A/N: Daisy, Daisy give me your answer, do. I'm half crazy all for the love of you.

What scared Bella the most was the timing.

She'd never believed in the existence of soulmates—that perfect other that was meant for her and only her. That was ridiculous. Too many variables. What if your soulmate was in a different country? Seventy years old when you were born? An African San Bushman? A child molester? If everyone had a perfect other, then the worst people in the world could be no exception.

And if your soulmate died, did that mean no other love could be acceptable? You couldn't find happiness with someone else or it would always be somehow less?

Again, bullshit. People loved and lost all the time, whether through death or circumstance.

So, no. Bella didn't believe in soulmates. None of the data at hand supported that conclusion.

A scientist at heart, Bella couldn't dismiss the idea that love struck when and as it pleased. It didn't have to make sense. It didn't have to be rational. It didn't care if you were ready or if you wanted it at all. It couldn't be defined. Some love came on slow—best friends who looked up one day and wanted more than they did the day before—or at first sight. Bella couldn't deny love in all its permutations existed.

Which raised an interesting, not terribly comfortable question for Bella. If she had met Edward when she was still with Jasper, what would have happened? It wasn't as though her heart was free when she met Edward. The love she shared with Jasper hadn't dissipated the instant he'd hurt her. It wasn't gone now. It still roiled and ached inside her, steeped in the grief of loss. She'd cultivated that love, nurtured it and fed it, for nine years. Not even the arrival of Edward Cullen could kill it.

The thoughts chased themselves round and round in Bella's head. She felt guilty that her growing feelings for Edward could exist around the love she had for Jasper. She was angry and uncertain and afraid to love again. She was irritated and hopeful and excited. She was once bitten, twice shy, and twitterpated and overeager all at once.

On the sixth sleepless night after she kissed him, her phone chimed. Bella leapt at it, and when she saw his invitation she couldn't stop her grin. Simultaneously, a thrill of pure panic raced down her spine.

She was out of time to obsess over the why's and how's. How had this happened, and what was she supposed to do about it? It didn't matter now. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen tomorrow.

~0~

Bella spent the next morning pretending she wasn't going to do what she was about to do. She had coffee and a bagel, all while adamantly ignoring the giddiness she felt bubbling under the surface. It was an absurd idea. Going to the tidepools. It was an obvious date, and there was no way any of this made sense.

She did a few chores around the house—if by chores one counted picking things up and putting them down. Was this what people meant by a rebound? It made a weird kind of sense. When Jasper had pulled his shit, she'd felt like a basketball hurled at a wall, ricocheting off and right into the presence of Edward of the matching shirt. No matter what else was going on between them, Edward was her friend and important to her. If she couldn't make good decisions for her own heart and happiness, she could care more about his.

At ten-thirty, Bella decided she should take a drive. Nowhere in particular. She needed to clear her head and then call Edward and tell him it was a bad idea to see him right now. She needed more time to figure out how to turn this off. The way she was feeling right now, there was no way she could pretend she only wanted to be his friend.

But, before she could get the gumption to call, she found herself at the pay booth. Rather than drive up toward the monument, she drove down toward the beach and the tide pools. She parked and asked herself what the hell she thought she was doing.

She hadn't texted him back. He'd assume she wasn't coming and not show up himself; no problem.

Getting out of the car, she hurried toward the oceanside, as though she could outrun the sense of disappointment that followed her at the thought. She wanted to see him. Six days was way too long to go without talking to him.

For two hours, she walked back and forth. The Cabrillo Monument tide pools existed along a stretch of beach carved into a tall hill. Bella wasn't sure what to call it. All she knew was the actual monument was high above, and the water had carved a set of short cliffs into the rock. There was a tiny beach accessible—hence the tide pool area—but, otherwise, dry land existed well above the crash of the waves below.

Was there such thing as a clean break? Maybe those relationships where love petered out leaving only fondness behind and nothing else. Where the couples divorced or broke up with a bittersweet smile. A round relationship—no edges, no jagged break.

Then again, the relationships that most people wanted, the ones that lasted forever, didn't break clean either, did they? Nothing could last forever. Bella wondered what hurt worse. The loss of a relationship due to death or intentional dismemberment?

The closer it got to one, the more her arguments tapered off, interrupted by a sense of anticipation. She wanted to see him.

Shit. What if he really wasn't coming?

Bella took out her phone and dialed. Or at least, she tried to. She navigated to Facebook messenger and tapped out a message. She got one back immediately, letting her know her message would be delivered when she was back within range of a service area.

"Shit," she muttered to herself, roaming back and forth along the beach, trying to find a bar or two.

"There's no reception here," said a harried looking woman with three children around her, splashing in the shallow water. "It cuts out until you're back on the main road."

Bella offered the woman a smile. "Thanks."

She pondered this problem, a tongue in her cheek as she watched the little ones scramble over the short rock cliffs. She could go back out to the road. It wasn't like it was a long walk. But hadn't she seen that plot in about a thousand movies? Edward said he'd be here at one on the dot, which meant he'd be out of cell range too. They'd end up missing each other with no way to get in contact.

So, she took a page from the book of her early childhood—before cell phones were in use by everyone—and sat down to wait. If she stayed in one place, he'd find her. She took off her shoes and let her legs dangle over the side of the rock, smiling at the feel of the waves coming up to splash her feet.

Bella felt him before she saw him. Her back was to the rest of the world, watching the waves and the sparkle across the water, mesmerized as she always was. There was so much activity around her, she didn't know how she discerned his step from all the others. She just knew he was coming, and when he came to stand at her side, she smiled before she could help it.

The ocean brought her peace. It always had. Edward made her happy.

Some things were what they were.

"Hey, you," Edward said as he sat beside her. "I was afraid you weren't going to come."

She scoffed but smiled, looking out at the water instead of him. "You're like the tide. I could try to swim out to sea, but you'd just bring me in again."

"And dash you against the rocks?" he asked, half teasing, half not.

Bella laughed and looked at him. "That's why you brought me out here, right? Some overarching metaphor about the pull of the sea and this." She gestured back and forth between them.

The corners of his mouth curved up. His hair tousled in the light breeze. He looked pleased, but his words were careful. "I really was working." He reached out, tentatively at first, and touched her hand. When she didn't pull away, he threaded his fingers through hers. "And I like the ocean. You like the ocean." He shrugged.

Bella closed her eyes briefly, revelling in the tingles that went through her at this simple yet intimate touch. She felt so ridiculously happy to be holding his hand. Like she was a teenager again. "Jasper didn't like the ocean," she mused, opening her eyes to study the way their hands looked, the way their fingers overlapped. "He could take it or leave it."

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Edward stiffen a bit. But, he released a breath, and his shoulders relaxed. "I wanted to say I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?"

"You said you were confused. I don't think what I did helped with that?" He ducked his head, bringing their joined hands closer so he could play with her fingers.

"What did you do?" she asked, still perplexed.

"I had good intentions," he said, looking up at her from underneath his lashes. Hell if that didn't make her heart skip a beat. He had such beautiful eyes. "I was really trying to be your friend, but I think I accidentally dated you."

Bella chuckled at that. She pushed her fingertips against his, like footsie for their hands. "It was my fault. You set up a romantic date for your girlfriend of three years that was supposed to end in a proposal—which is romance level 47—and I had the bright idea that I should go with you instead." She sighed. "We were doomed."

They were both quiet for a minute. Bella pressed her tongue into her cheek, trying to decide what she wanted to say. "So here's the thing. I think we should have sex."

She nearly choked on her own tongue. Edward made a surprised little noise. Bella winced. "That wasn't what I wanted to say," Bella said, her cheeks blazing. "Ugh. Let me… I mean, that's not a surprise, right? That I…"

Pulling her hands from his, she covered her face and groaned. "Jesus, I'm a mess." She let her hands drop to her lap and she looked at him. "Look, this whole accidental dating thing? I've liked it. A lot. I think we should keep doing that, but I also think we need to keep some facts in mind."

"Facts like?"

She hesitated a moment, gnawing the inside of her cheek. "I'm still in love with Jasper." She rolled her eyes heavenward, shaking her head. "It's just a fact. My heart is still broken, and there's all this...grief. Which, I don't know, maybe it doesn't have to mean anything. It hasn't stopped me from having feelings for you, but I can't pretend I'm over him. I'm not. I have no idea how that will affect anything we do, so we both have to be aware it exists.

"Bella."

She took a deep breath before she let her gaze drop back down to meet his. At the look on his face, the weight that had begun to clench at her heart loosened. He reached out, his touch tender as his fingertips skimmed her cheek. He cupped her face and tilted his head down to touch his lips to hers.

Bella whimpered, closing her eyes and leaning into his kiss. She spread her palm against his side, feeling the warmth of his skin beneath his shirt.

"Are there other facts?" Their lips were still connected, so the words vibrated against her skin when he spoke.

"What?" she asked, senseless from the heat of his kisses and the feel of his hands on her. He made her dizzy.

He brushed her hair back, pulling away from her enough that he could look in her eyes. "You said we have to keep some facts in mind. You have nine years of beautiful memories with a man you loved and trusted. Losing that is a trauma. I can't expect you to forget you were traumatized, and I can't expect your heart to forget that what you feel for him still exists. I get that." He kissed her again, sweetly. "So, what else?"

Her head swam. She darted her tongue out, tasting his lips once. She pulled back again and looked at him. "I think we should have sex."

He laughed. "That's a fact?"

"Yeah." She scooted closer to him, her hands looped around his back now, exploring what it felt like to touch him. "If we do what we've been doing? Dating, not accidentally this time, I mean. If we do that, I just think it's fair that you know." She licked her lips, looking into his eyes. "I'm pretty sure if we're ever alone together, not in public, I'm going to jump your bones."

His cheeks flushed pink, and he pressed his lips together either trying not to laugh or trying not to grin. He nodded slowly, and when he spoke again, his voice was husky. "That's uh… Well, thanks for the warning."

He cupped his hand around the back of her head then, bringing her to him for another kiss. This one wasn't so gentle. It was a hungry, happy kiss. She gripped the front of his shirt, twisting the fabric in her fingers as she moved with him.

The loud bark of a dog had them flying apart. Bella gasped, and then she gave a startled cry, clutching at Edward when she looked down and remembered there wasn't solid ground but roiling ocean a yard and change beneath her feet. His kisses had left her dizzy.

"I have you," Edward said, his arm secure around her.

She ducked her head against his chest and laughed. "Crap. I forgot other people existed for a second there."

"Me too." He rubbed her back and leaned in so his lips were near her ear. "Does that mean you thought you were alone with me?"

Her nipples tightened and she lifted her head to scrape her teeth along the underside of his chin. "I said not in public." She kissed him, soothing the spot she'd nipped at. "Although...sex on the beach. Let's put it on our to-do list. You know. For someday."

"I like the possibility of someday." He took her face between his hands, looking down on her, his thumbs stroking her cheeks. He kissed her once more with reverence, and sighed. "So, what's next?"

"Mmmm." Bella thought seriously about telling him she wasn't ready to stop kissing him. "Have you had lunch?"

To her surprise, Edward's grin turned sheepish. "About that." He scooted back, keeping a hand on her knee as he looked behind them.

Bella followed his gaze and laughed when she noticed for the first time a basket secure on the rocks. "Edward?"

"Yes?"

"You came here intending to apologize to me for accidentally dating me."

"Um. Yeah."

"So, you invited me to one of the prettiest places in San Diego and packed a picnic lunch."

He pressed his lips together, obviously fighting a smile. "That sounds romantic. I don't have a romantic bone in my body."

Bella groaned, burying her head in her hands. "Never had a chance," she muttered to herself.

A/N: Boop. Bop.