A.N: Hello, my ducks! I trust you're having a good February. Mine is very hectic. Work is in full swing and the baby...well. She's a baby. A beautiful, needy, awesome baby.

The man was helpless.

"How the hell did you survive this far?" Bella asked, somewhere between exasperated and amused. She took the mangled snare from his hands and settled down next to him, redoing it with slow movements so he could see.

He sighed, watching her hands. "I was on a cruise when it happened."

She glanced up at him and arched an eyebrow. His lip twitched, and he continued. "We were on our way back from Alaska." He paused a beat. "To Seattle."

Finished with the snare, she put it in his hands so he could examine it. He looked down, passing the loop through his hands. "The captain dropped anchor far enough from land that we'd be safe while we figured out what was going on."

"Are you trying to tell me your compound is a goddamn cruise ship?" she asked, incredulous. She took the snare from him and undid it, then put the rope in his hands so he could try again.

Rather than answer right away, he tried again to make the loop for the snare. When he fumbled it, and the rope knotted too soon, he gave a huff of displeasure. "Shit," he muttered.

Aaron, playing next to them, looked up with a big grin. "Shhhht."

They both looked at him. Edward gave a beleaguered sigh. "You know what? We get to remake the world. I vote we abolish swear words. Not the actual words. Just the weird belief that those words are somehow worse than other words."

Bella smirked. "We all have bigger fish to fry than fuck?"

"I mean...I would rather fry a fish than fuck it, that's true."

She laughed. An honest-to-god guffaw. "Don't think I didn't notice that you didn't answer the question."

"I got distracted." He scowled at the rope in his hand.

"Shhhht." Aaron nodded.

"What he said." Edward sighed and started again, trying to make the tightening loop of rope. "We stayed on the ship for the first month, but after radio communication went dead, we decided we had to do something more permanent. We sent a small party out on one of the tenders to the San Juan islands. Myself included."

"If you were on a ship, that means you weren't exposed to the virus when it dropped." Bella picked up her latest project—a doll made of cloth she was sewing to give Aaron something to play with and hold on the long journey ahead. "You could have died."

"Three members of our party did."

The words hung between them. Bella tried to imagine it—facing death on purpose. Every day of her life was about survival. "I would have stayed on the boat," she admitted.

"No, you wouldn't have."

She looked up and found he'd fixed her with a stare that unnerved her for reasons she couldn't quite place. It was an almost admiring expression. "You play a long game," he said. "A cruise ship is a better place than most. It's floating city, but we couldn't last forever by ourselves out there. Our long term survival depended on us getting to land." He shrugged. "And honestly, if I wasn't immune, I was a goner. There's no defense. Not yet."

"True. But still. A ship or a deserted island is about the only place you'd be able to escape an airborne virus. Though, I've wondered how that's playing out, you know, with military vessels? Weapons and paranoia don't mix well."

He lifted his head, fixed her with a look, and arched an eyebrow. "You don't say."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Spoken like a man who wants to be tied up again."

"Sounds like it could be fun under the right circumstances." He flashed a lopsided grin at her. "I'll try anything once."

Shock went down her spine spreading an odd, warm tingle through her body. Her cheeks flushed hot. She'd decided she could trust that he wasn't going to murder her, but when had they become good enough friends that they could joke this way? Their eyes met, and Bella remembered what it was like to walk through life with a functioning libido.

Edward cleared his throat and looked back to his work. Bella looked to hers. The silence between them was rife with something Bella couldn't quite name. Desire? Maybe a fervent wish that this world was calm again. As calm as the world had ever been. Wishing that they were on a college campus or a coffee shop or a bar or wherever they could have met where she could be at least be reasonably comfortable with his gentle flirt.

Aaron toddled over to her. "Shhhhhht," he said, clinging to her arm, and she wanted to smile. But always at the topmost of her thoughts was that rational voice whispering harsh truths into her ear. This little boy wasn't equipped to survive in the world as it was. And his neediness was going to kill Edward too. It wasn't a certainty, but it was a high probability.

She needed to accept the world as it was, not as she wished it to be.

"Hey, look at that."

Bella looked to Edward and found him holding a perfect loop up in triumph. She smiled and pushed to her feet. "Now that we can work with."

~0~

They spent the rest of the day setting snares, and Edward made a rabbit stew that night to celebrate his first catch. The cabin smelled good. Edward had a shaker of chili pepper in his bag. It was surprising the difference a few herbs and spices could make. It had been a long time since the prospect of food had been pleasurable. It was, like everything these days, a matter of survival. It wasn't even a matter of proper nutrition. Food was energy; that was all.

While dinner cooked, Bella distracted Aaron. It was ironic. When she'd first come to this cabin, she'd found the deck of cards and had the bitter thought she'd never have anyone to play cards with. Solitaire just wasn't her game. Now, she handed Aaron one card after another, praising him when he got the card in the slotted container she'd set in front of him.

"Did you have a baby, Bella?" Edward asked, his voice soft.

Bella started. "What? No."

"Sorry." He returned his steady gaze to the pot over the fire. "It's just something my sister did when my niece was that age." He nodded at Aaron.

"My best friend had a baby when we were in high school. She was all about toys she didn't have to buy because she had no money." Her heart panged. Neither Jessica nor her beautiful baby boy had survived the virus.

"A cheap toy that also helps with development? Alice was all about that too."

"She was?" There was purposeful emphasis on the last word.

"Well, Cynthia would be five now." His voice was wistful. "We haven't been able to find them—Alice, her husband, or Cynthia. I'd be lying if I said that wasn't part of why I joined up with the expedition team."

"The expedition team?"

He took the pot from the fire and placed it on the counter. There, he poured it into their two bowls. "We recolonized the islands, so to speak, with our cruise ship, two others and a few people who owned their own yachts and boats. We buried the dead. Organized our resources. We even have a border of ships around the island to serve as lookouts. You know, just in case."

"You mean a good defense is necessary to survive?" She fixed him with a pointed look.

He set a bowl in front of her and sank to the floor, his legs crossed, with his own bowl in his lap. "I never said it wasn't. Anyhow, we have a council. It was decided we had to attempt contact with the rest of the world. We put together three parties of ten and set out in different directions. The mission is to try to find other compounds, make contact if we think it's safe to do so—exchange information if nothing else—and to bring back stragglers, particularly if we think they're useful to the society we're building." He looked at her over the rim of the bowl he brought to his lips.

Her heartbeat fluttered. Was he about to try to recruit her?

But he went on, letting the moment pass. "You're not wrong about me not being good at surviving on my own." He shook his head, his expression rueful. "I was our group's scout. I'm a good runner. Fast and quiet."

He hadsnuck up on her after all.

"It was my job to run ahead, see what I could see so, if we came on a compound or a challenge in the terrain, we would know about it ahead of time. We could plan." His brow furrowed. "That's what happened. I ran ahead. One day out and one day back to catch up to my group. But when I got to where they were supposed to be, they weren't there. I think there must have been some kind of encounter. I found evidence of more than just our party in the area." He paused a beat. "And I had heard gunshots when I was alone." He shook his head quickly, clearly not wanting to dwell.

"Long story short… I tried to follow the footprints I could find. I strayed off the trail we'd marked on our map trying to find my party." He set his bowl down and plucked a piece of meat out of the broth. He shook it and offered it to Aaron who had wandered over. "I didn't realize I was this close to Yellowstone. I think that's what happened. Down closer to the main road, there's a lot more evidence of human life."

"Familiar landmarks," Bella said with a sigh. It was the reason she stayed away from the main road. That and, as Edward had discovered from the burn on his arm, the geothermal features that made Yellowstone so famous were also not ideal for survival. Not many people stayed near Yellowstone—modern folks weren't equipped to deal with the unchecked wilderness—but the need for familiarity, a landmark they knew from before, drew survivors to the area for at least a pass through.

Edward nodded and sighed. "We were trying to get as close as possible to Chicago. That was where my sister and her family were, the last I knew."

"You're supposed to get back to the islands before winter?" she guessed.

"Yes."

Which meant it was far too late to try to get to Chicago. As it was, the trek from the Pacific Northwest to Chicago would have taken about two months with a fast-moving party and relatively few delays. They'd have had just enough time to explore the area before they had to come back, or else risk getting caught in cold weather.

"Well, the good news is, that gives you plenty of time to get from here back to your island," she said quietly, not adding that traveling with the child would make it more difficult on top of more dangerous. She paused a beat. "It's just your sister you were looking for?"

He chuckled, pulling Aaron onto his lap so he could help him eat. "The cruise was with my family. Mom. Dad. Big brother. His wife. Their baby boy." His lips turned down. "Rosalie didn't survive. When we landed? The virus took her out."

"I'm so sorry," Bella said.

Edward nodded and looked up. "What about you? Do you have any lost family?"

"My mother." Bella's heart twisted painfully, and she closed her eyes. "She lived in Phoenix. We were able to talk to her before the phone lines went down, so I know she survived the virus. She and my baby sister Angela survived. Her husband Phil, and my little brother Mikey didn't make it." She had to swallow hard before she hurried on. "I went to Phoenix the first year. Their house was empty." Just two crudely marked graves in the backyard.

They ate for a few minutes in relative silence, save for the sound of Aaron babbling between bites.

"You could come with us, you know," Edward said, his tone quiet. "It's good on the island. The people are good. We have a council, like I said, to keep ourselves in check. My dad andmy mom are on it. There's enough food. Enough work. You'd even have your own house." He shrugged as though it were no big deal. "Something to think about."

To be a part of a community again. It was a tempting, terrifying thought. "You just want me to come because it increases the chances of your surviving long enough to get there." She didn't even know if she was teasing.

He shrugged again. "That doesn't hurt," he admitted. "I already said I wasn't picked for the expedition because of my survival skills. And it would be fulfilling that part of the expedition—bringing back useful people."

"Right. But it would decrease mychance of surviving to go with you."

"Yes and no."

She shook her head. "It's either yes or no. This is a black and white issue."

"No, it isn't. Yes, getting there, the baby does make it harder to survive. But to get to the Islands from here will take a month max. That's only one month we'd be in a great amount of danger. The kid's parents kept him alive a whole year. If we can survive that month, then your overall chance of survival within the society of the Islands goes up considerably."

She stared at him. It made sense. She couldn't refute that logic. If the society they'd built on the Islands was peaceful. If it was fair. If the men there didn't decide that their size and strength meant they were in charge. If the men didn't believe it was their duty to repopulate the earth with any available woman, willing or not.

If. If. If.

"Just think about it," Edward said. Then, he grinned and raised his bowl. "The spices I brought with me? There's plenty more where that came from on the Islands."

In spite of herself, she smiled.

~0~

Bella slipped out of the cabin just as the sun was coming up. Aaron and Edward were both asleep, curled up next to each other in what she had to admit was a sweet picture. Well. As sweet as a picture could be when Edward was still bound at the wrists. He insisted on being bound at night, and she was grateful. She couldn't deny it helped her sleep better knowing he was at least a little bit impaired.

In her travels, it was her habit to go through libraries for resourceful books. In one of these, she'd found detailed instructions about how to make a bow and arrow for hunting purposes. As she traveled, she'd been trying to perfect her knife skills in order to get the right flexibility and strength. She finally had a crude but workable bow and enough arrows. She wanted to dedicate this early morning to practice. Then, she would set out to clear the snares that she and Edward had set the day before.

And if she could manage to take out one of the deer who frequented the area, well, that would just be a bonus.

She set about her morning routine, unsetting the traps she had littered around the cabin. Most of them were just set to make noise, hopefully waking her if something was coming. These were tripped frequently by animals. It made for a restless night, but Bella would never be caught sleeping. She also checked a few trees she knew had birds nests and collected four hot eggs which she hid for safekeeping.

For perhaps half an hour, she worked with the arrow. Her knuckles got scraped to high hell—an injury she should have predicted. She made a mental note to wrap her fingers the next time she tried the bow but kept right on practicing. Mostly, she aimed for bushes so she could mark her accuracy. Once, though, she did aim for and hit a tree. It was so satisfying to see the arrow she'd made could actually piece bark—and therefore fur—and sink deep.

It was as she was thinking it was time to head back that a movement caught the corner of her eyes. Automatically, she sank low and scrambled for the cover of a large boulder.

Peering around it through the trees, she spotted a shape. A deer, she recognized. A large one too. And it appeared to be alone, which was unusual but not altogether unheard of. Maybe its mates were a little further out of eyesight.

Though she expected her bow skills were far too rudimentary to take down a deer, she didn't think it would hurt to try. Bow and arrow in hand, she slid out from behind the boulder and began to make her way, quiet as a whisper, toward the deer.

She stepped softly, concentrated on keeping out of its periphery and not snapping any of the branches that littered the ground. She would have to be pretty close to have a chance until her skills were better.

Her first and only warning came suddenly. The deer, eating peacefully one moment, raised its head the next, its body going rigid. The next moment, it was off like a shot.

Bella took one more step. Then, before she could process the deer's flight, she felt a sharp tug and found herself flying, hurtling toward the ground. She felt a rush of agony at her ankle, then her head contacted with ground, rock. The world went white and then black.

A/N: I'm going to try to put a priority rush on the next chapter!