BPOV
It's almost three weeks since Edward and I had 'died'. Three weeks since we'd taken up hiding in Montana, just over two weeks since Edward had finally been released from the hospital in Kalispell, sixteen days since I'd stumbled into him while falling down the stairs and kissed him and boy what a kiss. I don't know if I was more shocked that I had kissed him, or the fact that he had kissed me back, quite enthusiastically. Since then we'd gotten close, well closer, having been through what we had, our bond was already strong, just now it had morphed into something else. He was still the over protective, slightly neurotic, over thinking Edward I'd gotten to know in that hell hole Bourtzi, but I was learning that he was also the domesticated, cheeky, fun loving, flirty, oh my was he flirty, sweet talking, cuddly Edward too. We'd spent the last two weeks dividing our time between scouring data, trying to piece together the real threat, making casual appearances in town and getting to know each other better.
Edward continued to exude the confidence of a professional soldier, always on alert, but I had grown to love our down time. The short hours we spent hanging out on the large leather couch in the family room, talking, sharing every bit of detail we could think of about our lives away from this madness. Those meant more to me than I could put into words. I'd grown to enjoy the thrill that would shoot through me from the barest of touches, and I'd noticed that we touched... a lot. I don't think there was really a time when we weren't touching, be it a slight brush on a shoulder while we were entrenched in the panic room trawling through mountains of data, or linking hands as we walked through the house. The few times we were apart from each other, for example bathroom breaks, I'd actually found Edward stalking back and forth outside the bathroom door, tugging at his hair if I'd taken longer than normal, like I said, over protective.
We hadn't taken things any further than some seriously heavy petting, it wasn't something we actually decided on, we just seemed to want to enjoy whatever this is for as long as possible without complication. We're together 24/7, and while we've not slept together, we do cuddle up together in my room, well I guess it's our room now and sleep on the bed together at night. Being here and somewhat out of the loop is difficult for me, I'm so used to having all of the information at my finger tips that had Edward not been here with me, I'm certain I would've gone mad by now, or probably done something really stupid and ended up getting myself killed. He's quickly becoming one of the most important people in my life and it worries me that I'm going to be hurt when all of this is over. Physical pain I can cope with, but emotionally, I'm teetering on a knife edge, waiting on the other shoe to drop. I'm sounding crazy to myself, it's just that I'm scared that what we have is based solely on what we've been through and are going through, and that when we are finally able to go back to our own lives, Edwards going to turn round and say, “Thanks for keeping my bed warm, you've been great, but it’s over now, I've a line of hotties waiting on some Cullen loving if you get my meaning and I can't tie myself down to plain Jane, when I don't have to. It’s been swell, let's not mention this to anyone, I just want to forget it happened.” So maybe I have a few self esteem issues, but if I let my guard down, I know that once this is over, I'm the one that will be hurt.
Today we're heading in to town, we still had plenty of supplies so we didn't really need to go to town, but it helped keep the nosey locals at bay. Since the visit from the Sheriff all those weeks ago, we've had multiple visitors from town, pop over to welcome us to the neighbourhood, or gawk at the new people as Edward puts it. He does have a point, but I came from a small town and knew that we wouldn't be left to our own devices for long once they got wind we were here. Needless to say our pantry and refrigerator is fully stocked with all manner of 'welcome' pies and casseroles. I've hardly needed to cook for the last week.
"What's got you thinking so hard beautiful?" Edwards sleep muffled voice drifted from the pillow beside me.
"Huh?"
He chuckled at my addled response as his arms snaked its way across my stomach and pulled me in closer to him. I snuggled into his warm embrace, burrowing into the covers of the bed. The early morning sun was slowly breaking through the curtain covered window, rays of light forcing its way through any available crack, casting beams to dapple across the taught muscular skin of Edwards back.
He lifted a finger and smoothed the crease between my eyes.
"You always get this little pucker between your eyes when you're in deep thought and you've been staring at the ceiling for almost an hour now Bella. So what's got you thinking this early in the morning sweetheart?"
"Oh, I was just thinking that we've been here for almost a month now and I was just wondering when we'll get to go home," I said with a shrug.
"Soon sweetheart, we've got a whole team of people working for us in DC and when the threat is gone, we'll get our lives back, we just need to be patient for a little longer."
"I guess," I replied blowing out a breath.
Edward tugged me up until I was straddling him, his hands glided up and down my back at a tauntingly slow pace, before coming to rest on my hips. He snaked his left hand till it cupped my cheek, before guiding my face to his and meeting my lips with a feather light kiss.
"Are you sure that's all that's bothering you sweetheart, you seem pretty distracted. Talk to me, we need to trust each other, we're all that we have baby, so tell me what's eating you?"
I sighed, why did he always need to be so observant? A traitor tear slipped from my eye and meandered its way down my cheek stupid emotions. I couldn't look at Edward, how could I face him, when inside I'm such a pathetic mess? I'm so confused, I don't know if it's down to the bond from experiencing trauma together or real, but my feelings are all over the place. I'm not going to say I love him, because that seems too trivial a description. Of course then there's the fear that it'll be unrequited anyway and I don't think I could handle the rejection. When we're together I feel calm, safe, loved, content even. The few times he's slipped out to check the perimeter himself, instead of relying on the monitors and sensors, it's practically crippled me, I feel empty, it's like having a limb amputated, the ghost of it is still there, but the physical limb is gone. It's like the air has been sucked out of the room by a vacuum and I have to fight to breathe, a piece of my soul has been torn from me and been transplanted by a piece of his, but when he's not there, the wound throbs. How am I supposed to go on as normal after all this when I feel like that?
"Sweetheart? You're worrying me," Edward said, holding me tightly while gently rubbing his thumb under my eyes to clear the tears
"S-sorry," I sniffed.
"Hey, no more tears, just tell me what has you so upset," he crooned.
"It's so stupid; you'll think I'm just some silly woman, crying over nothing."
"Well until you tell me, I'm thinking all kinds of crazy, baby," he responded pushing a stray hair behind my ear.
I blew out a cleansing breath and snuggled into him, "I'm driving myself insane."
"Okay baby, go on..."
"We're stuck here in the ass crack of nowhere, isolated from our teams, we're both recovering from hospitalisation, and we’re on the run and pretending to be dead. We've gone from barely exchanging niceties at a briefing to sleeping in the same bed in a matter of weeks. My head is telling me to focus on the now, concentrate on the mission and then I can go back to my solitary life in DC as if nothing happened, then there's the little voice saying, it'll never be the same, it says that we're clinging to each other because of the trauma, the feelings are pretend. Part of me believes the little voice, part of me wants to tell the little voice to go to hell and embrace the feelings. See it's messed up."
"Oh Bella..." he sighed.
"See and that there, is why I didn't want to say anything, I don't want you to feel guilty for rejecting me, or obligated to protect me, I don't want that. So stupid, I shouldn't have said anything."
"Look at me sweetheart," he said cupping my chin.
"I can't, I-I-I can't look in your eyes and see pity. I can't," I sobbed.
"Okay, but I want you to listen to what I think, what I feel, can you do that?"
I couldn't speak, so I nodded.
"We've been through a lot in a short time, hell in the past month I've been declared dead, twice! I wouldn't change a thing though if it meant I'd be here with you at the end. See over a month ago, I was called to a security briefing and there was this really hot and feisty analyst there that I was rude to, but she kind of handed my ass to me. She went missing the next day and then I found myself in a bit of trouble. The thing that kept me going though was the thought that if I found her I'd do everything in my power to keep her safe and show her that she's loved. Imagine my surprise when I found her and she willingly took torture for me, seeing her be so strong, so brave solidified her place in my heart and that will never change. Baby that was you, you were so selfless, so brave how could I not love you? When this is over, I want to take you home, I want to introduce you to my mom, I want to tell my dad that 'my girl' was instrumental in the downfall of the Volturi. I want to show you off to my team and then I want to meet your dad, so I can promise him that I'll keep you happy and safe until you decide you no longer want me around. So no I don't think you're being silly."
"Y-you w-want me?"
"Yes Bella, very much," he replied tugging my chin to dance a kiss across my lips, as if sealing a promise.
******
EPOV.
Being cooped up in the ass crack of nowhere was getting old pretty damn fast. I'm not complaining, the house is pretty damn awesome, the setup, state of the art, hell if I'd chosen a place to hideout myself, it would come pretty close to this. But, the seclusion was getting to us, Emmett and Jasper checked in daily on their disposable cells, things back in DC were for the time being quiet as a church mouse and that is what concerned us the most. The fallout of our 'deaths' had been minimal; the team had been stood down and had undergone some low level interviews to establish any connections on their parts. Of course none were found, I know my team, and they’re good guys. Bella's dad had also been interviewed as he'd attempted to apprehend my would be killer. Yet they still had been unable to track them down and no arrest had been made.
Bella was antsy, she was enjoying the seclusion as much as me, meaning that apart from our 'down time' that I enjoyed immensely, or times when we were immersed in data, she was like a skittish junkie going through withdrawal, bouncing off the walls. We needed to end this and get our lives back, although I'm hoping that that now included me and her together. We established a routine, it helped keep the demons at bay, breakfast, perimeter check, I'd run the perimeter, she'd watch on the camera in the panic room. Data observation, we were fighting the tide trying to figure out what those bastards are up to, lunch, down time, dinner, perimeter check, lock up, bed. It was the same every day; the only change in the routine was what we did in down time, whether it was spent in the family room, or if we went out. During our jaunts out, we established more routes of escape, and now had a jeep hidden in town and an atv and a small cache just outside Polson.
Today we're heading in to town, we'd visited many times over the last few weeks, we had needed to visit the pharmacy to collect scripts for pain killers and antibiotics for Bella, she'd suffered Acute Atelectasis from her injuries in Bourtzi and they'd put her on meds to control it until it rectified itself. We were also visiting the hospital for a check up for me, I'm hoping I could get this damn cast off my arm, I'd settle for a brace if I had to, but that thing has to go.
I was stirred from my musings by feather light touches along my jaw, I looked down to see Bella placing dainty kisses; I squeezed her tighter letting her know that I was paying attention. She continued on her mission to drive me to the brink of insanity. We'd moved forward a lot over the last few weeks, but never crossing the line of actually having sex. Neither of us broached the subject and that was fine, we were in a fucked up situation already, sex had the potential to muddy the waters further.
"Baby..." I groaned, shifting slightly under her.
"Hmmm?" she mumbled.
"If we’re going to make it into town at a reasonable hour, we should perhaps take a raincheck on the seduction," I groaned. I knew we had to stop, but I'd be damned if I didn't want to, if a month ago someone said to me that I'd be hiding out in the ass crack of Montana, with a sexy as hell analyst, who's pretending to be my wife, and I was turning down the possibility of getting some, I'd probably laugh and call them a pussy. Yeah funny how things turn out.
"Fine, but I intend to cash that check baby," she huffed, before climbing off my lap and stumbling towards the bathroom.
I chuckled under my breath while I leaned back in the bed, may hands laced behind my head as I watched her go. When I told her early this morning that I want her, I meant every word, I could see the white picket fence, the cape cod house and the dog in my head every time I looked at her, the more I looked, the more I wanted it, and come hell or high water after all this shit was over, I was going to have it.
While Bella washed up, I headed down to the kitchen and set the coffee going, while I waited for the machine to do its thing I slipped down to the panic room and checked the video feeds, everything looked good. The sound of the coffee machine signalling it was finished drew me back to the kitchen, Bella was stood at the stove cooking eggs and bacon, dressed in blue jeans and a flannel shirt, even in something this casual she looked hot to me. I filled two mugs and set the table, joined a minute later by Bella holding two plates of food. We ate in comfortable silence, both of us speculating what the day ahead of us would bring.
After cleaning up, we headed to the garage and climbed into the SUV, lacing our hands over the console I steered us out of the garage, hitting the remote to secure the door before gunning the engine and heading towards town. The pharmacy was quiet, I'm not sure if it was down to the time of day, or just that it's a small town, not that it bothered me, I had no real desire to spend too much time here anyhow. We were in and out in minutes. Bella snickered at my eagerness to get to the hospital, but I know for sure that she's as eager to get rid of the offensive blue cast on my arm as much as I am, that damn thing chaffes!
"Baby, you do realise that you may have to keep that thing on a bit longer," she chortled at me, mirth dancing in her eyes.
I glanced across at her, before darting my eyes back on the road.
"I don't care if I have to cut it off myself, I'll even settle for a brace, but it has to go," I grumbled.
Bella laughed, and ruffled my already insane hair, before leaning over and kissing my cheek. I grinned in amusement. Yeah regardless of the outcome today, nothing was going to ruin my mood with Bella around.
******
As we left the hospital two hours later, my arm finally free of the blue monstrosity and now encased by a smart black brace, I couldn't shift the smile from my face. Bella chuckled and tugged me towards the SUV. The doctor said I was healing well and the brace could be removed for sleep, I was just pleased to be able to wash my arm, not to mention scratch, you cannot imagine the pleasure you could have from something as simple as scratching an itch. I could easily empathise with the look on a dogs face when they have a good scratch behind the ears, heaven.
We arrived back at the cabin a short while later, nothing seemed remiss and we pulled into the garage and entered through the back door without a care in the world. We grabbed coffee and walked hand in hand down to the panic room, setting up for hours of trawling. Well hours of Bella trawling and me, checking security, watching Bella and occasionally casting a second eye over something she'd found. Bella grinned at me from her seat in the large leather chair she'd sunk in to, cracking her fingers before placing her hands on the keyboard. The hard brace on her wrist similar to my own. I settled in to my seat opposite her and reviewed our status from the security setup on the screen, all looked good, the cctv streamed through various cameras all feeding onto the multi screen setup in front of me, all was quiet. The sensors were calibrated; no one would be sneaking up on us. I sat back in the chair and rested my eyes. Bella was fully entrenched in her data.
"Baby, come look at this, I think I have something," her voice carried across the desk.
I slid my chair up next to hers, on the screen was an image of a middle aged man, his bio told me he was a scientist.
"Who's that?" I asked.
"Dr Waylon Jennings, he's nuclear scientist, for the DOD, specialises in nuclear weaponry."
"Okay?" I mused.
"He's been reported missing, yet he's been out of contact for months without anyone raising any flags."
"How is that possible?" I asked, straightening in my seat.
"He went on vacation, only thing is, he never came back," Bella responded.
"Surely they would've kept track of his whereabouts?"
"Obviously not, he's been gone for nearly three months now. I'm thinking our missing scientist is with the missing plutonium and if I'm right I think the Volturi are trying to start a war."
"Holy shit, how do we alert them to this without drawing attention to ourselves?" I asked.
"I pin it to my streams, and let my computer flag it, if they're watching my data, then the programme I wrote to connect flags should alert those that need to know to the data," Bella said.
"Baby, you are a genius, I don't understand much of what you just said, but if it works hey I'm all for it," I said kissing her quickly.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*
When Jasper called later that day, we informed him of what we had found, he promised to keep an eye on things in DC, I didn't dare to ask how he would do that, the guy had his ways and regardless of how hokey they seemed, I trusted him. He informed us that they had a lead on the traitor, no details were given, but he was confident in what he had discovered. Both Bella and I were keen for this to be over, we really were starting to suffer from cabin fever; we needed to get back in the game.
After hanging up with Jasper, I went about my normal routine, check the perimeter, check the gun cases, and lock up the cabin for the night. Meanwhile Bella returned to the panic room and it was there that I found her once my routine chores were complete, hunched over the computer, fingers gliding at speed across the keyboard, endless streams of data speeding across the multiple screens. She was in her element and I stood just inside the door in awe of her. She was relentless in her search for the truth and I knew that I would have difficulty removing her from her post tonight, she was heavily focussed, the air around her crackled with determination. With nothing more that I could do, I headed up to the kitchen, flipping the switch on the coffee machine, if I could do nothing but bring her coffee, then that is what I would do, I could support her in her endeavour to get us home.
Around 3am she sat back in her chair, weariness covering her features, I moved from my chair opposite and stood behind her, placing my hands on her shoulders I gently massaged the tight muscles beneath her sweatshirt. Bella's head fell against the back of the chair as she groaned in appreciation.
"You wouldn't believe how good that feels."
"I have an idea," I responded with a slight grin.
"I've been looking into Dr Jennings. I can only assume that he is operating under duress, his background shows no affiliation with the Volturi or anyone involved with them. If he does make a device, which I know he has the knowledge to do, I'm worried about the target," she said sighing as I hit a particularly tender point on her shoulder.
"What sort of payload are we talking about; perhaps if we understand the potential size we can determine the possible targets?"
"Think Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I'm not suggesting that they'll recreate 'fat man' but in the sense of devastation they could cause, then the potential is on a similar scale," she replied grimly.
"Okay, now we know potentially what we're up against, we need to find out the who, the where, and the why, do you think you can dig up any more information on the Volturi? I think if we can know our enemy, then we'll understand better why they're doing this."
"I can do that," she answered with a nod, moving to assume her position in front of the terminal.
I placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Tomorrow... you're tired and need to rest; it will still be here in the morning."
Bella looked up at me, her face drawn with fatigue, before taking my hand in hers. We ascended the stairs in silence, flicking light switches as we went. Tomorrow, we would begin to hone in on the Volturi.
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