Un chanson pour vous! Nothing Else Matters by Metallica. I really recommend looking for a cover version by Apocalyptica.

Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight! But what I do with her characters are mine. They're just not the same anymore.

. . . . . . . . . .

It was not a peaceful sleep in the slightest. I woke up about every twenty minutes, the images of that broken, bloodied woman forcing itself into my mind every time I drifted off. It was different though, not the same woman, but a young girl with Bella's face, bleeding out on the gravel with broken wings protruding from her shoulder blades. Her chocolate-brown eyes staring lifelessly into nothing.

But every time I woke up, Bella was right there, her arm draped across my stomach with her head resting on my chest. I know she didn't sleep much either, every time I woke up it seemed her eyes were open, staring out the window.

Neither of us said anything though. We were both comfortable in the silence.

When I woke up for the last time, around six in the morning, it was to the smell of bacon. I stretched before swinging my feet out of her amazingly comfortable bed, and trotted over to her bathroom before she could notice my morning excitement.

I was relieved when I wrapped my arms around her waist, and she didn't stiffen. She smiled up at me, and I leaned down to give her a gentle kiss before resting my chin on her shoulder. When I remembered the bandages on her hands I tried to take over for her, but she quickly told me to fuck off.

She let me use her shower, which is when I noticed the cracked wall in her bathroom for the first time, confirming my unspoken assumption about what had happened to her knuckles. When I opened the shower door though, I spent a good five minutes just staring at the fucking sex-bar on her wall. I knew that was obviously not what the bar anchored into the shower wall was for, but it was all I could think about. I curiously tested my weight on it, and it didn't budge in the slightest as I did a few pull-ups off of it.

Fuck.

I was tempted to say something to her about it, I had about a hundred witty, and very dirty things to say about it, but I held my tongue.

I laughed when she lent me a shirt, surprised that she had something that fit me, but apparently she had a very large collection of overly-large band tees. Just like me. She also told me she was used to Emmett passing out on her couch. We spent about two hours going through her collection of shirts and the stories behind them, both of us pretty stunned by the amount of matching ones we had, and the amount of concerts we had apparently attended at the same time, both completely unaware of the other. I smiled at the SOAD one she lent me.

"You remember that first time we saw each other at the gym?"

"That was the first time you saw me at the gym," she corrected.

"What do you mean?"

"I had seen you there a couple times, you just didn't see me," she said with a smile. "But yeah, I remember. Why?"

"You were listening to Chop Suey when I walked over. I thought it was cool, because I had been listening to the same album while I had been running."

She laughed, and smiled at me.

"How are your hands?" I asked curiously.

"They're fine, just annoying the hell out of me," she said with a sigh. "You'd think I'd have learned my lesson by now. Guess not."

"I punched your punching bag that day when you walked away. Just once. I thought I broke my fucking hand, and then I thought you were some sort of cyborg because you had been doing it for almost twenty minutes."

She fucking giggled, shaking her head at me.

"What would you like to do today? You're not going into work tonight, are you?"

"No, even if I could punch someone today I doubt Rose would let me in the building. I'm probably just going to hang out here. What about you?"

"Well, I was hoping to just stay with you. I don't really care what we do."

She rolled her eyes, but she was grinning. "You can stay here for as long as you want."

"You shouldn't say that," I teased, and she turned to face me, raising and eyebrow. My hands slid down to her hips, pulling her against me. "If you let me decide, then I'll never leave."

"Maybe I don't want you to leave," she whispered, her hands sliding up my chest.

"Then I won't," I told her easily, leaning down and pressing my lips to hers. Her arms wrapped around my shoulders as she stretched up on her toes, and I easily lifted her up, holding her tightly while I kissed her.

. . .

It was a pretty peaceful day. Quiet. If I thought I'd slept badly, Bella had probably had half of that. I was curious, really, because I'd always had my thoughts about how she slept. Even when she had come to LA with me, and we were sharing the suite, it always seemed she was up later than I was, and she was always up before me as well. I couldn't decide on whether or not she was a morning person or a night owl, and she rarely showed any signs of exhaustion.

Today, she looked tired though. I was watching her closer than usual of course, after last night. But she just seemed… tired.

The only time she spoke of what happened was after she'd been on her laptop for an hour. She got up from the couch, placing the open laptop on her desk, and hooked it up to her printer before printing off a few pages. Some she folded and put into an envelope, before she shut it and walked over to the television.

She started fiddling with something on the side of it, and my mouth may have popped open a bit when the panel of wood the TV was mounted onto swung open, revealing a hidden safe.

"That's kind of fucking awesome," I blurted out unintentionally. She looked at me in surprise, like she'd snapped out of a haze, before she smiled at me.

"If you think that's neat, I can show you something even cooler," she mused, and I grinned before nodding back to her.

"What do you need a safe for?" I really wanted to take a peak, my curiosity was killing me, but I didn't want to pry either. I got up pretty quickly when she nodded me over. "Shit."

Pretty sure I was dating James Bond's daughter.

"Old identifications and passports," she said, pointing to a small stack next to a very large stack of cash. "Disposable phones, prepaid credit cards, important documents…" She shifted some thing over, pulling out a small, clear-plastic case with thumb drives in it. "I keep all of my important documents in this thing. One is medical records, because I've had so many different names and lived in different places, everything that I've ever been to the hospital for I made electronic copies of to keep in one place, in case something ever happens. Then one is for all of my different bank accounts and finances, one where I keep a record of descriptions of all of my contacts, different e-mail accounts and passwords, people who need to be contacted for whatever if something happens to me, etcetera…" She gave me a small smile and counted out four stacks of cash before closing and locking the door again.

"What're you doing?"

She worried her bottom lip for a moment before looking at me timidly. Her voice was very soft as she spoke. "Her name was Charlotte, and she was twenty-three. She lived with her mother and two younger sisters in LA, and worked two jobs to help her mother take care of her sisters while she took online courses. She didn't have life insurance. The funeral expenses alone would probably bankrupt her mother, and those two little girls… I know the money will do nothing to help ease their loss, and I can't contact them personally because communication is most likely being watched, but this will make sure that they're comfortable, and that what he did won't damage their family any more than he already has."

I watched, stunned, and she became quiet once more, slipped the cash and a letter inside of a bubble-lined manila envelope, and peeled a printed sticker off of a sheet on her desk before sealing the envelope with tape. She stared at it on her desk for a long moment before letting out a soft sigh, and turned to face me again. The smile on her face was obviously forced, but I said nothing of it.

"So, want to see something cool?"

And I did, if only because I could see in her eyes that she was in much more pain than she was willing to deal with and that she needed a distraction. She proceeded to show me the hidden door in the wood paneling of the wall next to her bed. Her apartment was connected to the one next door that had a small kitchen, living room, and two bedrooms. One of which she used as a laundry room and extra storage. She told me that Emmet and Rose stayed in the other bedroom when they babysat Zeus for her.

It was pretty cool, but I was distracted by the pain in my chest as I watched her. She was good at hiding it, but I was better at reading her.

I was kind of waiting for her to snap, or breakdown, or something, but… she didn't.

We sat back down on her couch, and I felt like neither of us paid the slightest bit of attention to the TV. I kept watching her from the corner of my eye as she kept moving closer to me, inch by inch on the couch, but she seemed hesitant for some reason. I really couldn't see why, and after a couple minutes I just closed the distance, pulling her into my lap and wrapping my arms around her. I felt my body slowly start to relax as hers did.

Fuck. She just fit so perfectly in my arms like this, like she was made to fit right there. Her weight felt so comfortable on me, though she was fairly toned she was still tiny and didn't seem to weigh much. It was just comfortable feeling her there, in my arms.

With my chin resting on her shoulder, my mind in a million different places as I ignored the TV, it was obvious as I watched her from the corner of my eye. She looked like she wanted to say something, but seemed to be holding her words back by chewing on her bottom lip nervously.

"What's up?" I asked quietly, grinning when she shivered as my breath tickled her ear. My smile just got bigger as her face turned beet red.

Fucking beautiful.

"Um, I was wondering if… you wanted to stay again. Tonight."

"Sure," I said easily, surprising myself with how fucking calm my voice sounded. I knew she meant just like last night, I was just happy for the opportunity to be close to her. I let out a breath, knowing her brother would still probably be irked by my stay. I definitely didn't want to sleep in these jeans again either. "I'm just going to run home and grab some clean clothes."

"Okay," she said with her dazzling smile. A real one, not a forced one. It once again froze me for a moment with its beauty, and I just watched her before I couldn't resist the pull anymore, and leaned in to kiss her.

I grabbed a cab a half a block away from her apartment, not wanting to really bother Riley during the holiday. I had no idea what his plans were, and felt a bit bad for not having asked. Oddly, I didn't feel that same guilt over not asking Tyler. I was still stunned by the knowledge of his unfaithfulness to his wife, so to try and deal with the fact that I was stuck with him until the end of the year, I thought it was in the best interest of our professional relationship just to not talk to him if it could be avoided. I didn't really know his wife, I think she had hit on me a couple times herself at a few parties she had attended with him, but I still felt bad. I wondered if she knew.

I was relieved that Bella didn't come with me when I arrived at my apartment. There was a horde of reporters by the main entrance, and I had my driver go in through the parking garage. Which was also swarmed. These reporters were closer though as we moved into the building, so I heard them shouting something about a "Brunette Mystery-Girl."

Shit.

I packed some things after calling Riley after all. He was very professional, and just had this vibe that I trusted, so when I told him my worries about leaving my building and not being followed, he ended up picking me up himself in his black Charger with its tinted windows.

He didn't ask any questions, and after asking him what his plans for the holidays were, he answered politely in as few syllables as possible before letting me know to contact him if I needed anything. As usual.

I kind of liked his gruff attitude. It didn't bother me. He just reminded me of Rose as she was a few years ago. She was a lot more easy-going now than she had been before. I had no doubt that that was the result of her relationship with Emmett. He was good for her.

I told Bella about what had happened when I got back a few hours later. It took a little while, because I was distracted by the pale pallor of her face when I got in. She said it was nothing, and didn't make as big a deal about the reporters as I'd expected. We were just going to have to be a bit more careful, and decided it wouldn't be wise for her to come back to my apartment any time soon, and that it wouldn't be safe for me to visit her at the library anymore either. She didn't hang around us at the club for more than a minute at a time really, so we saw no reason for me to start avoiding it.

She suggested maybe getting some additional security for inside of my building though, and when I told her that it really wasn't worth the effort of dealing with my manager, she told me she'd take care of it herself with a tone I didn't want to argue with.

Emmett and Rose came over with pizzas and salad for dinner, and even with their worried glances it was still a relaxed evening.

We watched one of her and Emmett's favourite movies, The Boondock Saints, which resulted in me being only slightly jealous of Norman Reedus, and my girlfriend's obvious infatuation with him. It wasn't too bad though, I knew I was hotter than he was, and a lot fucking bigger, and when I repeated a couple of his lines in my own Irish accent, quietly into her ear, she didn't seem to have much interest in the movie anymore.

Fuck, I missed the feeling of her hands on my skin, curled up next to me. I was fucking exhausted too, even after a day of nothing, so after it got dark and the two of them left, Emmett taking the large padded envelope to mail from out of town for Bella, I was more than ready to curl up with her in her giant bed again.

She didn't hesitate in curling into my side this time, making me smile. I was out as soon as I closed my eyes.

. . .

My bladder woke me up early in the morning, and my eyes were too blurry to read the red numbers on Bella's alarm clock. After even a short period of bare feet on the cold tiles of her bathroom, I was more awake as I carefully slid back into bed, being careful not to wake her.

Because she was actually asleep this time, and I smiled to myself, seeing her face look so relaxed. It was hard to look away actually. I moved closer to her, loving how she turned into me in her sleep, the smallest smile playing in the corners of her lips.

I brushed some of her hair carefully out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. Her skin felt so damn soft, and I could feel her pulse lightly against my fingertips as I traced them down her neck. I smiled to myself, resting the palm of my hand lightly against her throat, just enjoying the sensation of feeling her heartbeat.

I jerked my hand away quickly, though I wasn't exactly sure why at the moment. She hadn't flinched but something just felt… off.

It took me a few seconds to notice how still she was. Too still.

By the time I realized that she had stopped breathing, her body sort of twitched, before her face contorted in pain and her hands flew up to her throat.

"Bella?" I choked out, having no fucking clue what to do. My heart started hammering against my chest as she started thrashing around and clawing at her neck. "Bella!" I shouted, panicked, and started shaking her shoulders, trying to wake her up.

But I was knocked aside a second later by Zeus, who dove onto the bed and stood over her as he started barking loudly at her.

She gasped in a painful breath that quickly turned into a sob as she sat upright, and it sounded so painful as she seemed to be forcing herself to breathe again. I tentatively reached out for her, saying her name, but she flinched away from me so violently that she fell out of her bed.

My heart broke as she looked up at me with startled, terrified eyes before she pulled her knees up to her chest, hiding her face. Zeus was practically glued to her, trying to worm his way under her arm and lick her face.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm okay, I'm fine," she gasped out, and the way she clutched at her chest made it obvious she was in physical pain. I wasn't sure if she was trying to reassure me, or herself though.

And even though she flinched away from me, I couldn't sit there and do nothing. I slid down onto the floor after her, talking to her, telling her it was okay as I carefully pulled her into my arms. She only barely flinched, but after I touched her she let me pull her into my lap without a struggle.

And she cried. Every painful sob tore at my heart, but I just held her, telling her she was alright, and that I was here for her, and that I was sorry for scaring her. Zeus was leaning against us the entire time.

"I'm sorry," she whispered again, a while after her sniffles had faded away. I hadn't loosened my hold on her in the slightest. Holding her was the only thing holding me together.

"You have nothing to apologize for," I told her quietly, kissing her hair. "This was my fault, I'm so sorry for scaring you."

"What do you mean?" She asked, leaning back to look at me. I swiped away at a bit of the moisture on her cheeks.

I took a steadying breath. "I… you were sleeping, and I touched your neck," I started, looking at her curiously. Isn't that what had scared her? "And you stopped breathing. I tried to wake you up, but Zeus was louder."

She shook her head. "No, it wasn't your fault. It was just a dream I had," she said with a small smile. She trailed her index finger lightly between my eyebrows over the bridge of my nose. "I… it happens sometimes. I'm sorry if I scared you, I should have warned you."

I shook my head, and kissed her gently before holding her tightly again for a few minutes.

"What was your dream about?" I asked quietly. No matter what she said… she had stopped breathing the moment I'd rested my hand against her neck. I must have triggered something. She froze in my arms. "Bella?"

"I-" her voice came out as more of a squeak, before she cleared her throat. "It doesn't matter, it was nothing," she said quietly.

Like hell it was nothing. I chose a gentler approach then saying those words, though it wasn't without effort. "It was. Please, I just want to understand," I told her truthfully. Because really, seeing her like that had scared the shit out of me, and I didn't want to do it again. The other times I'd seen her seemingly have a nightmare, she started talking in her sleep, like she was trying to wake herself up, but nothing even close to this. "You said this has happened before?"

She was quiet for a long time, or at least it felt like a long time. I tried to give her the time she needed to organize her thoughts though, she was still shaking in my arms.

"It was a memory, not a dream," she said quietly.

"What happened?" I asked, my voice barely louder than a breath.

"You don't want to hear this Edward, it's really nothing, I just-"

"Bella," I said quietly, as her voice started to trail off. I tried to tell her in that one words that it was okay. I knew she was afraid of hurting me, but I needed her to be able to trust me to be able to handle it. I didn't want her to feel like she had to hide these things to protect me.

She seemed to lean more into my chest before she spoke, and I tightened my hold on her in response.

"That night, before he tried to knock me out… I was waiting for Emmett to get home, he was supposed to take me to a birthday party," she said in a quiet voice, sounding so much younger than she usually did. It was always easy to forget how young she really was, and I wondered for a moment if our age difference ever bothered her. I was only maybe six years older than her, well, closer to seven, but still.

"What happened?" I practically whispered.

"He just showed up. My dad was at work, so I was home alone. I told him to leave, that I would tell Emmett or my dad, but it was like he didn't even hear me. He was talking to me, but it was like I wasn't even there. I remember his eyes being almost completely black. I found out a few years later that it meant he was really high…" She let out a soft breath, and her words bled together a bit as she spoke quickly. "I tried to get him to leave, but he wouldn't, and when I told him Emmett would be home any minute, something just sort of snapped in him. He cornered me, and wrapped his hands around my throat as he pinned me to the wall. Then he started kissing me. I couldn't breathe, and I wasn't strong enough to push him away." She rubbed her hands over her throat. "Emmett calling the house and leaving a message made him drop me, but then he freaked out even more, and tried to knock me out before he took me."

God, no wonder she freaked out when I touched her neck. I felt sick, that someone could actually… do that to her. When she was a fucking child no less. I didn't want to picture it, but I could, too easily. And it made my stomach roll in some sort of combination of nausea and rage.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered in her hair. "I won't-"

"No," she said, shaking her head before she turned in my arms. When she looked at me, I felt like her big brown eyes were looking right into my damn soul. "It's okay, really, I don't want you to… I didn't want to tell you, because I don't want you to be afraid of touching me." Her eyes were watering again as she watched me worriedly, and I watched nervously as she took my hand, and brought it back up to rest flat against her throat. She shivered slightly, but didn't break eye contact as she gave me a smile. "It's okay. I know you'd never… hurt me. I know that. It was just a dream, and I forgot where I was for a moment. It wasn't you."

The fear in her voice is what convinced me. Not a fear of a memory, but a fear of me being afraid.

I smiled at her gently, sliding my hand from her neck to cup her cheek, before I leaned in and kissed her softly. Her hands slid into my hair as I kissed her, but her lips broke away from mine as I stood up, still holding her. It wasn't completely easy getting off the floor without using my hands, but I did it, and slid back into the bed without giving up my hold on her.

I didn't know what else to say, asides from that I loved her, and I tried not to say that aloud because I didn't want to make her uneasy. I wasn't able to fall back asleep, but I was still at peace, just holding her so close to me.

I just hated that even having her so close, in my arms, I still wasn't able to protect her from him.

If I ever got close to him myself, I knew I'd kill him in an instant, with my bare hands if I needed to. I wanted him to feel the pain that she felt, because I could feel it too. He had tried to kill part of my own soul, and I wanted his life in return.

. . . . . . . . . .

It was a good weekend, all things considered. I spent the rest of it with her at her place, as she seemed completely serious when she told me I could stay as long as I wanted.

It made the choice easy, knowing she wanted me there just as much as I wanted to be there.

She was much better on Sunday, lighter even, and it was obvious that the few hours of sleep she had gotten, even with her intense fucking reaction to her nightmare, had made a world of a difference. We didn't talk about it again, and there was no mention of Victor or the events of Thanks-Giving.

I never got bored staying in her apartment though. Bella was incapable of staying still for very long. We played darts, board games, video games, none of which lasted long because of her bandaged hands. She didn't go to the gym, but let me join her when she did laps up and down the stairwell to burn off some of her extra energy with Zeus. It had started to snow, and the park was too crowded on the weekends, so we didn't go running. Emmett and Rose came over to visit for a little while every day.

It was pretty exhausting, her definition of relaxing. But I found that when I did get tired, if I wrapped her in my arms and held her tightly enough, she was able to relax and stay still for a while.

That one weekend seemed to change our relationship quickly, and a little intensely. I loved it. She was always next to me, touching me, smiling at me, kissing me. I could never take my hands off of her, though we dialed it down when Emmett was over. We didn't want to push him too hard, he seemed like he was finally starting to get comfortable with the idea that his little sister was in a relationship with someone. We didn't want to screw up the progress.

The whole experience made Monday close to unbearable, being away from her for an entire nine hours. But we had discussed it, and the only place where we both thought it safe to see each other anymore was at her apartment.

And whoever those two men from the grocery store were had done something. The reporters didn't die down quickly; there always seemed to be at least a dozen photographers outside of my building, not just the main entrance but the parking garage as well, snapping pictures of me and shouting for the name of my 'mystery woman.' Just sitting and waiting, hoping for a chance at a glimpse of someone to make a story on.

And Victor was still looking for her. That was obvious to me from the messages he was leaving on his victims.

So, this is how our new routine started. Monday through Wednesday she worked at the Library, and I killed my time hanging out at my place, going to the gym, and going out for lunches with Alice, Emmett, Jasper or my parents. Thursdays were mine and Bella's after she taught her classes, though we got together with the entire gang at one of their places for dinner. We had tried to celebrate Alice and Jasper's engagement again, just a small dinner, and I told the others that my parents were planning on throwing her a large, official engagement party once they settled on a date too. I'd stop by the club on Fridays to hang out with the gang for a while, watching my ninja work her angry magic on the crowds on the nights she worked the floor. Saturdays I had dinner with my parents, and Sundays were my other Bella days.

No one ever came over on Sundays. They were all ours. No work, no classes, no drama, just us.

I found it very hard to spend any length of time in my own apartment now. It was too big, too empty, and didn't feel remotely like home. I couldn't sleep unless it was in Bella's bed.

But that is where I slept every night except for Fridays and Saturdays. She worked until four in the morning those nights, and we decided that we weren't going to take the risk of someone seeing her leave the club with me, or someone following me from the club to her building. But every other night, after getting dropped off by Riley in her parking garage and taking the service elevator up to her floor, I stayed at her place. I practically lived there now, and I loved it.

Being with Bella was as easy as breathing, and not being with her, I just couldn't seem to breathe comfortably.

. . . . . . . . . .

Wear a good suit tonight Hollywood, I'm picking you up at eight.

I kept glancing at the text she had sent me this morning, smiling at it every time I read it. This was against our rules, but she was set as firmly as steel in her plans. Whatever they were. She told me she had something fun planned for my birthday, and as nervous as I was, I couldn't help being excited. She wouldn't give me any hint as to what we were doing except saying that we were "going out."

I followed her instructions, getting dressed in an ink-black suit, Alice's latest masterpiece, with a dark grey silk shirt and a deep green tie that was the exact color of my eyes. I combed my fingers through my messy hair, loving my new cut.

Of course Bella knew how to cut hair. I jumped in the chair as soon as she had finished with Emmett, and I knew I'd never go to a barber again.

I paced around in my empty apartment, nervous and excited, until eight rolled around and my phone vibrated again.

We're here. Come on down, Birthday boy.

I chuckled, locking my door and nodding to the security guard by the elevator before I walked out. An extra precaution that not only Bella, but also Riley had encouraged me to accept. With the movie release in a month, and the hunt being on for the identity of my mystery brunette, the pap were starting to get really riled up. He made sure no unauthorized people came onto my floor, and there was a second one stationed in the lobby. When I came out of the elevator, he walked me outside, and stopped in front of a giant, hummer-styled limo. I tried not to squint from the flashes of light that threatened to blind me before I stepped in curiously, and he quickly shut the door behind me.

Emmett and Jasper were there, both wearing fancy suits, along with Rose and Alice who were dressed to the nines with their hair done up, Alice in a silver cocktail dress, and Rose in a shimmering red silk wrap dress. I barely saw them though.

Sitting in the spot farthest from the door was Bella. She was wearing a tight, blue-satin dress that tied around her neck, and dipped down to just below her breasts. That colour was fucking perfection on her, showing off her smooth, creamy skin, and she had her hair pinned up in an elegant up-do. I quickly made my way over to her across the giant limo, dropping down on the bench next to her. She tapped the glass when I sat down, and the car started moving.

"Fuck," I growled, looking over her slowly. She smirked.

"You don't look so bad yourself," she said, running her fingers down my tie slowly. I shivered. Emmett cleared his throat, and I sighed before peeling my eyes off of his sister.

"Happy Birthday man," he said with an amused, yet slightly irritated smile, and was echoed by everyone else as they moved around to give me hugs.

"Thanks guys. I have to admit, I wasn't expecting… whatever this is. Is this safe?" I asked worriedly, looking back at Bella, and wrapping my arm around her. I was just calmer when I was touching her.

"Don't worry about me tonight, let's just enjoy this," she whispered into my ear, kissing my cheek.

"If there's a chance you're not safe tonight, I want to go back right now. You know I don't care about this sort of stuff," I told her seriously.

"It'll be fine Edward. I won't be in the public's eyes for more than a couple minutes, and I brought my sunglasses," she said with a smile. I relaxed.

"Where are we going?" I asked, getting excited again. I was out with my girl, who was dressed like a fucking super-model tonight, and all of my closest friends. Fuck, her chest looked amazing in this dress, I've never seen her wear something so low-cut before. It was hard not to stare, and she fucking knew it.

"It's a surprise," she teased, leaning in and resting her hand on my thigh. My grip on her tightened automatically, and her smile grew.

Yeah, she knew what that dress was doing to me. It was wrong for such a small woman to have so much goddamn power. Evil, sexy sorceress.

We drank champagne and snacked on fancy cheeses while laughing and talking as we drove to the mystery location, and when the limo pulled to a stop, Bella pulled out her pair of giant sunglasses, slipped on her jacket and scarf, and we filed out of the limo.

The camera flashes were blinding as I helped her step out of the limo last, and she didn't pull away from me as I wrapped my arm around her waist and we made our way into the large concert hall with the others. It was strange, but thrilling.

This woman was with me. They couldn't see her face, or know her name, but by this time tomorrow half of America was going to know that I had had this fucking drop-dead gorgeous woman on my arm on my birthday.

And as happy as that made me, it put a pit in my stomach.

This wasn't safe. I was letting Bella put herself in danger for me, for something as frivolous as my twenty-eighth birthday. I felt fucking selfish.

We walked around the crowded halls, people snapping pictures of us when they recognized my face, and every flash was like a knife to my chest.

Victor could see these pictures. He could recognize her, or Emmett with me. He could track me down, and use me to find her.

The image of my nightmares flashed through my mind, but these ones were worse. In them there was a faceless man, running his hands over her broken body, and ripping the feathers out of my angel's wings.

"Relax Edward," she murmured beside me, squeezing my arm. I realized I had started shaking.

"I can't. This isn't safe. You're not safe here."

"This is okay Edward. Please, just try to relax. I want you to have fun tonight."

I nodded, but couldn't bring myself to smile.

We ended up in a private box, where there was a stocked bar, and a table covered in trays of food; stuffed mushroom caps, little puff pasties with creamed beef and salmon, coconut shrimp, chocolate dipped fruits, all sorts of things. Emmett started pouring drinks for everyone as we settled into our seats.

It was hypnotizing watching Bella take off her jacket, seeing the way her wings moved as her shoulder blades shifted from the movement.

My angel.

She wasn't safe here with me.

She sat down next to me, and watched me worriedly for a long minute before sighing, then taking a photo out of her purse. She handed it to me.

"What's this?"

"A picture of me when I was thirteen. Victor hasn't seen me face to face since then."

She didn't have to explain any more. If it wasn't for her chocolate brown eyes, I would never have associated her with the woman who was sitting beside me. She was wearing a pink t-shirt and light blue denim shorts. Her thick, messy hair was barely brushing her shoulders, her cheeks a little chubby, and a warm bronzed tan covered her skin.

"He could have pictures of you since then though, couldn't he?"

"You know how I usually dress though." She didn't say no, but I could see what she meant. She was good with her disguises. No one would recognize her now as the ninja from the club, or the conservative-yet sexy librarian from the historical society, or the angry self-defence teacher and spinning instructor from the gym.

I relaxed slightly, letting out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

"Okay?" She whispered quietly.

This was only one night. Tomorrow we'd go back to our secretive life. She would be okay.

"Okay." I smiled at her, and felt her relax as I wrapped an arm around her, leaning in and kissing her. Emmett made a gagging noise.

"Fuck off Emmett, I've had to watch you and Rose for two years," she growled, kissing me again. I chuckled, holding her a little more tightly.

After I was able to relax, the drinks didn't stop coming. A big cake was brought in, and they all sang Happy Birthday to me. I laughed when I recognized the cake. It was the chocolate cheesecake we had gotten the first time Bella came to LA with me, and egged, TP'd and set a bag of dog shit on fire on Tanya's front step.

It was even more delicious than I remembered.

I opened a couple presents. This evening was my present from Bella, and I still found it amusing that she seemed just as well off as I did. It was still too much though; the suite, the limo, whatever concert this was, and that fucking dress. But Emmett and Rose got me a new Rolex, and Alice and Jasper got me season tickets for the Yankee's next season. We snacked on cake and hors d'oeuvres, emptying bottle after bottle of champagne, until the lights dimmed and the musicians filed out on stage, the hall filled with the screams of crazed fans.

My face split into a giant grin when Metallica came on stage, and we got shit faced, singing along off key with the blaring sound of the music. They had a surprise halfway through the concert though, where the four Cellist's came up and joined them.

It was the most amazing concert I'd ever been too, the rarity that was Metallica and Apocalyptica playing together. I had seen them twice before, Metallica being my favourite band, but this was by far the best, made even better having the love of my life tucked under my arm.

When the show ended, we waited in our suite while the crowds made their way out. I was by no means in a rush to leave, so we sat comfortably, talking to each other loudly over the ringing in our ears, until there was a knock on the door. Bella sprang to her feet, dashing to the door, and I felt the colour drain out of my face as the band filed into our room.

James Hetfield gave my girlfriend a fucking hug. She looked slightly uncomfortable with the gesture but was trying hard not to show it. When he let her go, she turned to smile at me, biting her lip. She led him over, and he gave me a giant fucking smile while reaching out to shake my hand.

"Hey."

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. My fucking idol is talking to me.

I coughed, trying to clear my throat. "Hey?"

He laughed. "I hope you don't mind. Angel here said if I came up I might get an autograph," he said with a big grin. "I'm a big fan."

I gaped at Bella, and she was watching me with an amused grin. That look relaxed me a little, helping me to organize my thoughts.

"Only if I can get one in return, I'm an even bigger fan," I said, almost bouncing in excitement. He laughed, and they all came into our room, taking seats while Jasper poured drinks for everyone with trembling hands. They hung out with us for about twenty minutes, giving me a band shirt with all of their signatures and a big "Happy Birthday Edward" written on the back. They asked me some questions about some of my films, and I hooked them all up with tickets to the premiere in January, telling them I'd have my agent mail them first thing in the morning.

I couldn't even bring myself to be angry when he kissed my girlfriend on the cheek when they left, though I can't say I fucking liked it either.

My mind was spinning as we walked back to our limo, Bella leaning against my arm as she swayed slightly, her cheeks flushed. Emmett was carrying Rose over his shoulder, she kept tripping, and was giggling loudly. There were still photographers outside, but we got in quickly, and I took off Bella's sunglasses as soon as the door closed behind us, taking her face tightly in my hands and kissing her until she needed to gasp for a breath.

"Did that seriously just happen?" I asked her, still having trouble processing the evening I'd just had.

She just grinned at me, her fingers fiddling with my tie as she leaned into me.

"How do you know James fucking Hetfield?"

"My tattoo artist had done a couple of his tattoos. I was with him when I found out they were playing on your birthday. They jumped at the chance to meet the infamous Edward Cullen."

I shook my head. This was all just too much. Bella was too much. How could I repay her for something like this? I couldn't even take her out to fucking dinner. There were so many things I wanted to do for her. What was the point in having millions if you couldn't use it on the one person who meant more to you than everyone else in the world? I knew she was well off, she didn't even care about money. But with her three jobs, the jobs she did on the side, her building, and having shares in both the biggest gym and most popular club in New York city… Was there anything I could give her that she didn't already have? She had everything she wanted in her little apartment, and never asked for anything.

What could I possibly give her? What did she even see in me? She wasn't dating me for my money or because I was famous. She couldn't have, and didn't want, the fame and the spotlight that came with being with an actor.

I didn't deserve her.

"Hey, what's wrong? I'm sorry, I should have checked with you first before I offered for them to meet you, I-"

I shut her up with another kiss, crushing her in my arms.

"I love you Bella. So fucking much. I don't deserve you. I want to give you everything in the world, and it kills me that I can't do it without putting you in danger. Thank you for being with me, for having me in your life. You're everything to me, the most important person in the world. I love you."

I had whispered the words into her ear while I held her, hiding the intensity of the emotions I was feeling in my eyes from the others with her as my shield. She started combing her fingers through my hair soothingly.

"I don't want anything Edward. Just you. I just want to be with you." She was quiet for a few seconds, and when she spoke again her voice was so quiet that I almost didn't hear her. "I love you too."

I froze under those words, my heart stopping and my breath getting caught in my throat. I leaned away from her, holding her face in my hands as I watched her closely.

"You do?" I had to make sure she said them, that this was real, that I hadn't lost my mind.

"I do," she said, smiling back at me nervously.

I kissed her again, hard, and she was shaking as her arms wrapped around me tightly.

Bella loves me.

We dropped off Jasper and Alice first, then Rose and Emmett. I held Bella tightly in my lap while we drove away from them, and froze when the limo parked outside of my apartment.

"We're not going over to your place?" I asked, surprised. We always spent Thursday nights at her place.

"We can, but you brought your stuff home yesterday and I didn't think you'd want to sleep in that suit," she said with a smile. I let out a shaky breath. "I have to ditch the limo though, and I probably shouldn't drive over with you in this dress. Meet me back at my place?"

"Perfect," I said, leaning in and giving her one more long kiss before climbing to the back of the limo and stepping out. I couldn't keep the grin off of my face as I walked through the small crowd in front of my building, and went upstairs. I had a quick shower and got changed into some jeans and a sweater, before throwing some things into a bag. As I waited for Riley, I took the time to shoot an e-mail to Tyler, giving him the address to send the tickets to. He'd been annoying the shit out of me lately, not that that was really new, but he did have his uses. I had one from him too, talking about the transportation for the premiere that had a bunch of attachments of different pictures of cars in it.

That's when the idea hit me. Looking at that beautiful charcoal Aston Martin's picture in the pile of attached photos.

I knew the name, because Bella had a picture of an older one on her shelf.

I replied back to Tyler, telling him that I didn't care about the transportation, but that I wanted that fucking car. I wanted it with purple leather seats, and I wanted it within the next week. I didn't care about the price, I told him to just make it happen.

Feeling accomplished, I put on a tuque and some sunglasses before I rode down the elevator with a smile. Riley actually spoke without a prompt, wishing me a happy birthday before we drove in silence to Bella's. She was coming down from the roof with Zeus as I stepped off of the elevator, her hair wet and already dressed for bed. I only let go of her to change into some flannel pants before curling around her in her comfortable bed, holding her tightly against me.

"This was the best birthday I've ever had Bella. Thank you for this, for everything." I grinned. "I think this was technically our first date though, wasn't it?"

She laughed, "Yeah, I think it was." She cuddled into me more closely, and I tightened my hold on her. "I wish we could do stuff like this more often. I'm so-"

"No, don't even. I don't want to ever hear you fucking apologize again Bella."

She laughed. "Okay." Her arm wrapped around my waist. "Happy Birthday Edward."

I almost said happy birthday back to her, making myself smile.

"Thank you," I whispered back, kissing the top of her head.

. . . . . . . . . .

For those of you thinking that it was a stupid idea for Bella to have done what she did… I'll be addressing that later, so please don't yell at me ;) Besides that, what did you think of his birthday present?

For Edward, this chapter was mostly filler, I know, sorry, but it was still important to the story. But hey, you got three pretty big words still. How do you guys feel about that?