As per usual, all disclaimers apply.
Once again, many thanks to vjgm for her Uber Wonderful beta skills!
And I'd like to thank all that have taken the time to read and review! Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated!!
BPOV
Gah, he was even more beautiful up close. And his smell was so amazing, I wanted sniff every inch of his body.
And could he be anymore adorable? He couldn't even utter a complete sentence to me. Truly, it took every ounce of my effort not to pounce on him right here on the back porch. I steeled my will against every natural response in my body and moved at a semblance of a human's pace.
I turned for the house and he rushed past, stirring the air around us and flooding my senses and making me dizzy with his scent and his warmth. He opened the door and held it for me.
A gentleman too…this guy keeps getting better and better.
Smiling, I crept by him, slowly, drawing out the close proximity of our bodies for as long as I possibly could. My eyes fluttered in my head, inhaling his delicious scent as I passed. The body heat that radiated off of him was utterly intoxicating.
I could feel his eyes on my body as we walked through the house to the kitchen and it felt heavenly. How I wanted to just lead him up to my room and have my way with him, to feel his blazing hot naked flesh under mine.
So far I'd been a good girl and hadn't peeked at his naked body when I watched him every night. I was saving that. If I was going to see him without his clothes, I wanted to be an active participant in the removal process.
I smiled as I thought about that, removing one article of his clothing at a time…with my teeth.
I let my eyes rake over his ridiculously clothed form, fantasizing about what was beneath all of that fabric. I pictured the long sinewy muscles of his legs, the tight swell of his firm yet pliable backside, the smooth lines of his back, the broad expanse of his chest, the soft skin of his abdomen, his defined hipbones that would carve out the trail leading to his, what appeared to be, sizable manhood. He was truly the perfect man, slender, but not skinny and muscular, without being bulky. And his hair drove me to near madness with the urge to curl my fingers into its unruly masses. He was just right.
His tongue darted out, innocently, to moisten his top lip and I nearly snapped. I gripped the flashlight that I held, part of the damsel-in-the-dark ruse, and felt the plastic shatter into pieces in my hand.
Neither one of us uttered a single word as we walked from the back door to the kitchen, and the silence was absolutely killing me. We were nearly halfway across the living room now and I had to say something, anything, to get a response from him. The need to hear his voice was driving me to near insanity.
I went over in my mind what I wanted to say to him. Right now, with his warm body so close, I couldn't think of anything that didn't sound overtly perverse.
Okay, focus Bella. What can you say that didn't make you sound like some sex starved nymphomaniac?
Weather? Politics? Quantum physics? The Theory of Relativity? God, think!
"Bella…" he said, hesitating.
As if he could read my thoughts and knew I had to hear him, he spoke. Oh, my name had never sounded so wonderful before.
"Yes, Edward?" I replied. Maintain Bella, maintain, I chanted in my head.
He was about to say something when we passed the threshold of the kitchen and the sexually charged air that swirled around it was nearly palpable.
"Nothing," he said quickly, clearing his throat and joining his brothers on the opposite side of the room. He exchanged an odd glance with his brothers.
What's going on Rose? I thought, leaning against the counter next to my sisters.
Rosalie casually reached behind Alice, sliding her hand along the counter, and touched my elbow.
The thoughts of the human men ran in circles around inside my head, all mashed together with ours into one big ball of random words and emotions that didn't make any sense.
Before I could try to decipher any of what I heard, the loud static of three radios startled everyone.
"Boys?" the voice from the other end echoed through the room. "Is everything okay out there at the old Cullen place?"
Edward cleared his throat and spoke into the radio attached to the shoulder of his jacket.
"Yeah chief, everything is fine out here, we got it handled."
"No problems then?" the voice asked.
"Nope, no problems at all, pop." Emmett spoke this time, looking directly into my sister Rosalie's eyes, a grin pulling up the side of his face. "Everything's perfect."
"Well, that's good. On your way back to the station I want you boys to stop over at Harlin's and make sure he's sticking with two a.m. last call. Last couple of weeks he's been serving until four."
"We're on it dad," Edward said.
No.
They can't leave yet.
I shot Alice a panicked look but the smile on her face reassured me that everything was okay.
Emmett looked at all of us and smiled, Jasper looked like he might be in pain and Edward looked so sad.
"Ladies, if you ever need anything," Emmett said with a nod to us. "Anything," he winked to Rosalie and she stifled a giggle, following after him as he walked toward the door.
"May I walk you out?" Alice asked Jasper. He nodded, his face lighting up, and he offered her his elbow. She curled her little hand around his long arm and walked with him out the door.
Edward and I were alone again. His hands were shoved into the front pockets of his uniform and he kicked the toe of his boot against the floor.
"So, um…I guess this is goodnight then," he said, glancing up at me from under his thick lashes before he turned to leave.
"Wait…" I blurted. And before I could stop myself, I grabbed his hand.
He gasped.
"Your hand is so cold," he said quietly.
I jerked my hand back and shoved them both under my arms. "You know what they say, cold hands, warm heart," I said with a nervous chuckle.
Jesus, did I just say that?
"Yep, that's what they say," he said, an amazingly crooked smile turning up the corner of his mouth.
He started to walk away again and I followed, fast. So fast I nearly collided with him when he stopped.
"Um…I was just wondering," he said, running a hand nervously through his hair. "Would it be okay if…I don't know…if I called you or something?" He rushed through the words, taking a deep breath once he got them all out.
YES!!! I screamed inside my head.
I bit my lip; a nervous habit brought over from my human days, and smiled my best, non threatening, smile at him.
"I'd like that very much, Edward."
"Cool," he muttered, blushing and looking down at his feet again.
Red and blue lights flooded the living room through the open front door accompanied by a blip of the siren.
"I gotta go," he nodded toward the door.
I walked with him out to the police SUV and watched him haul himself into the back. He leaned out of the open back window with a notepad in his hand.
I didn't even give him a chance to ask. I snatched the paper out of his hand and wrote my cell phone number on it. I even signed my name with a little heart attached to the end of the 'a' in Bella. I was tempted to write the words 'please call me' or 'I love you Edward' but I refrained. I didn't want to freak him out because I'm pretty sure he was a little bit freaked out anyway.
Hell, I would be.
He looked down at the notepad and smiled, tearing off the piece of paper and folding it neatly he placed it inside his jacket, into the pocket of his uniform shirt. Right over his heart.
We all stood in the driveway until we heard the tires of the big truck hit the main road.
Rose and I turned to Alice, desperately needing to hear, from her mouth, that everything was going to work out okay.
"A little faith would be nice," Alice said, crossing her arms over her chest.
Once again she reassured us that everything was going according to plan and that we should just relax, our futures were still on track.
I wandered up to my room and opened the huge glass doors, staring out into the forest.
Overcome with an irrational need to be close to him again, I wanted to run as fast as I could over to Edward's room and lay in his bed until he got home, or something equally ridiculous as that.
"Bella?" Alice's voice kept me where I was as she walked into my room and sat on my bed.
My body physically ached now that he was gone.
"I know," Rose said, reading my thoughts and sat down beside Alice on the bed.
I sighed and sat next to my sisters. I laid my head in Alice's lap and Rose stroked my hair. This was easier for them. Alice could see the future and Rosalie could hear the true thoughts of others.
While I could leech from their abilities, the gift wasn't as pure as it was for its owner. The visions weren't as clear for Rose and I as they were for Alice, just like Alice and I couldn't hear the complete thoughts of others and my sisters couldn't project without following where I lead them.
"Trust me Bella," Alice said in a soothing voice. "Please."
Rosalie wove her fingers in my hair. "His thoughts for you are true," she said, reassuring me.
I sat up and gathered my wonderful sisters in my arms. I trusted them.
"Thank you," I whispered.
When I was alone in my room again I thought of my encounter with Edward. Remembering every move he made and every word he said with perfect recollection. If I really thought about it, I could probably count the number of breaths he took and beats his heart made.
I closed my eyes and recalled the moment I reached for his hand. I focused my memory on his face, his reaction to my cold hard skin.
I studied his expression in my mind's eye. It wasn't fear that made his eyes widen and gasp at my touch. I wasn't sure what it was, but I'd put fear into the eyes of enough men to know what it looked like and it was anything but fear.
EPOV
The ride to Harlin's bar was virtually quiet. We gave Joe Harlin, the owner, a warning for still serving liquor after two a.m. and headed back to the station.
When we got back, Emmett slammed the car into park and he and Jasper nearly leapt out of the truck.
"Are we going to talk about what happened at all tonight, or are we just going to pretend like nothing happened?" I shouted at them.
Jasper stopped and Emmett turned, walking back across the parking lot at me.
"What do you want me to say Ed?" he asked, throwing his hands in the air. "You wanna hear that I think I've lost my god damned marbles? That we all have?" He gestured to all three of us. "That I'm about to piss my fucking pants because I don't know if I'm more scared out of my mind about this shit or because I was so excited to see her open that door that I damn near jizzed in my fucking pants right there on the front fucking porch?" He looked over at Jasper, still standing in the middle of the parking lot. "Look at him, Jazz can't even talk man."
"I'm okay," Jasper said, speaking for the first time since he saw that little Alice girl.
"What?" Emmett said, spinning around and staring at Jasper. "You're okay? Dude, you haven't talked in like, two hours, you are far from okay."
Jasper turned around and started to laugh, everything was suddenly very clear to him. "I'm more than just okay Em," he said, having a complete epiphany. "I've never been this okay in my entire life," he said, pumping his fists in the air.
"Okay, I see Jasper has decided to take a ride on the crazy train," Emmett said, shaking his head. "What do you think, runt?"
God, I hated it when he called me that.
I dug into my shirt pocket and pulled out the piece of paper. I opened it and saw her name, Bella, with a little heart on the end, and her phone number.
"I think I got a phone number," I laughed, staring at the piece of paper.
Jasper gave me the thumbs up and we both started laughing hysterically. Maybe we had gone completely insane.
"You two are fuckin' nuts," Emmett said, shaking his head and heading for the station doors.
"Wait," I said, in between laughs. "You're telling me that if this, what's her name…" I snapped my fingers, trying to jog my memory of the blonde girl's name.
"Rosalie," Emmett said, a little annoyed when I couldn't think of her name right away.
"Right, Rosalie, so you're telling me that you have no interest in her what so ever?" I asked.
Emmett cocked his head at me. "Are you serious? Did you not see her?" he asked, completely baffled.
I'd seen her and she was pretty enough. But not even remarkably close to how mind numbingly beautiful my Bella was.
"Yeah, so," I said, shrugging my shoulders.
"Seriously?" Emmett snorted. "Dude, I may not be crazy like you guys, but I'm not stupid, but I would be crazy if I didn't try to break off a piece of that fine ass."
With that Emmett made his way into the station.
Jazz turned to me and grinned. "That's Emmett speak for he's just as fucked up crazy as we are."
We both laughed out in the parking lot for a good fifteen minutes. It was that deliriously happy laughter where your sides start to ache and tears roll down your cheeks.
"We should go check on Em," I said nodding toward the building. "I think he's having a hard time dealing."
"Ya think?" Jasper snorted and slapped me on the back as we walking into the station.
JPOV
I stood in the middle of the parking lot, listening to my brother Emmett rant at Edward, our younger brother.
I knew Emmett, he wasn't mad, he was terrified.
He was also afraid that there was something wrong with me because I hadn't spoken a word since laying eyes on the most beautiful creature that had ever walked the earth.
Alice.
She was so tiny I just wanted to wrap my arms around her and protect her from the big bad world.
I hadn't spoken for a while because I'd been concentrating.
Concentrating on that melodic giggle of hers, swirling it around in my head in an endless loop. Memorizing it and every now and then throwing in the way my name sounded when she said it.
"I'm okay," I said.
"What?" Emmett said, spinning around. I could feel him staring at my back. "You're okay? Dude, you haven't talked in like, two hours, you are far from okay."
He just didn't get it did he?
I started to laugh. "I'm more than just okay Em," I said, turning around and throwing my fists up into the air. "I've never been this okay in my entire life."
He looked at me for a second and then mumbled something about a crazy train, but to be honest, I wasn't listening. Not to him anyway.
Alice's sweet little voice played in my head and I laughed along with it. God, this was the most wonderful feeling.
I half listened to Emmett trying to make light of his feelings for Rosalie as he stomped through the station doors.
"That's Emmett speak for he's just as fucked up crazy as we are," I said to Edward.
That was it, we let loose with our laughter and damn near literally rolled on the ground laughing. Poor Emmett, if it was remotely possible, I would say he had it worse than we did.
I caught Edward gazing at the paper with Bella's phone number written on it. He reached out a finger and traced the letters and numbers and I saw him mouth something. It looked like 'my Bella' but I couldn't be sure.
Well, Emmett was going to be hoping on the crazy train soon enough, because if it was anything close to what I felt for my Alice and what I saw in Edward, there was no avoiding it.
Edward suggested that we check on Em, so we wandered into the station.
"Hey boys," dad said from behind the desk. "Is Emmett alright?"
Edward and I looked at each other.
"Why?" Edward asked.
"Well," dad said, sitting up a little straighter in his chair, "he came storming through the door a little while before you two did and now he's banging around in the interrogation room."
Just about that time we heard a loud banging sound coming from the little room to the left of the main lobby.
"Maybe, I'd better go check on him," dad said, getting up from his seat.
"NO!" Edward and I shouted.
Dad froze, hovering over the seat. "Are you sure everything is alright?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at us.
"Everything's fine dad," I reassured. "We just had a little disagreement with Em. We'll handle it." I grabbed Edward's jacket sleeve, "C'mon Ed."
We looked at the closed door for a second before I turned the knob and eased the door open.
Emmett was gripping the table with both hands. The entire table was shaking in his grasp.
"Damn it!" he growled and slammed the table against the ground.
I saw water trembling on the table as it bounced off of the floor. Just at that moment Emmett gripped the table tighter and I saw two drops of water land on the wood.
Jesus, Emmett was crying.
EMPOV
I heard Jasper's little comment about me being just as fucked in the head as they were as I stormed through the doors of the station.
"Hey son, you alright?" dad said, looking up from his computer screen.
"Jesus, I'm fine!" I grumbled at him as I slammed the door to the interrogation room shut behind me.
I closed my eyes and leaned against the door. Her face flashed behind my closed eyelids.
I clenched my fists against my temples and banged the back of my head against the door. Once. Twice. Three times.
"Ugh, get out of my head," I muttered through my clenched teeth.
I saw my reflection in the two way mirror. Jesus, I looked scared out of my fucking mind. I picked up the metal folding chair and hurled it at the mirror. It bounced off of the shatter proof glass and clattered to the floor.
I slunk to the floor as the memory of Rosalie's smile bombarded my system and the sense that this face, this woman, was my future.
My destiny.
This couldn't be happening. I did not fall head over heels for someone I just met. Ever. And now this woman had me so screwed up in the head that I was about to march over to that house, drag her out if I had to and haul her fine little ass off to Vegas. What the hell was wrong with me?
No. Nonononononononononono!
"NO!" I shouted, grabbing the chair off of the floor and slamming it into the door, mangling it beyond repair.
Yes, I heard her angelic voice echo in my head.
"NO!" I shouted again, gripping the table with both hands, I picked it up a few inches off of the ground and slammed it back down.
I picked it up again, a little higher this time and slammed it down a little harder.
Then I have no reason to keep living, Rosalie's sad voice rang in my head.
"No," I gasped, holding onto the table for support now, because just the thought of no Rosalie was more than I could bear.
Then love me, Emmett.
I took a deep shaky breath. "I don't know how," I choked out, feeling the hot tears starting to sting the back of my eyes.
Just let it happen.
My hands fisted in my hair and I took a couple of deep breaths.
"What is wrong with me?" I cried, realizing that I was having a conversation with myself for fuck sake.
I gripped the table again. I was shaking so hard that I could hear the legs of the table ratting against the linoleum.
Just let it happen.
Those words echoed in my mind.
More tears fell as my brain rebelled against the feeling of something so out of my control, bubbled inside it.
Just let it happen.
I heard the door open slowly.
"Damn it!" I growled and picked up the table again, slamming it against the floor in frustration as I felt even more tears slide down my cheeks.
"Em?" Edward said quietly.
I took in a long deep breath and blew it out slowly. I could see Edward and Jasper in the mirror as they walked into the room and quietly shut the door.
We looked at each other's reflections and I took another deep breath.
"So, just let it happen, huh?" I asked.
Jasper nodded and gave me a reassuring smile. "Pretty much, yeah," he said.
"Fuck," I muttered, letting my head fall to the table.
"Pretty much, yeah," I heard Edward say with a chuckle.
"You think they're witches or something?" I asked my brothers.
"I don't know," Jasper shrugged, leaning against the table next to me. "But something is going on that we have no control over and quite honestly, I don't know if I want to."
I took one final deep pull of air and let it happen. I let the feelings of love and adoration for Rosalie flow through my veins.
I felt utterly euphoric.
"So…" I said, slapping my hands together. "When are we going back?"
Jasper raised his arm and clapped me on the back and I noticed an empty pouch on Jasper's belt.
"Dude, where's your cuffs?"
On instinct we all checked out belts, each of us were missing our department issue handcuffs.
"Should we arrest them?" Edward asked, a smile pulling up on side of his face. I think my little brother was all to thrilled at the idea of patting down or strip searching little Miss Bella.
Hmmm, strip search? I smiled as I thought about all the possibilities that idea cooked in my head concerning Rosalie.
I fought this feeling why?
"And just what are we going to arrest them with, runt? They have our cuffs," I reminded him.
"We don't know that," Jasper interjected.
Edward and I rolled our eyes at him. He just couldn't wrap his head around the idea that his sweet little Alice might be a kleptomaniac.
"You know they took 'em," I said to Jasper. "I just don't know how they managed to get them off of us with us not knowing."
I started for the door of the demolished interrogation room; I looked up at the clock and saw that we only had a few more hours on our shift.
If we went back there and tried to take care of this on 'company' time we'd have to make out a report. I did not want to explain to dad how three barely dressed women managed to relieve us of our handcuffs.
Stopping at the door I turned to my brothers. "This is how this is going to work," I explained, "we go over there, on our own time, and get our shit back before dad finds out about all this and has us all committed, deal?"
Jasper and Edward nodded.
"Deal," they agreed.
Great, now all we had to do was keep cool in front of dad for the next few hours.
Piece of cake.
Yeah, right.