A/N: I don't own this. We all know who does.

drivingedward is the awesomest and I love her!

I always love a good evil James, but that's not usually the case in real life. I wondered what it would be like if James wasn't a bad guy. If he just got caught up in Jane. If they genuinely had feelings for each other. And if Edward knew for sure that Jane felt bad about what she'd done to him. This is what happened. :D

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Mini Outtake Five – James Hunter – BPOV

It was a slow Thursday afternoon when the office door opened and a man walked in. As he moved toward the desk I was sitting at, I looked up at him and smiled. It wasn't anyone I knew, but it didn't alarm me. He looked nervous, although I could tell by the way he held himself that wasn't a normal trait of his. His blue eyes seemed to look through me as he glanced up at me.

"Hi. How can I help you?" I asked. I'd been working in our office on Tuesdays and Thursdays ever since Riley was old enough to go to preschool, and I really loved the extra time Edward and I were able to spend together each day. Especially when we took long lunch breaks on the couch in his office. Kids really knew how to kill romantic time, so being kid-less at the office was amazing.

"Um, I was hoping I could speak with Edward Cullen. If he's in," the man said.

"Sure. He's on a call right now, but he should be about finished. Can I tell him your name? Is he expecting you?" I asked as I got up from the desk and started toward Edward's closed office door.

The man hesitated for a few moments before clearing his throat and standing up a bit straighter. "James Hunter."

I was glad I'd paused in front of Edward's door, because hearing that name surely would have made me stumble. I tried my best to keep the shock I was feeling from showing on my face, but I wasn't sure how successful I was when he quickly looked back down at the floor.

"Let me get him. It might be a minute, if you want to have a seat," I said, then smiled before knocking twice on Edward's door and then opening it. Once I was in the office I closed it behind me and stopped to look at Edward. He glanced up at me, smiling as he listened to whoever he was speaking with on the phone. When I didn't say anything his smile began to fade and he got a puzzled look on his face.

"Is everything okay?" he mouthed. I shook my head.

"Listen, I need to go. Something's come up, but I'll get back with you as soon as I find out how much longer it will be, okay?" He paused, continuing to watch me closely. "Great, thank you!" he said just before hanging up his phone. Quickly he was up out of his chair and moving toward me. "What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

I tried to swallow my nerves down, not knowing what he would say or think about what I had to tell him. "There's someone here to see you," I said. He took hold of my hand as he got closer to me, holding it tightly in his.

"Okay. So..."

I looked up at him. "It's James Hunter."

A flicker of something flashed through his eyes and it seemed like a cold chill floated across us both.

"Did he say what he wants?" he asked me.

"Just to talk to you. He seems nervous, though."

Edward nodded, then lifted his free hand to my cheek and leaned down to lightly kiss me. "Come with me?" he asked.

"Always," I said, then smiled in an effort to reassure him.

I opened the door and we both walked out into the waiting area and instantly James stood from the chair he'd been sitting in. He and Edward watched each other closely before James glanced down at our joined hands, then back up to Edward's face.

"I'm Edward Cullen. You wanted to see me."

James cleared his throat again and shoved his hands into his front pants pockets. "Yes, um, I'm James Hunter. I have a feeling you know who I am."

"I do. What can I do for you?" Edward asked, his hand squeezing mine ever so slightly.

"I was hoping to talk to you alone for a minute. Um, I don't know if you..." he said, hesitating as his eyes drifted to me and then back to Edward.

"Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of Bella. We don't have any secrets."

With that James looked back at me. "Oh, you're Bella. I thought I heard something a few years ago about you two getting together, but I wasn't sure."

"Bella's my wife," Edward said, looking down at me with a soft smile before looking back at James.

"Right. Good. Um, I'm sorry about Alec. I met him a few times – he was a good guy," James said.

"Thank you. He was," I said with a smile in an effort to put him at ease.

"So, I'll cut to the chase here," James said. "I wanted to let you know that my company was awarded the drywall bid for the high school remodel. I know your guys are doing the main construction and I figured we'll probably end up in a few meetings together. I didn't want our first introductions to be in a room full of contractors. I try to keep my life private if I can."

"That's very thoughtful of you. That could have been awkward," Edward said.

"Normally I would have my assistant take control of this project, but it's a big one for us and he's not comfortable with running it, so I'm kinda stuck doing it myself. I hope there won't be any problems between us," James said, rocking back on his feet a bit. I knew he was still nervous.

"It's fine. We can both be professional. I can put one of my guys in charge of our side of things, though I may still need to be involved in a few of the decisions," Edward told him.

"Thank you for that. I didn't want to make things harder on either of us. It seems I did enough of that before," James said. After several seconds of silence, he let out a long breath. "I didn't know she was married. I swear I didn't." He looked up at Edward, his eyes burning with sincerity. "She told me she was divorced. I didn't know anything about her, so I believed her. It wasn't until after I sent the flowers at Valentine's Day that I knew that wasn't true."

"But you didn't stop seeing her," Edward mumbled.

"No, I didn't. She said you were separated and it was taking a long time to finalize everything because of the business. I was in love with her by that point, so I believed her. I'm not proud of what I did, and if I could go back and change things I would. But I can't, and I'm sorry for that. She meant a lot to me, but I shouldn't have been so trusting of her, and that's my mistake," he said. I could hear the pain and honesty in his words and I hoped Edward could, too.

Edward nodded, then grasped my hand a little tighter. "I understand. I shouldn't have been as trusting, either."

James stepped back, moving towards the door just a bit. "Thank you for hearing me out. I'll try to make this project as painless as I can for both of us."

"Thank you," Edward said. We watched as James moved toward the door, reaching out to grab the handle before pausing, his eyes focused on his hand.

"She cried a lot when she was with me. I think I was more of a therapist to her than anything. I know now that she loved you and she felt guilty for what she was doing. I didn't know it then, but I do now. I'm sorry she hurt you, but please know I really did love her. It wasn't just your heart she broke," he said quietly, then opened the door and was gone.

Edward and I stood quietly in the room, just taking in the words that had been spoken.

"Are you okay?" I asked, looking up at him and trying to read the expression on his face. His eyes met mine and he moved to wrap his arms around me, pulling me against him.

"Yeah, I'm okay. It hurts to hear that, but it helps, too. If that makes any sense," he said before placing a kiss on the top of my head. "Thank you for being here with me. I needed you, so thank you."

Tilting my head back I looked up at him. "Always, baby. There's no where else I want to be."

And then I kissed him.

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A/N:

Rapid fire posting, today, because my life has been busy. But at least I got them all written!

Almost done... :)