We've had a few asking about the posting schedule. We will post every other day, until we get closer to August 25th. All chapters will be posted by then. This story started on Jess2002's birthday and will end on her and her hubby's anniversary.

Chapter 6

This week has been really good, despite my father losing his job. Bella and I have been getting to know each other more as we study. She seems to be picking up a lot more than she was at first. I'm finding that I miss her on the days, like today, that I don't see her.

My whole family is making dinner together. I'm making homemade bread, as Alice and Rose are making the potatoes, and Mom and Dad are getting the roast ready. We are all chatting, when my cell phone ringing cuts us off.

"Rose, could you get that," I ask, since my hands are covered in sticky dough.

I take my hands out of the dough and wipe them clean as Rose picks it up.

"Hello, ah, yeah, just a second. Edward, it's a girl for you," she says handing the cell to me.

"Hello?"

"Edward, I'm sorry to call and bother you. It's just...well, there's a weird smell in my kitchen."

I frown hearing Bella slurred voice. "Are you okay?"

"I'm not sure, my head's sore and this smells really bad. To top it all off, I can't get this stupid oven to bake my cakes. How do you get those flames?"

I feel myself pale a little. "Bella, get out of the house … there's a gas leak. I'm on my way, but get out of the house now."

I pull my cell away from my mouth as I talk to my family.

"Bella's got a gas leak." I move to the family room, grabbing my things. "Dad, can you drive me, and Mom, call the gas leak in for me?"

Mom nods at me and Dad and I walk out. I still have the phone to my ear, but I don't hear Bella anymore. "Bella, are you out the house yet?"

"No, um, should I turn off the lights or the stove?"

"Shit! No…just leave it all and get out of the freaking house right now."

As soon as we arrive at Bella's house, I see her sitting on the ground with her head between her knees. I run from the car and kneel down next to her.

"Bella," I say and she looks at me sleepily.

"I don't feel so good," she slurs.

I rub her back and let out a sigh.

"Come on, sit in my car." When she fails to move, I pick her up and carry her there.

As I place her inside, everyone else arrives and gets to work. I'm glad when the paramedics arrive. She's still very sleepy so they say they have to take her to the hospital. I jump in the ambulance, not wanting her to be alone.

I spend the next hour shaking Bella awake as we wait for the doctor to come. "Why can't I sleep? You're being mean again," Bella says.

I chuckle at the pout on her face. "I've already told you – the doctor needs to see you first."

"Stupid ass doctor, tell him to move his ass."

I smile, chuckling again. "I will—" I'm cut off when the door opens and a young man walks in.

"Hello, Isabella. Sir, if you can give us a few minutes," he says looking at me.

"No…I want him to stay, and are you sure you're a doctor? Edward looks older than you," Bella says, as she narrows her eyes at him.

"Yes, I'm a doctor, and he needs to leave."

"Uh, no…I'm not comfortable staying with you alone."

"I'll get a nurse then," he retorts rather nonchalantly.

"I want him to stay," Bella states and she crosses her arms.

"Look here—" the doctor starts, but I jump up cutting him off.

"She wants me to stay, so I'm staying. Just get on with it."

He mutters to himself, but gets on with his work. "Okay, she's going to be fine; she can stay the night or go home."

"Home—I want to go home," Bella says as she starts to drift off to sleep.

"She can go home, as long as there's someone there to keep an eye on her."

I sigh and look at Bella, knowing she doesn't have anyone. "Hey," I say softly to her, she opens her eyes looking at me.

"Please, Edward, I don't want to stay here."

I let out a breath and nod. "Okay, I can watch over her."

"I'll get her paperwork ready."

I sit down, texting my dad to come and get us. "Looks like you're meeting the family," I say to Bella, who's sound asleep.

My dad and the doctor walk in together. "Can I sign for her; she's sleeping?"

The doctor turns to look at me. "She needs to be awake."

"What difference does it make?" I growl out, because he's starting to really piss me off and clearly she's tired.

"Sorry…she has to be awake to discharge." He begins to shake her a little harshly and Bella's eyes spring open.

"What," she says recoiling from his touch.

"You need to sign these papers, and then you're free to go."

"Okay," Bella says and she scribbles her name on them. "Can I sleep now?"

"No! If you want to leave, you have to remain awake to do so. You can sleep as soon as you're out of here." I move forward and help Bella to stand and guide her out of the room. As soon as we are through the hospital door, I pick her up and carry her.

I lay her gently in the backseat of the car before getting in the front with my dad. "Edward, you need to calm down; he was only doing his job"

"She was asleep. He knew she was falling asleep when he was looking her over. He could have just let her be."

My dad sighs, but it turns into a chuckle. "She's really grown on you, hasn't she?"

I nod at him. "That and she doesn't have anybody else. She's not what I thought in the beginning. She's not like the rest of them."

"The rest of whom?"

"The rich bitches—those vipers."

My dad sighs and I know he's disappointed in the way I'm speaking about women. "Edward, she's got to look after her company and she's grieving."

I roll my eyes, because I doubt that Tanya is able to feel those types of feelings.

"Dad, she asked me to be her sex toy in exchange for her to consider allowing us to buy her out of the company."

My dad turns, looking at me in shock. "What—when?"

"At the meeting, when she asked Mom to sit outside. She said if I become her sex toy, she will think about selling the company to us."

"Shit…this is not good."

I shake my head and look back on Bella, who's asleep. "There is a part of me that wants to take Bella up on her offer to help us—but?"

"But what, son?"

"She has a shitload of money, therefore, her company must be big. If it's big, that means there's a board of directors. What if they stop her? What if they say she's unfit to run the company? Trying to help us could cost her the one thing she wants to keep of her Dad's."

"Why don't you ask her about her company and get a feel for it, making sure taking her up on her offer won't be detrimental to her?"

I shrug a little. "It makes me feel like I'm using her—using her money—more than I already am."

"Son, I don't have all the answers. Sometimes, we have to make tough choices. We may make the wrong choice, or maybe it's the right choice; nothing is set in stone. My best advice is just to be truthful and open with her. Tell her about our company. Tell her why you are doing what you are doing."

The rest of the car ride home is quiet. I pick Bella up and carry her into my house, straight to my bedroom. I take off her shoes, placing them under the bed. I frown, looking at her rumpled clothes and get out one of my large t-shirts. I go downstairs to get my mom to come and change her.

"She's changed, and I have her clothes here. I'm going to wash them. I can still smell the rotten-egg smell from the gas on them. I put a pair of your clean boxers on her, so I could wash her undergarments, too."

I nod at my mom, and head to my room to check on Bella. Once I'm satisfied she's okay, I grab my pajamas and some sheets and head back downstairs to sleep on the couch.

I'm sleeping peacefully when I feel someone gently shake me. I open my eyes and see Bella looking down at me.

"Are you okay?" I ask a little panicky. I scan her and see she has the sheet from my bed wrapped around her.

"I'm fine. I think I'm a little groggy, though. I'm not sure how I ended up in your bed in what I think may be your t-shirt and boxers?"

I nod at her. "The doctor said you could go home, but someone had to look after you. Since you didn't want to stay at the hospital, I brought you here. I knew you had no one at your place, and he said you couldn't be alone. So coming here was the best choice. I knew if I fucked up, my mom—who changed you by the way—was close by."

"Thank you. Do you have anything I can take?" Bella asks, softly rubbing her head.

"Yes, let me up and I'll get you something."

Bella blushes and moves back. I get up, heading to where my mom keeps the medicine. I take out two Tylenol and then get her a glass of water. I head back to Bella, who's now sitting on the couch.

"Here you are," I say handing the pills and water to her.

She grabs them and immediately pops the pills into her mouth and swallows back a small drink of water. "Thank you," she murmurs softly.

I nod and sit down next to her.

"Umm, thank you for helping me. I'm still not sure what I did wrong."

I shrug my shoulders. I haven't called to ask, because I have been too worried about Bella. "We'll find out in the morning."

She nods at me again. "You can take your bed back, and I can sleep here if you want?"

I shake my head at her. "No, I'm fine here; you take the bed."

"Do you need to go back to sleep?"

I tilt my head and look at her. I study her for a few minutes and she bites her lip and drops her head. Just before she does, I see it; she feels alone.

"No, do you want to watch TV, or we could head back to the bedroom and we could talk?"

Bella looks to the door still biting her lip.

"I swear you're safe with me."

Bella nods and the flash of emotion on her face is odd, like a bit of hurt mixed with something else I can't quite grasp. "I know, kids are not your thing and you don't rape women."

I sigh and rub my fac. Looking back on it now, she should have been worried, she didn't know me and I was an ass to her. "You're right, I don't, but I owe you an apology about how I was acting that day. You had every right to be worried about me. But I promise, you can lie in the bed and I'll sit, and we can talk."

This time Bella smiles and nods at me. "That sounds good."

I walk her slowly back to my bedroom and she gets in bed. She spreads the sheet back across herself and the bed. Once she's fully settled, I sit down next to her.

"So, what should we talk about?"

"How about we play twenty questions?"

I chuckle and nod at her, as I move down so I am more lying across the bottom of the bed than sitting.

"Why did you go to business school?"

I chuckle again. "I always wanted to be CEO of a company. You know, like you see in the movies or read about in stories. So I could be the man with all the power at his fingertips. Have everything; be able to afford anything. Have the option to fall in love with some beautiful, but naïve girl, who is more than what she seems. It also involves things I like: numbers, working things out, delegating jobs, taking chances on things and people.

Do you want to be anything else, or is being a nurse it for you?"

She shrugs her shoulders. "When I was five, I wanted to be an actress. At ten, I strived to be a writer. When I was fifteen, I wanted to be a model. So yeah, the wanting to be a nurse is the new thing. I'm not sure it's the place for me, though. I have a weak stomach and blood makes me sick."

She shudders and I chuckle. "Yes, you may want to rethink that path then."

"First girlfriend?"

"Her name was Tia—I was eight and she was nine," I say with a grin. "It lasted a full week, before she broke up with me for Emmett, my brother. I hated him for the rest of the month and stole his favorite toy." Bella nudges me with her foot and chuckles.

"Besides Mike and Taylor, has there been anyone else?"

Bella shakes her head. "Nah, just like you, they were like short-term boyfriends. Taylor was my boyfriend when I was fifteen. We had sex on my sixteenth birthday, and it hurt like fuck. Thankfully, it was over in a few seconds, because he was a virgin, too. He dumped me when I turned seventeen for Lauren. She's the head cheerleader, and word around school is that she swallows." Bella rolls her eyes. "Then there was Mike. That only lasted for two months. He more or less bedded me and left." She chuckles and I see a faint blush on her face.

"What?"

"When he dumped me, he said he had given me an eight star review. He said I would've been a ten, if I'd have let him fuck me bareback, and if I swallowed. Then, he patted my shoulder, winked and walked away."

I sit up with my mouth open. "He said what?"

"Yeah, I know. He's a stupid ass; he even wrote all this in the boys' bathroom. I got my payback by writing in the girls' bathroom that he was a minute man with a tiny dick. He's so pissed about it, but thankfully, he doesn't know it was me; so don't tell." Bella puts her finger to her lips and smiles.

"I won't say a word, and since you told me all that, I will give you the same info. My first was when I was sixteen, with Bree. I'm a little ashamed to say I went down the same road Taylor went with you. We dated for a year and a half, and were having sex for the last six months of it. I dumped her for who I thought was a better girl. I'm happy to say, I changed my playboy ways when I went to college. I've had one long-term girlfriend that lasted two years. Jessica and I ended it when I still couldn't say I love you to her. I have dated, but nothing regular, and not a lot at all."

"Tell me about your family," she says lightly.

I look at her, seeing she's fighting to stay awake. "Well, there's my mom, Esme. She's wonderful; she works at the supermarket where we shop. Before that, she worked with wood at our family business and has amazing skills in it.

Then there is my dad, Carlisle. He has a head for business, and ran that side of our company, until it shut down. He found a job as a truck driver, but he was just laid off. Both my parents are remarkable. They're always there for me, and they don't let me get away with shit. I have two siblings: my older brother is Emmett. He worked in the family company, too, but now is a landscaper. He has his moments when he acts like a five-year-old, but mostly he's great. He's married to Rose. She is a kindergarten teacher at the local public school; she really loves kids. She is rough around the edges, but that's because she grew up in the streets. That life was hard on her, and she learned to be a bitch to make it through. Lastly, there's my little sister, Alice. She's training to be a therapist. She's lively, but has some quirks. She tries regularly to analyze people she just met. That's it; that's my family."

"They all sound great. It was always just Dad and me. Sure, he had girlfriends, but they never stuck around for too long." She frowns a little and closes her eyes. "I still miss him so much. They say time heals all wounds, but this doesn't feel like it's healing; not even a little."

"It will. I assure you; it's just going to take time. Plus, the stress you've been under isn't helping."

She just hums, keeping her eyes closed. I'm silently watching her, when her eyes suddenly spring open and she looks at me. "Tell me something else."

I chuckle, as it comes out so slurred with sleepiness. "What do you want to know?"

"Anything," she murmurs.

I sigh and start talking about whatever comes to mind. She smiles a little and closes her eyes when she knows I'm just going to keep talking.

A/N: So what do you think of how they are getting along now? Edward seems to have calmed a bit, which is good and I'm glad she called Edward when she needed him. What are your thoughts? Next chapter will post on Friday, see you all then.