A/N: Enjoying Midnight Sun? Snort. Thanks for taking a pause and clicking on the worst timed post in fan fiction. lol I'll post the rest ... some other time. Love you all. xoxo

Chapter 67 - Swallow of the Woods

"Where the fuck have you been?" Jameson shouts, slamming his car door shut. "After all these years, you come back now like you own the place?"

"Oh, bad word." Elliot makes an 'o' with his pink lips.

Edward is all eyes, mouth shut, standing there. The kid from the shore. The kid with a pregnant Bella in his arms. He remembers him. But he doesn't remember the red, angry, face.

His jaw tenses, knowing exactly why.

Jameson now gets a good look at the guy he's had a hankering to knock out for years. This fucker, who has shaped everyone's lives in this family. Even absent. How does a ghost do that? How does an invisible man drain the life out of people?

"James!" Bella yells, horrified.

He points at Bella. "My time. Remember? This one is mine." He looks over at Edward, Elliot still in his arms. James saw from his car how they held hands … how the boy looked at the man behind him like a damned hero. He sees Edward now turn a shoulder to him to keep Elliot farther away. That infuriates him more. He hasn't been here. He wasn't here when Jameson watched Elliot grow. Jameson is not the stranger here.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" he spits. "You hike back here from wherever the hell you've been to take what isn't yours?"

"Don't you dare! I swear to god ..." Bella takes a step.

Edward calmly advances, taking a few strides in front of her, and pushes Elliot into her arms. Both now safely behind him. Before he looks, James shoves him by the shoulder, sending him back a few steps. Edward looks. One blow to his cheek. He snaps to the side just enough, caught off guard. And those eyes turn the color of moss with the anger. He slowly touches his lip and looks down at his fingertips. A look would kill if it could, like the one he gives Jameson. He rubs the droplet between his fingers and glares back at this guy.

"James!" Bella howls, devastated, reaching over.

She tries to get a look at the damage as Elliot practically launches himself out of Bella's arms. His little hands grappling at Edward's collar and shoulder. "No, Un-co James. Leave my fri-wend alone!" He cries.

Edward stands firm. Blank. No words. Only his hand at Bella's hip to keep her back.

"Come. Let's see if you're a man or a fucking coward who hides." Jameson curls his fingers beckoning. His sleeves already rolled up; his collar relaxed like he got ready on the way here. "I've been waiting long enough."

"I will kill you if you ruin this, you hear me? You're dead!" Bella spews back through her teeth. Her eyes red, already blurred with tears. She's juggling a crying and frantic Elliot and can't keep her focus on everything at once. Not even when Sam's car shows up, spilling him and Charlie out the doors. Charlie is all wide eyes, Sam, too.

"James. C'mon!" Charlie calls sternly, a command to retrieve. But his eyes soon trip over the stranger he has yet to meet. He finally gets a good look at the North Pond Hermit.

He pauses. He falters. It's been years, and there have been so many stories. But, honestly, he can't believe his eyes. Not what he expected. The kid is … not a kid like he imagined, nor some destitute homeless. He's a man, older than Bella, taller than himself, clean-shaven, and no signs of ever living in the woods. Charlie slows his advance when he gets a good look. Sam keeps him in place with an arm across his chest.

"What the hell is going on?" Bella goes berserk. She lets Elliot slither out of her grasp, which gives him the chance to grab onto Edward's leg.

Everyone is quiet. And everyone looks at that.

The dense pause doesn't linger. A heaving Sue joins the commotion as she comes from the side of the cabin. Her hands on her knees when she stops, then her heart.

She lets her hands fall at her sides as she turns to Bella. "I'm sorry. I tried calling."

But her voice is drowned by the screeching halt of another car closing in. Jen steps out in a rush, then slows down. She looks around. She keeps her mouth shut. Everyone is quiet when they turn to her.

Fuck.

She's walked into the middle of it.

Edward looks at Bella and back at the audience.

Bella is a furious whirl; gravel tossed under her feet, where she treads utterly dumbfounded. She stops. She points. "How did you know?" She asks Jameson. He closes his mouth, bites down on an answer.

"Of course," she says with a nod. She fists the air. "Let me guess; you told Dad?" She points to Sam. He looks away. "And, of course, you'd rattle to James!" She yells at her dad. That one stuffs his hands in his pockets and looks at his feet.

She looks back at Jen; she lifts a hand, giving up. Jen simply points at Jameson.

"I wouldn't miss this for the world." Jen closes her car door behind her, as she takes a step. "It's been years, you know?" She shrugs.

"Years of this bullshit," James spits.

"What bullshit, James? What?" Bella pushes him. He sighs when he staggers a bit. She asks about Elliot and herself. "My bullshit? This? Us?" She shakes her head. "You didn't have to sweat it, grieve over it day after day. As a matter of fact, you haven't been. Busy man, right?" She flicks her wrist at him. "My bullshit. Yeah, It's mine." She points at her chest.

James sighs, rubbing his head. He's not coming off the right way. He came here for vengeance, a ghost versus a worried man who's defending his family. He opens his mouth to argue when his shoulder is pulled back.

Sam steps in.

The older man sets eyes on the younger man he's seen countless times through the years in these woods. Edward is older now. It's like seeing a grown son—Sam motions to him.

"What we all meant to say was … Welcome back, son. We've all waited tirelessly for your arrival." He says this as he grips Jameson's shoulder firmly.

Edward watches intently.

"I'd shake your hand, but I'll refrain. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Sam Ullye, a resident of this town since birth. I've had the honor of seeing you many times before. I finally get to tell you face to face how welcomed you are."

Edward blinks away, but he remembers him. He's seen him around the trails, too. Kind man. He always let him be.

Sam continues to speak. "You helped bring all of us together, one common purpose. To find you. To tell you about your son." Elliot is now crouching by his father's leg obliviously picking up dirt with a stick. He looks up and waves the stick at Sam.

"Wook, Grandpa Sam!" Sam smiles down, warmly.

He gestures to James beside him. "This entitled young man here is Jameson, and he helped bring your boy into the world. He's a fine doctor. He's really a good man on regular days, unlike today." James rolls his eyes. Sam pats his chest, clad in an expensive button-up, shiny shoes on his feet, combed back hair like he's a well-rounded wealthy man from the city. Just a little disheveled at the moment. Sam deflates this tough image.

"You've met Dr. Ullye." He motions to Sue next. "She delivered your boy and helps keep this camp healthy and alive. She is the mayor of this reservation of sorts." He lowers his voice. "She gets upset when I say that." Sue presses a hand to her lips.

"Jen, back there, has simply been a big fan." He smiles. "Of you, Bella and Elliot. She's Bella's good friend, and she helped locate your family. Smart woman, you'd remember to keep close if you ever need anything. She's a lovely human." Jen blushes, where she stands.

"And definitely last, but not least; that man there is Bella's father, Charlie Swan. He's been … eager to welcome you since he's heard of your arrival." Charlie's nostrils flare just enough. "I'm sure he'll get to do just that one of these days soon." Charlie nods Edward's way, but his red face gives him away.

Bella bites her cheek at that. Her limbs tremble with all her anger. She looks up at Edward and sees the hesitance in his eyes. She reaches for his hand. He just as quickly pulls it away and puts it into his pockets. She dies a little. There's no turning back from this.

"Now that we all know you're safe, we'll go." Sam finishes saying.

James does a double-take. He's pulled back a few more feet.

"We'll go," Sam reiterates. "And maybe in the future, we'll have the honor of speaking again to get to know the man who changed a few lives here in this camp."

Charlie nods curtly from afar. "Bella. Edward," he says.

"Have a great evening," Sam says before turning and climbing behind the wheel. Charlie climbs in too, after giving Bella an apologetic look. Sue pushes him in, closes the door, and jumps in the back seat with a sad smile.

Jameson stands there deflated. Jen slowly comes close to stand by him. Her job now is to hold his shoulder. But it isn't like Jameson would do much else. He's pissed at how this all turned out. To admit that he's been affected by this invisible man himself, setting fire at his feet to work harder, study longer? Never. His residency came sooner because of the drive this stranger put in him. Haunted by the piles of complex books by a tent, like the subjects were effortless. An isolated brilliant mind filling up while James struggled. That, he'll never admit either.

Jen nudges him to follow her and leave. He relents.

"You were there, the birth? You saw it through?" Edward speaks.

They all look up, surprised. They're immobile. He's talking to Jameson.

"So, you paid for this house?" Edward asks. His eyes trained on him. "Her school? The boy's clothes and meals?" He continues to list. He's seriously curious. What's his role in this?

"Of course not!" Bella says furiously. He looks at her and back at Jameson, gauging their reactions.

Jameson shakes his head sheepishly, not making eye contact. He shuffles his feet where he stands and rubs his neck.

"Neither did I," Edward says with a bit of fire. "Seems like we're both on their borrowed time." He nods slightly at him before walking away, heading toward the woods.

… Where he belongs.

His hands tremble. He grips them hard at his sides. And all that comes to him are his mother's words; Be a man. Be present. Look after what is yours, your son's. He has no fault.

And that son goes calling and running after him.

Everyone stands there watching the heart-wrenching sight.

Well, shit. Jameson feels like the worst. Jen covers her lips. "I'm so sorry," she says to Bella.

Bella's focus is not on her friends. Not now. She runs. Like Elliot, she runs after Edward before she loses him.

"Edward!" She calls.

Elliot hears and calls the same. "Eh-ward, Eh-ward!" he mimics. When he reaches him first, he hangs onto a leg.

Edward doesn't have a choice but to stop. He looks below at the boy, then looks at the treetops, hands on his waist.

This is too much.

He'd very much like to turn and punch that kid right back. But that's just it. A kid. A relentless one like the child at his leg. Elliot pulls and pulls, whining. Edward bends, tugs at his little fists to let go, and keeps walking, only to be crashed into by Elliot again. His leg like lead.

Bella catches up, and maybe if she was as short as Elliot, she'd hang on, too.

"Edward, please." She catches his arm. He pulls it away gently, but the notion is there. This is too much. "No," she says through her teeth. A sob. Edward turns his eyes away. He gets a chance, leg free, he takes off, but it just gets caught again. He's stuck here, sighing.

He just wants to run. The feeling there all morning. The desire in him. It has prickled beneath his feet.

This ... is too much.

Bella blocks his way, she stands on the balls of her feet, she cups his face, and she'll force those eyes on her if she has to.

"Look at me." He does. "I want you here. We both do. That was … that was not supposed to happen that way. It's not up to them. It never was. I've just got you back. You can't leave. Please." Her eyes fire, her words desperate.

He pulls away, and another kind of fire is building in him. He doesn't want to burst. Not here.

Bella stands back. His chest grazes hers as he walks past. Elliot is now in tears, rejected. Bella looks down at him, her heart looking like his small crumbled face this very second.

"You said you're on my time?" She speaks up. He seems to stop at those words. "That's how you feel?" she asks, looking over her shoulder. "Then if this is up to me, you'll be here tomorrow at seven am. On the dot. No question." She turns to him. "I want you here. Bring your bag, bring your clothes, bring your dirty shirts. I want all of you. You hear me?"

His shoulders seem to sag from where he stands. His fists drag at his sides as he digs a heel into the dirt. He takes a new step, but she won't let him, not if she could help it.

She tugs him hard, slips in front of him, and wraps her arms around him. He's enveloped in that delicious scent for the very last time. Her lips come to his. She does it; what she's pictured doing every night on her pillow. She slips off soundly from his lips to kiss his cheek, his neck, and back again.

"You and me. That's how it's always been. That's why I kept you to myself—until I couldn't," she whispers. "I'll let you go. I'll let you rest. But you come back for Elliot," she says, about the boy who cries. "Come for him, if not for me."

Edward listens. Well, she's taken a leap. Her lips on his, landing there. He lets that touch linger inside as her lips move to tell him things. Maybe he's caught every word she just said, maybe he hasn't. All he can grasp is her face and what she's given him. His thumb skims wondrously at the apple of her cheek. He gets a second taste, one long, melding kiss she doesn't expect. Her eyes flutter closed. Her muscles let go.

They're stuck together. No fight.

He lets his mouth brush hers as he lets go. He steps around her, and he goes.

Bella watches with an inconsolable Elliot at her side, until Edward is small, heading farther and farther away from them in the distance. And it's quick; the swallow of the woods.

…