A/N: Right after I entered the original one-shot in a contest I couldn't stop thinking about it, and I got about a third of this chapter done and forced myself to focus on Seattle's Most. When I came back to this it took me a couple times of just staring at the document, but I found my crazy love for these two (okay, three) again. It won't be a long journey, but I hope you'll enjoy it. These two need each other and neither of them wants to admit it, so let's see if they can get over it.

One side note: I entered the Twilight of Craigslist contest (.net/u/3211840/TwilightofCraigslistContest). I'd love to tell you which entry was mine, but sadly I can't! There's some really great entries though so you should head over there and check them out and vote for your favorite.

A huge thanks to Angelz111745 for giving me her eyes on this and EBS for giving me a kick in the pants during a Boot Camp that got me back writing this.


Bella waited until she was sure Alyssa was asleep before slipping out of the bed and tiptoeing down the hall to her own room. She eyed her bathroom and shower momentarily before she toed off her shoes, shoving her pants down. She slid into the coolness of the sheets and sighed contentedly.

There was something about that feeling that brought a sense of relief to her each night. Proof that she'd made it through another day of being a single mother. Proof that she was a little bit stronger than the day before. As her eyes closed, she saw Edward's face dancing in the distance, heard his accent, and felt a small smile tug at her lips.

For the first time in several weeks, she felt as if her day was ending with a little bit of hope. She told herself it had nothing to do with the new deputy and everything the fact that she'd finall managed a successful conversation about Emmett with Alyssa.

Mentally she was marking this day decidedly under the win category in her book.

The next morning Bella was standing outside the diner as she tugged one more at the snug lightweight sweater she was wearing. She must have changed at least four times before she settled on this outfit. She couldn't remember the last time she had put this much effort into what she was going to wear. She told herself it was simply because she knew they would cross paths often. Considering his position under her father and her mother's penchant for taking everyone under her wing. The last thing she wanted was for him to have the impression she was a fragile china doll that might break without warning. She refused to even let herself contemplate that her concern with her appearance might have to do with being attracted to Edward.

She spotted him seated over in the corner booth, she noted that he was wearing a blue dress shirt today. She had to admit she was glad to see that maybe he had realized that his pink shirt made him stand out and not in the kind of way you wanted to when you were new in Forks. As she took a deep breath she approached his table, clearing her throat to gain his attention.

"Bella, Hi. Sorry." He shut his phone abruptly and turned towards her.

She was satisfied to see that he jumped when he realized she was standing there. She had to force herself to keep from doing a victory dance when his eyes landed on her face they dropped momentarily lower lingering for a moment on her breasts. Proving to her that her extra fluffing hadn't been for nothing, even if she wasn't interested in him she reminded herself.

"You came."

She slid into the booth across from him. "Of course. I am a woman of word." She stated with a nod ordering a cup of coffee when Jess approached the table to take her drink order.

While the silence wasn't uncomfortable, she felt uneasy sitting there silently across from him so she decided to make small talk."So how are you liking Forks so far?"

"It's really interesting. I've never lived in a small town, so this is a new experience for me. I really like everyone I have met so far though, and I love the community feel that the town emits."

She snorted as she arranged the sugar packets on the table top in a train formation. "Wow. Text book answers for 100." Her eyes locked with his as she shook her head. "I'm not my Dad, I'm not interviewing you for a position. Be real."

"I am. It is a really new experience."

"Okay, let's make this easier on you, have you met Crazy Nancy yet?"

"Nancy? She's the woman who walks everywhere, with the uhm..." He paused trying to find the most diplomatic way to describe the woman in question. "Well, with the hair. She told me where to get a good coconut creme pie."

"At Clancy's?"

"Yeah, that's the place."

"Clancy's has been closed for twenty-five years. I don't even remember ever eating there I was so young when they closed. And call it what it is, she has a hairspray helmet in the shape of a good old bouffant." She giggled as she began to transform her sugar train into a tower. "Since you're a guy you can call it her helmet hair. She's had the same hair style my entire life. She's as nice as can be, but loonier than Luna Lovegood."

"Is that so? Well if Nancy Lovegood is the worst Forks has to offer I think I'll stick around awhile. The pros are definitely out weighing the cons these days."

She couldn't help the color that rose on her cheeks, he hadn't said anything inappropriate, but something about his tone made it feel like he was talking about her. "I'm sure Charlie will be relieved to hear you say that. I know it was a struggle for him to find a deputy he thought was worthy of the title."

Edward laughed thanking Jess for our food when it appeared before us. "I've noticed that. He's very serious about the call of duty and being worthy and ready when it comes calling."

"So you've heard the lecture then, good. Be prepared to hear it another five hundred times before he retires about a quarter to never."

They laughed as they started eating, small talk fell between them easily as did small bursts of comfortable silence as they ate, seemingly avoiding the conversation they had come here to have.

As their plates were cleared Bella lifted her coffee mug to her lips and took a slow contemplative drink. "We met in high school, you know? One of those ridiculous chick flicks that could never actually happen in real life. It's why we weren't married yet. He kept asking, I kept saying 'no, we're too young'."

She set her mug against the table, her fingers tapping idly over the handle of the cup as if she were contemplating just what to say next. "When I found out I was pregnant with Lyssa it was a totally different game then. I wanted to marry him, I always had, but I refused to let it appear like it was a shot gun wedding. I know that probably sounds dumb to you."

He shook his head, taking a chance and reaching out to touch her arm in what he hoped was an encouraging manner. Watching her jump nearly out of her seat at his touch he wanted to kick himself for thinking it was even a good idea at all, but he relaxed a little when she began again.

"I loved him, I just wanted it to be a celebration of that not a look what Bella did. So we moved to Seattle, I accepted a promise ring, and on the day Lyss was born I accepted my engagement ring. I knew I was agreeing to be a military wife. I knew the risks that were involved, but I thought he was untouchable."

The sadness in her eyes as she spoke shook him to the core and he wished he could do anything to erase it, but he reminded himself that this wasn't his job, it wasn't his place. He was here to offer Bella an understanding ear and answers to any lingering questions she had about his time with Emmett in Afghanistan. Nothing more, she was Emmett's girl, the mother of his child and everything that was important to him. He couldn't let his mind stray from his heart breaking facts lest they wander too far down a path that would be a dangerous, slippery slope for the two of them.

"Getting that news-hearing he was gone," her voice caught with emotion as she took another long sip of her coffee letting the silence fall over them.

"Did you-"

She cut him off quickly with a shake of her head. "I don't think I can bear to hear anymore about it, Edward. The details you gave me last night were so much more than I ever imagined I would get. I know that you're not allowed to divulge everything that happened and even if you were I don't know that I could handle it."

"Of course, understood." He tucked his hands neatly in his lap to prevent making the mistake of touching her again as he nodded slowly. "Just so you know if you ever change your mind, I'm around."

The smile she bestowed him on was worth the awkward silences and enduring a million more like them if she'd just break out one of these smiles every so often for him.

"Thank you, you don't know how nice it is to be able to talk about it, even a little. I think I've done Alyssa and I both a disservice by keeping it bottled up for so long. I've spent years going to therapy so I could be a good Mom to her, help her through this grief she doesn't even understand. This morning was the first time I could talk about myself, what I felt, what I lost. The second messenger left me feeling so raw as if the hurt would never heal. Now, I don't know if I'll ever be normal or anything, but maybe."

She laughed as she whipped out her wallet before I could stop her. "Please, let me treat you to this. I do owe you for finding me last night after all. Not to mention for sharing all of the information with me when I was clearly acting like a bitch."

"Alright, alright, but the next one is on me."

"The next one? Is that so?"

The curious look on her face, with just a hint of that smile he was growing fond of gave him the boldness to nod with a grin of his own. "Yeah, the next time. You really aren't going to leave the new guy to brave finding his way through the scary streets of Forks on his own are you? I mean, after all, I was going to try to find Clancy's for a slice of pie after work."

She laughed at his dumb joke, shaking her head "I guess one more lunch couldn't hurt anything."

"Who said anything about lunch? I'm totally taking you to dinner."

"Dinner? Why, I do believe that's a rather bold declaration, Mr. Cullen."

"I do believe you'll find that I am a rather bold person in the right situation, Ms. Swan."

"And having dinner with me is one of those situations you speak of?"

"Oh I think it's one of the biggest and best reasons to get bold I've had in a while."

"Alright, in that case I think I'll let you cook me dinner your next night off."

He nearly choked on the coffee he had just taken a drink of. "I'm sorry, did you say cook? Not that having dinner with you at my place wouldn't be great, but I can't really guarantee the quality of food if we'd eat at my place. Wouldn't you rather go out?"

Bella snorted at his suggestion and shook her head quickly. "Absolutely not. Not unless you have plans to drive at least as far as Olympia for dinner, because going out in Forks or Port Angeles is like an invitation for gossip to swirl around town about us, and I don't know about you, but I could totally live without that."

"Gossip, really? But would it be so bad to be linked to me?"

He wasn't sure where any of this was coming from, but he knew he needed to rein it in, he had just finished lecturing himself on the fact that she wasn't for him. However, her laughter from across the table seemed to knock every one of those thoughts out of his mind as she shook her head.

"You weren't kidding about being bold, now were you? Tell you what why don't you google a recipe when you get back to the station. Before we have dinner you can go to the store and pick up all of the ingredients for the recipe. When I come over I will help you cook it and then it will be a brilliant multi-purpose dinner. You'll get to enjoy my brilliant and charming company and you'll learn how to cook yourself a meal."

"You think you can succeed where so many others have failed in teaching me?"

"Oh, I think I'm up to the challenge." She smirked at me and nodded "And if all else fails I can always send you down to pick up a pizza or some burgers from the diner."

He fell back against the back of the booth clutching his heart as if he'd been mortally wounded. "Ouch. The way you have such little confidence cuts to the core."

"You have a bit of a flair for the dramatics, don't you? I'll be sure to mention that to my Mom when it comes time for the casting of the Christmas production I'm sure she could use someone of your talents."

"Whoa. My talents? Clearly we're confused here, I have no talent and I might have a case of horrible, vomit inducing stage fright."

She wrinkled her nose shaking her head. "Oh so not what you want to confess to on a first date." she giggled and then froze hearing her own statement as she stared up at him wide eyed. "I mean-Not that this..."

He watched as in a flurry there were bills thrown on the table and she was standing from the table faster than he'd imagined was ever possible.

"I have to go. Thank you for this-I just-I can't."

He caught her arm before she made it to the door stopping her in her tracks. He wanted to tell her a million things. He wanted to reassure her that she was okay, that her slip hadn't bothered him. He would never admit the warm feeling that he'd gotten at her words. None of those things mattered though. Right now, he just wanted to ensure that things between them didn't fall apart before they got any where.

"Bella, we're still on for dinner, right?" he asked her softly, releasing her arm when her eyes seemed to shot lasers at the spot where his hand was gripping her.

The emotions warred in her eyes told him that she wanted to cancel and was searching for any reasonable excuse to do so. "Uhm. Well, Fine. Just let me know when works for you."

Before he could agree or suggest anything she was gone. She left nothing in her wake but her sweet scent and the warm feeling he had from the knowledge that he was going to get another chance.

He knew that when he sat down and let his mind really process what was going on and everything that had passed between the two of them today the gut wrenching guilt would find it's way back in.

The same guilt that had eaten at him and kept him awake last night as he laid in bed. However, on second thought it might have been the knowledge that there were golden flakes in Bella's warm brown eyes or that she liked to stomp her foot and rant when she got angry.

For now he wasn't going to let that bother him he finally found himself roused from his own thoughts when old man Crowly made his way into the diner nearly plowing into him in his current position just inside the door. He mumbled his apologies with a small smile as he moved out of the way and then stepped out in the fresh air of the day. It was a second clear day in a row in Forks. Considering that he could count on one hand the number of times he had seen this clear blue sky since he'd moved earlier in the month he counted it as a sign, that possibly things were starting to turn around.

Maybe coming to Forks wasn't the mistake he was beginning to fear it was; the slower pace of a small town could be exactly what he needed to get his head back on straight. Maybe Bella Swan was just what he needed. He couldn't let his mind go there. There were so many potential problems there. Working for her father, the betrayal to Emmett, and even the gut wrenching pain he'd seen in her eyes after she realized what she had said. It seemed everything was working against them, but he couldn't bring himself to want it any less.

Even the thought of Alyssa brought a smile to his face, not that he had gotten the pleasure of meeting the little girl yet. However, everyone spoke so fondly of her he knew she sounded like the sweetest thing and like she could use a little more fun in her life. He shook those thoughts away in an instant. He needed to focus on dinner with Bella.

There was a subtle spring to his step as he made his way into the station and dropped into his chair pulling up google search engine before typing in a search for a good date recipe. Maybe he'd find a dessert he could make for her. She could teach him how to make dinner and he could attempt to master dessert and maybe even get a reward for being such a studious student.

A reward led him to thinking about her pouty pink lips. They were definitely the kind of lips a guy wanted to kiss, he knew he shouldn't let his mind go there, but he was a guy and he'd be lying if he said he didn't notice. However, the gentleman in his head prevented him from letting his mind wander a little lower on her body down passed her slender neck her sweater had displayed so well to her-

"What has that look on your face over there? I'm sure they're not thoughts of catching our mail box smasher."

Charlie grumbled good naturedly, laughing when he realized he really had caught me day dreaming. "Save it for later, son. For now I promised the Stanley's we'd look into this case some more. They've been hit again."

"Shit. Seriously, that has to be what the fourth time in two weeks? I think someone's just out to get them." He picked up the file that had been dropped on his desk pushing the thoughts of Bella out of his mind for now he had to focus on work.

He contented himself with the fact that there was always later to remind himself of just how well that sweater had fit her or the way her laugh seemed to effect him.

Shit. He really needed to knock all of this off at the rate he was going he was either going to turn into a freaking girl or a teenage boy that needed to slip into the bathroom to take care of something. Since he clearly was too fond of Bella to willingly hand of his male parts and the fact that the object of his current affection's father was sitting across a small room from him caused him to sit up a little straighter and hone in on the task at hand of finding his mailbox smasher.


What'd you think? Like it? Not so much? Love it? Hate it? Confused? Let me know what you think :)