Don't get girly on me. I still like you, Jas."

He flipped me off over his shoulder and I giggled.

"Come on, want me to braid your hair and prove it?"

I saw his shoulders shaking with laughter and it only took a second before he let it out. Glad to see he wasn't going to take my absence personally, I cracked up, too. He walked over to my side of the store and leaned on the glass in front of me.

"I'm serious, though, Bel. We haven't really talked since the night when my brother interrupted us. I still got Nah hounding me about your number, and Felix is wondering when you're going to come see him again."

"How about next weekend?" I asked casually. "I don't have any plans."

He smiled. "I'll see if I can pull something together, I think Nah might be out of town, though."

I breathed a quiet sigh of relief for that. I needed to tell Jasper the truth, that, while I found him way chill and super interesting, I wasn't in to Nahuel in that way. Sure, I may have considered him as a possibility when I'd thought Edward and I would never be together, but now… well, it just wasn't going to happen.

I reached out and squeezed his hand. "That's okay. To be honest, I have no interest in anything beyond friendship with Nahuel." I tried to say it gently. "Can you… kind of tell him that for me?"

Jasper stared at me with his mouth hanging open. "You're going to make me do it?"

"You're the one who tried to set us up!" I insisted, pounding my fist on the glass.

He stepped back toward his side of the store. "I did not. You were clearly hot for him."

Just as Jasper spoke, the door to the shop opened and Edward walked in with Lisle clutched in his arms. His eyes moved from mine, to his brother and then back again. His furrowed brow told me he'd heard exactly what Jasper had said.

Luckily, Lisle's head lifted from Edward's shoulder and, when he saw me, he wiggled to be put down. He ran toward me with his arms outstretched and I didn't hesitate to catch him and wrap him up in a hug. His greetings were always exuberant and sloppy. I loved them.

I nuzzled his hair and pulled held him close. "Little Dude! Did you have a fun weekend with your Dad?"

He twirled my hair in his little fingers and nodded. "Daddy took me to the zoo and we saw da maminals. I like the penguins. And the tigers. And we saw snakes. They are gross." He made this little face that showed his dislike for the snakes and I giggled.

"Oh yeah? I like penguins too. What else did you see?"

His eyes met with the ceiling as he thought about it for a second, then he smiled and looked back at me. "We saw a nelephant!"

Edward interrupted us. "You mean an elephant, Buddy?"

"Yes. Dat," he said, giggling as he looked back at me. His eyes widened. "It was big!"

We were all smiles as we discussed his trip to the zoo, and I was sad when Edward interrupted us again a few minutes later. "Baby Boy, let's let Bella get back to work. Mom's gonna be here soon to pick you up."

Edward put his hands up to take him, but kept his eyes on mine. I tried to figure out if his look was because of what he'd said – that Makenna was coming to pick Lisle up – or if it was because of what he'd likely overheard when he walked inside the shop.

I attempted to keep my face from showing any guilt or nerves as I stared back at him. While I wasn't exactly thrilled with coming face-to-face with Edward's ex, I also wasn't happy with the idea that he might believe the worst about mine and Jasper's conversation without first getting facts. I hadn't known him for very long, but I understood how good Edward was at cooking up the worst possible scenario in every situation.

He was totally a glass half empty type of guy.

"We'll talk later," I mouthed to him as I handed Lisle over. He nodded tightly and tickled Lisle as he walked back to his office. I watched them go with a sigh.

Meanwhile, my eyes flew to the door every time it opened. I wasn't exactly afraid of Makenna; it was more what she represented: who she had been to Edward, who she still was and always would be to Lisle. It was hard not to be a little intimidated.

"What's eatin' you, Swan?" Jasper asked, finally acknowledging my weird behavior. "You know I was just giving you a hard time, right?"

His voice snapped me out of my door gazing and I attempted a smile. "Oh, yeah. I know."

"I'll tell him, by the way."

I nodded in understanding. "Thanks, Jasper."

"Anything for you, Cupcake."

"Cupcake, really?"

"What, you don't like it?"

"You scare me."

He grinned. "I scare myself sometimes, too."

As we both laughed, the door opened and I finally got my first glimpse of Edward's past.

There wasn't much about Makenna that I expected. For some reason, I'd been braced for tall, blonde and boobalicious – someone like the posters hanging in his teenage bedroom. That wasn't her, like, at all. She was small, and had the bluest eyes I'd ever seen. They were striking against her black hair and tanned skin.

It was clear Lisle had inherited much more of his father's traits than his mother's. He was there in her cheekbones and her nose, while everything else about the little boy I had grown to care so much for was his father. Looking at her, though, it wasn't surprising that the two of them had created such an adorable child.

"Hi," she said, looking rushed as she pulled her sunglasses from her face. "Oh hey, Jasper. Where's Edward?" She completely ignored my existence.

Jasper called out for Edward and it wasn't long before we heard the unmistakable sound of little footsteps.

"Mommy!" Lisle squealed, and her face lit up the same way Edward's always did when Lisle was around.

It made my chest hurt. I wasn't sure why.

Makenna leaned down and scooped Lisle into her arms, kissing his forehead. "Hi, sweetheart." Her eyes wandered past Lisle and settled on Edward, and I watched her smile grow even wider. She rocked Lisle back and forth but continued to stare at Edward. Something about the way she looked at him set off warning bells inside of my head. Clearly there were feelings there for her still. And not just the fond, you're-the-father-of-my-child type, either.

I thought that I've-seen-you-naked-and-I-would-like-to-again was a far more accurate description.

"How was the weekend?" she asked them both.

"It was good," Edward said, closer now and reaching up to run his fingers through Lisle's hair. "It's always good."

Lisle wiggled away from Edward's hand. "We went to da zoo, Mom!"

"You did?" she asked, her voice taking on that high pitched surprised tone parents indulged their children with. "Thank you for keeping him this morning."

"It's no problem, you know that."

"Oh, we're being rude. I'm sorry." She shifted Lisle around on her hip and acknowledged my presence at last. She stretched her hand out toward me. "I'm Makenna."

I gulped and my eyes moved between Edward and her as I stuck my hand out and shook hers. "Bella."

"So you're Bella. My son has had nothing but good things to say about you." She smiled, a quick flash of teeth before her face was wiped clean, and then her eyes moved away, settling back on Edward. "May I speak with you privately?"

He shrugged as she stepped toward the door. I cursed the fact that I couldn't eavesdrop on their conversation with them so far away, because I really, really wanted to know what was being said. I had a feeling it might be about me.

And if it wasn't… what else might she need to speak with him about that couldn't be overheard?

I knew one thing though: I didn't like how close to him she stood. She leaned forward with Lisle in her arms, effectively bringing herself closer to Edward, and placed a hand on my boyfriend's arm.

Even though she'd been polite when her hand settled on his arm, I wanted to claw her eyes out. It was just a simple touch, but between them it felt like something more. My fingers curled into fists as anger flashed through me. The desire to walk over and strike her for touching him was hard to tamp down.

A sigh of relief escaped as I watched his lip curl in disdain for her gesture and he peeled her hand away. "No," I heard him say as he shook his head.

Makenna's face was filled with anger, even after she tried to clear it. When she spoke to him again, it was all venom and heat. "Say 'bye to your father, Lisle."

Edward bent down and kissed Lisle's forehead, waving goodbye as she huffed her way out the door. He stood there watching them silently until they'd disappeared. When he finally turned to go back to his office, he didn't say a word to anyone.

I tried to catch his eye, to offer even a little comfort with just a look, but he avoided me, too. And I hated that.

For the rest of the day, he was quiet. Subdued. He didn't even check the receipts once. I was regretting our decision to keep our relationship a secret because all I wanted to do was disappear into his office and ask him what the hell was going on.

I mean, I was used to the quiet from him… before. But things were different, now. I didn't like that his silence made me all nervous and antsy and frustrated, the same way I'd felt back when the two of us were still confusing each other and our signals were all out of whack.

By the time we reached his house that night, I kind of wanted to strangle him so he'd talk to me.

He parked in the driveway, still silent, and we made our way inside.

It was completely different than our previous Mondays. Normally, since we hadn't seen each other all weekend, we were talkative and excited. I would ask him about his weekend with Lisle and we'd talk while we made dinner and goofed around together.

But the way he kicked off his shoes and breathed heavily as he headed into the kitchen held me back and sent me running in a different direction.

I walked into his bedroom to drop off my clothes and change into my pajamas, taking extra time to brush out my hair and let my mind wander. I really wanted to know what it was that Makenna had said to him that somehow changed his mood.

At least, I hoped it was Makenna and not something I had done.

When I came out of the bedroom, Edward was sitting on the couch. His legs were spread wide, elbows resting on his knees and his were shoulders hunched. He looked like a lost little boy.

I approached him slowly and placed my hands on his shoulders from behind, digging my fingers into his tense muscles. He didn't say anything, but a deep sigh fell from his lips and he tilted his head back to look up at me.

The smile on his face was forced and didn't reach his eyes.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked, because I knew there was an 'it,' even if I wasn't sure exactly what 'it' was.

He shook his head. "Not right now."

"Okay," I sighed. "Should I… Do you want to be alone? I can go—"

"Please don't… just, come here?"

I released him and made my way around the sofa; when I tried to sit down next to him, he pulled me across his lap until I was straddling him and buried his face in my neck. His breath was warm and wet and I tightened my arms around his shoulders to hold him close to me.

"I missed you," he whispered, wrapping his arms around my back and resting the tips of his fingers inside my pajama bottoms. I loved the feeling of his rough fingers on my skin. "A lot."

My hands gravitated to the soft hair at the base of his neck. I twirled it between my fingers. This was my Edward.

"I missed you, too," I replied. He kissed me, tongue tracing a path toward my ear. "A lot."

Jesus.

He kept on and I let him for a few minutes, until it occurred to me exactly what he was trying to do.

"You're trying to distract me with your tongue," I said.

He laughed softly into my neck and I was happy to hear that sound from him. "Is it working?"

"Nope," I lied, trying to keep my voice even as he licked me again and his teeth bit down on my earlobe.

"Are you sure?"

His warm breath across my wet skin caused me to shiver. "Positive."

"We can't have that. Hmm… What about this?" he asked, sliding his hands further inside my pajamas so he could get a good hold on my butt and slide me closer.

He was hard through his jeans, pushing against where I was suddenly becoming wet. I moaned and my head fell back on my shoulders.

My hands tightened in his hair and I tugged. "Definitely not."

He kissed down the exposed skin of my neck and his teeth grazed my collarbone. "Guess I'll have to try harder."

With that final word, he pulled me against him roughly and a groan worked its way from my mouth as he hit just that perfect spot that made me tingle.

"What was that?" he asked, and I felt him smile against my chest as his lips pushed the material of my shirt lower.

I huffed, giving in and letting him touch me; distract me. Distract himself. I really could deny him nothing.

And at the end of the day, it didn't matter what was on his mind… all that mattered was that we were together and he went to sleep with a smile on his face.

…Even if the smile on mine wasn't so genuine.

Your reactions to the last two chapters have seriously been the best ever. Some of you even said your computer needed a cigarette, lol!

Thank you all so much for reading, I am complete fail at review replies, but you should know that I read each and every one. Your sweet words are what motivate me to keep writing. I'm wrapping up this story with my lovely beta, Nic, right now and it's hard to believe we're only about two weeks away…

Reviews are love!

Until tomorrow!

xx