New couple? Emma and Edward? Would I do that to the people reading the story? . . . Well, actually I might. Keep reading and reviewing to find out what happens.

x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x

"I can't believe you came." Emma said for the tenth time. Edward smiled at her and replied for the tenth time, "I said I would be there for you. Since you could not come to me, I came to you. Simple." He shrugged, as if it were no big deal, and indicated that they continue walking. Edward had decided that Emma had needed some exercise after lying on her butt for so long, and Emma had agreed. It meant spending time alone with Edward and Emma was not averse to the idea.

"Simple." Emma repeated in a quiet voice. Maybe it was simple for him, but Emma still shuddered when she thought of all the pain she went through before he came. *~ If he hadn't come . . . what would have happened to me? ~*

*~Nothing! ~* Edward's thoughts sharply cut in. It still amazed Emma how easily he could read her. *~ You would have found some way to handle it yourself. ~* Edward's 'thought' voice softened, *~You are stronger than you give yourself credit for. ~*

Emma shook her head, "I didn't seem to be handling it too well before you came."

"It takes time, psionic power is hard enough to control as it is. Combine that with your inherent strength and inexperience and . . . well you've got a mess." Emma was grateful to Edward for downplaying the seriousness of what had happened to her.

It had been almost four days since Edward had come to Sanctuary to wake her up. She only vaguely remembered what had happened. All she knew was that she had been drowning. She was so tried that she had been ready to give up and let the emotions overwhelm her and drag her down. Emma knew now that if that had happened she would have never woken up. Her mind would have burned out, leaving a vegetable behind, a living corpse.

It would have been so easy, to give up, to end it. Emma knew it was only Edward's presence that had saved her. He had pushed all the other emotions out of her head, forcing them to leave her alone. He had made built up Emma's defences when she was too weak to do it herself. He had held her, comforted her when it all seemed pointless. He had thrown her a line by which she could drag herself to safety. Emma knew this, and had no idea how she would begin to repay him.

*~ Well, the first thing you can do is stop thinking about it. It's making me blush. ~* Emma grinned, making Edward blush sounded like lots of fun. *~ And second you can smile a lot more. ~*

Edward stopped and said to Emma, "Maybe we should go back. Your friends will get worried if I keep you with me for to long. I get the feeling they don't trust me too much." As a telepath, Edward knew that they didn't trust him at all. They only tolerated him because he seemed to be helping Emma.

He mentally sighed, he knew that he had to win their respect, but their hostility was not helping the situation. Emma was picking it up, and it was creating a conflict within her. Was she being disloyal to her friends or should she trust was she knew in her heart? The fact that she was still susceptible to outside emotions was another complication.

After four days, working intensively with Emma, Edward had managed to help build at least a perimeter defence system. Seeing how fast she had come, and how eager she was to learn, Edward felt an almost proprietarily pride in her. But he also knew she was at a dangerous stage; a relapse now would put her beyond his help. However, all he could do was help her, and trust that everything would work out. *~ And keep her away from prolonged contact with a certain person. ~* Edward added to himself.

"If you've finished worrying about me and my friends, shall we go back?" Emma inquired. Edward looked at, momentarily taken aback. Then he started laughing. Sometimes, he forgot how difficult it was to hide emotions from a telempath. He would have to be more careful in the future. Emma smiled, telling him that he was not doing too a good job of it at the moment.

Still laughing, Edward raced Emma back to Sanctuary.

x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Adam watched Emma laughing as Edward continued to distract her from her meditation exercises. She finally jumped on him to stop him from pulling faces at her. Her face was aglow and her eyes sparkled as she mock-wrestled Edward to the ground. She was definitely better, Adam couldn't remember the last time he had heard her laugh so unconditionally. This Edward had been good for her, even Adam had to admit that in the privacy of his own thoughts.

*~Still, we still don't know much about him. ~* Adam's protective instincts were working overtime; he hadn't slept much in the last few days, using the time to track this stranger who had so miraculously appeared in their lives.

There hadn't been much about him in the files, which in itself worried Adam. From what Adam could tell, Edward had lived a clean and normal life. Done well at Yale, graduated with honours, been respected by his colleagues; his life had been near perfect as humanly possible, until he lost a wife at 26. After that, Edward seemed to disappear completely, no job, no friends old or new. And now, suddenly he was here, in Emma's life.

Adam acknowledged that Edward's disappearance could just be a result of personal tragedy and sudden return just a coincidence. But, Adam was still sceptical, he would not interfere as long as Emma seemed to want Edward around, but neither was he going to give his wholehearted support.

x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Shalimar determinedly headed towards the dojo, really needing to work some steam off. The last few days had stretched her to the limit, if she didn't beat someone up or break something she was liable to explode. Her feral instincts were protesting at being reined in repeatedly. They wanted to protect her pack-mate, they wanted to take remove Edward. But Shalimar knew she couldn't do that; for whatever perverse reason Emma seemed to want Edward around and Shalimar had to respect that.

Of course, that didn't mean that Shalimar had to like it. *~ Emma had better get Edward out of her system soon or I am going to have to do it for her. ~*

Shalimar entered the dojo only to see Edward on top of Emma, holding her down. She was clearly struggling with him. "Edward let me up. Please."

"Oh no, my lovely. I have you right where I want you and I intend to take full advantage of it."

Shalimar had seen enough. Before Edward could hurt her friend anymore, she turned feral and kicked him off Emma. She was a little enthusiastic in her defence because Edward not only 'got off' Emma, he went flying across the room, hitting the wall with a loud thump.

"SHALIMAR!" Emma was up and kneeling next to an almost unconscious Edward. "You almost kill Edward"

"He was hurting you."

"He WAS NOT!" Emma looked at her friend indignantly.

"Come on Emma. I saw him pin you to the floor." Emma spluttered, too angry to reply.

"I should have hit him harder. It would have served him right." Shalimar growled at Edward.

"Shalimar, he was not hurting me. We were just fooling around."

"Fooling around? It didn't sound like that to me."

"Well, you were wrong. Apologise to Edward." Emma was getting angrier by the minute. She turned to face Shalimar, hands on her hips, eyes blazing. Shalimar matched Emma's glare for glare, refusing to concede that she might have been wrong.

They were distracted from their glowering match by a weak groan from the floor. "Uh . . . ladies if you've finished slicing each other up, some help would be greatly appreciated."

"Oh, sorry Edward." Emma hurriedly bent down to pick Edward up from the floor. "Are you hurt? Can I get you anything?"

"The number of that truck? Remind me next time never to wrestle with you. I don't want to see what the rest of team will do to me." Edward gingerly massaged his neck and shoulder to assure himself that nothing was broken.

Shalimar belatedly realised that she might have wrong. Emma didn't seem hurt, and Edward seemed genuinely surprised.

"Yes, my beautiful lady. I truly wasn't planning to . . . err . . . have my way with Emma. We were just having a bit of fun, play-acting if you will." Shalimar blushed, realising that Edward had read her thoughts.

"It's ok, you're too lovely to be angry with. I forgive you." Edward grinned as Shalimar did another double take. This time, she knew he could not be reading her thoughts. She definitely was NOT thinking of apologising. Edward winked at her, Shalimar realised that he had very cleverly manoeuvred her into this position. She couldn't retract the 'apology' without upsetting Emma so had, for all practical purposed apologised.

Emma picked up on the subtle exchange between Shalimar and Edward and burst out laughing. They both looked at the laughing telempath and gave in to laughter themselves.

*~ Maybe Edward is not so bad after all. ~*

*~ Told you so. ~* Emma privately whispered in Shalimar's mind.

x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x