EPOV:

As the solid haze of sleep lifted I became vaguely aware of the fact that I was not in my bed. When I reached out to feel Bella next to me I realized that I wasn't in a bed at all. Wearily, I opened one eye to see what my fingers had made contact with and then frowned at the couch cushions.

Charlie's house. We were at Charlie's house. The memories of yesterday came back in disturbing clarity.

Roughly, I rubbed a hand over my face as I turned onto my back; wincing when the muscles protested at the sudden realignment. Blinking away the sleep that still clouded my vision, I looked around the room for Bella. Tilting my head back and to the left, I found her in Charlie's recliner.

Although it was laid back, and the leg rest extended, Bella was curled up in a tight ball with her head resting on the wide leather arm of the chair. Her hands were drawn up under her chin, holding the blanket tightly, and her legs pulled up to her chest. I couldn't help but grin.

I didn't remember her moving off of the couch, wasn't even sure how she would have been able to, but I was glad that she had at least been able to fall asleep. It wouldn't have surprised me to find her wide awake, pacing, and wordlessly worrying over the situation we currently found ourselves in. Not that I could have blamed her. Even in the light of day I felt the weight of anxiety in my stomach. There were still so many questions, so many things that could go wrong… I stopped my thoughts from drifting off into a whirlwind of what-if scenarios. It wouldn't help anything. It wouldn't help her.

Taking care to be as quiet as possible I got up from the couch and laid my extra blanket over Bella. I knelt down beside the chair, gently tucking the edge of the blanket under her legs, before I let my fingers touch the back of her hair. She sighed, turning her face towards me, but stayed asleep. I silently pulled on my pants from yesterday and fished my cellphone from my jacket pocket.

I rubbed an eye and looked down at the text messages and calls that I'd missed this morning- several from Alice. As I hit the button to call her back, I slipped out onto the Swan's front porch.

"Edward?"

Cold concrete welcomed my bare feet but I ignored its bite and quietly shut the door behind me. "Hey. I just woke up," I said as I sat down on the steps.

The sound of relief in my sister's sigh made my stomach twist uncomfortably. "Where are you? Jasper said he went by the house and you guys weren't there or at Hope House!"

"Bella wanted to stay with Charlie," I explained through a yawn. "I didn't want to text you at three in the morning."

"You're in La Push?" Alice's voice was so shrill that I pulled the phone away from my ear. "Are you insane?" I let her rant, knowing it was more stress related than Alice being Alice. Eventually the steam fueling her anger subsided. She took a deep breath before apologizing. "I'm just worried… about all of you."

"I know." I rested my elbows on my knees before burying my free hand in my hair.

"How is Bella?"

"Still asleep, thankfully. How are the kids? And mom and dad?"

I smiled as she gave me a brief rundown of the antics my niece and nephew had been able to pull in the few hours since they'd been at the hotel. I smiled even bigger when I heard all of their voices, even my parent's, in the background.

"In case you can't tell it is going really well." Alice muttered into the phone. "Call Jasper and Emmett, okay? They're worried."

"You told Emmett?" I rubbed my forehead in frustration when she said yes. "Alice…" The last time I'd actually spoken to my best friend had been that night at the bar. I hadn't told him about Bella, or anything regarding Emily, and if my sister had broken that news before me… Emmett was going to be pissed.

"Is there a reason he didn't know about you and Bella?"

"No one knew but you and Jasper, Alice. Bella didn't even tell Charlie until last night. And even then…" I let my hand fall between my knees. "I was going to tell him when we got back from Marysville but then all of this happened. Did you tell Mom and Dad, too?"

She at least had the decency to sound somewhat remorseful. "I just confirmed what they already suspected."

"Alice-"

"I was worried!" She said defensively. "You weren't answering your phone, Bella wasn't answering hers, and you weren't at home or work! Sorry if I am overly anxious!"

I didn't want to fight with her. I didn't have the energy. "I know but-"

"Mom wants to talk to you." She said curtly- cutting me off.

"Hey." My voice came out in a tone that I knew would catch her attention before she could pass the phone off.

"What?"

"I love you." I might be annoyed that she'd shared news that wasn't hers to share but that didn't mean that I would let her walk away without hearing me say those words. Especially now with everything happening around us. There was a pause before I heard a door shut and then silence from her end of the phone. I knew she'd disappeared into a room where our parents and the kids couldn't hear her. I shut my eyes after a handful of silent seconds. "Don't cry, Alice."

Somehow, even though she hadn't made a sound, I knew. I always knew.

"I'm scared, Edward."

I could tell her it would be fine. I could put up the same determined front that I'd done for Bella the past two days. But… I didn't. "I'm scared, too."

"Can't you guys just come here?" Alice pleaded. "If we are all together…"

"I'll tell Jasper he needs to go." Honestly, I wasn't sure what good he could do here anyway. Emily was safe and there wasn't anything he could do while they investigated this.

"What about you?"

Staring at the cracked sidewalk in front of me I shook my head. "Bella won't leave Charlie."

"And you won't leave Bella."

I closed my eyes at the sound of understanding in her voice- the reluctant acceptance. I hated her worrying, hated that I couldn't make this better for all of us. Alice was my twin, that was something no one else understood, but I had to pick Bella. I would always pick Bella. Even when Alice didn't realize she made me feel like I had to choose. "I won't leave Bella."

After reassuring my mother that I would be safe, and listening as she playfully scolded me about not telling them about Bella, I text Jasper to let him know where we were. I also text Emmett, already apologizing, and asking him to meet me at the house later today. All I got back in response was the middle finger emoji but I knew he'd show up. He might be pissed but his curiosity would overrule every other emotion.

"Hey, kid." I turned around at the sound of Charlie's hushed voice. He was holding a stainless steel tumbler in the crook of his elbow and a ceramic mug in his hand. After he'd managed to shut the door he offered me the mug. "Made you some coffee."

"Thank you." After I'd taken what he offered he sprawled out next to me on the porch steps. I grinned at the familiarity before taking a drink.

While I'd never shared more than a few terse words with Renee, Charlie and I had always had a friendly relationship with each other. Even before Bella and I had started dating, when I was just Alice's annoying brother, he'd always made me feel like I was included. As I got older, as my relationship with his daughter intensified, he never changed. I was never not welcomed; never told I couldn't see her… in a lot of ways I wondered if Charlie saw me as a son he'd never had.

When Bella left I knew it was incredibly hard for Charlie to harbor that secret for his only child. I could remember the way he'd looked at me when he'd told me she wasn't coming back… when he told me the baby was gone…

I swallowed before lowering my gaze to the coffee in my hand. "Is she awake?"

He shook his head. "They're both still asleep."

Sitting here now, regardless of the chaos that whirled around us, I found it oddly comforting to be with Charlie. Maybe I'd never admitted it to myself but I missed him. After Bella… It had been too hard to see him; to see the eyes that he'd passed down to his daughter. I'd avoided him for the better part of six years and when we did happen to run into each other it was always awkward and strained- a painful reminder of a past that I'd never wanted to let go of.

"I figure we'll give them another hour and then we will have to face… whatever this is."

I looked over at him. "I'm sorry, Charlie. For you… for Sue."

Muscles in his jaw tightened but he nodded.

We went back to our silence, finishing the coffee that he'd brought out onto the porch. Several minutes had passed before he spoke. "It…" He cleared his throat and started over. "Knowing that Bella has you… makes it easier."

His eyes slid to meet mine.

"I don't want this touching her. There's been enough ugly in her life…" Charlie paused, looking back at the yard in front of us. "I wish there was a way to get through this without Bella being in the middle of it."

I couldn't agree more.

He cleared his throat, roughly wiping his face against the sleeve of his shirt after a heavy moment of silence. "So… trying, huh?"

I smiled at the term Bella had given her father. "I don't think she is fooling anyone by saying we are 'trying'."

Her father grunted a low laugh. "After seeing the two of you together? Not a chance in Hell I would buy that. She's staying at your place isn't she?"

The tone in his voice told me that Charlie wasn't upset by the fact that we were living together or that he thought we'd rushed back into this. Again, the familiarity made my heart warm. "She didn't need to stay in that house."

He nodded in agreement. "She won't stay in Forks."

"We won't stay in Forks."

"So you'll go with her?" His tone was cautious.

I sat the empty mug beside me before looking up to meet his gaze. We'd had a conversation similar to this one almost seven years ago. I'd asked for his blessing knowing he would fully support the two of us getting married. I'd asked anyway because I wanted him to know I valued his opinion. I wanted him to know that he deserved to be a part of this piece of her life. So much of his life, like Bella's, had been dictated by Renee's cruel reign of absolute terror. Yes, it had hurt Bella when her mother used her as a pawn in her ridiculous games but it had also hurt Charlie. It wasn't until after Bella had turned eighteen that the two of them really had the chance to develop the type of father/daughter relationship that they both deserved. He'd told me then that the only thing he'd ever wanted for Bella was for her to be happy. He knew I loved her, knew I would provide for her, knew I would do anything I could to make her happy… None of that had changed.

"I'm going to marry her, Charlie."

His mouth turned up in a smile. "I know."

Eventually the two of us ventured off the porch and back inside. As Charlie made his way upstairs with a fresh cup of coffee for Sue I knelt down beside the recliner. Bella was still in the same position; looking so much like a teenage version of herself.

"Bella," I said softly. She released a slow breath but didn't move.

Sitting the cup of coffee I'd made for her on the floor, I gently ran my fingers through the back of her hair. She slowly started moving; first turning face towards my movements and then stretching her legs out from the curled up position she'd been in. When her eyelids slowly opened I smiled. "Hey."

It took a few seconds for her to focus. "Where…" Bella lifted her head and glanced around the living room. "Oh."

Her eyes clouded as the recognition registered and the memories of yesterday surfaced. My fingers curved against the back of her neck before I leaned forward, brushing my lips against hers. "Coffee?"

She nodded before sitting up and carefully taking the mug I offered. "Thank you."

I stayed kneeling down next to the chair, resting my arms where her head had been laying. "I'm glad you slept… even if you did abandon me in the middle of the night."

"Mmm…" The grin she gave me didn't reach her eyes.

"What?"

"Last night…" Bella's eyes lifted to the ceiling at the sound of her parents moving around upstairs. "I couldn't sleep so… I went up to Leah's room to look for… anything. I don't know." She moved to sit cross legged in the chair while holding the mug between both of her hands. After a few seconds she looked at me. "While I was digging around I found… a gun."

I jerked back in response to her words. "A gun?"

She looked down at me. "I know… I…" Bella rubbed her forehead angrily. "It just keeps getting worse."

Immediately I wanted to tell her it wasn't but…

"Dad is wondering if Leah could be…involved."

Charlie Swan was many things but a man who would rush to judgement wasn't one of them. Especially when it came to his family. I shifted my weight, uncomfortably moving to my knees next to the recliner. "He said that?"

Bella nodded while taking a drink from the mug.

"Do you… Do you think she could be?"

"No."

I started to ask another question but the sound of footsteps in the upstairs hallway stopped me. I hesitated, giving Bella a worried glance, before standing up. She sat her mug on the side table before standing up and yanking on Charlie's sweatpants from last night.

"Wow, that's a look…" I said, mimicking her voice from last night. Where the pants had been entirely too short on me they were absurdly long on her. Bella grinned while rolling the waistband down numerous times and seeing her mouth turn up made the knot in my chest lessen.

The footsteps sounded against the stairs and I wrapped an arm around Bella's shoulders before pulling her to me. She took a deep breath and I pressed my lips against the top of her head.

"Together," she whispered, turning into me.

I nodded. "Together."

XXXX

"The important thing is to make sure you all look like nothing has changed." Deputy Garrett ignored our incredulous looks and plowed forward. "You have to maintain your routines. If they are watching you, any of you, it would be an automatic giveaway that something was going on if you suddenly alter your normal day to day activities. You still need to go to work, to the grocery store…"

Charlie cast an anxious glance at Sue before nodding. He placed a reassuring hand on her back and she turned her attention back to the table. Since she'd made the choice to divulge all the information we had on Leah the US Marshals she'd been close to silent. Only watching as deputies filed through their house under the disguise of a painting crew and only talking when she was asked a direct question. Her gaze kept drifting to the stairs and I knew she was wondering what they were finding in Leah's bedroom.

"We will have deputies watching you. You'll be safe."

"And Hope House?" Bella asked.

Garrett focused on me. "If you're agreeable I would like to place two deputies inside the building to go along with the units we will have stationed outside. Logically, if something was going to happen they would go there first looking for Emily. I would rather be safe than sorry."

"Is that likely?" I asked.

"Not if we do our job correctly."

I wasn't sure if that was meant to make me feel better but it didn't. If anything it pissed me off. "I'm responsible for eighteen people residing in our safe house. I'm also responsible for twenty-six employees, sixteen volunteers, twenty-three children in our after school program, and nine elderly men and women in our senior program. Not to mention of all of those people's families. So, when I ask you if it is a likely scenario that my organization could be targeted I need more than a smart ass comment to reassure me, Deputy Garrett."

I didn't lower my gaze when he stared back at me. I also didn't respond to Bella's grip tightening on my fingers. After handful of tense seconds, Garrett shifted in his chair.

"I apologize if I came across as flippant," He said. "We… We are good at our jobs, Mr. Cullen. I would rather be overly cautious than be remorseful. Do I think that we can pull off this investigation without putting any of you at risk? Yes. I'm confident that an arrest can be made within the next few weeks if Emily's testimony can be corroborated."

"And Leah?" Sue's voice made all of us turn our attention to her.

"With the cellphone records you provided it makes our jobs a lot easier. We can have a team sent up there within the next few hours. I will tell you that it doesn't mean anything that there hasn't been any activity on her phone. That doesn't mean anything."

Charlie's jaw tensed but not one of us contradicted what the deputy told Sue. If she needed that reassurance, then she could have it.

"So we just… act like nothing is happening?" Bella asked in a small voice. "How… How do we do that?"

Deputy Garrett opened his mouth to speak but it was Charlie that answered her. "You pretend, Bella. Because the alternative…"

She looked at her father. "I can't walk around Forks acting like nothing is going on, Dad. I can't go to the freaking diner, or to a movie, while we have no idea if Leah is alright. Or if anyone else on this Reservation is at risk." Bella focused back on the US Marshal. "Are you sure there isn't anything we can do to help? Anything at all?"

I looked at Charlie, remembering what he'd said earlier about not wanting Bella to be in the middle of any of this. Worry and heartache were etched into the lines of his face. While I understood why, and I agreed with him, I also knew why she'd asked what she did. I knew why she would find it incredibly difficult to sit by and do nothing, to pretend, when there was still so many risks.

"The biggest help would be for you to seem like nothing has changed," Deputy Garrett answered her. "Trust us to do our jobs. Trust us to protect all of you."

Bella sighed before slumping down into her seat.

"And all of this?" Sue asked, motioning upstairs where heavy footsteps could be heard in Leah's bedroom.

"They'll finish going through everything and hopefully find something that can give us a clue as to why Leah is in Dutch Harbor. We will run the serial number on the gun and see if that hits on anything." He looked around the table at all of us. "But until we get information back, I can't stress this enough, the best thing you can do is-"

"Pretend," Bella finished for him.

He nodded, giving her a small smile. "Pretend."

XXXX

Bella was silent when we drove back to Forks. She'd sat in the passenger seat, clothes from yesterday folded in her lap, and looked out the window. I'd tried to make idle conversation, tried to engage her into talking about anything, but eventually let her be.

I understood her need to feel control, especially when she felt scared and helpless, but this… this silence worried me. It always had. She would retreat into herself, shutter up her emotions, and just… block out everything around her. I worried where her thoughts took her, wondered if she relived all the other times she'd felt that loss of control. If so, I knew those memories could do a lot more harm than good- resurfacing old trauma that possibly hadn't even healed. Sometimes I would watch her when she got like that and worry that she might get so lost in those memories that I might not be able to bring her back.

Several moments later Bella's fingers squeezed mine and I released a slow breath.

"I love you." Her voice was barely audible over the sound of the car.

"I love you, too."

She turned her head to look at me, catching my gaze for a few seconds, and then went back to staring out of the window.

XXXX

"Are you going to work today?" Bella asked with her mouth full of foamy toothpaste.

I shook my head while stepping out of the shower. "No. I was actually planning on going back to sleep." She watched in the mirror as I secured a towel around my waist. "Would you care to join me?"

I thought she might give me a sarcastic comment, telling me she was fine, but instead she just nodded before leaning over to spit out her toothpaste.

"Good," I said, kissing the back of her shoulder when she straightened.

Bella's head lulled to the side as my lips traveled to her neck. I moved behind her, wrapped my arms around her middle, and then pulled her back against me. Her skin, still flushed from the shower she'd taken before me, responded under my touch. I grinned at the goosebumps on her arms. "You can't keep up this pace. You'll end up sick."

We stayed like that, watching each other's reflection in the mirror, until Bella's head fell back against my chest.

"I know. I just don't know if I can…"

"What?" I asked when her voice trailed off.

"Turn it off. Turn everything off." She ran her fingertips over my arms. "I close my eyes and even though I try… I just can't stop thinking about everything." Her eyes closed and she shook her head. "First it was my mom and us, and then the whole thing with Hope House. Now its Emily and Leah. I know it's selfish, and I shouldn't say things like this, but part of me just wishes I could forget all of this for five minutes."

"Would it help you sleep?"

Bella nodded while guilt shadowed her face.

"It isn't selfish." I watched her in the mirror, left an opened mouth kiss against the skin on her neck, and smiled when she realized one of my hands had moved between the folds her towel. "It isn't wrong to want to feel something other than pain and hurt." My fingertips traced a slow trail from her stomach, down to her hip, and curved between her thighs. I squeezed the soft skin, letting the side my hand brush against Bella's center, and grinned when she released a breathy sigh. "I can help you forget."

"Edward…"

"Do you want me to stop?" I kissed her neck again before burying my nose in her damp hair. She shivered and my arm around her middle tightened. I knew the answer but waited until she whispered a breathless no before slipping two fingers inside her.

Bella's hips eased forward as a low moan echoed around the bathroom.

I grinned against her hair before moving my thumb in slow, deliberate, circles as my fingers continued a steady rhythm of moving in and out of her. Bella reached up and behind her, holding on to my neck as her other hand snaked between us- her fingers searching.

"No, Bella." My hand around her waist stopped her. "Just you."

"But…" Her voice was lost when I applied more pressure to my thumb's circling. "I can feel you… I know." She pushed against me, against the throbbing erection at her back. "Let me."

I shook my head and increased the rhythm. "You first."

Her fingernails dug into the skin at my neck before her other hand joined mine between her legs. I watched the two of us in the mirror and couldn't stop the deep rumbling moan that left my chest. Bella had taken my hand, holding my fingers still, as she moved herself against them.

"Please," she begged, biting down on her lip. "Please, Edward."

"What, baby?" I slipped my other hand between her thighs, spreading them slightly to give our joined hands more room. "What do you want?"

Bella pushed back against me again, making me drop my forehead to her shoulder. I grabbed her hip and held her there grinding against her back.

"I…" Bella used my distraction to her advantage and managed to turn around. "I want that." She pulled the towel away from my hips. "I want…"

I leaned down, capturing her bottom lip between my teeth. "You want?" Her fingers were wrapped around me, sliding up and down the length, and I couldn't stop my hips moving in time with her movements. "You want what, Bella?"

"I want you," Bella said against my lips. "I want you to fuck me."

Something close to a growl ripped through my chest as I reached down to grab the back of her thighs. I lifted her to sit on the bathroom counter and moved between her legs.

"Make both of us forget," she breathed, reaching up to thread her fingers though the back of my hair.

Bella's words, her voice, the slickness that still coated my fingers… all of it culminated in an intense burning that I never wanted extinguished. I ached, was absolutely desperate, to feel myself inside of her. I wanted nothing more than to turn us into a frenzy of movements that would end in both of us panting and completely sated… But…

I leaned my head in, finding her mouth, and then slid my tongue over hers. She groaned, taking my lip between her teeth, and I reached up to disentangle her fingers from my hair.

"It won't be fast, Bella." Pushing her upper body back as I pulled her forward, Bella held on my wrists while wrapping her legs around me. "I want you to feel everything."

We both watched as I joined the two of us together in a slow push of my hips. Bella was precariously seated on the lip of the counter, the back of her shoulders leaning against the mirror, and my entire length was buried inside her. I moved away, tightening the grip on her hips, and grinned when a small whimper escaped her lips.

And so it continued. Over. And over.

It took every ounce of self-restraint I possessed not to hurry my movement, not to get lost in the lust induced chaos storming between us. I watched as Bella slowly unraveled. I watched as each slow, deliberate, movement pushed her closer and closer to the release she chased.

Letting go of one of her hips I moved my hand between us and once again let my fingers rub careful circles against the bundled nerves between her legs. Her body shivered, a weak protest fell between her panting breath, but I continued until one of her hands let go of my arms. When she grabbed on to the hand between us I thought she'd try to get me to stop. Instead, she took over for me.

"You'll need both hands," she said, panting.

"Why?" My eyes stayed locked on her moving fingers.

"Because I'm about to come." The grip of her legs tightened around me. "And whatever fucking hold you've got on yourself is going to come undone."

She wasn't wrong.

The slow, sensual, pace that I'd been able to maintain was absolutely shredded when Bella completely gave herself over to the orgasm we'd brought her to. My hands pulled at her hips, holding her steady as my body pounded into her. Both of our voices, hoarse and pleading, reverberated off of the tiles around us.

"I…" Bella's nails dug into the skin at my wrists. Her body was shuddering as she quickly shook her head. "Edward, I can't…"

She could. We both knew she could. So I didn't stop.

I could feel the coiling throughout my body, the sensation growing tighter and tighter, begging to be released.

"Again." I demanded, pounding back into her. "Again, Bella."

She tried to protest, gulping down a strangled breath, but then we both came undone together.

"Fucking Christ!" I bit out as I leaned over her body- now laid out flat on the bathroom counter. I panted as the last few thrusts of my hips rolled through me, giving her everything, and laid my forehead against the soft skin between her breast.

There was silence except for the sound of our breathing. And it wasn't until I felt her fingers release my wrist and move into my hair that I moved. Even then, even though Bella's entire lower body was being supported by mine, I just lifted my head to see her face.

She looked… I grinned and placed a small kiss on the center of her chest. She looked sleepy.

I sat up, careful to make sure she didn't slip off the counter, and gently lowered her legs to the floor. "Better?" I asked with a hint of smugness laced in.

Bella grinned a lazy smile and nodded.

"Bed?" I used her towel to clean the two of us off. She gasped, a quiet and sated sound, when my hands gently passed between her legs.

"Edward…"

I tossed the towel into the laundry hamper. "Hmm?"

"Thank you."

Her voice, small and delicate, made something stir in my chest… an emotion I couldn't really place. It felt haunting and familiar but I didn't associate it with any memoires of our past. And, even though it sounded insane, it felt… real. Tangible. It felt like it was something I could reach out and pluck from thin air. It wasn't sad… It wasn't anything but… familiar.

"You don't have to thank me, Bella." I gathered her to me, guiding her head to my shoulder, and then enveloped her body with my arms.

We stood in the middle of the bathroom, skin naked and flushed from our earlier activities, just holding onto each other. That feeling, so comfortably heavy, radiating around us.

"I feel… something. Something I can't… I can't explain."

"Me too."

I pressed my lips against the top of her head. "What do you think is it?"

Bella's words fell against my skin in a whisper. "Love."