I do not own these darling characters, I however have given them attitude. ~ Riney

Chapter Eighteen

EmPOV

And the game goes to me.

My turn to ask the questions.

"You said you're not ready, yet you're not ready. Then why did you chose to get pregnant now?" I asked.

She looked over at me, a weird smile on her face. Almost wistful.

"Jump right in there buddy," she said dryly.

I nodded, "Quit stalling."

"Not stalling," she said rolling her eyes. "You want an honest answer don't you? Gotta think about wording and what's not."

Okay. Maybe she had a point.

I waited.

She cleared her throat.

"I'm not getting any younger, and I want to be able to enjoy my time with my child. And like I said, I've always wanted to be a mother. So now is as good as a time."

I nodded. Okay. Question number two.

"Why IVF and not the more popular way of getting pregnant? And by that I mean having a baby with someone you love, conceived by actual sex."

I watched as her lips curved downwards into a frown, "I don't have someone I love right now. Would you like me to elaborate?"

Wasn't that against the rules?

Honestly. What were the rules anyway?

It didn't really matter anyhow because I wanted to hear the reason behind it all.

"Go ahead," I said with a nod of my head.

"I have terrible luck with men," she said. "For the past five years, every time I become romantically involved with someone, a little piece of my heart ends up getting chipped off," her frown deepening.

I see. Maybe that explains what little heart you have left.

I took a breath to ask my next question, but she continued before I could get a word out. I closed my mouth and leaned back, waiting to hear what she was going to say next.

"It started with my very first boyfriend, Mike. Ugh," she said making a face. "He was such a...well he was special."

I wanted to ask how, but that would be using up one of my questions. I waited to see if she would continue; she didn't disappoint.

"I was madly in love with him, so of course I was blinded by that fact. I couldn't see what everyone around me saw. Mike Newton was not in love with me. He was in love with someone else," she said a smile that more resembled a grimace, on her face.

"He was in love with himself, and that night after I confessed my undying love for him," she paused to snort derisively, "he said I couldn't possibly believe that this was forever. He was merely with me so that he could boost his public image.

Needless to say, I was devastated. I got over him quickly enough; I realized that he was right all along. We would never have lasted."

"Cue Tyler," she said sarcastically. "We dated for two years, bought a house together, well I bought the house. I came home early one day, to find him fucking the life out of some slut."

I frowned, my hands curling into fists. That was just disgusting. How the hell could a man stoop so low?

"I'm sorry," I said leaning into her.

She shook her head and put up a hand, "Don't. I'm not finished, and I don't need your pity."

A low rumble left my chest, she was so damned aggravating. I wasn't giving her any pity, dammit.

"Finish the story," I ground out.

"Then there was Paulo, two years ago. I met him at work, he came in to get flowers for his great-aunt. It was her birthday," she said with a wry smile.

"We connected almost instantly. There was just something about him, that drew me to him. Despite his stunning beauty, I was surprised that, that wasn't what had attracted me to him.

It was a whirlwind romance, and before you knew it, he was proposing and foolish me, was saying yes. That's when the real issue began. I wanted to go to Italy and meet his parents, seeing that we were getting married and all. His parents lived in Italy. Did I mention he was Italian?" she paused looking at me.

I shook my head.

"Oh," she said, shaking her head. "Well he was. Italian that is. So right, like I was saying. I wanted to go to Italy to meet his family, the people who were going to be my family."

She laughed then, well sort of. The sound she made was a cross between a laugh and a sob.

Please don't cry.

"He kept making excuses, something to always thwart any plans we had made to make the trip," she said softly. Her eyes became vacant and I could tell that she was back in that time. Reliving the memory.

"Then one day a woman turns up on my doorstep, with two beautiful children. She said she was Paulo's wife, and the two little boys, were his sons. I called her a liar, saying she had made this all up somehow.

Even with the truth staring me in the face. She showed me pictures of them. Their wedding. The day when their children were born. So happy. Family. And I was the one breaking them up, stupid, gullible Bella," she said making that half sob/half laugh, sound again.

"Turns out Paulo was lying to both of us," she said glancing over at me. "He told her that he was in the U.S working on papers to get her there with him. He told me that he wanted me to have his babies. He said he loved me."

I wanted to reach out and touch her, she had gone so still. Her arms wrapped around her middle in a defensive manner.

"He wanted me to marry him for citizenship," she said laughing bitterly. "I was a pawn in his plans."

"I apologized for having any part of her pain and I left. Didn't look back. Took a break from men since then."

Wow. No wonder she had trust issues.

I knew about the last two men she mentioned from the report I had drawn up, I didn't know the reasons behind their break-ups.

The two deserved to be locked away from society.

They used her and discarded her.

Disgusting.

A thought crossed my mind just then, 'What if I had a daughter and some sleaze-ball treated her like that?'

I was gonna go to jail.

"I'm truly sorry," I said. "I'm not pitying you. In fact, I envy you."

Her brow rose, "Envy me?" she asked, disbelief coloring her voice.

"Yes," I nodded. "I wish I was as courageous as you. If that had been me, I would've given up on the baby and everything."

"Oh," she said. "Next question."

I let the abruptness of her tone slide. I understood that telling me that little tale, had worn her out. I was gonna ask light questions for a while.

"I'm gonna lay off the heavy stuff for the time being," I told her with a grin.

"Gee thanks," she said grinning back at me.

I wanted to see that grin more.

Don't ask me to explain that, cause I can't. Good.

Ok, on to the question.

"Why are you so afraid of thunderstorms?"

She laughed, "Obviously I need to get you a dictionary to see the definition of 'not heavy'."

I shrugged, "Well I guess you'll have to sometime."

She rolled her eyes, "Don't count on it."

I was beginning to like that eye roll.

Fucking weird.

~*~TA~*~

BPOV

Were we flirting?

Gah.

We couldn't be.

Could we?

I so did not need to think about this right now.

What was the question again? I know he asked one, just couldn't quite remember it.

He chuckled.

An addictive sound. Smooth and rich. Full of real joy.

Oh boy.

"Thunderstorms," I said snapping out of my thoughts.

He nodded and I took a steadying breath before I answered.

"One summer, my parents left me at my grandparents so they could have a romantic get-a-way. I didn't want to go. I threw a tantrum the entire drive there," she said with a half-smile.

"Such a darling child you were," he said with a smirk.

"I was. As I was saying, threw a massive tantrum, I didn't mind staying with my grandparents. I love them dearly, but it was summer and I wanted to be home with my friends," I continued.

"I decided to run away," she said shaking her head. "I waited until my parents and grandparents were busy chatting, before I snuck out.

I was gone for ten minutes before the rain started, and I mean it just started to pour. It came down around me in heavy curtains of water. I got lost. Then the thunder started, and the lightning," she said giving a small shudder.

I was probably seven. Lost and alone in the middle of a forest with a thunderstorm going on around me. I was petrified, and then with my luck, a bolt of lightning hit a tree and started to burn. The tree was so huge that despite the amount of rain falling, it still caught afire and stayed lit for a while."

Why was he making me talk about this?

'Shut up. Twenty questions was your idea,' the voice in my head taunted.

"When they found me, I was a mess. I've been afraid of them since then."

"Jesus, that's really something," he said after scrutinizing my face for a bit longer than necessary.

At least to me.

"Next question, and seriously try something light this time," I told him.

He grinned, "Fair enough," he said. "Let's see, something light."

He snapped his fingers and smiled broadly at me.

Good Lord, those dimples.

"What's your favorite food?" he asked.

"You're wasting your question with one like that?" I scoffed at him.

He shrugged, his muscles tightening as he moved his arms, I licked my lips.

I wanted to feel those...whoa. Hold the fuck on. I was not thinking that.

Fucking hormones.

They were making me conjure up the craziest notions.

Let's get back to answering the questions.

"I'm a pasta whore," I told him. "I love pasta with anything. And all types of pasta except those 'healthy ones', they taste like dirt," I said.

"Cool," he said. "I love pasta too."

Wow. Something in common. Will wonders ever cease?

"Why'd you tell me?" I asked, realizing what he had done.

"This way you won't have to waste any of your questions on silly questions like this," he replied.

Smart ass.

I smiled.

"Okay. Last question."

He shifted in his seat, "When was your first time?"

I sputtered helplessly when I looked at his face. Was he serious? He sure looked serious.

He wanted to know about my 'first time'.

Then he was going to tell me about his.

I could feel the blush rising on my cheeks.

"Do you want the actual date?" I asked.

"If you can remember that, you're damn good," he said chuckling.

"I can remember the actual date," I said, sticking out my tongue at him.

He clapped his hands together and rolled his eyes, "I wanna know everything. Details woman."

I laughed and proceeded to tell him about my first time.

The look of rapt attention on his face was priceless.

Silly man.

A/N: Ten questions down. How do you think it's going so far? And thanks again for the help with these questions. I love you guys so much :D