In the decade since the Cullens left her, Bella, like many women, had developed the handy coping strategy of shoving her emotions deep inside where they were left to fester away into oblivion. It was a good thing she was so skilled at it now. Edward's return opened a little fissure in her life that she didn't know how to deal with. So she ignored it. Thinking about the feelings raised during her time with Edward wouldn't prepare her to go and tell her husband that the family of the once-love-of-her-life were rescuing them. Instead, she turned the radio on, careful not to listen to any words, and began to create a potential inventory for the newly developed Pacific Northwest Trust's Take It Outside program.

Bella pulled into their driveway to see the lights were on inside. When she entered Mike greeted her at the door with a kiss. "Hey baby, I closed up a little early tonight. Thought I would make you dinner."

"It smells delicious. Thank you darling. I must have known, I stopped off and got us a bottle of wine." She kissed him again. "What can I do to help?"

"Nothing. Actually, wait here, don't move." He grabbed the bottle from her hands and raced off to the dining room before dashing back in to stand before her. "Now." He said grabbing the edges of her open trench coat and pulling her into him. He smiled as he rubbed his nose gently alongside hers. "I have thought of one thing." He teasingly kissed her lips, gently tugging them with his own and then pulling away, only to return and feel her tongue brush against his lips. He pulled back and grabbed her hand. "Come on, before we get caught up and ruin it."

Mike led Bella into the candle filled dining room, he kissed her one more time before pulling the chair out for her.

"Ummm...am I forgetting something? Is this a special occasion?"

"No, I just wanted to do something nice."

"Oh! Well, I think I could make this a special occasion." Mike sat down as Bella spoke, then grinned at her and comically wiggled his eyebrows. "Not that!" He responded the her exclamation by dropping his face into an exaggerated pout, which Bella laughed at. "Well, yes that, but later, that's not what I mean now. I have news. Good news."

"I get it later? That is good news."

"Stop it," she laughed, "you're incorrigible and I'm trying to be serious. The Cullens came by the store the other day." That was enough to get Mike's attention. "They run a charity that helps underprivileged kids, the same one that funded the library, it's going to provide grants and equipment to get kids outside. They've chosen us to be their supplier Mike!"

"Bella that's great!" Mike's smile was genuine, but he didn't feel quite as enthusiastic as Bella. "Is it for Forks kids?" Mike was running numbers in his head, trying to figure out how much equipment a group of kids from Forks would need, would it buy them a month?

"Mike, the contract is for a year. Once a month for a year they are going to buy $10,000 worth of equipment from us!"

Mike dropped his fork. "$10, 000? A month?"

"A month! Isn't that amazing!"

"It's something." Mike was cautious. The Cullen family coming back to town hadn't really bothered him all that much. Her relationship with Edward was seldom discussed. The few times it was brought up she was very dismissive, laughing it off as a silly high school thing. Mike always let her act like it was nothing. He remembered what had happened to her when Edward left. The one time he pressed her on it she told him that it wasn't just losing Edward, but losing her best friend, and people she thought of as family. She assured him it was just her immaturity, she was barely 18, and didn't have the skills to cope with being dumped by her first love. Bella said she had gotten over it while at University and that was good enough for him.

But Mike had always resented Edward. He could never quite shake his first impression, especially when it came to Edward with Bella. He didn't think their relationship was a typical high school romance. He remembered Edward's possessiveness, the way he looked at her like she was something to be devoured. When Bella told them they had never slept together, that they hadn't done much together at all, he didn't believe her at first. The way the two of them acted in high school, he always assumed they spent every moment they could going at it.

"What's wrong Mike? This is amazing! This is going to get us out of the hole. It's so much better than another bank loan."

"I know Bella, it is. And I really appreciate that you went to all that effort to secure it, but why am I only hearing about this now?"

"It just happened now."

"So, you just bumped into them in town, and they said 'here, take this lump of cash every month.' I don't think that's what happened." Mike was uncharacteristically sarcastic. "I don't understand why you would keep this from me."

Bella was shocked. This was the closest to a fight the two of them had ever been. "They came by the store yesterday and told me about it. I went up to their place tonight to hear their plan. I didn't tell you because I didn't want to get your hopes up. I'm sorry. I wanted to do something to help you." Bella wanted the words she was saying to be the truth, but the further opening of that little fissure deep down whispered liar. Instead of acknowledging it, Bella became defensive. "I thought you would be happy about this!"

"Hey baby," Mike reached over and grabbed her hand. "Of course I am. I'm just suspicious of what they want. That's a pretty generous gesture." Mike decided he didn't want to talk about the shop anymore, but he wasn't quite ready to drop the subject of the Cullens. He looked at Bella carefully while she took a bite of her salad. "So, your truck's running really well this week." He continued to watch her as her eyes flew to his.

"It died last week, on my day off, the day of that crazy downpour. I was running some errands and it broke down. I ran into Rosalie and Emmett. He told me he would take care of it and she drove me around town while I finished what I needed to do. When I got home, the truck was here. I figured Emmett got a boost, maybe got me an oil change and brought it back." Bella told herself she was lying because she didn't want to fight with Mike. He was obviously upset that she didn't tell him she had spent time with them, she didn't want to hurt him further by letting him know that she had dropped by a week ago. She didn't think he would like to hear that she was alone with Edward. Mike wasn't the only person she was lying to.

"Why didn't you tell me that?"

"Really Mike, I didn't think it was a big deal. I'd been ignoring that engine light for a while, you know that. We didn't have the money to get it looked at. Emmett was good with cars, he didn't seem to mind helping me out-"

"Bella," Mike interrupted, "I looked under the hood. There's a whole new engine in there." Mike continued to watch her, the stunned look on her face told him that this was news to her. "Why are they doing this? What do they want in return?"

"I don't know. Maybe Emmett wanted to do something nice, to make up for the past." Bella tried to shrug it off and return to her dinner.

"I don't know babe. I never understood your relationship with them, you know that. I know they were like a family to you, just be careful with them." Mike decided to take a risk by being honest with Bella. "I don't want to open old wounds, but I'm not sure they felt the same way. Dr. Cullen seemed like a nice man, and it was great he took them all in when they were orphaned. But honey, I'm not sure he took you in the same way. I'm a little apprehensive. They seem to be awfully interested in you all of a sudden."

"It's not all of a sudden." Bella whispered. "The organization that ran my scholarship is the same organization that is awarding these grants. It's Carlisle's foundation. He's quietly been looking out for me all this time." a tear escaped that Bella quickly dashed away. "I just found out tonight."

Mike knew that his wife had a deep need to be cared for that she never expressed. He tried his best, but he knew he couldn't be everything to her. He couldn't be the parent she lost, or the one she never really had. While he wanted to be happy that Bella could find a family again, he selfishly didn't want Edward to be a part of that. "Bella, love, I'm sorry that it's just us, and that it's just been us for so long. I want nothing more than to have a family with you, and I know that isn't in the cards for us. But just be careful with them ok? I'm not worried about Edward," he lied, "but I am worried about the rest of them. I don't think they realized what they meant to you. I'd hate for them to move away again, and for you to lose that parental relationship once more." He reached over once again and squeezed her hand. He wasn't usually so open with Bella with things that may hurt her feelings and he was eager to drop the subject now he'd said what he felt she needed to hear. "Now come on, we've got to eat this dinner so we can get to that 'later' you promised me."

After dinner, and the promised 'later,' Mike held Bella in his arms. She rested her head in the crook of his shoulder and absentmindedly ran her fingers over his chest. These were the little moments Mike savoured. He felt her shift and he rolled over to look at her.

"I'm sorry about before. I didn't handle your good news very well." Mike couldn't keep his hands off Bella, he bent the hand under her head to play with her hair, his other hand wandered up and down her arm.

"It's ok. Really, I should have told you. I just didn't think it would be a big deal, I had no idea what was going to turn into."

"Bella, think about what we can do with this money. Maybe we can get the debts paid off, save a little even."

"You could go back to school Mike."

"You could go back too, finish up your masters. Or we could-"

"We could run off to a deserted island..." Bella interrupted.

"I like that idea. Hmm..." Mike grabbed Bella and pulled her closer, "We could make love all morning, lie on the beach, our sweaty bodies sparkling in the sunlight..."

And then, for the briefest of moments, a look passed across Bella's face. Mike saw it and was reminded of a time a few years ago, just before they were engaged. The truck had died on his way home and he had walked the rest of the way, though he was unprepared to be outside in the cold. Once he walked through the door he could hear music blaring from their bedroom, and followed it to find a freshly showered and unaware Bella folding laundry in her underwear, her back to Mike. He quietly moved behind her and wrapped his freezing arms around her waist. He had expected her to squeal, give him a playful punch and laugh it off. Instead she silently whipped around and the pure joy left her face for just a second. She looked at Mike as though she was disappointed, perhaps even devastated, it was him. But then she smiled again and it almost lit up her face. Almost.

It was such an unremarkable moment for Mike he would have forgotten it if it hadn't been for what happened that night as she slept. Her soft crying had woken him. He tried to comfort her though she was still sleeping. As he shushed her and gently brushed away the tears she had sighed Edward's name.

Before he had time to contemplate his memories, Bella's mouth was hungrily on his, she pushed him on his back. All thoughts of Edward Cullen, or the new possibilities opened by his family, left Mike's mind.