A/N: Seriously! And I mean *seriously*! FanFic [dot] net, what did I ever do to you? It hasn't allowed me to upload documents for over two days now! Frustrating, for I have let you wait long enough! I hope you took notice of the changes I made in the previous chapter and I want to thank you all for your wonderful, supportive, and critical comments. You have been the cause of many smiles. :)

Also, a biiiiig thank you to partner in crime, SunKing, for i-dotting and t-crossing this oversized baby. I bow to your knitting skills, and since this is my chapter, the final word is mine! Ha! Check out her lovely fics and her novel The Kingdom at www [dot] rioghanskingdom [dot] com. Is there anything you can't do, Jen?

And now I have stalled you enough. So my dear readers, enjoy!

Love,

Alverdine

Disclaimer: Everything Belongs to Stephenie Meyer, except for my imagination!

Chapter 9: Inferno

-B-

Why was it, I wondered, that no matter when you started preparing for a date you ended up running late? I had left the bookshop early, thinking that I would need the five hours to make myself presentable with an hour or so to spare just in case of some fundamental damage to my person or my outfit (that I had picked the day before) before Edward could come get me to go to his sister's birthday party. Now, I had exactly ten minutes left and I still had to get dressed and blow-dry my hair. I was running around like a maniac, wishing that Angela was here to instruct me instead of up in the sky halfway to Paris.

Nine minutes! No! Evil clock! I stopped in the middle of the living room in my underwear and ran my hands through the wet, tangled mess that was my hair. He could be here at any minute, and for the time being I hoped he was not one of those overly punctual people, but I did not bet my money on it. Unfortunately, as the elevator was already out of order, I could not tamper with it to buy time by making him take the stairs.

"Stop it!" I ordered myself aloud. I had eight minutes and four seconds and I stood here plotting his delay instead of putting on my clothes. There was something seriously wrong with my priorities.

I needed to deconstruct the problem into smaller, solvable ones. Start at the bottom and work my way up. Pantyhose! I ran into my bedroom and threw open a drawer digging through a pile of panties and bras till I found a semi opaque black specimen. Perfect! This would give me the confidence to wear the dress that just barely seemed to cover my ass. I gathered the leg of the tights in my hands and stuck my foot in it. My victory was short lived as I wiggled a toe that stuck through a considerable hole in the material. There was no God. Or God was a woman and a great deal envious of me going out with Edward tonight. In that case, was a bit of feminine solidarity too much to ask? I sighed. It did not matter. I was going to wear boots, anyway.

The silk panel dress turned into an anaconda upon me pulling it over my head and I struggled to get my arms in the right holes while neither tearing the delicate material nor messing up the eyeliner that had nearly cost me an eye during the painful process of application.

"God…damn it!" I growled as the garment finally gave way and I took a deep bewildered breath, as if I had spent too much time under water. I reached back and started fumbling with the tiny buttons. However, no matter how I contorted my body, I could not get it past the middle of my back. This. was. just. so… so…

"Typical!" I exclaimed my frustration for no one else to hear but Winston, who sat watching from his spot on the windowsill with a kind of pity for my predicament. As if he wanted to say: "If I had thumbs I would button you up". I sighed. Useless fur ball.

If the situation was not bad enough, the shrill buzz of the doorbell sent my head into overdrive, my heart into cardiac arrest, and my cat behind the curtain. My eyes shot to the clock that mockingly displayed 8.31 pm. I wasn't done! I wasn't buttoned! I wasn't… feeling all that well, to be honest.

Since that night that I had called him in New York City something had shifted. Not a day went by that we didn't have contact in one way or another. A two minute phone call just before he had to go on a radio show; an e-mail I wrote him when it was quiet in the shop on a rainy Tuesday afternoon, telling him insignificant details about my childhood, my friends, and my cat; a picture of a Chicago sunset seen from his hotel room he had snapped with his phone, his reflection in that window so beautiful it took my breath away. Which each one of them, I had grown more at ease with his voice in my ear; his presence…somewhere in a hotel room, watching a sunset and thinking of me. But the knowledge that he was there, on the other side of my door sucked the air right of this room.

The bell buzzed a second time and I flinched, making my feet move towards the hallway, and feeling the blood pulsing in my head with every beat of my heart. My blood pressure could probably blow a fuse. With quivering fingers I fumbled the chain off the door and twisted the lock. I inhaled deeply and simultaneously pulled open the door, ready as I would ever be to face my … neighbour?

"There you are, devushka*!" Mrs. Kowalski exclaimed, gripping my arms with a wide smile. She was a tiny old lady with hands that could be mistaken for mechanic vices as they dug in my flesh. She lived alone across the hall and was the epitome of neighbourly. Over the years she had taken care of my cat when I was out of town, brought me a pot of borscht on a weekly basis, and never lost the hope that I would marry her grandson.

"Mrs. Kowalski," I stammered, not sure whether to be disappointed or relieved that it wasn't Edward. "What can I do for you?"

"My Demetri phoned this afternoon. He is coming to town next week. He has a very successful laundrette business, you know! Busy, busy, busy! But he comes next week. You will eat with us, yes? I will make borscht and piroshky**. Crazy about piroshky, my Demetri!" With every word her fingers dug deeper in my arms and I wondered how on earth a lady of her size and age could possess such incredible strength.

"Uhm…" I tried to get the creative juices flowing and fabricate an excuse to get me out of this engagement party. I was not very successful, and when my eyes settled on a moving figure in the staircase, I drew a total blank. He was not wearing a coat and his blazer was undone. His bronze hair was in endearing disarray. exactly as I remembered, and a blush played on his cheeks from climbing twelve flights of stairs. When he met my eyes, his lips curled into a smile and my legs turned to mush.

"I…uhm…can I get back to you about that?" I heard myself say, while I shot Edward a desperate glance. He was now leaning against the wall on top of the staircase and I tried to beckon him closer with my eyes. The sooner Mrs. Kowalski saw that I had company, the sooner she would let go of me. Or at least I hoped so.

"Hello." Edward's soft and simple greeting, accompanied by a smile made me forget the stress of the previous five hours and the fact that I was being held hostage by an overenthusiastic old lady.

"Oh!" Mrs. Kowalski's grip faltered as she whipped around to assess the visitor. She squinted her eyes at him, then reached for the glasses hanging on a chain around her neck and put them on her nose, inspecting him closer.

"Did you find it alright?" I asked to break the awkwardness, and Mrs. Kowalski's eyes, now reminding me of those of the wolf in Red riding hood because of the strength of her glasses, set on me.

"You know this man, devushka?" she asked.

"Yes. Yes, I do." I blushed as I spoke.

She glanced at Edward. Then at me, and then at Edward again, and her face fell as realisation hit that I would rather eat piroshky with Edward.

"Bozhe moi***," she muttered with a shake of her head and let out a sigh.

Her grief was quickly exchanged by a newfound élan as she turned to me. "Look at your hair, devushka!" she cried, "You are not ready. Idti!**** I will keep him busy." She shooed me inside my own apartment with a wrinkly hand, before grabbing Edward's arm. "How about some borscht?"

"Uhm. Actually!" I interjected, before she could put him through a meat grinder for her piroshky and free the way for Demetri, "I have a very large spider in the shower!" I got a hold of Edward's other arm and for a moment I thought this was going to be a pulling contest, which would surely be won by Mrs. Kowalski and her monster-truck muscle, and poor Edward was going to be dismembered.

"Spider?" Mrs. Kowalski echoed. The Slavic accent that usually softly coated her words made the bug sound like a mortal enemy, and before I knew it she had removed a slipper from her foot and raised it like a weapon. "Show me where!"

I was starting to suspect Mrs. Kowalski had been an integral part of the KGB before retiring. Edward took a sharp breath that bordered a sob and my eyes fled to his face only to conclude that he was about to die from pent up laughter.

"No!" I argued. "It's…really big and…hairy… and I'm pretty sure it's poisonous. Edward will take a look, won't you?" I looked up at him, my hands still wrapped around his forearm.

"Well, if it's hairy…" He trailed off his eyes shining with amusement and I tugged at his arm. "Right. We will manage, Mrs…" His body inclined towards her as he waited for her to finish the sentence, a charming half-smile playing on his lips. I was swooning. Mrs. Kowalski, however, swatted the slipper to his chest.

"You have to hit real hard!" She emphasised with a curt nod of her head. Edward grasped the shoe in his hand and nodded earnestly.

Then the lady turned to me and said, "I will bring you some piroshky, devushka."

"Thank you, Mrs. Kowalksi."

She turned around, muttering something in her mother tongue, and disappeared down the hallway. I did not count my blessings. Instead I pulled Edward inside the safety of my apartment and closed the door. I leant against it, fighting my own laughter and simultaneously trying to find something to say regarding the just experienced spectacle. He beat me to it.

"You attract the oddest people," he said with a laugh.

I bit my lip, wondering if he knew that he meant himself with it. If I was a magnet for peculiarity, he was the biggest one yet.

"Spider, huh?" He waved the red and black plaid slipper in front of me when I didn't respond.

"I had to say something. She has been trying to hook me up with her grandson for close to two years now! She was going to do something bad to you. You saw her! She's strong and she is not afraid of spiders!"

"I'm lucky to have you to protect me then…"

He had to stop tugging at the corners of his mouth or I was going to start hyperventilating from delight.

"I'm— I—" I pointed at my hair when my vocal chords jammed entirely. "I'm sorry."

"Whatever for?"

"For my hair!" I cried out. "Just…never mind. Let's go. We're late as it is."

"Don't be silly. I'm not taking you out like this."

My eyes grew till I thought they would pop out of their sockets and roll across the floor, and I had trouble breathing.

"I mean, it's freezing outside!" He quickly added, "You'll catch a cold. We're not in a hurry."

"Oh…" It sounded like a peep. Five hours of fussing had affected my ability to think rationally. Of course he was right. I'd get sick if I went out with wet hair. There was nothing wrong with my hair…except that it looked like a bunch of tangled Medusa snakes. Yeah…there was that.

"Please, come in," I urged ungluing myself from the doorframe and leading the way to the living room.

It was nothing special; a couch, a coffee table, a television, some bookcases, and some scattered knick-knacks. Edward took his time looking around, and I took mine looking at him- painfully beautiful in my living room- skimming over the titles of the DVD collection. I gulped. Oh God, the DVD collection. I threw myself across the room and ripped the incriminating titles out of their place before finally looking at him. Edward stood frozen in his spot, mouth agape and eyebrows raised in question.

"This is just…not interesting," I stuttered, hiding the movies behind my back. In fact, they were, but he didn't need to know about my research on him. There was enough awkward in this room.

"Okay…" he stretched.

My face flushed in belated embarrassment and I rushed past him, opening my bedroom door and tossing the films on my bed. "Would you like something to drink?" I asked quickly, not giving the chance to question me or inspect the rest of the apartment.

"Uhm…sure. A glass of water would be nice."

"Water. Right." I let out a nervous giggle. "Coming right up."

With shaky hands I filled a glass with water and managed to spill almost half on the floor before I reached him.

He thanked me, took a small sip, and sat down on the couch, where he watched me carefully as if I might pull it from under him at any moment.

"Okay." I took in a deep breath fanning myself with a hand. "You just…sit here and please don't find anything embarrassing that I haven't managed to hide." Jesus Christ, Bella!

"I won't move an inch." Edward chuckled leaning back.

"Good. I'm not crazy. Usually. Just…" I inhaled before muttering. "Oh, what am I talking about? Total nutcase."

Time to leave the room. Exit stage, left! Go! I turned around gathering my hair in my hands and started to walk away, but something stopped me. He stopped me.

"Your dress…" Edward gently reminded and I whipped around. My dress? Oh! My bloody unbuttonable button dress! My face flushed.

"There is something severely wrong with that system," I croaked. "Or with the length of my arms, but I'd like to think that it's a bad design and I'm not malformed and—" While I rambled, I watched him get up from the sofa and approach me, till he was so close that I forgot where my rant was going.

"May I?" He smiled down at me.

"Uh…" I could only manage to nod as I slowly turned around, my heart painfully announcing his touch and the air never quite reaching my lungs as I desperately tried to draw it in my system. And when he touched me, cold fingers on searing skin, my body broke out into a chorus of hallelujah that shot through me like lightning. I shivered.

"I'm sorry my hands are cold." He misread my body language to great degree, as his fingers somehow managed to put the tiny silk buttons through their designated holes. One by one he climbed over my spine, the whispers of silk and the softness of his touch against my skin.

"There," he all but whispered, fastening the last button at the base of my neck. I stood motionless; every nerve ending focussed on him, like a field of sunflowers, each trying to make itself taller to drink in the last rays of sun. I didn't breathe. He didn't touch.

He cleared his throat and chuckled hoarsely. "It's definitely the system."

"Yeah…" I sucked in a breath, willing my lips to curl upwards. " Thank you."

He nodded and I went to dry my hair, feeling as if I just stepped out of a space shuttle and had trouble accepting gravity.

When I returned, my hair transformed from wet disarray to dry, I found Edward on the couch with my cat. Winston lay draped over his lap as Edward ran his fingers over the fur of his belly. I could not deny that I was slightly jealous of Winston and his current position as he stretched his body further, elongating his belly and closing his eyes, while purring like a little diesel engine.

"I swear I didn't move," Edward vowed when he saw me. " He came to me."

"He's such an attention seeker." I grinned, earning a mock horrified glance from Edward.

"She doesn't love you at all, does she?" he asked the red tabby, who let out a complaining meow as if agreeing.

"All you want to say is 'rub my belly and I shall love you forever'." Edward dragged both his hands over the cat's sides and I thought Winston was going to die of pleasure induced heart failure as he contorted his body in yet another shape like a pretzel. During this gratification high he still managed to complainingly concur with how much he was being 'wronged'. I let out a laugh at their "conversation".

"I like your cat." Edward chuckled.

He had his moments.

"Are you ready?" He asked. I didn't miss how his eyes momentarily assessed me, nor the appreciative darkening of the irises. He quickly averted his gaze, however, hiding something wild, beautiful, and frightening behind a façade that was as benign as my own lazy housecat.

"I'm ready."

~Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ~

"Inferno?" I asked when the town car that was Edward's means of transportation that night stopped in front of a red brick building in Belltown. "You're taking me to hell, Edward?"

"Don't worry. Alice only turned 19 and despite her plans of world domination they won't let her further than the fourth circle till she is 21," Edward replied, smirking and put his phone to his ear.

I took in the blazing letters on the façade and the line of people waiting to get in and wondered how extensive Alice's world domination schemes were already as Edward said his 'Mhm's' and 'Okay's'. I felt uneasy as I thought about all those people inside, about his family. What were they going to think of me? What if they didn't like me? Didn't think I was good enough?

"Bella?"

I turned to face him and tried to blink my way out of the daze that had shrouded me. "Yes?"

"Can you put your hair down, please?" He asked.

"What?"

"It's just for now. Till we are inside. I was kind of hoping we could avoid this altogether by going round the back, but there seems to be a problem, so we'll have to do it the slightly more obvious way."

He nodded outside and I followed his eyes to the crowd in front of the entrance.

"Oh." Was all I could manage when his words sunk in. I could come up with a myriad of legitimate reasons for his request, but the most dominant one shouted that he didn't want to be seen with

me.

"I know it sounds strange," he sighed, "but at this time, it's for the best that we keep this to ourselves."

When he said 'this' he took my hand in his and gave my fingers a light squeeze. It not fully eradicated the self-deprecating Bella inside me but it shut her in the trunk of the car for the time being. I nodded and my free hand went to the pin that held my hair together. It unfurled like a stage curtain after the last encore.

"I'm sorry for being difficult," he said, softly untangling the last knots in my hair with a brush of his fingers.

"No." I shook my head. "It's okay. What do you want me to do?"

"Stay behind me, keep your head down, and don't let go of my hand. You can leave your coat in the car. It's going to be quick, I promise."

I nodded and he rewarded me with a smile before opening the door and he slid out of his seat. I shivered at the cold wind when he helped me out of the car and said something to the driver, before starting to pull me across the street. My heartbeat, as well as my grip on his limb, increased with every step we took.

"Do you always have someone to drive you?" I asked to break the tension.

"Only when I'm going somewhere like this. Faster, more reliable, and no one has to be the designated driver," he replied, quickening his pace till every one of his needed two of mine. I was very glad I wasn't wearing heels. Those could have proven fatal.

We reached the packed sidewalk safely. I felt almost guilty bypassing all those girls in skimpy skirts hopping from one stiletto on the other in the freezing cold, their teeth clattering in tune with the remnants of the music that leaked from inside.

"Oh my God, did you see who that was?" I heard one of girls shriek to her friend, and in a reflex my step faltered as I turned my head to see who had said it. I tripped into Edward's back and he steeled the grip on my hand to keep me vertical. I guiltily bit my lip, face like an overripe tomato, when he glanced back to make sure I was still on my feet and the second girl confirmed what the first had seen.

"Oh my God, Edward!" she yelled.

I was officially a total failure at stealth. Edward acknowledged the girls with a smile and a short wave before moving on and making me bump into him a second time when he stopped at the entrance.

"Gentlemen," he greeted the two bears of men guarding the velvet rope with a nod. "I believe you will find my name on the list."

In the background people whispered and laughed, and the two girls still screamed his name and words of adoration. I wondered how he could possible ignore it so effortlessly, but when he pulled me closer in his side I wondered if he did ignore it, after all.

"Certainly, Mr. Cullen," one of the bouncers said, unhooking the rope. "And the girl?"

"The girl's with me," Edward simply replied leading me inside.

The second bouncer led the way through a dark hallway and a lobby of sorts to the main room. I gripped Edward's hand with my other as well as to not lose him and dared to look around. Projected flames licked the walls in red and orange, others were adorned with rich murals of what I realised were sins, and Edward's remark about the fourth circle of hell suddenly didn't seem so tongue in cheek. The music was loud and the space was slowly filling with people that, for some reason, were all headed for the bar as the laser lights rolled over the room in red and pink. Edward turned around, his lips moving, but the only sound reaching my ears was a loud beat that seemed the quake my intestines.

"What?" I shouted.

He leant in, breath in my ear, and shouted: "Are you okay?"

I nodded. I was lying. I wasn't sure whether I was okay. I didn't even feel comfortable at house parties and now I was in disco hell. Pun intended.

We kept moving and ascended a flight of stairs, finding ourselves on a deck overlooking the rest of the club. The theme remained, affluent murals, plays of light, but it was richer. Heavy velvet curtains, iridescent chandeliers, and a lot of corners and niches with soft looking couches to sit on. On the bar and on the small tables, tea lights were burning in what looked like holders made out of raw salt crystal, shedding a warm light. It looked kind of stunning, and the music was not nearly as loud as downstairs.

"It's beautiful here," I said, raising my voice, but not actually having to scream.

"Well…when you go to hell, you might just as well do it in style." Edward winked.

There was already a substantial crowd of people enjoying their drinks, laughing and talking, not one of whom I knew. I sighed. I was not really a people person. I pushed the Charlie in me into the trunk with self-deprecating Bella and slammed it shut. Tonight I was going to be a people person, I told myself, but was not prepared for what hit me. Literally. A flash of orange silk slammed into me and, if not for my hand still in Edward's, I would have been laid out on the floor.

"This is so exciting!" The attacker squealed.

"Alice." Edward admonished the girl that could only be his sister with almost parental patience.

"You're Bella Swan!" She beamed at me, tiny hands gripping me with disproportional strength. Was she a member of the same gym as Mrs. Kowalski?

"Uhm…yeah?" I pulled my mouth into what – I could only hope – didn't look like a petrified grin. "Happy Birthday?"

"Alice." The second time Edward uttered her name it sounded like a warning.

"Thank you!" She squeezed me harder, entirely ignoring her brother. "We will be great friends! We can go shopping and drink coffee! Do you like coffee? I love coffee! And—"

"Alice!" The third time sounded like a roar that made me flinch.

"Yes! Sheesh!" She waved him off, not in the least intimidated, and I couldn't help but laugh.

They didn't seem much alike. She was tiny, Alice. Even in heels she just barely reached Edward's shoulder. Her hair was either black or dark brown and framed her face in playful spiky wisps. Atop of her head she wore a hair band with flashing red devil horns that fit the venue and – if I took Edward's glare into consideration – her personality to the fullest. Her facial features were delicate and the paleness of her skin made her look somewhat like a doll. The dress she wore was orange. A bright, here-I-am, can-you-say-orange, orange. And for some unearthly reason, she looked absolutely stunning in it.

"You have pretty hair," she announced after a short pause shooting me a bright smile.

"Are you drunk?" Edward inquired with a raised eyebrow. "Never mind. Why am I even asking?"

"Don't be a grump." She winked at him, then leaning to me said: "He can be such a grump at times."

"I'm not a grump! You're just…" He made a wide hand gesture, searching for words. It was kind of endearing, as Edward seemed to always have a retort to everything in the blink of an eye.

"Impossible?" she suggested.

"Thank you," he grumbled.

"You're welcome." Alice said and a grin spread over her face as she wrapped her arms around his waist. "And thank you."

"You're welcome." He smiled down at her returning her hug.

I wasn't sure what I was witnessing, but it felt like something out of a black and white movie, slightly in fast forward, with hysterical piano music and frantic lip and hand movements. All that was missing was someone holding up signs telling what in the name of Godiva was going on.

"Well, well, well! What have we here!" A low voice boomed, successfully overpowering the music and manifesting in the immense shape of a man. Next to Alice he looked like a giant, but his smile was bright like the sun and the dimples in his cheeks nothing short of adorable.

"This is Edward's Bella," Alice introduced me disentangling herself from his grip and caused the man's smile to brighten. My cheeks, however, flushed at that little possessive streak in Alice's announcement. Edward's Bella. It sounded both frightening as appealing at the same time.

"I'm Emmett," the man presented himself. "The handsome Cullen. Too bad for you I am married, so you will have to do with him." He nodded Edward's way, extending a large hand, which I took hesitantly. He gave it a gentle squeeze and winked.

"You warm my heart, Emmett." Edward rolled his eyes.

"You can't help it that I'm handsome. They used to call me 'Handsome Emmett' in school for a reason."

Alice let out a squeal of laughter before clasping her hands over her mouth.

"Name one person who called you 'Handsome Emmett' in school," Edward challenged.

"Pft!" He scratched his head, thinking, before exclaiming: "Grandma Platt!"

Even Edward could not keep a straight face at that and a thrill shot down my spine, like it did every time he laughed, really laughed. "I'm going to get a beer." Emmett then declared. "Want something, too?" He looked at Edward, then at me.

"A beer, thanks." Edward placed his order. Emmett's eyes expectantly descended on me a second time.

"Uhm…a Martini?" I tried tentatively. I was not a seasoned drinker. I had no idea.

"Are you asking or are you telling?" Emmett demanded and I unconsciously stood straighter.

"Emmett!" Edward chided, "We're not on the football field. She said a Martini."

"Fine! A Martini for the lady and a beer for Edward 'The- Not- Quite- So- Handsome' Cullen! Back in a flash!"

"Don't mind Emmett," he told me once his brother had wandered off to the bar. "He doesn't mean it bad. He just has no filter… nor manners."

"But he's very handsome…" I offered, letting him know that I was okay.

"Grandma Platt thinks so." Edward chuckled leading me to a niche that held an empty couch.

"Well…I think so, too." A blonde quite fit to be portrayed on one of the murals approached us. Her flaxen hair fell over her shoulders and back in luscious curls, the black dress she wore wrapping around every curve like a second skin, and showing enough of her first. She was the embodiment of elegance and beauty and she looked like she knew that very well.

"How peculiar, that Grandma Platt's name came up before yours," Edward goaded.

Her eyes narrowed and for a moment she looked every bit as fierce as she was beautiful. Edward however, did not seem too affected.

"Bella, meet Rosalie, my sister in law."

I stuck out my hand to shake hers, but Edward cautioned me: "Careful! She bites."

"You're so funny," Rosalie sneered, placing a cool and carefully manicured hand in mine, before folding her endless legs to sit down on the adjacent sofa.

I couldn't help but feel a bit edgy around her. She did not exactly look very welcoming while she let her eyes wander over me with clear indifference, but Edward made all my concern melt away as he nudged my shoulder with his and I was met with a curious, sweet smile that tugged at the corners of my own mouth. He brushed my still loose hair over my shoulder leaning his face closer to mine and his heavenly scent washed over me.

"You are beautiful," he said close to my ear. "Absolutely stunning. And Rosalie is like a defective space heater… She will warm up to you, it will just take some time."

"Oh, you two love birds!" Emmett plopped down next to his wife, his hands full of drinks. "Get a room!"

I blushed and Edward raised an eyebrow, to which Emmett only shrugged. "I always wanted to say that."

"And Emmett you just ignore!" Edward finished loud enough for him to hear. I chuckled and thanked Emmett for my Martini.

"As you are shag-" He started with a wide smile but it faltered slightly when he glanced at Edward and he cleared his throat, almost visibly fighting himself to not giggle. "As I was saying…since you are here with Edward over there, who's trying to dissect my brain with his evil stare, I got you two umbrellas. Though what's up with that? We're in hell! Not Cabo!"

Rosalie elbowed him in the ribs.

"Hey! I'm holding beverages here, woman!" Emmett bellowed.

"I swear, call me woman one more time you…man," she hissed back, only to coax a smile a mile wide on Emmett's face.

I was fascinated.

"Or what?" Emmett goaded.

"Or you're walking home tonight!"

"Are they always like this?" I asked Edward.

"Not all of the time, I mean they have to sleep some time. The thought alone that her parents wanted her to marry me…" He shuddered with a chuckle.

"Marry you?" I echoed.

"Yeah, Jasper, her brother, and I were…" He paused shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "We grew up together, went to the same school, were in the same Christmas plays, etcetera… our families became quite acquainted, and they couldn't emphasise enough how much we are made for each other, both headed for Dartmouth and so on."

I gaped at him. "You were headed for Dartmouth."

"Took a different exit." Edward shrugged taking one of the beers out of Emmett's hands.

"And Rosalie?"

"Rosalie got pregnant senior year." He nodded at his brother.

"Lily. Right. Different exit, too." And a different Cullen. Just like that, I realised I knew so very little of this man and no amount of Google time was going to fill in the gaps. I needed Edward time.

"Do you regret it?" I asked. "Not going, I mean?"

"Sometimes." He cast his eyes down for a moment. "But I suppose we regret everything in life once or twice."

I nodded and wondered about mine. There had been so many already and I was only 23. Then I looked at Emmett and Rosalie, currently in the middle of a heated kiss, bickering forgotten, and wondered about theirs. A child at 18, college dreams gone and who knew how many more, but there they were, lost in each other and I felt ever so slightly envious of their embrace. Of each other and of whatever life threw at them.

"Who needs to get a room now?" Edward said throwing one of my umbrellas at Emmett's head. His brother flicked him the bird and gave Rosalie a final languid kiss, leaving her flushed and giggling against his shoulder.

"I think Grandma Platt would retrieve her statement about your handsomeness if she saw that," Edward admonished taking a swing of his beer referring to Emmett's middle finger.

"It's a legitimate communication tool. Has been since the Roman times." Emmett tipped his beer bottle towards Edward, "Digitus impudicus, bro."

I let out a laugh and made the mental note that I already liked Emmett Cullen. Impudicus and loud as he may be, he was real, without pretences or complications. It was like looking in the smooth, crystalline waters of a mountain lake and seeing everything. He and Edward seemed so different, both in their appearance as in their ways. I wouldn't have thought they were brothers, had it not been for our introduction. A more obvious genetic match was the tall blond guy that Alice was tugging towards us. There could be no question he was related to Rosalie. The same facial features, hair, eyes, complexion. Jasper was downright Rosalie's male version and I wondered if perhaps on top of everything else, they also shared a birthday.

He looked uncomfortable as he trudged behind the tiny girl, but perhaps this was only because his expression was offset by Alice's as she beamed. Literally beamed. I wondered how so much 'happy' fit in such a petite package.

"Bella, I'd like you to meet my boyfriend," she announced, shooting a glance towards Edward.

I followed her eyes and saw Edward giving her a tight smile. Everything then fell into place. The friend that was seeing his sister, his uneasiness as he spoke about Rosalie's brother. I was looking in the golden eyes of his best friend and they were restless. Yet he seemed entirely composed as he introduced himself to me.

"I'm Jasper Hale," he said leaning over the table to shake my hand. "Pleasure to meet you." His voice was smooth, soothing almost, and I smiled placing my hand in his.

"Edward." He acknowledged his presence with a curt nod. Cool. Detached. A methodical and void use of etiquette.

Edward watched him in silence for a few seconds before reciprocating in a similar fashion, a wry smile playing on his lips as he looked away.

Two laughing girls stumbled towards our corner screaming a horribly out of tune version of 'Happy Birthday' over the music in the club. Alice jumped from the sofa, and they collided in a mass of dresses and arms and laughter. Cheeks were kissed and hugs exchanged till one of them looked past her and noticed Edward. Her mouth opened, then closed like that of a fish and her face coloured a bright red while her eyes shimmered with her excitement.

"Hi!" She eventually exclaimed, "I'm Alice's friend…we uhm… we study together. I loved you in Flightless Bird."

"Hello, Alice's friend," Edward replied with the charismatic half smile that made both her and me keel over. "And I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"Oh, ha!" She fidgeted with her hair. "Bridget. My name is Bridget. Are you enjoying Seattle? LA must have much better weather. And then the movie! Ireland. So pretty. Right? I mean, I wanted to go to Greece this summer but I'm going to Ireland now, 'cause it's like beautiful." The verbal avalanche rolled off her lips at such a speed that I had trouble comprehending what she said and I met Emmett's gaze.

Yap, yap, yap, he mouthed moving his hand in accordance like a puppet. I bit my lip to contain the giggle that was fighting to escape.

"Yeah it is…like, beautiful." I heard Edward saying.

"Hi, Edward!" A second girl peeked around Bridget's shoulder. "Remember me?"

"Molly Sullivan." Edward chuckled, recognition flashing over his face. "Thought you'd be in jail by now. How's life?"

"That thing with the principal's car was a big misunderstanding." She grinned, "And I'm good. Residing in LA these days. Share an apartment with Donna. Remember Donna? Donna! Look who's here come say hi!" She hollered. "She doesn't hear me."

"I remember Donna." Edward chuckled. "Has she secured Clooney's hand in marriage yet?"

"No…No. But it's an ongoing project. We're working on it. If not…would you consider being the replacement? She's very friendly, Donna."

"She beheaded all of my G.I. Joes."

"That's a no, then…" Molly concluded as Alice wrapped her hands around her arm and started pulling her away. "Oh…I'm going? I'm going! Awesome to run in to you again!"

"Stay out of trouble, Molly!" Edward grinned.

Molly laughed rolling her eyes at him before she disappeared out of sight. Bridget was still in her spot and catatonic from the looks of it, but Alice managed to coax her out of the niche, too. As she led her friend away she turned her head and mouthed a sorry to Edward.

"I just don't get it…" Emmett mused holding a beer in both hands. He took a swing from one then from the other.

"Don't get what?" Edward asked with raised eyebrows as he watched how Emmett pulled a face at beer number two and gave it to Rosalie. She shot him a disgusted look and set the bottle on the table.

"What is so sexy about your skinny ass! Bella? Any thoughts on the subject?"

I gaped at him. Did I have any thoughts on the subject of Edward's ass?

"Oh leave her alone," Rosalie interjected, before I was fully done dying of mortification. "Get me a drink instead." She pushed him off the couch.

"Just ignore him," Edward repeated his earlier statement with a shake of his head. "As for the sexy, it remains a secret between me and my skinny ass," he told Emmett.

All this sexy ass talk had me flustered. Ignoring Emmett was not as easy as it sounded since his personality seemed to be as big as he was. I took a sip of my Martini. Then another, and then I just finished the whole glass in an attempt to make me slightly less sensitive to Emmett's increasingly more suggestive remarks. I did not however intend for the drink to rise to my head.

"Uhm… do you know where the bathroom is here?" I asked Edward, hoping I didn't look as drunk as I felt.

"I'll show you," Rosalie replied instead, rising from her seat.

Edward shot her a look to which she rolled her eyes, but no words nor witticisms were exchanged. I wondered whether leaving to a secluded place with this woman was the safe thing to do, but I followed her into a black tiled restroom with marble sinks and elegantly lit mirrors.

Once I had washed my hands and cooled my Martini flushed cheeks, I fumbled with my hair, making an effort to get it back up the way I had it. Loose strands kept slipping from my fingers till I had to let down my arms because they were starting to sting. I sighed. Stupid hair. I tried again, attempting to sneak a peek at the back of my head as Rosalie exited one of the stalls and turned on the faucet.

"Here, let me," she then offered, tossing the paper towel in the bin, and moving to stand behind me.

I let go of my hair and it fell in her waiting hands. She fluffed it up, then combed her fingers through it before gathering it in a pony tail at the back of my head. Her fingers twisted and turned. "Clasp?" She briefly met my eyes in the mirror.

I handed her the hair clasp and she pressed it to my scalp, plucking and pulling at my hair. I had a difficult time believing she was helping me from the feel of it. Perhaps she was trying to pull my hair out instead, but when she removed her hands and I twisted my head I discovered that she had left me with a stunning up-do.

"Thank you." I smiled at her. "I'm such a –"

"Let this be clear," she cut me off looking me right in the eye. "Edward may be an ass, but he is my ass-in-law. He is family and I do not like seeing my family hurt. I hope, for your sake, you're not playing games with him to get a free ride on the fame express."

I blinked and shook my head.

"Good." She took a red lipstick out of her purse and moved her upper body over the counter and brushing it over her lips in two fluid motions before smacking her lips together and perfecting the corners with her pinkie finger. "I like your dress."

"Thanks…" I shifted in my spot. I wasn't sure what to think of this. Whether to be offended because she made me out for a gold digger or give her credit for looking out for Edward's interest.

"I really like him, Rosalie," I thus said, studying the noses of my boots. "If anything I wish he wasn't…" I glanced up at her. "I like him a lot."

"He really likes you, too," she replied eventually, and I could swear there was a smile in her eyes, however slight, before she put her hand on the door. "A lot," she added and pushed it open letting the music burst in had it been pressed to the door listening to our conversation.

I remained rooted to the tile floor and stared at the now closed door, a myriad of thoughts swimming in my head, till it swung open again and two girls walked in laughing and chattering. I made myself blink

and then move, getting the strawberry lip gloss I had borrowed from Angela out of my bag and putting it on my lips. It was really not practical as the sweet taste made me constantly want to lick my lips. Was that even healthy? I looked in the mirror a final time, feeling like a child's first attempt at a clay ashtray next to the dauntingly stunning masterpiece that was Rosalie and dared to think that perhaps her marble façade was not as cold as it appeared to be at first sight and that some day I would not set off alarms by standing too close. For now I settled for the adjustment to the proximity Edward allowed me, as he himself was an art piece in his own right.

Before I could reach the niche where we had been seated I saw Edward and Jasper talking at the far end of the room and something about it was tense. That tension seemed to increase with every step that I took in their direction, till it rolled off them like a pungent mist.

"I wouldn't know, I'll ask my professor's daughter. She seems to know more about you than I, at the moment." I heard Jasper saying and I stopped, unsure if I should approach them further or turn around. Whatever it was between them, it was personal and it didn't involve me.

"Oh you have nerve, I'll give you that!" Edward let out a humourless laugh. "The one time I got the chance to ask you how you were I got brushed off and then you proceeded to ignore me for weeks, after dropping the bomb that you're screwing my little sister!"

I couldn't make myself to move, stood rooted in my spot like some eavesdropping third wheel as Jasper launched a defence attack. Or was it an offense attack? I couldn't be sure.

"You didn't care much how or what I was doing when you packed up your life, moved out to LA, and decided I didn't fit in it anymore. So don't come home after not talking to me for like… a year and pretend that you give a flying fuck about lowly little Jasper," He spat, "It's insulting. As is your notion that the world evolves around you and how you feel. Newsflash, Edward, earth does not stop spinning when you pack your bags! I don't need you to grant me your blessing in order for me to sleep at night, nor dictate with whom to sleep for that matter."

My heart leapt to my throat as I watched Edward's jaw clench in accordance with his fist and for a moment I was afraid he was going to take a swing.

"Edward!" I called out.

He flicked his head around and when his dark, raging eyes locked with mine, I could only stare back. I had never seen him angry. If anything, till now I had looked at him as someone with tremendous patience and composure, but he was livid, and he either couldn't or wouldn't hide it. I wasn't breathing until Edward flexed his hand, an apology flashing through his eyes, and I sucked in a deep breath.

"What's going on?" Alice danced to my side, looking at me and then at the two fuming men with alarm on her face. I wished I could tell her but I was quite in the dark myself.

"We're leaving," Edward announced, his body still an armour of anger, but his eyes flooded with sadness.

"What? Why? What happened?" Alice grabbed his arm when he passed her, but he simply shook it off and placed a tentative hand on my waist.

"Yeah! Walk away!" Jasper yelled, "It's what you're good at!"

Edward didn't look back as we rapidly strode towards the exit, though his grip on me tightened at Jasper's words. I did, however, and I saw Jasper's face - an equal mixture of anger and sadness - as Alice pulled at his shirt demanding an answer. Emmett shot us a quizzical look as we passed him and opened his mouth, but Rosalie swatted his arm before he could fling some witty remark in the rink. Before I knew it we found ourselves in a back alley and Edward collided his foot with a wooden crate that crumpled in misery.

"Fucking bastard!" He exclaimed, and the expletive carried on his heated breath in the cold air.

I stood in the periphery, unsure of what to do, of how to soothe him. So I let him rage till he was done, almost shaking with the effort, and took notice of me.

"God, Bella." He plucked at his hair and ran his hands over his face. "I'm sorry—I didn't mean… I'm sorry you had to see that."

His approach was hesitant as if he expected me to be afraid, but strangely enough the thought simply hadn't crossed my mind. I had been too wrapped up in trying to think of something to alleviate his distress, but I just didn't know what to say to him, what to do to make him better. Eventually, I just took a chance and slung my arms around his waist, pressing myself against him. He froze in my embrace, whether startled or surprised, but eventually his shoulders slumped. Heaving a deep, pained sigh, he ran his hands up my arms to my neck, his thumbs tracing my jaw before he plunged his fingers in the hair in my nape and pulled me closer. I had him back.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," he muttered another apology against my temple, his warm breath washing over my skin and making me briefly close my eyes.

"It's cold," I said. "We should go back inside…or something."

"No…" His reply was soft yet determined as he let go of me and took a step back. "Enough madness for one night. I'm taking you home."

He shrugged out of his blazer and held it up for me as I slid my arms in the sleeves, his scent and warmth enveloping me, while he called the driver.

~Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ~

Edward was silent through most of the ride to my apartment. In addition, he seemed to avoid my eyes at all cost, either embedding them in the dark leather of the driver's seat or fixating them on some unspecific point in the distance.

"Will you be okay?" I finally broke the silence, scooting closer to him and placed my hand on his back, stroking over the tense curve of his spine, while resting my chin on his shoulder.

"Me? Yeah," he sighed, plucking at his hair till I took his hand in mine. He was going to be bald by the time he hit twenty-five if he kept that up.

"I'm sorry. This was not supposed to go like this. Look at you, you're dazzling and this has to be the shortest party appearance ever. It's between him and me and you should've never witnessed it."

"Don't worry about it. Clubs are not my scene, anyway. Besides, it's not like any of this took time." I motioned my hand at myself trying to lighten the mood. "I'm naturally stunning."

"That you are," he sighed, brushing his thumb over my knuckles and sending an electric current through my being.

I took in a quivering breath and asked, "What happened between you two?"

Edward tensed at my question.

"I don't want to discuss this right now, Bella. In all honesty, I'm not sure myself," he answered eventually.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologise," he cried, his face twisted. "Please, my behaviour was just—"

"Stop apologising!" I begged. "It's okay! You had a fight with your friend, you didn't fillet a kitten before my eyes! Besides, one outburst deserves another, don't you think?" I reminded him of the night that I fell to pieces and he had to watch.

Sooner than he could reply, the car stopped in front of my building and suddenly the evening had ended before it had even fully begun. I tucked myself deeper in his embrace.

"Are you sure you will be okay?" I asked him again, looking for something to keep him with me for a bit longer, even if it was for comfort.

"I will be okay." He nodded.

"Oh." I bit my lip. "Okay. That's good. Cause I can imagine you feel a bit … I mean it's been a rough night and I can make a cup of tea or something to… Not that tea makes you feel better. But it has antioxidants and…" Antioxidants? Really? That hatch could open now and swallow me whole. Please?

Edward watched me intently, eyebrows raised, and I felt the betraying heat creep up my cheeks. Thankfully the car was shrouded in darkness. Even though I was pretty sure the scarlet of my embarrassment shone in bright neon, anyway, just to tease me.

"Just ask me, Bella," he said.

"Ask you what?" I blinked.

"Up."

Up. Two letters. Barely a word. Yet 'up' was weighing me down. I blinked.

"I don't mean up!" Edward said quickly. "Just up in a totally not up sort of way. You know, a 'you-live- on- the- seventh- floor' up. Distance from the ground… I like tea." He muttered the last part.

For a good minute we sat in silence like a bunch of teenagers on their very first date. This was one strange day. A trip to inferno and back. No matter what preparatory measures I took, it didn't seem enough, so why not just go with it?

"Would you like to come up for a cup of tea, Edward?"

"If you'll have me," he answered, and just like he ended up standing in the middle of my living room for the second time that day.

It was still plenty weird, but a good weird. A weird that would have made me smile, if not for his sadness. Maybe, just maybe, I could get used to this. As I filled the kettle with water, I snuck a glance at Edward, who was looking outside through the window, ostensibly lost in thought. As the kettle heated on the stove, I dug out two mugs and dug through our tea collection that seemed to be reduced to the redbush Angela loved so much and I despised. Finally, I found some remnants of the lovely blend of green tea and lemongrass.

"It seems we only have redbush and green tea with lemongrass. I hope you like one or the other," I said taking the sugar out of the cupboard as well.

Edward didn't reply, but he was there. I felt his presence behind me before he ever touched me. The air grew thinner and the familiar feeling of anxiety washed over me like a tidal wave. Butterflies dancing in my stomach. Heart throbbing in my throat. So many thoughts swirling in my head, that not one made sense. I was waiting. I didn't know for what, but I stood unmoving. Waiting.

He jolted every nerve in my body into a frenzy when he set his hands on my shoulders. I wondered if I would ever be able to take in his touch without flinching at the intensity of it, of him. And still, I waited as the sensory overload slowly ebbed away to a constant humming of the nerve endings in the background.

"I lied about coming up here, and I know that tonight of all nights I don't deserve it, but I really want…" He spoke eventually, an internal struggle either won or lost, and I couldn't make myself think it over as the rest of the sentence hung in the air like a storm on a scorching summer day. His grip was tense but gentle, as if he had trouble estimating his strength. I closed my eyes, steeling myself against impact.

"I want…" His fingers momentarily tightened around my shoulders, before relaxing instantly. "To kiss you," he finished sucking the remaining air right out of the kitchen with those few softly spoken words.

I swallowed, drawing in a shaky breath, expecting a crushing flood of panic to devour me. As the seconds ticked by, the humming intensified and warmth that had started to build in the pit of my stomach started to spread through my veins, but I was still there. I was okay. I opened my eyes when I realised that there was no internal siren, no life threatening code red, not even a more agreeable orange. There was just him and me and for the first time I knew exactly what I wanted.

"Then kiss me…"

Before I could even muster enough blood circulation to blush, he had spun me around, his hands on the rapid pulse in my neck. I felt dizzy either because he was so close, or because I wasn't breathing. A combination of both was perhaps the most likely. I was simply not prepared for what I would find in his eyes. The hunger, and the struggle to curb it, coloured his irises an ominous black and turned the lines of his face hard. That being said, it was not fear for that hunger, not anxiety for being consumed that made it hard to breathe. I was sandwiched in between the stainless steel of the counter and that of his frame and despite everything I felt safe, for as much as his grip on me was unyielding, it was every bit as much laced with vigilant gentleness. He seemed more afraid of breaking me than I was afraid of being broken.

"Kiss me." I urged him on, curling my fingers around the lapels of his blazer and couldn't help it when my eyes wandered to his lips. It took every ounce of self-control to not close that last meagre distance myself, but this time it had to be him. I wanted to show him that I wouldn't run. That I wanted this, him. God, I wanted him. If wanted him any more, I'd take the lapels right off his jacket. I sure did hang on to them for dear life.

I closed my eyes, chewing on my bottom lip to channel the restlessness and flinched when I felt him coax it back out with his thumb, while his index finger simultaneously lifted my chin. I could not decide whether to hold my breath or to hyperventilate in the five longest seconds of my life before his lips, reverent and shy, touched mine. All thought left my head, but I was funnily aware of his hair tickling my forehead, of his sweet breath on my mouth, of his fingers digging in the back of my neck, raising me up to him till I found myself standing on my tiptoes. Edward explored slowly, teetering on the edge, but never plunging in, and I teetered with him. The only difference was that my edge was that of insanity as my body surrendered to the gentle caresses and rioted for more.

"Strawberries," Edward muttered against my lips, letting his tongue trace them lazily, like a cat savouring the last drops of milk and setting me ablaze, making me alive, like I hadn't felt in so very long. I let go of his blazer and gripped the sides of his head instead, anchoring my fingers in the thick bronze mane, kissing him back with abandon.

Our mouths moulded together like water, sensual and effortless. I was adrift, coiling, surging; lost in the softness of his lips, the warmth of his mouth, the tender caress of his tongue, the most delightful improvisation of nips, licks, and strokes, till something as mundane as lack of oxygen forced us apart, out of breath, wide-eyed, shrouded by the succulent echo of current events and the shrill whistle of the kettle.

Wow.

He just – And I—

Wow.

"I second that…" Edward said hoarsely running a hand through his hair. I blinked, then flushed. Had I voiced that out loud?

"Don't be embarrassed, Bella." He nudged my chin up. "If I'd been able to string a thought together it would have been that."

Then he moved the kettle from the stove and I watched, stunned into silence, as he poured the boiling water into the mugs.

"Do you want to watch a movie?" I asked setting my mug down on the coffee table, the sweet herbal aroma swirling into the room on a constant whirl of steam.

"No." Edward smiled, taking a hold of my hand and pulling me down beside him on the sofa. I fell flush against him and held my breath as he trailed his fingers up the side of my throat, to my ear and behind it, combing through my hair. "I'd much rather watch you…"

I didn't breathe as I watched him watch me and counted the golden specks that sat in the endless greens of his eyes. They were just traces washed ashore by some river in the evergreens, but they shimmered, more so it seemed when he smiled. But now, there was an undercurrent of sadness hiding in between the pine and the myrtle. I knew I couldn't coax him out of the shadows and make him tell me what exactly had transpired between him and Jasper, what had caused his mind to wander into that forest of melancholy all alone. He would hide if he so chose, and I was not going to change his mind. Not tonight. So, I stroked his cheek instead, hoping that he could find some comfort in my touch.

I smiled when he inclined his face into my palm and placed a kiss right in the middle of it, then another one on the almost translucent skin of my inner wrist. And I was fascinated, as well as entirely consumed, by what those tiny gestures did to me, how easily my body followed his lead as he gently pushed me in the cushions of the sofa and lay down beside me.

"Is this okay?" he asked softly brushing his lips from my chin to my ear. "My head feels heavy."

I nodded, stretching out my legs alongside his and kicking off my boots under the coffee table. Edward followed suit. I didn't get the chance to be embarrassed about the hole in my pantyhose before he pulled me close for a lazy kiss, leaving me breathless, and I let my fingers roam that gorgeous thick mane.

The tea was forgotten, cooling rapidly on the coffee table; the pantyhose were forgotten, my toes curling from delight; the world was forgotten as we lay there for what seemed eternity and a split of a second all at once. In a kiss, in an embrace, or simply in silence.

I didn't know who had dozed off first, as everything seemed like a languid dream anyway, but I awoke from the sound of the wind beating icy rain against the windows. I stifled a yawn, my eyelids sticky from sleep. A glance at my watch told me that it was almost a quarter past one. An arm was my pillow, harder than I was used to, yet not necessarily uncomfortable. Another functioned as a not very thermal blanket over my waist, goose bumps strewn all over my naked arms. I craned my neck to look at Edward, sandwiched in between me and the backrest of the couch. He was fast asleep, his breathing slow and methodical, and a sense of peace traced the planes of his face, freeing it from the lines that aged him without years. His copper hair was tousled and hanging in his closed eyes, lips slightly parted, and butterflies started doing the polonaise in my stomach at the beauty that embraced me.

He'd had a rough evening and the purple blemishes under his eyes testified to a chaotic sleeping pattern, if one at all. I decided then and there that I was not going to wake him; that I was going to let him sleep for as long as sleep would take him. He deserved a few hours of rest, peace, healing. So I slowly lifted his arm from my waist, watching his face closely for any indication that he was waking up, and slid off the couch.

I padded around the apartment, dragging my feet and hitting light switches wherever they needed hitting. One by one the lights went out, gently shrouding in soothing darkness. Then I took a woollen blanket off the armrest of a chair and spread it out over his frame, contemplating my next move, or rather, whether to move in the first place. I chose the comfort and nearness of his arms. As I lifted the blanket and tried to slide back in place with as little of a hassle as possible, he stirred, inhaling deeply, rising from a deep sleep and once more I cursed my inability to be stealthy.

"What time is it?" he slurred the words into a continuous mumble that was hard to identify.

"Sleep, Edward," I said softly, flattering my head back on its human pillow and pulling his arm over my waist.

At those words he let out a sigh, the tension in his body expelling on his breath, and his grip on me tightened, pressing me closer.

And the nearness didn't scare me.

Nor did he.

I placed my hand in his and smiled, closing my eyes, letting the lullaby of the wind, the rain, his even breaths, and the quiet humming of the appliances sing me to sleep.

TBC

A/N: Mrs. Kowalski's vocabulary explained:

*devushka – girl

** piroshky - boiled or baked dumplings stuffed with for example meat. Sort of the Slavic version of ravioli.

*** Bozhe moi – My God

**** Idti – go

For those of you who wonder, digitus impidicus is not a figment of Emmett's imagination, nor of mine. The Romans really did flip each other off.

So this was it! I hoped it makes up for the long wait. I'd be delighted to hear your thoughts!

About a week and half ago my dear friend SunKing finally persuaded my to try out the Twitter. I've been twittering ever since. So if you want to join me, you can at twitter [dot] com / AlverdineFF.

Till next time!