The Twilight Twenty-Five
thetwilight25[dot]com

Prompt: Police Station
Pen Name: Risbee
Pairing: Bella/Edward
Rating: M

Photo prompts can be viewed here:
thetwilight25[dot]com/round-six/prompts

So yeah…I'm writing again. Maybe. I saw a tweet about the Spring 2012 Twi25 and figured it would be a good way to play with some of the plot bunnies in my head and see what happens. Different pairings, different emotions, different POVs – why not, right? Most of them are brief glimpses into what could have been something more. I'm a big believer in short and sweet, so none of them will be very long.

Loss4words81 has promised I won't make a fool of myself and Coldplaywhore makes me believe that I can do this.

I don't own Twilight. Nope.

I still wasn't sure how Edward convinced me to do this, how any of it could be a good idea, but it wasn't like I didn't want this as much as he did. Probably more, if I was completely honest with myself since I'd wanted the boy from the moment I first figured out what want was.

Have you asked him yet?

I giggled as I read the text that appeared on my phone, a thrill shivering through my body that only he was able to elicit. It was so crazy; it wasn't like his words were anything even close to being dirty or particularly naughty. But the fact that he was as crazy for me as I was for him, gah…it made me all melty.

"No." I answered out loud, being the ever dutiful daughter of the police chief and not texting while driving. Getting in an accident wouldn't help my case at all and there were timelines to consider. Who knew when this opportunity would present itself again? Charlie NEVER went out of town, so I needed things to work out.

The drive from Forks High School to the Police Station didn't take nearly as much time as I needed it too and I thought about circling the block a few times to allow myself a kickass mental pep talk, but it wasn't like my beat up truck wasn't easy to recognize and if Charlie happened to look out his window and see me, there wouldn't be any chance he wouldn't know it was me.

Was it completely cliché that I stopped at the diner and picked up some doughnuts? It wasn't really bribery if it was family, right?

Let me know how it goes.

Again, with the giggling. He elicited this response that nobody else could, or would. He made me girly, silly, and I was totally swoony over him. And the best thing of all was that he was all mine. Mine. Mine. I bounced in my seat as I repeated it over and over to myself. He. Was. Mine.

After I turned off the engine, I focused on pulling myself together, making sure I was capable of acting like it was just a typical Wednesday.

It was Friday that would be more than typical. And maybe Saturday. And Sunday morning. I had big plans.

Thankfully, Maggie wasn't at the reception desk, so I just walked straight into the back and found Charlie sitting at his desk with papers and files covering every square inch. He seemed busy and that was good.

"Hey, Dad." I dropped my book bag by the corner of his desk and stood in front of him, smiling a smile that I desperately hoped didn't give me away. It couldn't be too toothy because that just screamed guilt.

It made my cheeks hurt to rein it in, but I needed to make sure I didn't look overly eager. He was like a freakin' bloodhound when he felt like somebody was lying and he knew all my tells. I suddenly wished I had worn a turtleneck because I knew it was only a matter of time before I started turning red. As my phone chimed indicating yet another text, I remembered the doughnuts and shoved them across the desk. Maybe it was jumping the gun a bit, but I panicked.

You can do this.

See, Edward knew me. And he was right – I could.

The more I thought about it, there was absolutely no reason for Charlie not to trust me. I mean, I'd spend countless nights alone in Arizona when mom was working, or even when she was traveling with Phil, so I was obviously more than capable. Plus, it wasn't like Forks was a hot bed of criminal activity, unless you count the time when Mrs. Cope called in a panic after catching Mr. Banner sticking his finger in one of her pies. I couldn't even think about that without giggling.

Though the raised eyebrow from Charlie made me cut it short. "Sorry, Edward just texted about an assignment." Technically, it wasn't a lie.

It wasn't.

Counting backwards from ten and slowly regulating my breathing, I picked my bag up off the floor and hoisted it over my shoulder, and then put it down again. I didn't want to appear too anxious, after all. Why wouldn't my hands stop fidgeting?

"Everything okay, Bella?" He stopped typing and looked at me quizzically, moustache twitching like his own personal lie detector.

He knew. I could tell. When did they start teaching mind reading at the Police Academy? For more than a few seconds, I seriously contemplated just turning around and walking right back out the door, cutting my losses before I made things completely awkward. Maybe I'd try and convince him that this never really happened and I wracked my brain trying to think of some legitimate excuse that would bring me to the Police Station after work.

Breathe, Bella.

Another text and just like that, I was calm. He knew me so well.

"Um, oh yeah. Everything's fine." Because it was.

It was so completely quiet in his office. Where was Sam? Why wasn't Maggie back? Why was there so much silence? I swear, even the birds were quiet. I looked out the window behind Charlie fully expecting to see a bird on the sill staring me down, judging me.

I was officially losing my mind.

"I was just wondering what you wanted to do for dinner tonight." That seemed normal enough, right? I felt a bead of sweat start to trickle down the back of my neck and I reached up to wipe it away, the nerve endings in my scalp suddenly on fire as I had a momentary flashback to Edward's hands in my hair. And then I had noodle legs.

Charlie stared me down. My heart was racing in my ears and I was sweating and my feet were screaming at me to turn around and run, but I held my ground. I needed to do this. I needed to do this. I needed to do this.

Just as I was about to drop to my knees and confess all my sins, he went back to typing on his computer. "Spit it out, Bells and put us both out of our misery. You look like you're about to get sick and all I can think of is that you're going to tell me that your mother is waiting out in the lobby." He laughed nervously, "Jesus, she's not, is she?" When I smiled and shook my head, he sighed in relief and even I had to laugh at that. Renee back in Forks? It would never ever happen.

"Okay. Here's the deal. I want you to let me stay home by myself when you're at the conference this weekend. I'm seventeen, I'm responsible, I'm making all A's in my classes, I keep the door dead bolted during the day, I'll call you hourly, I'll…"

"Okay." Back to typing.

"I mean, there really isn't any reason for…."

"Okay, Bella." More typing.

"And just think, it would be a good opportunity…"

"Bella, I said okay. Is there some reason why you think I shouldn't have said okay?"

"No," I squeaked, wanting to kick myself for almost blowing it. "I just didn't expect it to be so easy." I really didn't and then I was suspicious because really, that was way too easy. Something was totally up with him.

"Actually, I was going to mention it to you anyway. It turns out that Sue has a sister that lives in Seattle and I thought that maybe she'd like to ride with me over there…" The tips of his ears started to turn red and he was totally avoiding eye contact with me.

Huh. We were so going to talk about this later…but not right now because I wasn't about to do anything to make him change his mind.

And then there was silence – totally my cue to leave. "Okay, so I'll see you at home then. Bye, dad."

"Hey, Bella?"

"Yeah?" I turned and he was still typing and not looking up.

"Dinner?"

"Um, what about it? Oh, wait, yeah…sorry. I'm just so excited that you are going to let me…never mind." Cue nervous laughter.

"I like lasagna."

Smiling, I nodded. "Sounds good. It will be ready around 6. Love you."

"Love you too."

As soon as I walked out of the doors, I was able to breathe again. I wanted to run, to sprint, hell, I wanted to skip but I kept my cool like an absolute pro. Well, maybe I strutted a little. I hopped in my car and threw it in reverse, carefully maneuvered around Charlie's patrol car and turned out of the parking lot.

Once the station had faded from view, a head popped up in the mirror and I reached behind me awkwardly, needing to touch, to feel.

"Do you think he suspects?" The voice was warm and doing fantastically naughty things to my insides.

I shook my head as Edward climbed into the front seat from where he had been hiding in the back. "No. I think we're good."

"Oh, I know we're good."

I shivered as fingers started to trace up the inside of my leg and shot him a look that made him throw his head back and laugh. "No?" he teased, knowing exactly what he was doing.

"Keep your hands to yourself, Cullen," I warned not even meaning it a little bit, but now was not the time nor was it the place. "Our little secret won't be much of a secret if you're not careful. That last text, by the way, well played."

"I was watching you the whole time. You talk with your hands when you're nervous and I was worried you'd blow it."

"You've never complained about it before when I…" I tried to answer, trailing off when my eyes met his and I couldn't help but sit up a little higher in my seat at the expression on his face. I may not be the queen of dirty talk, but I knew how to get a reaction and there was no doubt in my mind that Edward and I were of the same opinion.

Friday couldn't get here fast enough.