Caught in the Flames

Chapter Thirty-Four

Okay, so I'm starting something new. I'm one of those writers that I have to have a ton on my plate or I get bored. I doplan on finishing all of my WIPs, but I wanted to try something different. Anyhow, this will be a drabble-ish fic. My chapters will be a thousand words or less, unless the chapters lend themselves to something longer (i.e., a lemon...). We're also going to be switching back and forth, every five chapters between our two favorite characters, Edward and Bella...

As always, none of this is mine. I'm just the perv who want to make our beloved Twilight characters swear, drink, and go at it like horny rabbits. This story will be a combination of love, suspense, some violence and steamy, sweaty sex.

On with it!

Chapter Thirty-Four

BPOV

Edward drove me back to my house, parking on the street. We walked down the sidewalk, hand in hand. We didn't talk. Just walked. The silence, though, wasn't tense. It was more content than anything. Arriving back at my place, I let us in and led Edward back to the kitchen. "Do you want some coffee?"

"If I have to drive home, yes," he said. "I may just stay for a cup of coffee and some cookies. I'm fading fast, Miss Swan."

"I hear you. I think I'll no problem falling asleep tonight," I snorted humorlessly.

"Are you still having nightmares?" Edward asked.

"Sometimes, but Pam told me to journal about them. She is big into dream imagery and stuff. If I can face my demons in the real world, they won't attack in my sleep?" I shrugged, making the coffee and swiping the cookies along with a tub of ice cream. "Homemade ice cream sandwiches?"

"Can I move in?" he asked, licking his lips.

"Emmett that bad?" I giggled.

"He sure as hell doesn't cook as well as you," he said, swiping a cookie from the plastic container, stuffing it into his mouth. "We all kind of pick at our food when it's Emmett's turn to cook at the house. He can grill like nobody's business, but anything that can't be cooked over charcoal briquettes, it's usually not edible."

"How often does he cook?"

"We have a chore wheel at the station for each shift. It usually works out to being once a month or so. Sometimes guys trade if they don't like a job, but we follow it mostly. It's a lot more diplomatic than other houses who make their candidates or new firefighters do the grunt work. We all take turns cleaning the shitter, washing the rigs and doing the laundry," Edward said. "Speaking of the house, we're having a barbeque on our next shift. We have a monthly celebration for all of the birthdays during each month. We've had a lot of birthdays, namely baby Alanna and Jacob. You should come. Alice and Jasper are coming. Jasper did a few ride-alongs with Jessica and Angela."

"When is it?" I asked.

"On Thursday," Edward smiled. "You can come with my sister after she's done with the shop. Jasper will already be at the house since he's scheduled to help out that day, regardless."

"I'd like that," I answered. "Perhaps I'll bring dessert. Some of my cookies?"

"Not these. They're mine," he growled, arching a brow at me.

"Got it," I laughed. "I will bring something. How many should I account for?"

"Roughly thirty. We've got about eleven that are actively on the rigs and such, plus other people who help out. We've also invited friends and families of our crews as well," Edward answered. I poured us both a cup of coffee and then began dishing out our homemade ice cream sandwiches. Placing Edward's on a plate, I handed it to him. I was going to try and be a bit daintier, eating mine with a spoon. I just knew that I'd get a glob of ice cream on my chest if I ate it like a sandwich. "Seriously, when can I move in?" he asked, his mouth full of cookies, ice cream and coffee.

"Edward, when was the last time you had a good meal?"

"An hour ago," he laughed. "Today has been a clusterfuck. It started with your garage fire and ended with that apartment fire on Diversey."

"No wonder you can what you want. With all of that, you probably lost a ton of calories," I said, making him another ice cream sandwich. "Eat!" He eagerly enjoyed the second sandwich until he started barking that his head was hurting.

"Shit! Brain freeze," he said, dancing around in my kitchen.

"Drink some coffee. Slowly," I said, pushing his mug closer to his hand. He swiped it, taking a few tentative sips. His furrowed brows relaxed and he drank some more. "Better?"

"Yeah," he replied, his eyes opening and he smiled. Moving around my kitchen island, he put the ice cream back into the freezer and covered my cookies in their plastic container. He placed his dirty dish in the sink, rinsing it off before he shuffled closer to me. I felt him behind me. My hair stood on end, but not in a bad way. I wanted him there. "Bella?"

I turned and saw him right behind me. I felt so small compared to him. "This won't do," he chuckled, lifting me easily so I was sitting on the counter. I was now nose to nose to Edward. "Much better. I like that you're tiny, but I wanted to look into your beautiful eyes." I blushed, looking down at his polo shirt. "Hey, I want to see you." His hand cupped my chin. "Bella...you're an amazingly strong woman. It takes courage to rebuild your life after what you've been through. Now, I'm not going to lie and say that everything is okay between us. It's not, but I want it to be. I think part of it may be my fault."

"Edward, it was all me," I muttered. "I'm the fuck up, really. I needed help. Telling you, Alice and Jasper was the catalyst to get me the help that I needed but how I handled our relationship; it was wrong. I just hope that I didn't ruin it before it even had a chance to blossom."

"Does this answer your question?" Edward asked, his mouth softly covering mine. His hands moved to caress my cheeks before his arms wrapped around my waist. His lips were tender, gentle and moving slowly over mine. My palms glided up his arms until I reached his neck. Twining my fingers in his silky hair, I sighed. He deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue between my lips. He tasted like coffee, ice cream and cookies. With a sweet brush of his lips, he pulled back and rested his forehead against mine. "I want you, Bella. You're beautiful, brave, strong and...so many other things. I know that you are healing. I wantto be there for you, obviously as a friend but, in time, as something more. I'm willing to wait."

"I want you, too. I'm just so scared," I murmured, my fingers massaging his scalp. "I'm scare of what I'm feeling. I'm scared of what I'm running from. I'm scared..." I trailed off. "But, I'm not scared of you. I know you are not him. You've proven that to me during our time together. I just wasn't prepared for it. You know?"

"Me neither. You know my history. It's nowhere as damaged as yours, but I've been hesitant to trust women, for some pretty obvious reasons," he chuckled darkly. "Do you want this?"

"Yes," I said, more confident in anything else.

"Good. So do I. We'll travel this path together, Bella," he replied, taking my face in his hands. "Because I want this more than anything in the world." And he kissed me again.

A/N: WOOT WOOT! They kissed! Edward wants her. She wants him! Can I get a 'holla'? Now does this mean that they're going to jump right into bed and fuck like bunnies? Um, no. It will be a slow burn, times of exploration, roaming fingers, longing kisses and everything but the deed for a while. How long? I have no clue. Now up next is the birthday barbeque at the house. Bella is going to chat with Emmett. He doesn't know her story, remember? He doesn't understand why she pulled away and Edward, being the classy guy he is, didn't tell her story to his best friend. Leave me some!

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