AN: Have I mentioned how much I love MyHerion? Seriously, she beted even though she'd been sick. I cannot with her! *tackle cuddles*

Chapter Six

Playing Cards

Attraction is a strange thing. Sometimes it hits you over the head with the force of a two by four. Like when you see a celebrity on the tv, and you just know that you'd climb that slip of a man like a mountain. Othertimes it comes along slowly, carefully, and it surprises you when you finally admit to it.

That's how it was with Edward. I didn't realize it until he kissed me that I had feelings for him. One of his rare magical grins was enough to send me to my knees. As I watched him play with the kids in his too big hat my heart fluttered in my chest. I craved his touch, his kiss, just the sheer pleasure of his company.

I was so screwed.

While Edward may have appeared put together to the outside world ,the truth was that he was still far from whole. He still spoke mostly in round about nonsense. He couldn't remember where he came from, or what happened to him. He was mad, absolutely off his rocker, and in no place to deal with the attraction that I was struggling with.

I groaned, resisting the urge to pound my head against the countertop. Why did I always have a habit of making things incredibly complicated? Edward needed my help to get back on his feet. He didn't need me to become sexauly confused about the matter.

Only I was. Dear God, I was so confused and turned on by him. We lived in a small place, it wasn't like I hadn't seen certain things. I wouldn't call him muscular, but he wasn't flabby either. He was lean, hard, and filled out in all the right places. The mad gleam that entered his eye when ever he put on the hat always seemed to send a jolt of pure lust through me so hard that I would have to grab something just to keep my feet under me.

I traced the brim of said hat with one finger. It wasn't a top hat like you would expect to see in pictures of victorian England or on Abraham Lincoln. While it was tall, it didn't come straight up. It had curves and bends. The felt was worn and thin in some places, but that also made it soft.

I wondered where Edward got it. Top hats were clearly no longer in style and hadn't been for nearly a hundred years. Maybe it had belonged to his grandfather, or great grandfather. I became distracted by imagining the grandballs and stories the hat might have been a part of.

I finally sighed and turned back to my playing cards, and nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw two big green eyes and a wide grin where they hadn't been before.

"Jesus, Edward! You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"I'm sorry." He waggled his eyebrows like a proper villain. He'd been much more playful since our little kiss. It was a nice change. "I noticed you looking at my hat."

I nodded. "It's odd. I like odd things."

That just made him grin wider. "It's very old, too."

"I noticed." Since he didn't seem to mind, I picked up the hat and studied the brown felt. "Do you know what color it was originally?"

Edward put his chin in his hands, forcing his mouth into an adorable pout. "It was red. Red as an apple. The sash was white. There was gold stitching on the brim. I was the only one who liked it. They said it was too bright, that it would clash with everything. So I kept it."

That was nonsense. There was no way that he saw this hat when it was new. It had to be at least a hundred years old, and he was only in his mid-thirties. "Well, I like it a lot."

With a smile, he slipped the hat out from under my fingers and placed it gently over my own head. We both laughed when it fell over my eyes.

"I think my head is a couple sizes too small."

"Needs to be smaller." He tilted it back so that the front rested on my forehead and I could see. He had this deep speculative look on his eyes. I wanted to say something, but I didn't want to ruin the moment either. He was oddly peaceful. "Your's will be blue. It would be pretty against your hair, your skin, your eyes."

"Mine? Do you know where to get another one?"

He shrugged nonchalantly, looked away, and whatever spell he was weaving was broken. I was disappointed. It seemed like he was on to something, and I knew better than to ask a question that was sure to have him clamming up.

Edward began fidgeting and I knew whatever it was that was on his mind was more important than just his hat. I didn't say anything. He would get to it in his own time.

"Bella, I wanted to ask you a question." He stumbled over the words.

"Okay, ask away. No such thing as I stupid question, I guess."

"Okay." The tips of his ears turned red. I had to fight the urge to giggle. I didn't want to make him any more embarrassed, but it was so damn precious. "Um, you see, I seem to remember when a man liked a woman, he asked her to spend the evening with him."

"Like a date?"

"Um, yes, a date. I don't think that was the word, but it works. Bella will you go on a date with me?"

I couldn't think. I could barely move. Did Edward just ask me out on a date? Edward and I, in the safety and comfort of my own home, was one thing, but out in the real world, that was completely different? I knew what he was, odd, broken, sweet, and wonderful. I knew what they saw in him, too. Weird, mad, crazy and I didn't care what they thought, but I couldn't picture Edward and I out there in the real world, like normal people. We had a lot of issues.

I tried to speak, but then had to clear my throat. I decided a joke was the way to go. "And how are you planning on paying for this date?"

His lips formed an absurd "o." I was surprised by the sheer force of my need to kiss him. "I didn't think about that."

"It's alright, but we need to talk. I guess we've been needing to talk for a while."

I watched as the life faded from Edward. He looked like a kicked puppy, and it was a terrible to watch. "Edward, stop. It's not that bad. There are just things that we need to discuss before I agree to this date."

Edward still looked weary and he wouldn't met my eyes, but he nodded all the same.

"Okay, then." I shook my head and forced myself to be serious and not shy away from the hard questions. "What about Tanya?"

Edward's eyebrows drew together in confusion. "What about her?"

"Well, what if she's still out there? What if she still loves you?"

"She's not. I would feel it."

It was a lame reason, but one he believed. "Okay, what about Your Flower?"

Here his face darkened like I'd never seen it. "I don't think she's real."

"What?" Edward was a lot of things, but a doubter wasn't one of them. He spent every moment he had looking for her. I'd even driven him around town a couple of times just in the hope that it would jog something in his mind. "What do you mean you don't think she's real?"

"I think I made her up." He began to pacing and pull out his hair. "I made her up because I was lonely and I needed something, so I created it. She's not real."

I started to say something, but then stopped. Edward was having a crisis of faith and I didn't know how to help him because I wasn't so sure that I believed it myself. I hadn't been able to find proof that he existed, much less a daughter.

There was something still nagging at me. Somewhere down deep in my heart, next to the part of me that was beginning to feel things for Edward, told me that his daughter was real and that wherever she was, she needed him.

"I'm sorry." He waved me off and tried to think about what to say, but there was nothing. So distraction became the key. "Where did you think about going on this date?"

He flashed his white pearly teeth, though the troubled look didn't entirely leave his eyes. "Leave that to me."

I grinned down at the cards that covered the counter to hide the blush that was creeping up my cheeks. "Then you have yourself date."

"Really?" his lips were against my ear as he pulled me to him.

"Yeah. A date. I can't remember the last time I went on one of those."

We stood there together, his arms around my waist. I could hear the steady thumping of his heart through his shirt.

"What are you doing?" He was staring quizzically down at the cards I'd been playing.

"Oh, its called Solitaire. You build a pyramid like this and then leave the bottom row turned up. You have to build decks of the different suits and you win if you can get rid of the whole pyramid."

I moved a card to the spade deck and flipped over the queen of hearts. Nothing could have prepared me for his reaction. Edward sucked in a shocked breath and his hand dug into my hip. Before I could do anything, he'd shoved the cards off the counter and to the floor with harsh, "No!"

"Edward?" He'd sunk to his knees, head in his hands, and was rocking back and forth. I tried to pull his hands away, but he was too strong.

"Red, red, red, red. Off with his head, the punishment mine. Gimme the hat or she'll turn up dead."

He repeated it over and over, until his voice became hoarse. Nothing I could say or do could bring him back to me. In the end, I could only wrap my arms around his shoulders and hope that he would come back to me.

AN: So, yeah, that happened. Woops.