A/N: Howdy ya'll. Yup, another chapter because ya'll were so good :D
I don't own them...and you know all the rest of that jazz.
Chapter Twenty-One
EmPOV
Saved by the bell. Literally.
I got up to get the door, tipped the delivery guy and headed back to the living room.
She was still there staring at the seat I had vacated a few moments earlier.
"Food's here," I said putting the boxes on the table.
"Smells good," she said.
"You want a plate?" I asked.
"Nope," she said shaking her head.
"Are you gonna answer the question?" I asked, opening the box and passing her a slice.
She bit into it immediately, giving a sigh of pleasure.
"Thanks," she mumbled around her slice.
I nodded, watching her get really into her food.
Her eyes were closed as her mouth practically worshiped the pizza.
"So the question," she said, swallowing.
"Yeah, the question," I said.
"I'm Edward's lawyer and best friend," she said.
"Best friend?" I asked, not believing that for one minute.
She nodded, "Yeah."
"Why were you his lawyer?" I asked.
"It was a discrimination case," she said with a careless shrug.
"Discrimination against what?" I asked, none of this making sense to me.
Laywer turned best friend?
"He was wrongfully dismissed from a company and he came to me for help," she said. "It was my first and last case."
"Did you win?" I asked.
She gave me a look, and grinned, "Of course I did."
"So then you two became best friends?" I asked.
"Pretty much, he's a sweetheart," she said with a smile.
"That's really...weird," I said.
"What's so weird about it?" she asked, giving me that look again.
I bit the inside of my jaw, trying to find the right words; I really didn't want any misinterpretations.
"So you guys are best friends now, right?" I asked.
She nodded, "Yeah...where are you going with this?"
"I'm just trying to figure out the relationship between you two," I told her.
She scoffed, "You really are slow. I told you the relationship between us. We're best friends."
"That's it?"
She nodded, rolling her eyes at me.
"Why don't I believe that?" I asked, more to myself than to her.
She shrugged, "How would I know that?"
"You guys are too..." I paused, searching for the right word.
Her brows arched as she looked at me, waiting for what I was gonna say.
"I don't know too intimate."
She laughed at that.
I mean really laughed.
What the hell?
"Oh Emmett," she said when she finally calmed down. "There is nothing intimate going on between Edward and myself."
"And he lives with you because?" I asked.
"Why shouldn't he live with me?" she snapped.
"Just a question," I said, holding up my hand in surrender.
She took a deep breath, "He lives with me because I want him to."
Well that answered all my questions, didn't it?
"Why are you so concerned about Edward?" she asked.
"I don't want another man raising my child," I said, before I could think about it.
Oh great. Now she was gonna get pissed. That sounded so...cave-man like.
"I see," Bella said, nodding thoughtfully.
She did?
"You do?" I asked.
"Yeah," she said.
"Okay," I said, when she didn't elaborate.
"You're not eating," she noted, nodding at my untouched slice of pizza.
"Oh," I said, biting into the pizza.
"This is really good," she said giving me a smile.
"Yeah always is," I replied.
"Where's James?" she asked suddenly.
"Drowning?" I joked. "He said to start without him."
"He's been gone for a bit though, should one of us go check on him?" she asked.
"Nah," I told her. "He'll be fine."
Can you switch the game off?" she asked. "Can we watch the tv or something?"
I nodded and switched back to cable.
"What do you wanna watch?" I asked.
"Doesn't matter, it was just too quiet in here," she said.
"Cool," I said.
We watched some silly sitcom while we finished off the pizza. James still didn't come back.
Probably fell asleep after his shower.
I looked over at Bella and found her yawning.
"You tired?" I asked.
"A bit," she said.
"Let's get you home then," I said, grabbing the boxes.
"I drove here," she said with another yawn.
"I'll drive you home and you can always get your car back tomorrow," I said, hoping she didn't argue with me.
"It's not a problem," she said rubbing her eyes.
I wasn't that lucky.
"I don't want you driving sleepy," I said firmly.
"I'm not an invalid Emmett," she said with an eye roll.
"I never said you were Bella," I told her. "You're pregnant and I just want to make sure you're safe."
Her eyes met mine and I braced myself for the tongue lashing; I never got it.
"Really?" she asked, her face softening.
"Yeah," I nodded.
"That's really sweet," she said giving me a big smile.
That smile warmed me. That was the first time I had gotten one of those smiles.
A real smile.
Like the ones she had given James since she met him.
I wanted to do a dance.
"I'll put this up for James and then we can go," I told her.
"I'm gonna go to the bathroom and check on James ok?" she said.
I nodded and took the pizza boxes into the kitchen.
BPOV
I thought we were gonna get into it. I really did, because let's face it, I was not used to having anyone do anything for me and I liked it that way.
And this was Emmett we were talking about, yes the evening had proved that we could actually coexist, but the jury was still out on him.
Then he shocked me completely.
He just wanted me safe.
Well the baby, at least.
Still, it was really sweet what he said.
I headed to the bathroom and relieved my bladder, before checking in on James. Emmett had been right, he had fallen asleep right out the bath. He still had his towel draped around his waist, as he lay face down on the bed, snoring lightly.
Such a cutie.
I headed back out to Emmett and found him standing at the door, with a bag in his hand.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Yeah, you were right about James," I told him.
He nodded, "He does it all the time."
We headed out to his car and he opened the door and waited for me to slide in.
He could actually be a gentleman. I was impressed.
He drove me home with just the music playing between us.
It was nice.
"So um, we still have a lot to talk about," he said pulling up in front of my apartment building.
I nodded. I guess we did.
"Wanna have lunch tomorrow?" he asked.
"Can I take a rain check?" I asked.
He looked slightly disappointed and I almost took back my words.
"Sure," he said.
"Great, thanks for the ride home," I said getting out of the car.
"No problem," he said as I closed the door. "I'll have your car delivered in the morning ok?"
"Yeah thanks," I said. "Gotta go to work tomorrow."
"That's right," he said nodding. "I'll have it here by six."
Well that was that.
I said goodnight and headed inside, I did notice that he didn't start the car until I had gotten through the doors.
Emmett McCarty was turning out to be more of a panda-bear, than a grizzly one.
What was I to make of that?
-TA-
The next morning true to his word, Emmett had my car parked and waiting for me.
Edward hadn't come home by the time I went to bed, and he was still sleeping when I left. I left him a note telling him to meet me for lunch. I headed out to my car and headed to work.
Rosalie greeted me with a smile, "Hey Bella, you're early."
I looked at my watch; she was right. "I wanted to get an early start?"
She gave me a look and shook her head, "You're kidding aren't you?"
I shrugged and grinned, "Shut up and let me help you out already."
"Fine, you can start with putting out the tulips," Rosalie said.
I nodded and started putting out the flowers.
By the third batch of...whatever the hell they were, I felt absolutely nauseous.
"Are you okay Bells?" Rosalie asked. "You look a little green around the gills."
"Yeah, about that," I started, but I couldn't finish. I had to get to the bathroom. Pronto.
When I finished emptying my stomach over the toilet bowl, I found Rosalie outside the door with a brow quirked and a question on her face.
"Something you wanna share Bells?" she asked.
I grinned, "Guess who's expecting!"
Rosalie's eyes widened and she looked down at my still flat stomach, then back up to my face again.
Then she squealed.
I had to cover my ears from the shrillness of it.
She rivaled Alice in the squeal department.
"Jesus woman," I said covering my ears. "You're worse than Ally."
"You told Ally before you told me?" Rosalie asked with a pout.
"No," I said laughing. "I'm gonna tell her today, at lunch."
Rosalie grinned broadly, "Ha! I finally have something over the little pixie."
I shook my head, Rosalie and Alice had this weird rivalry going on. See who knew Bella better, or something like that.
It was actually hilarious at times.
"So come on, tell me everything," Rosalie said, clapping her hands.
"Nuh uh," I said. "Both of you will get the details together, at lunch."
"You are so unfair," she pouted. Yep, actually pouted. It was adorable.
"What are you, five?" I asked heading back to the front of the store.
"Kiss my ass," she said with a laugh.
"I'm sure Jake did that enough," I retorted with a wink.
"He did," she said. "And more," she gave a wink of her own.
"Eww," I said with a grin. "You two are so surprising."
"Why is that?" my boss asked.
"I don't know," I said sitting down. "He's so..."
"Wild," Rosalie said with a dreamy sigh.
I laughed, "Well that's not what I was looking for, but it could work."
Rosalie laughed, "He's amazing. Thanks so much for introducing us."
I smiled, I was glad she was happy.
"Ok enough of your sappy love moments, go away so I can get to work," I told her jokingly.
"Sure, sure," she said with a grin.
"God woman," I said, "You're even starting to sound like Jake."
We shared a laugh before she headed into the back and I opened the shop.
A/N: Okay, now to address one of my reviews. Yes I'm up to chapter 21 now, and I get you're looking for more of a connection between the two, but let's be real here. These two can't stand each other, they've just completed their first real conversation. They will eventually get there, but I want this to be real. I'm not gonna go running into the arms of a man I can't stand just because he's gorgeous and has the cutest dimples in the universe :D So yeah, just give them a chance. Give me a chance. Thanks lovely :)
To all of my other darlings, thanks for your reviews. MWAH !
Now Vincent and Cat are on, so...yeah. Imma go drool over the sexiness that is Jay Ryan. Toodles. ~ Riney