Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out. It was a lot harder to write than I thought it would be. I really hope you like it.

A HUGE thank you to wandb and smmiskimen for being kickass beta's for this story. Without their help, this chapter would suck ass.

Disclaimer: Twilight is not mine.

EPOV

"And now for something all of our readers want to know…" The girl in front of me paused for what I'm sure she thought was dramatic effect. "What is your shoe size?" If she wasn't asking such a stupid question, I would probably be tempted to flirt with her a little. I was just too irritated by the ridiculous questions she was throwing at me.

I was sure she was expecting me to give her my panty-dropping smile and offer her a place in my list of skanks. I just wasn't feeling it. I had Bella on my mind and no one else would do but her. We have been apart for too long.

Thinking of Bella reminded me of how pissed I was to be asked about my fucking shoe size. This was one of the many questions I received during interviews that made me daydream about slitting my throat and bleeding out all over the person interviewing me. This, along with whether I wore boxers or briefs, was apparently the most interesting thing they could come up with when I was being interviewed by teen magazines. And, really, I had no desire to stoop low enough to put that kind of information and innuendo out there for pre-teens and teens to read.

Stifling a groan, I stated my standard reply to the shoe size question. "They are quite large." With the added wink, the annoying giggling began and I forced myself to not include an eye-roll. These chicks were so easy.

I checked my watch, while the girl looked through her notes to see if she had any additional inane questions to ask me and found that it was well after two o'clock in the afternoon. I immediately wondered how Bella took the news that I was unable to meet with her due to a series of interviews popping up on my calendar at the last minute. I was worried that she would not give me another chance to talk, but thankfully Irina said she would go take care of things for me. I didn't know what I would do without her.

"Okay. So, I just have a couple more questions before we go over to do a quick photo shoot." She looked down at her notes again, before looking up and smiling wickedly at me. "Are you a boxer or brief man?"

Seriously?! Shoot me now!

Thirty painfully annoying minutes later, I was finished up with my interviews and thankful to see my lovely assistant rush through the door. I couldn't help but smile as a very pregnant Irina waddled over to me with a tense expression on her face. I easily removed the tension by reaching out to give her ever expanding belly a gentle rub, acknowledging the baby.

"Come on Edward. We have to be over at the studio for a meeting with the director in less than twenty minutes. I have your Quad Venti Café Mocha in the car and the driver is waiting right outside the door for you." She grabbed my arm and began to tug on me. I marveled at how good she was at her job and that she always kept me on schedule.

As soon as we were situated in the car, and the driver pulled out on the way to the studio, I took a hefty gulp of my mocha. With the interviews today being so unplanned, I hadn't had my caffeine fix for the day and I was already feeling the withdrawal headache.

"So, how were the interviews?" Irina began her typical post-interview small talk.

"Same fucking questions, different fucking magazine. I really wish they would come up with some more interesting fucking questions. And, here's a fucking thought, ask about my fucking career and movies," I huffed, still annoyed that I was subjected to that idiocy.

"Nice. You said 'fucking' five times during your little rant. Feel better?" I shook my head, so she continued. "I saw they gave you a brunette. I'm sure she would be more than willing to help relieve your tension." She snickered when I shot her a look.

"Are you kidding? She was too annoying to even think about it. Plus, now that I know where Bella is, I don't have to do that anymore," I explained.

It was common knowledge in the tabloid community that I had a thing for brunettes. What no one realized was that it was my way of trying to get Bella out of my system. Unfortunately, nothing ever came of any of my so-called conquests and I was very rarely able to follow through. Where the world thought I was a bit of a womanizer, I had been practically celibate since my night with Bella. And let me tell you, that wasn't exactly easy when I had women constantly throwing themselves at me.

"So, enough stalling. Tell me how everything went." I was becoming impatient and wanted to find out what Bella said about my absence today.

"Um" Irina began to look at her nails as though she was bored. It was common knowledge she wasn't a fan of Bella, but I never figured out why. "She was pretty pissed and I doubt she'll be willing to talk to you again anytime soon."

"What? Why?" I couldn't believe Bella would be pissed at me because of a schedule I had no control over. I could understand her hesitance at first, but I had a busy schedule. I assumed she'd be okay with Irina's explanation. She had to know after how persistent I was about meeting her that I would have been there if I could. It was frustrating to no end that she wouldn't even give me a chance.

"I don't know. She was being a huge bitch and basically threw me out of her shop." Irina put her face in her hands and began to sniff. Her pregnancy caused her emotions to run all over the place and Bella treating her like shit wasn't helping. I moved closer to her and placed my arm around her shoulder to comfort her.

"I'm sorry I let you go there. I wish I could tell you why she felt the need to be so rude to you" I said softly while rubbing her shoulder gently.

"It's okay. I just think you should steer clear of her from now on," she mumbled through her hands, and sniffling again.

"I'll talk to her and tell her that I'd appreciate it if she directed all future vitriol at me instead of you. That is, if she gives me a chance. I'm so sorry ." Irina knew none of it was directed to her, but I still felt badly about it. I had no intention of staying away from Bella, but being rude to my staff was completely unnecessary. It was one thing to hate me, but Irina had done nothing to her and didn't deserve that kind of treatment. She had been my personal assistant for years, as well as my friend, and I couldn't help but be protective of her.

"I'm serious, Edward," she pushed.

"Look, I'm sorry I got you involved, but I really don't want to discuss it anymore," I huffed in annoyance. "Just tell me what we have for the rest of the day, so I can relax. "

We went over my schedule for the remainder of the afternoon, which luckily was just the meeting with the director. I began counting down the minutes until I would be free for the night.

The meeting with the director went longer than planned, so we didn't get back to my hotel until seven o'clock in the evening. Irina and I ended up heading straight to the hotel, deciding to just grab a quick bite to eat in the lobby cafe as we discussed my upcoming schedule before she retired to her room for the night. Somehow, it had not been leaked yet that I was in town for the movie, so it was nice to eat in peace without worrying about paparazzi bothering me.

I felt like I at least owed Bella a call or something, but it was too late for a casual call and I didn't want to bother her. Still, I hoped she knew that I wasn't trying to avoid her today; it had just been such a long day. I seriously needed to relax and blow off some steam.

I walked Irina to the elevator bank and waited with her for one to arrive.

"Are you sure you don't want to just come up and watch a movie with me?" Irina pushed. She hated when I went out alone. It was one of the few things we argued about, but I think she knew I needed it tonight, so she wasn't pushing as much as she typically did.

"No, I really need to get out. I promise not to do anything stupid." I held up my hand, with three fingers extended, channeling my inner boy scout.

"Don't give me that shit, Edward. You were never a boy scout, and I know you better than you think I do." I flashed her the grin that I knew she loved just as the ding sounded, alerting us that the elevator had just arrived.

After reassuring Irina over and over again that I wouldn't do anything stupid, I bid her goodnight and found a car waiting for me right outside the door. I smiled, knowing Irina had set it up for me, knowing my needs without me voicing them. I made a mental note to give her a raise and jumped in the silver Audi R8.

Okay. Now what?

I vacillated between going to confront Bella for being so rude to my assistant and heading to a club to get laid for the night. I bet I could call the chick that interviewed me earlier and be balls deep in her in less than a minute. If I was being honest with myself, my frustration toward Bella wasn't because she had been rude to Irina, but because she was shutting me out.

I was completely aggravated that Bella refused to let me explain why I left after my night with her. I had to practically force her to agree to meet with me today. Frankly, I wasn't used to having to work this hard and finding some skank to spend time with wasn't really something I should be doing if I wanted to get Bella to ever talk to me again.

I pulled the car over when I found a small park that looked like a good place to think. I had been so busy lately and never had a chance to be alone, so I was dying for some time to just go over everything that had happened in the time since I'd seen Bella last and what I wanted to happen in the future.

Flashback

I walked into a bar aptly named Bar, thinking it would be a nice way to let loose for the night and get away from my life for a bit. Just as I sat down, I heard the bartender muttering while messing with the liquor bottles. I let out a chuckle when I heard "motherfucking-tittie-cunt-douche" and was slightly surprised by the response that got me.

"Something funny assfuck?" I immediately stopped my laughter, in shock that someone had actually talked to me like that. Of course, she had not turned around and obviously didn't know who I was. I cleared my throat to get her to turn so I could ask for a drink. When she finally did turn, it was quite obvious she had plastered a ridiculously fake smile on her face.

"How may I help you sir?" she asked sweetly and I couldn't help but laugh again. Her anger was too cute.

She stared at me in silence and I realized she was probably waiting for an apology from me, so I quickly explained that I was having a bad day and just tired, so things seemed funny to me when, in reality, they probably were not that funny.

As soon as I finished speaking, she shook her head and I thought she was going to refuse my apology. I quickly asked for her name, thinking maybe if I chatted her up a little, she wouldn't ask me to leave.

"Bella." I finally took the time to look her over and found that she was quite possibly the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. It was a different beauty from what I was used to seeing in LA. She was natural and real. I was intrigued. I was seconds away from saying some cheesy line about her name being perfect for her, but she stopped me before I could speak by asking for my name.

I was stunned and couldn't tell if she was being serious, but it seemed that she genuinely had no clue as to who I was, which didn't happen that often. I decided to just go with the hope that she didn't know anything about me. It was a refreshing thought that I could just be Edward for the night.

"Edward," I stated, and watched her intently to see if she would figure it out. No light bulb went off and I mentally fist-pumped that I would have a chance at a normal night for once. And with a beautiful girl at that.

Two hours later, a few shared shots, and many inane questions like "what's your favorite color" later, I found myself waiting for Bella to lock up the bar before I walked her back to her apartment. I explained that I was in town for business and she didn't ask me to expand on that, for which I was thankful. She seemed to decide that since her apartment was closer, we could go there to hang out, which I was hoping really meant fuck like bunnies.

Once we arrived at her apartment building, she attacked me and I was pretty sure I was undressed before we even reached her apartment door. This was probably not a good thing since anyone could have taken a picture of us, but I wasn't really thinking about anything other than Bella at that moment. Before the front door was even closed all the way, Bella was on her knees, her warm, wet mouth surrounding my cock.

I was so overwhelmed by the intense feeling of her mouth doing wonderful things to me, as well as quite impressed with her skill, that I came quick quickly. I would have been embarrassed, but the girl had skills, so it wasn'tmy fault that she was able to make me come so fast. I practically petted her as she eagerly swallowed everything I gave her and forced myself to not tell her what a good girl she was.

After that, things got hazy in my mind. I remembered rushing to her bedroom, sliding my tongue along her ridiculously wet folds, and many curses coming from her beautiful lips. The rest of the evening consisted of frantic fucking and affectionate kisses, ending with sweet cuddling.

End Flashback

I truly wished I could remember everything about that evening because I'd been chasing it ever since then. What I did remember was the overall feeling that I was home. When I was with Bella, no matter how brief it had been, I felt I was where I always belonged and needed to stay. There was an immediate connection and it only intensified with our physical intimacy.

Flashback

Unfortunately, it didn't take long for my life and celebrity status to catch up with me that night. About three hours after we fell asleep in each others' arms, my phone began to ring. Upon answering, I was confronted by Irina's shrieks that I needed to get out of the apartment as soon as possible. She had just received word that there were pictures floating around of me leaving Bar with Bella, although her face was not easily recognizable from the angle of the photo. A car was already waiting for me in the underground garage of Bella's apartment building and she had received word there was no one in the area to catch me leaving.

I knew I didn't have much time before the front of the apartment building would be inundated with paparazzi, so I attempted to wake Bella and let her know I had to leave. I didn't know how to explain my sudden departure to my bedmate because we had successfully skirted around the issue all night of me being a celebrity. After multiple attempts at rousing the sleeping beauty next to me, my phone rang again.

"What?" I snapped.

"Get your ass down into the car right this second!" Irina yelled into the phone.

"Hold the fuck on. I want to let her know that I am leaving and…" I was cut off by her impression of a crazed banshee.

"No, you hold the fuck on. You have exactly two minutes to get downstairs and into the car that is waiting for you. Leave her a fucking note and tell her it was fun, but you had to jet," she huffed into the phone, clearly annoyed that I wasn't rushing out the door with no questions asked. "I've given you enough time to get your fuck on, so now it is time to go."

"I don't want to just leave a note! That would make it seem like too much like a blow-off. How suspicious would it be if I just happened to leave while she was sleeping? Just, give me a minute to wake her up and let her know that I'll be in touch," I pleaded with Irina. It amazed me that I felt the need to justify my life with her and beg her for her permission on things, but she did a great job at keeping me out of the media, so I couldn't be mad at her.

"No!" She yelled. "Listen. I will make sure she gets a message that you didn't want to leave her, but responsibilities got in the way. I'll give her every possible way to contact you and ask that she does so as soon as possible. I'll even tell her how you were being such a fucking pansy-ass mother fucker about leaving her while she was sleeping."

"Um…okay. I guess that'll work," I conceded, looking down at the still sleeping Bella. I was quite shocked she was able to sleep through this conversation.

Walking out of that apartment was the hardest thing I had ever done, but I had to hope that Bella would get the message and call me as soon as she could.

End Flashback

I was snapped out of my memories when a light flashed through my window. I was informed by a security guard that the park was closed for the night and asked to leave the premises. My mind was all jumbled from my reminiscing, along with seeing Bella again and feeling such hostility from her, so I decided I needed to go grab a drink.

I walked into Bar after my car decided to go there without me actually realizing it and heard someone doing a very poor rendition of Violent Femmes Blister in the Sun, so I figured I was unlucky enough to come on karaoke night. Lovely. I tried to block out the horribly off-key notes and found a dimly lit table, plopping myself down. I kept my head down as I ordered a couple beers from the waitress that greeted me.

"Hey man." I looked up to see Jasper standing next to my table, with an oversized cowboy hat covering his face. "Mind if I join you?" I shook my head and gestured for him to take a seat across from me.

"What are you doing here?" I questioned, welcoming the thought of a conversation that didn't revolve around Bella.

"Just wanted to get out and check out some of the talent around here." He grinned and I knew just the type of talent he was looking for. Where my womanizer reputation was based solely on rumors and not true, Jasper's was completely true and he was beyond proud of it.

"Any luck with that?" I chuckled at the smirk that found its way to his face in response to my question.

"Fuck yeah." He tilted his head toward the bar and I followed his gaze to see a tall blonde chick wrapped around a short woman.

"Uh, Jas. I'm thinking they aren't really looking for a good time of the male persuasion." I tried to point out the obvious to my friend, but his smirk became more pronounced at my comment.

"You would think. But, apparently, the blondie is just starting out with the whole twat loving thing and the shortie has been trying to get all over my junk since we met." He chuckled and shook his head, obviously recalling something. "She even told me she is a carpet muncher, but wanted to take my cock for a spin. That's a direct quote, by the way."

"She sounds like your soulmate, my friend." I grinned and looked back over to the girls, who were now in trying to eat each others' faces off. A quick glance around the bar made it clear that every other male in the room was watching their interaction quite intently as well. At that moment, the person butchering Violent Femmes moved to Add It Up and I barely contained the laughter that threatened to bubble up over the choice in song. I tried to get a better view of the stage to see who this person was who apparently only knew Violent Femmes, but my angle wasn't good enough to get a glimpse.

"Yeah, can you imagine me with a broad that loves pussy just as much as I do?" I was always surprised by Jasper's crassness. His gentlemanly ways in public belied his truly crude nature. He was quite a dichotomy. He raised his arms and I began to motion for someone to come to us. I tilted my head down to make sure the person did not recognize me, even though it would be easy to figure out when they got closer and saw me with Jasper. We were often seen together.

"Hey, ladies. Would you like to join me and my buddy?" I snorted at Jasper's now husky voice.

"Cut the shit, loverboy. You already know you are going to be getting into at least one of us tonight," a slightly high-pitched voice stated with attitude. I knew, from the little time I had spent at Bella's shop, that the person behind the voice was Alice. "We'll deal with you and your hopefully impressive junk later. But, right now, I'm only here to tell this asshole he's on my shit list." I felt a smack on the back of my head and looked up quickly to see my attacker.

"What the fuck was that for?" I exclaimed.

"I'm really shocked that you have the audacity to show up here. Your balls must be huge." She glared at me, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What the fuck? I just came here to get away from things for a while, little one." I rolled my eyes and shook my head at her anger.

"You aren't welcome here. Not after the shit you pulled today." She stomped her foot, and if I wasn't slightly scared of the look of fury in her eyes, I may have laughed. "I can't wait to tell Emmett you are here. Those big ole' balls you are sporting will be pulled off and shoved down your throat faster than you can say,'I'm an asshat'!"

"Why is everyone fucking pissed at me?" I exclaimed, throwing my hands in the air. Alice shoved Jasper over and pulled the blonde chick - who I noticed was just standing behind Alice, staring at Jasper – down into the booth with her.

"Well, allow me to clue you the fuck in, Einstein. Bella told me about her little confrontation with Irina. You really are a piece of shit, you know that?" She narrowed her eyes at me, leaning across the table directly in my face.

"I don't control my schedule. I couldn't control what happened today," I attempted to explain. "Irina and I talked it over, and it made more sense for her to go talk to Bella and let her know what was going on. That way Bella wouldn't be left in the dark." I kept my voice level low, trying to remain calm.

"Yeah, well," she huffed and I could tell the wheels were spinning inn her head before she returned to her glare from earlier. "What a way to tell her about the baby."

"I didn't really think it was something I needed to tell her. She was bound to see Irina eventually and see that she is pregnant," I said, but then realized it made no sense that she even brought that up. "Although, I don't understand what that has to do with anything."

She scoffed and looked over to the blonde chick, then to Jasper, and finally to me, breathing heavily.

"I am so fucking close to jumping over this table and strangling you right now. You are the lowest of low. How can you act like it's no big deal that you broke the news to Bella about your fucking love child in that way?!" She screeched at me, pointing a skinny little finger at me.

"What love child?" I was thoroughly confused.

"Okay, so maybe that was the wrong term. That would imply that you have something resembling feelings for the person you impregnated. Maybe I should have said 'demon spawn' instead." She sneered at me and I was truly fearful for my life at this point. I was waiting for her head to begin to spin and pea soup to spew from her mouth.

"Wait! What?" I finally caught onto what she was saying and couldn't stop the shudder that ran through me. "Irina's not having my kid. Why the fuck would you think that?"

Jasper, finally catching on to everything – once he got his eyes off blondie's overflowing cleavage – began to laugh uncontrollably. "Irina…." snort "baby daddy…" snort snort "funniest shit ever."

"If you don't stop that fucking laughing right this second, you won't be tasting pussy tonight." Alice turned to Jasper, who sobered up quite quickly and looked at me apologetically. I shrugged, knowing sex was more important than me. Satisfied that Jasper was no longer finding the situation funny, Alice turned back to me. "Now, what the fuck do you mean that she is not having your kid?"

"Just that." I spoke slowly, as though I was talking to a child…and by her height, it made sense. "I would never touch Irina in that way. She's like a little sister to me. Plus, she's been fucking my agent since before she was even my assistant."

"Back the truck up!" Alice waved her hand in the air. "She's your assistant?"

"Yes. Has been for over six years now," I explained.

I watched as Alice let everything sink in and listened to the ending notes of Gone Daddy Gone coming from the stage.

Seriously, someone needs to teach this person something other than Violent Femmes.

"Oh fuck. You need to get out of here right now!" Alice exclaimed, jumping up and tugging on my arm.

"Woah. Why?" I wasn't ready to leave, still not sure what was going on and wanting to talk to Alice a bit more, even though I was pretty sure she was going to kill me in the most gruesome way possible .

"Emmett just got finished with his set and is going to be coming this way soon." She rushed out while still trying to pull me from the booth. "If he sees you, he'll kill you for sure." She seemed legitimately worried that he would kill me, but I figured it had more to do with the fact that she didn't want anyone else to have that honor than anything else.

"Um. Okay." I pulled some money out of my wallet and threw it on the table before standing up and nodding to Jasper and the blonde, who were both looking as confused as I felt.

"Oh, and just so you know. The last client at the shop should be gone by now. I hate it when Bella is there all alone." She winked at me and I felt as if I had fallen into the Twilight Zone.

I stumbled out of Bar, trying to figure out what just happened with Alice. First, I thought she was going to murder me, then she began to talk about me being the father of Irina's baby, and finally she saved me from an angry Emmett. My mind was jumbled, but there was one thing I knew. I needed to go talk to Bella.

I drove to Bella's shop and sat in my car for a bit, watching her through the window. She was absolutely beautiful, with her hair pulled back away from her face, bent over the front counter. After watching her for a few minutes, I steeled myself that it was time to talk to her. Before I could change my mind, I jumped out of the car, and practically sprinted toward the shop.

I opened the door slowly and held my breath, not sure what was about to happen.

"Sorry, we are just about to close, but I can probably set you up with an appointment tomorrow," she said without looking up from what she was working on, pencil moving quickly across the paper.

"Well, actually, I had an appointment earlier that I couldn't make. So, I'm hoping you could fit me in now," I said smoothly, trying to sound much more calm and collected than I felt. My heart was beating a mile a minute and I found it hard to breath, especially once she snapped her head up and stared at me.

"Nope. Definitely don't have time for you. Please leave," she stated, quite calmly.

How does she do it?

"No." I held my ground and leveled my gaze at her.

We stared at each other for a little while, neither wanting to back down. I knew I needed to just start the conversation and get things going, but had no clue where to even begin. So, I went with the first thing that came to my mind.

"Why didn't you call me?" I blurted out. I watched as confusion briefly crossed her face, before she settled on anger.

"ME?!" she yelled. "Call YOU?!" She strode over to me and began to poke her finger in my chest. "You have some fucking nerve, considering all of my letters. I had to fucking research just to find you, and let me tell you, it wasn't easy. I am still paying off that fucking paparazzi guy with tattoos for all the work he put into getting that information for me. I mean, it wasn't like I was just sending you letters to be your pen pal and shoot the shit. They are your fucking kids, Edward, and you did nothing!" She finished her rant, and her breathing was so heavy I feared she would pass out.

I took a second to dissect her words when I realized exactly what she had said. Letters? Kids?

"What the hell are you talking about? I don't know anything about any letters and I sure as shit don't know about any kids."

A/N: I would love to hear your thoughts...

And please take a moment to check out the stories written by my lovely beta's. wandb and smmiskimen have some great stories out there in fanfiction-land. Check them out in my Favorite Authors.