The next day Bella felt a little more alert. She'd managed to sleep the night before. That was good, because she was getting to play in Esme's office with her today and she was looking forward to that. Bella had even taken measurements of her room, created a little map of where the light switch, window, power outlets, everything were. The map sat in her binder waiting for when Emmett got her to the house.

"I can't believe my best friend is hanging out with my mom today, instead of me." Emmett pouted and they were far enough from the house that Bella suspected Esme wasn't going to hear his whining.

"Well, she is hotter." Bella managed to say with a straight face, and watched him whip his head around to stare at her. She couldn't hold it and had to grin. Sometimes he made her actually feel like a teenager inside and she almost regretted her teasing for a moment, but his expression was priceless. He turned onto his long driveway with a pout on his face.

"Burn, burn." Emmett scolded her, as if that one word was enough. "I'm downright sexy!" Bella was a bit surprised the complaint was that he wasn't as hot as his mom, not that his mom was hot. After a second of thinking about it, it made more sense that he'd think that way.

"Right," She drew the word out. "You're downright sexy pouting like a three year old." She rolled her eyes and his pout disappeared instantly. Bella had to try not to laugh as he started trying to give her smoldering sexy looks.

"Do you need to go to the bathroom? Can you make it or should you pull over here?" Bella was trying to keep a straight face, but it was hard. He frowned for a moment and turned to watch where he was going, but he turned back to her with the 'smolder sexy' turned up a notch. "Jock itch? Constipation?" Bella was having a hell of a lot of fun, and her straight face was melting into a smile, she couldn't stop it. He attempted a sexy cat purr, and she chuckled. "Does your pussy need petting?" She couldn't even finish saying it before she burst out laughing.

"Oh my god." He cracked up as well. "I can't believe you said that." He pulled up next to the house and through his Jeep into park. "You need tutoring in biology if you think I have a,"

His door was whipped opened and Bella saw Esme giving Emmett a somewhat dark look, before turning to Bella. "You're here." She sounded pleased, but Bella didn't miss that Emmett looked scolded when Esme turned her head just a little so Bella couldn't see her lips. Talking, she was sure. Bella felt amused that it was Emmett getting into trouble, because she was the one that got nasty. Sometimes it worked, them having to act like they didn't hear some things, Esme couldn't very well scold her.

"Bella, I have a dresser that might work. It's broken, but if we're pulling the top off of it, we could replace it as easily as putting it back on, couldn't we?" Esme's eyes seemed to sparkle in excitement.

Bella went to get out of the Jeep and Esme was by her side this time, holding her arm to help steady her as she got down. Emmett couldn't have made it in time for how fast Bella was trying to get out and see if Esme really did solve her dresser issue, not at a human pace. She left her bag in Emmett's jeep, but she did pocket her drawing of her room. Instead of heading to Esme's office right away, they made their way to the garage. Apparently Esme took the dresser out there, in case they did want to work on it.

"Thank you Emmett for taking me to play with someone else!" Emmett yelled out, as if to tell her what she should be saying.

"Thanks Emmett, now go away so the adults can talk." She yelled back and gave Esme a small grin. Even at her real age, in her real body, she was the youngest person here. She didn't even look back at him before she yelled out, "And stop pouting."

Esme was chuckling by that point.

The dresser was not perfect, but it could be. "Do you think this can be taken off?" She asked Esme as she studied the traditional touches on the drawers.

"I don't think it would be that hard." Esme knelt down beside her in front of the dresser. "I think it's molding, we could chisel it off and repair the gouges. If you go with painting it, rather than re-staining it, we could use wood putty to fill and make it look new again pretty easily."

"How much do you want?" Bella asked and Esme just shook her head with a smile. Free, free made it even more attractive.

Bella tugged a drawer open just a bit and it worked pretty well. The obvious problem with it was the large chunk of the dresser top that was missing, an entire corner. "You thinking painted base and light stained wood top?" Bella asked, as the idea started to grow on her.

"Actually, I was thinking white base with medium tone wood for the top, Alice told me what your hardwood floor was like and we might want to take that into consideration." Esme offered up the idea and Bella studied the dresser, trying to envision the changes.

"New hardware." Bella started to smile, seeing it in her mind. "This would be really nice, and it's long too. It could be on that one wall all by itself, and I think I might even end up with some empty drawers after my stuff gets here."

"Not if Alice hears you say that." Esme smiled, but then her voice softened, "So you like it?", and there was a hint of insecurity in it that had Bella's full attention.

"It's perfect. Thank you. We could remake it together, I mean you'll help me right?" Bella watched the brunette vampire smile, clearly very pleased. It felt a little awkward, accepting things from Esme when she barely knew her, but it was clearly broken. They would have dumped it, Bella had no idea why they hadn't yet, but it was perfect. A bit of work and she'd have her dresser/desk. She remembered Esme asking about helping, and thought maybe the vampire got bored. It would be nice to have help on this project, because Bella wasn't really sure what she was doing. Not to mention if she did this at Charlie's she'd end up having to clean out the garage first, to make space to work, and he probably didn't have many tools.

They talked a little more about what they'd need to do, and then Esme suggested they go to her office to work on other aspects of the design, and to pick out a stain color for the new top they'd have to get, along with the slide out desk.

…

Esme POV

Esme smiled at Bella's back as they made their way to the house. The girl was adorable. The way she studied the dresser reminded Esme of Rosalie looking over a new car she was considering buying.

Rosalie's broken dresser had not made it into the trash last time. Those two broke furniture often, but for a first time Esme was glad to have some broken furniture. Alice explained how Bella was with money and how she didn't have much, but that she probably wanted that dresser more than the new clothes she'd just gotten. Esme had also been touched by how Bella was self-conscious about her room, more so than her closet, when Alice visited. It was nice to have something to offer.

"I have an after school snack in the office." Esme told Bella as she opened the door. The girl gave her a small smile in return and a thanks. It was cute how obviously Bella wanted to see Esme's office, and Esme felt a bit of pride in it.

They spent some time selecting the green Bella would want on her walls, and a small area rug to cover her wood floor next to the bed. They laid out some furniture on the map Bella created. "Are you thinking about becoming an interior designer?" Esme asked as she looked at the work Bella had already done.

"I can't." The girl spoke, while studying the various wood stains they could use for the dresser top. Esme frowned at Bella's words, because it was obviously the girl's passion.

"Why not?" She asked and she was watching Bella now, and not the stains they were picking between.

"I need to make money." Bella looked up. "I'm going to have to be able to take care of myself, and I can't go into art fields, they aren't reliable." And it was sad, so sad, to Esme that Bella would ignore her passion for money like that. Esme decided then and there that she'd have to try and persuade Bella that following her passion was never wrong. Especially since the girl was proving to already know so much about design. She must have woken up from her accident and immediately started watching design shows; or the girl that forgot everything, didn't forget design, either way that was passion.

They played with various elements, stains, fabrics, pictures of nightstands and headboards and created a shopping list for redoing Bella's room. Esme added that Bella should consider getting a slightly bigger bed, because the scale was wrong for the room, but Bella really balked at the idea of spending that kind of money. What was different about this job, that Esme had not had with other jobs was that once the plan was done Bella started to prioritize it, because she couldn't afford to do it all now, and was talking about needing a job before she spent money on more than the dresser/desk at all. It was a little frustrating to create a plan and not get to see to its creation right away. It was more frustrating, because this girl deserved a space of her own more than most, she'd been through so much, and she wasn't even considering asking her father for help with this.

"Did you want to stay for dinner?" Esme offered once the work was done, and Bella seemed to take a long time deciding even that. Esme could hear a few groans through the house at the thought of another pretend meal in the house, but Esme ignored it. Jasper told her that they were going out and Emmett quickly copied him. "It will just be the two of us, I'm afraid. Apparently it is date night." Esme felt a little bitter about the quick abandon ship her family pulled.

"Emmett was going to take me home." Bella sounded a little concerned.

"I'll take you dear." Esme offered and gave the girl a reassuring smile.

"Well, okay." Bella gave Esme a small hint of a smile in return and Esme felt a thrill of accomplishment. Humans rarely agreed to be around them, and none of them had spent much time one on one with a human before, other than Carlisle in his job, but humans in the ER were pretty well forced to be there. In fact Carlisle had tried private practice once and found that unless his patients were in an emergency, they were not comfortable with him.

The fact that Bella was making friends with so many vampires, was alone with them and also alone in a house full of them was amazing. Her instincts should be sending warnings to her constantly, but Esme didn't think they were, or if they were, the girl didn't know how to interpret them at all. It was why Alice, Emmett, and Esme all coveted her so. Even Rosalie was starting to seek time with their human. Life got a little boring when you spent time with the same people all the time, never anything new. Esme envied the kids for at least having school, but even they got restless, and it wasn't like they made friends there, not until now.

Bella's scent was a drawback in this, but Esme was willing to deal with the burn in her throat at times to have someone to share her own passion for design with.

As she dished up two plates, Esme felt some apprehension. She didn't have the kids to help distract Bella and Bella tended to really concentrate when talking with them during dinner. Esme really didn't want to have to eat.

"Do you get HGTV?" Bella asked as Esme was studying her plate and Esme looked up at the girl. "I mean, we could watch TV and eat maybe? It is just the two of us."

"That sounds like a lovely idea." Esme latched onto it with both hands, and she tried to keep her smile from being too wide. Esme made sure to covertly take the dishrag with her as well, because she'd need to hide this food somewhere. "Perhaps we can see more examples that you might consider."

"That's what I was thinking." Bella gave Esme a sly smile. "And I don't have to be home until later, so maybe we could start on the dresser? We could at least take it apart. I need to get to the store for some paint and supplies."

"Let me do that dear." Esme quickly offered, while carrying her plate with her into the main room. "You'll be busy with Emmett tomorrow, and I have to go into town anyhow." Perhaps Esme might 'forget' to ask for the money back too.

"Are you sure?" Bella settled onto the couch and Esme found the remote, to turn it to the right channel. In just a moment Esme watched as Bella's eyes moved to the tv. It was adorable, how her eyes widened and her focus was mostly on the tv for the half hour they were having dinner. Esme didn't even have to hide what she was doing. A human could have faked eating and gotten away with it, the way Bella always focused so hard on whatever she was doing at the time.

They slipped out and Esme took the human girl back to the garage. The lights were good in there, and there was lots of tools and space to work. Rosalie demanded a well-stocked garage for her cars, and with the way the kids broke things Esme had enough tools for the house that there was no problem finding a way to remove the dresser top or the décor on the drawers.

As they slowly and carefully each worked on a dresser drawer, Esme made sure to move at the same speed Bella did. She could have had the job done in a lot less time otherwise. It wasn't irritating though, because Esme was able to share stories about some of the rooms she'd designed over the years and Bella appreciated those stories and asked questions. It was really nice.

"Have you talked to your mother since you left?" Esme asked after they grabbed a new drawer a piece.

"No, I'm not sure I'll hear from her until something interesting happens in her life." Bella sighed and picked up the chisel, so she missed the dark look on Esme's face. The girl just moved in with her father, that she hardly knows, started a new school, is in a new state, and that woman didn't have the decency to call to see how she was. That Bella didn't even expect a call unless Renee had something to say was sad. Esme watched the girl chisel off the molding and felt an ache in her heart. If Renee couldn't get over herself enough to be the mother she'd been lucky enough to become, then Esme would steal the job from her. Esme could feel her eyes darkening, and she attempted to calm down a little, so she didn't accidently break Bella's furniture while trying to work on it.

Who could throw away a girl like Bella? Esme was just stunned that it had even happened.

….

The next morning Bella was cursing the fact that vampires didn't sleep, when she got up at the agreed upon hour, not getting to sleep in at all on her first day of Spring Break. What was the point of getting a break, a vacation, if you didn't sleep in?

They were starting off the day with video games, but Bella was going to have to be a bit obvious about her inability to hold a controller for hours on end, so that they took breaks, or perhaps even did something else for a while. After lunch time they were going to be doing something else, she'd make sure of that. She liked games just fine, but who needed to do more than three hours in a row of it? She had no idea what else Emmett might want to do, but she really did need to find more than one thing to do with him.