Bonding. All the bonding.

... Just realized how perverted that sounded. OHWELL.

Chapter Nine

It was cold. So very cold.

The only light burning as rain fell from the sky were the street lamps as she walked. Her head was down, her feet splashing in the water that remained on the sidewalk. Each puff of air she breathed was harsh, the cold making it harder and harder to breathe as she quickly made her way down the empty street.

Normally, she would've been worried about the fact that there was no one else around, especially in a city like Seattle. Even at this time of night, there was usually other people milling about, drunkenly stumbling towards their homes.

But not tonight. Tonight, it was only her.

She wiped her hands on her thighs, the feeling of her knives calming her as her hand passed over them. The weight of her gun on her waist comforted her as she sped up her walking.

She disappeared into a dark alley after turning left, pulling up her hood to protect her face from anyone that might be lurking in dark corners. She kept walking, her eyes remaining on her feet, until she was at the end of the alley, a metal door blocking her from continuing on. She knocked on it three times as a shiver ran down her spine.

Two minutes later, a small window opened up, dark eyes visible behind it. "Who are you?"

She kept her eyes hidden by the hood of her jacket, but raised her head so he could see her lips. "I'm here on assignment. Aro sent me."

The man chuckled. "You have no business here, girl."

"I said Aro sent me," she argued. "And we both know that you have to let me just because of his name."

Again, he chuckled. His dark eyes gleaming with a hint of anger. "Trust me, sweetheart. This place isn't for the likes of you."

A smirk moved her lips. "Sweetheart? I'll show you who's a 'sweetheart.'"

She pulled a knife free from its harness on her leg, plunging it through the opened slit in the door. She stopped her arm from fully extending, the blade of the knife inches away from sticking into the spot between his eyes. She saw the fear pass through the color of them, her smirk forming into a full on smile.

"I think you should open the door now," she said. "Or I could do far worse things."

The lock clicked, and she pulled back her arm. She passed by the man, shoving him out of the way with her shoulder. She walked into the dark bar, her eyes searching for her target.

In a blink of her eyes, guns were pointed straight at her, coming from out of nowhere. Her pulse quickened as she felt one of the barrels of a shotgun dig into her spine.

"I told you this wasn't a place for the likes of you."

BANG!

I sat up in bed, the sheets tangled around my arms and legs. My hair stuck to my forehead with sweat as I gasped to get air into my lungs. Thunder clapped outside the opened window, the scent of fresh rain filling the room.

When I was finally calmed down enough to remember where I was, I sank back down on the bed.

It was only a dream... A memory, but turned sour.

It was easy to remember what mission that was. It was one of the first ones I had been sent out on when Rose took a short leave. I had been successful in getting into the place by using force, but there hadn't been any guns pointed at me. Instead, I was the one with gun pointed at someone's back, a bullet never being shot because I was able to get the information I needed by using fear.

My hand shook as I pushed damp hair off my forehead, the sound of the gun going off ringing in my ears. The wound on my arm throbbed with fresh pain like it had the moment it happened. I had to bite down on my lip to keep a whimper at bay.

I threw the mess of sheets away from my body, forcing myself out of bed. I turned on the lamp that was on the bedside table and looked at my arm. The bandage was red with fresh blood. I guess I had thrashed around so much while I was dreaming that I opened up the stitches. Perfect.

I trudged towards the door and opened it, peeking out into the dark hallway of the flat Cullen had rented for us to stay in.

He used another set of identities that we had one hand, renting the place out for six months. The landlord tried to show us around, but Cullen was quick to sign the papers, throwing a wad of cash at the poor man before grabbing our things and walking up the stairs to the third floor where the flat was. The reason he chose this one was because it was out of London, hidden away. He was sure Marcus couldn't track us here.

Downside of it all? We had to share a living space. And, with the way my head and heart were going, I really was on edge.

Luckily, there was an extra room, so Rose and Emmett could stay with us. It'll be much easier keeping an eye on her.

My eyes had adjusted to the dark, now all I had to do was remember which door led to the bathroom. I vaguely remember Cullen saying it was the one directly across the hall... Or was that where his bedroom was?

I knew I should've slept in the car when I had the chance. I would've remembered this if I hadn't been so drowsy.

I pressed my luck with the door in front of me, praying to God that it was the right one. I didn't want to explain myself for barging in on Cullen while he got his 'beauty sleep.' I twisted the doorknob, pushing to door slowly open.

Let's just say it wasn't the bathroom.

Cullen was fast asleep. His own bed was a mess, the sheets barely covering him. He wasn't wearing a shirt, and his pants were low on his waist, revealing a sharp V-definition of muscles. His face was covered in scruff and his glasses had fallen down his nose. He must have been reading something and fell asleep without realizing that he still had them on.

There was a tightening in my chest as I took in the sight of him, my pulse beginning to pick up its pace just like it had in my dream.

He was beautiful. Peaceful.

Edward.

A loud boom of thunder erupted from the sky, shaking the foundation of the building. Cullen jumped in his sleep, his green eyes bright in the darkness of the room. A flash of lightning flared, and I knew that he had seen me.

"Bella?" he asked in his voice still thick with sleep. It made me weak at the knees.

"S-sorry," I whispered, telling myself to get the hell out of here, but my legs wouldn't listen. "I was trying to find the bathroom. My arm's bleeding."

Cullen was out of his bed the moment the word 'arm' left my lips. He rushed over to where I was standing, pulling me more into the room with a slight tug on my uninjured arm with his hand. He flipped the light switch on the wall behind me, the room now bathed in warm light. He used two fingers to push his glasses up his nose before twisting my wounded arm so he could see the bandage.

"This might hurt," he warned before grabbing onto a loose edge of it, pulling it away quickly so he wouldn't drag out the sting of it being ripped off my skin. A whimper pushed its way out of my mouth before I could stop myself from acknowledging the pain. Cullen winced before muttering out an apology. "Your stitches opened up. What happened, Swan?"

There wasn't any venom in his tone, no sign of how normally Cullen would talk to me. Instead, there was caring, tenderness. His hands on my arm were soft, holding it as if it were made of glass. His eyes met mine, the green bright and filled with worry.

"I don't honestly know," I replied, a blush creeping onto my cheeks. "I guess I thrashed around so much in my sleep... I had a weird dream."

He tugged on my arm, pulling me more into the room. He used his hands to turn me around, my back facing the bed. He then pushed me down softly so I was sitting on the edge of it.

"I'll be right back," he said before walking out the door into the hallway. Two minutes later, he was back with needle and medical equipment in hand. He sat down beside me, threading the needle. "Tell me about this dream."

I huffed out the air from my cheeks and winced when I felt the first pull on my arm from him taking out the damaged stitches. "I was dreaming about a past mission. It was like I was remembering it, but... I wasn't."

He met my eyes, his hand stopping its continues motion of tending to my wound. "What do you mean?" he asked.

I decided to start from the beginning, retelling Cullen about one of my first missions without Rose. I told him about the guy behind the door, using my knife as persuasion, entering the dirty, grimy club, and getting the information I needed. Then, I told him about how it all changed in my dream; the guns pointing at me, the guy repeating what he had said at the door, and then being shot.

By the time I was finished, my heart was racing again and a cold sweat chilled me to the bone. Cullen sat up straighter, the needle in his hand stilling its motion. There were frown lines on his face, mixed with worried.

"Bella, I am so, so sorry," he whispered. "This is all my fault..."

I shook my head. "But it's not, Edward. It could have happened to anyone, I've told you this. You can't blame my nightmare on what happened. That's not fair to you."

He shook his head and ran a hand through his already messy hair. "But I should've waited... Or told you I was there. I should have done something other than just shoot the goddamn gun!"

My hand landed on his back, my palm feeling the hard muscles and sharp shoulder blades. His spine was rigid, but seemed to relax at my touch. He let out a long breath, his head dropping so his chin almost touched his chest. I started to move my hand, rubbing his back in soothing motions.

Suddenly, my comforting him was comforting me, and my problems didn't feel so big anymore. I was more concerned with calming his fears than my own.

"Please don't blame yourself," I whispered as I continued to rub his back. "I don't want you to think that at all."

He raised his head, his bright green eyes searching my face for any signs of lying. When he didn't find any, he sighed and wrapped am arm around my waist, pulling me close to him. His cheek rested against my stomach, a blush flaring onto my cheeks, but I didn't pull away. There was something in my mind screaming to pull away, but I just couldn't listen to it. My heart was winning over my mind.

"Thank you," he mumbled. "For not slapping me across the face this time."

I smiled and let out a soft laugh. "I could do that if you want me to."

He shook his head, nuzzling his face in my shirt. I could feel the sharp, tiny hairs on his face tickling the skin of my stomach as he moved through my thin t-shirt. "No need. This is much, much better."

We stayed like that for a few minutes, just holding onto each other and soothing each others fears until he remembered that my arm wasn't quite stitched up. After he was finished with that, he made me stay in his room with him. We talked for hours about anything and everything. He flipped the light out and we continued to quietly share stories until I dozed off.

When I awoke the next morning, the spot where Cullen was was empty. There was a dull pain in my heart where I hoped that he would be there, waiting. But I knew that the dream we had hidden away in last night was gone. We were back to being Swan and Cullen. We were back to business.

x-x-x-x

"They should be here any minute." Cullen took a sip of his coffee. "At least, I hope so. They're flight has already been delayed enough."

Cullen was grouchy. We had been at the airport for hours now, waiting for Emmett and Rose's flight to land. The weather had turned south, a bad storm that had flooded the streets of London, and it was making it hard for pilots. Luckily, it had started to calm down outside the big windows of the airport and traffic was beginning to move again.

It had been a week since that night in Cullen's room. My arm was finally starting to look better, and we had managed to slip under the radar again. Marcus thought that the Hawkins went back to the States and all was well in the world.

Except it wasn't.

The moment my sister steps off that plane my whole life will change. I'll have to worry about her getting shot, being abducted, or worse things than that. I know she can take care of herself, but that doesn't mean I want her near any sort of danger. Not when she was so close to getting a normal life back.

"Seriously, this is ridiculous," Cullen complained. "Can't they just get a taxi? I'm beat."

I took in a deep breath, calming myself. There wasn't a need to yell at him. "No," I replied. "You know that."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever..."

I turned the other way and pulled my phone into view. I pressed the volume button up and shoved my ear buds into my ears, ignoring the loud noises of the airport and Cullen's quiet grumblings to himself. I picked up the Starbucks bag from off the floor by my feet and shoved it at him. "Eat this," I demanded. "You're getting hangry."

He grabbed the bag. "Hangry? What type of word is that?"

I glared at him. "Hungry and angry at the same time. It's in the dictionary."

"What kind of dictionary are you reading? The Idiot Edition?"

I shook my head, a headache forming behind my temples. Why did I even bother with him?

Cullen grabbed the extra muffin out from the bottom of the bag and took a huge bite of it, half of it now gone. I was glad to see him eating. Ever since we moved into the apartment, he had started to pick at his food, his mind a million miles away from the plateful of food in front of him. Most nights I had to beg him to take just a few bites, and that usually ended up with him just being more aggravated because I was being pushy. When he was in a good mood, he'd just push around his food and talk about the stack of paperwork and surveillance we've been doing. It was getting tiresome.

Hell, the whole past month living with him was beginning to take its toll on my body. There were dark circles under my eyes, my skin looked blotchy, and I felt like utter crap most days. Luckily, my arm was almost fully healed, and it barely hurt to move it around a lot. I was finally able to throw my knives with ease, and the rush of practicing and training fueled my body with what energy it needed to get through most days with Cullen being a pain in my ass.

"Finally!" Cullen whispered out, a smile almost breaking through on his face. The green in his eyes was brighter, his hard exterior beginning to fall as a burly man with my sister on his arm walked towards where we sat. Emmett waved before picking up Rose bridal style and running the rest of the way.

"Cullen! My man!" he greeted him while doing that weird slap-each-others-hands-and-hug sort of thing. I hugged Rose tightly while the two men joked and punched each other like best friends do.

"You okay?" I whispered to her as I held her close. "You look tired."

She nodded as we pulled apart. Her hands were on my shoulders, her blue eyes searching my face. Her mouth turned into a frown. I couldn't keep my eyes locked on her icy blue ones, not when there was so much scrutiny behind her gaze.

"I look tired?" she fired back. "You look like you haven't even heard of getting eight hours of sleep. Everything okay, B?"

I bit down hard on my bottom lip, a habit that I was trying to break. "I... We'll talk later about this. Sister talk."

"Oh. Gotcha." Rose pulled me into another hug. "Don't let it bother you so much. I'm here now to let all your problems go."

I couldn't help but smile at her. She always knew exactly what to say to cheer me up.

When she let me go, stronger arms pulled me back and into the air. I squealed like a five-year-old and couldn't contain the giggle that erupted from my chest. I had my eyes closed to stop the blurring motion of the walls as I moved, but I felt another pair of arms grab me. I was expecting feminine hands, thinking Rose had come to my rescue. But they were very masculine hands. Hands that had stitched up my arm.

"Enough, Em," Cullen demanded as he set me down on my feet. "You'll injure her."

Emmett wrapped his arm around my shoulders, causing me to look up at his face. He was looking at Cullen the same way Rose had been looking at me just minutes before, that all-knowing look of understanding but with wonder.

"She was perfectly fine, dude," Emmett replied. "I wasn't going to throw her. Relax."

Cullen looked confused, eyeing the way Emmett and I were standing. His eyes grew wide, his cheeks turning a soft shade of pink before he turned away and cleared his throat. "Right," he mumbled. "Can we get going? You guys held up my nap."

Emmett released my shoulders and followed after Cullen, pinning him in a chokehold. Cullen started to throw punches and I could hear Rose's soft, tinkling laughter as her heels clicked on the floor as she began to walk behind them.

But I was frozen. What was the look of confusion for on Cullen's face? And why did I feel that it was confusion, but... Jealousy?

You are way in over your head, Swan.

Don't I know it.

Sista, sistaaaaa.

I'm done. Bye.

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