Edward

He heard the door click shut and knew it was too late for the crew to be checking on them. When he got up, he saw that his bride was nowhere to be found, having checked the bed and their bathroom.

"Shit!" Edward muttered. She left and he didn't know what to do. Inform the producer? No. But then, maybe she just went out to get ice… sure, Edward, that's it…

He ran down the hall to the elevator, saw the door had just closed and the arrow pointed downward to the lobby. Where could she be going at this hour? Edward took the other elevator, pressed the button, and hoped to still catch her.

He spotted her from the elevator as she rushed out the double doors of the hotel and into the night air.

"Rosalie!" he called out. Edward hoped he wasn't attracting any attention, and Rosalie picked up the pace. Unfortunately, the cameraman seemed to be on his tail as the night air nipped his arms and neck. Traffic rushed by and people were out walking, the city alive as though it had no care for their small affairs. He ran out to her and tugged on her elbow. "What are you doing? Where are you going? You're not trying to leave?"

First, she cast her eyes to him and then her gaze landed over his shoulder, he guessed, to the camera and the person holding it.

"I just needed some air," she said, moving her eyes away.

"Okay, well, you could have said something."

She shook her head and tears ran down her cheeks. "I'm sorry. I'm…I was trying to leave…trying to figure out who I was and what I was doing here. I don't think I can do this, Edward. You deserve better."

"Why don't you let me decide that?"

Onlookers gawked as they walked by them. His bride just stood and wiped tears from her eyes - they probably thought they were filming a movie. A horn blared from the other side of the street. "I'm such a mess," she said, "I think it would be best for everyone if I just bowed out right now before it gets too real."

"Do you remember I said I wanted to get to know the real you? I meant it. This is the real you with all the uncertainty that goes with it. Why not stay? See if maybe the experts know something we don't."

Rosalie hung her head. "Finish what I start? I know my daddy would say the same thing."

He held his arm out to her. "I'm not going to pressure you. I can't make you do what you don't want to do, but what if this is something that works out for both of us? We'll never know if you don't give it a chance. Forget the cameras…it's just me and you, right here, right now."

She sniffled, then nodded and looped her arm into his. The producer smiled and gave him a thumbs up sign, as though he was doing this for the show. Edward had his qualms about this…about Rosalie…about whether to just let her go…but he'd had a stronger conviction…a knowing that this would all work out somehow.

Rosalie

She was only half-convinced. Sure, she'd had every intention of leaving at that moment, and Edward was pretty good at convincing her to stay and give it a chance. But, in reality, she didn't have much faith in herself, even less in the process, in any of this. All she was doing anymore was going through the motions. She could continue to do that, couldn't she?

Rosalie didn't argue when Edward set up an air mattress the show provided in their wedding suite, as she was now perceived a "flight risk." She tossed and turned - not at all the way she expected a wedding night should be. She wasn't sure when the sun came up, though, and the clang of a tray caused her to stir.

"Good morning, Rosalie."

Edward's voice. She'd been dreaming that she'd run away and ended up on an island where she competed with twenty women to marry him. How absurd. And besides, when she'd been on that show before, she hadn't made it past episode 4. It struck her, all of a sudden, what that would look like - Edward, the bachelor, with 22 gorgeous women vying for his attention.

He'd looked picture perfect, standing there carrying a wooden tray. The camera was right behind him. Showtime.

"Good morning," Rosalie said, sitting up with a smile. The coffee smell was a desire she couldn't pass on. Though, she wished they would've given her a moment to check her face before filming. She probably had bags under her bags.

"How are you feeling this morning?" he asked.

"A little tired," she said as he set the tray down. "What have we got here?" At the corner of it sat a pink envelope, and her heart leapt as she considered its contents. Their honeymoon. This was where the couple went off to experience new things and learn more about each other - the only thing that seemed appealing right now.

"You go ahead and open it, " he said and took a seat beside her. The producer asked them to stop for a minute so she could reposition Edward and get a better camera angle.

Rosalie didn't have to pretend to be excited as she opened up their itinerary and found that in a few hours they were flying to New York City. She hadn't been since she was a young child, but as an actress, she'd been dying to get back. Her agent liked to keep her busy with gigs in the area, and Broadway had never appealed to her.

When they crossed the Jersey bridge leading to the Big Apple, she learned that Edward had never been either but he'd always had the intention as well.

Their suite was in the heart of Manhattan, and Times Square was already lit up as tons of passersby walked the streets, and lines of cabs crowded the streets.

She felt the camera on them as they observed the view from their window and chatted about the things they wanted to do here.

"What do you want to do first?" Edward asked.

"Are you kidding? I have a list! See the Empire State Building, tour the Statue of Liberty…"

"See the Met. I've always wanted to tour that museum."

"Of course. Then let's see…Central Park…so much to do here."

After the cameras left that night, Edward knocked at the door. They didn't have an adjoining suite, but there was a sitting area with a small kitchen and a sofa that folded into a bed…that was his room, for all intents and purposes.

"I have one small request," he said.

"What is it?" She hoped he didn't want to sleep in this room. It's not like she had any intention of taking off again at this point.

"I have an aunt…in Jersey I haven't seen in years. I asked the producer if it was okay with you and with her if we could go see her."

Right. This was Edward's honeymoon also. An aunt. Not the most exciting thing, but Edward had been so kind up to this point, she couldn't say no. "Of course, Edward."

That was to be the last thing on their itinerary before heading back. It was almost too bad… she mused. Rosalie's birthday was coming up in a few days, and the idea of celebrating in New York sounded exciting, but they were already going to be back onto the next phase of the experiment.

Fortunately, they had the producer and other assistants to navigate their surroundings, especially the transportation because she imagined even taking a small side trip on their own without the cameras would have been confusing. Subways every few blocks. This made her mind reel just thinking of it.

The city was an entity - a powerful monster of a place with all the temptations of any delight available. Anything was open. To Rosalie, this truly was the city that never slept. After 2am, they were coming back from having a slice of New York style pizza, and crowds of people wandered the square as though it were day time. The sights, the ever present sound of cars, and horns honking, the music coming from the city center, the lights blinking and calling out to the heavens above… The smells…the faint scent of urine, headiness of marijuana. Mixed perfumes, oil, smoke from exhaust, it was all there mixed together like one alien perfume.

They said goodnight, and it was well after 3 as she tossed and turned despite the excitement of the day. She got up to see if he was still awake, but to her surprise he wasn't on his air mattress by the wall. Where had he gone? She hadn't worried about Edward leaving, and he must have not been too worried about her taking off since there were so many fun things to go and do.

She wandered down to the lobby and peeked inside the downstairs lounge. It had windows, a number of people sat at the bar, and there in the middle of the room sat a grand piano, which was where she found her new husband. He was playing a classical piece, and as she sidled up beside him, his fingers wandered the keys as though they'd had perfect knowledge of any note contained there.

"So, here you are," she said. He acknowledged her with a smile but continued to weave his hands across the keyboard. "I didn't know you played."

When the song was over, the number of people there applauded, and he simply nodded his head. This gave her an idea.

"Is this just for classically trained musicians? Or can I play too?"

"Be my guest."

She laid her fingers on the keys, with no doubt he knew exactly what came next as the mischief of Chopsticks rang out. They had an audience now, and Edward gave quite the show as he moved his head in time exaggeratedly. She laughed as they played the ageless song, so in time. She was no match for Edward's talent or ability, but it wasn't about that at the moment. The camera and its operator had appeared from out of nowhere, parked off to the side and moving around them to grab the optimal vantage point. Phones from different directions were pointed at them, and Rosalie tried extra hard to focus her fingers on the correct keys and not what America might be seeing. When the song came to an end, a thunderous applause rang out, and Edward smiled and held up her hand in his.

A deep yawn overcame her. "That was fun, but I'm going back to the room."

He rose when she did. "I'll join you."

On the elevator ride back, he just smiled, like he was lit up inside. "How long have you played?"

"I don't play seriously, Edward. I don't even play that well, but I know enough to read music and follow." Sure, she'd committed a few challenging pieces to memory in her time but could hardly match the passion in Edward's hands as he commanded the keys. "I took lessons as a child, then played a little in school…a little performance music for pageants and talent shows. My agent thought it was a good thing to keep up with."

"Don't underestimate yourself," he said. "I'd love to hear you play again sometime."

She brushed his shoulder. "No way."

"What? Why not?"

Was he joking? It was like showing a doodle of a happy face to a cartoonist. Or giving an acting lesson to Meryl Streep. No. "Because I was just messing around. You were serious. I can play, but you take music very seriously."

"That's not true. There's room for fun and play in everything…especially music."

"I'm sure that's true, Edward. But, I'm going to say no for now."

"Okay, no for now, but why?"

"Well, haven't you felt inferior at anything? Like maybe even as a doctor?"

"Of course. Everybody has."

"Well, maybe you can just forgive me if I decline. Let me come up with something that I might do better than you first."

"Well, okay, that will be easy. You're a better actor than me."

She looked at him. If he wore the right clothes, trimmed that unruly mane of his, he could certainly be a heartthrob. Just like how she saw him in her dream. And she didn't know about his acting ability, but she felt like Edward was good at just about everything. "Ha. I doubt that."

"The good thing is, we have time to find out."

The funny thing was they found out the next morning as the camera watched them in front of the mirror while she applied her makeup and Edward shaved his face.

The whirring noise of the shaver began to die, and Edward's brows drew together as he kept checking the blade, running his fingers along it, and then applying it to his face again. It was not operating correctly and was no longer removing any hair.

"Shoot," he said. "Well, we've had a good run." He took the shaver and placed it down on the granite counter. "Two years," he said, "I think that's a record."

Rosalie put down her makeup brush and held out her hand. "Can I see it?"

"Be my guest." He nodded to it. "That thing's been wanting to die for a while."

The first thing she checked was for batteries but found the rechargeable port, then the next thing was the actual coils, saw they might have been plugged up, but that wasn't it. She went and grabbed a little pouch out of her suitcase and returned.

"What do you have there?" he asked, watching her. It was amusing for her to see Dr. Edward this way with only one side of his face clean and smooth and the other with fuzz.

"My personal tool kit." She pulled out her little screwdriver and opened up the compartment, and after a little poking around found the problem. After a moment of cleaning and popping a mechanism back into place, she moved the switch back into the on position and it whirred back to life.

Edward looked genuinely impressed as the smile lingered on his face. "Wow. I would never have thought to… how did you do that?"

"I've just always had a curiosity about how things work, so…" She held up the little screwdriver for emphasis and shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, that was very unexpected, Rosalie. And I feel very inferior now."

She smiled then and a burst of pride swelled in her chest. Here they were, and for the moment, even if it was a small thing, she didn't feel completely useless. Like in this small, unimportant way, she actually had something to contribute. Was it worth anything? They'd have to wait and see. She giggled as he joked about being lucky she was there so he could get the rest of the hair around his upper lip and along his jaw.

And for the first time since this whole thing began, she breathed with relief. Rosalie had been herself. She did something that felt natural and was helpful at the same time. It felt good and changed her entire outlook for the rest of the trip. She was coming to realize that it was okay to be herself and that Edward wasn't going to think she was a weirdo because of it. Maybe this was all going to work out.

A/N: Looks like our couples have a lot to learn about themselves and each other. Next up, we return to Savannah with Alice & Jasper. Thanks so much for reading, following and reviewing!