All copyrights, trademarked items, or recognizable characters, plots, etc. mentioned herein belong to their respective owners. No copying or reproduction of this work is permitted without their express written authorization.

not beta'd

storyline - Sultry

prompt - gold

"I told you she'd like you. They both do," he says regarding his parents.

I pull my fingers through his hair over and over. It relaxes me as much as it does him. "I know. But you can understand why I was nervous, right?"

"Yeah." He clicks through the channels for awhile, but gives up eventually and starts to put down the remote.

"Hold on," I say, grabbing it. Sometimes I like watching the food network to see if anything will catch my eye. Right now there's a show about chocolate crepes. I'll have to try those.

We watch quietly for awhile, commenting every once in a while.

Outside, the sun breaks from behind the clouds, flooding my living room with light and illuminating the gold in Edward's coppery hair.

"Your hair is such an unusual color," I remark, not for the first time. "It's so, so pretty."

He snorts. "You only love me for my hair."

I shove him, smiling.

"It runs in the family," he says. "My grandma had hair just like this."

"On which side?"

"My Mom's."

"Oh, okay. 'Cause your Dad's hair is pretty blond."

He nods. "Used to be, anyway. He's getting grayer."

"Do you want kids?" I blurt out. Yikes. Maybe it's a little premature to be having conversations like this, but apparently my subconscious doesn't care.

I know I'm blushing when he twists so he's looking up at me. He reaches up to touch my cheeks, one by one.

"Yeah, eventually. Do you?"

"Yeah." His smirk makes me smile, and roll my eyes. "Eventually."

"One out of four would have my hair," he says. "Remember Punnett squares?"

"I never said I was having kids with you," I say, biting my lip.

He tickles me in to submission.

The days gradually melt from spring to summer. Besides a very rare heat wave in mid June, the weather remains comfortable and we spend a lot of time outdoors.

Falling in love with Edward is an ongoing thing. I've never felt this way about anyone before, and the fact that he feels the same way about me seems crazy. But he does. It's like the world's best coincidence.

You like me? I like you! Wait, you love me? Funny, I love you too.

The anniversary of Masen's death, midsummer, looms like a dark specter. Edward's family is convening in Seattle to commemorate, and to celebrate his life. I go back and forth in my mind, wondering what my role in this is: do I stay put and offer support from a distance? Would it be too weird and distracting for me to go back to Seattle with Edward for his family's gathering?

Or do I buck up and go with him? I can put my own feelings aside, but I don't want him to feel awkward, especially because things are great between us, and have been for a long time. It's hard to believe we've been together less than a year because we have so many memories to draw from. We've both changed and grown, as individuals but also as a couple. I finally understand what it means to part of a true, committed whole.

Everything else was just practice, I guess. Not that my prior relationships weren't important – because they were – but they were nothing like this.

Edward…Edward's everything.

So there's my answer.

"I'll go with you."

Edward pulls me in to a hug. "Thanks."

"You want me to come, right?"

I feel him nod, his stubble scratchy against my temple.

"Why didn't you say anything?" I ask. "I didn't know what to do…I've been deliberating for days."

"I wanted to make sure we were on the same page. You need to do what you want, not what you think I want."

That makes sense.

"We're on the same page, then," I assure him. "Do you think Tanya will go?"

"It's hard to say." He sighs, deep. "It's been a year."

"But… they were serious. And for awhile." Once this would have pained me to admit, but now it's just how it is. Or rather, how it was.

"Yeah. I doubt she's… over it, or anything, but I think she's moving on the best she can. Last I heard she'd gone back to school."

"Oh, she'd stopped?"

"For a semester."

I don't have to inquire how he knows these things. Edward told me that they'd grown up in a relatively small town outside of Seattle, where people tend to know each other. Tanya went to high school with Edward and Masen, and her parents know theirs. Even today it sounds like a small world, where it's easy to find out who's doing what.

Though I never knew her, I'm glad Tanya is moving on. I still don't know how I'd feel about seeing her, though, especially in this context. I wonder if my being with Edward would hurt her, somehow.

Thinking about it makes my brain hurt, frankly.

"You belong there." Edward says. This is why I suspect he's the One. It's like he reads my thoughts; he remembers things I told him a long time ago, things like feeling I didn't belong at the funeral. "You belong there with me."

I look up at his face, in to his eyes. "I know."

just a chapter of 2 left of this...

xoxo