A/N: I have such good intentions with my words. I still haven't gotten used to the fact I can't write the way I used to.

My intention was to write a futuretake of Do You Hear What I Hear for Christmas, but this little vignette wouldn't shut up. I wanted to write it and then write the Do You Hear What I Hear addendum, but…

Yeah, good intentions.

So, I write a Stucky vignette for QuantumFizzx. I dolled it up for you. The Stucky version is available under the same title if you're interested.

Love you guys. Hope your holidays were wonderful and this new year does you proper.

"Christ on a cracker. It's damn cold out here."

Bella glanced over at her companion, smirking as James jumped up and down, his arms crossed over his muscular chest. "Just putting this out there. When it's cold as balls outside, you wear a damn jacket, you moron."

James grinned lasciviously. "Hey, don't take your malfunctions out on me, Swan. I don't know what kind of clients you fuck, but balls aren't supposed to be cold. And as for a jacket…" He stuck one bare leg out, shaking it at a car that passed. "Can't cover up the merchandise. How else do you expect anyone to know what's for sale?"

"Right." Bella rolled her eyes. "Coz anyone who comes down here doesn't know exactly what he's looking for."

James came over to her and pinched her cheeks. "Yeah, but if they got a choice between me and this pretty face?"

Bella batted his hand away. "Fuck off."

"Hey, I'm trying." James struck a pose for another car that slid slowly by.

It was another few minutes before James's low, "Fuck," caught Bella's attention. Now, he was pulling on a jacket, a scowl on his face as he pulled his hood up. "Look alive, Swan. Pigs on parade."

Bella's spine went rigid. She started to pull her own hood up but stopped when she saw the figure in the distance. Her lip twitched, and she turned away from James.

"You crazy?" James grabbed her by the arm. "You looking to get hauled in tonight?"

"He's not gonna haul me in. Get the fuck outta here, James."

James studied her for a moment, and his lip curled. "Oh, come on. Don't fall for that. You really think he's not going to cuff you the minute you tell him what he wants to hear? I swear these bastards don't have enough to do. They get off on giving us a hard time."

"For fuck's sake. Scram, would you?" The figure hadn't moved, and he wouldn't move until James was gone.

"Whatever you say, pretty." James scoffed but he turned the way. "Act like you own the damn city."

Shaking her head, Bella started toward the figure again, a smile already tugging at the corner of his mouth. He figured James was finally out of sight when the figure started moving toward her, coming into the light of the street lamp, under the falling snow.

"What the hell do you think you're doing out here, Captain?" Bella reached out, running a finger along the insignia of the man's uniform. "One of New York's finest down here, in uniform no less." She shrugged out of her over-large shawl and draped it over Captain Edward Cullen's shoulders, shaking her head. "You dumb or you just stupid?"

The man smiled. It was soft, tired, but genuine smile. "All I saw were people standing on a street corner. Nothing illegal about that."

Bella scoffed. "Sure." She studied Edward, concern beginning to seep through her excitement over seeing him again. It was tempting to just take in what was on the shallow surface. The man was obscenely good looking. Beautiful. The lines of his features could have been the work of the masters. Yet for the angelic beauty of his face, the depth of his vivid green eyes, he was built like all that was man—tall and strong, with arms to protect and hold.

But Bella saw more. Further. She was fluent in the silent language of this man's body. It had come to her, innately known, the day they met, and she'd never been wrong.

Edward's posture was slumped. It wouldn't have been obvious to everyone—he was a tall, proud man. But Bella saw the slight stoop to his shoulders. She saw the way he had to fight for even his small smile. His eyes were the deep green of the Amazon—fathomless, heavy with pain.

A hard, dark day then.

Bella tilted her head, studying him further.

No. He was swimming in it. Drowning in the ugly things people could do to each other; filth and depravity.

Bella stepped forward, cupping a hand to Edward's cold cheek and drawing it down with all the tenderness she felt for this man. "Come on, baby." She let her fingers skim down his arm and took him by the hand. "Let me take care of you."

~0~

They'd met a few years back. Edward wasn't much more than a rookie then. Still fresh—a man with everything to prove. Bella was an informant. From that very first day, Bella was struck. She didn't know how else to explain it but that. Sure, the good looks had caught her attention, but he was a cop and Bella a prostitute. They should have wanted the bare minimum to do with each other.

Edward was other. Intriguing. Bewildering. Bella was…

Yeah. Struck.

Struck by his earnest idealism. He wasn't naïve; not really. He understood there was evil in the world, but he always seemed so surprised when someone didn't share his vision of what justice looked like.

Bella was struck by the duality of his nature. He could be sinner and saint. Passive observer or the leader no one dared nor wanted to ignore.

This god among mere mortals got flustered when he had a crush. Bella knew that from personal experience. And damned if it wasn't the sweetest thing she had ever seen.

But Edward had risen in the ranks. Now, he was the captain of a specialized unit. Whatever his personal views on Bella's current profession, his role in society was rigid. They were who they were, and that was where their story ended.

Except for nights like these.

Nights like these were vignettes—a respite from the heavy storylines of their separate lives. Sweet words on pages that were only theirs.

Sometimes, when Edward came to her like this, no sooner had the door closed than the man was on her. Clothes were ripped off. Kisses were hard. Hands were rough. Sometimes, Edward would press her against the wall or push her over the nearest surface and just fuck into her, skin slapping against skin. Like he was replacing pain with pleasure, and screams of horror with Bella's screams of white hot ecstasy.

And sometimes, it was like this.

In Bella's small, sparse apartment, Edward's body, always going, going, going, finally stilled. He watched through weary eyes as Bella undid the buttons of his dress jacket one by one, pressing the tiniest kiss to his lips in between. He shivered and closed his eyes as the jacket fell to the floor. He wanted to be led. He wanted not to have to think for a while.

Bella came to stand directly in front of him, so close she could feel the puff of Edward's hot breath on her face. She teased his lips, smiling when Edward tilted his head, trying to capture a kiss. Bella ran fingertips along the lengths of his arms and gave him what he wanted. She ran her tongue along the seam of Edward's mouth and pushed through.

It was a slow kiss, languid. A serious kind of kiss that wasn't foreplay. Not really. A main event kind of kiss. Bella didn't let it get heated. She stroked his fingers gently through his hair and then down along his arms. She pulled his undershirt free of his pants and traced the lines of his muscles, feeling him flex with each breath.

Only when the tension began to drain out of Edward's body, the rigidness of his shoulders softening, did Bella start to move with intent. She let her fingertips dip from making lazy circles around Edward's belly button to tease the line of his crisp, dress pants. She broke their kiss only long enough to pull Edward's dress shirt up and off. She walked Edward backward, kissing him all the while, until he was pressed up against the wall. She sunk to her knees, bringing Edward's pants and boxers down with her.

Edward made such sweet noises. That little whine at the back of his throat did things to Bella she couldn't explain. She could never explain why all of it was so different with this man. Sex was her business, her everyday life. But Edward could have her undone with one touch.

Like now. Edward ran fingers through Bella's long hair, brushing it back, stroking with a tender touch. Bella sighed around the head of his cock, teasing his shaft with the tip of her tongue. Her hips bucked of their own volition when Edward gathered her long hair at her nape and tugged.

But Bella wasn't going to let him take control. Though she was half out of his mind with desire, the urge to swallow him deep almost too much to bear, she forced herself to go slow. She licked and teased and added just the slightest scrape of teeth along tender skin. Edward whimpered and banged his head back against the wall. His hand slipped down, and he whispered Bella's name, cursed her vehemently, and then murmured sweet nothings with his next breath.

"You're good, Bella. So good."

And if Bella's smart mouth wasn't otherwise occupied, she might have had something to say to that. But as it was, those words touched a private place deep in the cold confines of her heart. She warmed, her cheeks heating with an honest to god blush.

She wanted to be Edward's good girl. In that moment, she lived for the praise, the adoration.

What a crazy thing.

She worked her magic. It was a thrill that she could bend this man to her will. That she could turn the stoic, quiet, often too-serious man into a writhing mess. Edward babbled, one hand in Bella's hair, the other on her shoulder as though he needed her as a crutch to hold himself up.

After he was spent, Bella climbed back up Edward's now pliant body, dropping kisses along the way. She kissed him, long and deep, sharing his taste. As she did, she peeled him away from the wall and walked him backward. She pushed him to lie down on the couch. She straddled him, pressing his hands to the couch so he knew to keep them to himself.

Bella closed her eyes, running the very tip of her nose gently against Edward's hairline, letting him feel her hot breath on his face and her body over his. "I'm gonna take care of you, baby," she whispered. "Don't you worry about a thing. I have you. See this beautiful body of yours?" She ran her hands from Edward's broad shoulders down his sides, caressing with soft strokes. "I'm gonna do it right. You're a work of art, you know that? And this…" She let his hand drift down to take Edward's cock in her hand. Edward hissed, his body jolting. Sensitive, no doubt, but she knew him well enough to be sure she could get it to stand up and play again. "Don't even get me started about this. I could worship at the alter of Edward Cullen for days.

"You like that, baby?" She ran her tongue along the shell of Edward's ear, gratified at the way the man shuddered out a groan. "On my knees, with what I have to offer? This tongue. These hands. And this." She bucked her hips, sliding back and forth over his cock. "All yours to do with what you please."

"Bella," Edward whispered.

Bella kept murmuring filthy things in his ear, alternating with little licks and nips to his shoulder, his neck. Meanwhile, she began working his shaft—soft, teasing touches at first, then more firm strokes.

"Please. Bella. God, please."

Bella would have given him anything. And really, it wasn't a hard request to grant. She'd have given her soul to have Edward buried deep inside her any day.

Any time. Every time.

She guided herself down, letting him fill her, and then she draped her body over his.

"I love you," she whispered, her words muffled against the skin of Edward's shoulder. She bit down—just a little—making sure the words were drowned. "I love you." She took Edward's hands, threading their fingers together, holding tightly as she rocked over him.

Some minutes later, they were both boneless, holding each other up as they stumbled into Bella's one room. Edward groaned and fell face forward onto the bed, glorious ass up.

Bella chuckled, climbing into the bed slower. She dropped kisses along Edward's body, not trying to start anything. She just liked touching him. Kissing him. Finally, she lay down beside Edward, one arm thrown around him. "Better?"

Edward sighed. "Yeah." Another soft sigh as he rolled onto his side, curling backward against Bella. "You're my anchor, you know?"

Bella felt her cheeks heat, and she ducked her head, pressing her face to Edward's back. She couldn't hide for long. After a few peaceful minutes, Edward rolled over again and cupped her face.

"I like your hair like this. Long." Edward's fingers felt like heaven running through her hair.

Bella hummed. "You're petting me like a puppy. I'm going to start doing that thing with my leg. Or maybe I'll start purring."

Edward laughed and scratched her playfully behind her ears.

The grin on his face fell gradually into something more wistful as he stroked Bella's face, tracing her features with the tip of a finger. He took a deep breath and opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it. "Bella—"

Bella put a finger to his lips, looking into his pretty eyes. "Don't," she warned.

"But—"

"Don't." Bella's heart twisted.

They wanted more. They both wanted more. Always had. It was why Edward—fresh faced and desperate to prove himself—had risked everything to initiate their first kiss. It was why Bella never even joked about Edward paying.

What she gave Edward wasn't a product; it wasn't a service.

What she gave Edward was herself. The acts might have looked the same but it was different. So different.

And every time they walked away from each other, Bella died a little more inside.

Bella caressed his cheek and traced the shape of his slight frown. "Baby. Don't ask me. I can't say no to you. That first time is all the strength I had."

The first time, when they'd given in to the pull between them, Edward had been so sweet. He'd blushed and stuttered and put his foot in his mouth. Bella had wanted so badly to give in, to let this beautiful man take her home. To bring her in from her often too-cold life to something warm and welcoming.

"Too many of your people know me," Bella reminded them both. "You want to be more than a Captain, you don't show up to the office Christmas party with a whore on your arm."

Edward let out a slow breath, searching her eyes. "And if Captain is enough? If I didn't want to rise higher in the ranks? What if I'm done letting some arbitrary bullshit about whose job is right and moral get in the way of what I want?"

Bella blinked. Then, she laughed. "You've had some dumb ideas, pal."

"Not so dumb. It's a compromise. A sacrifice. Like you changing your life, your work,"—he grimaced at the word work—"for me." He cupped the back of Bella's head. "I hate walking away from you. Tell me I don't have to anymore, and the rest is just semantics."

This was the problem with nights like these. In the dark, with Edward's heat and scent surrounding her; when the world was just them, anything seemed possible.

"We can think about it," Edward said.

Bella laughed. As though she'd ever stopped thinking about it since the day they met. She kissed Edward sweetly. "Merry Christmas."

Edward rolled over, onto her. He kissed her, holding himself aloft and then let the weight of his body bear down. "Merry Christmas, Bella."

A/N: Here's to more words in 2020 than I managed in 2019. Hah! Happy New Year, and thanks for sticking with me.