A/N: Hello, my duckies! Here we are again.

"Oh, hell. Oh, fuck. Edward. Edward. Agghhhh."

Bella pressed her head against the wood of the flimsy table, holding on for dear life as Edward pounded into her from behind. She had one hand stretched out in front of her, gripping the edge of the table. The other was pinned behind her, Edward's fingers holding tight. His other hand was on her shoulder, tangled in her hair, just everywhere as he thrust, thrust, thrust into her, hitting a sweet spot inside her that made her scream as her walls tightened around his thick length.

He rasped her name as he jerked on top of her, cried out with a strangled groan, and collapsed against her, his hot, slick chest on her back.

Bella blinked, coming back to herself slowly. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from chuckling at just how bizarre her life was. She was forty years old, and here she was being fucked over a table so rickety she was surprised it had held them up, in a shabby apartment, by a twenty-something. It could have been college all over again.

She bucked, needing to stand and stretch. He slipped out of her as he stood. She turned and found herself wrapped in his arms. He cupped her face between his hands, kissing her though they were both still breathless.

Some minutes later, dressed again in rumpled clothes, they stood at his door, still wrapped up in each other. They kissed, slow and languid, tongues pressing, chins tilted, noses bumping. Her hands roamed along his back, enjoying the feel of him. His thumb traced delicious circles behind her ear. She loved his hands and all the ways he knew to use them. Talented fingers, this one, as he'd proven to her again that night.

With a sigh, she broke their kiss and took a single step back. She took his face between her palms and just looked at him. His eyes were hooded with tenderness and adorably sleepy. She chuckled. "I kept you up way past your bedtime."

"It's barely one."

"It's almost two." Bella smoothed his hair back. "And you have to be up in a few hours, don't you?"

His grin turned wicked, and he leaned in to nip at her ear. "Give me a few more minutes, and I can be up again now."

She giggled, ducking her head to catch his lips. The man made her giddy; she couldn't deny that. "Settle down, horn dog." She kissed him sweetly. "Are you going to be okay? For real. I shouldn't have kept you up when you're going to be hiking in a few hours."

"I'm fine. Young and vigorous." He waggled his eyebrows.

She rolled her eyes. "Right." She sighed, trying to remember the things that needed to be said before he left. "I need you to do me a favor."

"Yeah?"

She nodded, raising her eyes to meet his. "While you're up there, I need you to think about what you want."

His hands tightened at her waist, and he leaned in again. "I already told you. I want you."

She spread her hand wide over his face, pushing him back gently. "Seriously, Edward." She traced his lip with her finger. "Think about everything you want with me and without me. Everything you want out of life. There are some realities we're going to have to talk about when you get back. It's a nice idea that love is all you need, but it's not the truth." She smiled. "We're in different places in our lives, and the things we want might take us in different directions no matter how we feel about each other."

He took her hand and lifted it to his lips, pressing a long kiss there. "But you love me?"

She grinned. "I really do. But—"

He kissed her. "I know. I hear you. I'll think about it. I promise."

~0~

"Bella. Earth to Bella." Siobahn cackled. "Uh huh. You know what the bad thing is about that silky smooth skin of yours is? It tells so many stories." Her grin turned lascivious. "That pretty, pretty boy you stole out from under Maggie the other night had a bit of beard scruff, didn't he?" She tapped a spot on Bella's neck where Edward's scruff had indeed chafed her skin.

"She didn't steal him," Maggie said, lowering her voice as she came to perch on Bella's desk. "That man had his eyes on her from the moment he saw her."

In spite of herself, Bella flushed a warm pink, unable to keep the smirk off her lips.

"And it's still going on?" Siobahn asked, sounding gleeful. "Details, woman. At least let us live vicariously through you."

Bella eyed the two women, both of whom were smiling with genuine warmth. She warred with herself, trying to decide if they were worth letting her guard down. But they'd been nothing but kind to her, and had proven they were true friends. "I wouldn't be too jealous. It's not that I got game so much as I have history."

"You've hooked up with him before?" Maggie said.

"Ah. Yes. Once before." She let her gaze flick between the two of them. "He's Melody's father."

They both gawked at her. Maggie choked on a laugh, and Siobhan brought her fist down once on Bella's desk. "Ladies. We're going to lunch."

~0~

Over lunch, Bella told Maggie and Siobhan the harrowing story of how she came to be a resident of Port Angeles, Washington, in possession of a beautiful baby girl, and a young, sexy baby daddy.

"If you'd told me he was claimed, I never would have acted the way I did," Siobhan said, her tone easy and teasing. "I thought you were single."

"I am single. And I don't have a claim." Bella wrinkled her nose. "Or, I didn't. I don't know." She rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "It's complicated."

"What's so complicated?" Maggie asked. "You have a baby together for chrissakes. If you get along, it sounds pretty simple to me."

It was Siobhan who scoffed. "See, the problem with you, Mags, is you're not happily single." She sighed, her tone wistful. "My divorce was the best thing that happened to me. The freedom. You don't realize how much of you gets lost in a relationship. How much you compromise. And don't get me wrong. Compromise is a great thing when it comes to relationships." She smirked. "Of course, which one of you compromises more, loses more is a whole other story, but theoretically speaking, you and your person should make a good team. Equal loss, equal gain. That's a beautiful thing.

"I married young. I never got to figure out who I was just being me. I was always part of a unit. Him and me. Then, him, me, and the kids. Our Bella here has always been just her. Well. Her and beautiful baby Melody for a little while now, but kids are different than partners." Siobhan looked to Bella. "I get it. I can't even imagine what it would take for me to want to be in a relationship again. The idea of letting someone else have a say in my life? Not something I'm into."

"That's part of it," Bella admitted. "I love being single, and this… This whole thing is so…" She waved her hand helplessly. "I mean, when Mel happened, we were just strangers. Good-looking strangers who knew each other for minutes before we created a whole new human being. And I don't regret that, but it was destructive, you know? It was destructive for both of us, and I wasn't in love with him then. Christ, he's so young. Barely twenty when Mel was born.

"But these last three years, he grew up from this boy trying to figure out how what's right to a man. A good man, and…" She covered her face with her hands. "I've never felt this way before. I've never been so distracted by a man before."

"And that's a bad thing?" Maggie asked.

"I mean…" Bella searched for the words. "It's just not a me thing. This whole thing where I feel him on my skin, and it doesn't matter what I'm doing, my thoughts go to him. His smile. Something he said." She shook her head.

"Like being back in high school," Siobhan mused.

"Exactly. And it's an awesome high, but at the same time, I don't like it. I don't like feeling this way—over the moon and out of control and all bleh." She stuck her tongue out. "Like I don't want to be an adult. I don't want to think about things like the fact we might be fundamentally different. Finding satisfaction in my work has always been my most important thing. I wanted it more than I wanted kids, and definitely more than I ever wanted a man. But Edward—I think he's more of a family guy. He works hard, and he's found something he wants to do with his life, but it's not his most important thing. I think family is." She frowned. "I don't want any more kids. I wonder if he's thought of that, but at the same time, I don't want to bring it up because I want him. I do."

"Does it have to be so complicated? If you're happy, why question it?" Maggie asked with a shrug.

"The problem is what happens when you're not happy," Siobhan said. "When the tingles wear off, and you remember that a year is a long time, and forever is an eternity." She chuckled, amused at herself.

To Maggie, she said, "Here's how it happens. Bella and Baby Daddy are happy and giddy and oh so in love. And when you're happy and giddy and oh so in love, a lot of crap doesn't sound like a big deal. So they don't get to have any more kids. So what? They're happy.

"But a few years pass, and Baby Daddy starts to see other dads around with kids tumbling all over them. He suddenly realizes what it means to be done having kids when he was twenty years old."

Bella ran a hand over her eyes. "Ugh. Yes. Exactly. Relationships are complicated. Not bad. Just complicated."

"And life is already all sorts of twisted all by itself. You tangle your life up with someone else's and you're bound to wonder why you're helplessly tied in knots when you find out that you're not on the same page."

"Which might take five, ten years," Bella said.

"But you've had five or ten years of happy then." Maggie waved a hand, her tone and smile bubbly.

"Sure. It's a matter of if it's worth what you lose. Kids for him, for instance. For me—the only thing I know for sure right now is that I want to switch careers. To what, who knows? But I'm forty. I don't want to be distracted right now." She tilted her head, trying to ignore the pang of heartache. Her heart and her soul wanted different things.

She shrugged. "I'm not saying no, and I'm not jaded. I know it could be worth it. My dad fell in love with his best friend's widow, and they're great together. Good partners. And who knows. Maybe switching careers will be easy once I figure out what I want to do. Maybe it'll be something as simple as buying a fishing boat or something."

That broke some of the seriousness that had fallen over them. The other two snickered. "Oh, yeah. That sounds like you," Maggie said. "Coming home to your man smelling of fish. Right up your alley."

"Okay," Siobahn said. "What you gotta do is make a pro/con list. Start with the positives." She tilted her head, her eyes glinting with mischief. "Good in bed?"

Bella's cheeks heated, and that was all her friends needed to know. They laughed, and Siobhan held up one finger.

"You know he's going to be good with Mel," Maggie said.

Bella sighed. He was never more sexy than when he was in dad mode, unashamed and uninhibited with his affection for his little girl.

"He's no bum," Siobhan said.

"Yeah, he's got a good head on his shoulders."

Again, Siobhan's grin grew wide. "And tell you what, if you marry him, you never have to worry which one of you will die first. You'll never be lonely."

Bella balked and Maggie choked on her drink. "You're such an ass," Bella said, laughing.

They were still laughing, teasing each other, a minute later when Bella's phone lit up on the table. "Speak of the devil." Warmth and a giddy thrill went through her when she saw Edward's name and image on the screen. "Can you guys be good for a minute so I can talk to him?" She picked up the phone and pointed a finger at Siobhan. "I mean it. For God's sake, don't scare him off before I can figure out what I want."

Both women put on angelic expressions but cracked up as soon as they looked at each other. Bella shook her head ruefully as she turned her head away to answer. "Hey, you. I thought you weren't going to be back in cell range until tomorrow," Bella said into the phone.

"Oh, Edward. Hey," Siobhan called loudly.

Bella waved a frantic hand at her, turning all the way around in her chair and tilting her head down. "Can you say that again?"

"Is this Bella?" a voice that was definitely not Edward asked.

"Yes. Who is this?"

"It's Mike. Listen. There was an accident up there on the mountain. Edward… It's bad." His voice was stressed and thin. Bella's heart skipped a beat. The man on the other end of the phone made a strange, mournful noise. "It's really, really bad."

Bella was already on her feet. She cursed as Mike's voice started to cut in and out.

"...mountain. I mean— Couldn't get to— Hospital."

"Mike? Hello? Shit," Bella got outside, trying to keep ahold of her phone and scramble through her bag for her keys. "Mike?"

"Just hurry."

A/N: Next chapter is my priority. :) Just hope I don't go into labor before I finish the chapter. ;)