Sky's the limit

"That was fun," Jun said, grinning, "going bowling," when they arrived at her door.

Bella blushed flordiy. She'd guttered almost every ball. He'd done nothing but encourage her, and the kindness was almost too much.

She'd been quiet most of the evening, and Jun hadn't pushed her to talk, but wondered what was on her mind. When she'd had a beer, he'd raised an eyebrow, but hadn't said anything. At the second, he'd known something was up, but waited on her to bring it up.

"Want to come in for a bit?" she asked, not wanting the evening to be over, or to be left alone in her thoughts. Or her mangled feelings.

"Please," he said, curling his arm around her, then leaning in and kissing her.

She almost pulled away, but her heart, so tender after the exchange of the night before, ached and throbbed like a newly formed wound, and she let his contact continue, the closeness soothing.

The kiss did not end when the door closed, and he walked her backwards to the bed, where he caught her before she tripped, laying her down on it.

"So," he murmured between kisses, "you stretch after our hike?"

"Hm-mm," she breathed, hands touching his cheeks.

"Mmm," he answered back, and then gripped her right knee, torquing it over to her left side. "Sure about that?"

It was painful, but his playfulness caught her off guard, and she found herself laughing, trying to breathe through her grimace. "Sadist!" she managed to huff out. He replied by repeating this procedure with her other knee, pulling a sharp groan from her.

He was grinning widely, but then leaned in, releasing her knee, letting it fall to the outside of his hip, as he kissed her.

She could feel his body's response to her. He began to pull back, knowing where her limits lay, but she stopped him, pulling at his arms. "No, don't," she whispered.

He groaned, wanting to indulge her, but not wanting to push her too. He blew out a breath. "It's hard...to stop, Bella," he said softly, kissing her, his eyebrows furrowed. "I don't want to—"

"Don't stop then," she said, pulling him back.

The pieces of Edward's rejection had splintered, lodging painfully in her chest, and now her throat, so that her words were whispers.

She pushed her hands up under his shirt, feeling him slip it off. She shivered nervously when he repeated the gesture with hers, her heart beating frantically.

He was ecstatic.

"And by don't stop," he breathed into her neck, "what exactly do you mean?"

"How explicit do you want me to be?" she asked, trying to suppress the crimson sweeping up her cheeks.

"Very," he grinned back, head up, looking at her. Seeing her so uncomfortable, he returned his attention to her neck, and then slid lower.

She gasped at the sensations he was pulling from her, his lips just under her collar bone.

Taking a deep breath, she said, "sky's the limit," and then closing her eyes.

"Awesome," he whispered, and then slid onto his side, bringing her leg over his, their bodies close together. Their hands and lips explored the angles this configuration presented for some time, before he spoke again.

"So," he asked, "I've never asked. What's your favourite position?"

He was watching her, wanting to see every bit of their conversation unfold. His stomach was a wad of butterflies, all competing for space. He'd wanted her so badly, but he hadn't dared pin a hope on anytime soon.

When she flushed an even deeper red in the low light of the room, his eyebrows brushed his hair line. "That kinky huh?"

She hid her uncertainty in another kiss, hoping he wouldn't press for more of an answer.

He didn't, and showed her, with the intimate press of his body, just how much he did want her, hands moving down the backs of her jeans, and then the front, maneuvering the zipper loose, and pulling them off. She was repeating the same gesture, less gracefully, and much more nervously with him.

His hands worked her back, unhooking her bra, as he kissed her, and then circled around her hips, loosening the flexors there. She could feel her legs slacken, and relax at his touch.

He chuckled, "you really do need to stretch."

"You should get a t-shirt with that on it," she muttered into his hair.

He chuckled. "I'll look for one under the tree, then," he mumbled, putting his lips to better use on the skin behind her ear.

She shivered in pleasure. And with nerves.

He was running his hands up and down her ribs, letting them establish their comfortable lines there. From this vantage, they ranged further, finding the softness of her breasts, and then moving south to the tuft of softness that bordered the fine skin between her hips.

Bella's hands moved more tentatively, light touches taking in the texture and creases of his skin.

He sensed her shyness, and took her hand in his own, placing it on himself. It would have made her blush, if her blood wasn't so well occupied elsewhere. Jun's fingers had found their tender mark, gently teasing her. The pleasure of his regular brush made her breathing irregular and raspy. Her featherlight touch did the same for him.

The sound of a crinkling package brought her nerves back to the forefront.

"Are you sure you want to?" he asked, stopping, feeling the shift in her body.

She nodded, shy, but curious too, watching him put the condom on, breathless when he returned his attention to her. Their bodies met again, and she could feel him pressed against her, and then moving closer. It felt good.

His fingers still played over her back, her hips, and her thighs. Then he made an elegant arch of them at appointed places, touching her lightly, the pressure just enough to make her gasp. When he went to move them, she breathed out a "don't stop!"

He chuckled, and continued, waiting for her kisses to relax into his. They didn't, though, and she pulled him towards her, showing him what she wanted. He obliged, but stopped immediately, feeling her hands grip him, and the sharp intake of breath as he met a distinct resistance.

It left him momentarily wordless.

His inner monologue was something else, though. Something like, OH. MY. GOD.

"Don't stop," Bella said again, though this time with a precise shake to it.

He cleared his throat. "Bella...are you a virgin?"

Was it so obvious? She thought, rueing her ignorance on this practical front.

She gave a minute nod, her cheeks flaming.

Jun kept a firm hand at her back, locking their bodies in place, making sure he didn't move inadvertently. His eyebrows were doing gymnastics, creasing and releasing in worry and uncertainty.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he whispered, tracing his free hand over her cheek.

"Did I need to?" She looked at him, challenge and question all wrapped up in one.

He pursed his lips, thinking, "I just don't want to hurt you." He didn't add that he'd avoided virgins, precisely for this reason. Who wanted that to be part of sex?

It was completely the wrong choice of words for Bella.

"You won't," she said, voice shaking with an emotion and determination he could not possibly understand.

He could feel, most distinctly, that he would, and moved just a tiny bit, illustrating this.

She flinched under him, and he blew out a breath, pressing his forehead to hers. "OK," he said, "Fast, or slow?"

She understood what he was asking. "Fast," she answered, distracting herself with the texture of his hair, and neck in both her hands.

"Trust me?" he asked, meeting her eyes, watching them carefully.

"Absolutely."

"Good."

He picked her up, turning her back to be against the wall between her bed, and the desk. Hooking her legs under his arms, he was in her, the movement abrupt and quick.

She couldn't quite remember what to do with the air in her lungs. It took her a moment, her mouth open, trying to decide if the oxygen needed to be in, or out. The pain had been sharp, leaving her feeling like she'd been sucker punched.

"You OK?" he asked, worried at the stricken look on her face.

"Yes," she managed, eyes watering, feeling him still inside her, trying to breathe through the pain that clutched inside.

He began to move, very gently, very slowly, and she hissed in a breath. "Just...just give me a minute, OK?"

He nodded, stopping, electric with her touch, trembling with restraint. It took more than he thought he had to comply. He managed, just.

When she felt like she could pull air in and out with predictability, she whispered, "I'm OK."

He let his own breath go in relief, and began moving, still slowly, and tenderly, letting her body acquaint itself with the mounting pleasures of this new experience.

It was pleasurable.

Their kisses resumed their satisfying rhythm, and they moved together.

But, scratching at the pleasure was a small and irritable sting inside, that Bella dismissed as expected. It persisted though, and as Jun became more comfortable with the curves and spaces of her body, it grew in proportion to his movement.

When it tipped the scales over the balance of pleasure, Bella's forehead creased, and she voiced a raspy, "stop."

He heard what he'd heard before: an imploring that he not stop. "I won't," he whispered back, kissing, and alarming her entirely.

Thinking she was almost done, he shifted his position and movement, more certain—faster.

He took the sound that escaped her throat as a sign of something utterly different from what it was, and lost himself in the production of his own release.

He was so absorbed in these tenacious sensations that he didn't realize what her hands were doing, trying to push him away. She had no leverage with her legs, and the pain was now a fiery and insistent knife. He didn't see her hand moving towards him, but turning his jaw, most certainly felt its impact. There were mutual exclamations of pain, and he let go, backing away, she falling awkwardly against and down the wall, the condom sliding out of her with a wet thuck to the floor.

"What the hell Bella!" Jun said, hand at his jaw. "What are you playing at?" He was breathing heavily, angry and confused, watching her slumped against the wall, arms curling around her legs. She pulled at the bedspread that had fallen, sliding it over herself. She was too shocked to say anything, breathing hard, her good hand cradling the one she'd hit him with.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" he asked.

Bella hadn't moved, and was sitting, shaky and shocked by what had happened. She closed her eyes, thinking it would help her collect herself.

Jun thought she was shutting him out.

When Bella didn't speak, he turned, and faster than she had time to coherently respond, grabbed his clothes, angrily pulling them on. He left, slamming the door behind him, taking her silence as a reproach against some unknown offense.

His didn't understand what had happened at all, and his feelings, and his pride, were hurting.

Bella sat there for a long time, trying to will herself to stop shaking. To stop crying.

It didn't work

When she'd contained all the feelings she could, and realized that her hand was beyond what a bag of ice could handle, she awkwardly pulled her own clothes back on, cursing as she fumbled through it one-handed. Dressed, she pulled out her phone.

Sam didn't answer, and neither did Marie.

When someone did, her voice was still shaky. "Emmett?" she asked, almost uncertainly.

"Bella!"

"Hey," she said, trying to make her voice steady. "You busy?"

"No, why?"

"I um...need a ride to the hospital," she said, watching the modulation of each word.

"Trippin' over even surfaces again, huh?"

"Something like that," she managed. "Um...I'll warn you, I'm bleeding."

"No problem," he said, "Gimme five. Be right there."

"Thanks," she whispered.

She was waiting outside, trying to mask her shivers with the pretense of cold.

Emmett frowned, seeing her. "That bad, huh?"

She lifted her hand by way of explanation, her face usefully expressionless.

When he asked what happened, she shook her head, allowing her blush to speak for her.

They didn't talk while they waited in the emergency room. When her name was called, she turned back to him, "can you wait for me? Please?" It was almost whispered, and the shake in her voice so apparent, Emmett only nodded, frowning as she walked away.

Her knuckles were fractured, and he winced imagining how painful that would be. The x-rays were done, and the cast on when the nurse asked, casually, how she'd broken it.

"Oh," Bella said, clearing her throat, "I, um, hit someone."

Emmett chuckled. He really needed to teach her how to throw a punch. He was surprised Charlie hadn't already.

"What led to that?" the nurse continued, voice still very calm, as if she were asking the time of day.

Bella's answer was mumbled, but Emmett heard it clearly.

"I asked someone to stop, and they didn't."

He felt a chill his body had no right to run down his spine.

The nurse was taking stock of Bella's posture, the way she was shifting uncomfortably in her seat, and the shake that should have worn off by now.

"What did you want them to stop doing?" the nurse asked softly. Emmett knew the doctor wouldn't have heard it.

There was no answer.

Emmett could hear the doctor swish out of the room.

"Someone was hurting you?"

Still no answer, but the rustle of fabric told him Bella had moved.

Emmett realized, quite suddenly, that the few people in the waiting room were all looking at him. His hands were balled, his face set in an expression he knew was menacing. He forced himself to sit back, smile congenially, and fold his hands behind his head, looking as relaxed as he could.

"Do you have any other injuries?" the nurse asked, voice now soft. Careful.

"I'm not sure," Bella said, almost whispering. She was trying to keep something from him.

Shit.

"OK," the nurse said, "I'll be right back." She left, the squeak of her shoes following her down the hall, where she knocked on a door. Her conversation with her colleague was muted to the human ears present, but not to Emmett's.

"I have a girl with a broken hand and what might be a sexual assault. You free?"

The room disappeared for Emmett. He perceived only the thumping pieces of flesh there, and it took all his control to stand, and walk outside, not stopping, but moving at what he hoped was a human enough pace until he reached the cover of the trees, and their private darkness. His phone call was curt, and he only waited until he had an affirmative answer before disappearing into the night.

Edward arrived within a minute, skirting the eyes of any potential witnesses. It was simple enough to locate Bella in the minds of the two women now in the room: a nurse, and a counsellor. Another doctor, waited just outside.

He understood, with horrified clarity, why Emmett had had to leave.

He followed his brother's scent to the privacy of the trees, where he mangled one of the fallen trees into sawdust. He would have destroyed it with his voice, if he hadn't worried about the attention it would attract.

It took him a solid twenty minutes before he was calm enough to walk back inside the building, berating himself the entire way.

His last words to her were swimming through his head, on a loud repeat that bludgeoned with each iteration.

They were trying to convince Bella to allow them to collect evidence during the exam.

"It wasn't—" she sighed, "I gave consent—"

"I understand," the counsellor said, "but then you revoked it."

"He didn't hear me—" Her voice shook. She was on the verge of tears.

"No," she said, "he might not have. Or he might've. Taking a few minutes to collect this now gives you the opportunity to revisit this later, if you want."

"I won't," Bella said, the rustle of her hair signalling her shaking head.

"And you don't have to, but you'll have the option to," the nurse said. "I see a lot of girls who wish they had."

They wore her down with repeated asking, and when she finally gave her reluctant consent, Edward sought other minds to bury his attention in. It was a more herculean task than he'd ever met before. He was so used to finding the minds that showed him her, it was almost instinctual to let his special sense flick back and forth between any that saw her. He didn't want to invade the little privacy she had here, but there were unintentional flickers of her face. She had that look, her jaw muscles strained, when she was holding back tears.

He carefully avoided thinking about who. It would be too easy to find him.

It would be so easy to pour all his own guilt into one human form.

It was why Emmett had left. He hadn't wanted to do anything...rash.

When a new doctor finally came to see Bella, her clinical approach was gentle. She reminded him of Carlisle, and he breathed a sigh of relief for her competence, and her bedside manner.

Bella was not doing well. She'd held up through most of the embarrassing questions. Blanched through the exam. It was the doctor quietly asking about emergency contraception that unstoppered the tears.

She felt like an idiot.

She'd known she was playing with fire. What had she been thinking?

Clearly, she hadn't.

"Take two now, and two in twelve hours. Now, forgive the redundancy, but I need you to tell me when you're going to take the next two."

Bella repeated the information woodenly, like a child who knew herself considered too stupid to be trusted with the most basic addition.

There were blood tests, and finally, paperwork, which the counsellor helped her walk through.

"This doesn't become a formal complaint until you sign it," she said. "Then it becomes a legal document, and the police will initiate charges. Do you have any questions about any of this?"

The familiar rustle meant a shake of her head: no.

Bella felt it was just a waste of everyone's time. An exhausting waste of time.

She'd said yes.

She just wanted to go home.

By the time the doctor handed her a prescription she had no plans on filling, she was swaying when she stood up. Exhausted. It was almost one in the morning.

"Do you have someone to take you home?" the nurse asked, holding Bella's elbow lightly as she walked her back out to the waiting room.

"Yes, thank you," Bella said, ready to be done with so much help.

The nurse nodded, smiled in farewell, and then turned back to her other duties.

When Bella walked into the reception area, she stopped, and her heart began to beat erratically.

Edward was standing in the waiting area, stance tense, staring at her.

Edward.

Then the room became fuzzy around the edges, grey, and finally black.

A/N for 2018-07-02: So, I'll just leave this here and hope we can all still be friends after this.

(Looks around nervously as she clicks on the 'post' button)

Cheers,

~ Erin

2018-07-03 - PS - A guest reviewer just asked if I still answer questions. Yes, I do, but by PM. So, please make sure you're logged in. As well, sometimes I'm not sure if the questions are rhetorical, so helpful if you note that you actually want it answered somewhere in the review. FYI, I don't generally get into plot spoilers.

DISCLAIMER: S. Meyer owns Twilight. No copyright infringement intended.