A/N I do not own Twilight

Chapter One

six months ago...

It seemed that the shots came from everywhere and all at one time. Taking a deep breath, he went through possible escape routes in his mind while checking his weapons. One more breath and he tossed one of the grenades down into the warehouse and he turned back to the small office that he had come from and then shot the glass from the window. Within seconds, he had secured a line to repel down the side of the building. He tried to ignore the sounds of bullet strikes and make himself a smaller target against the building. None of the bullets hit him, however one hit the rope he was depending on to guide him down to safety. He fell the last ten feet of his journey. Scrambling to get lose from the harness and make his way into the treeline for refuge, he tossed two more grenades in random directions, hoping to buy himself some cover.

"Where the hell are you guys?"

"Keeps your pants on Cullen, extraction in two minutes."

"Yeah, well when it's your ass dodging bullets, you can chose to be patient, Hale. Speed it up."

"I'm so telling Emmett what an ass you're being tonight," she huffed into the ear piece.

"Since when do you need my brother to fight your battles for you?" He laughed, firing off several more rounds from his glock.

"I don't. I just figured you would stand a better chance against him in a fight," she snarked.

"Hey, he may be stronger, but I'm faster than him. He'd never catch me." He ducked behind a tree for cover and tossed two more grenades in the direction of the latest round of fire.

"Care to make a wager on that one?" Hale chuckled. "What, no snappy comeback? Cullen, you're losing your touch. - Cullen? Edward, what's going on? Talk to me," she demanded.

"You might want- want to have a medical team standing by Rose."

"Dammit, how bad?" no response. "How bad!"

He heard her yelling into the earpiece but he couldn't respond.

Present

Seattle, WA

The Cullen Institute

She looked up from her computer to see Mike had entered her office without knocking once again. However, instead of being upset, she decided to ignore the little pest, or try to anyway.

"Bella, what do you think? You and me, dinner Saturday night?" Mike flashed his dimples at her.

"And for the third time this week my answer is no. Mike, come on, you know that I'm dating someone." Dr. Isabella Swan continued typing on her computer even as she was being harassed by the newest intern.

"See, that's the thing. I don't believe that you are. We've never seen this guy. If we were dating, I would take you out dancing and make sure that everyone knew that you were mine.- I think you made this guy up so that you don't have to go out with me." The young intern plopped himself down on the corner of her desk, obviously trying to get a peek down her shirt.

She was mildly annoyed by the young man and gently pushed him off of her desk. However, she had classified him as mostly harmless after the first time he had asked her out. Now she thought he was just making a game of trying to see if he could get her to say yes to a date with him. "Newton, I don't have to make up a fake boyfriend to tell you no when you insist on asking me out. Now, get out of my office. I have work to do and I know you're supposed to be analyzing those samples for Dr. Cullen and I happen to know that he needs them before you leave tonight."

"Sure thing Dr. Swan. I'll see you Monday." Mike waggled his eyebrows and she almost laughed out loud.

"No, you won't actually. I will be in Atlanta, presenting our findings from our latest project. Have a good weekend Michael," she went back to finalizing her presentation.

When her cellphone rang four minutes later she smiled at the caller id. "You sure do know how to keep a girl on her toes. You're lucky I'm still speaking to you."

"I promise to make it up to you. Where are you right now?"

"At the office, just finishing up a presentation. I should be done in an hour. Why? Are you looking for another Skype date?"

"No, actually, I was looking for a real live in person date. Do you think you could help me out with that?"

She gasped and almost dropped the phone. "You're in town? When did you get back?"

"I landed three hours ago, checked in with the office and now I'm hoping to take the most beautiful woman in the world out for dinner tonight."

"I'll give you this, you really are a charming bastard. So, where will we be dining this evening?"

"No. It's a surprise."

"You know that I hate surprises."

"I will see you in two hours?"

"Consider it a date."

"Until then, beautiful."

Less than thirty minutes later, Dr. Swan had put the finishing touches on her presentation and she was grinning like a fool, thinking about the date she had for tonight.

"Do I need to ask why you're so happy?" Dr. Alice Whitlock questioned as she walked into Bella's office.

"I think you already have a pretty good idea why. The presentation is finished, my flight leaves at seven on Sunday night. Until then, I hope to spend some quality time with my absentee boyfriend. I assume that you don't need anything from me until then. Please don't need my for anything until then," she begged.

"No worries. I was actually just making sure that you were getting ready to leave. You work too much."

Bella grinned at her boss. "You usually love that I work so much." Eighty plus hours was certainly not an unusual thing for anyone in the Institute to work. Having your significant other out of town for six months this time had certainly contributed to the faster than normal conclusion to her latest project.

"Yes, that's when I'm being you boss. Right now, I'm your friend. Go and have some fun this weekend. Do you need any fashion tips for tonight? Where is he taking you?"

"No fashion tips. Besides, he wouldn't tell me where we are going."

"How does he expect you to dress appropriately when he won't tell you where you're going. Don't worry. I'll call that-"

"Alice, I'm a big girl. I can handle dressing for a date. You aren't calling anyone, including me this weekend. I will text you when I get to the hotel Sunday night. We can video conference before the presentation on Monday. Okay?"

"Are you sure that you still want to go to Atlanta? I could send Emmett if you want to take a last minute vacation say starting now?"

"After all of the hours that I've put in on this? No way Alice. I will be the one to present the findings to the CDC if you don't mind. Besides, I don't know what his plans are right now. For all I know he has to be back at the office tomorrow." The thought made her more than a little sad. It would be great to spend some serious quality time after being apart for so long.

"Fine, however if you change your mind, you can call me until eight. I happen to have some quality time planned with the husband tonight. Have a good evening Doctor."

"I'll be back on Tuesday. Try to calm Mike down for me while I'm gone."

"I'm a doctor, not a miracle worker. Maybe I could transfer him to the lab in Alaska?" laughter followed her out of the office.

The drive from the office to her home on Bainbridge Island was usually a calming forty minute drive for Bella. Tonight it was forty minutes too long. She had been separated from him for too long. Six months too long. By the time she pulled into the garage of her home, she had decided on a little black dress that could be dressed up or down with the appropriate accessories and was thankful that she had time for a short soak in the tub before he would arrive. Five minutes later, she stepped down into the sunken tub filled with bubbles. Classical music played softly in the background and she closed her eyes for a minute when she heard the sound of velvet float across the room.

"I think this is how I should find you every time I've come back to town."

She gasped at the sight of him. He had leaned inside the doorway and he grinned widely at her. Bella thought she might have drooled a little at the sight of him. He wore a black suit with no tie, a pristine white shirt open at the collar and his jacket was unbuttoned. He was beautiful.

"And here I was thinking that you should never leave town again." She stood and wrapped a towel around herself before greeting him with a welcome home kiss.

" I've missed you Bella." He slid his arms around her and breathed in her delicious scent.

"Like I said, you should never leave town again, Cullen." She captured his lips again. It was a welcome home, I love you, and please never leave me again and she was panting slightly when she finally pulled back. "I was thinking that maybe we should stay in tonight."

"Is that what you were thinking? You know, when you kiss me like that, I can't think at all. Especially since you're standing here in nothing but a towel." He pushed off the wall gently and gave me his crooked smile. "So, you wouldn't be completely offended if I told you that I wanted nothing more than to make love to you all night?"

"Not even a little offended. Especially since you are reading my mind." Her breath caught in her throat and the heat between her legs that had been burning since she had opened her eyes to see him standing by the door surged yet again.

He moved her towards the bedroom, his face full of desire. Her heart thundered in her chest and their kisses became a battle of dominance, neither one willing to submit.

He smiled and reached to rid her of her towel. She began to frantically pull at his clothes, demanding that he get rid of them quickly. Sensing her need for urgency, he helped her get rid of the jacket, shirt, pants, shoes, socks and boxers quicker than she even thought was possible.

"Let me touch you, Bella," he breathed and leaned forward to kiss the tops of her breasts, then moving to suck on each nipple in turn. His mouth drove her crazy with need.

"Edward, please, I need you."

"Bella, you have me. You're everything. Everything." He promised as they moved onto the bed.

His hands moved over her body in an almost reverential way, taking her breath away as his tongue met hers exploring her mouth slowly, deeply and so softly that it made the hairs on her skin stand on end.

"Touch me, Edward," she panted desperate for his hands to move to her core that was throbbing and wet for him. He smiled against her mouth and let his hand wander down her side, over her hip until it skimmed her inner thigh making her groan loudly.

His fingers moved upwards and grazed her skin. He sucked in a breath as he felt the wetness that was already there.

"Oh, Bella," he whispered as he pushed two fingers slowly into her making her cry out in her lust.

He moved his fingers in and out of her setting a tortuously slow rhythm, her hips arched up demanding more from him. When he finally touched her clit she nearly arched off of the bed. "This is so much better than our Skype dates," she moaned."You are never allowed to leave me again. - Fuck, Edward, I need you in me now!"

"Your wish, my command." He entered her without the need for any further encouragement. "I missed you so damn much." They found their rhythm, each demanding and giving pleasure to one another, trying to erase the loneliness of the past months. There were no more words, only the sounds of their pleasure. The hole in her heart that had grown every day that they were apart was suddenly healed as if it had never existed. The anxiety that had lived in him every second that they had been separated vanished. Everything was set right again in their world with each thrust, each moan of desire, each exclamation of pleasure. He was home.