Story Name: HOME
Pen Name: Bliltxgirl & Mischief-Maker1
Pairing: Emmett/Edward

Disclaimer: We do not own Twilight or its characters. Bliltxgirl does own the memories associated with this lovely little oneshot, and between the two of us, we managed to get it all on paper for you and change just enough facts to protect the not so innocent.

Emmett POV

"Radar! Hiya baby!" I heard Rosalie, my best friend of almost 20 years, greet my overly enthusiastic Olde English Bulldog as his nails skidded across the hardwood floors of our entry hallway, no doubt slamming into her full force as she came through the front door.

"I'm in the backyard with Kennedy," I hollered through the open window of our dining area. "Try not to let Kiki out when you open the sliding door. It sticks a little and she's learned to exploit those few extra seconds."

I laughed as I thought of all the times Edward had cursed a blue streak after our very expensive and very long haired Ragdoll cat had snuck past him as he opened that same door. His concern was her running off, mine was her getting filthy while trying to get to the fish in our Koi pond.

The trade off for never having to do the weekly bathings of our standard poodle, Kennedy, was to promise to always bathe Kiki when she needed it. So, I just fought like hell to keep her from ever needing it.

Rosalie managed to slide the glass door open and step through without Kiki making a run for it, and stood on the patio giggling.

"Well, don't you look downright domesticated?" Her teasing words carried to me over the whirring sound of the hand-held seeder.

"Yeah, well, I'm tired of looking at dirt back here so I'm putting down some rye grass seed and then fertilizer. It may only hide it for the winter but at least I can pretend I have a yard for a few months. I still can't believe we managed to kill that ridiculously expensive sod," I grumbled.

When I had finished my back and forth pattern over the back yard I stopped on the patio long enough to bend my six foot five frame to her five foot six frame and give her a brief hug and a kiss to the top of her blonde head before grabbing the bag of fertilizer to put in the dispenser.

"Do you want me to put Kennedy and Radar in their run or in the house?" she asked me as I turned to start my pattern all over again with the fertilizer. Seeing the confused expression on my face she continued, "Em, you can't let the dogs in the yard until the fertilizer has had a chance to sink into the ground. If one of them were to eat grass that had some on it they could get very sick."

Well, duh. I knew that. It had obviously been a really long week.

"Just put them in their run, Rose. We're gonna go eat soon, and they'd just end up in there anyway."

"Okay. I'm gonna lock up the prisoners and then go wash my hands and face before we head out for dinner. Where are we going?"

As she walked the dogs to the side of the house where their run was located I started laying down the fertilizer. "Edward should be home in about an hour so we'll decide once he's here."

"Oh, he's not home?" One perfectly arched eyebrow went up. "I assumed he was just in your room when I didn't see him in the living room or hear him at the piano in the front room because I saw the Corvette in the garage."

Oh she was going to love this. "He's been riding his bike to work on the days he doesn't have classes. He's saving gas and wear and tear on the Vette, and getting in shape."

Edward was in his last semester of law school at the University of Washington in Seattle. His dream had been to attend UDub for both his under grad and law school, but when the position as the Senior Patrol Sergeant for the Forks Police Department had been offered to me it had been too much for me to turn down. So, living in Port Angeles and commuting between there and Seattle and Forks it was. It was a long commute for his classes, almost twice as long as my drive to work, but neither of us wanted to live apart for three years.

On days Edward didn't have classes he worked at Wolfram & Hart, a local law firm specializing in corporate litigation.

"So he rides his bike to work in the morning… when it's misty and or humid… and then works all day in a corporate law office, meeting with clients?" I could hear the disbelief in her voice.

"He wears sweats and a t-shirt to ride in. He's been taking a couple clean suits up at the end of the week and leaving them in his locker in the firm's gym so he can shower in the morning before he starts work."

Rosalie just let out a small laugh and shrugged her shoulders before turning to wrestle with the sliding door and go back in the house. I knew she didn't get it. Hell, neither did I, really. For being in such great shape neither Rose nor myself broke a sweat if we could help it.

Thirty minutes later, "Aunt Rose" had brought the dogs in the house through the door in the garage that opened into their run, and I was washing my face and hands and changing clothes. Rosalie was lounged across mine and Edward's king size bed lazily petting Kiki and laughing as Radar tried his best to nuzzle his nose under her arm to get some affection, too. Have I mentioned our animals were attention whores?

"What time do we have to be in Forks tomorrow?" She questioned.

"Well, the run starts at 8 a.m., which Edward is running in… with Kennedy by the way, and I have to be there to set up the barricades before that, so we probably need to be there about 7:15. Which means… we have to leave here by about 5:45."

My eyes grew heavy just thinking about it. Friday through Sunday were my usual days off, but every so often I got called in to work a special event, and Forks Fry, the annual fish fry contest that had evolved into a festival of sorts, was one such event. Over the years music, booths, a "train" ride for the kids, bake-off, 5K run and a typical small town parade had all been added to the mix, but at heart, it was still the ultimate fish fry contest of the Olympic Peninsula.

Dozens of people entered the fry contest but an intense rivalry had developed between the fry masters of Forks and those of the Quileute Reservation, La Push. You could almost see the virtual flag being staked in the ground when Mr. Newton, owner of Forks' own Newton Outfitters, won last year.

A very un-Rose-like squeal startled me and had me wheeling around to see what had brought on the shrill noise. As I finished my hundred and eighty degree turn I found Kennedy trying get in the action by nudging Rose from behind with her nose and in the process hitting the only place on her whole body that Rose was ticklish – right at the base of her neck and between her shoulder blades.

Letting out a full on belly laugh I praised Kennedy. "Good girl!"

"Ohmygod! Ohmygod! OHMYGOD! Make her stop, Emmett!" Rose shrieked at me.

"C'mere Kennedy," I called to my dog. She immediately jumped off the bed and came prancing over to me so I could pet her.

"By the way," I spoke to Rose, chuckling again as I saw her struggle to catch her breath, "Charlie has you signed up to judge again this year." My boss, Chief of Police, Charlie Swan, had quite the soft spot for Rose. She lived in Seattle so didn't get to visit often, but on the few occasions she had been to Forks with me those two had gotten along like peas in a pod. I imagine the fact that she could talk to him about some vampire book his teenage daughters and wife were obsessing over helped, too. For the last two years the poor guy had even been drug to Seattle for a midnight premier of some movie that was based on the book.

"Thanks for telling me in advance," she answered. "At least now I know not to eat much for dinner and to skip breakfast all together."

Last year had been the first year Rose had been to Forks Fry with me and when a judge was MIA for the fish fry she got suckered into judging. Don't get me wrong, most of the entries are delicious, but there are a lot of them. Not knowing she was going to have to eat a small portion of 26 fish fry entries, Rose had eaten breakfast and a few snacks before anyone had asked her to help with judging. I'd never seen her look so green as she did at the end of that day.

I chuckled as I laid down sideways on the bed next to her, my head near her feet and Radar and Kiki between us. "You've been warned. Oh, and they added cook's choice and coleslaw categories this year, too."

I could almost see her turning green already as she groaned, "I can survive just about anything Forks Fry has to throw at me as long as we can keep the rest of the weekend from turning into the clusterfuck the weekend of Forks Fry was last year."

Hearing Edward enter the house through the garage and call out from the living room, I barely had time to mumble, "From your lips to God's ear, Rose."

Last year had, indeed, been quite the clusterfuck...

…~~***~~...

Rose had driven in from Seattle to help us move the last few car loads of our stuff from the apartment we had been renting for a little over a year to the house we were buying. I think she was almost as excited about the house as we were. She had been counting down the days to the move in for weeks leading up to our close.

We spent Friday night hauling boxes in and out of my truck and then kinda unpacking the things we were going to need right away. The kitchen was more or less up and running within an hour of everything arriving, but we'd had to stop there when we realized it was already 11 p.m. and we had to be up in about six hours to get ready to head to Forks for the Fish Fry.

Rose had planned on staying behind and spending the day with Edward setting up the house, but I had literally begged her to come along with me and see what it was like. I promised her she'd have a good time and we'd hang out with Edward when we got back since I'd be off work by 5 p.m. Ultimately Edward had tipped the scales for me by telling her that he was going to spend the day shopping for a new Vette to replace his previous one. Rose loved driving nice cars but absolutely hated shopping for them.

Rose had grumbled a bit about losing one of her two days a week that she got to sleep past the ass crack of pre-dawn but she gave in and set her alarm for five-o-fucking-clock and crawled into bed with Radar.

Arriving at the Forks PD the next morning, Rose had greeted Chief Swan, or Charlie as she took to calling him, like they were old friends who hadn't seen each other in ages. In reality they had met once before; at lunch when she came out to see the "podunk town I was working in" about eight months before that.

Chief had just bought a new Flip camera to use at the station and every time we turned around he had it focused on one of us. I would regret showing him mine and telling him about the amazing deal I got on it for as long as I worked here… or until I found some way to "lose" it. With Rose's arrival, Chief had a new victim, and soon she was ducking into my office to hide from the ever present Flip.

Pretty soon I had to head out to set up the barricades for the parade, and I left Rose in my office talking to Mike who was having some relationship troubles and was grateful for a sympathetic ear that might be able to give him a perspective he hadn't already heard from all of us. He was working dispatch, and he could talk 'til Rose turned blue in the face for all I cared as long as he answered the one call that might come in during the day.

I called her about an hour later to let her know the parade was going to start and tell her where to walk to if she wanted to see it. She had just giggled and told me, "I'm sitting at the picnic table in the park about 100 feet from you, Goofball." I'd responded just as lovingly for her to get her lazy ass up from the table and walk over there to visit with me while I stood there stopping traffic for the parade.

The parade for Forks Fry is just like pretty much any other small town parade. Anyone who can think of a legitimate reason to be in it is welcome to as long as you're in line before Chief lights up his car and starts the procession. You're the local insurance agent? Throw a magnet on your car or tape a poster board to the window and get in line! Go to the local high school? Write "Go Spartans" on a sign, grab some friends and get in line! And everyone throws wrapped candies as they pass along the route; for all 10 of the kids who are gathered to watch. I feel so bad for those parents. It's like Halloween come early.

Ten minutes later the parade was over and Rose was heading off to explore the booths that had been set up along the main road of the town. Most of the booths were local organizations selling something or another to help raise funds for their cause, but I knew Rose was going to approve of Forks Fry the moment I got her excited text message.

OMG! Em… they have funnel cakes!

I had quickly typed out my own response.

You'd better be planning to share!

After giving her quick directions to where the Lions Club was in relation to the location of the funnel cake booth I sat and waited for the powdered sugar covered fried slice of heaven to arrive. I was sitting in the Polaris trying to look like I wasn't bored out of my skull when Rose arrived. Even over the smells of the fish fry I could smell the sweetness of the cinnamon and powdered sugar when she got close enough.

"Try not to get it on your uniform," she laughed as she extended the plate to me. I was notorious for spilling food on the front of me; usually exactly when it was the worst possible time to do so. Like then, when I didn't have a clean uniform shirt in the truck.

I took a small bite, careful to hold the napkins under the piece I'd pulled off so I could stay clean and then handed the plate back to Rose.

"That's it?" I walked all the way over here so you could have one bite?"

"I can't eat much. I have to judge the fish fry in about 30 minutes and there are a bunch of entries."

Rose's eyes danced with amusement as she started to walk away and called back over her shoulder, "You enjoy your 20 different ways to fry fish. I'm going to go see what other kinds of sinful foods I can find. I know they're out there, I just haven't looked hard enough yet."

Like most people raised in the Pacific Northwest, Rose and I had grown up eating various kinds of seafood. I imagine it'd be like living in Texas and eating BBQ. She was right though, there really were only so many ways you could fry a fish before it all started tasting the same. I'd never judged a fish fry, or anything else for that matter, so it was going to be interesting to see how this went down.

I still had a little bit longer before I had to report inside for the judging so I decided I'd take the Polaris and do a quick patrol. I'm not sure who convinced the city council a Polaris was necessary for the police department but I may just love them. It was painted to mimic one of our squad cars and even had blue and red lights on the top. I just loved being able to semi-4x4 around the area while being on duty. And people wonder why I love my job.

As I came through one of the rain run-off ditches next to the main road I found Rose. She had found some other food booths and was eating a corn dog while holding a sausage on a stick in the other hand.

"Hungry, Rose?" I'd laughed as I drove by.

"You're just jealous because I'm eating more than one thing today!" She'd yelled back as I passed.

Pulling back up to the Lions Club where the judging was taking place I saw Chief Swan squinting his eyes and looking around.

"Lose something, Chief?"

"More like someone, McCarty. Have you seen Rose?"

He was looking for Rose? "Uh, yea. I just passed her a few minutes ago when I did a patrol. Why?"

"Mr. Cheney was supposed to judge today, but he backed out and they asked me to find someone because we have to have at least 10 judges for the results to be official. I thought maybe she'd be willing to help out. Everyone else I can think of is a contestant."

I laughed as I told my boss, "I'll go get her. I know where she's hiding out." Rose's snarkiness was going to come back to bite her on this one.

Fifteen minutes later I was rushing Rose into the Lions Club just as the organizer was beginning to explain how to judge the entries.

"Are you our tenth judge?" the grizzled old man inquired of Rose.

"That's what I'm being told," she quipped as she glared at me, taking the only open seat left at the table, next to me and across from Chief.

"Good. Your evaluation form is right in front of you. As each entry comes around take a moment to look at it, smell it, take a forkful, using a new fork for each entry, and then taste it. Make sure you chew slowly so you can evaluate the flavors of the batter or fry crumbs as well as the fish and then rate it from one to twelve using the scale at the top of the page."

"There are 30 entries!" Rose's eyes just about popped out of her head.

"Oh no, that's just a template we use each year. We've never actually had that many entries." The old man informed her. Her sigh of relief could just about be heard across the vast room. "This year we've got 26," he continued on.

I felt a chill run down my spine and turned my head, against my better judgment, to see Rose glaring at me.

"What? If you want to give someone the death eyes, do it to Chief. He's the one who volunteered you, not me!" I defended myself.

"Charlie, we may not be friends after this. Just letting you know in advance," she deadpanned.

Chief chuckled and eagerly took the Styrofoam take-out container with the first entry from the organizer.

About an hour later we were passing our evaluation forms to the organizer and starting to leave the table. Poor Rose looked like just moving was going to make her sick.

"My shift is pretty much over, hun. I just have to talk to Chief for a few minutes and then we can go back to the station and pick up my truck and head home. You okay?" I really was worried about her.

"I'm just going to sit here until you're ready to leave and then I'll start walking over to the station. If I try to move now it will have disastrous consequences," she'd mumbled as she lowered her head to her arms that were crossed on the table.

At 5:05 p.m. we were in my truck and headed back to the house to meet up with Edward. Hitting the speed dial on my phone, Edward's voice soon surrounded us through the speakers in the truck.

"Hey! You guys headed home?" Edward all but chirped through the phone.

"Yep. I just picked up my truck so we should be home in about an hour or so. Did you find your new baby?"

"I did! I really want you guys to see it tonight and then I'm going to do all the financing on Monday." Hearing him so happy put a smile a mile wide on my face and I looked over to see Rose roll her eyes as she smiled at me.

I may be a big guy, and a cop, but when it comes to the men I've dated and loved I am a big softie. Rose often uses my nickname, Nellie, when no one I wouldn't want to know about my sexual orientation is around. I'm not ashamed of being gay, not at all, but I am a cop and unfortunately that can put some limitations on just how open I can be about my lifestyle, especially since I worked in a small town where everyone knew everything about everybody else.

"Okay, baby, we'll be home soon. I love you," I told him.

"I love you, too, Em. I'm going to work on unboxing the living room while I wait for you guys, and then we can go look at the Vette before we grab dinner."

Rose groaned and just looked out the window. I had no idea someone could actually turn that shade of green.

"Rose? Are you alright, honey?" Edward's concerned voice came through before I could disconnect the call.

"Oh, I'm fine, Edward. I just may not eat again for a week. I hope you don't mind but I'll probably just keep you guys company while you eat dinner," she explained.

"What happened? Did something you ate there not agree with you?" Edward continued.

"More like 26 somethings I ate didn't agree with me," she grumbled.

Laughing, I explained, "Chief volunteered Rose to judge the fish fry, but not 'til after she had already eaten breakfast at the diner, a funnel cake, corn dog and sausage on a stick."

"And three sugar cookies and a small bag of popcorn," Rose added in.

"Oh man! No wonder you don't want to eat. Em, didn't you judge, too? Are you even hungry?"

"I'm not hungry at the moment, but I'm sure by the time we get ready to eat I'll be able to eat a little bit, just probably not my usual size meal." I responded.

"Okay, well, you guys be safe driving back, there's a mist starting to fall. Hopefully it won't be too ugly when you get here and we can still go check out the Vette. We'll decide what to do for dinner after that. Maybe we can just pick something up to bring back to the house. We'll figure it out later. Love you guys, be careful," Edward said as we concluded the call.

Three hours later we were back in my truck after having driven to the local Chevrolet dealership so Rose and I could look at the Corvette Edward was planning to purchase on Monday.

"Edward it's beautiful! I've never seen a Vette in that blue before! I didn't even know they came in midnight blue. Wow," Rose continued gushing as we started to pull out of the lot's drive.

You'd never guess it to look at Rose but she loved cars. She could tell you the make and model of just about any car that passed on the road and more often than not she knew the engine specs. She didn't like to actually work on them, but she loved to drive them and one of her favorite things to do each year was go to the car show so she could see what was coming out and what had changed in all the models.

"It's amazing, Rose! I drove it earlier and it handles amazing. Oh! And the problem last year's model had with the alarm overriding the motor if you shifted into gear too quickly after starting the engine has been fixed," Edward enthused right back at her.

"Oh, thank God! That was so annoying. Remember last year when we were running late to the movie and jumped in the car only to have to wait 30 seconds for the alarm to reset because it thought we were trying to steal it when you put it in gear too quickly after starting the engine? That had to have been the longest 30 seconds of my life," she giggled.

"Not to break up the Corvette lovefest, but do we want dinner or not?" I interrupted them.

"I'm not particularly hungry but I could probably graze a little bit," Rose answered.

"I'm hungry, but I don't mind picking up food and going back to the house if you guys don't feel up to eating a full meal," Edward put in.

"I'm starting to get hungry, but I don't think I really want a full meal, yet. Picking up food and going back to the house is probably best. That way we can eat a little and if we want more we can always go back and heat some more up," I added my two cents.

"We can try that little Chinese restaurant by the house that we saw the other day. What do you think, Em? Would you be okay with Chinese, Rose?" Edward asked.

"Sounds good to me," Rose answered back.

As I drove towards the house we shifted conversations to what we were going to do for the evening. When we lived in Seattle we'd have probably gone out to one of the gay bars and met up with a few friends, but Port Angeles wasn't exactly known for its gay night life.

"Honestly, I just kinda feel like being a homebody and watching a movie or something if you guys don't mind," Rose yawned. "I hadn't expected to do so much walking today and with getting up so early I'm wiped out. Plus I have to drive back to Seattle tomorrow so the idea of driving round trip tonight also just to go out doesn't really appeal to me."

I expected Edward to put up a little bit of resistance to staying home because we really hadn't been out much since we'd moved to Port Angeles, but he surprised me when he answered with, "Actually I don't really feel like going out, either. We've been going non-stop for a couple of weeks with packing the apartment and then work and school. So, a night of doing nothing but vegging out and eating Chinese sounds pretty close to heaven. Would you mind staying in, baby?"

"Me? Not at all. I'm actually a little relieved that I didn't have to be the one to suggest it. I'm exhausted," I answered with a smile.

Pulling up the restaurant, Edward turned to look at Rose in the backseat just as I may be a real bad boy… but baby I'm a real good man played out from Rose's purse.

"Oh! Just a second, Edward," she laughed as she frantically searched through her purse for her phone.

"Really, Rose? Tim McGraw's Real Good Man?" I teased her.

"What? I'm hoping he will be," she quipped back at me.

Leaving Rose to answer her call I turned back to look at Edward. "I can already tell you what she wants."

He raised an eyebrow but gestured at me to continue.

"Sesame chicken if it's not a spicy dish here. If it is, then lemon chicken. With white rice and crab rangoons instead of an egg roll and egg drop soup if it comes with a soup. If it doesn't then don't worry about it," I spouted off. Rose just smiled and winked at me as she heard me recite her standard order. Yeah, we'd done this a few times.

As Edward wrote down Rose's order, with a pen and paper I didn't even know existed in my truck, I listened to Rose's one sided conversation. "I can't meet you tonight. No, I'm in Port Angeles with my friends, Emmett and Edward, remember I told you the other night? Yes, Emmett bought a house so I came down to help them move everything out of their apartment and into the house. I know, I'm sorry. I'll meet you out there next Saturday if you want to. Okay, I'll call you tomorrow when I head home. Bye."

I was so busy laughing at Rose's starry eyed expression that it hadn't even occurred to me that Edward hadn't asked me what I wanted even though he'd stopped writing.

"What do you want to eat?" Edward's brusque tone took me by surprise.

"Um…" I hesitated, still taken aback by the change in his attitude. "I'll have the General Tso chicken with fried rice, egg rolls and egg drop soup. Do you want me to go in with you?"

"No. I'm fine." Somehow I couldn't help but think he was answering me about more than whether he needed help carrying out the food.

Edward opened the door, stepped out and closed it quickly with just a tad more force than was really necessary.

"What the…" Rose wondered aloud. "Did I miss something while I was on the phone?"

"I have no idea what just happened." Looking at her I saw what I'm sure was the same curious expression I wore.

We kept ourselves entertained by scrolling through the music on my iPhone while we waited for Edward to get back with the food. We'd only listened to about five songs, well, parts of songs since I had a bad habit of changing the song before it finished, when Edward was climbing back into the truck with two bags of delicious smelling food.

I put the truck back in drive and started towards the house. We were just rounding the corner to our street when Edward looked up from his iPhone he had been furiously texting away on and finally broke the tense silence that had descended upon us. "I'm going to take a shower and get ready. I'm going to meet Jasper and Jake at the bar. I'll see you guys in the morning."

The last words fell from his mouth just as I pulled in the driveway and put the truck in park. Before I could even turn to say something to him, he had exited the truck and was half way to the front door, leaving Rose, myself and the food behind.

"I'll bring everything in," Rose spoke softly from the backseat. "Go find out what the fuck just happened."

Making my way down the hallway that lead to our bedroom I could hear Edward moving around and tried to brace myself for whatever was about to come my way. He wasn't an overly dramatic person and was by no means a drama queen, but he could be a little emotional, where I tended to be less so.

He was obviously in a hurry because in the time it took for me to follow him from the truck, through the house and to our room he had already undressed and gotten in the shower.

I could tell he had every intention of getting in that shower before I made it in there because Edward usually decides what to wear and lays his clothes out on the bed before he gets in the shower. Our bed was still perfectly empty, and I had a feeling if I didn't find a way to fix this it might feel pretty damn empty tonight, too, while my lover left me alone in it.

I had never been so happy in my life that we didn't have a truly separate bathroom from our bedroom because I had no doubt if we did, that door would have been locked. The sink and counter area created an L shape and was offset from the living space, but it was open, as was the small area behind the longest part of the "L" where our walk-in shower was located. The toilet was in a closed area, because, eww, that would would just be gross, but the rest of the bathroom area was open and accessible.

Standing with my hands on the counter I could see Edward through the textured glass of the shower door behind me. Even when he wasn't clearly defined, he was beautiful. I could tell exactly where his broad shoulders tapered down to his narrow waist, and the V just below where his toned but not cut abs were.

Breathing deeply, I took the plunge. "Are you going to tell me what happened?"

Nothing but the sound of the water hitting his body and running down through the drain.

"Babe, you're gonna have to help me out here. I don't know what happened between the sesame chicken and General Tso chicken. Please, talk to me," I pleaded.

"I'm not your boy toy and I'm sick of being seen as less than your equal," came his heated response from the other side of the glass.

Wow. Didn't see that one coming. "First, Edward, you are only 4 years younger than me and, therefore, hardly boy toy material even if I have crossed the 30 line first. Second, what in the hell are you talking about and where the fuck did it come from?" I pressed him on the subject.

"Hahaha! Can't meet you tonight, Emmett bought a new house and I'm helping him and Edward move this weekend," he sing-songed in a remarkably Rose-like voice.

Stifling the laugh that wanted so badly to escape I asked again, "I don't understand. So she told someone we bought a house and helped us move and now your pissed?"

"NO, Rose told lover boy you bought a house that she was helping us move into." The water stopped running as he ended his sentence.

Stepping around me he grabbed a towel from the towel racking hanging on the wall to the left of me and wrapped it around his waist as he came back around me to the sink on my right and grabbed for his toothbrush.

Trying my best to keep my eyes from wandering to the light dusting of hair that led into the towel wrapped at his waist, I instead focused on the emerald orbs staring back at me in the mirror. "Babe, I don't understand. So she told someone I bought a house? It's our house regardless of the name on the deed."

Rinsing his mouth and spitting into the sink he turned to me. "I know that, you know that, but I'm sick of people thinking I'm just some boy toy you keep around because I'm still in school and not earning a full salary."

"Who thinks that?" I demanded.

"Everyone," he countered.

"No one," I tossed back. "Look, I know you hate that I pay the bills right now, but soon you'll be earning twice my salary, just in the first year! What will I be then? Your old toy?" Ok, so the last one didn't make the most sense, but I was quickly getting angry, too.

"You know no one will think any less of you because you make less than me!" he retorted. "You're a cop, everyone's hero."

Stepping forward, I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him towards me. "The fact remains, this is a temporary situation. You and I both know this household is an equal partnership, regardless whose name goes out on the checks."

Rolling his eyes he mumbled, "You don't write checks, you pay everything online."

"Really, lawyer man, we're arguing semantics, now?" I asked him incredulously.

Hanging his head, I had barely heard, "Yeah, well, it's about all I have left of this argument."

Glad to see his sense of humor beginning to return I smiled at him and placing my finger under his chin, lifted his head slightly to make eye contact with me. "You know that no one who knows us, and certainly not Rose, thinks of you as my boy toy or anything less than what you are; my partner. I think maybe the stress of classes and work is being to get to you some. How about you take one day this week as a stress day and I'll call in. We'll do whatever you want."

He didn't answer, just nodded and laid his head on my shoulder. Edward was only about four inches shorter than me so I couldn't tuck him under my chin, but I could rest my face against the top of his head and breathe in the smell of his shampoo. I could never remember which one it was, but knew it came from a salon and started with an S. Rose knew because she usually picked it up for him. It smelled amazing, but I was a habitual kinda guy; I still used the same Suave my momma started buying for me when I was 12.

"Would you feel better if you talked to Rose and cleared the air?" I asked into his wet hair.

"No, I'll talk to her and apologize in the morning. I'm a little embarrassed about my outburst right now," he answered.

Sighing, I wrapped my arms a little tighter around him and began to run my hands from the small of his back up to his shoulder blades and back down. Most of the water from his shower had evaporated, but there were still a few beads of water remaining and I ran my fingers through them.

Edward shivered and burrowed into me. "Cold, baby?"

"No, you just gave me a chill." He pressed his lips to my shoulder in a tender kiss, and I could feel the warmth of his lips through my thin button down shirt.

Allowing my lips to wander from the moist darkened curls atop his head down to the outer shell of his ear, I whispered, "I love it when you're wet," as I pulled him tighter against me.

I could feel him growing hard beneath his towel and pressing against my own swelling cock. Pulling the terry cloth material, it gave way and fell to the ground around our feet.

Edward's hands had found purchase in my back pockets and were kneading my ass as he pushed against me, trying to provide us both the friction we needed. His kisses against my shoulder had grown more insistent as he turned his head to my neck and used his chin to push down the collar of my shirt granting him access to the skin below.

I felt his open mouth against my pulse point, as his hands were removed from my pockets, coming forward to unbutton my shirt and push it back. His mouth drifted to my shoulder, laving it with open mouthed kisses and delicious small bites. My cock fought for release from its confines as he moved his tongue over the erogenous zone only he had ever found.

My hands were still against his hips where I had pulled the towel away but I moved one hand up to cradle the back of his neck and base of his head, holding him close while he worked his mouth against me.

Feeling a small bead of water run from his hair I traced it with my fingers down he back of his neck, between his strong shoulder blades, further down the lean expanse of his lower back and ultimately as it rolled between the globes of his ass. Edward widened his stance slightly as he felt my finger continue its descent and come to rest against his entrance.

Tightening my hold on his hip I revealed to him, "I want to be that drop of water. I want to go to the places it can and feel you so completely as I slide against you."

Moaning, he pulled his head up and caught my lips in a searing kiss as he placed his hands on either side of my face and rang his long musician's fingers into my hair, holding me to him. He slid his tongue across my lower lip and then pulled it between his teeth, causing me to open my mouth, as he knew I would. Feeling his tongue as it slid against mine, pushing, pulling, drawing us further into each other was like nothing I'd ever felt with anyone before. Only he brought out these desires in me so strongly.

Never breaking our kiss he ran his hands down the side of my neck, across my shoulders and down my arms, pulling my hands away from his body. Pulling first my left and then my right arm up and between us, he unbuttoned the cuffs of my shirt before pushing it off my arms, to join his towel on the floor.

Having my hands available to me again, I began to run my hands over his chest, feeling the smooth expanse of flawless skin beneath my fingers.

Edward had begun working the button of my jeans, but as I lowered my head and took one of his nipples into my mouth, suckling it and allowing my teeth to graze the sensitive skin, his concentration was broken, and my actions brought forth a strangled, "Unngh... oh my God, Emmett."

I loved the reactions he always gave me when we were intimate. Edward was a pretty restrained man usually, but in our bedroom he was vocal and uninhibited.

I continued to lave attention to first one and then his other nipple, as I palmed his hard length and ran my fingers down his shaft to cup his balls, lightly pulling on them.

"Oh my fuck! Em... babe... I..." I loved having this power over him. Edward was such an eloquent speaker, and was usually easily able to communicate his thoughts and desires. The sounds of his strangled speech aroused me even further and I began to make my way from his chest to his explore his abs.

Seeming to have just realized his hands were no longer working towards their original purpose he quickly returned to his task. After working to get the button closure open, he simply flipped the pull on the zipper up with his finger and pulled the two sides of material apart, effectively unzipping my jeans, if not possibly breaking the zipper.

My cock throbbed in both relief and demand as it sprang forward from the opening of my jeans only to be further confined by the cotton of my boxer briefs.

Finding purchase on my shoulders, the heel of Edward's palms pressed back and up, stopping my descent on his body, and urging me to stand straight again. Rather than give in so easily I simply reversed my direction and revisited each kiss, lick, nibble and suckle I had made on my first trip down his torso while on my way back up.

When my lips had found his neck and I began to suck on his pulse point, he grabbed my head between his hands and pulled me up forcefully to meet his lips. The crushing kiss had me reeling and my grip on his cock tightened, my thumb moving over his swollen head, sliding the precum that had gathered there across the smooth skin.

Continuing our hungry kiss, Edward hooked his thumbs in the sides of my jeans and boxer briefs and slid his hands back and forth against my sides before sliding the rest of his hands into the material as well.

Edward pulled back from our kiss leaving me open mouthed and shocked, and while I struggled to open my eyes, in one fluid motion he lowered himself, my jeans and boxer briefs to the floor. The suddenness of the movement caused me to stagger back a bit, stumbling to remove myself from the tangle of fabric at my feet, but I caught myself against the sink and Edward wrapped his arms around my legs to steady me further.

"Holy shit, Babe!"

"I'm sorry, Em." His slight blush would have been cute if the sight of his face, his lips, next to my cock didn't make me want to fuck his face. "I just needed you in my mouth … now."

His beautiful full lips wrapped around the head of my cock and I grabbed tighter to the counter behind me to steady myself while I allowed myself to be overcome by the pleasure of feeling his warm, wet mouth on me. He hummed as he pushed his mouth down my shaft, taking as much of my length in as he could, and the small vibrations came close to sending me over the edge right then.

"Fuuucck, Edward. Oh, Baby... I love your mouth. Ohhh … mmhhmm … yeeesss..."

Garbled phrases poured from me as he worked his mouth over me, occasionally sliding his teeth carefully against the sensitive skin of my dick, causing every muscle in my body to tighten in pleasure.

When I could feel myself teetering close to the peak of my orgasm, I pulled him up to me, bringing his mouth to mine. "No, not like that. Not tonight."

Kissing him fiercely, I pushed my hips forward, the wetness of my cock from having been in his mouth allowing the skin of our lengths to glide effortlessly against each other, and I swallowed the moan he released from the pleasure of the friction.

Turning from me, he caught my hand as he moved towards our bed. I stopped at the small table on the side of our bed to retrieve a condom and our favorite lube. When I straightened I found him laying on his back, with his legs spread open and knees bent as he stroked himself and watched my movements.

Crawling on the bed to meet him in the middle, I laid on my side next to him and reached over to slide my hand under the place where his left shoulder and arm met, pulling him toward me.

Seeing the look of slight confusion on his face I clued him in. Placing the lube and the condom in his right hand that lay between us, I whispered again his lips, "Not tonight. Tonight I want you to take me. Please."

Opening his eyes wide in mild shock, he recovered quickly and rolled me to my back, lying on top of me as he kissed me. Different from the kisses that lead to this moment, this one was slow, but no less passionate and I could feel the hunger build within me, feeling that I would be lost if he pulled his lips from mine.

Continuing our kiss, he laid the items I'd placed in his hands to the side of us and began to worship my body with his hands. I opened my legs to allow him to settle between them and he pulled back from our kissing, quickly replacing the hunger I felt from that loss with a different hunger as he kissed down my throat and moved his hand to gather both our cocks in it and stroke us together.

The sensations were overwhelming and soon I was squirming beneath him, grasping his shoulders and pulling him as close to me as I could so I could put my mouth on him, taste the sweet saltiness of his skin.

When his left hand reached to my side, and I heard the tell-tale snap of the lube bottle opening, I fought the instinctual reaction to tense up. Having always known myself to be a top, I had allowed few men to make love to me. In our five years together, Edward had only topped me four times, including tonight. This was a consummate act of love... and trust, on my part.

Coating the fingers of his right hand with the lube, Edward pulled himself to his knees and as he brought his hand down to slide his fingers against my entrance he brought his other hand to again wrap around my length, stroking and sliding the smooth skin as he pressed repeatedly at my entrance waiting for me to press back in need before slowly pressing a finger into me.

My body tensed against the intrusion, but he worked my cock mercilessly, knowing I would need the overload of sensations to be able to open myself to accept him. As a second finger entered me he lowered his head to take my dick into his mouth so that when he added a third and worked to stretch me I was pressing back against him, basically fucking myself with his hand.

I began to feel around on the bed to my right, searching for the lube. Finding it, I pulled Edward back up to me, kissing him and groaning in relief when I felt his hard cock slide against my own. Lifting my hips to feel the friction again I moaned at the pleasureful pressure and begged him, "Sit up, Baby. Straddle my hips."

He did so without question and the feeling of his perineum as it made contact with my hard and ready cock made me fight the urge to pull him forward, shift my hips and push up into his ass. Instead I looked up into the eyes of my lover, darkened with lust to a beautiful evergreen, I made a snap decision and reached for him with one hand, holding the lube in the other.

He stopped me, leaning to the side to retrieve the condom laying on the bed. "Wait, I haven't -"

Placing my left hand over his two hands before he opened the foil packet, I requested of him, "Please, Edward. Just us tonight. No barriers, nothing to take care of afterward. Just us."

We had both been tested early on in our relationship, and continued to do so regularly, but usually used condoms for the simplicity of clean up. I would respect his decision if he chose to use the condom, but I really wanted the closeness of his skin against mine tonight.

I felt our love wrap around us even tighter as he placed the packet back on to the bed, and lowered himself again to take my lips between his, kissing me slowly, softly.

"I love you, Emmett."

Sliding my legs just a little further apart, I pulled my feet closer towards my thighs on the bed and I responded in kind, "I love you, too, Edward. So much."

Pulling back from me slightly, Edward took hold of his cock and placed his head against my entrance. Looking up to me again, silently ensuring I was alright, he began to press forward. I closed my eyes, breathing deeply, and forced myself to relax before opening my eyes again.

Seeing the look on Edward's face relaxed me further and I felt the head of his cock slide past the tight ring of muscle. Edward had his eyes lowered, watching as he began to slide into me. The look on his face was pure love and amazement. I could understand his fascination. I loved to watch myself disappear into him as we made love. The visual of our bodies connected and as close as they could physically be was powerfully erotic.

Giving me time to adjust, Edward supported his weight on one arm and again began to stroke my cock. Long, hard strokes had me pushing against him again and he slowly pushed forward more and more. The low burning ache soon began to give way as I felt his head slide against my prostate, and when he was fully sheathed inside me we both stilled for a moment to allow ourselves time.

While it was true that I wasn't used to having him inside me, neither was he accustomed to feeling the incredible tightness of my muscles surrounding and flexing against him.

When he felt me flex my hips slightly he came forward and wrapped his forearms under my shoulders, gripping them as he began to pull out before slowly pushing back in.

"I …" he started on a breathy exhale. "I always forget."

Kissing my way up the column of his throat and pulling his earlobe between my teeth, I reminded him. "I know, Love. I love the feeling of my cock buried in your ass. I love to feel you take me in and how your muscles tighten and try to pull me even further into you."

My words had a strong affect on Edward and he began to push back into me a little stronger, a little quicker.

"You are my home, Edward."

The skin of his thighs slapped against mine as he began to slam into me; the strength of my words providing strength for his actions.

The sheen of sweat created between our two bodies allowed my cock to slide between us with each thrust. Our stomachs pressed so tightly together there was a slight suction surrounding my cock. The feeling was glorious and I begin to work with him, pulling back when he did and flexing my hips toward him as he pressed against me. The feeling of moving with him as he slid in and out of me was glorious and our combined movements also shortened the time he was removed from body. Lightening the feeling of loss from each time he pulled out.

Soon the pattern and tempo we had created with our kissing and love making began to become erratic as we both pushed towards our release.

The sounds surrounding us became animalistic; a mixture of moans and grunts.

Despite my best efforts to hold on and wait for my lover to reach his peak with me, I found myself hurtling closer and closer to the edge.

"Edward, I can't..."

"Come for me, Love. I want to feel you pulsing around me when I come," he encouraged me.

His words were all I needed to send me flying into my orgasm. "Fuucckkk!" My mouth remained open and my eyes squeezed closed as my release washed over me, coating our stomachs in my come while I clung to the only man I had ever loved this completely.

As I came back to earth from the floating feeling of my orgasm, I could feel Edward's cock throbbing as the flexing of my muscles during my own orgasm pulled him over into his. He had stilled, pushed as far into me as he possibly could, and his arms were shaking from the intensity of his own release. I was so caught up in the intensity of my climax, I didn't even hear his usual vocalness during his orgasm.

We lay together for several moments, still joined, trying to catch our breaths.

I was enjoying the pressure of Edward's full weight on top of me, but feeling him take a deep breath I knew our moment of complete tranquility was going to end. He lifted slightly by pressing up on his still shaky arms and looked into my eyes before giving me a brief, tender kiss.

"That was ..." he started.

Before he could find the words, I finished for him. "It always is, Baby."

He pulled himself more upright and was soon resting on his knees between my legs. As he slowly pulled himself from me, I mourned the loss of feeling him within me.

Reaching to the side of the bed he found a t-shirt that had been tossed there at some point and quickly wiped each of us off before coming back to lie curled against me with his head on my chest.

As I pull the sheet over us he lifted his head to give me a kiss.

This kiss was not lust, or desire or passion. It was love, and I allow myself to settle into it before pulling back gently and looking into the green eyes that possessd my soul before reminding him, "I love you. You are not my boy toy. You are my lover, and my partner. You are my home."

…~~***~~...

"Emmett!"

The snapping of Edward's fingers in front of my face pulled me back from my memories.

Looking up I found Edward wrapped in a towel, fresh from the shower and Rose nowhere to be found.

"My God, Em, you were a million miles away. I've probably said your name a half dozen times since I got out of the shower, and you barely gave me a kiss when I came in a bit ago. What in the world has you so deep in thought?"

Reaching out I hooked my hand around the back of his leg and pulled him closer so I could press my mouth to the soft skin at the inside of his knee.

"Home, Babe. I was thinking about home."

Please check out the other entries in this contest at: http:/www (dot)fanfiction (dot) net/community/Two_is_Better_Than_One_Contest/86112/14/0/1/ Of course removing the spaces and using . instead of (dot) ;)

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