All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc are the intellectual property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 8

"Why don't you go have a lie down, while I help Edward finish the chores," Jake suggested as they walked into the house. "I'll come back in a bit and make us some lunch."

"I'll go lay down for a while, I am tired," she admitted. "But, I'll make lunch after that, and I don't want to hear any arguments about it!"

"Hmm, we'll see," he said, grabbing his gloves from the table by the door and heading out. He caught up with Edward in the barn as he was pulling the harness off Herman. "Got the plowin' all done in the wheat field?"

"Yep, it's ready to plant."

"Already fertilized?"

"Did that first, like always."

"We need extra this year, remember. We've added two more customers for the organic flour."

"I know, we'll have plenty."

"Get all the animals taken care of?"

"Nope, not all."

"I'll take care of the rest. Did you get Bessie and Sophie milked?

"Yep."

"Leg botherin' ya?

"A mite."

Jake's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the younger man's admission. "Oh," he said, concern for his young friend evident on his face. He must have been in considerable pain to overcome his usual stoicism. Knowing he would not want to dwell, he decided to let it go, for now. "Is the vegetable garden ready to plant?"

"No, I'll get to it tomorrow."

"Gonna use the tractor for that, or keep bein' a stubborn, muleheaded..."

"Alright, already! I'll use the tractor!" Edward gave in.

"OK. " Jake patted Herman's nose as Edward filled his food trough. "You know, Emmett's brother's are always lookin' for extra work in the Spring, they can help out with plantin' and all."

"Yeah, that would probably be good," Edward conceded.

Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, Jake broached the subject that had him still standing there, instead of feeding the chickens. "So..., you and Marie had a talk?"

Edward leaned against Herman, stroking his neck as he thought back on her revelations from the night before.

"Yes, we talked. And yes, you were right, Jake. You were absolutely right, and I was so, so wrong," he confessed.

"I knew it!" There was satisfaction in the older man's tone, but not gloating. He would ask no questions, either; he didn't need to hear any details to know she was worthy of his help. "You're good with her staying then?" he asked, hopefully.

Edward nodded, picking up the water bucket and heading for the spigot on the side of the barn. Jake followed, grinning from ear to ear. "I want her to stay. She's right about the FBI not being able to protect her. She's better off here as long as we can keep her hidden."

"How long will that be?" Jake wondered out loud.

Edward sighed and ran a hand roughly through is hair, leaving a trail of grain dust. "I don't know. I don't have enough information about her past. I'd need to know more about the guy who helped her get away, where she got the plane, what kind of tracking they might have on her, I need details."

"She told me she stole the plane, and disabled the transponder."

Edward chuffed, shaking his head. "She's something else, isn't she?" he asked rhetorically.

"She shore is, no truer word ever spoken!"

"So, as long as it stays hidden back there, and she lays low so she isn't recognized, there should be nothing to tie her to us," Edward speculated.

"Right."

"Unless..."

"What? Unless what?"

"If there were satellite images of a plane with no transponder signal, that might draw attention."

"Oh." Jake looked down, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "What are the chances of there being satellite images?"

"Well, it's a real possibility."

Both men were quiet for several moments, contemplating the risk.

"You're absolutely sure you want to do this, Jake? Because, if she's found, if we're found out, either by the FBI, or that prick, James, it won't be pleasant for us."

"What choice do we have?"

"None, really. I couldn't turn her away any more than you could."

"As far as I'm concerned, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, if we do. So, you're in?"

Edward nodded his agreement. "I'm in. But..."

"What?"

"I have the feeling she's still planning to run as soon as she's able after the baby comes. She's dead set against putting us in danger."

"Well, you need to convince her to stay."

"Huh, how do I do that?"

"Figure it out, boy, you're the key, figure it out!"

BR

"What's that wonderful smell?" Edward asked, as he strolled into the kitchen a few hours later, struggling to hide the pain in his leg.

"I woke up in the mood to cook, so I thought I'd fix a big meal for dinner, and then we can have a light supper later, if anyone's hungry." Bella couldn't help noting the sheen of sweat and pale skin on his handsome face; discretion, and an innate sense regarding his feelings, caused her to refrain from commenting, but not from worrying.

"Sounds like a good plan to me, do I have time for a shower before we eat?"

"Indeed, in fact, it's a prerequisite!" Bella told him, smiling gently.

Jake stomped in few minutes later, scowling at her. "You're doin' too much, young lady, you need to stop that and take it easy!"

Bella scowled right back at him. "Jake, you are making me think you don't like my cooking," she pouted.

"You know that's not true! You're a wonderful cook! I just want you to not over do, you're just like my Leah, always puttin others ahead."

"Oh, Jake," she sighed, "you make me want to be as you see me, but you don't see me as I truly am, at all."

"Pssht," he scoffed, "what a load of baloney!"

"What's baloney?" Edward wanted to know, as he came into the kitchen, grabbing a plate and digging in to the food Bella had prepared.

"Marie is trying to argue that she isn't selfless and terrific."

"Yeah, I know. She doesn't see herself clearly, at all," Edward opined, and both men looked at her in a way that caused her cheeks to flush a becoming pink.

"What nonsense! If the two of you don't knock it off and eat, I'm going to decide you aren't hungry and put it all away!"

The subject was dropped, but each of them in their own way were left to ponder how well she fit into their dynamic.

Later that evening Bella took a glass of lemonade with her and went out to sit in the porch swing. Edward joined her, as he had the previous night, after cleaning the kitchen.

"That was really good, thanks for cooking again. Jake's OK as a breakfast cook, but he's not that much of general cook. I have to tell you, you're spoiling both of us."

Bella laughed, but there was a little catch in her breath. She wanted nothing more than to stay and spoil the two of them, in perpetuity, and she knew that was impossible.

"So, how did you and Jake meet?" she asked, genuinely curious, as well as anxious to change the subject.

"When I was released from physical therapy after my injury I took off, just drove. I had to get away. I was driving through Georgia and Jake and I ran into each other. Literally, we had a collision."

"Oh, really? Who was at fault?" she asked, chuckling at the memory of their squabble over driving on the way to Atlanta. It was even more amusing to know there was history there.

"Umm, I guess we both were, truthfully, although if you ask Jake it was all me," he said, smiling, knowing what she was thinking.

"How did you go from running into each other to business partners?"

"I can't explain it exactly, but it was like we both just...knew. By the time we had the cars towed and insurance paperwork taken care of, we were friends. He asked if I had a place to stay while my car was being fixed, and instead of going to a motel, I rented a car and drove us out here, and I've been here ever since. That was a little over a year ago. He needed help, and I needed to get back to my roots, so I took some of my savings, invested them in this venture, and here we are."

"Roots?" she asked in surprise, "I thought you were a city boy, from Chicago, and your father was, or rather is, a doctor?

"He is, but I actually grew up, mostly, on a farm outside the city. It's my mother's, and it's belonged to her family for several generations. She runs the farm, he works at a hospital."

"But, you ended up in the FBI, how did that happen?"

"I was recruited out of high school by law enforcement. My family has some history with that, too. I have, had, actually, an older brother who was an agent. He was undercover, I'm not even sure what letters of the alphabet he ended up in. CIA, NSA. He started out in the FBI, though, right out of college."

"Had, as in...?"

"Yes, he's dead. He was almost ten years older than me, so by the time I was in college he was deep undercover, and then...gone."

"He was killed while undercover?"

"Yes, although we were told he was killed in a car accident, of all things."

This question, these memories, had him up and pacing back and forth across the porch.

Bella watched him pace for a few moments in silence. "It must have been hard on your parents, to see you following in his footsteps," she finally observed, softly.

Edward sighed and sat back down, this time beside her on the swing. "It was, they wanted me to go into medicine. That was never going to happen, though. I don't have the compassion my father does."

Bella was doubtful of this, but didn't comment. "Were you undercover when you were injured?"

"I was a field agent, I hadn't done any undercover work, yet."

"Oh."

"My partner...," he paused, and for several moments the only sound to be heard was that of crickets and frogs performing their nightly chorus. He took a deep breath, this was it, he was going to tell her, lay himself bare in all his stupid naivete.

"Her name was Tanya, and she was also the relationship I mentioned. She was older than me, by six years, and dirty, it turned out. She had been raking in money from several directions, and I never knew a thing. She was my first partner, and after she got to know me she could tell that even being my lover would not keep me from bringing her down if I found out what she had been up to. So, she had to take me out."

"So, it was her betrayal that got you injured?" Bella asked, feeling a rage building inside, what kind of monster was this woman? She'd better hope she never encountered her.

"She was trying to get me killed. Thankfully, she underestimated my will to live."

"Thank god she did! What happened to her?"

He shook his head, "I don't know for sure, I think she's dead, but I would never make the mistake of underestimating her will to live."

"How long did you work together?"

"Three years."

"And how much of that time was spent together," Bella looked down, not wanting him to see how it made her cringe to think of him with someone, "as a couple, I mean?"

"About nine months. I think it was her last ditch effort to...corrupt me, I guess. After all, it would have been easier for her to have a partner as dirty as she was."

"What a horrible first experience with relationships. No wonder you reacted to me the way you did." She shook her head, tears flooding her eyes at the thought of the pain, physical and emotional that he had endured.

"Like I said, what I felt for her was nothing compared to you."

Her heart was breaking in her chest. How could she do this to him? But, staying was so dangerous for him, and Jake, that she didn't see an alternative.

They were both quiet, neither willing to address that subject, yet.

"You're certainly under no obligation to tell me, but I wondered what your plans were when you left, before you crashed here?"

"I have a friend in Virginia, who I met a few years ago when she was on assignment in Miami. She is a photographer, sometimes freelance, sometimes for certain magazines. She has no connections to anyone in my old life, and no one knows about her, not even Riley or Jasper."

"You felt that you would be safe with her?"

Bella nodded. "As safe as I would anywhere. I...I've never felt as safe as I do here, but..."

"I know," Edward said, taking pity on her. "you don't want to get Jake and me caught up in your troubles."

She nodded, unable to speak around the lump in her throat.

"It's too late, you know," he told her, his expression as solemn as his voice. "for both of us. Jake found a son in me, and now he's found his daughter in you. And I, well, suffice it to say, I'm attached."

While he was speaking he had been leaning toward her, his eyes swinging between her lips and eyes, his tongue darting out to wet his lips.

"I...this can't happen. We can't...we shouldn't," his mouth was saying the words, but his arms were ignoring them completely, reaching out to envelop her in their warmth and strength.

"No, we can't, we shouldn't," she breathed, but his face was inching toward hers, drawn as metal to a magnet, growing in her field of vision until it blocked out everything else. He paused, a scant space from her lips, letting her bridge the tiny distance that was a chasm. His breath was sweet like apples in her mouth and nostrils. She moved, barely, and leaped off the precipice. Their lips touched and she knew her world would never be the same.