Author Note: Thanks for the great response to this story!

Teasers for guessing the chapter title from Kool and the Gang went to: 2loveybunnies, Debbi84, Taylor9901, EdwardsFirstKiss, 2old4fanfic, and That'sMzPeachesTYVM.

Thanks again to moosals for pre-reading. Stephenie Meyer owns all characters.

Chapter 26 – Celebration

Edward's knuckles are turning white as he digs his fingers into the table top, trying to control his anger. I know I have to hurry my explanation to diffuse the situation.

"He grabbed my wrist and I kneed him right where it hurts," I smirk.

Edward is about to interrupt but I hold up a hand to stop him.

"Emmett's girlfriend was also waiting for him and she saw everything. She opened the locker room door and called for Emmett, who came out in his boxers to punch James. You should've seen the way he went down! One of the coaches heard the commotion and had Emmett call campus security so I could file a formal complaint. He might actually get in trouble this time — maybe even expelled!"

"But you're Ok?"

"I'm fine, Edward, I promise," I reply softly.

He lets out a long breath. "Why didn't you tell me this right away?"

"I was going to see you in class 12 hours later," I reply with a shrug. "You've already proven you have a tough time hiding your feelings for me."

Edward scowls. "So the campus security came and talked to you?"

I nod.

"Didn't James tell everyone what kind of photos were missing from his phone?"

"He just kept babbling something about deleting his proof — without specifying proof of what exactly. When the security guard asked him to open his phone, he used his thumb to unlock it and the guard was like, how was anyone able to delete anything from your phone if it's protected? James had no answer for that, so they kind of dismissed everything he said as a justification for attacking me.

"I was a bit worried too, to be honest," I confess. "Rosalie — Emmett's girlfriend — sort of insisted that I file a complaint. I guess she knows other girls whom James has intimidated, but they always chose not to pursue anything.

"Jake, Emmett and Rosalie were right there to speak up with information against James. They made him out to be such a liar that I don't think anyone would've believed him even if he had said that the photos were of the two of us."

"That was all a little too close for my comfort," Edward sighs. "As long as you're Ok."

"I am," I promise.

After dinner, we get back in the car for the long drive home — or what I think is the long drive home. Edward gets off the interstate at the Six Flags exit, and at first I wonder if he's planning to go to their Holiday in the Park event. I doubt it though; the temperature is below freezing and I'm pretty sure I read that the park closes at 8pm. It's nearly that late now.

Instead, he joins a line of cars entering Santa's Magical Kingdom. I smile when I see a ton of Christmas lights up ahead. The line takes freakin' forever — it's Saturday night, after all — but finally we're inside the park and driving through a tunnel of lights as long as a football field.

There is a store toward the end of the light and character displays, so we decide to stop there and check out inside.

"Look, you can get your photo taken with Santa!" Edward grins, pointing toward one end of the store.

"I'll pass," I laugh. I haven't had my photo with Santa since just before I went to live with my dad.

Instead, we each get a hot cocoa and a chocolate chip cookie before browsing the aisles of gifts, toys and holiday décor. I end up buying some garland and a wreath for our front door. Alice insisted on buying a small Christmas tree for our apartment a couple of weeks ago, even though we're not even going to be there over the holidays. I feel a bit bad that she took care of all of our decorating, so I want to contribute something as well.

Once I've paid for my purchases, Edward and I get back in the car and exit the park. It's about another half hour of driving to get back to his home.

Once we're inside, I hang up my coat and take my overnight bag into the bedroom. I've just set it down when Edward's arms wrap around me from behind. His nose nudges my hair out of the way before he places a warm kiss on the side of my neck, causing my whole body to break out in goosebumps.

"Let's go to bed," he whispers.

Spinning around in his arms, I wrap my arms around his neck, standing on my tiptoes so I can kiss him. Edward starts walking me backwards, and I sit when I feel the bed against the back of my legs. He reaches for the bottom hem of my sweater, and I raise my arms so he can pull it over my head.

"This is sexy," he says in a raspy voice, tracing along the top of my lacy new bra.

"Alice dragged me to Victoria's Secret," I explain, reaching out to lift Edward's shirt. She wanted to buy something new for herself as Jasper's Christmas present, and I couldn't resist a clearance item.

"What the hell is that?" Edward asks sharply.

I look up at his face, then follow his line of sight to my left wrist. I'd forgotten all about the bruises there.

"I-I told you that James grabbed my wrist."

"And left a bruise?"

"I have pale skin that bruises easily," I explain. You would've thought I was abused as a child from all of the bruises I got from being clumsy — falling or bumping into things.

Coming to sit beside me, he gently takes my left arm, his fingertips lightly brushing along the discolored skin. "Jesus, Bella… does it hurt?"

"No," I assure him. "I took a Tylenol when I got home Thursday night, but it doesn't hurt now."

Edward cups my cheek in his hand, looking at me tenderly. "If I ever get my hands on him…"

"I think you'll have to fight Alice for first dibs," I grin. "Emmett got a great punch in already though."

He gives me a tiny smile. "You have friends who care about you."

"I'm very lucky," I nod, winding my fingers around his.

He brings our joined hands to his mouth, kissing my knuckles, then lets out a long breath. "The thought of anything happening to you, Bella… I don't know what I'd do. I think I'd go crazy. I… I just… I love you so much."

I inhale sharply. He loves me?

"Shit," he chuckles. "I didn't mean to just blurt it out like that. I wanted to… I don't know, do something special for you, something cheesy and romantic."

I smile widely, climbing into his lap. "I think it was perfect. And for the record, I love you, too. I was just too afraid to say it first."

I make another attempt at lifting his shirt, and this time I'm successful. Tossing it to the floor, I slowly drag my fingers down from his shoulders over his chest, lightly circling his nipples.

"Does that feel good to you?"

He smiles. "It does, though maybe not as good as it feels to you."

I wind my arms around his neck and we kiss until I'm breathless — soft kisses, deep kisses, steamy kisses — until I'm nearly insane with want.

"Go lie on the bed," he whispers against my lips, and I hurriedly crawl off his lap and lie down with my head on the pillow.

Edward strips out of the rest of his clothes then removes my leggings and panties, reaching beneath me to unhook my bra. After tossing it aside, he takes my left nipple in his mouth, sucking gently. He gives the same attention to the other side, then begins placing tiny kisses in a line down my stomach.

I moan when he slides one long finger between my legs, circling my clit before pushing inside me. As his finger slowly moves in and out, he leans in and licks up the length of my slit with just the tip of his tongue.

"More," I beg shamelessly.

"As you wish," he smirks.

My eyes nearly roll back in my head when he flattens his tongue against me. I fist the sheets, babbling incoherent as Edward loves me with his mouth.

"Oh fuck!" I cry out as I come, the waves crashing over me again and again.

"I love watching you," he says softly, then crawls up my body. "And I love you."

Taking his cock in his hand, he lines it up with my entrance, slowly pushing all the way inside me. I wrap my arms around him, anchoring him to me as his slow, steady thrusts take me right to the brink again.

Edward stares into my eyes as he continues making love to me, and as we come together, I can see it, I can see the love there so plainly. I hope he can see the love reflected back in mine.

I don't even realize I'm crying until he gently kisses my tears away. "What's wrong?" he whispers.

"Nothing's wrong, I just love you. We're gonna make it, aren't we? We're only a week away from me not being your student anymore."

"We're gonna make it," he assures me, rolling off of me. "We'll have to continue to lay low over the next semester, but hopefully by next Fall I'll have a job at another school where no one will care if my girlfriend is still in college."

"And no one will care if my boyfriend is a college professor."

"Exactly," he smiles, kissing me gently. "You're mine, and I won't let anyone take you away from me."

I start to return the sentiment, but then I realize… I can't. I may be "his" but he's not mine. He still technically belongs to another woman. I can try to push Tanya to the back of my mind and tell myself that she no longer matters, but on paper, she is Edward's wife.

"What is it?" he asks, brow furrowed.

"You're not mine," I blurt out. "You're still married to another woman."

Sighing, Edward sits up, running his hand through his hair roughly. "On paper," he agrees, "but not in my heart. I think… it's time Tanya and I file for divorce. She's had her US citizenship for 10 months now — hopefully long enough to not arouse suspicion. When you go back to Chicago for Christmas, I'll go too, just as we discussed, and I'll talk to her, start taking steps to end our marriage. All right?"

"Really?"

"Anything for you, baby," he says, stroking my face.

I'm smiling widely as I get up to get ready for bed.

Once Edward has brought me back to our apartment on Sunday morning, my life becomes all about finals. So far I'm making A's in all of my classes, and I don't want to ruin that with one or two bad exams.

There are no basketball games scheduled for finals week, but Jake still has a short practice on Tuesday night. Thankfully he's got his Rabbit back so neither Alice nor I has to go out and pick him up.

"Guess what?!" he yells the moment he steps in the door after practice. He's practically vibrating with excitement.

"You met a boy?" Alice asks excitedly.

Jake rolls his eyes, folding his long frame into a ball in the middle of the floor. "It's not that exciting, but almost — James is being brought up in front of the Student Conduct Committee, facing possible expulsion!"

"Because of me?" I ask in shock.

"Indirectly," he answers vaguely. "Rosalie spread the word of your formal complaint against James, and that encouraged a few other girls to come forward. They weren't new allegations, but it was the first time the intended victims had cooperated."

"Intended victims?" Alice asks.

Jake nods. "Remember I said there were rumors that he'd roofied a couple of girls? In one case, the girl's friend saw her acting really loopy with James hovering nearby, so she took her back to her dorm room. They assumed someone had put something in her drink, and James was the most likely candidate, but no one could prove it. The friend reported it, but the girl who'd been drugged didn't want to make a big deal of something she thought would go nowhere.

"In the second case, a friend actually walked in on James and her half-naked friend, who was practically passed out on a bed at a frat house. She got her friend out of there and reported it, but again, no proof James had actually done anything except take advantage of the situation."

"So what's different now?"

"Both girls reported their stories, and a few others came forward just to say that James was creepy or pushy with them, always wanting to get them a drink. James lives in an on-campus apartment and the campus PD got a warrant or whatever to search it. They found a little plastic bag with a few pills in it hidden somewhere in the room. Now they have to go to a lab for testing to be sure, but they're believed to be Rohypnol."

My eyes widen. "Wow! So he might really be gone?"

"Yep," Jake replies with a huge grin.

"I don't get why Rosalie is so… involved," I shrug, lacking a better word. "She was the one who insisted I file a complaint against James. I don't even know her."

Jake frowns. "Emmett told me this, but he said Rosalie is open about it. She was date raped in high school and is planning to become a women's rights lawyer. She volunteers with a support group on campus for survivors of any kind of violence."

"I can't believe he might really be expelled… wow," Alice says, shaking her head.

"It would be awesome to never have to deal with him again," I agree. "Especially since he seems to have it out for Edward and me."

"He's definitely not a very credible witness now," Jake smirks.

"I need to tell Edward," I realize, grabbing my phone off the coffee table. I quickly type out a shortened version of our conversation. I know he was worried about James potentially getting someone's attention with his accusations, but James has bigger fish to fry right now; I'm pretty sure Rohypnol is illegal to possess in the US. Of course, I never told Edward that James was rumored to have spiked some girls' drinks, so I have to tread carefully to avoid freaking him out now.

Karma is a bitch, he replies. Just be careful.

I will. Love you.

I love you too. See you tomorrow.

I smile as I toss my phone aside. Tomorrow is my final in Edward's class. As expected, Dr. Wall found no evidence of favoritism when he took a look at my past work for the class, but I expect he'll be looking at my final exam as well. Even if he doesn't, Edward will show me no mercy.

I bite my lip as the thought enters my head. I love it when we're naked and he shows me no mercy.

"Bella!" Alice yells, waving her hand in front of my face. "Where did your mind go?"

"Edward and I have a lot to celebrate this weekend," I grin.

"Oh gross," Jake complains, tossing a throw pillow at me. I toss it back, and then Alice gets in on the act. Soon the three of us are giggling and shrieking as we have a pillow fight, breaking the tension during this stressful week.

A/N: So they finally said the L-word! And Edward said it first. He's also planning to ask Tanya for a divorce over Winter Break.

James is in trou-ble! He could potentially go to jail for possessing roofies, not just get expelled with one semester of college left.

It's been a few years since I went through Santa's Magical Kingdom with my friend and her two daughters. The line is ridiculous if you go the Saturday before Christmas lol.

Next update on Monday.

For a teaser: One of the iconic songs of the 80s by a British male singer… though it's become more famous for other reasons in the internet era. ;)