Not much to say here tonight, except things will pick up pace soon. Just to recap, though: The first few chapters took place in late August. The meeting over coffee took place in late October. This chapter takes place a couple weeks later/early November and it's assumed B&E have continued corresponding.

Disclaimer: SM owns everything but the typos. This is still unbeta'd and off the cuff. ;)

Peacefully…

~(~)~

"So, Christmas shopping, huh?"

"Yeah, it's not my favorite thing to do, but it's unavoidable."

She laughs, glancing backwards to make sure her office door is closed all the way. "Why don't you just shop online?"

He sighs, the sound audible even through the phone. "I've done that a couple of times. It just doesn't feel as personal, though. Especially when everyone is coming here this year. Besides, think of all the money I'll save on the shipping."

"Which you'll blow on gas money just to get here."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…"

She smiles. "So, your family will all be there then? For Christmas?"

"Emmett and Rose confirmed just this weekend, so yeah, that's everybody."

"That's great, Edward. Sounds like fun."

"I hope so. For some reason I can't help but think it might be more like a National Lampoon's Christmas."

Bella giggles, shaking her head. "Do not let your mother hear you say that."

He chuckles. "I won't."

He grows quiet and she has a feeling she knows what he's going to say before he says it.

"Alice mentioned wanting to get in touch with you again. She'd like to see you while they're in town."

Bella runs her fingers through the waves in her hair, pulling at the tangles that have formed at the nape of her neck. "I don't know if I'm ready for that yet. I don't think we're ready for that. We're still figuring things out and you know your sister. I miss her a lot, but…"

"I know. I told her that, too."

"I'll definitely think about it, though. I want to see her at some point."

"We can talk about that when I come up there. If you still want to get together, that is."

Bella nods, fighting down the nerves associated with the get-together he proposed in his last email. She'd spontaneously decided to call him about it, rather than discuss it over the computer.

"No, I think it'll be okay… as long as you don't expect me to spend the entire day traipsing from store to store to store."

"No, no. Nothing like that. I thought we could just do lunch since I'd be in town anyway. There's no pressure, either way."

She smiles. "Well, if you're coming in to do shopping anyway, I could maybe do lunch and one or two stores. It would be nice to get a little shopping done early this year."

"When do you usually start?"

"I don't know, but never before Thanksgiving," she teases.

He chuckles lowly and the sound sends a rush of tenderness though her. She recognizes it as it often accompanies their exchanges these days. Even over email he affects her. His written words make her smile as much as his laughter does—on the rare occasion she gets to hear it anyway.

"So what time is good for you?"

"Any time after eleven. I have a Pilates class Saturday mornings."

"Pilates? Really?"

"Don't act so surprised. You're the one who dragged me to L.A. It was all anyone could talk about there at the time so I tried it. I got hooked."

"I never knew that."

She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth. "There were lots of things we didn't know we about it each other then."

"True."

She smiles softly to herself when he doesn't apologize right away. They're moving past that point now. It's good to feel the acceptance sink in. No more guilt, no more avoidance. Just peace.

"Okay, so what time do you want to meet? We got off track."

He clears his throat. "Right. How 'bout noon?"

"Sure. Where?"

"Umm… well, I'll be going downtown first. There's some kind of art gallery on Union Street that my mom likes and Dad has something on order for her there. I told him I could pick it up for him, so if you know any place nearby, that's my first stop."

"Yeah, I think I know a couple places in that area."

"Perfect, pick your favorite."

"Hmm… decisions, decisions." Her tone is derisive, making him laugh.

"You still hate it when people force you to cast the deciding vote, don't you?"

"Gee, how could you tell?"

He chuckles. "Just a hunch."

She giggles, then sighs.

"What if you call me when you get to Seattle instead? We'll just wing it."

"I can do that, if it's okay with you."

"Sure. I'll just plan to be downtown at noon and we'll go from there."

"Sounds perfect."

~(~)~

More tomorrow. :)