A/N: Man I was struggling so hard with where this chapter should go. I had so many ideas but ultimately I think this moves along the plot nicely. I'm juicing my creative juices. I love your nice reviews thank you

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Chapter 7 - Non-Frustrating

I woke with a start. It was dark. Too dark to see anything. But no - my eyes began to adjust and I I started to make out some shapes. Two nightstands, an armoire, a chair in the corner. There was a cool breeze coming in from a window to the right. The curtains were drawn - they billowed slightly in the wind. It wasn't a room I recognized - nondescript, empty. A hotel, I guessed. My brows knitted together as I tried to remember how I'd gotten here.

It all came flooding back. The mad dash out of the office, the car chase, the flushed attraction. I sat up abruptly in bed, my cheeks burning hot with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry," came a soothing voice from the chair I had thought was empty. "Did I wake you?"

I considered that for a moment, trying to find him in the darkness. I thought I could make out a hint of an outline, but it was darker in his corner and that was all my eyes could manage. I was alone with him. This stranger. Unbidden, red colored my cheeks again. My silence seemed to frustrate him.

"What are you thinking?" He prompted when I didn't speak. What an odd question.

"I … I was thinking it's very dark in here."

"Oh." I could hear the frown in his tone. "I apologize. I didn't realize. But it's best … if we don't turn the lights on just now."

"Why?"

He chuckled a little. "It helps us stay … undetected."

It sounded like he was choosing his words carefully. Only revealing certain things. I mulled this new information over. If we were trying to stay undetected, that meant we had to stay hidden then. Hidden from what? But I asked another, more pressing question.

"Who are you?"

There was a small pause. He hadn't expected this new line of questioning, I guessed.

"My name is Edward." No last names, I noticed.

"I'm Bella. Bella Swan." I made a point to include my last name, a subtle reproach.

I was rewarded with another chuckle.

"Yes." And I heard the unspoken words: 'Yes, I know.'

"You knew that already." I said it petulantly, confidently - like I understood the situation at hand.

"Yes."

"And you've been watching me."

There was a long pause this time. As if he were contemplating how much he wanted to reveal.

"... Yes," he conceded. I smiled. So we were being honest, then. And something occurred to me.

"Where's the muffin from?"

"Sorry?" Confusion colored his voice and I was abruptly annoyed that I couldn't see his expressions.

"The muffin," I exaggerated the word as if this would clarify things. I was sure this had to be connected.

The pause was longer this time. I wished I could see his face. Read the emotions behind the eyes. It was too dark in here to have a proper conversation.

"Could you come into the light?"

"Christ, Bella. You're going to give me whiplash with your lack of segues." It was perhaps the longest sentence he had ever spoken to me.

"Sorry, it's just … I feel like I'm talking to a wall."

"I … I think it's best that I stay here for the moment."

"Why?"

"So we don't have a repeat … of earlier … in the car."

My cheeks heated instantly and I lowered my eyes. I thought of earlier in the car. I couldn't make sense of it. Why I'd reacted that way. Had it been a panic attack of sorts? But no … I was sure that no panic attack had ever felt like that. I was sure that I had never felt like that. And this only brought on more questions. Who was he? Why had he been watching me? Had he been watching James? Why was James chasing us? Was he chasing us still? I shuddered.

"I'm sorry, you must be cold. I think we can shut the window for a bit."

He stood and crossed the room. I could make out his figure better as he moved through the shadows. Tall, taller than I'd thought. His body was lean and lithe and his movements were focused. Fluid - like that of a cat. Smooth, long fingers reached behind the sheer curtains and pulled shut the glass in its frame.

He turned to look at me then. "We should leave soon." I could see his eyes now in the glow from the window - green, so green and impossibly deep. Like they held the knowledge of a thousand years.

"Leave?" My voice sounded small.

"Leave," he confirmed. Not a man of many words it seemed.

"Because …" I prompted.

I could see his face now. The corner of his lips turned up in a crooked smile.

"Because," was all he said.

-x-x-x-

We were driving away from the sun. Its blinding light flashed across the rear view mirror, chasing us. Edward was driving again - at an even 120 mph. The landscapes zipped by so quickly I could barely make out the road signs as we passed. After a while the squinting gave me a headache, so I stopped trying to figure out where we were headed. My flimsy mental picture of the states put us somewhere in the midwest. Indiana? Or Illinois maybe? I had no idea.

I asked questions. Thousands of them. And Edward rewarded me with mostly cryptic or one word answers. I didn't care - I did it mostly to hear his voice rather than to get any real answers. I was doing some analysis of my own, reading between the lines.

I deduced from all my sleuthing that I was in danger. Grave danger. There was something in the way he phrased things that made me feel that Edward … was not. That he was going out of his way to help me. Why, I couldn't fathom.

I also discovered that Edward didn't like to lie. He took painstaking care to word his answers in just the right way, and at times I learned more from what he didn't say than what he did.

I was breathing through my mouth today. Taking care not to get a whiff of that delicious aroma and have a repeat of yesterday. It seemed to help, but it was also a special kind of torture. I could almost taste the scent on my tongue and my lungs ached to breathe it in. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, the memory stirring.

Edward's gaze cut to me then and his stare was piercing.

"Hold onto your hair," he said in warning. And he rolled down all four windows. A gust of wind whirled inside from the speed of our travel. Fresh air rushed through, chasing away all thoughts. It hadn't been enough time to heed his warning. My brown locks flew everywhere and plastered to my face. I was sure I looked like Medusa.

I began to laugh. Earnest, full laughter. The kind that seems to leave you after childhood. I laughed at the absurdity of it all. What I'd been through in the last 24 hours. That I had no idea what I was doing here in this stranger's car. That I had no idea what my plan was for next week, let alone tomorrow. It was uncharacteristically reckless of me. It made so little sense that I couldn't help but laugh.

Edward was looking at me. His green orbs full of some emotion I couldn't place. Then he was laughing with me. His hair was fluttering in the wind too - but it had already had that messy, windswept look from before. Of course he'd still look perfect.

I felt safe. I felt I didn't need to worry. Rationally, I knew that this made no sense and I reveled in the absurdity of it all. Fits of laughter racked through me. How in this situation, could I feel safe? And I knew the answer to that as well: Edward.

-x-x-x-

We stopped at a gas station somewhere in southern Illinois. Edward left the gas pumping and pulled out a small leather wallet.

"Would you like something to eat?" So formal, so polite.

"Coke, please. And ooh - twinkies if they have it." I grinned broadly at my childish order. He seemed to like that, the smiling. So I did it again.

I made to get out of the car as well and he looked back at me at the noise. He tensed and his brows furrowed infinitesimally. In concern, I thought.

"What?" I was so attuned to him, I sometimes felt I was feeling his emotions with him.

"I … would rather you stayed in the vehicle."

"But I need to pee," I blurted.

"Ah," was all he said. "I'll escort you."

I made a face. "To the bathroom?" My eyebrows rose. "You know, I've been potty trained for decades now. Would you like some references?"

"It's not safe, it could -," he began.

"Edward." His name made him pause. I thrilled at the sound of it rolling off my tongue. God, what was wrong with me? "Edward," I started again. "What are we - what are I running from?"

I pinned him with a stare, hoping to get my feelings across. You can trust me, I thought. You can tell me.

It seemed to be working for a moment. His eyes softened and his lips parted as if to speak. But then he clamped his mouth shut, shaking his head. "I can't, I -"

"Can't?" I questioned, "Or won't?"

I didn't give him a chance to respond and stormed out of the car, making for the convenience store. He was with me in an instant, following closely behind. Pleading, but also protecting.

"Bella," he said reproachfully. I didn't want to hear it. I didn't like how he said my name - so familiar. As if we had known each other for years instead of hours.

I spotted the restroom sign quickly and made a beeline. Edward shadowed me, looking for all the world like he was the one who was the victim. I slammed open the door labeled 'OMEN' (the W had long been broken off) a little too harshly and it banged against the wall. Edward made to follow but I was fuming.

"Don't. You. Dare." I said. And slammed the door in his face.

I stood there, panting harshly in my anger. It was quiet save for my breaths and I focused on them to try to calm myself. I was so focused on that sound in the silence that it reverberated loudly in my ears. And that's when I heard it - the unmistakable click of a lock. A memory flickered and I whirled around to find James, stepping out from a stall, a pleasant smile gracing his face.