Jessica didn't know if she'd ever get used to having the Sheriff at her house. He had dinner often with her family and seemed to be getting more serious with her mom. It was still weird seeing her mom dating but she'd just have to get over it. Emily had softened to Charlie after he helped her make a birdhouse for school.

Emily was even excited about going fishing for the summer. Jessica knew her sister never really had a dad as she'd been so young when he'd passed away. Emily had no memories of camping trips and Christmas mornings. She'd only ever had their mom and Jessica. If her mom and Charlie were really going to go the whole nine yards, he would be filling a gap neither of them could ever really replace.

She wanted to ask how her mom thought about all of this. It wouldn't be good if Emily got attached and this relationship ended as they tended to be. Neither her mom nor Charlie had dated anybody for years. Charlie hadn't even seen his daughter since the divorce. Everything was too soon and too fragile to hope for good things.

Charlie had dinner with them on Christmas Eve and had left a present for her mother under the tree before he left. The next morning, her mother unwrapped a book of French poetry and flipped through the pages with a peculiar look on her face.

Jessica asked, "You don't like it?"

"Actually I do," Her mother replied. "I told Charlie in passing that I originally wanted to take up French Studies in college before I settled for Accountancy. I didn't think he even remembered that."

"That's sweet of him."

"He's good at listening."

"He doesn't talk much."

"No. He only does when he has something to really say," Her mother explained. "On our first date, I rambled on and he didn't say a word. I thought he must think I'm so obnoxious and he was ready to run."

Jessica certainly didn't get her gift of the gab just from her dad. She got it from both parents. "But?"

"At the end of the date, he asked me out again. And I asked him if he minded that I talked the whole night and he said 'No. I enjoyed it.'"

"Oh, Mom. You two are adorable," Her heart melted a bit like ice cream in the summer. "Are you going to marry him?"

Her mother gave her a look. "We've been dating for a few months. Nothing is set in stone."

"But can you see yourself marrying Charlie?"

Her mother cleared her throat and stood up from the couch, tucking Charlie's present underneath her arm. "Let's clean up this mess."

As Jessica helped her mother clean up the discarded wrapping paper, she tried to imagine her mother getting married to Sheriff Swan. Imagined Charlie moving on, taking Emily on fishing trips every weekend, and sitting there quietly at the table as the Stanley women chattered like magpies. It was still too weird. She would just have to get over it.


When Jessica was little, she watched her grandmother make jello by throwing ice into boiling water and the ice would crack from the heat. The flight from Port Angeles to New York was long and tedious. Jessica had never liked plane rides especially during the holidays. The airport was filled with people and she tried to find Edward's copper hair in the crowd. He stood like a beacon against the sea of people around him, his face lighting up when he saw her.

Her insides felt like crushed ice as she ran towards him heedless of any people in her way. She leapt at him and he caught her, her feet dangling in the air as he held her tightly. Being parted from him always made her feel like her emotions would explode like a giant water balloon when they were reunited again. She wondered if he felt the same.

He gently lowered her to her feet. His golden gaze was whisky brown in the lighting. In the winter, he didn't stand out as much. She could see shades of the human boy he once was.

"It's the same for me. That crushed ice feeling," he admitted.

"Good," She smiled as she realized they hadn't greeted each other yet. "Hi."

"Hi," He grinned back at her. "How was your flight?"

She nearly groaned. "There was a baby that cried the whole way."

He chuckled and took her bag from her. She let him as her bag was heavy and he had super strength. He led them to where Mo the Volvo was parked and he drove them to Madison Park Avenue. The Cullens were staying at the penthouse of the building, a post-modern monstrosity with five bedrooms and panoramic views of the city's skyline.

Esme had fallen in love with Milo and frequently took him on walks so he wasn't there to greet Jessica much to her disappointment. Edward led her to a guest bedroom and she ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the view from the windows. She turned to him and shook her head. "What is with you Cullens and the extravagant houses?"

"We like our privacy," he answered. "And we had those windows changed to not let in UV Rays. Esme had the idea after you emailed Carlisle about how sunlight affects vampires."

He stepped beside her in front of the window. It was late in the day and the sun was nearly setting but the few rays in the room painted him golden. His skin stayed the same and didn't become that diamond coating. Her hand touched his wrist and traced the blue veins on his pale skin.

He questioned, "Are you researching about vampires again?"

"Harmless research, just ideas to improve your quality of living," she replied, pushing thoughts she didn't want him seeing behind the wall in her mind like Bonnie had taught her. "Like maybe we can use verbena as a spray for you instead of me so you can't smell any humans around you. Less temptation to bite anyone the better."

His eyes narrowed slightly as he concentrated. She imagined him moving through her thoughts and memories until he found what he wanted. He'd explained to her once the more he concentrated the more he could see visuals and not just words. He could see glimpses of memories and daydreams.

His eyebrows furrowed as he must've found the wall. "What is this?"

"I told you Bonnie was teaching me mental shields," she said. "I'd like a little privacy if that's okay with you?"

He didn't say anything. His expression puzzled and she imagined him concentrating on the wall and trying to find a way around it or through it. She gripped his arm firmly and urged him to stop. He closed his eyes and nodded in acquiescence.

She nearly sighed in relief. Edward was used to reading anyone around him like an open book. He would go through people and see their whole live stories in minutes. The lack of privacy had taken her time to get used to and being able to have some again was something she didn't know how desperately she needed. She had no secrets to keep from him but being able to keep things to herself and sharing them when or if she wanted to was necessary.

"Forgive me," he murmured. "I'm being a brute. I didn't invite you here to treat you so terribly. How do I make it up to you?"

"It's almost nighttime," she responded. "And we're in New York. What's fun to do around here?"

"Do you want the tourist stuff or what I actually do around here?"

"Can't I have both?"

He rolled his eyes but smiled. "God's spoiled child. Alright, Jessica. Whatever you want."


Jessica and Edward spent the days leading up to New Year's Eve taking a billion photos and indulging all of Jessica's whims. They walked around Central Park with Milo like they were in When Harry Met Sally. Emmett was surprisingly the one to ask for finding the best places to eat from Manhattan to Brooklyn. Alice sneaked her into the atelier at FIT and showed her the designs they were making for their next fashion show.

Jasper volunteered as the guinea pig for Jessica's verbena experiment. They learned through a handful of tests that it prevented a vampire from smelling up to three humans and the effects lasted for about five hours. It was enough of a success for the Cullens to start growing their own verbena garden on the terrace. One of Carlisle's many degrees was Chemistry and he was working with Emmett on different batches for the verbena perfume.

As a result, the penthouse mostly smelled of the clean citrus of lemons and the earthy verbena flowers. It wasn't unpleasant but Jessica missed the Christmas cookies scent she came to associate with the Cullens, mostly Edward. She sneaked into his room most nights and slept beside Milo. She would more often than not wake up to Edward watching her no matter how much she told him it was creepy.

If Carlisle and Esme knew where she'd been sleeping instead of the guest room, they didn't say. She and Edward hadn't done more than kissing and some heavy petting. She wasn't going to have sex where everyone in the penthouse had super hearing. She didn't have anything to affect their super hearing yet and until she did she wasn't risking it.

If by some stroke of luck or Edward being his manipulative self, they had the penthouse all to themselves one day. Carlisle was on his shift at the hospital, Esme was shopping for gardening supplies and had taken Milo with her, Alice and Jasper were meeting up with old friends in the city, and Emmett and Rosalie went out of town for the weekend.

She was eating breakfast when Edward told her they had the place to themselves. She nearly choked on a bite of croissant and glared at his too innocent expression.

"I hope you don't expect us to go at it here in the kitchen. People eat here," She frowned. "Well, I eat here but that changes nothing."

"I didn't say anything about the kitchen," he pointed out with the same glib expression. "Or about 'doing it'. Your mind went there on its own."

She spluttered in outrage. "You…you little…"

"Trust the mind-reader," He leaned across the island to peck her gently on the lips. "I missed you."

"I've been here. I haven't gone anywhere."

He kissed her pulse making her heart do a little skip. "You know what I mean."

Where was that blushing virgin he had been? What had she made him into? His family would know what they'd done in that kitchen even with all the verbena spray in the world. She would never live it down.

"Not here."

He pulled away and got to his feet. He offered his hand and she took it gingerly. She let him lead her to his bedroom. She watched as he pulled off his grey sweater, his skin like marble lighted by the early morning sun.

He didn't have to hide here like he did when they were in Forks or Stanford. She once thought he was made for autumn with his auburn hair and golden eyes. He could belong in winter too with his pale skin, the cold touch of his fingertips, and the softness of his full red mouth. He was different but similar.

The first thing she'd learned with Science was that the only constant was change. She saw him differently as time went on in changing shapes and colors and wondered if that was how people really loved. Maybe love was not a constant image but the unveiling of a portrait piece by piece. She wondered what the full portrait of Edward Cullen looked like.

"Not as interesting as you think," he told her, his hands tugging her t-shirt over her head. "I'm boring. Haven't you figured that out yet?"

She unzipped her jeans and he knelt down to pull it down her legs. "You? Boring? Never."

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "And why is that?"

"Because, Eddie," She stepped out of her jeans and stood over him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and traced the slope of his neck to the high arc of his cheekbone. "You're too weird."

He laughed, eyes closing and head titled back as the deep husky sound echoed through the room. His mirth was infectious and she couldn't help but smile. She loved him. And she liked to think she always would.


We've all been missing some Edward/Jessica relationship moments so here you go.

1. Originally I was going to have the Cullens live in a brownstone but realized it wasn't enough room for them. Penthouse sounded more their thing anyway. The Madison Avenue Penthouse is huge and has humongous windows which was again a very Cullen thing. The idea for windows blocking out UV Rays was taken from The Vampire Diaries.

2. The school Alice goes to is the Fashion Institute of Technology.

3. Chapter title is from the Jay-Z song.