Day 17

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She suspected it wasn't a good idea, sleeping in Edward's arms all night. Sure enough, their temps were up slightly, but she couldn't stop smiling. Waking up with his face grinning back at her on the same pillow had been like a dream. She'd never laughed and kissed and laughed so much in one night—in one month—in her entire life. It seemed impossible to stop smiling and laughing as Angela checked in on them, suggesting they come up for air.

The twin bed was too small, which was her reasoning for lying on top of him instead of side by side. Listening to his heartbeat was her new favorite thing to do, when not doing her other new favorite things. She spoke into his chest. "We have to go back to your room. To finish the Sandcrawler."

"Hmm." He stroked the back of her head. "And to fetch my condoms."

"We haven't used the ones here."

"Once we start, I'm not leaving this bed until we do."

She giggled against his bare chest. They spent the night touching with hands and lips, uncovering the secrets their scrubs hid. Knowing they couldn't responsibly go any further heightened the experience of nibbling nipples and navels. It was the best kind of torture, leaving them both panting, grinning, and anticipating the moment they could finally be completely united.

At least she got fully dressed before the nurse came in; Edward just pulled on his pants.

"Is there anyone we could bribe to speed up the process?" They'd both requested copies of their test results from the duration of their confinement. Bella was fairly sure that all common STI's were part of their early blood panels and urine tests, but based on the evidence of the vast audience Emmett entertained with his dick she wanted to be sure she was clean.

She didn't want to think—she did enough of that yesterday. She just wanted to enjoy the sensations of Edward running his hands through her hair, touching her skin, and the kissing. She'd never been so thoroughly kissed. Her lips were swollen with it. He left the best kind of electric charge as he randomly touched his lips to her skin; her neck, under her breasts, inside her elbow. He feasted on the backs of her knees, her ankles, tracing patterns with his tongue 'til she dragged him back up to her mouth. Kissing her, he said, was his new life's ambition.

She whispered, "I want you, so much." Did she detect his heart speed up a bit? She continued her experiment. "I want you in this bed, on the chair, on the floor, in the shower…"

"On a box, with a fox, after some lox?" He flipped her and pushed himself between her thighs. "There are moments when I wish we were not trained, responsible, medical professionals."

She pushed back, enjoying the feel of him hard pressing into her sex, even if it was through their clothing. "Responsibility is overrated." She allowed herself another decadent moment before her common sense took over. "Let's go for a walk." She squirmed under him but he wouldn't let her up. "Hey, come on, move."

"Why would I move when I've finally got you where I want you?"

He was slowly grinding against her. She needed to stop him before she pulled down her scrubs and mounted him, damn all the communicable diseases in the world.

She sighed. "Spontaneous human combustion. We are going to ignite if we keep rubbing body parts together and can't finish the job."

With a final thrust, he lifted off her, but stayed in a push up position, her body between his strong arms. He wasn't making it easy. Like a Band-Aid, she thought and scrambled quickly off the bed, throwing a scrub top at him. "Put a shirt on. Please."

He teased her, arms over his head stretching as he intentionally dragged out the activity. His scrubs were loose, sliding down his hips, and she had empirical knowledge that he wasn't wearing under garments. His pants were now being held up by his manhood.

"Edward, your pants!"

He ignored her as he methodically lowered his scrub top down his chest. "Which is it woman? A minute ago you were worried about my shirt. You can't keep changing your mind." He turned, wiggling his bite able ass at her. As tempted as she was to test its bite worthiness, she slapped it instead.

"Oh Mistress Swan! I knew you had a little dominatrix in you. Me likey."

"Your sister is supposed to call. I can't talk to her while you're going all Magic Mike on me."

He pouted his way to the shower. She didn't know exactly what she was getting into with him, but she never felt so effervescent, so hopeful for the future.

She was showered and dressed by the time Alice called with a full report. The money went through. Charlie watched Emmett move out, refusing to shake his hand or listen to him at all. A letter was being sent to all the women Alice was able to identify, on official looking health agency letterhead, advising them as a former sexual partner of one Emmett McCarthy, also known as Dale McCarty and Matt Michaels, they should be tested for sexually transmitted infections.

..

Ben announced it was over 60 degrees and sunny, so they decided to eat lunch outside.

They were sitting on one of the benches, eating the turkey avocado club sandwiches from the deli Angela recommended, when they saw a woman emerge from the main building, squinting in the sunlight. She approached, but before she got too close, in one voice, Bella and Edward said, "What day are you?"

"What day? Day 5." She came closer, "I'm Kate, I just—"

Bella put her hand up. "Stop, please. We're day seventeen, and we don't want to restart our clock."

"But this is bullshit." Kate pointed at the chain-link fence. "We're not symptomatic, we're not going to spread anything. The virus doesn't work that way."

"I know that, you know that, but the average person doesn't know that. This place is 99% public image, 1% public safety." Bella shrugged her shoulders. She felt bad for the woman but there wasn't much she could do.

"Hey, we both know what you're going through." Edward spoke with a soothing tone. "Your email address ends with the date you got here. Check the directory, you can hang out with anyone who came in the same day. That's what we do."

As Kate left to go search for some company, Bella turned to Edward. "Is that what you call what we're doing? Hanging out?"

"No, what we're doing is advanced hanging out, only for experts, not to be tried at home."

"So we won't be able to do this when we get home?"

"Silly woman, I'm a grand master at this. What I plan to do when I get out of here, is do you, often and well, wherever and whenever possible." He leaned in for a kiss, but she pushed him off.

"You've been distracting me all night and day."

"Didn't hear any objections."

"No, I didn't object. But we have things to talk about."

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-21 days- Day 17—

"Things?" Playing stupid was not his best move, but at this point he wasn't sure what she knew. Did Alice give her a hint? Had she guessed? He'd been in a fog of requited lust and release when he should have been thinking about his defense. She was going to be angry, the question was how much.

Bella raised an eyebrow. "Tanya? Your fiancé?"

He slumped in relief, "That, you know, I told you, I never asked her to marry me, never intended to. I don't know where she got that ring…"

"Edward, I know thaaaat." She laughed. "As if I thought you were slinging 20 karat diamond rings around, I mean, unless you're the love child of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, who can afford something like that? As my mother told me, if you're going to wear fake jewelry, make it small enough to be believable. That ring was about as real as her boobs."

"So, what's the problem?"

"I'm not going to be seen with someone else's fake fiancé. She probably has those cretins on speed dial. You know she's going to show up the day we get out with a camera crew for your big 'reunion'."

He'd never seen Bella use air-quotes. Obviously Tanya got her going. At least this he could shut down.

"I'll call her. Today, as soon as we go inside."

Bella seemed content with his answer. She took a bite of the dill pickle that came with the sandwich. It made him think of other things she might not be opposed to biting. As soon as those tests…"Argh!"

"What?" She looked at him, with those sweet trusting eyes. He didn't want her to look at him differently, so he didn't want to tell her. But he had to. If it ever came out down the road, it would ruin them.

"I knew."

"You knew what? That Tanya was doing that interview? You just said—"

"Not about Tanya." He stared at the brown grass between their feet. Man up Cullen. "Don't blame Alice. I asked her to look into Emmett before, before you asked her to."

He waited for an answer. When she didn't speak he looked up. Her lips were in a straight line, her eyes cold. The only sound was the crinkling of the butcher paper as she bunched it in her fist. She nodded her head slightly.

He swallowed and cleared his throat. "I was suspicious. He didn't seem right. I knew it wasn't my place to ask about him." He wished she's say something, but she only stared. "If he came up clean, or wasn't that bad, I would have just backed off. Really. I'm sorry. I was only—"

She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "You know, I—I need a little space." She stood. "Before I say something I might regret for a long time."

He stood, "I'm sorry."

She waved him back behind her as she walked to the building.

…

He didn't even want to finish the Sandcrawler. His head hurt and while he just wanted to curl up in his lonely bed, he needed to do something first.

Tanya answered on the second ring.

"Eddie!"

He cringed at the sound of her voice. "Tanya, I saw you did an interview. You said you were my fiancé."

"You saw it!" It sounded like she was squealing. "Eddie saw my interview! I told you it was going to make a thousand hits! This is so exciting!"

"Who are you talking to?"

"Tyler's here."

"Tanya, you're not my fiancé. I never asked you to marry me. I never implied I was going to."

"Eddie, I know that! They wanted relatives of people who were quarantined for the story. They said a fiancé is more dramatic. I gave them some pictures of us together on the beach. They think you're really hot, they said you're 'click-bait' or something. Isn't it crazy, I'm on TV!"

"No more Tanya. You can't use my name, and you can't call yourself my fiancé."

"Come on Eddie, they give me a few hundred dollars per interview. I'm just trying to make a buck."

"You need to stop. Jasper will be sending you and that webnews site a cease and desist order. Do you know what that is?"

"Yeah, some legal crap. Now I'm out that money, and I'm over my credit line on my Visa."

"That's not my problem, Tanya. And just to be clear, we're not dating anymore, I was never your fiancé and you need to stop pretending I was."

"Can't it wait til it gets some more hits? I really want it to break a thousand."

"No more. Stop now. Got it?"

The phone clicking off was her only reply. He needed to get Jasper to send out those letters; knowing Alice she was probably already working on it.

…

He checked his email one last time. Still nothing from Bella. He didn't order anything for dinner, he wasn't hungry. He slid under the covers for a nap hoping that Bella would forgive him. He looked at the almost complete Sandcrawler. He'd wanted many unimportant things in his life, and he'd been lucky so far. He'd trade everything, everything, for the forgiveness of the woman he loved.

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AN: assignment: Say "nibbling nipples and navels", 5 times fast. Please forgive me for leaving you there.