Kris's A/N: Hello, friends! This little ditty is a collab between me and myonlyheroin. Bella's PoV is mine, and she's taking Edward. I'm hella excited about what we have planned for you!

MOH's A/N: Hello, everyone! I hope you guys are excited as Kris and I are about this story, and we can't wait to see what you guys think of it!

"Dr. Casas, do you think I'm smart?"

Bella looked over at her professor who looked over his glasses back at her, blinking in perplexion. For such a brilliant man, it took him an unreal amount of time to process mundane conversation. She liked to imagine he was thinking so many things at once putting the right words together in the right order was difficult. "I feel this is a trick question."

"I don't play those kinds of games."

He smiled at her, peering in his microscope again. "If you weren't smart, Miss Swan, you wouldn't have been accepted into Eleazar Casas's lab." He patted his chest. "I do pride myself on picking only the brightest students."

Bella rubbed her eyes. "I'm trying to understand Dr. Scarpinato's paper, but it's going over my head."

"It's not you, my dear," Dr. Casas said with a chuckle. "Dr. Scarpinato, although brilliant and innovative, is rather notorious for his presentation. What good, I ask you, is the man's work to anyone if no one can understand his work. It's done on purpose, really. When he pulled away from the rest of the community, started Volturi Industries, he stopped sharing his knowledge."

He looked up. "But I've gotten off track." He moved to a cabinet and began to rummage. "Dr. Cullen spent a great deal of his career reorganizing his research and expounding on it. His interpretive papers will help."

"Dr. Carlisle Cullen?" Bella asked, raising an eyebrow. The man was a legend in the scientific community at Northwestern. "You knew him?"

"Still do, I believe." The professor smiled at her briefly before moving on to a different drawer. "Cullen family," he murmured in his collating data voice. "Esme Cullen-very beautiful. Not as beautiful as my Carmen, but quite lovely. Two sons. Big brother…" He snapped his fingers. "Edward Cullen. I believe he just got engaged to a nice young woman. Lily? Something like that.

"Younger brother, Emmett. Ah. Here we go." The professor pulled out a thick file folder and handed it to Bella. "This should help with your research, but…" He picked up a notepad and scrawled something on it. An email address. "Contact Emmett. He followed in his father's footsteps and did work in this very lab, oh, I suppose it's been three or four years now. He'll be happy to help."

"You mean talking to a human being? That's always preferable." Bella flipped through the file, getting more excited as she processed the new data. "Thanks, Dr. Casas."

Bella turned back to her laptop, pulling up her e-mail account. ECullen1121. It was a personal not a professional e-mail address. She hesitated, but then she shrugged.

What did she want to say to the legendary Dr. Carlisle Cullen's youngest son?

~0~

From: ECullen

To: Bella Swan

I have to admit I'm surprised Eleazar referred you to me instead of my father. It's probably for the best. He has so many admirers as it is, I'm afraid one more inflation of his ego and his head might actually explode.

I'm kidding, of course. My father is actually a very humble man, and yes, he is brilliant. I'll be sure to pass on your admiration.

It feels like yesterday I was an undergrad researcher. What do these doctors have against speaking plain English, right? They make it more complicated than necessary. I'd be happy to help however I can.

Edward Cullen.

"Edward?" Bella pushed her glasses back up her nose and frowned at the screen. Had the professor given her the wrong e-mail address.

From: Bella Swan

To: Edward Cullen

I'm sorry. I think I was trying to reach Emmett Cullen. Your brother, right? Maybe a mix up of addresses?

The next e-mail came almost ten hours later.

From: Edward Cullen

To: Bella Swan

Well, you can try to talk to him, but I'm not sure how much help he can be to you. He failed basic high school chemistry.

I don't think it was an e-mail address mix up. It's a remarkable quirk Eleazar has. He can keep a thousand conflicting theories straight in his head, but he'll mix up the mundane details like which of the Cullen brothers is a scientist.

Bella snorted. That didn't surprise her.

From: Bella Swan

To: Edward Cullen

Are you at least engaged to a Lily?

This time, the next message came through right away.

From: Edward Cullen

To: Bella Swan

EMMETT is MARRIED to ROSE-Rosalie. Eleazar was at the wedding.

At this, Bella giggled, climbing into bed.

It was easy to talk to Edward. That was a good thing. Scientists could be socially awkward. Dr. Casas was lucky to be socially awkward in an endearing way.

Her phone buzzed again just as she was pulling the blankets over her head.

From: Edward Cullen

To: Bella Swan

But back on subject. I can give you my brother's e-mail address if you think it might help. Or, if you'd like to send me what questions you have, we can go from there.

Epov

When he received the first email from Bella, he knew instantly it was a case of mistaken identity, that she must have thought he was Emmett, but Edward couldn't bring himself to care much about the mix up.

He found he simply wanted to know more about this Bella who was emailing him. He had received the first email just as he was walking out of his office at the cancer research institute in Manchester.

After he received the first message, he told his secretary to hold any and all calls. His thoughts soon moved back to Bella and her research, his curiosity getting the better of him. He quickly found that he liked the banter the two of them seemed to share in just a few emails back and forth.

From: Bella Swan

To: Edward Cullen

I was curious. shouldn't you be asleep? I mean, I should already be asleep, it is 2am where I am.

From: Edward Cullen

To: Bella Swan

Well, seeing how it is just 8am here, where I am in jolly old England, I am wide awake. Though, I really need some coffee…

Edward's mind was all over the place after just a few hours at the office, and a few more emails to and from Bella that he figured that he would most likely not get any work done for most of the day. He might as well work from home instead, so he packed up his briefcase, grabbed his phone and locked his office door.

As he headed to his car, his phone pinged with an alert of a new email.

From: Bella Swan

To: Edward Cullen

No, I think I am probably much safer sticking with you on this, if you don't mind of course. You are probably the safer bet, so I think I will take my chances on you.

Would you mind if I send you my thesis and outline for my project, and we go from there?

He unlocked his car door, set his briefcase in the passenger seat, and wondered if he should reply now or later. The cold air in the car soon made his decision for him. On the way home, he found he was curious as to what she chose as her project and how he could possibly help.

Once he reached his flat, he threw his keys on to the counter in the entrance hall and made his way into the kitchen, going about making his dinner as he replied to Bella.

From: Edward Cullen

To: Bella Swan

To be quite fair, I think I am the safer bet. Don't you know that I know everything? And no, Miss Swan, that is not my ego talking. Okay, well, maybe it is. Just a bit...

Please send me your thesis and outline. I would love to see what you have planned so far.

Until next time,

Edward

He shut off his phone, and finished his dinner, watching telly up until he finally gave into his yawns. Once morning came, he couldn't check his phone fast enough, and was eager to see if the Bella had replied.

From: Bella Swan

To: Edward Cullen

Sir, you will find attached an outline of my research. I would recommend looking at the thesis first, as it contains what I hope to accomplish with this project, and then the outline.

Please feel free to add anything you think I should cover or any ideas on how to do this. I am open to any and all help you can give me.

Signed,

A stressed out university student

He opened the documents and found that Bella was very thorough, and very organized in what she wanted to say and hoped to accomplish. The more he read, the more ideas he thought to incorporate in her project.

He only hoped she would like just what would add in the notes.

So he called into work, told them he would be working from home that day as well and set about adding notes to her documents. Bella Swan was obviously a smart student and would accomplish a lot with this project. She definitely knew where she wanted to go with this.

He made his notes and attached them in his next email.

From: Edward Cullen

To: Bella Swan

Dear stressed out university student,

You are a brilliant woman, and what I read makes me proud you are taking this on. You will find my notes attached inside the documents you sent me. I hope you don't mind.

Look forward to working with you,

Edward

It didn't take long for the next reply to come through, or a smile to form on Edward's face.

Kris's A/N: Many thanks to jessypt for betawork and, of course, to myheroin for putting up with my nitpicky ass.

MOH's A/N: Kris isn't THAT nit picky. I'm excited to be working with her on this! Thank you all for reading!