A/N: A few people are still confused about the tattoos. To clarify—everyone is born with a unique tattoo on their ankle. Bella's is a vine, Edward's look like flames, Jacob's looks like a wolf, etc. They can be all different sizes. If and when they fall in love, that person's tattoo appears somewhere on their body (in addition to their own tattoo). It's important to note that all they have to do for this to happen is to fall in love. It's not an indication of anything else. It doesn't mean they're soulmates. It doesn't mean they should be together. It doesn't mean that the love won't fade. All it means is that, if you have someone's tattoo on you, you were in love with them at some point.


~Bella - Three Years Ago~

"You're a strange one, Bella. Sometimes, I can't figure you out."

Bella looked up at her best friend with a bemused smile. "What are you talking about?"

"You don't even like your tattoo. Now, suddenly, you're tattooing your tattoo?" Jake gestured at the artist who was working on Bella's leg.

The artist looked up and gave Jake a grin. "Hey, man, people want to take ownership of their bodies for all kinds of reasons, you know? Mostly, they want to forget about someone who broke their heart."

"Yeah," Bella said. She looked down to where Jacob was rubbing his wrist—rubbing at Paul's tattoo. "I got the idea from you."

Jacob scoffed, a bitter expression coming over his face. "That's different. You think it's easy looking at this thing? Not just because Paul is an asshole, and it took me way too long to shake his pathetic ass. But this" -He shook his arm at Bella- "this was the beginning of hell for me. You know that."

"I know that," Bella said quietly. She sucked in a breath as the tattoo artist touched a sensitive spot on her ankle. "I don't know, Jake. This thing wasn't my choice anymore than Paul's was yours. Maybe it's silly. I want to take ownership of this as much as you wanted to make your wrist tattoo about you, not him."

"Met a girl once. Some asshole's tattoo popped up on her face." The tattoo artist shook his head. "That's some bullshit right there. She said he called her a clingy bitch, and she hasn't seen him since." He shook his head again and bent to his work. "If you ask me, love is overrated."

"Just don't ask Jacob," Bella said, teasing to ease the tension. "He falls in love way too easily."

Jacob snorted. "I'm an easygoing guy." He rolled up his shirt, showing off a tribal tattoo in the shape of a circle on one arm and then another at the hip. "But these assholes didn't ruin my life, at least."

The tattoo artist stood up, looking at Bella. "What do you think?"

Bella twisted her leg so she could see better and smiled.

The tattoos they were born with and the ones that showed up when people fell in love really should have been called birthmarks. Some shapes were more distinct than others—Bella's vines looked like that and nothing else; whereas, Jacob's wolf could be and had been interpreted as anything from a dog to a shark to a mountain.

Now, though, Bella's vines had definition and color. The artist had added shadow and hues of green and brown. "It's gorgeous. Just perfect." She looked to Jacob. "See. I'm not trying to make my tattoo into something else, like you did. I'm just trying to make it mine. No one else will ever have this tattoo. Not even if they fall in love with me."

Jacob ruffled her hair. "Well, you go girl. You do you."

"So, I'm Embry, by the way," the tattoo artist said, extending a hand toward Jacob. "You should give me a call if you want to do something about those other tatts."

Bella had to stop herself from rolling her eyes, watching her best friend eye-fuck the tattoo artist. Jacob's lip turned up in a grin and he gave the guy's hand a vigorous shake. "We should talk about that."

~Bella - Now~

Bella propped her legs up on the desk, switching over to the tablet to continue the report she was working on. Tanya was scheduled to go to a party hosted by some important people. Bella's job was to get some background info so Tanya could schmooze the right people.

She'd gotten into work at six-thirty that day, needing to go with Tanya to assist her during a presentation she was giving to obtain funding. It was nearly six now, and Bella's brain was threatening to rebel. She didn't want to concentrate anymore.

Her mind wandered down to her pant-clad leg, and she smiled. One of the things she loved most about making the transition to full-blown adulthood—out of school, job, bills, apartment—was the juvenile things that weren't important anymore. Even in college, tattoos were one of the first things people asked about.

In the working world, no one cared. Almost all the women who worked with Tanya—and Tanya herself—wore pantsuits formally and jeans informally, so personal tattoos were rarely visible. There was a woman—one of the photographers, a friendly girl named Angela—who wore skirts, showing off her tattoo and that of her husband on the opposite ankle, but it wasn't as prevalent as it had been throughout Bella's school years.

She liked the idea people wanted to know more about her than her love life. Like that morning, when the meeting was over and they were making polite conversation, Bella had been asked about her experience, her schooling, and what it was like working for Tanya Cullen. No one even glanced at her leg or wondered out loud if her lover's tattoos were simply out of sight.

Which wasn't to say tattoos weren't thought of. Bella was as curious as anyone else. She knew Tanya had a tattoo behind her ear. Edward's tattoo? Bella had often wondered. It made sense. Edward had told her they'd been married forever. Bella wondered if Edward's tattoo was as large as hers. She imagined the flame licking up the back of his leg.

"I come bearing Chinese."

Speak of the devil. Bella put her feet back on the ground, straightening up as Edward breezed into the room. "Hello, Edward."

"Hello," he said, setting the bag on her desk. He flashed her a grin. "A special treat for you, Miss Swan."

Bella made a happy noise when he opened a carton to reveal moo shu pork. She loved the stuff. Edward and Tanya both hated it.

Edward made a face, watching her spoon the mixture onto the tortilla. "Ugh. Why do you like that so much?"

"I like things with eggs, and I like things with bamboo. Oh, and mushrooms." She drizzled the hoisin sauce over the mixture, looking up at him as she did. "All of this tastes good."

"Eggs should be for omelettes and nothing else."

"There are eggs in your fried rice."

"That's different."

"Of course it is."

He chuckled and picked up the trays that weren't hers. "I'll be back, I'm sure," he said dryly and headed into his wife's office.

~Edward~

Bella brought her work into the conference room with her when they settled down to watch their shows. Edward was vaguely annoyed until it became clear Bella didn't get immersed the way Tanya did. She still commented on the show and continued to discuss even as her fingers flew across the keyboard.

"How are you doing that, anyway?" Edward asked, nodding at the tablet she had plugged into the portable keyboard. "Concentrating on both things."

She seemed perplexed. "Are you one of those people who can't do two things at once?"

He scoffed. "Believe me, I can do many things at the same time." His voice was pitched lower than he'd intended. He cleared his throat. "I just mean that it's distracting me."

"What? Why?"

"The things you're writing about these people. It's clever. I can put together a report and watch TV at the same time, but it won't be clever."

She seemed amused. "I guess everyone needs a useless talent."

"Not so useless." He rested his head against the back of the couch, tilting it so he could see the words flashing across the screen. There was a pattern to what she was doing with each person—uploading a picture, resizing to fit the template she'd created, pulling three clever tidbits out to give Tanya talking points.

He yawned, and Bella looked over at him with a small smile. "You look really tired today."

"Early start." He yawned again. "But of course, you know that. You had to have gotten up around the same time we did."

"Up since five," she said.

"What's your secret? You look awake."

"Coffee. Strong coffee." She tilted her head in the direction of the kitchenette in the corner. "I can make us some."

"Naw, I'll be okay." He gestured to the screen. "The show's getting interesting."

It couldn't have been that interesting—or else he was more exhausted than he'd thought—because the next thing he knew, Bella was calling his name.

"Hey, wake up."

He felt a gentle touch against his cheek. He opened his eyes slowly, a smile spreading across his face when Bella came into view.

Then, he realized what he was doing. He was slumped all the way over now, his head resting on Bella's shoulder.

He sat up straight. "Sorry." He chuckled, rubbing his eyes. "I'm sorry. I guess I should have taken you up on that coffee. I didn't mean to use you as a pillow."

"It didn't really bother me." She seemed ever so slightly shy, ducking her head and meeting his gaze only furtively. "I almost felt bad about disturbing you."

He smiled, resting his head on the back of the couch, further away from her this time. He studied her for a moment.

"What?" she asked, her cheeks turning pink.

"Sorry. I wasn't trying to make you uncomfortable." He yawned and turned his head to stare up at the ceiling. "I was just thinking it was strange. You and I haven't known each other very long. What has it been? A few days a week for the last six weeks? But I feel very comfortable with you. Like I've known you forever."

She was quiet so long Edward started to think he'd creeped her out. But when he looked over at her, he saw she looked more contemplative than anything.

"My best friend's boyfriend has a theory about that," Bella said, noticing his look. "He believes in reincarnation. He thinks that when two people feel like they know each other almost instantly like that, it's because they knew each other before. So it's not so much that you know the person—who they are now. It's that your souls recognize each other."

Edward considered this. "That's an interesting thought." He grinned. "Where did we meet in this other life, Bella Swan?"

She closed her tablet and set it on the arm of the couch, studying him a moment. "England. I think I was a queen and you were a peasant."

He smirked. "Peasants don't usually consort with queens."

"Ah, see, I was one of the benevolent ones. I took pity on you—lowly peasant."

"That does sound like something you would do. Well, it's no wonder I liked you right away. The lowly peasant in me didn't know any better."

She laughed, but before she could retort, Tanya's door came open. They both stood, going to meet her in the anteroom.

"I need wine and a long nap," Tanya announced.

"That's typically called sleeping through the night," Edward said, shaking his head. "Come along, wife." He turned to Bella and gave a dramatic bow. "Have a good evening, Your Majesty."

Tanya looked amused as they headed out the door. "What was that about?"

"I'll tell you later."


A/N: All of my prereaders are drop dead gorgeous people, and I thank them profusely for putting up with me.

And I want to promise Mina I'll write the Mexico outtake for Trouble Follows ;)