Edward knows that he's going to have a lot of explaining to do when he gets into work. It's exactly why he saunters in slowly, takes his time showing Bear all of the crooks and crevices, much to Jacob's amusement. He even showed her Jacob's desk twice and took a souvenir in the form of a bobble head. He ignores the way the man's team is idly watching them from their own desks.
"Alright, I actually have to get work done today." Jacob informs him in a way that almost sounds reluctant as he watches Bear stare down at the bobble head.
"What? You guys actually do stuff up here?" He teases and he's expecting some quick-witted response that's funny, if not, a little insulting. Instead, he's met with Jacob staring at him in that intense way that's becoming more and more frequent the more time they spend together.
"Yeah, you'd be surprised. Even closed a case or two." His voice sounds different, the pitch a bit lower and he has yet to drop his gaze.
"Weird. I thought you just worked here for the donuts."Â Edward dismisses, hoping that whatever this is will pass soon because it's a little unnerving the way he can't bring himself to look away.
The only thing that breaks the staring contest is Jacob's scoff at the comment.
"Donuts?"
"Yeah, the generic kind too." He elaborates and watches as Jacob becomes more exasperated and amused.
Jacob looks like he's about to rebuttal the statement when the blond guy from his team pokes his head into the door.
"Uh, Boss, meeting is starting soon." He informs Jacob. Edward can visibly see the man's Adam's apple bob as he jitters, waiting for some kind of response.
"Be there in a minute, Newton." He calls back.
"Fine, I'll actually leave this time." Edward says letting out a sigh and turning towards the door with the car seat in his grip.
"See you at home." Black whispers quietly behind him before leaning in to peck him on the cheek.
It felt just as unsettling as it did the first time. Edward doesn't waste anymore time, quickly slipping past Newton to head for the lab.
He walks in and wanders straight to his desk to place Bear down before he's bombarded by Emmett and Jasper. They waste no time getting over to where he is to gossip.
"So, you're a liar." Emmett says as soon as they have their chairs in front of his desk.
"I'm not a liar. We're not exclusive." Edward says, turning towards his desk so that he doesn't have to acknowledge them directly.
"So, where have you been for the last fifteen minutes?" Jasper asks, ignoring what he'd just said.
"I was -" He gestures towards the general area where the homicide unit was.
"Yeah? Is that where Bear got this?" Jasper continues his line of questioning, pointing at the bobble head that is laying on her leg.
"Yep." Edward says, grabbing for a file to flip through to take his mind off his brother's being annoying.
Jasper nods before slipping a card out of his shirt pocket and placing it next to Bear's other leg.
"Well, deliver that to him for me." He informs Bear who's about one more boring conversation from falling asleep.
"How long have you two been a thing?" Emmett asks, fiddling with a baseball signed by Babe Ruth that he usually kept on his desk in a glass case.
Edward hadn't really thought through his lies all that well. He hadn't gone spouting out backstories like Black had as soon as they were given the case. He didn't have anything prepared, which honestly, was way more like him.
"Not long," he says with a shrug, "on and off."
It was plausible. His brothers didn't spend a lot time at his house. If they were spending time together, it was out in the woods somewhere. So, maybe Jacob had been spending the night over at his place. Maybe he had been keeping him a secret.
"On and off? He seemed pretty comfortable." Emmett nudges.
Edward gives another shrug, before glancing over at Bear who was now sleeping with one hand resting on the head of the toy.
"Must be a little serious," Jasper butts in, eyes glancing at the card, "he could've easily ditched you as soon as she showed up and who knows how long she's going to be around."
Edward hums, pretending to skim over the file in front of him.
"Look at him, he's glowing." Emmett pretends to whisper to Jasper and Edward can't help but roll his eyes.
They'd literally spent the last couple of days arguing about everything and nothing. Honestly, Edward was more irritated for most of that time than he wasn't. Though, apparently his brothers saw something that he didn't.
"Yeah, apparently this is his boyfriend's kid now, too," Jasper pretends to whisper back, "a boyfriend that he wasn't even going to tell us about. Can you believe that?"
"I was going to say something eventually." Edward huffs, and he was. Mainly because he had no other choice. His brothers were everywhere all the time.
He spends the remainder of the time before lunch ignoring them poking fun and asking questions that he skirted around so as not to give too much information.
"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Black asks when he saunters into the lab to see Emmett and Jasper still surrounding Edward and Bear.
"We're staging an intervention." Emmett calls back and Edward once again rolls his eyes as he goes to stand up.
"Ignore them, they're being extra annoying today." Edward says, walking around them to meet Black at the door.
Black throws them that smile that he flashes to the waitresses at the diner before giving Edward a more teasing look.
"If you'd told them when I told you to, this wouldn't be happening would it?" He says, falling into the conversation just as easily as if he'd been listening the entire time.
Edward lets a grunt, handing him Bear before slipping past him. He didn't need to stick around for Black encouraging them.
They don't end up at some fancy restaurant this time. Jacob heads straight for the diner.
"The whole," Black waves his hand around, "change of routine really messed me up yesterday."
He explains quietly as Edward unbuckles Bear, grabbing for the card Jasper had left and slipping it into his own pocket.
"I just thought that you'd like one of those other places better." He's rambling a bit, which is new to Edward.
Usually, the man times his responses, bases them off of whatever Edward said before. It was interesting. The man had looked absolutely miserable at that place and he'd been giving Edward that look as if this was something intense the entire time. So, that look wasn't what Edward thought it was...He was trying to be nice.
"Why is that? Is it the glass box?" Edward asks, following him towards the door.
"No, no, you just poke at your food when we eat here. So, I thought you didn't like it." He explains quietly, voice dropping significantly when they step inside. The shy expression he'd been dawning before transforms into a smile that is only partially genuine as he greets the waitress.
As soon as they're alone, he's back to talking.
"What do you like?" He seems genuinely curious as he watches Edward like he's the most interesting thing in this busy restaurant.
"Take out. Chinese, preferably." Edward mumbles, looking over the menu full of burgers. He had a couple of cups of Type O waiting for him in the mini fridge in his bedroom. He'd prefer those.
He orders some burger off of the menu before going back to showing Bear the bobble head that she stares at all wide eyed as if this is her first time seeing it.
He's aware that Jacob's looking at him with one of those looks, but Edward's becoming accustomed to it at this point. What he isn't expecting is Jacob reaching across the table to grab for his hand. That is definitely new.
He's really laying it on thick this evening. Edward wonders if he's lied to the staff and told them an anniversary is coming up soon or something. He's playing with his fingers and Edward has to busy himself with fussing with Bear's clothing, despite her staring up at him as if he has a third head. Eventually, he has to face the fact Jacob wasn't looking away, so they just end up staring at one another.
"Aw, aren't you two cute," Darlene crooned as she placed their plates and drinks in front of them, "keep that up and you're going to end up with another one."
Then, she's gone.
That was the second off-handed comment that he's gotten since he'd popped up with Bear and his curiosity gets the best of him as he peers over at Jacob who pretends to be interested in the steak and potatoes in front of him.
"What did you tell them about her?" He asks, trying to keep any accusations out of his voice. Though, the way Jacob nervously grinned over at him told him all he needed to know.
"I told them that...uh, you were trans," Jacob admits quietly, "and that she...y'know..."
Edward looks at him as if he's got a second head.
"Well, it's less suspicious than suddenly adopting a baby out of nowhere." He points out, but that doesn't stop Edward from glaring at him.He resists the urge to kick Jacob under the table and starts poking at his food instead.
The arrival of their meals doesn't deter the hand touching, though. If anything, Jacob seems to become more than a little comfortable with it as he swipes his thumb across Edward's knuckles.
"What did you tell your brothers?" Jacob asks after about two forkfuls of his food.
"I just let them ask the questions and answered vaguely unlike someone I know." He mumbled into a fry.
"Hey! Women tend to want more details. I couldn't just tell them I met you in an abandoned alley and took you in." He grumbled into his potatoes.
"Of course not. That wouldn't make any sense since I make more than you and you're living in my house." Edward points out and Jacob tightens his grip around Edward's hand in response. For a brief second Edward can see the gears turning in Jacob's head before he flashes Edward a smirk and brings his hand up to his mouth and kisses the palm.
"If you lay it on any thicker, they're going to kick us out. We're going to have to eat our food out of doggy bags." Edward hisses, attempting to tug his hand away, but getting nowhere.
"Fine, I'll behave."
They'd barely even started their food and here was Darlene rushing over, pretending to think that they needed a refill or maybe some sauce. She gives them a huge grin before heading off to wait on people who actually need it.
Jacob only chuckles and continues to eat his food at a snails pace because he refused to let go of Edward's hand. He can't even make the excuse of needing to attend to Bear because she was back to quietly sleeping as if she'd done something to be so tired.
He doesn't let go of Edward's hand until he needs to fish his wallet out of his pocket and pay for their food. That doesn't last long though as he tugs Edward towards the door as soon as he's given a receipt. Edward ignores his idling while he buckles Bear in, thinking that he's just doing it so he can make a scene out of opening the door for Edward. Though, as soon as the door is shut behind her he's plastered against the side of the car with Jacob pressing up against him.
"You're still in uniform, Officer." Edward reminds him to which he rolls his eyes, giving Edward a quick peck, this time missing his mouth by half a millimetre before he leaves to climb into the driver's seat. Edward can practically feel the eyes on his back as he scrambles into the car.
"Must you insist on embarrassing me?" Edward huffs as soon as they pull away from the curb.
"I think we're at our best when I'm embarrassing you." Jacob says, grinning as if he's proud of himself.
Edward rolls his eyes, trying to get comfortable in his seat.
"I'm glad you enjoyed putting on your little show, but I hope the plan isn't to up the ante every time." Edward grumbles and he can already feel Jacob's eyes on him as the traffic light glows red against their faces.
"Maybe if we go on the weekend when I'm in civvies, I can show you the bathroom."
Edward's about to reach over and sock him in the arm, hoping to smack the grin directly off of his face when Black's radio starts talking. It sounds like nonsensical police chatter to Edward, but it must mean something to Jacob based on the way the grin drops off of his face. He reaches over to turn on the police sirens.
The rest of the car ride is in silence as the sirens blare in between them.