Chapter Five

A/N: So super proud of myself that even going back to work I managed to get through chapter 10 finished! And because of that I am giving you an extra update. This chapter is one of my favorites so far. I love innocent Isabella, and poor Edward has no idea what to do with him. You get some answers in this chapter, so enjoy those.

Thank you to all of you who have reviewed and favorited this story. I am really enjoying it and have one of the major plot-points already written.

Now – onto the show!

"Do you live here alone?" Edward asked softly, not bothering to remove his hands from where they rested against the soft skin of her cheeks. She nodded and his imagination started in on all of the horrible things that could have happened to her alone out in the wilderness. He looked over her shoulder at the cottage and realized there was no power or running water. Aside from the garden there was no other apparent source of food. How did she care for herself?

Isabella watched as his eyes took in her meager existence and realized he was probably wondering how she survived out here. Through her mother's collection of books, she had read about what the outside world was like, at least what it had been like in 1990 when the books were published. She knew her life was not normal, but it was all she had ever known.

Gently taking his hands off of her face, she held tightly to one as she tugged him up to her porch and out of the rain. Releasing his hand as she entered the cottage, she reached up to knot her hair around her fingers, wringing the rain out. Her hands fell to the hem of her dress and she pulled it up over her head and draped it across the ladder-backed chair that sat closest to the wood-burning stove. She turned quickly when she heard a choking sound behind her. Edward was standing in the doorway, rain dripping off of his clothes and onto the floor below him. His eyes were wide and his face was slightly pink as he looked over at her. She hurried to him, worried that something was wrong, but he raised his hand as she got closer.

Edward was finding it difficult to breathe as he looked at the goddess standing in front of him. Without the influence of the outside world, she had never developed any modesty. In her life in this little cottage there was nothing wrong with taking off soaking wet clothing in front of another, she was just trying to get dry. But when she removed her dress, Edward's world skidded to a halt. Her body was slight and pale, her skin showing signs of just how difficult her life must have been. There were calluses on her hands and her feet were dirty and rough. Scars littered her shins and forearms, one particularly ugly healed gash extending from her hip to her knee. She was small but powerful, the hard work she did obvious by the muscles in her arms and legs. Her belly was soft but flat and her breasts… Edward sat right down on the floor, his head in his hands as he tried to control his body's natural reaction to the beauty in front of him. He felt her warmth before she touched him, a gentle hand on his back.

"Are you alright?" She questioned softly, running her hand up and down his spine as she remembered her mother doing when she was little and had been upset. He groaned and she tried to pull his face up to see what was wrong.

"What is your name?" He growled, resisting her hands as he tried to calm his body. Her proximity made that infinitely harder, in more ways than one. Her scent wrapped around him like a blanket and he unconsciously leaned into her touch.

"Isabella." She replied, not understanding why he was acting the way he was. It was almost as if he was angry about something.

"I'm Edward." He replied and slowly lifted his head to face her. Her wide brown eyes and full pouty lips were closer than he had expected and it took all of his willpower not to lean forward and kiss her. Instead he took a deep Isabella-scented breath and pushed himself up to his feet. He made sure to maintain eye contact as she also stood. Isabella had remembered his name from the last time he was here with his sister, but he had changed so much in those few years. She started to pull at the buttons of his shirt, wanting to get him out of the wet clothes before he could catch a chill. He found himself unable to move as her nimble fingers defeated the buttons and pushed it and his pack off of his shoulders. She was so focused on her task that when his hands touched her arms she jumped. Looking up into his face she could only describe his expression as wild, reminiscent of the mountain lion she had tangled with years earlier.

"I can manage." He said quietly as he smiled down at her, except it came off more like a pained grimace. He kicked off his worn and dirty boots and peeled his socks off, shoving them back in his boots. Isabella scoffed and bent in front of him, her head unknowingly, directly in line with his still prominent erection to pull the sodden socks from his boots and grab his shirt from where it lay on the floor.

"These will never dry if you leave them in there." She reprimanded, before turning and hanging his clothing from a line suspended between the walls near the fireplace. She bent at the waist to pick up a fallen sock and Edward clenched his jaw so tightly he swore he heard a crack. She was so innocent yet her movements had him feeling like a teenager again. She smiled up at him before disappearing further into the cottage and returning with two towels. She handed one to him as she ran the other through her tremendously long hair. Her body shook with her movements and Edward clutched the towel tightly to his hips to cover his obvious reaction to her. Finally feeling like he had his body under control, he reached up and vigorously rubbed the towel through his own hair.

Isabella twisted the towel around the length of her hair as she allowed her eyes to follow Edward's movements. His upper body was pale while his forearms had color, as if he had been out in the sun with his sleeves rolled up for an extended period of time. His chest was covered in golden-red hair which narrowed into a tight line as it traveled down his torso before disappearing into the waistband of his jeans. His muscles flexed and moved as he attacked his hair and Isabella was amazed at the differences in their bodies. She had never seen a man's body before, while she had read descriptions of men in her books. From what she had seen, Edward's body seemed far superior to any of the characters she had read about. Her curiosity got the best of her and she was in front of him before she realized it. His face was covered by the worn towel and he jumped when he felt her warm hand on his bare chest. He tossed the damp fabric to the floor and stared down at her. Her eyes followed the path of her exploring hands as they trailed over his flesh. He sucked in a harsh breath as her fingers trailed down his abdomen to where his damp pants hung low on his hips. Her eyes flew to his as she ran her fingers lower and she felt the hard bulge of his erection. He stepped back quickly and put his hands on the bare skin of her shoulders to keep her away.

Isabella was confused as she looked up at Edward. His hands felt nice against her skin, did he not feel the same when she touched him? Edward noticed her confusion, but had no idea how he could explain the effect he had on her, especially when she touched that part of his anatomy. Instead he decided to see if he could convince her to put on some clothes.

"Aren't you cold?" He asked quietly, keeping his hands on her so she would not touch him again. He did not think he had the restraint to resist her innocent hands. She smiled up at him, her eyes twinkling with mirth.

"It is August, the peak of the summer. Yes, the rain was cool but it is still fairly warm in here, do you not think?" She said, her smile widening as his fingers tightened briefly on her flesh before he released her and bent down to shuffle through his bag. He came up with a white and blue striped button down shirt, much like the one she had removed from him earlier. She was surprised when he tossed it to her.

"Put this on at least." He said, without looking at her as he rifled through his bag for a shirt of his own, also grabbing a pair of shorts and socks. He was thankful that she had put on the shirt while he was searching through his things, but wished she had buttoned it. He yanked his shirt down over his head and motioned for her to turn around. She cocked her head to the side like a dog would and blinked at him. He wanted to slap himself in the forehead, if she had no modesty when it came to herself, why would she think to give him any privacy. Resigned to the fact that he would have to change with an audience, he turned his back to her and quickly dropped his wet pants and boxers and pulled up his shorts as fast as he could. Isabella watched as Edward took his pants off, wondering why he was shielding his body from her. She though she could look at him and never get her fill, his body was a wonderland to her and she wanted to discover every plane and valley that made him different than her. His body was hard where hers was soft. Remembering the swelling she had felt under her palm, her body flushed and tingled, much like it had when she awoke from her dreams.

Edward turned once he was decent and moved past her to sling his boxers and jeans over her make-shift clothes line before turning to look at the cottage. There was an ancient wood burning stove along one wall with a battered table and two chairs in front of it. Two cabinets hung on the wall next to the stove and Edward figured that was what made up her kitchen. There was a sofa that had seen better days placed in front of the fireplace that took up most of the other wall, flanked by windows. A low bookcase sat under one of the windows and Edward moved towards that, interested in seeing what types of books Isabella had. Among the early 90's fiction was a Bible and a few classics. He was so involved with his perusal of her home he did not hear her approach. He startled when he heard her voice right behind him.

"Those were my mother's. She used them to teach me how to read." She whispered as she pushed up on her tiptoes in order to put her chin on Edward's shoulder so she could see over him. Her body was flush against his spine and he could feel the heat of her bare flesh that was left uncovered by his shirt.

"Where is your mother?" Edward croaked out, his eyes closed tight as he fought against his long buried libido, wanting nothing more than to be able to turn and kiss Isabella until her head spun. All his thoughts of seduction left as he heard her take a shuttering breath before speaking.

"She died." Isabella whispered as she pressed infinitesimally closer to Edward's back, trying desperately to pull his warmth into her now memory-chilled body. Edward turned around, placing his hands on her shoulder once again and looking down in her tear-filled eyes.

"When?" Isabella took a deep breath before she answered him, tears spilling from her lashes as she answered.

"She got sick when I was ten. She has been gone nearly eleven years now." She dropped her eyes to the floor as she brought her hands up to cover her eyes. Though she thought of her mother every day, she had not had a reason to think of her death in a long time.

"How have you survived out here by yourself?" He asked, unable to believe the small creature in front of him had lived so long along. Isabella wiped away the rest of her tears and looked back up at him, a small smile gracing her lips as she pulled on one of his hands, eager to show off her home.

Edward was impressed as Isabella showed him the bedroom with its sagging mattress and piles of warm, worn blankets. She let him see the two trap doors that made up her hiding places in case someone wandered by and explained how the stove worked in the kitchen. She rarely used it in the summer, choosing instead to make a fire out in the meadow to cook by. Seeing that the rain had stopped she yanked him out the door, pausing long enough for him to put his boots back on. She showed him all of the different vegetables she had growing in her garden and then walked with him deeper into the forest so he could see the apple trees that would soon be ready for harvest. He was impressed with her traps but his stomach turned at the thought of her butchering her own meat. He made use of the outhouse when they stopped there and he helped her carry the heavy pail of water in from where it stood at the edge of the stream. They walked back into the cottage, both holding the handle of the pail. Isabella quickly started her usual chores, placing a kettle full of water over the fireplace before setting the already stacked wood ablaze. She shrugged out of Edward's shirt, much to his disappointment, and put her now dry dress back on. Edward packed his clothes back in his pack and left it sitting by the front door. While Isabella worked, Edward walked around the room, looking at the few pictures that were hanging on the wall.

A beautiful woman, no doubt Isabella's mother, was featured in most of the pictures, all in different situations. In one she was in a hospital bed with a pink bundle resting in her arms, a tired smile on her face. His finger traced over the tiny baby swaddled in the blanket and then turned to see the grown-up version tiring away in the kitchen. She had placed two plates on the table before turning towards the door with a basket in her hand. She threw him a shy smile before nodding towards the garden and walked outside. He looked at the next picture and inhaled sharply as he recognized the man standing next to Isabella's mother. There was no way anyone would not know who that man was if they had seen a TV in the past decade. His heart raced and his palms grew damp as he realized Isabella was the lost daughter of Charlie Swan, former Senator of Washington State and the current President of the United States.

A/N: Holy shit! Charlie is the President? Crazy right? Let me hear it. Next update coming on Saturday.

Recs:

In Your World by solostintwilight

I have been there since the beginning of this one and it is just amazing. It is getting rec'd everywhere and it is SOOO worth it. I mean come one…AmishWard!