Disclaimer: I do not own either Twilight or the Covenant. They are the property of their respective creators. I am simply playing with them for fun. It is my take on what might have happened during N.M. and afterward if maybe Bella had given her heart to and made plans with someone else before Edward.

[A/n: This story will go back and forth from the past to the present. Flashbacks will be in Italics.]

Isabella Swan was fast asleep in her bedroom in the sleepy, little town of Forks, Washington. She had enjoyed a wonderful 18th birthday celebration with the Cullen family. The problem only came later when as usual Edward seemed to make more of an incident that occurred than she did. She knew and understood the risks and chooses to be a part of their lives willing. This was something Edward still could not seem to accept. Then again there were a number of things about her that he could not seem to accept.

Another thing that he could not seem to accept about her was that she would not rely on him to take care of her and pay for things all of the time. It had really driven him off of the walls when she had refused to let him get her a new car as a birthday gift. It hadn't helped his case any that he insisted that it would not be just any car rather it had to be a brand new Audi. That was a little over the top in Bella's point of view.

There were other things too like his eye rolling at the fact that she had gotten a job at Newton's. He would insist that he was capable to taking care of everything. In fact if it wouldn't give away too much he would offer that Charlie could retire early and pay off the house. Over the last few weeks these things had begun to bother her more than they once did. Then tonight the incident with Jasper had occurred. After that Edward had been stiff and remote. The only kiss he gave her after that was as he was trying to drop her off. She thought about all of this as she lay in bed.

Edward lay still on the bed beside his beloved Bella. Tonight he could afford no mistakes. Edward Cullen was on alert and was slowly building his resolve for what he must do. Tonight had shown him just how foolish he had been to bring Bella into his world. He also knew that Bella was far different from what a lady was supposed to be back in his time. It was hard for him to handle her stubbornness and independence as much as it drew him to her. Then tonight at the party when her very life had been endangered it had shown him wrong. Endangered not by some normal human accident, Victoria or any number of enemies, but his family he had realized that he had to let her go.

Once he could hear the sleep talking he would know he was safe to begin work on his plan. He would place the necessary things in plain sight for Bella to see once she had left for school. The necessary things were several items that she had mentioned in her sleep that he had never found in his visits to her room. He hoped that these items might help her move on with her life and refocus once he and his family were gone.

Edward shuttered at the memory of what one of the items was "No you can't take that away from me. Please, you can take my lunch money but not my necklace. It is our hearts. It's a promise and it was given to me by my friend. I have to keep my half of the necklace." Edward had seen such necklaces before and knew that to Bella such a thing would have great meaning if she had accepted such a necklace." The other item was a letter. "I can't find Tyler's letter Mom where is his letter?" He knew it was not the same Tyler that attended Forks High School and she mumbled this in her sleep more often than he liked. He'd never voiced complain about this since he did not know the circumstance nor who this guy was. He'd contented himself with the fact that she loved him and had chosen to be with him. He knew from his own interrogation of Bella and the thoughts of others that Bella had never had a boyfriend before. So, he did not know what to make of it. That was until tonight happened. He could not content himself with that knowledge and place her at risk. That is not when he knew that there might be someone else who could make her happier.

Edward, shivered as some of the things that she had said in their fights came back to him.

One day they had been standing in the kitchen while Bella prepared to go to work at Newton's and gotten into it again over her insistence that she work. "Bella you don't have to work. That is an excuse. I love you and I want to take care of you. You don't need to worry about money. Charlie and Renee don't need to worry about money even if they'd want to accept my help."

At that Bella had grabbed her keys and left the room yelling, "You really don't get it. I don't want to be dependent on you. I don't want to be dependent on anyone. I won't be kept like your mistress. I want to be an equal. I want to see and do things. Most men would be happy that I don't want to content myself with spending their money."

Another occasion had occurred when he had offered to do the homework so that they could finish up quicker and go for a run before the evening was out. They had been sitting on her bed with her French book in front of her. As soon the offer to finish the homework for her left his lips. Bella grabbed her book and moved.

"The plan has always been for me to work hard and get a scholarship to Harvard and join Tyler there. I want to do well on my own. I want to get a scholarship and have that sense of achievement when I go on to college. I want to be able to actually handle to coursework that I choose to take and have no guilt."

That had been the first time that he suspected that there had ever been someone else. He knew that he had to leave and how to go about it. This planned and ready to be acted on Edward left at dawn and would not return until he knew Bella had left for school.

Bella Swan woke up to her alarm at 6 o'clock in the morning. She swiftly saw that Edward had left most likely to change and get himself and his siblings to school. Bella got herself ready and got into her ancient Chevy. The day passed by slowly with no sign of either Edward of his siblings at school. This confused Bella and she was relieved when finally the last bell of the day rang.

Upon arriving at Charlie's Bella saw Edward was waiting for her. As soon as she approached he asked, "Go for a walk with me?" Bella followed unsure of what else to do. She knew what was coming even if she did not want to admit it to herself. "We're leaving Bella." All that Bella could do and in the face of such a matter of fact statement was nod. At this he continued, "You can't come with us. You're under age and honestly I don't want you too. You were a wonderful distraction for a while. Now you need to go on and live your life as you obviously want too." Bella collapsed and started to cry. She could not even begin to form a response and then he was gone. She tried for a while to follow him but knowing that it was futile she turned and headed back to Charlie's house.

Once Bella had made it to the house she slowly made her way in a daze and mess of tears up to her room. She went to lie down on her bed and heard the crinkling of paper as she went to lay down her head. It was a letter that had been left on her pillow. Looking at it closely she could not believe her eyes.

The letter read:

Bella,

I cannot tell you what it means to me to have met someone like you. You actually have dreams and goals and are willing to work hard for them. The sorts of times you made in the tournament last week are the sort of thing that most people on the teams here strive for. This is true of both boys and girls. I know that you do not want to leave your mother and feel that she needs you to take care of her. For that reason you don't want to join me here and you would want to pay your own way if you did. I can respect that more that I can even attempt to convey here.

I hope that you will agree to meet me again in the future and perhaps then we can try and build a relationship. Would you be willing to join me at Harvard when we get to college if you can get scholarships to go there?

Yours Faithfully,

Tyler

Bella had not seen that letter in quite a while after her obsession with Edward Cullen had begun last year she had not given it too much thought. She knew that she had made at least one dig knowingly considering this letter. That aside she had fully invested herself in her relationship with Edward once it had begun. However, she quickly began to see how futile it might be. She owed it to him though to give him something of herself and to keep his secret. After all he had saved her life on more than one occasion. However, Edward unlike Tyler did not appreciate or respect the fact that she wanted to earn her own way and be able to stand on her own feet as an equal. Her eyes began to let tears go again as she thought back her first time meeting Tyler back in Phoenix.

There was a meet going on at the University pool. This was the last meet of the year. It was for a national competition and Bella could not have been more excited. Unlike ballet she loved to swim. She was not graceful on the land and on stage but she was very much so in the water. It was almost like she was part fish. Bella had won the girls competition for her stroke. As she came up out of the pool she was met by a boy with curly brown hair and blue eyes that had swam and won earlier in the day. "Congratulations, I'm Tyler Simms and you are?" She had smiled at being not only congratulated but by a cute boy. "I'm Bella." She smiled as she also remembered the look on the face of the girl from Salem who had swam in her heat. Bella had won by at least a length. She and Tyler had hung out for the rest of the meet and he had left her that letter on her locker before his club left. Attached to the letter had been a necklace with a heart on it and it had been broken in half. On it was inscribed, "God keep watch between you and me while we are apart. May he protect you and keep you until you can come back to me."

Suddenly, Bella was very aware of what she been like these past few months. She must have appeared to have lost her senses. She could only be glad that she had insisted on keeping her grades up and had never taken anything from Edward. She was also suddenly glad that for all of Edwards's steel like boundaries nothing had happened. Those may be the reason that the promise was not broken. Up until her Edward Cullen obsession she had been writing back and forth with Tyler and had never questioned how he had found out her address. Now, with some humility Bella prepared herself to write once more.