There was something about that first kiss that sets off a chain of events.
It starts with breakfast at the diner on Monday. The way Jacob's looking at him, the way he grabs for his hand, the way Bailey's looking at them when she comes over to the table. Edward must've missed something, but he knows that there is something different about today in particular. He sips at some tea that Bailey had recommended and stares down at the table while Jacob eats his food. Bear's lost the fight of trying to stay awake after having a particularly hectic Sunday night. So, it's just them.
Jacob's talking to him about some new development in the case. Something about the autopsy Emmett and Jasper had performed. Though, he's not just telling the story, he's moved past Edward's hand and is now running his own hand over Edward's forearm. Then, when he's done with that particular movement, Jacob's hand cuffs Edward's elbow and holds it. He could move away from the contact at any time, but he's too confused to even think to move.
He'd made a fool of himself. He could admit that. He still felt a flush of shame just thinking about the entirety of Saturday, because Jacob's not his. As much as this case was making it difficult to parse work from reality, he and Jacob weren't together. He's not even sure when he'd started thinking of them as being together. He's not even sure he wants that.
Though, the display clearly doesn't throw Jacob off of whatever training he's gone through. He's talking vaguely, of course, so as not to inform the public of what's going on, but he seems excited to talk about it. Maybe he's just really excited for this case to be over. Maybe that's what the hand gripping his chin meant.
"How'd you make a mess? You're literally just drinking tea." Jacob asks, swiping at whatever's near his bottom lip.
Jacob's hand has moved back to gripping Edward's as he checks his face.
"So, what do you think?" Jacob asks after making sure he'd gotten whatever he'd seen.
Think?
Bailey steps up to their booth, smile in place and pitcher at the ready.
"How you boys doing? Ya need anything?" She asks, refilling Edward's cup before he can even open his mouth.
Jacob doesn't need anything. In fact, he's done with eating and they're moving to leave as soon as she's moved on to the next table. It felt like they'd been sitting down for five minutes, but they're going to be late for work if they don't head out.
The cashier is looking at him. He's fully aware that the cashier is looking at him, but he keeps his eyes on the car seat and Bear resting inside. He allows himself to be pulled towards the car and he buckles Bear in without a second thought. It's not until he moves to shut the door, and realizes that Jacob was still standing there watching him, that he feels like his suspicion is warranted.
Jacob follows him around to his door and when he climbs inside the car, he's met with Jacob's face about two centimeters from his own.
He wants to say something snarky, anything would do to be honest, but by the time his brain starts calibrating again Jacob's already pecked him on the lips, closed the door, and he's rounding the car.
Work is just as odd for him. They end up being a couple of minutes late and everyone is watching them as soon as they step into the station. He gets it, they'd had a pretty dramatic tiff the last time anyone had seen them. His plan is to just move towards the lab as fast as possible, but that directly clashes with Jacob's plan. Edward doesn't even get to take a step away from him before he's getting kissed on the cheek.
He gets it. It's a signal to everyone that they're fine now. Their relationship is now back on track, they'll be fine. He still avoids all eye contact as he rushes to get to the lab, trying to be mindful of the car seat still in his arms. He slides past the lab doors and says nothing when his brothers spin around to greet him. He plops down into his seat and starts reading the autopsy file.
The latest victim is male, not related to the last two, though there is a note in the file in what was clearly Jacob's handwriting that said that they were married into the family somehow. He stares down at the note, wondering how Jacob had managed to get a hold of the file before he could even get his hands on it. He looks over his shoulder to see Jasper and Emmett mulling around, now pretending to actually be busy.
As soon as Emmett realizes that he's looking at them, he dives at the opportunity.
"Feeling better?"
The question has Jasper spinning around in his chair as if he couldn't hear the answer without visibly being able to see Edward.
"I'm fine," Edward says, trying his best not to roll his eyes.
Nothing has changed since the last time they'd seen him besides Edward having to remind himself that he'd forgotten why Jacob was in his house in the first place.
"Did you give this file to Black?" He asks, holding up the folder and hoping he looks just as confused as he feels.
He watches as they glance at one another before looking back at him. So, that was clearly an affirmative.
"Well, we brought it over Saturday. You weren't doing too good, but by the time we left, we thought you two had made up." Emmett answers, tiptoeing his way through an explanation.
"Yeah, so we left it with Black and came to pick it back up Sunday." Jasper finishes, looking unsure of himself.
Edward stares down at the file for a long moment. Jacob hadn't mentioned them leaving anything.
Something on his face must make his confusion apparent because Jasper's back to talking.
"We thought you'd made up because when we came to tell you we were leaving, you were, um...", he looks up at the ceiling like that was going to give him the word he was looking for, "busy."
"Yeah, you two were cuddling." Emmett helpfully supplies.
"He said you'd been sleeping all Saturday and you were busy all Sunday when we came to pick it up." Jasper points out, clearly confused by the notion.
He gets their confusion. They don't sleep. Though, he's been really good lately at being able to hover just within being barely conscious. It's like fainting, he's not exactly well-rested when he opens his eyes. Sunday, he'd spent the entire day putting together a dresser and putting little baby clothes on hangers. Jacob, meanwhile, hovered in the doorway holding Bear while making helpful commentary.
Edward, however, doesn't answer any questions his brothers have, instead turning back to continue skimming over the file. Whoever they were dealing with, clearly had their target mapped out. Why were they targeting this particular family? Well, that was Jacob's job to figure out.
He looked over the little notes and tried to ignore the little personal ones scribbled on different colored sticky notes. He'd have to remove them before he put the file away.
-Don't laugh at me, but I had to google what this meant since you're in a coma currently.
-I wish you would wake up. What does this mean?
-I put these on little, green sticky notes because I assumed that was your favorite color.
-Or is your favorite color red? They don't make them in red, but I could switch to pink.
The personal sticky notes are suddenly pink now.
-I hope you're comfortable because your elbow is stabbing me in the ribs.
-You're gonna have a severe case of bed head when you wake up.
-What does this mean?
-I think you're drooling a little. Didn't know doctors did that.
-Bear just puked on my shirt. Guess that's worse than the drool stain.
-Wake up. I'm bored.
Edward's being watched. He's suddenly very aware he's being watched. Jasper and Emmett must've taken interest in all of the sticky notes poking out of the top of the file and took a peek at what was inside. They were checking for his reaction. Edward's not sure what face he was making before, but he quickly schools it into one that's neutral before he lowers the file.
He quickly repeats the mantra that's been in his head all day and it's enough to keep him from overthinking any of it. He just lets out the breath that he didn't realize that he was holding and goes to change Bear's diaper.
Work is awkward for Jacob. He's not surprised considering that one of the four people that he spends most of the day talking to, was clearly feeling the after effects of his own actions. Mike is usually one of the most animated in the group, so his silence catches the rest of the group's attention. So, of course, they start trying to pry. By the time they're supposed to be heading out to lunch, only Angela knows anything that Jacob has just explained and Eric and Jessica are looking over at Mike like he was a kicked puppy.
Jessica follows Jacob to his office like she always does when she's worried about something or someone. She stands in the doorway as he collects his belongings. He hadn't told her what happened with Mike when he'd asked her to take his place for the time being, he'd just said that he needed a little more help since Edward was "sick". So, of course she's thrown off that Mike's acting like his dog just died. He was just hoping that she'd hound him about it.
"You know what's going on with Mike?" She asks as soon as the door is closed behind her.
Jacob lets out a sigh. He really doesn't want to be late taking Edward to the diner. He didn't need Bailey looking at him like she was going to have a heart attack. She already thinks their marriage is on the rocks and she was, no doubt, sharing that sentiment with the rest of her coworkers.
He thinks over what he should tell her, if anything. Holding secrets wasn't going to make their team stronger, but telling her how Mike had the balls to come into Edward's house and flirt with him didn't seem like it was going to make them stable either.
He lets out a sigh.
"Mike crossed a boundary. I disciplined him for it."
It was a brief overview of the truth. Mike was now on desk duty and Jessica and Angela would be taking his place when it came to staying in and patrolling the house. As much as he was angry at Mike when it happened, he really wasn't looking to get him on Jessica's bad side. So, he was hoping she would take that as a good enough explanation.
Of course it isn't. He watches as she crosses her arms and leans against the door as if she has all day.
"I need to get to Eddy." He tries and watches as her resolve crumbles a little. She lets out a sigh, but still waits for more.
"What did he do?"
Jacob stares down at his desk for a moment before letting out a sigh.
"He tried to flirt with me while we were supposed to be painting Bear's room." Jacob relinquishes.
She looks a little stunned, but not as surprised as Jacob feels as she should. He stares at her for a moment, suddenly in less of a hurry.
"You knew?" Of course she knew. Everyone seemed to have noticed except for him. Then, even when he was aware, he still hadn't managed to stop it before the man got his feelings hurt.
"He's had a crush on you since he got here, Jake." Jessica points out as if it's the most obvious thing ever.
His mouth speaks the words before his brain can catch up and stop it.
"But I'm in a relationship now, we were in my boyfriend's house."
"Yeah, uh, there was kind of a couple of rumors going around. Maybe he heard one of them and..." Jessica stops before she can finish that thought. It must be whatever expression is on his face because he hasn't said a word, but she looks terrified. He doesn't know what words to say. What should he ask first?
What fucking rumors?
"People thought you two had broken up or...that you were, um, friends with benefits. Y'know, not serious." She mumbles.
There is something about the statement that hits a nerve. He can feel it. He knows he shouldn't feel that way, because there is a very clear truth to that. Maybe that's what annoys him the most.
"I need to go." He grits out, grabbing his stuff and walking fast enough that she stumbles out of the way to keep from getting run over.
Lunch is less touchy. Jacob still grabs his hand, plays with his knuckles, and slyly plants a kiss to the back of his hand, but he's not about to tug him over the table. It's a large improvement from breakfast. However, Edward assumes that the lack of touching is due to the fact that something clearly happened between 8:00 AM and 12:00 PM. Jacob had shown up a little later than usual, looking a lot less enthusiastic. The car ride had been a little quiet and he hadn't even beamed at Darlene when they'd stepped into the diner. It was a little off-putting.
"Bad news?" Edward asks him after Darlene scuttles away to get their food.
Jacob glances up at him as if he'd just realized that Edward's sitting at the same table despite the grip Jacob's got on his hand.
"It's nothing just...Mike." He huffs out, rolling his eyes.
Mike.
Edward can feel his own mood souring at the mention of Jacob's coworker. He finds himself repeating the mantra.
He's not yours. He's not yours. He's not yours. He's not -
Jacob presses his lips against the back of Edward's hand again, eyes unfocused as he remembers whatever must've happened between them.
"Had to put him on desk duty. Jessica's going to take his place in the house." He mumbles.
Jessica...Jess.
How many people on Jacob's team had seen him all gross and at his worst?
He's still not even sure why he was so upset to begin with. He's not a crier. It was an anomaly to say the least.
Edward only hums in response, not trusting his voice to say anything of substance.
He actually eats small parts of a steak that's closer to his liking and listens to Jacob rant about other work related things. Like the fact that they were apparently relevant enough to have their own rumors floating around the work place. However, what catches his attention was how annoyed Jacob seemed to be about them. The same man who'd pecked him on this cheek this morning in front of a room full of cops was now ranting and raving about rumors. Some particular ones that seemed to irk him were the ones where they'd broken up.
"The fight wasn't even that bad." He huffs, rolling his eyes.
"You pouted for like two days after." Edward pointed out to which he got flashed a look as if he were a traitor.
"You were mad at me." If Edward didn't know any better, he'd think Jacob was whining.
"Yeah, 'cause you left me." Edward rebuttals.
"'Cause you have your own car. How was I supposed to know it was a big deal?" Jacob retorts
...and suddenly the conversation is a lot more serious.
"We have a routine and you don't even leave a note letting me know that the routine has changed. That doesn't seem like a big deal to you?" Edward's voice is eerily quiet, almost inaudible over the chatter of everyone else in the diner.
"Well, no, I didn't realize you were such a stickler for routine. We'd been doing this for a little over a week, remember? I would hardly call it a routine." Jacob bites back.
"Huh? Weird. 'Cause I would call 'waking up every morning, getting into your car, coming to this dingy, little diner, going to work, and then going home together' a routine." Edward says, tilting his head in a way that is just welcoming a challenge.
"Fine, you win. I shouldn't have brought it up." Jacob huffs with the same amount of irritation in his voice that he'd had when he'd brought up Mike earlier. It only fuels Edward's annoyance.
"Is that what it is? Do you have trouble seeing patterns?" Edward mocks and watches as Jacob looks at him confused.
"Patterns?"Jacob mutters, eyebrows raising and a small smirk beginning to form, "My entire job is patterns of behavior."
"Fascinating, then why couldn't you see the fact that your coworker clearly had a thing for you?" Edward quips and watches as Darlene's eyebrows shoot up, words dying on her tongue as she cradles a pitcher in her hand.
Jacob shoots her a look that has her scurrying away from the table.
"I wasn't looking for them." Jacob hisses out.
"Haven't been looking for much of anything if your track record is anything to go by." Edward hisses back.
Whatever was sparking up between them was abruptly put on hold by Bear starting to cry. Edward doesn't bother with taking her out of her car seat, instead scooping up the entire seat and heading for the car. He sits in the passenger side of the cop car, feeding Bear and trying not to think too hard about the fact that he was going to have to ride all the way back to work with him.
He's so frustrated that he doesn't see the car.
He doesn't see the car coming at them until it's too late and he has to curl his body around Bear as it crashes into them and sends them crashing into a car in front of them.