Title: Twilight Soldier
Author: Azure the Dragonlady
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Don't own Dark Angel or Twilight.
Summary: Dark Angel/ Twilight Crossover. X5 Bella/Edward. No Pulse. After escaping the harsh treatment at the hands of a secret government organisation known as Manticore, X5-472 has tried to settle into life as an Ordinary with varying degrees of success. Going by the name Bella, which was given to her by the CO of her unit, Zack, she comes across the Swan family and is soon adopted by them.
Years later, after an Eyes Only broadcast revealing the possibility of her location being compromised, she decides to go to a small town called Forks. There, she meets Edward Cullen. They both have their seeming impossible secrets, but that doesn't stop them from being drawn to each other. However, when Bella's past finally begins to catch up with her after ten years on the run, she finds that her life just got even more complicated.
Author's Note: NaNoWriMo 2009 Entry. It is set during season one of Dark Angel. This chapter is not beta'd. I will repost it once it is.

Chapter 9: Conversations

Bella woke the next Monday to sun light creeping through the gap in the curtains. It was the first time that she has seen the sun since she arrived in Forks.

She went through her morning ritual, before she hoped into her truck and headed for school. She was a little eager for the chance to catch up with Edward. It was the first time since they talked and Edward helped her when she had the seizures.

Bella found herself surprisingly disappointed to find when she arrived in the student parking lot, that the distinctive Volvo was no where to be seen.

She trudged through the rest of the morning a little disheartened. On the way to lunch, Mike attempted to corner her and she allowed him to. She was curious to see what he wanted, until she realised that he probably thought she wanted to out with him when she was in heat and had flirted with him. She had to quickly dissuade his thoughts about that and get things back the way they were used to. That is, him not talking to her.

"H-hey Bella," Mike began nervously. Bella didn't answer and she saw Mike gulp hesitantly. "About the other day-"

"The other day was a big mistake," Bella interrupted harshly. Mike took an unconscious step backwards at her tone. She felt a little guilty about it, but she resolved that this needed to be done and gotten over with. "I wasn't…" she hesitated for a fraction of a second, trying to find the right words. "… myself. It was a mistake," she finally finished.

"O-oh, oh," Mike stuttered, surprise on his face. "I-I thought -"

"Sorry," Bella said, making sure she did not sound apologetic at all. Hopefully now Mike will get the idea and back off, so she wouldn't have to spell it out for him. "Excuse me, I want to go to lunch," she continued in clear dismissal.

"Oh, okay." He sounded a little confused.

Bella stepped to the side away from Mike and continued along her way to the cafeteria, leaving Mike speechless behind her. It had to be done; she reminded herself.

As soon as she stepped in the cafeteria, she automatically searched out the Cullen table. Much to her utter disappointed though, none of them where here. It seemed that they had all taken the day off. Perhaps they were sick and it had spread to the entire family, she reasoned. While Transgenics never got sick (other then heat and seizures), Bella saw Ordinaries getting sick all the time and all year round. Still, she could help the sinking disappointment as she sat down at her lunch table and opened the Big M she had brought.

In Biology, as Mr. Banner was talking about a subject that she already knew about, Bella kept glancing at the vacant seat beside her. Edward's seat. And for some unknown reason, loneliness swirled in the pit of her stomach. She closed her eyes, trying to get rid of it with some mental techniques adapted from her Manticore training. It didn't quite work and she opened her eyes and sighed.

The next day was worse. Bella arrived at school to find Edward's Volvo nowhere to be seen once again. She continued on with the day in a slight daze. As it reached lunch time, she decided to go outside and eat lunch on the tables on the grounds. She would enjoy yet another sunny day while she still could. Once again in Biology, she kept glancing at Edward's side of the table wondering why seeing it empty lead to feelings of loneliness. Why did Edward's presence comfort her so much that without it she felt bitter disappointment and even loneliness?

By Thursday it was getting better. Bella saw the Volvo parked neatly in its usual spot. She felt hope and excitement rise in her stomach at the thought of seeing Edward.

The first half of the day rushed by because of her anticipation in seeing Edward at lunch, and she was not disappointed. When she walked through the cafeteria doors after a small group of students, her eyes immediately went to the Cullen table. She nearly stopped. There were only four Cullen's there. Where was Edward? She wondered briefly before she caught a glimpse of him in her peripheral vision. He was seated on her regular table and by himself.

Edward lifted his head and they locked eyes. He gestured for Bella to sit down in her regular seat and across from him.

Bella altered her direction from the food line to the table.

"Why don't you sit with me today?" Edward asked as she approached the table.

"This is a change," she commented as she sat down. Edward pushed his food tray over to her side of the table.

"Here, have this. I'm not hungry after all," Edward said, nodding to the food. He had a slight smile on his face. It was small enough that Bella almost didn't pick up on it. It was almost like the comment was some sort of inside joke.

Interesting, she remarked to herself.

Well, it wasn't good to waste such necessities as food. Bella had learned from the time she was still on the run, so she accepted his gesture without any complaints. "Thank-you."

"Don't mention it," he grinned, pleased that she had taken his offer of food.

"So why aren't you sitting with you family?" Bella wondered out loud.

"I liked our little conversation last week, Bella. It was then that I decided that if I was going to hell, I might as well do it thoroughly," Edward admitted.

That… didn't make sense, Bella thought, frowning. Why did he say that?

"What do you mean?" Bella finally settled on asking, seeing that he wasn't going to say anything more. "And why do you think you're going to hell?" she asked curiously.

Edward looked a little surprised at her line of questioning. "Well," he said slowly, trying to gather his thoughts. "That is a long and complicated story."

"Something to do with your secret," Bella guessed.

"Yes," Edward said, glancing over at his siblings. Bella looked over as well. They were all looking at Edward and her, with varying levels of surprise and even anger on their faces.

"They don't like me," Bella acknowledged.

"Not that," Edward disagreed, his tone gentle and reassuring. "They think that you are getting too close to the secret."

Bella took a moment to process what he said, before replying. "That's a little funny, I was thinking the same thing." She smiled a little at that statement, which Edward returned with his own crooked smile. Bella found she quite enjoyed seeing his eyes light up with that smile.

"I was meaning to tell you," Bella began hesitantly.

"You can tell me," Edward encouraged when she paused.

"You know that a couple of weeks ago, with car accident?" Bella continued. Edward nodded, so she went on. "And afterwards I acted a little…" she trailed off trying to find the right words without seemingly giving anything away. Well, too much anyway.

"Strange?" Edward finished for her.

"Yeah, strange," Bella agreed. "I wanted to apologise to you. For the way I acted. I wasn't myself at all."

"Bella," Edward smiled. "You don't have to apologise. I was just worried about you."

"You were worried about me?" Bella said, surprised.

"You weren't acting like yourself," Edward explained, looking directly into her eyes. It made her stomach tingle at the intensity of the look he was giving her.

"No, I wasn't. It was just…" Bella hesitated a moment. "Hormones and stuff. Girl things. It was completely embarrassing." If Edward noticed her hesitation he didn't say or act on it, which Bella found to be a relief. She didn't want to have to reveal to him that it was yet another secret between them, although he probably could have guessed as much.

"I understand," Edward said sincerely.

"Great," Bella breathed in relief.

"You don't have to feel embarrassed with me, Bella." Edward said slowly. Bella nodded.

Edward was just about to say something else, when he suddenly frowned and looked behind Bella. She shifted as well, and followed his gaze. Alice had gotten up from her table and was walking with a spring-like step over to them. She had a smile on her face. Bella turned back to Edward. He had an annoyed look on his face, for what must be an upcoming interruption.

"Hi, Bella. How are you?" Alice inquired cheerfully, as she pulled out a chair next to Bella's and sat down beside her.

Bella couldn't help but look at Edward before she answered, "Great. You?"

"Lovely."

"Alice, what are you-" Edward started to ask before he was interrupted.

"We're going to be great friends, Bella. I just know it." Alice practically jumped in excitement. Bella was taken back at the passion in which she said the statement. Alice looked so sure of her statement, Bella felt inclined to believe her.

"If you say so," was all Bella could reply.

"I do," Alice chirped.

Bella nodded. "Alright. Friends then." Bella couldn't help but to agree.

Alice all but squealed in delight. "We have to go shopping!" Several heads turned in their direction, but Bella ignored them, focusing on the Cullen next to her.

Bella nodded having no choice but to nod in agreement, judging from Alice's tone.

"Alright, Alice. You've had you say. You can leave now," Edward huffed in annoyance.

Alice pouted. "Edward, you're no fun," the pixie said, before turning back to Bella. "We'll go in a few weeks."

"It's alright with me, I guess," Bella said, blinking at the sudden and surprising change in topic.

"Bye Bella," Alice farewelled, before heading back to the Cullen table. She grabbed Jasper's hand and pulled him up, just as the bell signalling the end of lunch sounded.

Maybe it was the presence of Edward or maybe it was just is family as a whole, but she seemed like she might just reveal too much around them. It was a little unnerving. But Bella couldn't help but feel a sense of belonging with them for some reason. It was something she hadn't felt since she was with her siblings. She never knew that she craved the belonging and companionship before now. And Edward had brought that out of her.

"Are you coming?" Bella suddenly asked, realising that her and Edward were about the only ones left in the cafeteria. "We're going to be late."

"I'm not going to class today," he said simply.

"Why not?"

"It's healthy to ditch now and then," he stated.

"You've mentioned that before," she paused slightly. "I'd love to join you, but I've already missed so many classes already. Charlie would freak. In a small town like this, it'd probably get back to him," she sighed.

"I'll see you later then." Edward nodded

Bella returned the nod before getting up and heading to the classroom. A quick glance back to the table revealed that he hadn't moved an inch.

She made it to classroom before Mr. Banner but after everyone else. Her classmates were looking at her, whispering to each other about what happened during lunch, as she took her customary seat. She unnervingly stared back at them until they looked away.

Mr. Banner entered the room holding some cupboard boxes in his hand when she sat down. He set the boxes down on his table at the front.

"Okay, guys, I want you to all take one piece from the box," he said as he passed around the boxes. He took out some rubber gloves from his lab coat and placed them on his hands. An unsettling feeling rose in her stomach.

"The first is an indicator card and the second is a four-pronged applicator," Mr. Banner went on, explaining what each material was to the class, holding them up as he did so.

Bella realised that they would be doing blood typing today. She really should have gone with to mention she couldn't be going and bleeding, not with her type of blood. Who knew what kind of properties or anything would be different on the indicator raised a hand.

"Yes, Bella?"

"Mr. Banner, I've just realised that I've already done this lab before. Would I be able to use this class to catch up on the homework I've missed in the library. I already know my blood type," Bella added.

Mr. Banner nodded. "If you feel that you need to. I'll write you a note."

With a relieved sigh, Bella gathered her stuff and walked up to the teacher's desk, as Mr. Banner wrote her a pass. "Thank-you, sir," Bella said as he handed her the note.

She walked out the classroom and instead of heading to the library, she went in the direction of the student parking lot. There was no need to do any of the work, as she already done it what was probably a record amount of time.

She noticed that Edward was in his Volvo. He looked up as she stepped onto the asphalt parking lot. He looked confused for a moment, before he smiled. He got out of his Volvo, closed the door, leaning against it.

"Decided to ditch after all," he commented lightly.

"Yeah. You were right," she replied.

"I usually am – but about what in particular this time?"

"Modest too," she rolled her eyes before she answered, "Ditching in healthy."

"Why did you decide to ditch?" Edward asked, curiously.

"Blood typing," she answered simply.

"I thought you could handle blood?"

"I can. It's a long and complicated story."

"Part of your secret," Edward guessed as much as stated.

"Right in one," she confirmed.

Edward let it go, although she could tell his was still curious. She knew, like he did, that if she told him why there would be a certain expectation for him to tell his. Reciprocity and all.

"What did you want to do with your free period?" Edward asked after a moment.

"What were you doing before?"

Edward hesitated the slightest second before answering, "Listening to music."

"That's cool. We could do that."

Edward walked around with her to the passenger's side of the door and opened the door "Gentlemanly," Bella commented. She couldn't help but notice the flutter inside her stomach as he did that. Edward walked back around and got inside the driver's door.

"Are you cold? Would you like the heater on?" Edward asked, glancing at her as he placed the keys into the side of the steering wheel. Bella shook her head.

Edward turned the keys just enough to switch the radio on in the car. A piano piece started playing through the speakers. Bella was surprised to find that she recognised it.

"Clair de Lune?" she asked.

"You know Debussy?" Edward sounded surprised too.

"Not well," Bella admitted. "Renee used to play a lot of classical music around the house – I only know my favourites."

"It's one of my favourites, too," Edward replied softly.

Bella looked over and saw Edward staring out of the front windscreen, deep in thought. She stretched a little, getting comfortable in the nice light gray leather seat. She placed her hand out. It came into contact with Edward's and they both jumped a little in surprise.

The feeling of electricity made its way up through her arm. She almost gasped at its force.

"Sorry," Bella murmured. Edward nodded, staring at their hands together. It was then that Bella realised she hadn't taken her hand off his yet and quickly did so.

There was several minutes of surprisingly comfortable silence, before Edward spoke.

"How old are you Bella?" he asked.

"Eighteen," she responded.

"You don't seem eighteen." He sounded frustrated, as if it was some mystery that he couldn't work out. "Why is it your still a junior?" he was completely sincere.

Bella sighed. "You know I'm adopted." Edward nodded. "Well, the truth is that Renee and Charlie found me on the side of the road when I was eight. They took me in after that. I'm very grateful for that. It could have been a lot worse," she said, going off on a small tangent, but quickly backtracked to answer his original question. "So, I hadn't been to school before. I was tested into a grade." Though she played down her abilities when she did do the tests, but she wouldn't let him know that.

"I had run away with my siblings from an orphanage that wasn't very nice," Bella continued, unable to keep the anger out of her voice.

"Siblings?" Edward asked, softly.

"Not biologically. At least, not that I know of," Bella added as an afterthought. "We were in the same… dorm. We became close. So close that we viewed each other as siblings."

"What happened to them?" Edward's tone was very gentle. He took her hand and circled his thumb over the back of her hand gently. It was both comforting and soothing. She sighed at the lovely feeling.

"I don't know," she answered truthfully. "Zack, he was like a big brother - he was the one who told us we should run… escape. We all split up. I don't know if they're even alive," Bella's voice broke at the end. Edward squeezed her hand very gently.

"I'm sorry that had to happen to you," he whispered into her ear. "I'm sorry that you have had such a harsh life."

"Life isn't fair," Bella said, shrugging a little.

"I believe I have heard that somewhere before," he agreed dryly. They both smiled at each other.

"Thanks for listening," Bella said.

"It was not a problem. I'm here is you need me. I want to help you Bella," he said.

"And I appreciate that Edward. I really do." Bella looked up into Edward's eyes and couldn't help but believe that everything would be alright, so long as they were together.

They stayed silent, mostly listening to music after Bella revelation. Edward never let go of her hand though, and Bella was glad about that. She liked them holding there hands. It felt… right.

Soon enough, though, it was time for the next class and Bella headed to gym as Edward went to his Spanish class. The rest of the day dragged by slowly and Bella wished she was with Edward again.

When school had finally finished, Bella waved goodbye to Edward, who was leaning against his Volvo waiting for his siblings. He waved back with his crooked smile. Bella felt the butterflies in her stomach start up again.

As Bella entered her home, she called Renee, realising that they hadn't spoken in awhile.

"Hey Renee," Bella greeted as her adoptive mother answered.

"Bella! You haven't rang in awhile. How have you been? What's been going on?" Renee said quickly.

"I've been good, Renee. How's Phil?"

"Phil's working hard. We're looking around for a house to rent, in case it becomes permanent. You'd like Jacksonville, baby."

"Actually, Forks is kind of growing on me. I enjoy it here," Bella said.

There is a slight pause, before Renee said, "Could... a guy have something to do with that?"

Bella smiled, thinking of Edward. "Maybe…" she answered.

"Tell me everything! Jock? Indie? Bet he's smart. Is he smart?" Renee questioned excitedly. Bella could hear the smirk in her voice.

"Renee, we're just friends!" Bella exclaimed.

"Sure, Bella," Renee laughed. "I can hear it in your voice. You have a crush on him."

"No I don't," Bella denied.

"Well, does he make you heart beat faster and your stomach flutter?"

"Yes…" Bella admitted reluctantly.

"You do have a crush!" Renee said excitedly. "You're all grown up!"

"Renee," Bella said, embarrassed. "I've got to go," she continued. 'Before this gets any worse', she added silently.

"No way, we gotta talk boys. Promise you'll be safe!"

"I'll call you later, Renee," Bella said quickly and placed the phone back on the receiver before they could continue with their embarrassing conversation.

Could her adoptive mother be right? Bella wondered as she walked up the stairs and to her room. Did she have a crush on Edward?

She knew that Renee was right, at least to some extent. Her heart did beat faster around him and she did get butterflies in her stomach when he looked at her. When she was in heat she went straight to him as soon as she saw him, completely disregarding the other boys. Bella felt safe and comfortable around him and a sense of belonging and companionship. And most importantly, she felt like she could trust him enough to tell him all of her secrets.

It was all there, laid out in front of her. Every hint she needed in order to conclude that she, Bella Swan, liked Edward Cullen.

Feedback is appreciated.

-Azure the Dragonlady-