Step 2: Get In His Bed

"I think I'm just going to throw everything I own away," I grumbled. "I had no idea I had so much crap."

"I don't know, I think this is pretty fun," Edward grinned. "Going through your closet. You have a lot of things in here I didn't know you had, or I forgot you had."

"That is true," I sighed, crumbling against his side with exasperation. We'd been sitting here in front of my closet for an hour, in essence cleaning it out, as I decided what to take with me and what could be thrown away. We were only about half way done.

Edward rubbed the side of my arm encouragingly, and reached into the closet again. We were almost done with everything sitting on the floor. Then we had the upper shelves to worry about.

Edward pulled out a medium size blue shoe box, and it vaguely sparked a memory but, as I was learning, I couldn't remember what was in most of the boxes shoved in here.

"Let's see what's in lucky box number one hundred," Edward mumbled, pulling the lid off. He started to smile as he pulled out a big white envelope, the kind that would hold pictures. "Do you know what pictures these are?" he asked, waving the envelope vaguely.

I shook my head. "I've taken a lot of pictures, and they all kind of get scattered together, so they could be a lot of different ones."

"There's a lot in here," he said excitedly, assessing the thickness of the paper. He carefully opened it, keeping it in tact, before turning it upside down and sliding the stack of photos into his capable hand.

I snuggled closer, eager too to see what memories lay in his palm, forever embedded to the glossy paper.

The first picture sent a pleasurable jolt through my system. It was a picture of Edward taken in my kitchen, soon after I had met him and we'd become friends. My mom had given me a camera as a good-bye present, and his was the first picture I'd ever taken with it, though I'd had it for over a month. He was grinning his crooked grin, trying not to look self-conscious as I snapped his photo.

"Ugh," the Edward next to me said, shaking his head in disgust. "I hate this picture."

"Psh, I love this picture!" I huffed, grabbing it from him and setting it next to me, in a new pile I was mentally calling the pictures I didn't want to go back in storage.

I analyzed the picture and then looked at the man next to me. The seventeen year old Edward was obviously a lot more boyish than the twenty year old next to me. Not by much, but enough to notice that his cheeks had hollowed out some, his torso, though still lean, more muscular and stronger looking. His eyes were still as playful and serious as they'd oxymoronically been when I'd met him, but now they had a touch more wisdom. And more happiness.

Edward watched my back and forth analysis with half-embarrassed, half-amused eyes. "What?" he said lowly, a light blush in his cheeks.

I just shook my head, smiling as I put my hand behind his neck and pulled him to me for a deep kiss. He wrapped a hand in my hair, tugging my body to his lap, the photos on the floor and forgotten. "Just thinking about how much I love you," I whispered when we pulled away for air, playing with the silky bronze strands at the base of his neck.

"As I love you," he murmured. "And…this picture," he grinned, lifting the next one off the pile. "It was a picture he'd snapped in retaliation to the one I'd taken of him. It was Alice and I playing around. I don't remember exactly what we were saying, but it somehow led to us making goofy faces.

Thus, the picture.

"I at least have justification to not like this one," I muttered, and Edward chuckled.

I sat on his lap for over half an hour as we scoured through the pictures, laughing and recalling the better ones. Some of the pictures were doubles, some were bad, blurry shots, some pictures just snapshots of random places or things that for some reason I must've wanted to preserve. Some I could remember. Some I could not. All of those pictures went in the 'back to the shoe box' pile, because I wasn't going to throw any pictures away. That didn't seem right to me. Pictures were the solid apparitions of our memories, remembering with better clarity things that we can't. It didn't seem right to throw away memories.

And there was still a formidable pile of pictures that I was keeping out of storage, for putting somewhere else. These were the ones Edward and I were quite fond of, or one of us was.

The last picture taken dated back to over a year ago, so these were all relatively old, but they brought back wonderful memories.

Edward and I at prom in junior year; something he'd dragged me to. He was flawless and smiling his trademark grin at me in a black tuxedo, his hands on my hips as we grinded together. I was nervous at first, in my heels and a French dress Esme had insisted upon buying for me at Alice's request. But I'd learned that all the girls kicked their shoes off at their table or against the sides of the wall soon after arriving anyway. And even though I hadn't wanted to go, I had learned that the kind of dancing we were doing - grinding and just moving - was easier than I thought. I looked blissful - and slightly horny - in his arms. Because I was. With my god of a boyfriend, my first ever boyfriend and, coincidentally enough, the man of my dreams. Alice had probably snapped the picture from the sidelines, or maybe her boyfriend Jasper. Or 'soul mate' as she liked to put it.

Another one was of Edward and I at a beach in Florida in our senior year, when we should've been at prom again. I'd put my foot down though, and we went to visit my mother instead. Even Edward had agreed later that it was a better decision. It was more of a silhouette picture than anything. My mother liked to take un-posed pictures, and it had been sunset. Edward and I were sitting next to each other, arms around the other one, watching the grey waves sparkle and glisten with orange and red light. She'd taken it from the back. The outlines of our heads - our hair - was basically the only part of us that wasn't deep brown and black with shadow.

One of the last ones we saw was also one of my personal favorites. It was pretty soon after we'd moved into college here in New Hampshire, into our respective apartments. Alice had so much stuff though, with her and Jasper living together, that they'd still needed help moving in. After a full day of moving stuff around and dealing with the emotional exhaustion of both Alice's and Edward's neurotic and obsessive need to have everything perfect - I blame the interior decorating designer that is their mother - I'd finally lain down on the floor, not prepared to be screamed at for wrinkling a duvet or anything, ready to pass out. Sensing - and seeing - that I was totally burnt out, Edward came over guiltily and laid down beside me. The picture was taken when I'd finally passed into slumber, blissfully unaware of it. My head was resting on his stomach, my hand softly gripping his t-shirt, taking comfort in having him there. One of his hands was behind his head, the other resting on my back.

But my favorite part were his eyes. He hadn't realized the picture was being taken but that didn't matter. Even if he had, no one, not even as good an actor as he is, could've faked the look of complete and utter devotion and love in his eyes as he watched me sleep, a small smile on his face.

It was so real. So undeniably there. I felt safe and loved and protected, just looking at it.

Edward understood my feeling as I admired the picture.

"I'm glad that you believe in me," he murmured, leaning forward to nuzzle under my earlobe, kissing the skin softly. "It lets me know that I've done something right."

"You've done lots of things right," I corrected automatically.

Well…except for one thing recently.

But he couldn't be perfect, and it was up to me to fix it.

I knew that what I was doing could be seen as morally corrupt. And maybe it was but…see, Edward is a very stubborn person. And a perfectionist. And quite bossy on occasion…dominant. Normally, that fit me very well. We complemented each other. While I was stubborn as well, and quite OCD at times, I was also quite content with going with the flow most of the time. I didn't care where furniture went, I didn't really care about what I wore, I didn't really care about a lot of decisions that seemed small to me. But very few things were 'small' to Edward. So we worked out fine.

Except when we came to big decisions like this. That's usually where our stubbornness met, shook hands politely, and refused to move out of the other's way.

Not always. But sometimes.

Like this time.

Edward meant well. But changing was hard for him. When he made a decision, he generally stuck with it. He could be black-and-white like that.

Me? While I stuck to my decisions as well, I was much more grey.

Edward thought that this abstinence, this insistence that our first time be in marriage, was the right thing. He said for the both of us, but I knew what that meant.

For me.

I very seriously doubted it would devastate him to have sex before marriage.

But he thought that I would come to regret it.

That was what he decided upon, and I knew it wouldn't matter if I told him he was dead wrong, that I didn't want to do this, that I wanted to do him, right now; he wouldn't agree and he would find a way to get his way.

It was an endearing quality about him most of the time.

But now, it was going to be a lesson in structure.

And how structure can move. He couldn't live always fearing an earthquake.

I needed to rock his world.

~*~

It had been a month. A month since our abstinence 'agreement'. Since I had started the MESS Plan. And it had been about three weeks since 'Edward' had suggested the move.

And I was finally, completely, totally moved in.

The papers had been signed on my old apartment; all my stuff packed in boxes or else thrown away; some new stuff had been bought for Edward's apartment to accommodate for a second person; and tonight would be the first night that I would be sleeping over as a permanent resident.

I'd slept over with him before obviously. But that had been before the 'agreement' (and I will always use that term loosely). The only times I'd slept over in this past month had been when we'd both passed out on his couch or something from exhaustion after our work of prepping his apartment for my arrival.

To avoid temptation, as Edward put it, my room was to be the cozy guest bedroom. It was nice it was true - I was hardly being stowed away. It was right next to his room. But the only way it could ever be appealing to me would be if he were in it with me.

So.

Step 2: Get in his bed.

This was going to have to be handled delicately and gradually, even more so than the first step. This wasn't going to happen overnight, I knew that already. It would be taking one step forward and one step back I knew, for quite some time. A couple weeks maybe. I was hoping to shorten that though. With only three months left until the wedding, my time constraint was looking smaller than ever, even though three months should seem like plenty of time.

Not when you have to move carefully though.

But it was alright.

I had a mini-plan already planned in my big plan, right for that step 2. I didn't right that in my notebook.

But it would definitely work. I didn't even need Alice's help or her intuitive foresight to know that.

Mwuahahahaha.

~*~

I logged onto my laptop quickly on my desk. I was in my room and quite alone. Edward was at class. But he'd be getting home soon. It was unfortunate that my first day here in heaven, where Edward was, with the last of my things having finally been taken from my apartment and placed here appropriately, would also be a Monday. Urgh. I'd had classes earlier, which is why I couldn't do this before, but Edward had one more class than me and I'd driven home to check on my plan.

The skies outside my window were grey and wet to be sure.

But I needed it to storm for this to believable.

Or else I was going to have to do some acting as a Plan B, and I wanted to avoid that if it was possible, so he would have less chance to see right through me.

I clicked onto my internet server and went straight for the weather site, my eyes narrowing and scanning the daily forecast.

A picture off to the side, with today's date below it, showed a picture with a grey cloud with a crack of gold lightning coming from it.

My mouth slowly unfurled into a mischievous grin. Perfect. This had all worked out very well.

My eyes glanced at the time in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen and I sighed. I was going to have to leave for work soon. Which meant I probably wouldn't have time to see Edward before he got home.

Still. I had enough time to make him a sandwich for lunch. I dressed quickly in my uniform, black pants, green shirt, and my nametag before going out to the kitchen and quickly preparing a simple sandwich for Edward, and one for myself, which I ate in the car ride to the book store I worked at.

I was really happy with my job. It was only part-time, obviously, but I couldn't have picked a better place for me to work at for now. I got a discount for the objects I loved so dearly, and I got a wide range of interesting titles and subjects for me to explore, expanding my library with works I would never have thought I would have liked. I got to keep up to date with the most popular books, and was even privileged to come across forgotten, dusty jewels. I could talk to people about books, and expertly find them their selections faster than most of my fellow employees.

I was very pleased and proud to be an asset; to be good at what I did, when I rarely excelled past others.

So I most usually came home in a good mood when I got off work at eight. Today was no exception.

"Hello?" I called when I entered. I was glad that I'd had a key to his apartment for a long time, so I wasn't self-conscious about letting myself in as I might have been otherwise - and I had been in the beginning.

"In the kitchen," Edward called amiably, his warm voice floating into the hall to send pleasant shivers down my spine.

I walked inside the warm, familiar space, with its black countertops and clean, sleek furnishings. "Hey," he grinned at me, looking up from a textbook and his laptop.

I smiled back, admiring his form-fitting white t-shirt. "Hey to you too. Have you eaten yet?" I asked, walking over to his cabinets - I already knew where everything was from previous stays over here - and pulling out a pot, a strainer, and a lid to start some pasta.

"No," he said, going back to his work. "And thanks for the lunch earlier - it was really nice coming home to that."

I smiled from my place at the sink, filling up the pot with water. "Don't get used to it," I teased, even though we both knew it was a lie.

I put the pot on the stove and turned the oven on. I had already taken on the meals wordlessly as my responsibility, because I'd had some experience with his cooking. He may be almost perfect, and completely perfect for me, but the man can hardly make a bowl of cereal without burning it.

I bustled around the kitchen some more, pulling out sauce, a frying pan, and some pieces of chicken to go with the pasta. It was an easy, normal routine and I fell into it easily, even starting to hum tunelessly as Edward typed and turned pages in his book. I was just finishing up the parmesan chicken and unloading it onto a plate, the pasta only having a few more minutes to cook when I felt familiar hands rest themselves lightly on my hips. I almost jumped with surprise, not having heard him stop working or get up.

I felt his warm breath hit my neck, his wild hair tickle the exposed skin of my neck before I felt his lips press softly against my neck, igniting stinging fire where he touched, that slowly spread and pricked delightfully underneath my skin.

"I mean, it seems so obvious to me," Edward murmured thoughtfully next to my ear, as if we were picking up on a conversation we had dropped a little while ago, "That I don't think I've said it yet, but…I'm really happy you're here Bella. More than I could tell you."

I bit my lip shyly, my cheeks burning alongside my eyes. "Thank you," I whispered shakily. "I'm glad. I was a little worried."

"About what?" His voice was concerned, his grip on my hips tightening.

"I don't know…that you'd start to feel overwhelmed maybe. Especially with everything else."

He chuckled behind me and shook his head, lips brushing my hair. "Bella, I wouldn't have asked you to marry me if it was going to overwhelm me to have you around."

Oh, it is going to overwhelm you, I quietly assured him in my head, Just in all the right ways instead.

I turned around and rested my hands on his strong shoulders, kissing him lightly. "Thank you for telling me that," I murmured. "Really. I needed to hear it."

He smiled crooked and slowly took a step back, his hands slipping from me regretfully, letting me return to my cooking.

We ate dinner in relative silence, though, as always, it was very companionable. I let my thoughts wander to my plan for later, trying to push back a grin when the rain started, a soft pt-pt against the windows. Edward didn't seem to register the rain, pushing back from the table. I thought for a moment he was going for thirds, and I was going to make a joke but he was washing his dish instead. He came back and grabbed my empty plate and glass too.

"Let me help," I said hurriedly, but he set down the dishes next to the sink and put his hands on my shoulders, turning me around and gently pushing me in the direction of the living room.

"No, go find a movie for us to watch or something," he said soothingly, and then added with his grin, "The cook doesn't clean, silly girl."

"Well, I guess that clears me of dish duty for the rest of my life, because I'm never going to give you a chance to burn the house down."

Scowling, he smacked my ass to get me to scurry out, but it just made me stay still for a minute as I bit back a moan. Turning around, I saw a strange expression on Edward's face too before he hurriedly turned around -

Hiding the bulge that had sprung in his jeans.

I bit my lip to hold my cheer inside. Apparently, I wasn't the only one excited and turned on, affected by that ass-smack.

Which was perfect.

When Edward came in to the living room some time later - suspiciously longer than it should've taken him to wash the dishes - he didn't mention the earlier incident and neither did I. We snuggled on the couch, hunkering down to enjoy the romantic comedy I'd put in, not really in the mood for anything heavy.

I carefully made sure that I didn't look the least bit sleepy or drowsy the whole time, even when the movie was done and Edward's eyelids were drooping.

"I think it's time for bed mister," I suggested, running a hand down his face.

He smiled sleepily at me and took my hand to lead me down the hall where the bedrooms were. He stopped in front of my door and leaned down to give me a deep kiss good night. A hand wound in my hair, another hand gripped the small of my back, and his tongue did sinfully delicious things to my mouth, pillaging it for all it was worth. It was a hell of a lot hotter than I'd been expecting. I moaned, my hands fisting into his shirt as my knees began to weaken.

His hands started to inch down lower, his pinky skimming under the waistband of my pants before he abruptly pulled back, gasping. I was smiling brilliantly, gasping too.

"Sorry," he panted. "Got carried away."

Apparently that ass-smack was still affecting somebody. I bit my lip, hiding a triumphant smile, and instead gave him a coy grin good night, shutting my door softly.

I changed into my tiny sleep shorts and matching tank top, forgoing my bra as usual. I just didn't like sleeping with it on, and I was glad Edward was already familiar with that. I didn't want him to get suspicious this early in the game.

I pulled my covers back and laid down in bed. I didn't bother getting comfortable, instead shifting around a lot as the rain got harder, giving a believable impression of restlessness.

I had to be patient, and wait for an appropriate time frame to have passed. Sighing, I looked at my clock one more time and mentally cheered. Forty-five minutes was long enough to be believable.

Pushing my covers away, I left my room and took the few steps to Edward's door, stopping in front of it, hesitating. Not because I actually was hesitant, but because if he was still awake, I wanted him to think so. This would be a lot easier if he was asleep already but I doubted that. Sleepy Edward was a lot easier to convince than the sober, awake one though.

Finally, I knocked; timidly of course.

"Come in," he called clearly. Not a trace of sleep. Sigh.

I cautiously opened the door and slipped inside, closing it quietly behind me. I leaned against it tentatively as he looked at me, curious.

"Sorry," I said in a hushed voice. "I'm just…having trouble sleeping. I still don't really like the rain and…you know, it's a new room and everything…"

None of it was untrue exactly.

"I was just wondering if…maybe…I could sleep in here tonight?"

He sighed quietly in defeat. "It's okay," he said, not having to scoot over. He liked to sleep on a side of his bed already, not in the middle. He opened the covers on the empty side and I padded over, slipping in next to him contently. I snuggled into his side, resting my head on his shoulder, placing my hand on his chest, gripping his shirt. My leg slipping comfortably over one of his, the only un-stiff way to sleep in this position. He could hardly call me out on it.

He didn't, but his Adam's apple did bob deliciously as he swallowed, looking steadfastly at the ceiling. I leaned forward to kiss the delicious, quavering lump, loving the feel of it moving underneath my lips. My unbound breasts pressed flat against his chest, my nipples reflexively hardening. "Thanks love," I whispered. "I know you don't really want me in here but - "

"Bella, that's not it," he rushed to reassure, agonized. He finally let himself relax into me. "This is certainly not punishment, I hope that's not how it's coming off."

I nodded my head quick, easing him. This was punishment - if you're talking sexually. I ignored that aspect though and let myself be reassured, relaxing against him, caressing his chest lightly.

"Sleep well," I murmured, kissing his chest, regretful for the t-shirt he wore.

He hummed in reciprocation, and I closed my eyes, comforted by his mouth-watering, comforting smell. This is where I was supposed to be.

But I knew I'd have to make up another excuse another night to get in here again.

As right as this was, the UST was nearly palpable.

I hadn't had relief in a month, not having had enough time to…take my matters into my own hands, so to speak. I felt awkward about doing it, since I'd never really had to before. I'd had Edward since I'd started exploring sexuality - him being the catalyst actually.

But I knew it was going to be a necessity.

And I had no idea if Edward had gotten some five-finger relief since the 'agreement' - probably - but he was a guy, and they always needed more. Plus, I was certain it was a thousand times better when it wasn't yourself doing it.

Edward was stiff underneath me for a good hour, one hand fisted into the blankets near my thigh.

I grinned. At least for now, Step 2 was complete.

Maybe this would be easier than I thought.

UST = unresolved sexual tension

See also; what the Twilight series is chalk full of.

See also; cock-block.

See also; Edward.

;)

Review please!

- Marauder Shagger