A/N

Special thanks as always to my ficwife, Lambie, my beta TwilightMomofTwo, and my pre-reader, Snshyne.

And thank you for being so patient.

BPOV

In a daze, I remember walking to the table, and mumbling to Leah that Edward and I were leaving. She asked me if anything was wrong, and I shook my head. I picked up my purse, and blindly walked to the door.

I was reeling. My head thudded loudly with my own heartbeat, and when I placed my hand in his, jolts shot up my arm. My stomach was in knots, and all I wanted was to curl up next to Edward and just be close to him.

We rode in silence; one of his hands still held mine tightly. I didn't even realize we were at the ranch until we were pulling up into the driveway. Tires crunched over gravel and for some reason, the driveway seemed longer than before. Suddenly the darkness dissolved as the outside lights flickered on when they sensed the motion of the truck.

Edward shifted the truck into park, and I realized as I tried to open the door, that my hand was shaking. My feet touched the ground, and I was uncertain whether they would hold me. I felt detached from the earth, as if gravity wasn't holding me anymore.

The air around us was heavy with night time sounds of crickets chirping, insects buzzing, and the sound of the stones grinding under our boots. Edward's easy loose-hipped stride was somehow soothing, and I automatically moved closer to him, needing more of his presence.

This pull to be close to him, closer than anything else in the world was overwhelming to me. I didn't want anymore barriers between us, no clothes, not even air. Just the warmth of his skin on mine.

I could see it in his eyes; he felt it, too.

We ran up the stairs, and once we reached his bedroom, tore at each other's clothes. I may have heard buttons pop, but I didn't care. His lips were on mine, and it was wonderfully intense as our mouths melded, our fingers frantic. He tasted like summertime, smelled like fresh air and something slightly woodsy.

I nearly ripped my bra off, but it came undone, and the straps teased down my arms as I slid it off. My hands were on Edward's buckle, but I still had not figured out the knack for getting the darn thing undone. I heard him chuckle softly before he moved my hands away gently.

My hands roamed over his chest, my nails scraping lightly down his stomach, and then tracing the line of hair that ran from his navel into his jeans.

We worked at the rest of our clothes and fell onto the bed together. Need continued to build inside me, nearly overpowering me. I almost screamed as I parted my legs and felt him, hard and aroused, brushing against my thigh.

His tongue caressed mine just as I felt him fill me, and we moaned together at the sensation. Something inside me let go, and I felt myself relax as he pulled back and plunged deeply. It was like nothing I had ever felt before, with anyone, and I gave all of myself over to him. Again and again we collided, and as I felt myself reach a pinnacle, my whole body seized, tensing, and then shattering.

I cried out, and felt another throbbing pressure twisting inside me as he continued to pump his hips faster and faster. His lips were in my ear, chanting something over and over again. I felt him tense and then he groaned before I felt him pulse inside me.

It wasn't until I started to drift that I realized he had been saying I love you over and over again. My eyes flitted open, and I whispered it against his chest, where his heart beat underneath my cheek.

"I love you, too, Edward."

+AtWH+

It must have been the middle of the night when I opened my eyes. Instantly, I knew that Edward wasn't beside me, my hand stretching over the empty expanse of the bed.

"Edward?"

I listened intently, the darkness blinding me again. In the quiet, I could hear the soft strumming of a guitar. I imagined his long fingers, moving over the neck of the guitar, as he moved his other hand over the strings.

It was pretty, and the melody was vaguely familiar. But nothing could prepare me for what happened next.

There, in the quiet of the bedroom, Edward's voice reached me, a masculine sound as rough and warm as straight bourbon. The words wrapped around me, filling empty places inside me. I was drawn to the sound of his quietly baritone voice. There wasn't much light, but I knew the layout well enough to get out of bed.

I felt my way until I touched the cool smooth wooden surface of the dresser. His shirt was laying on top, it must have landed there from earlier. I put my arms through the sleeves, as Edward continued to sing. When I made it out to the hallway, I blinked, trying to focus, knowing the stairs were ahead of me.

A small soft light came from the living room, lighting the stairs. I slowly made my way down, in my bare feet. The light was a little brighter now, he'd turned on one of the lamps, and its light seemed warm in the living room.

Edward sat on the couch, shirtless, the guitar perched on his denim clad thigh. His fingers moved over the guitar firmly, and I bit my lip, remembering how they felt on my skin.

I smiled, really hearing the words now, and I exhaled softly as he sang the last few lines.

Take a woman like you to get through to the man in me.

I startled as he turned to me. "You just gonna linger in that doorway or you gonna come keep me company?"

I nervously giggled before moving into the room. "That was really nice. You have a great voice."

He cocked a half-smile. "I don't know about all that."

"No, really," I said as I sat down next to him on the couch. My eyes couldn't stay away from the toned wall of his chest before flitting back up to his eyes. "You're really good. At least, I think so."

"Well then, that's all that matters." He was quiet for a moment, and then he said something that made me tense.

"Did I scare you tonight?" Those green eyes bored into mine, and I couldn't look away from them.

"Yes. But it's not you so much as I just wasn't ready. At least I thought I wasn't ready."

His eyes darkened with so many emotions. "I should have waited-"

I cut him off. "No. No, Edward. It was good. If I could explain to you…I wish you could read my mind, sometimes." I sighed, and tried to think of a way to tell him how I felt. I licked my lips as a memory flitted through my mind.

"It kinda reminds me of when I was learning to swim. I remember seeing the other kids using the diving board and jumping in at the twelve feet. But I was too scared.

"Daddy ended up canceling my lessons and tried to teach me himself but I panicked every time I got near the water. I just didn't trust myself to do it, to swim. Daddy wasn't taking no for an answer. So he told me we were gonna jump in together, at the twelve feet. He literally threw me in at the deep end.

"I remember coming up for air, and treading the water like I had seen the other kids do. Daddy helped me to trust myself, and that the water wasn't going to hurt me."

I turned to him, and kissed the angle of his stubbled chin. "I trust you, Edward. It's me I don't trust."

"Why don't you trust yourself?"

"It's all just new territory. And…"

"And?"

"And well, you're dangerous to my peace of mind, Cowboy."

He smiled, and his eyes sparkled as some of the tension broke. "Dangerous?"

"You are one nasty desperado, Edward Cullen. You stole my heart when you left that message on my phone after you picked me up in the grocery store parking lot."

He looked slightly embarrassed. "I was just checking to make sure you were OK."

I scooted closer to him, and placed a hand on his bicep, and squeezed the muscle there. "I know, and that's one of the things I love about you."

I knelt, and threw a leg over his hips so I sat astride him on the couch. "You got me, Edward. And I want you to have all of me, too.

I kissed him, and his arms crept around me. The shirt I was wearing fell open, and I closed my eyes as his lips traced a line from my chin to my neck, to my collarbone. I felt him kiss my heart.

And then he murmured, "This is mine now, and you ain't gettin' it back."

+AtWH+

Several Days Later

I smiled, hearing the sound of an engine that could only be Alice's old Pontiac Firebird.

Pocketing my keys, I stepped out of the apartment door to greet her. She parked close to the front, and I grinned wider as she got out of the car. She wore big black sunglasses, her small mouth in plum lipstick, and her black hair was a lot longer than I remembered. But she was still all in black, and still tiny.

She took off her sunglasses, and squinted up at me in the afternoon sunlight.

"Well, paint my ass red and take me to the circus. This place is just like the movies. Do you guys even have Starbucks here?"

I shook my head. "They had one near the strip mall, but it went out of business. The locals were too afraid of the expensive high falootin' coffee."

She laughed and stepped up onto the sidewalk. "I have been looking forward to this, you have no idea."

I grinned. "It's so good to see you, Alice. You haven't changed a bit. I swear you've gotten shorter."

She wrinkled her nose. "Shut up, Swan before I bite you in the ankles!"

We giggled together, and she led me around to the trunk. Inside were two black suitcases, both in a black and hot pink zebra pattern. Carrying them upstairs, we entered into my apartment, and Shadow sat in the hallway at her usual post. She regally regarded Alice for a moment, before gracefully stepping forward to inspect the luggage like a security officer at an airport.

"Do you think she'll remember me?"

I turned to Alice who was watching Shadow. "I'm sure Shad doesn't forget a face or smell."

Alice bent down and smoothed her hand over Shadow's glossy black head, and Shadow abandoned the luggage as she leaned into Alice's hand, purring lowly.

I rolled my eyes at Shadow, who had her eyes closed in ecstasy as Alice scratched a place under her chin.

"C'mon, I'll show you where you can put your things." I led her to the back bedroom, Shadow following close behind.

Alice sat on the bed after we stored her luggage. "I'm not even tired. The drive was super easy, just a little long."

"I can't believe you're still driving that Firebird."

We made our way out of the bedroom, and down towards the kitchen, where the coffee was just finished brewing.

"It still runs really good. You know I can't let go of my mean machine. She got me through college and stood by me during finals."

I saw Alice sniff the air and I gestured to the coffee machine. "Coffee? I have cinnamon rolls…"

Alice rolled her eyes back as I grabbed for mugs. "Oh my God, Bella…I haven't had your cinnamon rolls in so long. I'm wasting away. Do you see what you've done to me since you left the city? I'm skin and bones."

I poured the coffee into the mugs I had sitting out. Alice always took hers with a hint of cream, and while I poured mine, I nuked the cinnamon rolls and told Alice to have a seat on the sofa.

Bringing the coffee and cinnamon rolls in, I sat opposite Alice, and Shadow took a relaxed position in front of the TV.

Alice took a bite of one of the rolls. "Oh Sweet Cinnamony Jesus. You really should go into business with these. Or maybe not, the government would probably have to make them illegal for how addictive they are."

I let out an unladylike snort. "I was fiddling with that idea, but I just don't have the money to get that kind of thing off the ground." I sipped my coffee and then set my mug on the small coffee table. "So, how have you been? Tell me what you've been up to."

Alice took a sip of her coffee. "Not much. Business is going surprisingly well, just finished a big account for a local. I'm still in the same apartment. You know me, I'm a creature of habit. It shows you just much I love you for me to come out here."

"I'm kinda surprised, actually. I never thought in a million years you would come all this way."

"No way! This whole thing," she waved her hands in an encompassing gesture. "It's something that fascinated me whenever you talked about it. I wanna see stuff. Show me your small town, teach me your ways, take me to your leader."

I laughed. "It will probably bore you to tears."

She set her coffee down. "Nope, I wanna meet a handsome cowboy and ride him into the sunset."

I laughed so hard it disturbed Shadow, and she sulked into the other room. "Oh Alice, I'm so glad you haven't changed."

"Speaking of which, tell me about your cowboy."

My cowboy. And he was mine now. It made me smile.

"He's just…he's so perfect it's almost too good to be true."

Alice swallowed the bite of roll she had taken. "Look at you with stars in your eyes. You weren't even like this over ol' Justin."

"Jake."

"Whatever. You are so happy, it's gross. And I mean that in the nicest way possible. Is it serious?"

I nodded. "I think so. He said he's an all or nothing kind of guy."

Alice's eyes widened. "Wow. Are they all like that?"

"They?"

"The cowboys." Alice popped the last of her cinnamon roll in her mouth.

"I have no idea. I've only dated one of them. The rest of the boys I've been with…we both know I couldn't rattle their names off if you paid me."

She laughed, wrinkling her nose at me. "You were such a danger slut, I was so proud of you!"

I gasped. "Danger slut? You're calling the pot black there, Little Miss Skanky Kettle!"

Alice smiled devilishly at me and then shrugged her small shoulders. "You learned from the best." She sighed, then continued. "So when are you gonna show me around. Do you really have a Wal-Mart?"

I rolled my eyes at her. "Yes. We really do have a Wal-Mart. It's at the other end of town. Do you want to go?"

Alice nodded. "Show me everything."

+AtWH+

"And off to your left you will note the beautiful and sizable Super Wal-Mart, meeting the community's needs for cheap lawn furniture and extra flammable lingerie for almost ten years. Alice, I swear to goodness if you take a picture of that Wal-Mart, I'm gonna toss that camera out the window."

"It's so big and shiny."

"Shut up. You are from the city. That is big and shiny."

Alice turned to me. "Just because you get to glut yourself on the possible bargains within doesn't mean I can't ogle from the outside."

"Well, if you meet your cowboy and get married, you can settle down here and visit Wal-Mart every day."

"Do you really think I could? Every day?" Her voice dripped with saccharine sweet.

"Stop being so facetious." I could see Whiskey Tango up ahead.

"We're going there tomorrow night."

"Oooo! What's that?"

"A Country Western bar."

"Shut up. Really?"

I snorted. "Really."

"Why can't we go tonight?"

"'Cause you're meeting Momma and Daddy tonight. Daddy even went to the fancy butchers and got steak."

"I get to meet The Chief? It just gets better and better."

For all the time Alice and I had spent together at college, and as much as Alice and my parents had heard about each other, they had never actually met. The meeting made me nervous, but it was like having two sides of a family meet for the first time.

That night, we pulled into the driveway of my parent's house, and Alice looked almost nervous, which was totally uncharacteristic of her.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and hugged her. "It's gonna be ok, hun. They'll love you like a daughter because you're my best friend."

"I just…fuck. I've not spoken to my parents in years…I don't want your parents to think I'm a total freak."

"Alice, I think you're a total freak, and I still love you."

She nervously laughed. "Yeah, but you're different. You've had time to get used to me."

"Stop being so analytical of my best friend. You'll be fine. Now c'mon. I can see the blinds twitching, which means my father is waiting to meet you."

When I opened the door, I shouted for my parents, who quickly came into the hallway. I made introductions, and my mother and father greeted Alice warmly. She seemed taken aback by how easily she was accepted in, and I had to push her forward towards the kitchen.

My mother chatted, and I could tell she was wearing one of her fancy aprons that was reserved for guests. Daddy went out to check the grill where the steaks were cooking, after checking with Alice how she liked her steak cooked.

Momma chatted to Alice as she chopped vegetables for a salad. "Alice, it's so good to finally meet you. Bella has told us so much about you, and I know you're like a sister to her."

"It's good to meet you as well, Mrs. Swan."

"Call me Renee', or Momma when you're ready. Mrs. Swan is my mother-in-law."

I smiled, listening to Momma put Alice at ease. My father shouted in from the deck. "Dear, if you can bring me a plate, I think these steaks are almost ready."

Momma picked up a large serving dish, and shouted behind her. "If you girls will grab the dishes that are covered in the fridge and bring them outside, please?"

I opened the fridge, and handed Alice a salad bowl before grabbing a similar bowl which looked like it had the Swan family recipe for potato salad.

Dinner was so good. It turns out that my father and Alice have the same exact sense of humor, and the two of them traded funny stories about me. I didn't mind, and even laughed along as well. The sun set, and Momma lit candles on the table as we enjoyed the summer evening.

My father sat back, a beer bottle in front of him, and the candlelight danced across his features. Summer evening sounds filled the air, and I closed my eyes. Being here, it felt like everything in my life was finally right. I hadn't been this happy since childhood.

"What are you girls doing for the Fourth?"

I opened my eyes and regarded my father across the table. "I'm not sure yet. I think Edward is having something at the ranch. A barbecue and fireworks. You're welcome to come along."

Daddy glanced at Momma and then back at me. "We'll give it some thought. What time does it start?"

"Probably show up around dinner time. Five-ish?"

"Sounds good to me. You sure it's OK with Edward?"

"He would probably love to have you at the ranch. The rest of the team is gonna be there, too. Alice is coming as well."

"Am I?"

I looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "What? You already had plans?"

She nodded. "Oh yeah. I totally expected to see fireworks in the Wal-Mart parking lot."

"I'm phoning Wal-Mart Anonymous tomorrow. I'm cutting you off."

We laughed at Alice's pout. As the evening wore on, small twinkling stars came out to play across the night sky. I watched every now and then, in between lulls in conversation, and then I saw it.

A shooting star…

And for once, I didn't have anything to wish for.

A/N

I take no responsibility for any cavities you now have.

Thank you for reading.