A/N: Welcome back! Some of you are confused by the fact that Edward studies human nature for a living but can't read Bella at all. That's totally canon people! Read the book! (Thanks to profmom for pointing this out to me, because I totally did it on purpose).
AccioBourbon is writing a pretty great story called Inconceivable. Check it out in my favs.
Twike and Profmom72 are betarrific. Daisy is my ficwife. Everwondering is my idol.
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Good Enough Chapter 11
We all climbed into the Expedition with Alice and one of the other agents. Rosalie and I both had to give up our car keys so that our vehicles could be driven to the Bureau later. I could tell it was as difficult for her as it was for me, and we shared a look of understanding. It would have given me hope that we could at least be amicable if she hadn't flipped me off two seconds later.
Emmett and Rosalie sat in the back seat, and the rest of us were immediately assaulted with giggles and slurping noises coming from there.
"For the love, Emmett, you're technically on a case right now," I snarled.
"Shut up, I'm doing some investigating," he chuckled and Rosalie let out an uncharacteristic squeal.
"Oh, God, I'm in hell." Bella bent over and buried her head in her hands. I rubbed her on the back and tried to assure her that it would all be over soon. We were quickly shuttled to the parking garage at headquarters, where we rendezvoused with three other identical vehicles. Bella, Alice, and I got out and were ushered quickly into one of the other Expeditions, while Emmett and Rosalie stayed in the original one to continue their "investigation." We were joined by two other field agents, Yorkie and Crowley.
We'd been in the garage for less than a minute total when the caravan pulled out and sped down the road. The lead car drove us aimlessly around the city for about twenty minutes, and then each SUV turned a different direction. We took I-90 toward Tri Cities, but then traveled back on hwy 18 to I-5, and then headed south to Tacoma finally heading to the safe house.
We were driven around for a little while longer and finally pulled into a middle class suburban neighborhood full of three-bedroom, two- baths that all looked exactly the same. It was the perfect place to hide.
Crowley pulled into the garage and as soon as the door closed, it was as if the entire vehicle breathed a collective sigh of relief. We unloaded the bags and made our way inside the house. It was nothing fancy. It was tastefully but not extravagantly furnished. Bella took the master bedroom at my insistence, and I settled into the one across the hall. We hadn't spoken much since the awkward exchange in her bedroom, and I couldn't help feeling like she was avoiding me.
After we put away our bags, Alice had us meet in the living room to go over the specifics of our stay here.
"Okay, listen up. No phone calls out unless it's cleared through me and on a secure phone. You may use this phone to call me, McCarty, Yorkie, Crowley, Blunck, and Keown." She set a cell phone down on the table, took a quick breath, and kept going. "Their numbers are programmed in. If you need anything, the agent on duty here will get it for you. You don't leave here. Ever. This is going to be harder than it sounds, but if you don't follow my rules I'll kill you myself. There are emergency buttons on the alarm keypads by the front door and the master bedroom. If you hit those, the Calvary will be here in minutes. Edward, I'm serious. You may not take your own protection seriously, but you're not the only one to worry about now."
I tried to swallow the awful sense of guilt that washed over me, but I couldn't shake it. I glanced over at Bella who looked back at me. As if she could read my emotions perfectly, she reached over and put a comforting hand on mine. Alice was still yammering on about following orders, but I noticed her eyes dart to our hands. There was a quick break in her tough stance, and a smile flashed on her face almost too quick for anyone to notice. I didn't care. I needed Bella to tell me she was going to be alright. I needed her touch to assure me that my stupidity would not result in her getting hurt or worse.
Everything about her was slowly drawing me in. Her scent, her eyes, her sarcasm, her honesty, and her compassion sang to me. I tried to plug my ears, but I couldn't keep her out. She was like the free credit report dot com song. No matter how quickly I changed the channel, one glance at her, and I was a prisoner.
"Come on, friend. We need to go to bed, it's almost four a.m." Bella moved her hand from mine and slapped me on the knee snapping me out of my thoughts. Alice had finished talking to us and was giving more instructions to Crowley.
Bella told Alice goodnight and that we were going to bed. The adrenaline had finally worn off and as soon as Bella mentioned bed, I began to feel just how hard I'd pushed myself. I'd stood but suddenly fell back onto the couch. I put my hand on my forehead trying to get the room to stop spinning.
Bella was at my side in an instant. "Edward? Edward, are you okay? Somebody get him some water."
"I think I just over did it again. I felt really weak and dizzy for a second."
Crowley handed me a bottle of water, and I drank it. "Okay, I think I can make it to the bed now," I said.
Bella held my arm as I walked slowly to my bedroom and sat on the bed. For the second time today she helped me as I unstrapped my holster and handed it to her. She unlaced my shoes and then rummaged around in my bag until she found me some basketball shorts. She handed them to me and then helped me pull my shirt up over my head. If only I'd been wearing boxers, I could have just taken off my pants and gone to bed, but I was suddenly embarrassed about my lifestyle choice.
"Thank you, Bella. I think I can handle it from here."
"No problem. Just yell for me if you're in pain or if you need anything." She bent down and kissed my forehead, and I felt her warmth encompass me.
"Bella, do you want to sleep here tonight with me? I mean if it would help you feel safer."
"No, I don't think that's a good idea tonight, friend." She looked sad again, and I prayed I wasn't the reason for that look. I fell asleep with a dull ache in my chest that had nothing to do with my injuries.
I woke with a start to screaming coming from the next room.
"I hate that stupid pixie, damn that mother. . ." the words were followed by a string of profanities that I couldn't imagine Bella's mouth being capable of forming. I grabbed my gun and went running toward the sound of her voice. It was already morning. Was someone attacking her? I met Crowley in the hall who also had his gun out.
"On three," he said. "One… two… three!" I swung the door open and we both darted in to the room guns ready. Bella looked shocked at first, but after she realized who it was, and that we didn't intend to kill her, she continued to scream and curse Alice.
"Bella love, please stop screaming," I tried to say soothingly.
"She took out all my clothes! That stupid little meddling son of a…"
"What do you mean she took all your clothes?" I asked.
"She took my sweats, my jeans, my hoodie! They're all gone. The only things I have to wear are skirts, blouses, and stuff that looks like I'm going to a club not under house arrest."
"That sounds like Alice," I nodded. "Once we went on vacation after she and Jasper had only been married for a few months, and she accidently forgot to grab his suitcase. They had to buy him all new clothes under her supervision."
"I'm going to kill her!" Bella seethed. God, she's hot when she's mad.
"Don't bother. She'll never admit she was wrong, and if you try and argue about it, she'll end up making you feel like you did something to her and need to apologize."
Bella pouted and kept throwing clothes out of her bag in disgust. I couldn't help but wonder if that little blue number made it in there. "Hmm mmm," Crowley cleared his throat. "I think we better give the woman some privacy."
I conceded, but I didn't like the way he clearly assumed he knew what Bella needed. I knew her. I knew she needed privacy. He didn't have to tell me.
I went to take a shower and wanted to throw a fit myself when I had to sit down and rest again afterwards. I wasn't in pain, not much at least. I just felt weak. When I finally made it out of the bedroom, I had to stifle a laugh when I saw Bella sitting at the kitchen table with her study materials out. She was wearing a short black skirt and a sequined green tank top. She saw my smirk and gave me a dirty look. I went back to my bedroom and brought her the one thing I thought might possibly cheer her up.
"Here, I had this in my bag. You can use it if you want." I tossed my hooded sweatshirt at her and she caught it against her chest. She held it up, looked at it, and then brought it to her face to smell it.
"I don't stink, Bella." I was slightly offended.
"No, it smells like you. I like it. Thanks, buddy." She smiled at me, and I was just happy she wasn't still cursing. She pulled it over her head and looked utterly ridiculous. It was so big on her that when she stood up it covered most of her skirt.
"I like that look," I winked at her. She twirled around before sitting back down laughing.
"I made coffee, and there are donuts on the counter, friend. Do FBI agents eat like cops? If you guys eat like my dad, I'm in trouble. I don't need my thighs getting any bigger than they already are."
"You're perfect, Bella, and no – we don't eat like cops. We prefer cinnamon rolls instead of donuts. I wonder what Bozo bought these things."
Bella laughed as I gave my donut a dirty look.
"I'm pretty sure we can eat whatever you put on the grocery list. You see at the Federal Bureau of Investigations we strive to protect the sanctity of the American Way including traditional gender roles. It will only be American of you to cook for me and whatever agents are on duty every night." I gave her a flirtatious grin so she'd know I was kidding.
She rolled up her notepad and swatted me with it. "Hey, no domestic violence!" I held my hands up. "I'll have to call the authorities." By this time she was laughing hard.
"What about Alice? How does she fit in to your patriarchal hierarchy?"
"Oh, she's definitely the man in that relationship," I said with a straight face causing Bella to laugh even harder.
I was on my A game for the rest of the day. When she tried to study I would get bored and start singing, "The Arm bone's connected to the elbow bone," and so on. When she told me to shut up, I'd claim I was trying to help her study anatomy, which made her laugh.
She offered me $10 if I could lick my elbow, and in the end she laughed and gave me the money just for the joy of watching me try. We had staring contests, and I learned that Bella was possibly the most stubborn person in the world. She would have tears running down her face as she clutched the fabric of the couch, but she refused to blink. She finally won by cheating. She started licking her lips seductively causing me to choke and thus blink. I said it didn't count, but she just ran around the living room shouting, "Victory!"
That night she ended up cooking her specialty – grilled cheese and tomato soup. We'd had a fun day despite the hit that had most likely been ordered on my life. As we ate, Bella told me more about why she decided to become a doctor.
"I got selected to go on this trip in 9th grade. It was through an organization that tried to expose high school students to poverty and suffering so they'd be motivated to do something about it as they get older. It worked on me," she said and took another bite of her sandwich.
"How so?" I asked. I was desperate to learn all I could about her. I usually had stacks of files to go through, minds to examine, psyches to study. For now, Bella was my only subject.
"I got selected to go to Eastern Europe. I traveled through the Balkan States, and during one part of our trip, we hiked down to a village that wasn't readily accessible by the road. I met this family there. The kids were all sick due to some sort of radiation poisoning. The dad had one leg and was on crutches. The mom cried because she didn't have any food to serve us. Their lives were hard, but the longer I talked to them, the more I realized they weren't bitter or angry. A couple of my friends and I hiked back up to our van and got all of our snacks and candy and brought them back to the family. They were so grateful. That's the best I've ever felt in my life. If a few snacks meant so much to them, imagine how they would have felt if I could have kept his leg from needing to be amputated or given the kids the medicine they needed. I want to be able to do that for people."
Part of me was in awe of how beautiful her sentiment was, and part of me felt sorry that she was so naïve.
"Yeah, but this isn't Romania. People here aren't going to be grateful you kept them from having their leg amputated; they're going to be angry you kept them from getting a disability check. I bet even that guy in Romania can make more money begging now than he ever could have with two legs."
"It was Bulgaria, and why are you so cynical?" She looked at me with disgust.
"Listen Bella, I've seen the worst this world has to offer in the way of human nature, and I can tell you one thing – most people deserve what they've got coming to them. You might feel sorry for people, but don't. The person you feel sorry for today will be guarding the next Auschwitz tomorrow." I hated the way I sounded. I don't think I'd ever been that brutally honest about my contempt for people in general before.
"You talk about human nature like it's some sort of curse, but I have to believe people are intrinsically good. Even the cruelest person still has the capability to love his mother or hold the door open for a stranger. There's good in everyone – sometimes you just have to dig for it."
"I'll be honest, Bella. Until I met you – I'd pretty much given up on believing there were any good people left in the world. I still think you're a little naïve, but you've given me hope."
"I'm not sure if I should feel sorry for you, friend, or thank you for the compliment." She reached over, squeezed my arm, and smiled at me.
Thankfully we changed the subject to something lighter, but I still appreciated the fact that I felt comfortable enough with Bella to share my true feelings with her. I didn't want to feel so jaded or have such low expectations of humanity, but I was afraid I was beyond repair. Bella might not share my thoughts on the matter, but she didn't make me feel like a monster for thinking them.
A/N: It's a lot of pressure having to write these funny author's notes. There was a key shift in this chapter. Edward just got schooled by Bella – she's teaching him what it means to be good. I'm really freaking deep – you just don't realize it because I'm so freaking funny too.
I've noticed a trend. If I offer teasers, I get less reviews. THAT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE! So obviously you guys are too smart for my manipulations. Let's try something else. Pick up a string and swing it in front of your eyes. There, good. Now I'm going to count backwards from five. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. When I snap my fingers, you will open your eyes, hit the review button, and gush on and on about how wonderful this story is. AND for the next three days, any time you read the word Jacob in fan fiction, you will howl like a wolf for thirty seconds.
*snap*