FAGE 11. Are You In…?

Title: Finding Home

Written for: Rebekah Lynn Adams/Rebadams7

Written By: Ninkita

Rating: M

Prompt used: Sudden downpour

If you would like to see all the stories that are a part of this exchange visit the Facebook group 'Fanficaholics Anon: Where Obsession Never Sleeps', or add the C2 to get all the stories direct to your inbox.

A/N: This is my first FAGE (Fic Awesome Gift Exchange), and it was so much fun (though I didn't think I'd get it written in time)! As always, NewTwilightFan and purpleC305 beta/pre-read and assured me it was good to go.

I hope you enjoy this, Rebekah!

1. The Girl

It's early, the purple-grey twilight before dawn. The rumble of my truck cuts through the stillness, the bright beams of my headlamps slicing through the wispy, wet fog.

I've barely navigated out of the rutted farm track and onto the paved main road, when the fog gives way to a light patter of rain. It's a mere drizzle, but as I cross through the tiny hamlet and head onto the open road, the droplets illuminated by the truck's lamps seem to gather strength. They're pinging wildly off my windscreen, and I start my wipers on low. As mile after mile passes beneath the wheels of my truck, I think back on the mess I left behind at Jasper's place.

People and their messes... I might try to steer clear of the drama, but sometimes there just isn't any getting away from it. For Jasper, my only brother, I would happily wade through a bog of messes. But every man has his limit, and this is mine.

I still don't know what he sees in Maria. To put it plainly, she's demanding and controlling, but beyond all that, there's just something about her that makes me uneasy. Even so, to actually convince my own brother to talk to me, to ask about... this... is beyond all bounds of freaking decency. Or indecency. I grimace and decide to stop ruining my morning on problems with no good solutions. I have enough on my mind without worrying about my brother's stupidity.

I shift in my seat and focus on the road through the now steady fall of rain. There isn't another soul out on the roads this early, but I still drive at a sedate pace. Sometimes you get the odd deer dashing around this stretch, and I'm in no mood to clear roadkill off my truck. I round a bend and the rain is now loud enough to drown out the low hum of the radio. The wind picks up its game as well, and I flick the wipers on high. Visibility isn't the best, but fortunately I know this road like the back of my hand.

A sudden movement up ahead has me slowing down further. My headlights pick out a huddled… something by the side of the road. It seems to be moving, an indistinct grayish blur. I frown and bring my truck abreast with it.

"Oh thank God!" a distinctly feminine voice exclaims, as soon as I roll down the window a crack. "Please, can I..?"

"Get in," I cut her off, because it's a freaking downpour and it's giving me the shivers seeing how wet she is. Thankfully, she doesn't argue.

I let the truck idle as she jumps into the passenger side of the cab. Water drips off her fingers as she pushes back the hood of her coat. Water streaks her face and runs through her hair, all of it making an almighty wet mess in my truck. I probably have some old towels or blankets or something in the back that I could offer her to dry off. But right now, I'm far too distracted to take my usual, practical course.

For one, this girl is beautiful in a way that disarms me. Pink lips, brown eyes, and the sweetest smile I've ever seen. I have the strangest desire to take her in my arms and spend the next thirty or forty years just looking at her, tracing the path of each lazily meandering droplet.

Then, there's the matter of the small, damp cardboard box she pulls out from under her coat. She pokes at it, sighing in relief when three small yellow heads pop up. "Oh I was so worried about you guys," she coos. "You didn't get too wet, did you?" She looks up then and smiles winningly, as though certain that I'll share her relief at the fate of the little chicks in the box. "The rain came down so fast, and out of nowhere! I hid them under my coat, but I really didn't know if they'd stay dry." She sighs and goes back to petting the little baby birds.

A loud boom of thunder startles me out of my stupefaction, and I shake my head to get my bearings.

"Miss, I don't know where you're headed, but this is shaping up to be a storm you don't want to be out in." The wind whips a flurry of raindrops against my truck, making us rock a little. "I'm on my way to my farm, it's about two miles or so from here. It's the closest safe place where you can dry off and wait this out."

She's pulled in her lower lip and seems to be gnawing on it, which is strangely… alluring. I frown, because what on earth am I thinking? Thankfully she doesn't take long to make up her mind. With a decisive nod, she says, "I think you're right. If you are sure it won't put you out to help me?"

I merely nod and turn back to the road.

"I'm Bella," she says with a shiver.

"Edward," I respond, turning up the heat.

We don't speak for a few minutes, and I'm grateful for the relative silence. It's bad enough that I can barely see the road through the constant rain; I don't want to give in to the added distraction of wanting to know everything about this girl. Why is she out here in the middle of nowhere? Why was she walking? Did her car break down? I didn't see anything on my way, but it could've happened beyond the turnoff where I joined the main road. And why does she have a box full of chicks? Where's she going?

It's a relief to see the turnoff for my farm. Unlike Jasper's place, I've made sure my road is free of potholes. I try not to notice the way Bella peers around as we approach the homestead, her eyes so eager and interested.

I pull into the large garage, and it's a little startling, the sharpness of the quiet after the constant clatter of rain beating against the truck. I quickly jump out and jog over to her door. I don't know her story, and I don't know how long she was out there in the rain, but I'm pretty sure she needs to dry off immediately.

"Come on," I say, taking the damp box from her hands. "You better get warmed up."