A/N… Yes, yes… I left you hanging. Jenny says it could've totally been worse. ;) Just sayin'.
Anyway, I'll let you get to it. We left off with three minutes left for bombs to go off.
~o~H&E~o~
Chapter 23
BELLA
"You have three minutes, Cullen. Let me go, and you can save your friend. If you shoot me, you'll never disarm them in time. If you come after me, I'll blow them all, no matter who is in here with you," Kim warned, holding up a remote.
Boris was inside the container full of high-powered bombs, which was enough to level a building, never mind what would happen to the cargo ship should they go off.
"Holy shit, this is not good," Mickey muttered next to me. "B, aim for the guards."
I nodded, and my gaze drifted down the walkway to check on my husband and father-in-law. In the split second that I did, Dean made a poor decision to take matters into his own hands.
There was a second between Dean reaching for the remote and the guards rounding their weapons on him. Mickey and I fired at the same time, and three guards were removed from the situation. Someone shot Dean in the arm before another guard shoved him into the container with Boris. The game changed when the padlock was secured on the outside.
Kim fired toward Edward and Carlisle, but he was either a piss-poor shot or he was making sure they were out of the way.
Turning to Mickey, I said, "You get them out! Go! I'll stay on Kim. We need off this thing."
Kim still had two of his remaining guards with him, and if I was counting correctly, we were down to six left, so there were more lurking about this damn boat somewhere. I tailed Kim and his men from my vantage point above, leaping from one container to the next. Due to his shots toward Carlisle and Edward, his path was clear up the staircase opposite of the one that Mickey and I had descended.
At the last stack of containers, a catwalk jutted out connecting to the second level of the ship over the one below. With my running start, I leaped from the last container to the catwalk, rushing to the stairwell door just as Kim and his men were making their way to the deck of the ship.
His guards turned around on the landing above mine and shots pinged around me, and I dove for cover behind the door again. Firing bullets inside that floating metal tube was ridiculous because they bounced off in every way imaginable. When I opened the door again, a guard was right on the other side, and I smashed his face with the heavy steel door. Before he could react, I pulled the trigger and leaped over him to take the stairs to the top. I was hoping by the time I got to the deck of this ship, my earpiece would be clear again.
As I rounded up to the last set of steps, I heard the door slam open and close. Echoing up the stairwell from below was another set of rushing steps. I aimed my weapon down the middle, my heart clinching when I saw it was Carlisle.
"Keep running, Bella. Go! I'm right behind you! Fuck Kim. Just get off this thing before it blows," he panted as he took two and three steps at a time.
I did as he said, using my shoulder to open the deck door, and immediately my coms kicked into loud, angry voices and commanding instructions. I heard Jasper, Mickey, Eleazar, and Edward.
That last one settled my heart just a little. If he was yelling orders and cursing, he was safe and unharmed.
"First sign of Kim or Bella or my dad, I want to know! Let's go, Captain. You should've been off this bastard!" he said through panting breaths.
"I'm here, and Carlisle's right behind me. I lost Kim in the stairwell. He's up top or in the water, I'm not sure," I advised.
"Copy that, sweetness. We're all gonna be in the fucking water. Jasper? You have fifteen seconds to find him. Otherwise, I'm going to personally throw your Southern ass off this motherfucker."
"Easy, Ed," Jasper replied through a light laugh. "I'm lookin'."
"Fucking look faster!" Edward's reply was sharp and slightly panicked.
The ship's lack of power made for a dark deck. It was hard to see much of anything, and sounds and voices carried from all directions. As much as I wanted to stop Kim, I feared he was already off the boat.
Carlisle's voice was the next sound over the earpieces. "Time's almost up! Get off this fucking ship! Now!" he yelled, catching up with me. "Mickey, get everyone down to the boat. Bella, you're with me. We're jumping off the bow."
"Copy that," Mickey acknowledged, adding, "Let's go, pretty boy—"
The middle of the ship suddenly opened up in a gigantic ball of fire; the sound was deafening. The heat and the force, not to mention the sudden shift in the deck beneath me, caused me to lose my footing. I fell with a grunt, my knees and palms taking the brunt of the impact. Carlisle was instantly pulling me back to my feet.
"Run," he urged, doing his best not to lose his own balance. "Off the side. Jump!"
I pulled myself up onto the deck's side at the same time another explosion shook the ship from below. Before I had a chance to do more than wonder if it was possibly the engine or the fuel, I was hit hard from the side. Pain set my upper arm on fire, and when I landed in the water, I saw no more.
~o~H&E~o~
EDWARD
"Cut that line!" I yelled down to Mickey, who was starting to hotwire the engine of the boat below. "Cut it, or this motherfucker will drag us down!"
Boris was the one to carry out my order. He looked a little shaken but otherwise fine.
Our way had been clear when we left the bridge, but we'd been slowed down by an injured Dean, the ship's shocked captain, and a captive Ji-Yun. The latter was just about to end up in the bay still bound and gagged by a fuck-ton of duct tape; I was not onboard with keeping her prisoner. I didn't give a damn that she was an international criminal. She was a pain in the ass.
I dropped from the ship's ladder just as another explosion pushed heat and debris and water our way. Jasper lost his grip, falling down next to me.
"Sorry, Ed," he mumbled, rubbing his forehead and coming away with blood-covered fingers. There was a small cut above his brow.
Ignoring his apology, I simply asked, "You okay?"
He nodded, squeezing his eyes closed briefly and then getting into position to drive this boat. "We gotta move. Bella and Carlisle jumped from the bow."
Boris was currently wrapping a rag bandage around Dean's upper arm and shoulder. He was sweating like hell, but he was holding his own.
"I lost sight of Eleazar up there," Boris muttered as he worked on Dean, and I nodded because we'd lost sight of everything up there, if I were fucking honest.
The engine roared, and we all practically fell off the back of that son of a bitch when Jasper floored it. He was fighting the debris in the water as well as the pull toward the sinking cargo ship. The faster it sank, the more water and air sucked up around it, and it was now split into two parts. It was hard enough in our little boat, so my dad, Eleazar, and Bella wouldn't stand a chance.
My gaze searched the surface of the water as we neared the other end of the ship. I started to panic when there was no sign of either of them. They were two of the strongest people I knew, so it was inconceivable to me that they weren't swimming our way or waving for us to pick them up. It didn't help that the light was barely there. The fire from the sinking ship was casting strange shadows, the floating garbage in the water made it hard to distinguish anything human, and the ringing in my ears from the explosion was dulling every noise.
"Slow down," I told Jasper, tapping his shoulder. "Actually, just stop."
Mickey and I climbed to the bow of the boat, standing on the seats up there, both of us silent, searching, scared.
"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," Mickey whispered to herself over and over, sounding a bit like Alice, but I couldn't say shit about it. "Where the fuck are they?"
My heart was in my throat, and I just about fell into the water when Alice's voice came over the line.
"Guys, guys, guys! What the hell? Are you guys… Is there… Oh my fucking God, are you guys okay?" It was her usual rambling but understandably nervous at the same time. I couldn't fault her.
"Yeah, dar—" Jasper started to reply but I cut him off.
"Alice! From my location, where are Bella and my dad? Quickly!"
"Um, um, um… Fifty-three yards north from your location, ten o'clock."
"Other side of the ship, Jasper," Mickey and I both ordered.
Jasper nodded, moving around the cargo ship's bow that was now bobbing in the water like a buoy. It was slowly sinking, air bubbling up around it as the weight of it pulled it under. Jasper maneuvered around more floating debris and the pull of going under, not to mention a few bodies – none of whom were my dad, Bella, or Eleazar. From what I could tell, they were Kim's men. But not Kim, unfortunately. Although, he was last on my list of worries at the fucking moment.
We rounded the cargo ship's upright bow, and that's when I saw him. My dad was holding on to something floating and waving an arm at the same time. It wasn't a something, though. It was a someone.
He was holding my Bella in his arms, and she wasn't awake.
I was in the water before anyone could stop me – hat, weapons, phone, coms all still on me, but I didn't give a shit. The bay water was cold, and I came up for air surrounded by floating debris. Dad was in front of me, still holding Bella.
"What happened? Is she…" I trailed off when my gaze caught metal imbedded in her bicep and blood seeping from the wound.
"Son, get her on that boat. Make sure that airway is clear." He grabbed my face roughly. "Edward, do as I say. I've got to get Eleazar." He pointed out away from where we were and the man in question, who was barely holding on to a flotation donut.
"You get to him. We'll come to you."
"Roger that," he said, swimming away.
"Ed, here," Jasper called, patting the side of the boat.
"Hand her up, and we'll pull you in after," Mickey offered, holding her hands out for Bella.
The two of them lifted her up, settling her on the seats at the bow. Boris and the ship's captain pulled me in, and I was immediately by Bella's side.
"Jasper, go get my dad and El," I barely said out loud, looking to Mickey.
"CPR, Ed," she ordered, jerking a chin my way.
Tilting my wife's head back a bit, I listened for her breathing. It didn't come. Looking to Mickey, I nodded and pinched Bella's nose, giving two hard breaths into her mouth. Mickey did the compressions.
"C'mon, baby. You got this," I urged her, giving two more breaths as Mickey did compressions. "Please, please, please, sweetness. Breathe, Bella," I spoke softly against her lips.
Two more breaths into her mouth, and I backed away for Mickey to do more compressions, but suddenly Bella started to cough and sputter. Mickey and I rolled her over on her side so she could rid herself of all the water.
"Fuck, fuck, th-th-thank f-f-fuck," I chanted against Bella's forehead, kissing her brow over and over. I grasped her face gently in both my hands and pulled her back just a little. "T-Talk t-to m-me, s-s-sweetness." My stutter came full-force, but I couldn't help it. She'd scared the shit out of me.
"Edward, what happened?" she rasped, grimacing when I sat her up. Glancing down at her arm, she simply said, "Oh."
Boris tapped my shoulder, handing me a first-aid kit. "You need help, son?"
I shook my head, kneeling next to Bella. If anyone knew how to take care of the woman now sitting up in the seat, it was me. As I opened the kit, took out what I needed, and prepared to clean that wound, flashbacks hit me full force – of disgusting fucking dungeons, a shaking and scared girl, and scars. I barely heard my dad and Eleazar get pulled out of the water. I didn't even notice that the little boat we were on was starting to get a little crowded. I was pretty sure we'd started to move back toward the docks, but I heard none of it.
Instinctually, I took in Bella's face. "Eyes on me, sweetness," I whispered, kissing her lips. "This shit is going to sting a bit, but I've got to get it out of you."
She nodded, eyes tight with the pain, but she did as I'd asked. Honestly, it was a lucky damn wound. The piece of metal was barely the size of a dollar bill, and most of that was outside. Pulling it swiftly, I threw it overboard, immediately flushing the gash with clean water. I covered it all and wrapped it tightly with whatever I could find in that tiny-ass kit, finally leaning in to kiss her lips.
"You did good, baby," I praised her, again the memories hitting me hard.
Maybe I had my own form of PTSD. Maybe everything we'd gone through back then would always resurface in those moments. And maybe everyone on that boat understood it, except Dean.
"No, bud, don't…" I heard Mickey start, but I heard him shift forward on the seat behind me.
"Ed, we need to find Kim—"
I rounded on him so fast, he immediately shut the fuck up. "No, the fuck we don't. We lost him for now, but that won't be the last of it. But we're not hunting him now in all this motherfucking bullshit with most of us injured. You included, asshole."
"Yeah, but—"
I had my Glock at his forehead before anyone could move or say another word. "If you think I won't shoot you and dump you with the rest of Kim's men floating in this goddamn bay, you are underestimating my level of give-a-shit. I should kill you for all this fuckery, when you should've come to me from the fucking beginning."
My nostrils flared, but I felt Bella's hands on me and then saw her beautiful face when it popped up in front of me.
"Edward, stop," she said softly, her sweet voice still raspy from swallowing all that sea water, and that really just made me even more pissed off. "Baby, he did nothing different than you would've done."
I exhaled roughly through my nose but dragged my gaze from Dean to my wife.
"They had his family."
"I know."
"He wouldn't know our history, Edward, not enough to trust us with that," she continued, her eyes never leaving mine. "But he's right. We need to find and end Kim." She placed her fingers over my mouth when I started to argue, my finger still on the trigger. "But not now. We need to regroup, treat wounds, and rest, or none of us will be worth a damn to keep going." She turned to face Dean, gently pushing my gun away from his face. "And, Dean, if you think you had a target on you before, it's nothing compared to now. I'd suggest shutting up and doing what we say, because this shit isn't over."
"Edward, stand down." Dad's order came calmly and without much force behind it, but I did as he asked. "We need a place to rest…and work." He jerked his chin toward Ji-Yun, whom I'd forgotten about completely.
"We'll rest at my house," I said so only he and Bella could hear. "We'll work…at Aunt Kate's."
~o~H&E~o~
BELLA
"You're lucky this wasn't any deeper, but you sure you don't want stitches?" Mickey asked for the third time.
She'd asked once while we were waiting for some of Eleazar's men to pick us up at the harbor. She asked again when she checked the bandage on the way to Forks. And just now, when we were sitting in my kitchen while she helped me truly clean it and bandage it back up.
"No, we don't have—"
"We have time," she interrupted me. "It would be all of about ten stitches, B. And El brought a medic in to look at Dean and Jasper."
I shook my head, my gaze drifting out the window to my yard. It seemed unfair to be home without my kids. I missed Sammy and Bethy with an ache that hurt more than the gash on my upper arm and my sore throat from swallowing half that damn bay. But we'd be heading to Aunt Kate's soon enough.
My yard now had a tent erected and two military guards standing outside, not to mention there were most likely a few more inside. They were guarding Ji-Yun, who had ridden the whole way blindfolded. El and his men were also catching up on intel and essentially planning their next steps. But it was the two men standing off to the side that my gaze sought out. Carlisle and Edward were deep in conversation, with intense faces and firm hand gestures. They were planning something different. I didn't envy what was coming Ji-Yun's way; she was the key to Kim Min-Jun's plans and locations, and those two men knew exactly how to extract that type of information from anyone.
"Bells, please…" Mickey begged one last time.
Smirking her way, I finally acquiesced. "Fine, fine, fine," I chanted like Alice through a deep weary sigh, slipping down from the kitchen stool.
My stepping out onto my front porch caught Edward's attention instantly. He tapped his dad's shoulder, and both walked our way.
"Don't you dare stop her!" Mickey threatened teasingly. "It took plenty of fucking nagging for me to get her to agree to stitches."
Both men grinned, but Edward held out his hand for me. "The medic is just about done with Jasper. I'll take you." He lifted my hand to his lips, whispering, "And then, sweetness, I want you to get some sleep."
"Guys, I'm gonna use your shower and crash in Bethy's room," Mickey said softly, walking back inside the house once we'd nodded her way.
I let him lead me to the tent. Inside, there were a few military cots, two of them occupied by Dean and Jasper, though the latter was starting to stand. The former seemed to be unconscious. They'd removed his shirt, bandaged his shoulder, and had him hooked up to an IV. I was surprised to find the medic was a woman. She was older, with a kind smile and hazel eyes that carried a hint of both wisdom and toughness, which meant she'd "seen some shit," as most of the men in my life said.
She was a beautiful woman, too, with dark-brown hair pulled back into a tight bun and full lips. She'd clearly caught the attention of most men inside that tent. She checked on Dean and then Eleazar, who was sporting a bandage near his temple. He smiled her way, shaking his head and catching sight of us.
He led her over, saying, "This is Edward and Bella Cullen. Guys, this is Dr. Vivian Sharp."
"It's nice to finally meet you," she said, gesturing to the stool off in the corner. "Mrs. Cullen, let's see that arm, huh?"
"Okay," I agreed, staking a seat as she pulled on gloves.
Edward kissed my temple before walking over to speak with Eleazar and Carlisle.
"Anything I should know? Like allergies to penicillin, latex, etcetera?"
Smiling, I shook my head. I stayed quiet as she numbed the area, cleaned it, and then prepared to stitch the wound. Dr. Sharp talked softly about every step she was taking, but something about the moment brought back memories of Esme stitching my leg after Edward had pulled me out of Miller's basement. My thumb rubbed that scar over and over as she worked. The more I felt it through my jeans, the heavier my breathing came rushing out of me. After glancing down at her work, I squeezed my eyes closed, my hands balling up into fists.
"Am I hurting you?" Dr. Sharp asked.
I shook my head fervently, fighting the panic that was about to swallow me whole. She wasn't hurting me and nothing about her was bothering me, but I couldn't stop the snowballing fear and panic. I couldn't stop those fucking memories about scars and stitches and pain. Once it started, I felt like I was falling into a deep well, a black hole. It was suffocating in its intensity.
"Ed—" I barely rasped out loud.
"Oh, fuck," I heard him say from across the room, and then he was immediately in my ear. "Hey, sweetness, you stay with me, okay? Don't let it win." His hands cupped either side of my face as he placed warm, soft kisses on my forehead, my lips, my cheeks, my nose. "You're safe. You're surrounded by safety, baby."
"My apologies if I did anything—" I barely heard the doctor say.
"No, you didn't do anything wrong." Edward's voice remained the soft, soothing cadence with her as it was with me, all while pressing kisses to my forehead. "She'll be fine in just a minute."
"Aw, fucking hell," I heard behind me.
I was pretty sure it was Carlisle, and I think he muttered, "PTSD," but I could only see the beautiful green eyes intently focused on me.
"Breathe with me, love," Edward went on, everyone around us be damned. "In with the good shit, out with the bad shit. In through your nose, out through your mouth."
Over and over he repeated all his love and his protection. He pressed kisses to my face, soft kisses and firm ones. He made me focus on his face only, nothing else. He picked up my hands and placed them on his chest, his shoulder, his bicep, and I began to feel Edward, not fear. Slowly the blinding panic started to slip away, and guilt and embarrassment started to wriggle its way in. A tear escaped, and it was immediately kissed away.
"Don't you dare fucking apologize." Edward's words were still calm, but a touch of relief was in his tone, too.
He kissed my lips, and I knew I was coming out of it when I could taste the dried salt from the water of the bay from when we'd escaped that ship. Suddenly, I felt uncomfortable. I wanted out of that tent, in a hot shower, preferably with Edward, and I really wanted to see my kids. My brow furrowed, and I glanced behind him to Carlisle, who looked like he wanted to shoot someone – or hug me, whichever he could get away with first.
"Bella?" Edward whispered, tilting my gaze up to meet his. "Sweetness, you've got to let the doc finish, okay?"
"Okay," I rasped, giving the doctor a nod and a grimace.
"Don't you dare fucking apologize," she repeated Edward's words, and he chuckled softly.
"Right, no fucking apologies." My own voice sounded small and still raspy.
Instead of watching her work or interacting with her at all, I simply placed my head on Edward's chest, the sound of his heartbeat soothing me even more than his voice and touch. My gaze drifted to the opening of the tent, and the sunrise was lightening up the yard. It was pale and blue and pinkish-orange outside.
When Dr. Sharp was finished, she gave the usual speech about stitches and care and not getting them wet. My thumb was still rubbing the scar on my thigh as I nodded absentmindedly. Edward's warm hand simply landed over mine gently to still it. There was a tiny part of me that remembered the handsome thing in front of me confessing that he no idea how to have a relationship, but it was a lie. He was sweet and attentive, gentle and calm when the kids or I needed it. He also was deeply loyal and protective, so without explaining to the doctor that we were experts on stitches and wound care, he merely smiled, nodded, and thanked her.
Edward led me toward the tent's exit, and Carlisle stopped us before we left.
"Get some rest, and we'll regroup in the morning," he told us.
"Sir," Edward said with a nod. "If we're going to Aunt Kate's, then I'll need to prep the chopper later."
"You sure you want to bring all of this shit there?" he asked.
"Kim knew Boris," Edward started to explain and then ticked off with his fingers his points. "He knew who Boris was to you, where he came from, and when the two of you met, and that ship was bound for Anchorage. If he knew Boris, the most black-op/ghost-recon man we know, then I'm going to assume he knows way more than we think."
"Damn," Carlisle whispered.
"I think if we're going to regroup, we need to regroup there… With everyone." Edward's voice was firm. "We need to have the girls head there and get them out of the mountain cabin. We need to get them all in that computer room of Aunt Kate's. We can prep and prepare, and we can hunt this motherfucker down." Edward leaned in closer to his dad, keeping me near. "And if the hunt comes to us? Then all the fucking better."
Carlisle's gaze drifted from his son to me and then back again. He looked to be weighing every option. He also glanced around the tent at everyone who seemed to be waiting for his decision. Boris and Eleazar turned away from the laptop in front of them. Dean was still out, but Jasper was leaning against a table, arms crossed. Even Dr. Sharp came to a standstill. The two guards on Ji-Yun wore passive expressions, but their eyes gave them away.
Ji-Yun was the only one ignorant of the situation. Not only was she still blindfolded with a hood, but someone had slammed large headphones over her ears, most likely blaring some sort of obnoxious music. She was deaf and blind at the moment, but I knew that was a tactic for breaking down the resolve of a prisoner. Keep them awake, sleep deprived. Keep them uncomfortable. Wear down their bravado, their ability to think straight, and their exhaustion will lead to a more amenable question and answer session. Again, I didn't envy her that future "conversation" at all. As much as Kim had done, the men questioning her would spill her blood before it was all over.
Carlisle took a deep breath, pursing his lips together, and finally nodded curtly. "Okay, we'll empty out the mountain cabin. I'll have Benny clean it up and get the girls on the road and then into the air. Emmett's already called in backup, and we'll see if Eleazar wants in on this. Go." He waved us away. "Get some rest."
"Sir," Edward stated softly, leading me from the tent to the house.
Bethy's room was already dark, so Mickey was asleep. Jasper and Carlisle would probably take the spare room and Sammy's room. It wouldn't be the first time the crew crashed anywhere and everywhere in my house. And I knew for a fact it wouldn't be the last. Of all the safe houses we had, not one was safer than this one.
Once inside our bedroom, Edward clicked the door shut, leaning back against it wearily, but his eyes were dark, sharp, filled with concern.
"No, I don't want to talk about it," I answered his unasked question. I waved a hand. "Stitches, memories…bullshit. It started on that damn ship going down the stairs, and it ended out there." I waved a dismissive hand again, this time toward our front yard.
Edward studied my face and then nodded, pushing off the door. He guided me into the bathroom, setting me on the vanity. He opened the medicine cabinet, took out a few things, and set them down next to my leg. He was quiet as he removed my shirt and my bra. He made my stitches as waterproof as he could, and when he was done, he pressed a long, slow kiss to my bare shoulder.
"I thought I'd lost you in that fucking bay," he confessed softly against my skin, wrapping his arms around me and stepping between my legs. "Wh-When y-you w-weren't b-b-breathing…"
His stutter hurt my heart with its honesty. I wrapped my arms around him, holding him close.
"I'm sorr—"
He pulled back, kissing me to cut off my apology. He was kissing me fiercely, almost harsh in his fervor. It was gripping and deep, intense and desperate. He cupped my face, pressing his forehead to mine. His breathing was heavy as he forced himself to slow down.
"Don't apologize. Just…don't fucking do it again," he said, smiling softly at my light giggle. "C'mon, sweetness. Let's clean up and get some rest."
I nodded, and he lifted me off the vanity and turned on the water of the shower. I kicked out of shoes, socks, and jeans while he did the same. I knew what he needed, and I wanted it, too. As we hurried through our shower and dried off, I stopped his groping hands.
"Edward, wait," I pleaded softly, taking his hands in mine. "I… I… I need to do something before we…"
"I thought I was the one with the stutter," he teased, but his curiosity was all over his handsome face.
"Hush," I said through a laugh. "Just…put something on for now. Okay?"
I pulled on a T-shirt and boxer shorts before taking my tablet out from the nightstand drawer.
"Ah," Edward said, pulling on a white undershirt and finally understanding why I put the brakes on everything. "Sit forward, sweetness."
I turned on the tablet, video calling Aunt Kate's. It was Emmett's grinning face that greeted us first.
"Close call, I hear," he boomed. "You guys okay?"
"Yeah," Edward and I both answered.
"There's a rumor you're heading this way."
Edward nodded behind me. "We'll be there as soon as everyone catches some sleep and gets a meal."
"Em, can I please see my kids?" I begged him, almost in tears with how badly I needed to set eyes on Bethy and Sammy.
"Yeah, yeah. Sure."
He carried the tablet into the kitchen, where there were giggles and dog barks. There was little kid chatter and the sound of silverware hitting plates. Most of the kids were chowing down on breakfast. They didn't give much attention to Emmett stepping up to the table…until he handed the tablet over.
My Sammy was bedhead and pillow-creased. He was chewing a mouthful of something, but when he looked at the screen, he was all things perfect and beautiful and his daddy made over.
"Hey, handsome," I whispered, dying to reach through the screen to touch my baby boy.
"Mom! Dad!" he greeted happily.
"Hey, buddy," Edward said through a chuckle. "You bein' good for Gamma and Aunt Kate?"
"Yeah," he answered in his usual slow way, the smile curling up one side of his face. "Hold on."
He hopped down from the kitchen counter, and Aunt Kate's home was a blur of running legs and furniture whizzing by. He stopped at the kids' room door, where Kate had put bunk beds and toys and everything the Gravity kids could want.
It was the bottom bunk closest to the door that he dove onto, causing Lock's head to sleepily pop up.
"Beffy," he called her, reverting to his old speech. "Beffy!" he hissed again, making Edward and me chuckle.
"Huh? What? What do you want, Sammy?" my daughter slurred grumpily. With bleary eyes, she barely looked at the screen…again until she realized what – or who – she was looking at, and she sat up so fast, she bumped her head on the bunk above her. "Ow!"
"Careful, little sweetness," Edward cautioned.
"Omigod! Where are you? What are you… Are you…" she rattled off incoherently.
"Let me see!" Sammy urged, shoving his way next to her, and leave it to my son to keep it simple. "We miss you."
"We miss you, too," we said together.
"I'm sorry we haven't called sooner," I told them both. "It's been…"
"Crazy," Sammy offered.
"Dangerous," Bethy concluded. "We get it. Emmett tells us some things, but he's been worried. How's Poppy? And Uncle Alec? Alice? Just…everyone?"
"Everyone's okay. Uncle Alec is on his way to you now. The rest of us should be there in the next twenty-four hours," Edward told them.
"Really?" they both squealed.
"So you got the bad guys?" Sammy asked, raking a hand through his sleep-wrecked hair.
"No, not exactly."
Bethy tilted her head a little, studying the two of us. "Oh. You're coming to get ready to fight."
"She scares me," Edward mumbled behind me. "She's too smart for her own good. She gets that shit from you."
I laughed, the kids lost it in a fit of giggles, and Bethy said, "I'll let that swear slide, Daddy. Besides, Uncle Alec is way in debt to the swear jar, so you can make him pay it as punishment."
Edward pretended to rub his hands greedily. "No problem, little sweetness. Consider it done. Anything else?"
"'Mooches," she stated without batting an eye, using her old word. "Lots of 'em."
"Oh, you have no idea what you've done now," he growled at them playfully.
Both kids grinned, and I swear just looking at them was like a balm to a burn. Everything in me relaxed. Everything I'd been through since I last set eyes on them evaporated. They were the true reason we kept going, kept fighting, but I wanted a tiny bit of family time, even if it had to be on a tablet screen.
"Okay, guys, tell me what we've missed." I leaned back against Edward, and he set his chin on my shoulder as our amazing kids told us all the goings-on at Aunt Kate's farm.
It was rambling and funny. It was everything from Caleb in trouble for cursing, to little Katelyn's crush holding fast onto my son. The Cauldwells were still there helping Emmett with protection, and all of them were a big hit with the kids. It was farm news – Goliath was cranky as always, Noah was still learning to be ridden, Lock and Load were chasing rabbits and birds, and apparently, there was a brand-new litter of kittens born in the barn this week.
"Aunt Kate says we can have one…each." Sammy's hope-filled face was so damned cute, and I glanced back to Edward.
"Oh boy," he muttered. "I'm not saying yes or no. But I promise to think about it. Okay?"
They both nodded vehemently, and I yawned widely.
"Guys, we'll be there soon." Edward's voice was firm, but he was fighting his emotions. "What do we say until we see each other again?"
"Love you! Be safe."
"Love you, too," Edward and I said together, and the call ended.
He took the tablet from me, setting it on his nightstand, and he then nestled us into the covers of the bed, facing each other.
"I didn't realize how badly I needed that," he confessed, smiling sweetly when a yawn erupted out of me. "Get some rest, sweetness."
He pulled me close, his arms anchoring me, surrounding me with warmth and safety, and sleep came way quicker than I'd expected.
~o~H&E~o~
A/N… So this fic was voted in THIRD place in the TwiFic Fandom Awards as the "Drop Everything Fic!" :D So I wanted to thank everyone that voted. Much love!
Okay, so the crew is a little roughed up and spread all over hell, but they're heading to Aunt Kate's next. Kim Min-Jun is on the loose. And Ji-Yun is in for an ugly future conversation.
So I guess my muse is back in pretty functional order. I still am not on any sort of schedule. My RL work schedule just change drastically – Monday through Friday, with weekends off, and mostly day shifts. I don't even know what do with that shit. LOL I've never in the history of EVER had that schedule for retail. Anyway, I'm picking up the writing pace, so that's a good thing. Until next time… Mooches, Deb ;)