Waves…. Anyone still out there? I'm sorry, I know its been a while. But I promise this will be finished. A special thank you to My-Bella. Not only does she wave her sparkly purple editing pen, but she keeps me on my toes. I couldn't do this without her. If you've not read her stuff, you should.

Anyways, who is ready to see if Bella can learn to ride Edward's motorcycle?

Stephenie Meyer owns it all, I just like to give them new lives.

I'm set on cruise control
I'm slowly losin' hold
Of everything I've got
You're lookin' so damn hot
And I don't know what road we're on
Or where we've been
From starin' at you, girl
All I know is I don't want this night to end
~Luke Bryan

~Edward~

I couldn't help chuckling at her reaction. Bella was looking at me as if I'd lost my mind. I had a feeling the idea of riding my bike intimidated her a lot. But I was confident she could do it. The only thing she had going against her, besides her own worries, was her size. But I could help her with that.

"I'm gonna teach you to ride my bike," I reiterated, wondering how much of a stink she'd put up over learning or if she'd take the bull by the horns and go for it.

"You say that like it's no big deal."

"It doesn't have to be," I assured her. "Quit trying to psych yourself out."

"Edward, you telling me the sky is blue, your eyes are green, water is wet—that would be no big deal. But you telling me you're gonna teach me to ride your bike, a bike you rebuilt yourself and cherish…"

Leaving a few soft kisses along her neck, I whispered next to her ear, "It's really not that hard, Kitten. Do you really think I'd suggest it if I thought you'd get hurt?"

Surely she knew I'd never let her get hurt. Not on purpose anyway.

She looked up at me, gaging the sincerity of my words. I could see her emotions swirling in her whiskey-colored eyes, even as she fought to keep her facial expression blank to not give her thoughts away. I could tell she was mulling it over, coming to the realization I'd never suggest something where I knew she'd get hurt, but still skeptical.

"How 'bout this," I offered. "You sit here on the bike in front of me and let me just go over stuff with you. We'll go slow and if at any time you decide you really don't want to do it, then we won't. Sound cool?"

"That sounds cool," she agreed. I could see her curiosity growing. She was getting that twinkle of mischievousness in her eyes I knew all too well from when we were younger.

I scooted back on the seat and patted the spot in front of me. She grabbed hold of my shoulder as she hiked her leg over and climbed up in front of me. I quickly realized I should've thought this through better. Her ass being snug against my crotch was going to drive me crazy.

Not that I wouldn't also enjoy every second of it.

It was a good thing my bike had a lower seat than some of the models out there. If it didn't, this likely wouldn't work, as Bella probably would only just barely be able to touch the ground with her feet or maybe not at all.

Trying to reign in my reaction to her close proximity, I asked, "You comfortable?"

"Yeah," she returned a little shakily. Maybe I was affecting her too.

Focusing on the task I began, "Ok, so first, here's the review mirror. You can adjust it just like the ones on a car."

"Okay." She reached out and moved it around a little.

"Here's the horn, turn signals, and lights. You following me so far?"

"Yep. Horn, turn signal, and lights," she repeated back to me, pointing out each one.

"Good. So, this lever on the right handle is the front brakes. You don't want to squeeze it too hard at once or it might throw you forward. Just like handle brakes on a regular bike. You want to squeeze it slowly."

Bella nodded in understanding so I continued.

Starting the bike back up, I pointed out the throttle to her. I wanted the bike running while I showed her this part so she could get a feel for how sensitive it was.

"This is the throttle, the bike's version of a gas pedal. You want to twist it towards you like this." I made the motion with my own hand to show her exactly what I meant.

Next, I went over the kill switch, clutch, and rear brake. I knew Charlie had taught Bella to drive a stick when she was younger, so I was thinking she'd pick up on the feel of the clutch relatively easy on the bike.

"Just remember, release the clutch smoothly, don't just let it go. You could cause the bike to jerk forward. Okay?"

"Yeah." She didn't sound too sure, but I had confidence in her.

"Wanna try now?"

"Uuuh sure, I think so." Her reply was more like a question than a statement.

"Just do what I tell ya, okay? I am right here behind ya."

"Just remember, you asked for this," she warned playfully. Then pulling in a deep breath and blowing it out in a whoosh of air, with a little more confidence she said, "Let's do this."

"Put your feet up, I'll keep us balanced," I told her. She nodded and did as I said. "Slowly let off the clutch and give it a little gas."

The bike's motor revved and it moved forward slowly but we weren't going fast enough for it to really balance itself so I still had my feet walking along on the ground as we went. And I was fine with that, I didn't want to push her and scare her.

"You're doing great, Kitten. Give it a little more gas again, a little more than last time," I encouraged her.

She twisted the throttle again, but not really more than she had the first time.

"More, Bella, you got this."

She had it alright, Bella turned the throttle harder and next thing I knew the bike shot out from between my legs and took off before I could grab the seat and stop her.

"Hit the break!" I yelled after her as she screamed my name. "Gently!"

I took off running to catch her and the bike.

"Turn, turn, break!" I yelled.

Bella took the turn a little too sharp and was about to topple over, thankfully I reached her just in time to catch the bike with one hand, her in my other, keeping them both upright.

Just barely.

"Oh my God, that was amazing." Bella had a look of pure excitement on her face instead of being scared and freaked out like I expected.

"Amazing huh?"

"Yes." She was beaming with happiness.

"You never say what I expect. What are you, an adrenaline junkie now?"

"No. I don't know. Maybe. But you got no room to talk, Mr. Tornado Chaser."

"Touche', point made. Now do you want to try again?"

"I do," she insisted, clearly hyped up on the adrenaline pumping through her veins, despite what she said. But I got it, it could be a powerful feeling controlling a piece of machinery like this for the first time.

"Okay, but first we need to work on that throttle control and your turns," I told her. I didn't want to see Bella or my bike get hurt.

We went through the motions again. I had her tell me where all the controls were, even though she protested, claiming she remembered. Which I could see she did as she pointed them all out correctly. She'd always been quick to pick up new things and this was proving to be no different. However, when we got to the throttle control, I put my hand over hers and revved it in a way that allowed her to feel how she should be doing it and the speed with which she should turn it to allow her to gain speed slowly for better handling of the bike's acceleration. I also jogged across the lot and showed her about where she should be when she started to turn so she'd get enough room to do so. She took it all in, nodding she understood.

"Okay, I got it, I think I am ready to go again," Bella said confidently.

"Let's do it."

I hungon to the bike for a few steps behind her just to make sure she'd got her balance. The bike was heavy and Bella didn't weigh much. By the third time going across the parking lot, she'd nailed it. Bella not only drove it across the large lot but she turned and brought it all the way back to me.

"I did it," she squealed, loudly, sounding more like my sister than herself.

"I knew you could." I took advantage of her looking up at me and leaned down to kiss her. It didn't take long for us to get lost in the kiss, but when our helmets banged together, I knew it was time to find someplace where we could take them off for a bit.

And so I can kiss her thoroughly.

I hiked my leg over the seat and settled on the bike behind her. "Take us down to the river, Kitten,"

"You sure?" she asked, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm right here behind ya. I can take over if needed."

She nodded and off we went. She took the path down the hill much slower than I would have, but this was her first time. It was a little bumpy so I kept my feet out to help steady us on the way down. I had to keep us from tipping to the side a couple of times, but other than that, I was impressed with how well Bella handled the bike with the small amount of experience she's had doing it.

Once we reached the bottom, I steadied us with my feet as she shut down the bike. I couldn't help laughing when she had to get off the bike to lower the kickstand.

"Don't be a jerk," she scolded, fighting back her own laughter.

Pulling her to me, I wrapped my arms around her and just held on to her, breathing in her familiar scent of coconut scented shampoo, loving that she hadn't changed it over the years she was gone.

"What was that for," she asked when I finally loosened my hold on her. I climbed off the bike, and undid my helmet hanging it on the bike. Once Bella did the same, I tugged her with me over to the tree that had once been a special place, our place, and was quickly becoming that again.

We settled on the grass. I was leaning against the tree with her in front of me, between my legs. Holding her in my arms again, I realized how glad I was she had come back. I decided to tell her. "I'm just really glad you're here. I don't know if I've told you that yet."

"No," she whispered keeping her gaze on the river, like she was afraid to look at me.

"Hey." I cupped her face and gently turned her head and leaned closer to her. Holding her gaze with my eyes so she could see I was being sincere, I continued. "I mean it. I know things were—rough when you first came back. But I am so glad you did. I missed you, Bella."

"I missed you too," she admitted. "So much."

Drawing her to me, I kissed her with everything I had, wanting to solidify my words with my actions. I poured all the emotions I was feeling for her into the kiss. Emotions neither of us had admitted yet, emotions deepening faster than I'd imagined they would. Emotions that had swept me up like a storm and left me a little afraid and not ready to say them out loud yet. We hadn't really talked much about how things were going with us, hadn't defined what it was, but I didn't necessarily think we needed to either. Not yet.

Eventually the need to catch our breath pulled us apart. We sat there in silence, just peacefully being together. But after a while a few thoughts started filling my head. I wanted to know about Bella's time away from here. What her life was like in Miami.

"Tell me about your time in Miami," I pressed.

"Hmmm." She leaned up and kissed the underside of my jaw sending sparks of desire surging under my skin. "What would you like to know?"

"I don't know…everything."

"Oh wow, I don't know where to begin. Um…"

"Where you happy there?" This wasn't the first question I'd intended to ask her, but it was the one that came out.

"Yes, I guess as much as one can be in a new place with no family around. And I know I did that to myself, but it didn't make it any easier. I did make a few really good friends though."

"That's good." And I truly meant that. It was something I'd done as well.

"What about you?" she asked curiously, her hand was resting on my thigh with her thumb brushing back and forth, driving me crazy. We'd been holding back on the physical side of things, but I was losing my will to keep fighting it.

"Well, I went to college in Norman like we'd—I'd planned. Jasper was there too, and we both met Jack during that time."

I felt Bella tense against me with my slip up about college. It had been an honest mistake on my part, and I could feel her trying to relax again.

"Hey." I lifted her chin so I could see her face. "I'm sorry. It was an honest slipup and I didn't mean anything by it."

"It's okay, I get it. There's going to be times when that sort of thing happens. We're working though it right?" she asked, her voice full of emotion, but also sincerity, letting me know that my words had affected her, but she understood.

I gave her a kiss and hugged her closer to me.

"Now I believe it's my turn with a question. What was—"

"Wait, I have one more. Was Jack in meteorology too?"

I laughed as a memory of the time Jasper and I took Jack out on a chase with us sped through my mind. "That would be no. Jack wants nothing to do with that 'crazy as fuck' job of chasing storms. He was getting a General Ed Degree to appease his parents so he could get his inheritance from his grandparents. As you now know his dad was a plumber all his life and worked hard to provide for their family. But he wanted more for Jack and his sister."

"That's kind of ironic now that trade skilled workers are in such a high demand," Bella commented.

"I know. But Jack graduated, got his inheritance, and opened The Bar with it."

She laughed and then said, "Somehow that seems very fitting for him."

"Yeah, that's Jack for ya. Tell me what was the best thing you did down there," I urged, eager to learn more about her time away.

"Oh well that's easy," she said, sitting up and flipping around to face me. "You might even actually be jealous of this," she teased.

She had my attention now. Flashing her the smile I knew she loved I egged her on. "Now I really want to hear about this. Let's hear it, Swan, what could you have done down there that I would even be remotely jealous of? Remember I chase twisters for a living."

Bella sat up from where she'd been leaning against me. The way her face was lit up with excitement over what she was about to tell me really had my interest piqued. "So, my roommate, Jessica, her dad got permission to bring Jessica, me, and two other meteorological students to work with him."

"So what? You toured a Miami weather station?" I asked, not understanding what would be so exciting about that. Especially now that she was working for The National Weather Service.

"Well, we did get that tour, but it wasn't just any weather station and it wasn't in Miami. We got to go on a fieldtrip of sorts you might say."

"Where?"

"Up near Tampa, in Lakeland. Specifically, the airport there." She had a wide smile on her face as I pondered what she would do at an airport that would have to do with weather. She was quiet for a couple of minutes as she let me think and then added, "You chase tornadoes and super cell thunderstorms in the Midwest. Think for a minute, Edward, what would they chase in Florida?"

Without hesitation I replied, "Hurricanes, but I still do—" And that's when it hit me. Why she was so giddy with excitement as she waited for me to figure it out. Memories from college and the studying we'd done on hurricanes started filtering into my brain. One in particular…Lakeland, Florida was where the hurricane hunter planes were stationed.

"No way," I thought, then realized I'd said it out loud when she responded to me.

"Way."

"How? They don't just let anyone tour those planes." My curiosity was piqued at this point. I'd always imagined it would be very cool to go out on a hurricane chase.

"Well, for starters, Mr. Cullen," she poked me in the chest playfully with her mock formality. "I didn't just tour the plane. We got to go on a recon mission flight with the crew."

"Wow." Now I was truly impressed and yeah maybe a tad jealous too. "How'd that come about? Your friend's dad must have had some big connection or something."

"He was the connection," she stated. Seeing the perplexed look on my face she began to explain. "So, Jessica's dad had been in the Naval pilot program. His time was about up and he was debating whether to reenlist or not. Her mom was pregnant with her older brother at the time and it was weighing on him as to what to do. He'd flown missions all over the place, the middle east, South America and more. And while dangerous that had been fine when it was just him, but he had a wife and baby on the way now. Just when they'd come to the conclusion that remaining with the Navy would be best for them, he found out about NOAA Corps. After doing some digging and learning about the hurricane research and recon flights him and his wife decided this would be a much better option for them and he applied for the pilot position they had open."

"And he got it?" I asked already knowing the answer.

"Yes!" She exclaimed.

Listening to Bella tell me about her experience going up in the hurricane hunter plane was mesmerizing. Her smile was radiant and her enthusiasm and excitement were palatable, I could feel it emanating from her as she animatedly talked about what it was like flying into an actual developing tropical storm. Everything from how they took the storm's barometric air pressure, wind speeds, how fast it was moving, and the eyewall conditions. She loved weather as much as I did. It gave me the idea of seeing if she'd like to go on a chase with me sometime.

However, before I could mention it, her face quickly took on a somber expression when she talked about how the winds howled, the rain was blinding, and the violent updrafts shook the plane at times. In that moment I noticed how she quickly tried hide it as she brushed away a tear that had spilled over. All the brightness that had been exuding from her had been dimmed like a summer thunderstorm rolling in and blocking the sunlight.

"Hey," I murmured, pulling her closer her back into my arms. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

She shook her head at me, sniffling, as she wiped away a few more tears.

"Did you get scared up there? Did something happen?" I pushed, hoping she'd tell me what was going on. It had always gutted me to see her cry.

After a few more seconds she blew out a long breath and sighed. "I wasn't scared, no. It's just…" she paused and took in another long breath before continuing. "At one point the plane was really shaking from the winds, and in that moment I couldn't help thinking of my momma and how she must have felt, how scared she must have been when that tornado picked up her car and tossed it around like a toy."

I hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head. "Oh, Sweetheart, I'm sorry. It must have been so hard on you to have those feelings surface at that time."

I felt her nod in agreement as she remained nestled against me gripping my t-shirt tightly in her small hands.

"Luckily no one noticed. They were all a bit freaked out too over what was going on and I guess they just assumed it was the same for me."

"That makes sense."

I sat there holding her for a few minutes, contemplating how to ask her what was running through my head. Finally, I just bit the bullet.

"I need to ask you something," I told her softly. I loosened my hold on her and nudged her a little, encouraging her to sit up so I could see her face as I asked her the next question. She looked at me with a curious expression as she waited for me to spill it.

"Do you still blame yourself for your momma's death?"

I didn't want to upset her, but I'd hoped after the amount of time that had gone by, that she'd been able to look at things a bit more objectively and come to terms with it not being her fault.

"No, not really," she said with a sigh.

"What's not really mean? You have to know Bella you didn't make the choice for your mom to drive home in that storm that day. She did that on her own."

Please tell me she knew this. Even if she got upset with me, if she was still blaming herself, it was something she needed to hear.

"I know. I know that. I got some counseling while I was in Miami. Emmett kinda threatened me if I didn't. And I was reluctant at first, told him I was fine. But he threatened to drag me back home if I didn't. Told me he'd be too worried about me to leave me down there alone if I didn't get some help."

"How'd that go?" I asked.

"It was tough at first. But eventually she helped me see that, like you said, Momma made her own choices that day. Helped me see that sure she might have been home if I'd gone to help her, but we both could have been caught in the storm too. We only know what did happen and that I can't live my life on what ifs," she explained somberly.

Hugging her I whispered against her hair, "I know how hard her loss was for you. I'm not trying to act like it wasn't. Loosing our parents was tough for Allie and I, and we didn't have nearly as close a relationship with them as you did with yours. Because the truth of the matter is you lost both your parents that day. Charlie may have been here physically, but he wasn't available to you emotionally. I wish I'd known back then how he was tormenting you. But like your therapist said, we can't live life on what ifs. We can only move forward with what we know. And I'm glad she was able to help you. I just wish…never mind."

"You wish what? You can't do that, Edward. Don't hold back. That's not good for either of us. What were you going to say?" she demanded.

While I was reluctant to bring it up again, she was right. "I just wish you'd have told me what was going on with Charlie. I'd have done something. Aunt Mae and Uncle Carl would have helped. There's no way they'd have left you in that situation. I guess I just don't understand why you didn't, and how you hid it so easily."

Bella sucked in a long breath and let it out with a whoosh. Her head hanging so her face was hidden.

"Please don't hide your feelings from me. We don't have to talk about this if you don't want too," I tried to reassure her.

When she looked up at me tears were swimming in her eyes. As one spilled over, I reached up and gently wiped it away with my thumb. I was just about to tell her again we could let it go when she spoke up.

"I don't know how I hid it so well. I thought for sure you'd see right through me any second. And I thought about telling you. I was close so many times. But I was terrified by Charlie's words that I wasn't worthy of you or your love and I think I had myself convinced that since you hadn't caught on that maybe he was right. And the other reason was selfishness. Maybe it was wrong, but once I'd decided I had to leave, I needed to hold on to you for as long as I could. I know it was selfish and probably the most horrible thing I could have done. But I was just so lost and confused so instead of telling you, I did nothing. I went on like everything was okay."

She swiped away another tear and looked up at the sky, trying to calm down.

Running my hand through my hair, I searched for the right words to say to her that wouldn't upset her even more. I took both her hands in mine and gave them a squeeze. She looked at me waiting to see what I had to say.

"At first I was pissed you didn't tell me. I didn't understand. That was after I'd read Charlie's letter. I was pissed at him too. I had never wanted to hit someone so badly in my entire life. Fortunately for him that was impossible, I don't care if I'd gotten arrested. I can admit now that first night we talked about it I took some of that anger out on you at first, I hadn't realized it right then, but did later on. And now after all the times we've talked about it, I can see how he truly made you feel he was right. How scared and alone you must have felt. And I'm so fucking sorry. Sorry I took my anger out on you, and so damn sorry he did that to you, Bella. You were worthy of my love then. You…you are now too."

I hadn't been quite ready to admit so much, so soon, but there was no taking it back now.

Her tears came spilling out with her sobs as she lunged at me and wrapped her arms around me. I held her as tight as I could while she let it out. Once she calmed down it didn't seem the right time to pick our earlier conversation back up. She seemed to need the quiet that was surrounding us.

We sat there quietly watching the sun set over the river with me holding Bella in my arms. All too soon we felt the first rain drops of an incoming rainstorm.
"We better head back to beat the rain," I suggested, leaning around to see if she'd fallen asleep on me.

Her eyes were closed but she smiled and nodded. Helping her up, we quickly pulled our helmets back on. I leaned down, cocking my head to the side to steal a quick kiss, but like always, kisses were rarely quick between us and we lingered until thunder started rumbling off in the not too far distance.

"Let's go," I urged, knowing we needed to get a move on it. Making sure Bella was ready, I looked up at the sky as I flipped the switch and started the bike. It would be very close if we made it home dry.

Unfortunately, just before we reached home, the sky opened up on us, drenching us for the second time today. Not wanting the night to end I took a chance and passed the main house, going down to my place instead.

Maybe it was time to take things further. Maybe she'd stay with me tonight.

Thank you to those of you who are still here. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it.

Let me know what ya think.

Until next time,
~EA