The characters and all things pertaining to Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer. The stories published under this account are the sole property of WndrngY. They may not be copied, published or posted elsewhere without my express written consent which I do not give at this time.

Chapter 18

So Far Away From Me

Edward's POV

I had to wait until noon to call Tom Francke's office. It was 9 a.m. Pacific time and I knew it was a long shot that Tom would be in the office and available, but still I was frustrated when he wasn't there. I tried back an hour later and then a half hour after that. I didn't want to leave a message and then sit around waiting for him to call for another two weeks. If he didn't want to hire me, I would be incredibly disappointed, but then I would move on and find another job, another way to be with Bella. But, one way or another, I wanted an answer today.

The fourth time I called at 3:40 my time, the receptionist put me on hold and a few moments later Tom picked up the phone.

"Edward. Took you long enough to decide to call, but once you did, you were damned persistent," he spoke mildly, as he had the day of the interview, but his words ignited a flame of irritation in me.

"This was a test," I said flatly, fighting the urge to add 'asshole'.

"Sort of. It's a good way to gauge an applicant's sense of urgency, propriety, self-interest, persistence, etcetera. I expected you to call a few days ago, but I realize the two weeks was up yesterday and I'll chalk it up to your Southern sense of manners. So, do you want to come to work for me?"

I was honestly speechless for a moment. I was torn between pissed off, elated and concerned. Yes, I wanted to work for Tom, but I didn't appreciate his little 'test' particularly, and I knew working for him was going to be a challenge, to say the least.

Ultimately there was only one answer though. I accepted and we talked salary and a timeline for me to complete or hand off the projects I was working on for my father's firm, get moved to Seattle and be ready to start. The final agreement gave me a month.

As soon as I hung up with Tom, I wanted to call Bella. I wanted to tell Jasper and my parents and my sister and her family, too, but before anyone else, I needed to tell Bella.

Checking my watch, I realized that it was nearly 8 p.m. in Seattle and she was once again at work. For the next half hour I debated with myself over whether to call Beck's and ask to speak with her. I had never called her at work. It was completely unprofessional. Immature. I could wait a few hours to call her. Or I could call her cell phone and leave her a message to call me as soon as she got done.

Bella's POV

"Telephone, chef!"

I glanced up to see if Bruce heard the page and realized the prep cook was looking at me.

"The office phone was ringing, so I answered. It's for you," he repeated as I stared blankly at him. No one ever called me at work in the middle of a dinner service.

"Bruce, I—"

"I got it covered," James interrupted. "Go ahead and take your call."

Bruce gave me a quick nod and turned to James to pick up where I was leaving off. I wondered if it irritated Bruce, hearing the staff calling me 'chef'. Generally, only the head chef is addressed that way in a kitchen, but because I had been the acting head chef so much of the time for so long, it had become habit among the staff.

I hurried to the office with an uneasy feeling that something must be very wrong for anyone to be calling me this way.

"Hello? This is Bella Swan," I said when I picked up the line.

"Bella, I'm sorry to bother you at work."

"Edward? Is everything okay? What's going on?" I felt my heart leap into my throat.

"Everything's fine. It's great. I shouldn't have called, but I talked to Tom just now," Edward was rushing through it now. "Bella, I got the job. I'll be in Seattle in a month."

I sat down suddenly in the butt-sprung office chair, before my legs gave out. "You're coming to Seattle?"

"Yep."

"You still want to get a place together?"

"Hell yes, sugar!"

"I can't believe it!. This is…everything. I love you, Edward," I told him, everything I felt for him welling up in my voice.

"I love you, too, sugar. Call me as soon as you get home, okay?"

I promised I would and went to wash my hands and get back to work, unable to wipe the smile off my face.

"Good news, Swan?" Bruce asked, noting my expression.

"I'm sorry about the personal call, chef. But, yeah, it was good news," I nodded happily. "Edward got his dream job and he's moving to Seattle in a month."

Bruce grinned at me and held up a hand for me to slap as I went by to my station. But when I glanced back at him, he looked lost in thought and I had no way of knowing what he was thinking. James gave me rundown of what was on order and which dishes were already working.

"Garnish is in the weeds, just so you know. I'll go lend a hand," James offered cheerfully.

"Thanks. And thanks for covering for me." At that point I was even feeling friendly toward James.

"No problem, Bella. And congratulations—I couldn't help overhearing. Your country boy is coming to town for real, huh?" He gave me a smirk that could possibly pass for a smile, so I just shrugged and nodded happily before diving into my work, ignoring the childish slight to Edward.

It was 1:11 a.m. when I knocked on Alice and Rosalie's door. I waited patiently for about thirty seconds before using my spare key to let myself in. Emmett was coming out of Rosalie's room in just his boxers, rubbing one hand over his face and adjusting himself with the other.

"Emmett! Ugh! I don't need to see that," I protested, shielding my eyes.

"Wha-? Bella?" he mumbled.

Alice and Rosalie came out of their respective rooms. Obviously, all of them had been sound asleep and I couldn't have been more proud of myself.

Alice went directly to the couch and collapsed on it, pulling the gold cotton throw blanket over her with an irritated groan.

"Bella, you better be on fire," Rosalie warned.

"Nope. Not on fire, everything's good. I have great news!"

"Great news can wait until morning," Alice grumbled from the couch.

"Think back, Sweet Alice, to all the times you showed up at my door at some ungodly hour of the morning, forcing me out of bed to go on one of your shopping expeditions. Consider this payback."

"Why do I have to suffer?" Rosalie demanded, sitting down on one of the dining room chairs.

"Ha! Half the time you were with her!" I reminded Rose.

"I didn't do anything," Emmett mumbled as he raided the refrigerator.

"Collateral damage, bro. Sorry," I laughed.

"Alright, alright!" Alice sat up and glared at me. Which would have been more effective if her hair wasn't standing up in the back like a rooster's butt feathers. "What's this great news?"

"Edward is moving to Seattle in a month. He got the job with Francke and we're moving in together."

Alice gasped. Rosalie laughed knowingly as if she had seen this coming all along. And Emmett choked on the orange juice he was swigging out of the carton.

"That's fucking awesome!" Alice screamed, launching herself at me.

"You'll be pregnant within six months," Rosalie grinned wickedly.

"Dad's gonna kill you," Emmett informed me.

I gave my brother as dismissive a look as I could muster with Alice clinging to me like a freaking spider monkey.

"I am 27 years old, Em. I think I can make my own decisions without Dad's consent."

"Sure you can. Just let me be there when you tell him," Emmett grinned.

The great search for the perfect place to live, with Edward, began the next day. Between that and work, I was too busy to think too much about the enormity of the way my life was about to change and that was definitely a good thing.

The first debate was whether we wanted an apartment or a house.

"House," Edward said decisively. We were Skyping again, in the late evening on my night off.

"Apartment," I said just as firmly. I adjusted my laptop screen to position the camera better and settled in to argue.

"Honey, come on. I can't live in a closed in little box. I need some space, a yard, something," he begged, giving me the full benefit of his green eyed gaze and pouty mouth.

"A yard that has to be mowed and weeded and all that. I got enough of that when I was growing up. When would either of us have the time?"

"I'll make time. Or we'll hire a service or something," Edward offered hopefully.

"Why not save the money? We could get an apartment near a nice open park," I countered.

"Okay, Bell, what's so great about apartments besides not having to mow the lawn?"

"I like the freedom to come and go without worrying about getting a house sitter, or asking someone to bring in the mail, or worrying about pipes bursting," I said quickly. And then far more quietly, I added, "And, you know…elevators."

Edward heard me loud and clear anyway. He laughed, but it was a throaty, sexy little laugh. "No matter where we live in Seattle, I'm sure we'll have plenty of chances to ride in elevators," he promised. "Lots of different elevators."

"So you're looking for a lot of variety in your…elevators?" I teased.

He gave me a knowing little smirk and eye roll. "In my elevators? Yes. In my sex life? Yes. In my choice of partners? No way in hell, sugar."

I squirmed happily, ridiculously like a horny teenager. "Me neither. Or too. Or whatever you said."

Ultimately he won, as he always seemed to. I looked at seven apartments and four houses within a two week period, before a fifth house showing sealed the deal for me. I fell in love at first sight with a three bedroom craftsman-style bungalow on a shady, winding street. I used my phone to email the MLS listing with a video walk-through to Edward and he texted me back four words: "That's our home, sugar!"

And just like that, I had a live-in boyfriend, a shared mortgage, and a house.

Alice was with me at my place the morning the phone call came that our offer on the house had been accepted and she held the paper bag when I began to hyperventilate in preparation for my first-ever panic attack.

"Deep breaths, Bella. It's okay, I swear. You're doing the right thing. It's just scary right now," she murmured, smoothing my hair as she spoke.

"We could have (gasp) rented (wheeze). Can't believe (gasp) we're doing this (wheeze)."

"You want to back out? It's not too late, you know," the manipulative little minx said solemnly. She handed me the phone. "Just pull up the last number and hit send."

My breathing slowed as I glared at her in exasperation. "You know I don't want to back out."

"Then stop being such a drama queen and let's celebrate. I'll call Rose and Em and tell them to meet us at Rocco's for dinner tonight at eight."

I was still feeling a little light-headed and crazed, but I had to appreciate Alice's ability to give me some perspective.

"Fine, okay. That sounds good, but Alice, really, have I completely lost my mind?"

"Oh yeah," she said casually. "But in the best possible way. You know this."

I nodded against her shoulder as she pulled me into a big hug. "Call Edward, sweetie. Tell him the good news. Let him talk you down."

When I reached Edward on his cell phone, he told me he was in Jasper's SUV and they were headed down to Florida for a last surf trip before Edward moved. He was thrilled when I told him we got the house, but he also knew I was stressed just from my voice although I tried to hide it.

"Are you having cold feet?" he asked me understandingly.

"Just a little attack of nerves," I confessed. "I'm good, baby. I can't wait for you to get here, but I want you and Jasper to have a great time surfing. Just be careful, okay?"

"Don't worry, sugar. I'll be there in nine days with all my limbs intact," he promised. "All of them."

"Damn, son! I don't want to sit next to you while you have phone sex!" I heard Jasper say in the background.

Edward sighed heavily. "Sorry, love. Jasper's phone-cockblocking me."

"Later then, surfer boy," I promised, trying to sound sultry. "Call me tonight."

"You better believe it," Edward said, laughter rumbling in his chest. "Midnight, your time. Clothing optional and heavily discouraged."

Rocco's is my favorite Italian restaurant and once again it did not disappoint. Dinner was fantastic and the conversation and red wine flowed freely. I looked around the table at my brother and my best friends, laughing and talking, as I imagined Edward and Jasper winding up a pleasantly exhausting afternoon of surfing and bonding. There were huge changes coming in all of our lives, but they were all good. Life was good. I was happy. And I was pretty damn sure it wasn't just because of the wine.

After dinner we walked down the street to Emmett's favorite club to go dancing. Emmett walked up to the door with his arms around Alice and Rosalie and Rosalie's arm around me. He smirked nauseatingly at the doorman who opened the door with an admiring nod.

"Damn, Emmett. What are you packing, dude?"

"A massive sense of chivalry and a big ass love of life, Sammy, my man." Emmett was walking with his chest thrown out like a great big douchebag, but I couldn't bring myself to throw cold water on his moment of glory. Alice went along, rubbing Emmett's chest seductively, while Rosalie generously fought the urge to roll her eyes.

Two hours later we were still dancing and carrying on when my cell phone rang. I slid it out of my jeans pocket and answered without checking the caller ID. I knew it was Edward.

"Sorry, love, we're still out at the club," I yelled in the phone.

"Bella?" a feminine voice came over the phone, sounding stressed and tearful.

"Oh. Sorry! Yes, this is Bella. Who is this?"

"Bella, honey, it's Esme. I have some bad news," she choked out.

Everything around me stopped for a moment and then began again, a thousand times louder and more frenetic. I pushed and shoved my way through the crowd, leaving Alice, Rose and Emmett to follow cluelessly in my wake. Once outside on the quiet sidewalk, I stared blankly at my friends as I spoke to Esme.

"Esme, what is it? I can hear you now."

"Edward and Ja—Jasper were surfing today down in Florida—"

"I know, I spoke to Edward this morning," I prompted.

"There was an unusually strong riptide…"

"Esme, please! Is Edward okay? Is Jasper?"

Alice let out a whimper and Emmett grabbed her shoulders to steady her.

"Edward called me from the hospital. He's pretty banged up, but he's okay. We don't know about Jasper yet, honey. We're on our way down to the hospital now. Jasper's in the ICU. He's on life support." Her voice dropped to a ragged low pitch, "It doesn't sound good."

Alice knew it was Jasper as soon as our eyes met. "Is he…?"

"No! No, Al. He's in the hospital. They got caught in a riptide."

"Let me talk to her, Bella. I tried to call her, too, but she didn't answer her cell phone."

"I don't think she has it with her," I said, wondering why the hell I was wasting time with these useless words. "Here she is."

I handed my phone to Alice. Emmett enveloped me in a bone-crushing hug. Rosalie stood with Alice, rubbing her back as she listened to Esme, responding minimally.

"Edward is going to be okay," I whispered to Emmett. "But they're not sure about Jasper…"

"He's gonna be fine," Emmett said authoritatively. "Alice doesn't deserve this on top of everything else!"

"Things don't happen to people because they deserve them, Emmett," I sighed.

I felt horribly guilty that, in the selfish part of my brain, I was grateful that it wasn't Edward on life support. I wished I could take Jasper's place to spare Alice the pain, but I couldn't wish Edward to take Jasper's place. I pushed away the immature, useless train of thought and tried to focus on what I could really do now.

"We'll need to get down there right away. Can you start calling for airline tickets?" I asked Emmett. He agreed without hesitation. As he was dialing, he moved away a little so he could hear better.

Finally, Alice hung up and pressed the phone into my hand. She looked into my eyes with a uncomprehending pleading. Do something, she seemed to be begging me. I don't know what, but do something.

"Emmett is booking us the soonest possible flight, Ali. We'll be with them as fast as we can," I promised her.

"You'll come with me?" she asked, grabbing my hands.

"Of course! Of course I'm coming with you," I cried.

"But Edward is fine. He's fine. It's Jasss…" she trailed off and broke down into sobs, squeezing my hands so hard she was digging her fingernails into my palms.

"I'm coming with you, Alice," I reiterated firmly.

Rosalie flagged down a cab for us and we all piled in, Emmett still on the phone with the airlines.

We stopped at my apartment and I ran in and packed a few necessities as fast as humanly possible before we went on to Rose and Alice's place. Emmett got on the computer there and printed out our e-tickets. Rosalie packed for Alice while I called work.

One of the busboys answered. Todd, I think, or maybe Tom. I asked to speak to Bruce, but James came on the line a few minutes later. "Hey Bella. Chef is totally slammed. Can I give him a message?"

"Sure. Yeah, thanks. Listen, there's been an accident and I have to go down to Florida with Alice. I'll call you guys tomorrow with details to let you know when I'll be back."

"Is it your boyfriend?"

"No. Yes. I mean, he was hurt, too, but it's Alice's fiancé whose in really bad shape. I have to go with her."

"Of course you do. I'll cover for you. Don't worry about anything," James assured me confidently and sympathetically.

I felt a surge of gratitude for him and I thanked him profusely before hanging up.

Our flight left at 4:45 a.m. The wait at the airport felt interminable, but finally we were in the air and on our way. We had spoken with Esme twice and Carlisle once. There was still no change in Jasper's condition and Edward had been checked in and was heavily sedated because he refused to leave Jasper's room and had started going into shock once the adrenaline from their ordeal wore off.

The details of exactly what they had gone through were still fuzzy, but the life guards who had rescued them had told Carlisle that, if Jasper made it, Edward had certainly saved his life.

If Jasper made it.

That phrase kept ringing in my ears. Thank god Alice hadn't heard that part yet.

We spent the flight alternating between reassuring each other, crying on each other's shoulders and staring off into space too numb to feel.

When the plane finally touched down six hours later, we didn't need to go to baggage claim because we had carried on our small bags. We went straight to the curb, stepping into the blinding Florida sun, to hail a cab, only to find Carlisle there waiting for us.

The first thing out of his mouth before even 'hello' was, "Jasper's awake and breathing on his own!"

I'll always love him for that. He hugged Alice hard and then me and threw our bags in the trunk of his car as we got settled in. Alice cried quietly in the backseat for a few minutes before she finally passed out from exhaustion.

"Is Edward really okay, Carlisle?" I finally got to ask before we pulled into the hospital parking lot.

Carlisle laughed a strangled sort of laugh, before wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand. "He really is Bella. It's a miracle that either one of them is alive, much less both of them, but he is fine. He looks like he's been sandpapered, which I guess he basically has, and he's out cold from the sedatives they finally had to give him to get him to sleep, but he's going to be fine."

After hugging Esme and speaking for a few moments, we were taken to see Jasper. He was asleep again and he looked frighteningly colorless and motionless, but the nurse said he was doing very well, much better than they had hoped for so soon. She told Alice she would get her a pillow and a blanket if she wanted to sleep on the reclining chair by his side.

Esme next ushered me into Edward's room.

"Do you want to stay with him tonight?" she asked me kindly, knowing that I did.

"I'm surprised they'll let me, but of course I do," I said gratefully.

"We told them you and Alice are their wives," Esme confided with a wink. I blushed, but she pretended not to notice. "Carlisle and I are going to the hotel across the street. You'll call if there's any change or if you need anything, right?"

I assured her I would and clung to her for a moment when she hugged me again. We said good night and once the door closed behind her, I turned my full attention to my love, my boyfriend, my pretend husband.

Edward looked awful. He was battered and bruised and truly did look like he'd been 'sanded' in places. He's hair was stiff and crazy from the dried saltwater and he had a pained expression on his face. I didn't want to wake him or hurt him, but I needed to be near him. I kicked off my shoes and took off my jacket and lowered myself slowly and gingerly to the bed until I was lying beside him, facing him, without actually touching him.

Within moments he stirred and his arm slid over my hip, around my back and pulled me close up against him. I carefully turned so he was spooning me and let out a deep, wavering breath. A few more moments was all it took before I was sound asleep.

A/N: If I were truly evil, as I am often accused of being, I would have left off with Jasper still on life support. But I'm only half-evil and you all (especially those who review ) are fully awesome!