Trouble's Familiar Face

Edwards helped bring her things into the house, which turned out to be a lot bigger then it looked. He disappeared outside again, returning with two more bags that she didn't notice before.

"Moving in?" Alex joked.

"As a matter of fact, yes I am." He said, setting the bags by the couch. "Every time I turn my back, you're in need of a rescue. Not that I mind the job, but I think I would be a little more efficient at it if I was in the same house as you and not a two hour drive away." Edwards explained. "Plus, it would defeat the purpose to have a secret safe house if I keep driving to and from it every day."

Alex shrugged and then looked back at him sheepishly. "I would have asked you to stay anyways. I'll be all lonely by myself."

"Well I'm here and since I'm technically not supposed to be, there is only one room. So I have the couch and you have the room." He said walking to the closet and pulled out some pillows and blankets. Alex started to argue and Edwards held up his hand. "Don't bother; I'd never be able to sleep knowing that you're on the couch while I have the bed."

Alex pointed to the closet where he got the linens from and smiled. "Know your way around, huh?" It sounded more suspicious then she wanted it to.

He picked up on her tone and looked at her with a smile. "All safe houses are set up the same, so it's pretty easy to figure out my way around." He explained.

"Ah, I just figured you brought all the women here." She said joking.

Edwards laughed. "Nope, you are defiantly the first."

"I'm flattered." Alex said sarcastically. "I'm also starving. Does this place come with some food?"

"Well, it's not pizza, but I'm sure that there is something here to eat." He said, heading to the small kitchen. After raiding the cabinets they ate a small meal of soup and crackers. They ate in a comfortable silence and soon said their good nights.

As it turned out, the couch was a lot less comfortable then the floor, so Edwards set up his bed on the floor in front of the couch. Almost as soon as his eyes closed he started to doze.

Several hours later an odd noise woke him up making his go ridged with awareness. He quietly reached for his gun and listened for the sound again. Shuffling across the floor and then slow footsteps across the floor to where he was sleeping. He waited and watched being at still as he possibly could. Soon the small figure of Alex appeared as she quietly lay next to him on the floor.

"What are you doing?" He whispered while lifting the covers so that she could slide in.

"I was scared." Was all she said before scooting in next to him.

Edwards put his arm around her and she snuggled against him. "Scared of what, darlin?"

"Being by myself." She said sleepily. "I don't feel safe unless you're near." She mumbled continuing to speak, but no longer making any sense to Edwards as she drifted off to sleep.

Edwards smiled and sighed defeatedly. "I'm scared too." He confessed to the sleeping figure next to him. "I'm scared of you being so near me and how long my will power is going to last with you all cute and snuggled against me." He sighed again, and then closed his eyes willing himself to go to sleep.

In the morning Edwards woke up to the smell of food. He gave a large stretch and tried to snuggle closer to the pillow.

"Are you going to get up, lazy bones?" a voice asked.

He opened his eyes to see Alex standing over him. Her hair was wet from her shower and pulled into a bun. She wore an oversized t-shirt and sweats that looked older then she was.

"Forgive me, sleep eluded me last night. He grumbled. "There was a boney knee in my back all night."

Alex laughed unsympathetically and walked back to the kitchen. Edwards rolled his eyes and got up from the bed, heading to the bathroom to brush his teeth. When he emerged again there was food on the table waiting for him.

"Pancakes, spam, and grits?" he asked sitting down. "You're the only person I know that can make an entire meal from non-perishables."

Alex smiled and set a cup of coffee in front of him. "I'm amazing like that." She joked. "When it comes to food, I always find a way."

The day pretty much passed quietly, Edwards made a few phone calls and they talked most of the day. The safe house didn't have any TV's or computers so they amused themselves with cards and walking in the woods.

By the time that dinner rolled around, they had some left over breakfast, some soup and some wine that Edwards had found in one of the cabinets.

"Wine? Are you sure that you didn't bring any dates here?" Alex joked.

"Someone must have because there is three more bottles." He said smiling.

They soon moved to the living room, sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace. "So you don't work or something?" Edwards asked after lighting a fire for her because she said she was chilly.

Alex laughed. "Of course I work! I work for a tourism company, so my schedule is a few months on and a few months off."

Edwards nodded understanding finally. "When are you on again?"

Alex took another sip of her wine and then stared at the glass. "I don't think that I am, I mean I'm tired of it and I kind of just want to find a job close to home." Alex rolled her eyes. "That is when I find a home. Man, I'm a mess right now aren't I?" she said laughing.

"You'll land on your feet, you don't strike me as the kind of person that excepts defeat lightly." Edwards complimented.

"So, what about you? How did you become an FBI Agent? Is it one of those, my father was a sixth generation FBI, so I became one type deal?" Alex asked.

"No, actually. I am the first person to pass the tenth grade, let alone be in the FBI." He said smiling at her. "I was adopted by my parents when I was really young and I grew up jumping from state to state with them finding work were they could. No matter where we were though, they would always say, you have to go to school tomorrow get your education." Edwards stared off in silence for a while then sighed heavily. "They worked hard to get me through school until the day they died. They were really proud the day I graduated from the academy."

Alex put a supportive hand on his back and smiled. "I'm sure they were, Eddy."

Edwards took her hand in his. "I think they would have liked to meet you. Especially my mom, she loved strong independent women."

Alex smiled. "I'm not that strong. There are a lot of things that I could have been stronger on."

"You are probably the strongest person I know, Alex." He said, looking into her eyes.

"I couldn't leave Rick for six years." Alex argued.

Edwards now took a hold of her shoulders. "It was for the sake of a child. Honey, staying and protecting that child was the strongest thing anyone could do."

Alex now had silent tears rolling down her face. "But I left him," she said, her voice breaking with emotion. "I left him and didn't protect him when he needed me the most."

Edwards gathered her into his arms and holding her close and rocking her gently while she cried. When she finally calmed down he still held her to him, but lifted her chin so that she'd look at him.

Whipping the tears from her face, he smiled. "You stayed strong for him, even in the last moments. Honey, if you hadn't had left when you did, who knows what could have happened."

Alex nodded, knowing he was right. "Thank you Eddy, I am so lucky to have had you to hold me up through all this." Alex said, sitting back a little to look into his eyes. "You've been nothing but wonderful to me and I wanted you to know that. I probably would have drowned in self pity by now." Alex joked.

Edwards smiled, but shook his head. "I am the lucky one." He said and Alex looked at him skeptically. "Alexis, I am lucky to be the one that's able to hold you at all." He said seriously looking down at her. Her eyelashes were still damp from crying. Alex saw the kiss before it even happened.

"I don't have the strength or want to say no." she said, looking into his eyes.

"At this point darlin, I don't have the strength to be just sitting next to you anymore." He smiled and then leaned to her, capturing her lips with his own. Alex kissed back with all the emotions from the past few weeks driving her. Her hands were under his shirt and exploring his chest before she could even stop herself, though she really didn't want to stop herself.

Edwards lifted Alex from her seat next to him to his lap so that she was straddling him, only letting their lips part for the split second it took Alex to pull his shirt over his head. Edwards moaned as Alex rocked against him gently grinding herself on the growing manhood beneath her.

Alex pulled her own shirt off, letting his hands roam her back and his expert fingers undo her bra. He stopped kissing her and leaned back to gaze at her now naked torso. Without a word he pulled her in closer so that her chest was level with his face. His tongue darted out to caress her nipples and Alex arched her back in pleasure, leaning into him.

Alex grabbed Edwards' normally well groomed hair and tugged playfully until he was looking into her eyes. "Edwards." Was all she said before reclaiming his lips again and grinding herself into his lap.

Edward moaned and could no longer repress himself any longer. He lifted her to her feet and worked at undoing her jeans. When he got them off of her, she bent to her knees and kissed his chest as her hands worked on his pants. When she got them undone, she slid them off of him, boxers and all and stood before him.

Alex's eyes never left Edwards' and a small blush creeped into her cheeks as she stood before him naked. Edwards smiled and stood, lifting her up and wrapping her legs around her waist. He walked into the bedroom bypassing the bed and continued until Alex was up against the far wall of the small room.

Reclaiming her lips, he kissed her with violent passion without holding back an ounce of emotion. Alex moaned against his lips and slipped a hand between them to stroke him gently. Edwards pulled her hand from between them and loosened his grip so that she would slide right onto his waiting cock.

"Ahhh." Alex moaned as he entered her. "Oh God, Eddy." She sighed.

Starting slow, but quickly gaining pace, Edwards pounded into her. Alex's moans and nails raking down his back encouraging him. He let her slip even further, allowing him to go even deeper inside of her. Her moans suddenly became hitched and she shook in the rapture of her release.

Edwards supported her gently and walked over to the bed, laying her down. He kissed her neck and his fingers played with her nipples as she recovered from the climax. Soon she was grinding against him once more, eagerly meeting each of his thrusts.

Alex pushed him, rolling him over so that she was on top of him straddling his narrow hips. She rode him hard, cumming twice with her efforts and the effects no less then the first climax.

Finally Edwards grabbed her hips, holding them in place as he flipped her back over. As his climax approached her took Alex's face in his hands, kissing her more deeply and passionately then she had ever been kissed before. He eyes opened and were greeted by Edwards', looking at her lovingly.

"Alex, I love you." He said kissing her. Alex smiled and kissed him back and his pace quickened, bringing both of them to finish together. Edwards stayed inside of her, gathering her into his arms.

"I'm sorry." He whispered softly.

Alex looked at him, afraid that he was going to take back what he had said. He saw her concern and kissed her reassuringly.

"I'm sorry you had to find out in such a cliché way." He said smiling. "But I do love you. I just had to tell you before I finished."

Alex smiled, her hand lazily running the length of his back. "I love you too, Eddy."

Chapter 7

The next day Edwards woke up almost the same as the day before, to the smell of food. He stretched and yawned loudly and looked around the room, realizing that he was in the bedroom. He smiled to himself recalling how he got there.

"Good morning, sunshine." Alex's voice sang as she walked into the room. She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss and Edwards grabbed her around the waist, pulling her onto the bed with him.

Alex screeched, laughing as he kissed her wildly all over. "You behave yourself." She said, gasping from laughing so hard. "You said that you have work to do today." She scolded, kissing him sweetly before hopping back out of bed.

Edwards grumbled and reluctantly climbed out of bed.

Hours later, Edwards sat in the living room on the floor with paperwork and crime scene pictures scattered around him. Alex sat on the couch, helping him go through certain points of evidence.

"So all that's left is the fact that there was no forced entry." He said, mainly thinking out loud.

"Plus the strange marks. You said they looked like indentations in the rug, right?" Alex said, pointing at the picture that showed the markings.

"Right, so that leads me to think that maybe the babysitter knew the attacker or Samuel knew the attacker and let them in." Edwards concluded.

Alex suddenly looked as if she had just been struck. "Oh my, God!" She said, standing up in her excitement.

"What? What?" Edwards said, looking around for danger.

"What if the babysitter was the attacker?" Alex said, her hand shaking a bit. "That would mean that there was no forced entry because the attacker was already there."

"A sixteen year old girl as an attacker?" Edwards said skeptically, but he quickly searched his papers on anything on the babysitter.

Without looking at the papers Alex shook her head. "No they aren't using Amy anymore because she had her boyfriends over all the time. They used someone else, someone I don't know."

"Elizabeth." Edwards said finding the affidavit of the grandparents. "It was someone that a neighbor suggested. She was a woman of about 25." Edwards grinned up at Alex. "Alex, you're a genius." He said standing too. "The indentations, oh my gawd Alex! They're high heels! I was thinking the attacker was a man," he said, pacing the small room. "I never even put them together, I didn't understand."

"I have to call my chief and get this in." he said, heading to the phone. "Then they can tell me the next move."

Edwards was on the phone for forty-five minutes going over each piece of evidence and when he finally hung up his face was still flushed with excitement.

"They found some things out as well." He said excepting the fresh cup of coffee that Alex handed him. "Apparently a neighbor had visited the Valintino's the day of the murder and they had mentioned the new babysitter."

Alex nodded, listening intently.

"So later on that night, the same neighbor hears arguing coming from the home that was described as; 'A heated discussion between a man and a woman that was not Mr. and Mrs. Valintino.'"

"The babysitter hand an accomplice." Alex said, catching on.

"Right, which means that they have to interview the Valintino's again and get as much information on that babysitter as possible." Edwards said.

"And us?"

"We wait here to keep you safe and out of this crazy persons reach." He replied, taking Alex's hand in his own and looking into her eyes. "I have to lay down some rules, honey. Especially since we just narrowed it down to people that at least know the Valintino's, which means they probably know you."

Alex nodded. "Alright, lay them on me."

"First, since they know you and you don't know which of your acquaintances it is, do not contact anyone." He said seriously. "I am dead serious, anyone can trace a cell phone now days, understand?"

"I understand."

"Good, now second rule is this; if for some god awful reason this person knows that you are here, they could easily kill both of us without anyone knowing for a very long time. So because of that, please do not wander off.

"Get angry with me if you would like, but I want to protect you. If you aren't anywhere around me, it makes it hard to do that." He said, giving her hand a light squeeze. "Also, before you ask, the no contacting rule does apply to Rayne as well."

"Alright. No contacting anyone including Rayne and no frolicking by myself. Gottch'a." Alex said smiling at him.

Edwards smiled back, kissing her sweetly. "My sergeant said that you either had to wear a hat or dye your hair for now." He said laughing.

"Hat." She said quickly. "What does it matter if we're inside all the time anyway?"

"Well I was going to take you to a nearby dinner and I asked him how I could do that without jeopardizing your well being." Edwards explained.

"Ya! Real food!" She said, jumping up and down.

Rayne knocked on Eliza's apartment door and waited. By the third knock he tried the door and it opened easily. He stepped in heading for the bedroom and then stopped in his tracks, looking over the room.

Everything had been moved out and gone. He went from room to room and the entire place had been emptied. Rayne left the house and jumped into his truck, quickly flipping open his cell phone to call Eliza.

"Hello?" It was another woman.

"Where is she?" he said, not even bothering to ask who it was and why they had Eliza's phone.

"Rayne, Eliza said that you would call. This is her sister André. She said; 'To tell you to go to hell with your threats and that you can keep the money, she can get it somewhere else.'" The woman identified as Liz's sister informed him.

"Do you know where she went?" He said, desperate and starting to panic.

"I never know where she's going. If she's in any trouble she's probably going to Mexico. She's got a lover down there and likes to hide out for months at a time." André said. "I am really sorry that she did this to you again, Rayne."

Rayne mumbled a thank you and hung up the phone. She left it to fall on him; all of it was going to point to a person that they couldn't touch, so he was left to take it. He suddenly felt dizzy and rested his head on the steering wheel.

"No." He said out loud. 'If I'm going to take the fall for something, I'm going to do it right.' He thought to himself. He opened up his phone and dialed Alex's number. Her phone was on though no answer, so he started to text her.

'Time to get things done right.' He thought. 'I will get what I want.'

When they returned from diner Alex went to the bathroom to take a shower, while Edwards returned to work that was left on the floor of the living room. While reading over the statements he had gotten, a sudden beeping noise caught his attention.

He stood listening carfuly, trying to find the direction that it was coming from. After a few moments of searching, he found the source of the strange noise. Alex's cell phone was alerting her that she had a few messages. It took a split second for Edwards FBI side to take over and he flipped the phone open, seeing that there were two text messages, both from Rayne.

Edwards walked toward the bathroom and listened for the shower. Satisfied that it was still running, he opened the messages. The first one just asked where she had been. The second one sounded more desperate and pathetic to Edwards. 'Please contact me! I want to see you! I miss you! I am so sorry for everything that I did to you.'

Edwards rolled his eyes and deleted both messaged, vowing to tell Alex about them as soon as the killer was caught.

Alex emerged from the shower not long after that, kissing Edwards and then headed for the kitchen to the freshly brewed coffee. Edwards got up from the floor and walked over to where she poured two cups of coffee. He circled his arms around her waist and gently nuzzled her neck.

"Hello Angel." She said, smiling when he nibbled a little.

"Hello Alexis." He greeted. "Darling, do you think that we could talk?"