A/N: Yes. No. To Get to the other side. 1.77245

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

A Guiding Heart: New Girl

~AGH~

16

"And then what happened?" Alice asked as she flitted around my room. "It's okay, you know, you can tell me."

"It was a heavy makeout session, and I thought it was leading to sex right there in the stockroom, be damned the shaking bottles and threat of the bar owner walking in." I rolled on my stomach, burying my face in the pillow of my bed.

"Well didn't it?"

"No," I said into my pillow before groaning, rolling over and sitting up. "I mean I would have! I remembered the pep talk from Aunt Tanya. I was ready! So was he, believe me, so was he, but he stopped it."

"He stopped it? Him? A guy?"

I remembered every second of his lips on mine in that stockroom, hearing his heart. "He told me that this wasn't how he wanted things with us. That he promised himself things would be different with me."

"What?" Alice finally stopped and stood in one place throwing her arms in the air. "Nooooooooo! What does that even mean?" Alice exclaimed.

"It means I'm not the first chick to pull him into a dark, back room apparently! He was a hockey star. Girls threw themselves at him, Alice. In my head I understood it, that he wanted to respect what is developing between us, but it still felt like . . . like . . . "

"Ugh, rejection," Alice answered for me before planting herself at the end of my bed.

"Yes, that's it. But he swore it wasn't. He said he's been down that road before too many times and couldn't afford to live his life that way anymore. Then he begged me to go back to his hotel room and spend the night with him. He said he didn't want to risk me leaving him, that he needed me too much, that he was mad when he didn't hear from me in a way that he's never been mad before. I don't know Alice, is it all too much?"

Alice had bounded up from the bed and seemed to shoot around the room like a ball in a pinball machine. She stopped when I stopped talking and returned to the bed, plopping down on it dramatically. "I'm so glad Emmett is not here to hear any of this," she said.

"Me, too." I sighed quietly. "I still don't know if he really wants me or if I just make his heart feel better, rhythmically you know? Edward insisted that it was more than that, and his way of proving it to me was by not sleeping with me. He stayed up talking for as long as he could, and then he held me in his arms the rest of the night."

"Just talking?" Alice asked.

I laughed as her head turned toward me; her amber eyes sharpened and waited expectantly. "Not just talking. There was flirting and laughing and . . . kissing. And gazing into each other's eyes. And moments of contentment . . . for me anyway."

"Oh it sounds like those moments were there for him, too."

"He insisted this is more than just his heart defect - that he wants to get to know me and have fun and . . ." I hesitated.

"And?" Alice asked. "And what?"

"He said he wants to be part of my life, but Alice I can't just invite him into my world just like that. He has no idea about the dangers . . ."

"Bella! Bella, it's okay," Alice interrupted. "Remember just to take this one step at a time. You have to believe that if you are following your heart, then he is too. Now answer your phone," she directed but my phone wasn't even ringing . . . Ring!

I picked up my phone and saw it was Edward calling me. It was only 11 am and he had been up so late.

"Hello?" I spoke softly.

"Hi beautiful angel," he said. My head immediately wanted to tell him not to call me that.

"Hi," I responded shushing Alice away as I sped downstairs, out of the house and into Esme's garden. "Why aren't you sleeping? You were up practically all night."

"I could be asking you the same question."

"Ummm, I don't . . ."

"Oh that's right. Insomnia or your body is wired differently from working the night shift at the hospital."

"Something like that," I offered convincingly.

"I need you to meet me at the park today. I want to show you something. I have a few errands to run right now but can you meet me there around 2 o'clock?"

"Sure," I replied without enough hesitation.

"Have you already been there this past week?" he asked, catching me off guard before adding, "My heart will know if you're lying so play fair."

I internally face-palmed myself again. "I may have dropped in intending to see you but not making it there," I said giving myself up.

When he replied, "I thought so" I could hear him grinning on the other end of the phone. His voice dropped, revealing a vulnerability in him he hadn't shown to me before, not even when he was in the hospital. "Thank you for being with me last night," he said.

Being with him? "But we didn't . . ." I protested in a high pitch.

"Last night you gave me exactly what I needed, but if somehow I failed you, then I promise to make it up to you another time."

"No, Edward, of course you didn't fail me. I liked last night," I replied, despite knowing how awry my attempt at implementing the Denali clan's advice had gone.

"Good, because I think about you, Bella. A lot."

"Me too," I said realizing I sounded like an idiot. "I mean, I don't think about myself. I think about you." Another internal face-palm.

"You think about me in a I hope he's taking his medications way?"

"Well that, too. You are, aren't you?"

"Yes, doc."

"Edward," my voice dropped to a whisper like I was afraid to reveal this, "I can't stop thinking about you."

Edward laughed slightly and told me he was glad to hear it.

"God it feels like days since I saw you last," he said, melting me because I felt the same.

We had left his car at the bar and taken a taxi to his hotel last night, so he was planning on picking it up before running his errands. I couldn't help but detect an evasiveness in his voice when I pressed him about his errands. I was curious.

"I'll see you at the park in a bit, then? By the rink?" he confirmed.

"I'll be there," I said before a quick goodbye and hanging up. A shiver rushed through me, as well as pangs in my stomach. I didn't think I was hungry, though.

~AGH~

I took a shower before updating Alice that I was heading into town early because I just wanted to see what his errands entailed. Alice put on her baseball hat and insisted on accompanying me. I insisted on driving. We ended up spotting him leaving Yankee Candle. Wasn't he there the other day according to Jasper? After I watched him drive off in his Audi TT, we went in to browse the shop and try to figure out what he had been doing there. What a strange store to be in, I thought, with all the scents accosting me. Alice's scent tracker was more finely tuned than mine, and it proved valuable to have her with me. She whispered that she was retracing his steps based on his scent. She led me past the candles and up to the front counter where we spoke with one of the employees.

"Hi, can I help you with something?" the young woman asked.

"Oh, my brother was just in here, picking out a scent he thought his girlfriend would like, and I was supposed to stop in and get it."

Oh Alice was good. I bet even not as a vampire, she had this quality to her.

"Hmmm, I don't think we have any notes . . ." she checked around the cash register.

"He was here the other day, too," I offered, hoping to jog her memory.

"Oh well I wouldn't know. I have a baby at home, so I only work here one day a week."

"Oh you do?" Alice asked. "That must be fun."

"It is, but I like getting out of the house, like I said just one day the baby stays with a sitter."

Alice must have read her name tag. "Tiffany, is it? Well I'm sure my brother said he was stopping in this morning. He must have chosen something. Tall, good looking, athletic build, bronze hair . . . ring any bells?"

"Oh him!" Tiffany said in recognition as she flipped her long blonde hair over to one side. "He's from out of town, right?"

I mean how many guys had actually come through the Yankee Candle shop this morning, I thought.

"Correct," Alice said pleasantly. "He's here visiting."

"Yeah he was chatting me up a little bit, which I didn't mind because he was friendly enough, but once he found out I was married and had a baby, he seemed less interested. He kind of looked at me like I was supposed to know who he was, but I didn't!" She laughed at herself gleefully. "I'm not sure how I would know him. I've lived in this town my whole life! I swear I've never been further than Port Angeles where I used to work at the amusement park!"

"Oh really, you used to work there?" Alice asked.

"Just when I was younger."

I knew Alice was just about to offer up that I did too, but I coughed, getting her to nix it. It was a big place to work. I didn't know everybody, but even if I had known her, the memories were likely to be those that were stolen with the vampire transformation. As it was, I truly didn't recognize her, nor she me.

In a polite fashion, Alice picked out a few candles and purchased them, then we wished Tiffany a good day before returning to the car.

"I don't get it. Does he come to a small town and just expect people to recognize him? I didn't think he was that into his celebrity," I said. "And not everyone is a hockey fan."

"I don't know, but it almost seems like he intentionally went back there today to talk to her, doesn't it? Just not sure he found what he was looking for considering she didn't know him," Alice added. "At least she said he didn't seem interested once he found out she was married."

"Alice, I need to know if he comes back in to talk to her."

"I know. I'll let Jasper know and we'll keep an eye on this place. If we have to, Jasper can get Jenks to do a background check on her, but you heard her, it doesn't sound like she has much to hide. And she's a couple of years younger than you Bells. She may have gone to high school with us but I don't know her."

The thoughts churned over and over in my mind wondering who she could be to Edward. It didn't make any sense, but it was getting later and I needed to meet him in the park. I dropped Alice back at home and got myself ready to see him, avoiding Carlisle and Esme. Meanwhile, it wasn't hard to notice that Emmett had been MIA as much as possible. I donned my hat, scarf and gloves and left in the cherry bomb.

~At the SSA park~

"There she is, all bundled up."

Edward greeted me by the rink with a long hug, his million-dollar crooked smile and a kiss to make me forget for a second that I was a vampire and he was a human. It felt good to just mold into his body as much as I could, but I couldn't let myself not be mindful that he was delicate to me.

"Why do I feel like you've slapped one of those 'Fragile: Handle with care' stickers on me?" he asked.

"Because you are."

"I might have been that night you met me in the hospital, but I keep telling you Bella, you do something to me that makes me stronger, makes me feel more alive."

"And that's why you want me around . . ." I offered.

"Come and take a walk with me. I want to show you something," he said, taking my gloved hand into his and leading me behind a gate and down a path to a small trailer. "This is my on-site office for all intents and purposes."

We entered, and he closed the door, crossing over to the wall that held the thermostat. He adjusted the temperature. The walls were a dull white with a horrible faux wood look to the trim. He had a built-in drafting table and a small two-person couch. Edward immediately turned on the heat and apologized for how cold it was. He pulled a long cardboard tube out of a cabinet and popped off the lid as he eyed me sitting on the couch. A long rolled-up paper was removed, and he unrolled it out carefully onto the table, placing weights on either end of it.

"Wait right there," he said, giving me a wink.

He came to sit down next to me, his hand moving to cradle my face. "Did anyone ever tell you how beautiful you are to the point of distraction?"

"Right," I muttered knowing he was only seeing the camouflage accented by my long, brown hair. His thumb gently stroked my cheek as he leaned in to kiss me. I closed my eyes and could feel something new and clear within him. Yearning. I sighed a deep sigh for appearances sake and breathed him in, allowing myself to be enveloped by his sense of yearning for me. He pulled me to him, and I allowed my arms to wrap around his neck, holding him close to me. Suddenly I was laughing.

He shrugged as I broke away, a frown across his face. "Something funny?"

I stood up, turning my face slightly away, covering my mouth. "I'm so sorry." Internally I berated myself. I had just thought of something funny that happened with Justin and I couldn't tell him. Why did that even just pop into my head? "Oh, it's nothing. Besides, I feel like I'm keeping you from working."

"Ah, you're probably right," he said as he got up and went back over to the table. "Here's what I wanted to show you."

I walked over and mulled over his blue prints. It was for a Ferris wheel but with nontraditional looking cars with small doors, it looked more like wide platform bases.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Growing up it was just me and my mom right, though I had a cousin who was about my age, Peter, but he was confined to a wheelchair from birth due to spina bifida. He couldn't go on rides. When we were kids I used to tell him that if I could, I would make a ride for him to go on. So now, this is it. Each car has a wide platform and strap to secure in a wheelchair safely so kids and adults like Peter can experience what it feels like to fly in the air just like anyone else."

"Oh my gosh! Edward, that's incredible! I had no idea you were working on something like this."

"Yep, and if this is successful here, then there will be contracts at every major amusement park in the world to install these."

I marveled at how much Edward surprised me with his idea, how deeply caring a person he was. Anyone else would have written him off as an arrogant ex-hockey player, but there was so much more to him.

"It's an idea long past its time. Similar ideas have been suggested by families interested in having something like this for their wheelchair bound child, but they never had the funding. I'm using some of my own money that came in from sponsors."

Overwhelmed by how caring he was, I kissed him, hard, taking him by surprise. I was almost worried about knocking him off balance, but Edward was so solid.

"What was that for?" he asked, "Not that I'm complaining."

"Because . . . you're just so good. As a person. I mean it." Laying my head on his shoulder, I breathed him in, that jubilant mix of oranges and wood burning, listening to his heart and feeling the vibration of his chest rise and fall. I reveled in how amazing he was.

"After I had to give up hockey . . . I just wanted to do something meaningful with my life. I'm not sure if you can understand that." I felt him kiss my hair.

"I do. Maybe more than you know," I replied thinking of just the other day when I was lamenting my past and present to Alice.

"Oh right, doctor. But you've always known what you wanted to do." Edward stopped and shook his head for a moment, like he wasn't sure where he was, but whatever he felt, it didn't last. "So, does this mean you believe in my project?"

"Yes," I kissed him again.

Edward spent some time explaining more how the Ferris wheel would work, including a ramp at the base and an emergency retrieval fail safe plan if the ride ever got stuck. I loved the whole idea. We left the trailer, and Edward walked me out to the site where he planned to have the ride built.

"So it was just you and your Mom growing up?" I asked as we strolled through the park.

Edward took my hand and smiled. "Yeah. I never really knew my dad. I think my mom tried once to get him to acknowledge me, but it didn't work out."

Suddenly I thought of Tiffany again. "Why here, Edward?"

He laughed lightly. "Excuse me?"

"I mean, why Forks and Port Angeles when you are based in Chicago? You already said you had visited lots of amusement parks. Wasn't there anything closer?"

There had to be some underlying reason behind his visit to Tiffany, and I was giving him a chance to explain it, but maybe I came off a little too accusing. "I'm sorry, that didn't come out the way I meant it."

"There are a lot of factors. It's complicated actually, but when I was younger, I spent a couple of weeks out this way one summer. My mom brought me out here and never really explained why. She worked for that time in Seattle and I was left up to my own devices. I spent some of my time down at La Push learning how to surf and I spent some time here. I guess I just never forgot it."

I wish I had that problem sometimes.

"Oh so then you met some people from the area?" I probed.

"A few, yeah," he shrugged lightly in agreement.

"Anyone in particular that you've run into or reconnected with since being here?" I asked with a warm, dazzling smile in hopes of getting some answers.

"No, not really," he replied quickly.

His heartbeat was steady while holding my hand and I didn't detect any fluctuation. Next time I should do my little interrogations without touching him.

"But I admit, I did come expecting to find a lot of things here in the greater Forks area, I just didn't plan on you." He leaned in to kiss me before whispering, "It means a lot to me that you believe in me and my project." After I kissed him back more, a look came over him, like a light bulb had just gone off in his head. With large, open eyes he exclaimed, "I could use your help!"

"Me? How?"

"This ride is going to attract people with all different types of medical issues from all over. It would be helpful if the park had a medical consult."

"Carlisle?" I asked.

"And maybe you."

"I'll talk to Carlisle and see what he thinks," I said, trying to put Edward off.

With that Edward's hand clutched his heart, and he dropped to his knees with a loud moan. In less than a second I felt my whole world unravel as I restrained myself from using my vampire abilities.

"Edward! Edward!" I dropped to my knees and reached my hand out to him. What was happening to him? "What's wrong? Talk to me!" I said urgently.

Suddenly I was rolling on the ground with him, listening to him laugh. "You jerk! I can't believe you did that . . ." And he was kissing me until I pulled away and stood up.

He stood up after me. "Hey, hey doc." He put his hands up in surrender, laughing. "I was just joking."

"It was a stupid joke!" I spat and turned to walk away, resisting the urge to zoom away so quickly he wouldn't have been able to see where I went. Instead, for a vampire, I gently stomped a good four steps away ranting how cruel he was. I only left one crack in the cold ground below me.

"I'm sorry. Hey don't go! Not like this." He reached out his hand, and I stopped. For the first time since meeting him, venom pooled in my mouth. What did that mean? I really wanted to run away from him, but at the same time, I desperately wanted to stay with him.

"Don't do that to me ever again," I said adamantly.

"I won't," he responded blandly.

"And what else?" I demanded from him, still riled up.

"What else? Uhh... Anything. Just name it."

I searched my mind looking for some kind of punishment or penance for him. Got it. "And . . . and I want you to meet my father!" I yelled.

Edward laughed. "Gladly."

"Fine," I huffed.

"Fine," he said calmly but mimicking me. "How about the rest of your family? Maybe they can all meet here tonight at the rink for an evening skate."

"Maybe they can. I'll find out," I said with a certain amount of childish pouting to my voice.

"Anything else?" he asked with that crooked smile of his.

"No," I said firmly. "Anything else from you?" I softened.

"Kiss and make up," he asked, snaking his arm around my waist over my coat, "with me?"

I simply nodded before he leaned into me, his lips meeting mine. Our deal sealed, we walked back to my car. After he opened the door for me, I slid in, waiting for him to shut the door so I could leave. "You'll call me to let me know about this evening?"

I nodded a yes to him.

"If your family can't make it tonight, can I still see you?" he asked hesitantly, like he expected me to say no.

I thought I was making him sweat out my answer, but he was grinning back at me. I didn't realize I was smiling.

"Yes."

"Staying the night with me," he clarified. "Again."

"I'll see you later . . . with a packed bag," I smiled. His eyes brightened, and he leaned in again to kiss me. He patted the outside of the cherry bomb.

"I like your car," he said in a complimentary way. I knew that.

About a half an hour after leaving him, I rounded up the family, including Charlie, about the evening's festivities-whatever they might be. Since Emmett was missing, I had only texted him but hadn't heard back yet. Charlie was the most excited.

As I texted Edward to let him know we were on for the evening, he surprised me with a call.

"Hi."

"Hi," I said back.

"I miss you," he said.

"We just …. " I started, confused. It hadn't been so long since we saw each other.

"Would it freak you out if I told you that I'm completely enchanted by you?"

"I guess not," I chuckled though feeling caught off guard still.

"What if I told you that I might be falling in love with you?"

Too soon! Too soon! I was silent.

"Hold that thought then, til tonight, back at my hotel. I'm going to get through family time, and then I want you all to myself for the night," he said with a hint of sin.

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A/N: So, the next chapter is going to be 'Meet the Family' any ideas on how that will turn out? Here's a hint: Emmett brings his new girlfriend.

Figured out who Tiffany is?

There's a common, shall we say, criticism out there that E and B fall in love too quickly in fics, but before you say that about AGH, remember there is this extra 'heart' thing going on.

I've got the next 6 chapters (yep SIX!) in the hopper getting edited!