Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or it's characters, I just like to play with their lives every once in a while.

Out of all of the places in this little town
Yeah, you had to come walking in here and sit down
I'm hiding and hoping my face ain't too red
Since we been over, been trying like crazy to get you out of my head

"Why You Wanna" by Jenna Kramer

~Edward~

I glanced over at my friend, knowing he was biting his tongue, trying to keep from saying something as he watched me load my equipment and other supplies into my truck.

After my third trip from my loft to the truck either his patience must have worn out or his urge to tear into me overruled it because the silent treatment he'd been giving me ended. Leaning with his arm perched on the top of the truck bed, he released a long drawn out sigh and scratched the back of his head. "So you're really going to do this?"

"Do what? I asked.

He looked at me like the answer should have been obvious to me.

It was.

But if he was going to give me grief over going on this chase, then I wasn't going to make it easy for him or just take it without defending myself.

"You mean do my job?" I shot back at him with a quirked eyebrow as I turned my hat backwards to keep the gusty winds that were kicking up from taking it off my head.

After all it was my favorite hat. I'd had it for about five years now and even though it was more grass and dirt than the green and white it used to be, and you could barely make out the Norman, OK that was printed on the front, I still wore it anyways.

"Is that what you're pretending to be doing? I didn't know storm chasing included you runnin' off for who knows where two days before you're expected to be at a funeral," he chided.

"I'm not runnin' off, Jazz. I reckon you're well aware of the fact my job includes me traveling all over the state of Oklahoma and most of the surrounding states too. We do live in the heart of tornado alley, in case you've forgotten."

A cold front was sinking down from the north, bringing a big low-pressure system full of abnormally cool air for this time of the year with it, which was the instigator for the storm chase I was about to go out on. However, while my family normally wouldn't have thought twice about me taking off at the last minute or without much notice, this time they all seemed to be fixated on the idea that I was only going to delay seeing Bella as long as I could.

I closed and locked the lid of the storage box bolted to the truck bed and then hopped over the tail-gate, landing with a thud as my boots hit the ground.

Jasper shook his head and sighed. "Living in tornado alley is not something any of us could forget. Now why don't you just be honest with us both and admit you're hiding from Emmett's sister?"

"Because I'm not."

"Yeah, right." He sighed again. "Look, Alice is thrilled to be seeing her again after all this time. Don't you think four years is long enough to let bygones be bygones?"

I opened my mouth to respond but he cut me off before I could.

"'Sides, we all know you don't have to go out on every chase that comes your way, and up 'til yesterday there'd been no mention at all of you goin' out on this one. Hell, you hadn't even mentioned there was one. So the way I see it you're just runnin'."

He was right.

I knew he was right and he knew he was right, but that didn't mean I had to admit it to him.

Jasper may have married into my family, but he knew me as well, if not better than those who'd been born into it.

Well, except for Alice.

Jasper was born and raised near Waco, Texas and I'd met him when I was thirteen at a science and technology summer camp. With the camp being held on the west coast in the heart of Silicon Valley, he'd stood out like a wolf in a hen house with his shaggy blond hair, cowboy boots, and deep southern accent. But he'd reminded me of Oklahoma and so I'd introduced myself. We had hit it off instantly. Our laid-back personalities and love of all things weather gave us a common ground to form an air tight friendship. My smart mouthed twin—his wife—preferred to call us weather geeks, but neither of us minded.

Over the course of the next several summers through the rest of middle school and high school our friendship deepened to like brothers instead of friends. We'd only gone to camp a couple more years after that first one, but we'd taken turns visiting each other and stayed in touch through phone calls and texts.

While Jasper and I were both fascinated by weather, the place where we differed was that I was interested in the weather itself and Jasper was all about the technology that was needed to predict and decipher it. I'd been ecstatic when by the time it came for us to head to college he'd decided to attend the University of Oklahoma at their Norman campus which is where I was also going.

Where Bella was supposed to go too.

By this time Alice and I were already living on the farm in Checotah with Aunt Mae, Uncle Carlisle, and Rose. When a freak ice storm shut down the airport our freshman year, he had come home with me for Christmas. It was the one and only time I'd ever seen my sister completely and utterly speechless. From the second the two of them had locked eyes as I'd made the family introductions, they were instantly an item and together ever since. After we'd graduated Jasper had been hired by NOAA to work in the technological development and research department and I'd gone to work for The Weather Channel chasing storms. Him and Alice had married that same summer. Last summer. The same summer Bella and I would have most likely been doing the same thing.

If she'd stayed.

"Well, judging by your silence I'm guessing I'm right," Jasper surmised, not knowing I had drifted off in memory lane.

I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. "You didn't hear about it because it just came up this morning. And I don't mean the chase, I mean the need for me to go on it."

"Oh really? How'd that happen?"

"Guy who was supposed to lead the hunt for this round had to back out. His wife had a baby."

I wasn't lying to him. At least not about why they needed another chase-experienced meteorologist on this hunt. What I wasn't admitting to Jasper, and wasn't likely to at all, was the fact I'd called up Ben and practically begged him to let me go out in Mike's place instead of him.

"Uh huh. That's mighty damn convenient for you isn't it? Bet it took you real long to say yes," he accused.

"Jasper," I huffed, my frustration getting to me. "Does it really matter why I'm going? It's my job, I was asked to go. And I promised Aunt Mae I'd be back for the funeral, and I will. So does it really matter?"

"I think you already know that answer."

He turned so his back was resting against the side of the truck and crossed his arms over his chest. He shook his head and let out a long slow gust of air.

"Jazz," I started, pulling my hat off and running a hand through my hair. The way he was staring at me made me feel like a five-year-old being scolded. "Don't stand there acting all disappointed dad with me. I'm not runnin'. Not really. I just need to clear my head. I need…I don't know. I just really need to do this now," I told him, hoping he'd get what I was failing to put into words.

He nodded. "I hope it helps. 'Cause for someone who claims to have moved on, you sure act like a man who is still harboring a lot of feelings for his old high school sweetheart."

"I'm not," I told him, wanting to add that she had been way more than my high school sweetheart. But I didn't, it'd only fuel him on.

He nodded again with a smirk on his face, telling me he thought I was just trying to blow smoke up his ass when it came to my feelings about Bella.

We stood there for a few minutes, neither of us uttering a sound. I had a feeling he was trying to get me to crack. But not this time. How I did or didn't feel about her was no one's business but my own. And I intended to keep it that way. She'd be here for a few days and then blow out of town faster than the weather system I'd be tracking in a few hours.

Knowing I could be as stubborn as a wild horse, he caved. "Well," he straightened his stance and placed his hat back on his head. "I gotta head home. Your sister is making my favorite dinner tonight."

His frustration with me melted away at the mention of my twin sister and a wide smile spread across his face. It was clear how much he loved her. I never imagined when Jasper had come to live here for college, he'd end up marrying Alice. But it'd been love at first sight for them both and neither one of them have looked back since.

They shared a love like my and Alice's parents had, like Aunt Mae and Uncle Carlisle still did.

I'd thought I'd had that once.

I was wrong.

So fucking wrong.

"Give Allie Cat a hug for me. I'll see ya both Sunday."

"Yep," he said giving me a light punch on the arm. "Stay safe."

"Always."

I watched for a second as he walked over to his own truck, I then headed up the walkway to loft in the old barn. Just as he was about to pull away, he stuck his head out the window and hollered. "Losing that hat might go a long way to convincing some of us you've done buried your feelings for Bella."

His tires spit dirt at me as he sped off before I could respond.

What's wrong with my hat? I thought, pulling it off my head and looking at it.

Sure it was dirty and I could get a new one if I wanted. But this one was broke in. Why would I get rid of it now?

From where I sat in the back pew, I had a perfect view of the front row. From left to right were Emmet's Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Peter, next to them was Rose, my niece Emma, Emmett and on the very end... Her.

Bella.

Hard as I tried, I couldn't pull my eyes away from her. They kept wandering back to her like they were on autofocus.

After I gave up fighting it and really paid attention, I noticed her hair was longer than when she'd left and the reddish highlights she used to get after being out in the hot summer sun were more abundant. She pulled the long strands from behind her, over her shoulder, and began twisting the ends around her finger. It was a habit she'd had since she was a little girl. Twirling her hair had always been a sign she was nervous.

Was she nervous now? If so why? Why did I even care?

I felt dazed watching as she twirled the long strands around her finger and pulled them loose only to repeat the step over and over, causing me to want to run my own fingers through the soft tresses. A few minutes had passed when she squirmed in her seat before chancing a quick glance around the church as if she'd sensed she was being watched.

Was that why she was playing with her hair? Did she know I was watching her?

You're reading way too much into this, I said to myself, trying to convince myself that there was no way the connection we'd once shared was still there.

Bowing my head, I attempted to not be seen by trying to hide my face behind the man in front of me. Closing my eyes I prayed she hadn't busted me. While waiting for it to feel safe to look up again, my mind was forced back to the time she'd told me she could always tell when I'd been watching her, how she'd felt my eyes on her...

I'd just walked up behind her and slipped my arms around her waist, placing a soft kiss on her neck. It was Emmett's 21st birthday party, and the house was full of friends and family.

"Bout time you got over here. What took ya so long?" she asked turning in my arms and gazing up at me. Her eyes were full of love and curiosity for the answer to her question.

"I was just admiring the view," I admitted, pecking her on the lips.

"Hope you liked what you saw," she shot back.

"Loved it. How'd you know I was here? You were watching your crazy brother the whole time?" I asked after giving her a quick kiss.

Emmett was in the middle of a beer chugging contest with a couple of his buddies.

With one hand braced on my shoulder for balance, perched on her tip-toes, Bella reached up and turned my hat backwards so she could give me a much longer kiss. When she pulled away, she replied, "I could feel you watching me. I've always felt your eyes on me...ever since things changed between us. Maybe even before then. It's like some silent voice calling to me, letting me know you're here. Does that weird you out?"

"No, Kitten, it doesn't." I kissed her again. "'Cause I feel it too."

I was tugged from my thoughts when the voices of all those around me began to repeat the Lord's Prayer. Joining in I repeated the words I'd learned as a child.

Knowing the service was nearly over, I realized I had been lost in my memories of Bella much longer than it had felt. I scanned the church again, wondering if I could sneak out as stealthily as I'd come in. Aunt Mae had been the only one to see me sneak in at the last second, and she was really the only one I cared to know I'd been there. I could always tell Emmett later that I'd made it at the last minute, knowing Aunt Mae would confirm my presence if he had any doubts.

My mind wandered again back to when Alice and I had first moved to Oklahoma.

Aunt Mae had always been special to Alice and me. Her husband, Uncle Carlisle and my father Edward Sr. were brothers, just two years a part, with Uncle Carlisle being the older of the two. When Alice and I were little we'd all come down to the farm for family vacations to get away from the city life in Chicago. Once Alice and I got older we'd often stay for weeks after our parents would return to Chicago. It was during those summers we'd become close friends with Emmett and Bella.

Aunt Esme, or Aunt Mae as we called her, was the epitome of what everyone would want in a mother. She was an open book and never one to hide how she felt and always willing to show you affection whenever she wanted to. She was always hugging us, telling us how much she loved us and it didn't matter where you were or who was around. Now it wasn't that my mother Elizabeth wasn't at all caring or unloving, she just wasn't one to show her affections openly. She just wasn't the lovey dovey cuddling type. Not to say she never told Alice or me that she loved us, or never gave us any attention at all, she did. It just wasn't an everyday thing. She just assumed that those who she cared for knew it and there was no need to express it all the time.

The flip side of Aunt Mae being so open with her feelings was that she also made it crystal clear if she was upset with you too. And trust me, a pissed off Aunt Mae was worse than a bucking bull or a wild horse dragging ya across the field. Which was precisely why when she'd told me I best have my ass in this church today, I was here.

Not only did I fear the wrath of Esme Cullen, but I also had great love and respect for her. Just before my and Alice's seventeenth birthday our parents had been out at a business fundraiser for the law firm my father worked for and were hit by a drunk driver on their way home and killed instantly. Carlisle and Esme had immediately gotten on the first plane they could and were by my and Alice's side as we said goodbye to our parents. My sister and I were given the option of staying in Chicago with our maternal grandparents so that we could remain in the same schools and with our friends in the city we'd grown up in, or to go to Oklahoma with our aunt and uncle. Despite being sad to leave what had been our home, there was no other option for Alice and me. Oklahoma was where we wanted to be.

Our transition to life on the farm hadn't been seamless, but it did help that it was a very familiar place to us and though we'd have given anything to have our parents back, both Alice and me considered ourselves very fortunate to have been given such an amazing set of second parents. They just didn't come much better than Aunt Mae and Uncle Carlisle. We couldn't love them more if we'd been born their children.

I was quickly brought back to the present by the sound of the minister's voice asking us all to bow our heads in a moment of silence, I decided this was my chance. However, I spent too long staring at the front pew again and found myself stuck in my spot when the priest instructed everyone to rise and pay their final respects to Charlie Swan as his casket was carried down the aisle.

Accepting I had no way of escaping now, I prepared myself for the Swan family to walk past me as they followed their departed loved one out of the church.

Maybe I should have just skipped this and dealt with Aunt Mae's wrath.

She'd kick your ass to Chicago and back again for it too!

And that would be just the start of her wrath.

Sucking in a deep breath, I watched the end of the ceremony and returned the slight nod of acknowledgement Emmett sent when he saw me. Without thought, my eyes quickly moved to his sister who was walking right behind him. A wave of relief washed over me with the realization she was busy looking down at her niece, grasping the little girl's hand, which prevented her from seeing me.

Just a few more minutes, I repeated in my head as the urge to bolt became greater the closer Bella got to me.

Keeping my head hung low, I held onto my last hope she would pass by without knowing it was me. But it wasn't to be. Just when I'd thought she might do just that, I heard a soft gasp and saw her step falter for a moment. My mind began racing with why she'd react to seeing me in such a way. Did she think I wouldn't be here to pay my last respects to one of my two best friend's father? Did she think I'd stay away because of her?

Who are you trying to fool? You would have if you'd been given the option.

Still. She'd been the one to leave me behind so why wasn't it as easy for her to just walk on by as it had been for her to walk away four years ago?

I was quickly getting a headache. I really needed to get home and put all of this out of my mind and sleep.

Unfortunately, because I was in the last pew, I was one of the last people to make my way out of the church and not at all surprised to find my aunt waiting for me at the bottom of the steps with Alice and Jasper.

"Aunt Mae," I greeted her before placing a peck on her cheek first and then my sister's.

"Glad to see you made it back to us in once piece," Aunt Mae said, pulling me into a hug.

"I always do," I returned.

"Chicken shit," Jasper leaned in next to me and muttered under his breath.

Not wanting to chance my aunt hearing any payback remark I'd make, I casually pretended to scratch my ear and flipped him off in the process.

"Stop it. Both of you," Aunt Mae scolded.

"He—"

"Don't you dare tell me he started it, Edward Anthony. You're both grown men and too dammed old for this craziness."

"Yes, ma'am," we both replied in unison.

Wanting to get the heck out of here now that I'd fulfilled the promise I'd made, I said my goodbyes and prepared to hightail it home.

However, Aunt Mae wasn't going to allow that.

"Not so fast," she called, stopping me dead in my tracks. I turned to face her, knowing I'd be in deep shit if I didn't. "Since Emmett is a member of this family, therefore making his family practically our family, I've invited them over for supper." She took the steps necessary to close the small distance I'd put between us in my haste to leave and placed her small hand firmly on my arm. "This is a family meal, Edward. We both know you're capable of behaving like the adult you are. The adult who was raised with proper manners for the amount of time it takes for us to get through supper. And I also believe you're a smart enough man to know what that means without me having to spell it out for you."

I felt like shit for not giving Emmett the support that I should be. I knew he had Rose and the rest of our family, but he was my best friend and I shouldn't be running like a spooked horse right now. I knew he understood why I'd made myself scarce since Bella had gotten back, he'd told me so. He'd gone so far as to tell me that if the situation was reversed and Rose had run off on him, he wouldn't want to see her any more than he had to, too. But I still felt like I was letting him down.

Then get your shit together, cowboy. The least you can do is show up to the funeral service and the get-together afterwards.

I'd known Emmett as long as I could remember. The first time Alice and I had spent the summer on the farm was when we'd met Emmett and his little sister Bella. At the time Rose and Emmett were around nine and Alice, Bella, and I were six. There were times when Emmett and I would hang out alone, we were boys after all, and the last thing we wanted was to be around three girls all the time. Of course, that didn't stop us from chasing them around with the frogs we'd catch by the lake on the farm.

I was suddenly hit with the image of eight-year-old Bella running, with her pigtails flapping against her back as she ran to get away from us. She tripped over a log by the lake and landed flat on her face. Emmett being the awesome big brother he is, instantly dropped his frog and ran to his sister's side to make sure she was okay. He was still just as great a guy today as he was back then.

Over the years, things shifted with Emmett and Rose. They'd become a couple at fourteen and remained together and married right out of high school. Neither one had never had any desire to leave Checotah, not permanently anyways. They'd left long enough to get their college degrees, Rose in early childhood education and Emmett in farming and agriculture. Emmett now ran the farm for my aunt and uncle and Rose was the kindergarten teacher at the local elementary school. They had a three-year-old little girl, Emma, and had just found out baby number two was on the way.

Against my will my mind wandered off to thinking about where Bella and me might be by now if she'd stayed. Would we have any kids? Would she go on the chase with me? The possibilities were endless.

No, the possibilities had been endless.

Which was exactly why even though I hated myself for it, I wanted to avoid her at all cost.

"I'm sure Emmett and his family will welcome and appreciate your kindness, Aunt Mae, but I could really use some sleep. I didn't get much on the chase. How about I stop by after I take a nap," I pleaded, already forming an excuse for not showing up in my head while yawning widely for added effect.

"Why? So you can call me later to say you never woke up on time and you're sorry you didn't make it? When's the next time you have to head out?" she asked.

Shit, how'd she do that?

"Not for two weeks. Since I've gone on three chases in a row now, Ben will go on the next two. I'm not due at the weather center 'til Tuesday, though I'll probably start analyzing data at home," I explained.

"Sounds to me like you'll have plenty of time to catch up on some sleep. I'll expect to see you at the house."

"Aunt Mae," I whined.

"Don't you Aunt Mae me. If you're not there I'll come down and drag you up to the house by your ear," she warned.

I nodded in resignation, knowing she'd do just as she threatened.

She gave me another hug and hurried off when her name was called by one of her friends.

"Shit, shit and shit again," I grumbled to myself.

"Want some cheese to go with that whine," Jasper said with a snort as he passed by to leave.

Too tired to bother with a comeback, I ignored him and left.

I'd spent all evening feeling like I was playing some childish game of hide and seek or cat and mouse as I'd done my best to remain hidden from Bella during the supper my aunt and uncle hosted for her family.

Finally tired of bouncing from room to room any time I'd heard her voice even faintly, I sought some solace in the downstairs family room knowing most, if not all, of everyone here would be upstairs in the main part of the house or out back on the screened-in-porch where the tables had been set up to accommodate the large number of people that had been invited.

I let a long sigh of relief out when I found the room was indeed empty. Sitting down on the couch, I twisted the cap off the bottle of beer I'd grabbed on my way down here. After taking a long swig of it, I slumped back against the soft cushions and closed my eyes, grateful for a few minutes of reprieve.

Hiding in plain sight was exhausting.

I must have dozed off. When I opened my eyes, it was now dark outside and it had still been completely daylight out before. Realizing there was much less noise coming from upstairs, I figured most everyone had left so it'd be safe for me to say my goodbyes and head home. I was still worn out from the chase I'd been on and was ready to crawl into my bed. Getting up from the couch, the hairs on my neck started to tingle like they were standing on end and a jolt of energy shot up my spine like it did when lightning was too close by.

No! It couldn't be. No way. Not after all I'd done to avoid this today, I told myself.

But as the sensation continued I found myself turning in search of what I was certain couldn't be the explanation for what I was feeling. But there she was, sitting in the chair across the room with her back to me.

How had I been aware of Bella's presence before I even saw her?

I didn't get it. Even after all these years and the pain she'd caused me when she'd run out on me, I still felt her closeness like no time had passed.

What the hell did that mean?

Why did I still have the same connection to her?

I couldn't move. My feet were frozen where I stood and my eyes on her. She had her arms wrapped around herself as if she was holding herself for comfort. The wave of emotions that came over me was so sudden and strong. I'd never felt so torn, so like I was being pulled in a million directions before in my entire life. I was so stunned by the confliction coursing through me, my breath caught in my chest, and I was nearly knocked back down on the couch. My arms ached to go to her and hold her, ease her pain and tell her everything would be okay. My head wanted to yell at her, demand some answers and then tell her to go back to Florida. But my heart…my heart was drowning in all the feelings that came rushing back, the ones I'd thought I could burry so deep they'd never come out again. It felt like I was about to come unglued.

Of all the places in this house, why'd she have come down here and sit? I didn't know what to do. Should I sit back down and hope she didn't notice me? Do I run the hell out of here so fast she doesn't have a chance to say anything? This was going to be harder to deal with than I'd thought. I needed to get the hell out of here. All I'd done since I'd heard she was coming back to town…hell for the last four years, was fight to get her out of my head.

Don't forget your heart.

Had she known I was down here?

I wasn't ready to deal with this now. I had to figure out how to get out of here. Before I could, I stupidly stole one last look at her. I watched as she shuddered, turned and looked up like she'd felt my presence there, her eyes locking with mine.

Well shit. What do I do now?

So, we have our first face to face confrontation. Any ideas how that's gonna go?

Thank you to my partner in crime, My-Bella, for always making sure all those dang commas go where they are supposed to, and for helping me keep my sanity when the plot bunnies get out of control. I couldn't do this without you.

Can't wait to see what ya'll think.

~EA