UPDATED

A/N: I know I had said I wouldn't do anything besides oneshots when I was working on Moonset (whose second chapter will be up this afternoon I promise!), but then again, I never follow my own rules do I? Well, now that my computer actually works, I can probably do more than before. Basically, we all know I hate using others dialogue. So my solution to this is to write something original. Amazing, huh? It also helps that whenever I want to pull my hair out because of Moonset, I have this to fall back on. I have this all outlined for at least 4 or 5 chapters, but after that I'm kinda just gonna go with the flow.

Disclaimer: I may not own Bella, Edward, or the world of Twilight, but I do own the cast of vampires coming up in the next few chapters.

Three decades is a very long time. Not for a vampire of course, we who have eternity on our side. It just seems very long when you had thought it would only be three weeks instead of thirty years until you saw someone. Especially when that someone happened to be the only reason you had for living. But, I think even then, that I knew there was going to be more waiting than three weeks. I just didn't want to admit it. Oh, I knew he would come back for me, but how long could I last while waiting for him? Not very long, it had seemed.

I can still replay that human memory with surprising accuracy.

It had begun as any night in my human home had. At least as far as I was concerned. This meant that my angel had made his descent from the heavens through my window. However, unlike every other night I could remember, there was no smile on his face. There was only pain. Pain and sadness. I could feel my heart stopping, my lungs beginning to shut down, I could feel my body readying itself for the wave of pain and agony that would accompany him leaving. I knew he was leaving. Maybe this time, it would not be as painful as the last, but I couldn't live without him. He'd told me it was the same for him. Hadn't he?

I can still remember the way he grimaced when those terrible first words found their way from his lips.

"I have to go hunting," he had said quietly. I remember the wave of pure relief that washed over me. I could feel my body slowly unclenching and relaxing. He wasn't leaving like before; it wasn't so far into my past that I couldn't remember how much it had hurt without him. It would be a few days, and he would be back. And then I saw his face. It was clear that there was more to this.

"This isn't…normal hunting, is it?" I could feel my heart stopping yet again.

"No. This is…tracking. Victoria's…she's…Bella, she's here," he had said with so much agony, "We have to get her away from here. We're going to have to leave for a little while. I promise it won' be long. I swear it," he said with so much conviction that I almost believed him.

'Almost' being the key word. I decided that then would be an excellent time to remind him of another option he had, one I had constantly tried to get him to take.

"Change me," I had said hopefully, "Then we can just leave together."

"It…it doesn't work that way. During the change, you're so… vulnerable. We can't protect you while traveling and we can't stay here if she's here. Please, please Bella, believe me when I say that we won't be longer than a week or so. Just long enough to get her away from here. I don't understand why she's suddenly back, but she is."

I could already feel the hole I had tried so hard to forget ripping open. My whole body was trembling with the effort I was making to keep it shut. I couldn't fight the tears though. They flowed freely down my face, and I made no effort to wipe them away.

His eyes seemed tortured as he looked at my shaking form. It had only been a few months that he'd been back, it was only a few weeks until graduation. He had promised to stay. He'd promised.

And then suddenly, I was in his arms and his lips were on mine. And for a moment I was able to forget he was leaving. I knew he loved me. He loved me, he loved me. That was all that could go through my head at that moment. If I knew that, maybe I could survive without him for a little while. How wrong I had been.

"Promise me something," he had said as we separated.

"Anything," I had replied, still a little breathless, even though I was scared to hold myself to another one of his promises.

"Wait for me. Please, just wait for me. Even if it takes longer than expected. I promise you we'll be back, so just promise you'll be here for me to come back to," he had said with so much love in his eyes.

And I had said yes. He had kissed me once more, and then he was gone with a flash of bronze hair and pale skin. He was gone.

And that was how I had spent the last year of my human life.

Waiting…

A/N: Next chapter up soon…