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not beta'd

storyline - Laugh

prompt - naughty

As much as I would've have liked to have lain in bed with Edward and do naughty things to pass time, we simply weren't at that point yet. Maybe we'd never be, but I had hope.

We'd been that way once, lazy in love, spending mornings laughing and touching and talking. I knew it could be that way again if we would just let it.

Although "let it" sounded so passive, and that's what had gotten us in trouble before. We could make it happen.

He was at the kitchen table when I emerged from the bathroom. Toweling my hair, I walked to the window and looked out; this part of the apartment faced a different direction than the bedroom. There was a parking lot down below.

"What did you want to do today?" Edward asked. He turned a page of the paper he was reading.

"Doesn't matter; I really only came here to see you."

"I could give you a little tour, I guess, of downtown?"

"Sure." I nodded, finger-combing my hair.

"There's a good place I go sometimes for lunch…"

"I take it you never cook," I said, joking.

He snorted, not looking up from his newspaper.

I walked over to him and sank my fingers in to his hair. It was still a little damp from the shower he'd taken before. He leaned his head in to me, and when I started to pull away, he caught my hand.

"I'm glad you came," he said.

I nodded, swallowing.

He looked up at me. "I mean it."

"I'm glad I came too. Even though I was scared you'd turn me away… or be so polite you'd be nothing like how you used to be."

He shook his head. "I don't think I could ever be that way with you. You're my best friend."

I wrapped my arms around him and kissed the top of his head. "You're mine, too."

"Do Alice and Rose know?" he teased.

I pinched him. "Shush."

After lunch Edward took me to a park near his building, where we sat awhile. The sun shined dappled and soft through the trees, and everywhere I looked, children played and families lounged.

"It's so pretty here," I said.

"It is. You should see some of the houses in the nicer neighborhoods… "

"This is nice, though."

"Yeah, this is great. It works for me, you know? I'm pretty close to work and everything I need."

"Do you see yourself staying here for good?" I asked, watching a tiny girl toddle after a ball.

"I don't know. I'm here for the job, but you never know." He shifted beside me. "I guess… I guess that's why I'm a little hesitant to have you come out. What if you get settled and then I have to leave again?"

"Then I'd go with you," I said, folding in my hands in my lap. "It's not like we have pets or…kids. No attachments."

"You'd really do that for me?"

"For us, yes. I would."

I looked at him then, really looked at him, and it was like I could see something settling over his features, maybe the deep knowing that I had deep in my heart, too.

"I want you with me," he said. The rush of the wind through the trees could have easily carried his words away, but it didn't. I heard him.

Smiling, I looked down, almost weak with relief. He rubbed his hand over my thigh. "Hey."

I looked at him and he kissed me.