A/N: Hi there! Thanks for checking out my story! So quickly, I'll just tell you that I'm a nervous new author (who has been lurking in this fandom for years) and I figured I'd take a chance with this story. I edited it myself so all mistakes are mine! I truly hope you like it! Enjoy! Longer a/n at the bottom...

Drowning on Dry Land

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust…" were the last words she heard the pastor say before she was consumed by her memories.

Eight and a Half Years Earlier

"Bella…!"

"Shut up!" she shouted as she rushed away from the curly haired brunette chasing after her. The squeak of her damp sneakers followed her as she hurtled out of Forks HS and into the nearly vacant parking lot. She still couldn't believe this entire moment was even happening.

"Bella, you're my best friend. I didn't want to hurt you! I'm so incredibly sorry! If I could do anything to cha-…"

She wheeled around on her heel in the dark parking lot, only illuminated by the spattering of light from a few of the lampposts scattered along the empty parking spots. With pain in her moisture ridden brown eyes she said, "What?! If you could do anything to change what happened you would?! Would you really, Jess?" Bella demanded of the other girl, interrupting her plea. "Be honest with yourself here. There's no way you'd willingly trade places with me…If I was you there's no way I would, either," she pointed out.

Honestly, Bella just wanted to run home and hide in her room until it was time for college. However, Jessica was pushing the issue and her anger. If she wanted to have this out in the here and now, Bella was done fighting her anger. She was going to let her anger do the talking.

Jessica sniffed and swiped at the tears from her eyes with her bony fingers and smeared her caked on mascara. "I'm so sorry. I don't want to lose our friendship because of this. I didn't mean for this to happen. You have to know that."

The tiny brunette scoffed at the apology, "You didn't mean for this to happen? Oddly enough I'm not convinced. You did a really shitty thing to get what you wanted at any cost. Own up to it and deal with the consequences. You won, Jessica! Happy?! Of course, silly me, I didn't even know we were at war for my boyfriend's affection! Regardless, you snuck behind my back. You lied to me. I'm the one who just lost her best friend and boyfriend in one fell swoop! Congratulations! You must be so proud of your accomplishments!"

"I'm sorry! What else do you want me to say? I don't want you to hate me for this, okay? But James and I are in love. It just happened and I can't change that, but I don't want to lose you because of it. Please…just tell me what I have to do to fix this," she begged as her voice cracked with emotion.

Bella rolled her eyes at the backhanded plea. "You can start by going to hell, because you and me? It's done. This friendship is effectively over. It's dead and buried as of now. This is something that is unfixable. It's something I'm never going to get over!" Bella shouted through her tears. She then turned and sprinted through the lot to the safety of her truck as she continued to ignore Jessica's shouts for her to come back.

It was only once she had successfully started her truck and made it around the block that Bella found she had to pull over. Cutting the engine, she crumbled into a huddled mass in her seat, with her arms wrapping protectively around her middle.

Her sobbing and the buzzing of a nearby streetlight were the only sounds that could be heard for the next twenty minutes.

Bella was shaken out of her reverie when a particularly loud and strangled moan of anguish broke out from the chorus of sobs humming through the sea of black standing at the gravesite. She realized that she had missed a majority of the service thanks to her wandering mind. It made her feel slightly guilty that she had been so consumed by her own misery while James was being lowered into the ground, never to return to the land of the living.

A part of her was grateful that she had been able to hide in the back and avoid everyone's scrutiny. It, unfortunately, still didn't stop her from looking up only to lock eyes with Jessica as the funeral concluded. Averting her eyes quickly, Bella escaped into the crowd of mourners just as the gray skies above shed its own sorrowful tears of mourning. The lightning and thunder followed in quick succession.

Three Months Earlier

"Dad! What did I tell you about eating healthier? Dr. Gerandy was really serious about you cutting down on the junk food and fatty foods. Will you at least attempt to do this for me, please?" Bella asked semi-sternly, even though she was smirking, as she cradled the phone with her chin and shoulder while flipping through the stack of mail lying on her kitchen counter. An occasional look of disgust marred her features as she sorted everything out into junk, bill and magazine piles. A quick glance up through her kitchen window, while Charlie was gruffly trying to defend his meal choices to no avail, gave her a glimpse of a bustling Seattle, which sprawled out all around her apartment building. It made her grin. She loved this city.

Bella rolled her eyes, knowing she was going to get nowhere with this conversation. If she couldn't get a hold of the contents of her father's refrigerator and pantry herself then she'd go to the next best source that she could count on: her older brother, Emmett, and his fiancé, Rose Hale. Charlie wouldn't dare go against his future daughter in law. Rose knew just how to strike fear into all the men in her life and keep them on her toes. Charlie was no exception to the rule.

As much as Bella didn't harbor ill-will for her brother, she was beyond glad that Emmett had returned from where he had settled in Florida. Obviously, it hadn't been under the best of circumstances. No one wants to get a call from their inconsolable sister at two in the morning informing them that their father had suffered a heart attack. But, Emmett had gotten on the first flight to Seattle that he could manage and never looked back.

In fact, it was Em who had proposed stepping in with Jake to take over the hardware store that Charlie and Billy had started fifteen years earlier when Charlie had decided to retire early from the police force in order to make sure he would be safe for his kids. In the end, it hadn't been a criminal with a gun who had nearly gotten the best of the Chief but rather his penchant for fish fry and red meat.

So, as of last spring Emmett and Jake had become the Swan and Black behind the names on the sign while the dad's advised and helped from the sidelines. It was there that Rosalie had walked back into Emmett's life and decided she'd like to stay permanently. Bella couldn't have been happier for them and she adored Rose.

When, life had been falling apart for Bella at the end of senior year, it had been Rose who had stepped in and helped her put herself back together. Up until that point they had only been new acquaintances who knew each other from a handful of classes, since Rose had only moved to area with her family that past winter.

Yet, that following Monday, Rosalie had intercepted her from going into the cafeteria and continuing her day of humiliation and misery. They had found an empty classroom to barricade themselves in instead and between bites of what they had scavenged from the snack machine down by the gym Rose listened to Bella's tale. She had called James an "asshat" and Jessica a "dimwitted bimbo" at the end of it all and told Bella that she was sorry they had done that to her.

Something about Bella's, in hindsight, pathetic tale of teenage woe had prompted Rosalie Hale to explain to Bella why she had left her prestigious high school in Ithaca halfway through her senior year for some middle of nowhere town in the Pacific Northwest. That had been the first and only time Rose had spoke the complete tale of Royce King and just how bad guys could be.

Their relationship battle scars were incredibly different. Bella's were emotional but they would heal in time and she could hide them far more easily than the emotional and physical scars of what Royce and his friends had done to Rose. Suddenly, it had made sense why Rose had kneed Mike Newton in the crotch when he hit on her that first week she came to Forks. Yet, sharing those stories and knowing they were survivors in their own way had bonded them.

Bella admired Rose for working through all she had been through and her story had made her realize that while she was intensely hurt by Jessica and James' betrayal it could always have been so much worse. That day she promised herself she would stop feeling sorry about what happened and move on, which she did with Rose's help. That had also been the day that she had found her true best friend.

Little had they known that the chain of events that had brought Rose into Bella's life would eventually lead Rose to Emmett as well. Yet, how could it have not? Rose and Emmett were a perfect match. Who else could protect Rose so completely; yet still allow her all the independence she wished? And who could keep Emmett, ever the eternal prankster and sufferer of foot-in-mouth syndrome, in line with just a look but Rose? Emmett got the love of his life and Bella was going to be able to keep her best friend with her forever as her sister-in-law.

"Bells, you still there?" Charlie's voice called from the other side of the phone line.

"Uh, yeah, Dad…still here. What were you saying?" Bella prompted him.

Her dad spoke of the new guy they had hired down at the store. Apparently, he was the husband of two kids who had been in school with she and Rose. He was a transplant from Texas, of all places. It wasn't that Bella wasn't interested in what Charlie was saying. After all, it wasn't easy to get him to be this talkative this often. Their check-in phone calls were the definite exception to the rule. However, it seemed her mind was prone to wandering down the memory trail at that moment.

This time it was about her father. The ageing, former Chief of Police, and hardware store owner was her original rock and constant. When most everyone else had walked out on her life, he, along with Emmett and later Rose, had stayed and never even debated leaving her, of his own volition, for a moment. He had made life in Forks during her last year, after what she now labeled "The Great Collapse", bearable. Bella hated her hometown with a passion she usually only unleashed in the personal writing she kept in her private journal. Too many heartbreak's had occurred within its limits for the fond memories to eclipse them. Renee. James. Jessica. Charlie and the refuge he created for her in their home was her saving grace. He had made sure that she knew that no matter what, she would have protection, from the harsh world threatening to crush her, within those walls.

"So, uh…how's uh…" she could almost hear him twitching his mustache uncomfortably as he changed the subject to "…Riley?" That time, the audible sigh of impatience after he had said Riley's name was something Bella definitely heard.

"Dad…you know you might actually like Riley if you gave him a chance…Did I tell you that he's taking me out for my birthday tonight?" Bella sighed into the receiver, a forced smile firmly in place, as she bypassed looking over any more bills and grabbed the new issue of Cosmopolitan instead. She began flipping through it while continuing to listen as Charlie made his case for why he didn't necessarily not like Riley. It was then that a postcard adorned with a black and white photo of the Hollywood sign fluttered onto the counter from within its pages.

Bella grabbed at it with a curious look set upon her face. When she turned it over, her breath caught in her throat and Charlie's voice faded into a distant murmur.

B-

I'm sorry. It means nothing to you, but it's something I had to tell you. Also, know that when I made the decision I did, I was blinded, young and made the wrong move. I know that now. Heard about that national campaign you landed for your firm. Congratulations. Wherever you go, whatever you do and whomever you are with I hope that you are able to be truly happy. Good luck.

-J

Bella didn't know how to feel about the sudden blast from her past. So she just continued to stare at the scratchy scrawl and wonder until she realized her father was repeatedly asking her if she was still there, again. "Yeah, Dad. I'm here, sorry. I guess I'm really distracted today…would you mind if we ended this phone call early? I just remembered there was something I had to do."

What she had to do was call Rose. It was time she asked about what was really going on back in Forks beyond the usual pleasantries. She had a feeling it was something big. She just wasn't sure what it was or why it would have prompted James of all people to send her such a cryptic note. It almost had sounded like he was saying goodbye. Was he? Why?

The wind and rain whipped at her car as she sped through the quiet wooded streets of her hometown. She had had enough of this small town to last her a decade. She needed to get out of there as quickly as she could get her car to pick up some decent speed. Thankfully, Charlie had understood and saw her off after the service with a promise that she would call him when she made it back to her apartment in Seattle.

Rose and Em wouldn't have let her go so easily if they had been around. Luckily, Bella had timed her departure for when they would both be working and so she hadn't had to deal with their pitying, angry and disapproving looks. Although, Bella was sure she'd be getting an angry voicemail telling her what a coward she was as soon as Rosalie had realized Bella had hightailed it out of town so quickly.

Two miles. Two miles and she was pulling her car over haphazardly on the side of one of the road's that led out of town. Shit. There was no way she could go back to Seattle right now. Honestly, Bella had come to Forks for more than just James' funeral. James and Jessica's lives weren't the only ones falling apart at the seams. Her picturesque Seattle existence wasn't as flawless as she would have everyone believe it to be. Her life was nearly as Photoshopped as some of the advertising accounts she worked on at her firm.

She and Riley had left things on uncertain terms and she couldn't even begin to attempt to sort through that mess at the moment. Plus, her boss, Aro, was putting enormous pressure on her to take the promotion he had offered her at work, but it would mean transferring to the New York offices. She had no idea if that was a move she was ready to make. If Bella went back she felt like she would end up suffocating under the weight of all the potential decision-making she had to do. Just trying to think through all the things she had run away from made it difficult to breathe. Breathe in. Breathe out.

This was not the time for an anxiety attack. Yet, her nerves had gotten the best of her and somehow she ended up hanging out of the side of her car dry heaving and gagging on air. Tears streamed down her face and into the dirt on the ground below, forming a small muddy puddle. The fact that the rain had temporarily turned to light mist didn't register with her. Not that it mattered anyway. Bella's tears more than made up for the lack of rain.

However many minutes later Bella found the strength to rein her breathing in just in time for it to start down pouring again. She swiftly pulled herself back into the confines of her car. Bella grabbed a tissue from her bag and swiped at her face and silently hoped she didn't look like a puffy eyed zombie thanks to her runny makeup.

It was then that the glint and sparkle of her engagement ring caught her eye once the tissue wiped away the tears obscuring her vision. She had no idea what even possessed her to bring it let alone dare to wear it. It was the stupid rock at the root of all her current problems with Riley and there she was wearing it on her finger like some kind of hypocritical moron. With an angry tug she yanked it off her finger and tossed it to the floor by the passenger seat. Her tears started flowing just as the thunder started rumbling again.

Two Days Earlier

Outside, the hum of a bustling Seattle kept Bella company as she whirled around her bedroom in a desperate rush until a little velvet box landed with a soft thud on the wooden floor. She continued to pull her clothes out of her drawer and place them in her suitcase for a few seconds more before sighing and peering down at the seemingly innocuous object. Bella glared at it for a beat before swooping it up and into her grasp. She just stared at it. Time seemed to pass unnoticed as she contemplated the ring box and its contents. Suddenly though, her trance was broken as the front door opened and shut. "Bella? Bella! I'm home!"

Damn it. Looking over at the alarm clock sitting on her side table she realized twenty minutes had gone by while she was off in her own little world. Riley wasn't supposed to find her still packing when he got home. She meant to be on the road and gone by then. The only thing he was supposed to find was…the letter she had left in the kitchen, which he was now probably reading. Great. Splendid. Once again, that ridiculous ring had ruined everything.

Her letter was meant to be her temporary explanation. If he found her still here, he would expect her to elaborate on her little jailbreak, which Bella did not want to do under any circumstances. With her suitcase zipped up and in hand she made it just beyond the bed before Riley appeared in the doorway.

He held up the note. "What the hell is this, Bell?" Bella stood silent. She had no idea how to explain this, yet. "Bella! Are you kidding me? Have you gone insane? Were you really just going to take off for God knows how long and think I'd be okay with it?"

"No. But you were going to have to be," she mumbled while avoiding eye contact.

Riley chuckled mirthlessly and ripped the note in two, flinging the pages onto the bedspread. "You're really a piece of work, let me tell you! We've been together for a year and a half, friends for three years before that, practically engaged, damn it, and it still amazes me how reckless you are when it comes to my feelings and this relationship. I love you, Bella, and it's like you don't even care!"

Her eyes shot up to meet his in anger. Dropping her bag to the floor she yelled back, "I do too care, Ry! If anything I care too much and I'm trying to protect you from my personal implosion. The only way to do that is for me to get some space from all of this."

"Really? Could have fooled me! Then again, you're right on with the self-implosion there, sweetheart! Ever since I proposed you've done everything in your power to push me even further away than before!"

"Sure, lay all the blame on me…" Bella accused back. "Your record isn't spotless either! All you do is hassle me about this marriage thing. You did it even before you actually handed me the ring," she gritted out. "A year of talking about it every other damn second, then you propose and I don't give you the exact answer you expected to hear, so you just won't let me hear the end of it. Why is it so necessary to get married? We were doing just fine. Is it absolutely necessary to get some oversized bauble on my finger?"

It wasn't the first time they had debated these same views on the marriage issue. Riley rubbed his temple in exasperation. It reminded her of a similar tic James used to do when he was stressed. A lot of things about Riley reminded her of James. "Excuse me for wanting to marry you! I want a life with you. For normal couples that includes marriage and kids and all the other things that come along with commitment! So yes, the oversized bauble is necessary if we ever want to see this go anyplace."

"Well Riley, that's where we differ because I see us being perfectly happy without some useless ceremony that's sole purpose is to show off how much we love each other to everyone else. I don't need to prove that to anyone," Bella emphasized her argument by poking him in the chest and getting in his face before turning and picking up her bag to leave.

She made it to the hallway when he spoke again in a soft pleading voice. "Except me, Bell. You need to prove it to me. I love you, okay? I. Love. You. So that's why I'm giving you this choice. Pick me. Choose to marry me. Or lose me for good."

She felt her eyes prick with unshed tears as the surprise and shock of his statement washed over her. "You're giving me an ultimatum?"

"If you want to call it that, yeah. It's make or break time, babe." The hopeful smile on his face hit her right in the heart. It physically hurt to look at him.

"Do I have to decide right this minute?"

"No. But I want an answer by the end of the week. Bearable pain now or torture later, I think it's better to figure this out sooner rather than later."

Bella nodded and turned to continue out of the apartment.

"Where are you going?" he asked her in confusion.

"I'm still leaving for a while…" He didn't need to know she also intended to take that time to attend her high school boyfriend's funeral, too. "We need space. I'll call you?"

Riley sighed and for a second it looked like he would argue with her but instead he fixed his gaze on the floorboards and nodded. "Okay. Yeah. Maybe you should." Then his eyes jumped up to meet Bella's. His gaze was intense. "Bell, I'm dead serious. I want an answer by the end of the week."

"I know," she whispered.

Fifteen minutes after her breakdown in the car, Bella found herself parked in front of the Forks Diner. As she sat staring at the building through her windshield, with water running down it like a fountain, she felt as if she were really submerged underwater. It was an oddly appropriate metaphor for her life at the moment. Bella felt like she was drowning in the indecision and fear surrounding her. She needed to make a choice soon if she wanted any hope of surviving. Then again, it wasn't the choice she didn't know if she could survive but the outcomes. In truth, she was afraid of choosing wrong and failing. There was what she wanted and what she should choose so that she wouldn't get her trust and hopes trampled on again. She didn't want to make a decision she would regret.

Lightning lit up the sky outside and everything on the street was brightly illuminated for a fraction of a second. Bella let out a sigh. Deep down, she knew what her choice was. To be perfectly honest, she had probably known this was how it was going to end up all long. Riley was James 2.0. He was James in almost every sense, except he was a fancy ad man in an even fancier suit and his name was Riley, not James. And just as she needed to let go of James 1.0 she needed to let go of his successor. James, in any form, wasn't her 'meant to be'.

She had been selfish to lead someone along just because it made her feel like she hadn't completely lost the one guy who had defined her existence for so long. It was because she was so terrified of discovering who she was beyond him. Bella never intended to marry him. She should have never said yes to that first date he had begged her for or any of the steps that had come after it. It had only been the motions she realized. Her heart had never truly been in it. She wasn't even sure she knew how to be so completely invested in such a relationship.

In any case, it was why she had been so obstinate about accepting the proposal in the first place. Her subconscious knew what the rest of her was constantly denying. They had been living on borrowed time. All so that she could stop the inevitable that she feared so much. Things were going to be tough. As easy as it was for her to take on the higher-up's at her firm she wasn't sure how she could face her life with the same kind of bravery and defiance. But it was time for her to be on her own for a while. She needed to figure out who Bella was without the safety net that either version of James or Riley had presented.

In that moment, Bella had never felt more terrified and unsure of what her future held. It was this moment that trumped deceitful best friends and dead boyfriends. Her life was about to be totally overhauled. Yet, the first thing she wanted to do? Have some coffee, watch the rain and pretend life was different for a little while longer. After that, she would head back to Charlie's and face the truth including the wrath that was Rose.

As Bella turned off the engine to go inside she glanced at the ring still lying on the floor. It really was a pretty ring. Before she knew what she was doing; Bella had picked up the ring and slipped it back on her finger. She could pretend for just a little while longer.

Bella sat in the corner of the diner watching the rain stream down on her silver Prius, which was parked directly below the window her table looked out from. She glanced down at her clothes and brushed the invisible lint off of it. Her dress reminded her of why she was in Forks in the first place. James. He had been the catalyst. He was the reason why she was wearing the black dress that normally sat in the back of her closet. She had only worn it one other time in the seven years she had owned it. Her Gran's funeral.

She looked around at the mostly empty diner and realized that in the eight and a half years since she had moved away for school, nothing had changed. Everything was exactly the same as it had been throughout her entire childhood. The Formica tabletops with the silver edges and the shiny red booth lining had all remained intact. Angela Webber, Reverend Webber's daughter, had remained the same as well.

As she came over to silently refill her coffee cup Bella realized how she still looked like she did when they graduated high school: long brown hair, fashionable yet sensible black rimmed glasses and an unassuming smile. Bella smiled gratefully at Angela's retreating form. She had been one of the few not to bother her with pointless platitudes about how sorry she was or offer to listen if she wanted to talk. She didn't want to talk. She simply wanted to sit in her corner, have some coffee and then go hide out at her dad's until she figured out her life once and for all.

As her gaze turned back outside, the rain grew heavier and the sky became darker. Now, she had to squint to make out the outline of the post office on the other side of the street. The bell attached to the door tingled merrily as someone stepped inside. She wondered who the hell would be showing up here now. Wasn't everyone at the Tracker's house mourning the loss of the town's golden boy? The person pushed down the large hood on their black raincoat as they scanned the diner. Crap.

Of course, as one of two customers in the place Bella stood out. She was the Technicolor figure that had been cut and pasted into a sepia tinged photo of her past. Nothing about her truly fit into this town anymore. Her hair was highlighted and cut in the "It" style of the moment. Her heels and purse screamed overpriced. And her eyes didn't glow with the insta-trust they used to have. Now, Bella regarded everything with an initial cautious glare before proceeding. She was surprised that she had been able to remain as incognito as long as she had.

"Bella?" Jessica asked.

"Uh-Hey…" Bella replied back with a half-hearted wave.

"I thought that was you at the funeral, but I wasn't sure. Hell, I thought I was going stir-crazy and imagining things. But here you are!" Jessica explained as she approached Bella's table. "Can I?" she asked referring to the other seat.

Bella just shrugged and avoided eye-contact before mumbling, "Whatever. It's a free country." Jessica's smile faltered a little at the lukewarm response but she tentatively took a set across from her anyway.

Bella went back to staring out the window. The rain had let up a bit and she could watch the rain gush down the street and sidewalk towards the street grates. Meanwhile, Jessica cleared her throat after a few silent moments. Bella internally sighed before turning and giving her a quick sharp glance. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at the house?"

Jessica shrugged, "I was. But I needed to get out for a while and get some air. I ended up here. Why aren't you there?"

That question made Bella bark out a bitter laugh. "Are you kidding me?" She neglected to vocalize the rest of her thought which included the statement: 'I wouldn't voluntarily step foot in your home if you paid me a million dollars, you bitch.' It was only fair. It was a day for mourning and all and she was feeling slightly more generous than usual.

"Oh. It really was such a tragedy. I guess everyone needs to get through this in their own individual way," was Jessica's reply.

'Tragedy, my ass," thought Bella in reply. Twenty-six years old, diagnosed with terminal cancer, drops dead within six months of diagnosis, all the while his faithful wife and high school sweetheart was screwing the neighbor down the street. It wasn't a tragedy. It was life being a complete and total bitch. She may have still had issues with the guy and what he did to her, but no one deserved the crappy karma life had dealt him.

Bella took to drumming her fingers along the edge of her chipped coffee mug to fill the tense silence. Her engagement ring must have glinted off and reflected the dim light of the lamp hanging from above the table. Jessica's eyes widened.

"You're married?" Jessica asked Bella with a frown.

"Huh?" Bella wondered.

"You've got a ring. When did you get married? I never heard anything about it…" she explained and almost managed to look hurt.

Bella glanced down at the hypocritical piece of jewelry on her hand. The lie slipped out easily as she told Jessica, "Oh. No. Not yet, but soon. I'm engaged," she corrected.

"Oh. When did that happen? No one told me."

Bella hesitated for just a moment with her answer. 'Come on, Jess,' she thought. 'We haven't been best friends in years. Not since…-You did too much damage on multiple occasions, and that last time being the worst, for it to ever be the same. We're just not supposed to share this stuff anymore.'

Yet, Bella answered her anyway, "The end of last summer, around my birthday."

"That's nice."

"Yep."

"When's the wedding?"

Another lie slipped easily from her mouth, "Two months from now, but it's only for friends and family." And she thinks, 'Plus, you stopped being my friend a long time ago. Some of the things you did, in hindsight, make me wonder if you ever were my friend at all. You just helped me see the situation for what it was when you and my boyfriend decided you were meant for each other and left me in the dust.'

"Oh."

The rain started to let up outside. With a quick glance at the silver watch Aro's wife had gifted her with, as a Christmas gift, she reached into her purse to pull out some cash to cover her bill before getting up to leave. Yet, she turned around to look at Jessica one more time. Once upon a time she had aspired to be like the tiny curly haired effervescent girl.

"Hey, Jess? Was it worth it? Are you happy with the way things turned out?" she asks.

Jessica sighed and responded, "Regardless of how I respond I'll still look like a bitch and an idiot."

"Good."

Bella turned to leave again but Jessica called her back. "You know, don't you? How?"

"It's a small town. People talk. My dad likes to send me detailed e-mails. Rose and Em hear things, too. Do the math." This time, Bella made it out of the diner and to her car.

Then, she followed the main road into the neighborhood, driving past the buildings and remnants of time long gone. She wondered if that had been some divine form of closure. Maybe it was about time. It made her feel slightly better about facing what lay ahead.

Later that night, Bella sat in the middle of her childhood bedroom with her finger hovering over the call button on her cell phone. Riley's contact was pulled up on screen.

After a quiet dinner with her family and a long talk with her best friend, Bella had a plan in place to straighten out her life. She couldn't live in this limbo anymore. The first step? Letting go of the past. Jessica had inadvertently helped her with part one of that earlier in the day. Her second step had been easy enough, too. Bella had only minutes before finished up a call with Aro. She hadn't gone into all the gory details but after pleading her case and explaining how burnt out she felt they had agreed a temporary leave would be best. He had been disappointed but had given her his blessing in the hopes she would take her new free time to really think over her future within the company.

Her career aspects though, would have to be put on hold for just a while longer though. There was another call she needed to make if she had any hope of completely starting over the right way.

She hit send.

When Bella heard the click of Riley picking up on the other end, she breathed out a deep breath. "I have your answer."

A/N: Me again! So, what did you think? I hope it was all good things! Here's some background for you about this story. It was an original story I'd written for a creative writing class in college and recently stumbled over again. However, even back then, I always thought it would make a good twi- fic, too. Like I said at the beginning, I've been lurking in the Twi-fandom for a good long time and something just told me it was time to put myself out there. Therefore, I figured it was time to give it a try. This would be a potential first chapter of a multi-chapter story (hence why Edward is just a minor mention in this initial outing) I've outlined if you guys liked what you saw so far. Please be kind? :) Thanks for your time!