FAGE 11. Are You In…?

Title: Easy As Breathing

Written for: April-Showers82

Written By: OnlyInValhalla

Rating: G

Prompt used: Love and Romance

Summary: Things between Jake and Bella had always been easy, natural. There were never any forced behaviors or holding back. Who says the course of true love couldn't run smoothly?

If you would like to see all the stories that are a part of this exchange visit the facebook group: Fanficaholics Anon: Where Obsession Never Sleeps, or add the C2 to get all the stories direct to your inbox.

AN: This is dedicated to April-Showers82, I'm not a natural pack-girl but I hope it's still enjoyable! Thank you to Monica03 for beta-ing my mess and to MarieCarro for making the lovely banner!

~*~*Easy As Breathing*~*~

It was days like today that made Bella Swan wonder what ever happened to Edward Cullen. Right after she'd moved she'd had a strange interaction with him before he altogether disappeared. His family left soon afterwards as well, for Denali, she'd heard. It was an odd enough event that it sometimes came back to her now and again.

Staring out the shop window into the early morning reminded her of her first day at Forks High. It was raining, as it usually was but so far, she'd already seen Mike Newton, Tyler Crowley, and Jessica Stanley, much like she had on her very first day. They were likely the triggers for the memory; she knew. Jake had tried to get her to ask Jess if she needed her blinker fluid changed while he was doing the other vehicle services, just to see if she'd catch it. Bella merely sighed in mock exasperation and shooed him back to the garage area.

Bella had moved in with Jake when Charlie had married Sue, wanting to give them space. They were best friends, and it had made sense, been the practical choice. Why move in with a stranger when she knew this would work? They split the bills and the chores; it had turned out better than she'd ever anticipated. Her house was often full with Embry, Paul, Jared, and Quil. On Sundays, she and Jake went to Charlie's house with Billy to watch the game and have dinner with Charlie, Sue, Seth, and sometimes Leah, when she was home from college. Law school took up most of Leah's time but the career suited her. She'd had perfect grades and scored a full ride scholarship. She'd fled Clallam County at the first opportunity.

Her life was unexpectedly full as well. Ever since arriving in Forks, she'd been planning her escape back to the land of the sun. Of course, that was before she'd found her own personal sun. She and Jake had become fast best friends with all the time Charlie and Billy spent together. They had spent most weekends fixing up a pair of old motorcycles they'd secretly rode behind their fathers' backs. The Olympic Peninsula was a bit too wet for constant riding though and Bella's truck was too slow for Jake's liking. They spent weekends that were too wet for shenanigans, doing odd jobs for parts money and working on the Rabbit. Since they'd first revived it, they'd gone on several road trips in the thing. Down to Tacoma for grunge shows, Port Angeles on weekends to try a new restaurant, or to Seattle for the weekend. Jake had always helped Bella manage her stress level, depression from the constant overcast, and pressure to do well in order to get a scholarship via spontaneous trips. He was her sun when there was none to be seen. He'd always laughed at her when she'd said so, but secretly it pleased him that he made things worth staying there when she could have hightailed it to Jacksonville.

Jake, with Bella's tutoring, had graduated a year early and went to trade school for his mechanical passions; while Bella had mostly attended college online for both her accounting and business degrees. He'd worked for shops around Port Angeles before and after classes. Bella had waitressed at The Lodge until she was a licensed CPA, then she took over doing the taxes and bookwork for several of the local businesses who'd had to go to Port Angeles for accounting services. It wasn't long after Jake graduated that John Dowling had announced his intentions to retire and shut down the garage. When Bella heard the news, she banned everyone from the house for the next few days and had some serious career and strategy discussions with Jake. Jake could easily attract local business if he didn't charge an arm and a leg like Dowling had.

They went through each point on Bella's insistence, both pros and cons to Jake taking it over. It was risky, but they both concluded it was worth a shot. So instead of using their saved-up money on a down payment for a house, they set up a meeting with John and made him an offer. Since he had paid off the garage a long time ago, Dowling saw no reason to say no to extra money in his retirement age. He'd been dreading figuring out what to do with all the tools and supplies. So instead of the place closing, it simply changed hands at the cost of one year's rent.

Things were slow initially, but once Bella did a little advertising both online and around town with some flyers, coupon offers, and even a raffle, things picked up to a steady pace. When it got to the point that Jake couldn't manage the work, the books, and the front desk, Bella stepped in to help even with her own workload.

Eventually, like all things, something had to give, because it was all too much on Bella's part. So, her personal sun closed down the garage one Sunday and secretly arranged for her to be off that day as well after he'd heard her crying in the shower from the stress of it all. He'd packed up some things and, what seemed to be on a whim, took her out to Lake Crescent with a backpack she was not to look in as well as a picnic basket under the same set of rules. Luckily it had been in the forecast to be sunny and for once the weather complied to the meteorologist's predictions. He picked a secluded spot in the shade, spread out a blanket and had her take a seat.

He'd put some effort into the arrangement, going online and looking up a better lunch than a couple of sandwiches and chips. He'd wanted this to be special for her after all she'd done to help him. He'd made a trip to Port Angeles and picked up some extra goods from the list Sue had given him after he'd called her in a near panic. So instead of going home, he stopped by the Swan residence and assisted her in the kitchen as she put together peach-raspberry trifles in small mason jars, falafel sandwiches, and fancy crackers with cuts of aged cheeses and cured meats. He'd also picked up a small single-use grill and some vegetables to cook over the fire. All of this he'd hidden at the garage, he'd revealed, when she watched him spread everything out. He'd served her lunch and wine and insisted on her relaxing rather than fretting with the dishes or the food that she ended up loving, much to his relief.

After he cleared everything away and they were left with the bottle of wine he'd bought for her to drink, that they found themselves in quiet and peace that had been absent for too long. He sat, looking out over the lake, propped up by the tree they'd eaten under, with her head in his lap, having read until she fell asleep. Only then, when she was well and truly gone to the world did he study her. She wore her hair long as she always had; although, she'd curled it for today's outing, not knowing where he was taking her. She was wearing a white maxi dress with a short denim jacket that she'd already taken off and he couldn't stop himself from admiring her in it. He was attracted to her for quite some time now but between being afraid to ruin their situation and just being too busy, Jake hadn't given it much serious thought. Charlie had caught him off guard when he and Sue were putting together the picnic and he walked by asking, "When are you going to ask my daughter to marry you?" with a beer in hand on his way back to the living room.

Sue had scolded Charlie while Jake worked himself out of the flabbergasted state. He would have preferred a drink, but he had some driving to do yet and Bella would definitely ask questions if he came home after a seemingly normal day and got out the bottle of Jameson. So he sucked it up and pushed it down far enough to get through the rest of the prep as well as the evening with Bella. Then though, in the quiet and the peacefulness of the warm sunny day, he couldn't get it out of his head. They'd lived together for over three and a half years now. Their proverbial CDs and silverware had long been mixed. If one were to leave, it would be all the motions of divorce with dividing their things and the accompanying emotions. He came to terms with the truth then as he watched her sleep, not that he liked her as he had for so long, but that he loved her. He came to some decisions then.

After she woke, he finally allowed her to open the backpack. Inside it was a sheaf of papers that initially confused her but quickly became clear. He was offering her a fifty-fifty share in the business. With a chart he'd put together, he'd detailed the progressive growth that showed that the model would be sustainable for both of them. Anything else she did as a CPA would be a bonus. They'd already made back their house money within a few months and had even added to it. He'd gotten it legally done, not because they didn't trust each other, but because it was good business to do so, as she'd told him before on such matters. He'd more done it as a sign he would heed her advice both in the realms of money and business dealings. So it was with relief, she signed the papers and hugged him tightly. She'd quit The Lodge the next day and felt all the better for it since it meant that she would have some time to herself again.

It had been six months since that outing and Bella suspected something was up with Jake. She wondered if he'd finally found a girl to date. She couldn't decipher her emotions on the subject and flat out refused to give in to the notion that she was jealous. She hadn't even realized what the emotion had been until her father pointed it out one day when she'd confided in him. She'd simply told him he was mistaken and changed the subject. Charlie was smart enough to play along, not wanting to ruin whatever Jake was working on by pushing her. So it was with the thoughts of Edward Cullen and wondering where he'd evaporated off to those years ago that she ignored what was truly bothering her. It was also what kept her focused on the passing traffic rather than the tall, russet-skinned man who had been trying to get her attention for the past few minutes.

Finally, a large hand waving in front of her face was what brought her back to Earth. In her woolgathering, she hadn't noticed him flip the sign to 'Closed', nor had she realized that he'd shut off Spotify, which had been playing across the speakers in the front office. When he had her undivided attention, she found herself in a situation that men typically dread themselves being in.

"Can we talk a minute?"

Here it was, the thing she'd been dreading for almost six months now. Here, he would tell her he'd found somebody and they were serious and that they'd need to figure out how to split everything so he could get on with his life with what's-her-face. In her racing thoughts she blurted out, "Is this where you tell me you're getting rid of me?"

He temporarily put whatever he'd been about to say on hold and his face scrunched in confusion, "Why would I tell you that?"

She shrugged and hunched her shoulders forwards as she stared down at the tile floor as if preparing herself for the worst.

"Bells, seriously, what's made you think that?" he asked, pulling her chin back up until she met his gaze.

She sighed and worried her lip with her teeth before answering, "You've just been acting strangely the last few months. Differently than you ever have before. The only hypothesis I've been able to come up with is that you've found someone you like, finally, and now need space or something."

"Is that all?" he asked, a grin forming.

That was apparently the wrong thing to say. She hopped off the stool and smacked him on the chest with each word, "What do you mean 'Is that all?'! It has concerned me all this time, wracking my brain and you laugh at me?!"

He caught her wrists in a gentle grip to stop her assault, not that her blows were much more than a nuisance, "I didn't mean to laugh at you."

"Well, it sure looked like it to me. All this time I've been trying to figure out how we would split our things if I was correct and how we could continue on with everything because surely whoever you were seeing wouldn't like me so involved with you."

It was this that sobered him back up and showed him that his efforts were well spent. She had the same thoughts as he had. How could they untangle their lives at this point without ruining everything they'd built?

So he dropped to one knee while pulling a small, hand-carved canoe out of his pocket and presented it to her. There, in the middle nestled in velvet was a simple princess cut diamond solitaire. It wasn't flashy or gaudy but also not too small or plain. It was perfect.

"I wouldn't be where I am without you. I wouldn't be in this shop, a year ahead of where I would have been otherwise. I wouldn't be as profitable and my bank statements wouldn't look the same. Most importantly, I wouldn't be as happy, with as full of a life as I have with you in it. I start and end my days with you and I don't want to imagine a life where that is different, so I'm asking you to be with me for the rest of it," he said.

She couldn't speak, and really she couldn't breathe. This had been the last thing she'd imagined but what he'd said made sense. They worked well together, had already overcome the trial of living together and really if she looked at it objectively they'd essentially been dating from the start, just without putting the pressure of a name to it. It was effortless to imagine them buying their house and settling down together with an air of something more intimate. He already did things like putting his hands on her sides when he came up behind her at the stove or sink and the way he casually grabbed her hand to keep them from getting separated. The way they'd cuddle up on the couch for a movie and the way she slept on his shoulder in the car. The way they worked together, it was as easy as breathing.

"Yes," she answered quietly, placing her left hand in his so he could slide the perfectly sized ring on her finger before he stood and crushed her against him.

There were tears of happiness, but just a few. The relief that her life wouldn't be torn asunder was almost equal to that of her joy. She hadn't realized that they were essentially setting themselves up for forever and in all honesty; she liked it better that way.

They left early after some phone calls, for an evening of celebration at the Swan residence with everyone in attendance. That night they fell asleep together, she was tucked against his warmth in his bed. Not necessarily the first time ever, but the first time like this and it felt like home.