Disclaimer: All Twilight characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.

This story is not to be reproduced or translated without the expressed consent of the author.

Thank you, enjoy!

Together at last at Twilight Time

Chapter 1

Bella's POV

Sitting on the cooling sand, I admired the vast ocean before me, and the colors cast upon the evening sky. What was once a clear light blue has turned into a mosaic of vermilion, sapphire and indigo. It was twilight, my favorite time of the day. There was a slight chill in the air, a predictable occurrence once the sun had set and the ocean breeze remained a constant. I instinctively huddled into myself, my knees up to my chest, my arms crossed over my calves.

"A-ha…I should've known you'd be out here. I've been looking all over for you." Edward playfully kicked some sand onto my feet as he sat down next to me, mimicking my position.

"Sorry babe, I was just sitting here, admiring the view." My body leaned into his, my eyes still gazing up at the sky.

"I'm admiring the view as well."

I immediately blushed and looked over to smirk at Edward, but was met with his deep emerald eyes piercing into mine, filled with so much awe and affection. And passion…always passion. The breeze forced a few locks of his wild and perfectly disheveled bronze hair across his eye. I leisurely ran my hand through his thick mane, lifting it away from his striking features, eliciting a soft groan from his lips in the process.

"Do you like what you see?" A coy smile surfaced from my lips. I had to tease him.

"I love what I see, Bella." My smile swelled to the point where it hurt.

"I love what I see, too."

And with those simple declarations which we've said to each other countless upon countless times, he gently pushed me onto my back, his strong and lean body hovering over mine, and gave me a soft and lingering kiss. What started out as tender and slow suddenly became hasty and needy. He finally moved to kiss my neck, lightly nipping at it with his teeth and lips as his hand started to roam down my side and under the hem of my shirt. When Edward's fingers came in contact with my stomach I quietly gasped. I always felt the electricity whenever we touched, and it was always rewarded with the same reaction every time. His fingers slowly ascended my side, lightly tracing the curve under my breast.

"Edward," I breathed, my breaths becoming more pronounced and erratic.

"Bella," he whispered into my ear before he swirled his tongue around my earlobe and took it into his mouth.

I could feel his fingertips inching higher and higher, almost there at my hardened nipple. Almost there…

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Motherfuckkkker," I groaned into my pillow. I was startled awake by my blaring alarm clock. The worst sound in the entire world. With my eyes still shut, I blindly reached for the clock to slam my palm down and silence it, hoping that the next nine minutes would be enough time for me to drift back into dreamland and resume where Edward had left off. Sadly, it never happened. Instead, I remained in bed for those nine minutes, visualizing the dream, which was so vivid that I swore it for the real thing. However, this wasn't just any dream…this was a memory. A very distant memory from a time when there was an Edward and a Bella. A time when we were together and were madly in love.

Over the past seven years, I've had my fair share of Edward-related dreams. It was hard not to dream of the man who had been your entire life for four years. The best years of my life thus far. But ever since my dear friends, and fraternal twins, Rosalie and Jasper Hale, informed me that they had planned a two week vacation for their 30th birthdays which our "crew" from the University of Washington was to attend—no questions asked—my dreams of Edward occurred almost nightly. That was three months ago. And this morning, as I finally turned off my alarm at 5:09am, and crawled out of bed, I was faced with the notion that in roughly 18 hours I would come face to face with Edward Cullen.

In theory, Rosalie and Jasper's plan was brilliant. They wanted everyone to reunite at their parent's beach house on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach. This had been our annual Spring Break and summer vacation retreat since freshman year of college—a lot of fun and crazy memories were had and made at the Balboa House, as we all aptly named it. The last time we all stayed there as one big group was right after our graduation from UW in 2002. Now, eight years later, Rosalie and Jasper wanted to commemorate their births by going back in time, eager to relive our glory days for at least two weeks, perhaps with the same wild and reckless abandon. Since all twelve of us thankfully ended up walking the straight and narrow after college, all having hectic yet rewarding careers, there was no time like the present to take a vacation from reality and finally kick back and let loose. We all deserved it.

However, with the brilliant plan in place, I knew seeing Edward again was highly inevitable. For one, Edward is Rosalie and Jasper's cousin. All three of them are very close. In fact, both sets of parents shared the Balboa House, in which the three had their own bedrooms. So for Edward to miss his cousins' momentous birthdays would be a very huge deal. I am fairly certain Rosalie would have threatened to cut off his manhood had he excused himself from the festivities.

The other reason is that Edward's own retreat is three houses down from the Balboa House. Rosalie mentioned that he had bought it six months ago, a small Christmas-slash-Birthday present to himself. He had always wanted that house, for as long as I've known him. He used to tell me that it would someday be ours.

"Just look at our beach house. Our very own Balboa House, baby. Someday, just you and me and our little family."

And now he finally owned it…our dream beach house. From what I heard, he spends what little free time he has at that house. So unless he's working during said birthday-slash-reunion-slash-vacation, he'll more than likely be three houses down from where I'll be staying.

I groggily walked over to my dresser and picked up my cell phone to text Rosalie.

"I'm up, Bitch. I'll be ready and waiting at 6am for your sweet ass. C U Soon!"

With that taken care of, I headed to the bathroom for a quick shower. As I was standing under the hot spray of water, my mind instantly wandered to my imminent encounter with my ex. What will he say? How will he act? Would a simple hug suffice? Kiss on the cheek? God, it's been four years since I've seen him. And even then it was awkward to say the least.

My mind shifted to the summer of 2006 at Angela Weber and Eric Yorkie's wedding. They were part of our UW crew and since we were all so close, they wanted both of us present for such a special celebration, even though everyone knew that our breakup was complicated and not entirely amicable. They figured it had been three years since we parted ways and we'd be able to be in the same room together and remain civil. Which was true; we were both adults. But seeing him with his new girlfriend, Charlotte, ignited all these feelings which I haven't had to suffer through in years. So being the adult that I was, I kept my thoughts to myself, acted like I didn't have a care in world, and remained in the arms of my then boyfriend, James. He knew who Edward was, but he also never knew the kind of hold Edward had on me. Even after three years of no contact. And now another four years since Angela and Eric's wedding. What kind of effect will he have on me when I finally see him after all this time?

As soon as my shower turned cold, I realized that I had stayed in there for longer than I expected. It was now 5:37am and I knew Rosalie and Jasper—along with Emmett McCarty and Alice Brandon, their respective fiancés and fellow UW crew members—would be at my doorstep at 6am sharp. I quickly got dressed, put my towel dried hair up in a messy bun, brushed my teeth and applied tinted moisturizer and lip gloss. We were going to be in a car for almost an entire day—makeup was hardly necessary. Thanking the heavens that I had already packed my suitcase the day before, I headed straight for my coffee maker. I made two strong cups from my Tassimo system and poured both into my large travel mug, making sure to add extra sugar and Coffeemate. As I waited for the coffee to cool, I power walked around the house, making sure every door and window was locked and every electronic appliance was turned off. As soon as I finished checking the stove, I heard a loud knock on the door. I opened the door to see a smiling Emmett in front of me.

"What did we tell ya, 6am on the dot! Are we good or what?"

"Good morning to you too, Em."

"Wow, Bells, I see you're all set to go. I'm impressed. Here, let me take your bag."

"Thanks Em." I handed him my bag and locked my front door, taking a deep breath as I walked the pathway to Jasper's Range Rover. This is it, Bella. No turning back now.

"Hey Bells, you ready to go?" Jasper gave me an excited smile from the driver's seat as I climbed into the backseat next to Alice and Rose.

"As ready as I'll ever be. Hey bitches!" Alice, Rose and I all gave each other quick pecks on the cheek as soon as I closed the door behind me.

"Morning, Bella. And how are we feeling this morning?" Alice gave me a curious look.

"I'm feeling okay. A little nervous, but okay."

Everyone was aware of the big giant elephant in the…car. They knew that Edward and I would soon have our second meeting in over seven years. After being inseparable for the four years before it.

"Everything will be fine, I promise. Everyone's going to be there and it'll be just like old times…but without the drama. Plus, both of you are single so there won't be any awkwardness of having a 'plus one' there," Rosalie stated, hoping that all would go well and according to plan.

"I know, but just because we are both single does not mean that it won't be awkward. And it definitely won't be like old times for us, we're not gonna start making out as soon as we see each other. It's been so long, we've probably both changed so much."

"Well I didn't think you guys would automatically hook up or anything. But maybe you guys could finally talk about everything without any…distractions. It's been what, seven years and you've only spoken to him once at the wedding and that was a brief hello at best? I'm sure you guys have a lot more to say than that. This could be your chance to finally clear the air."

And there it was, Deep Thoughts by Rosalie Hale. Leave it up to her to start her "How to Fix Bella and Edward's Relationship" sermon at 6am during an 18 hour car ride. Oh God, what have I subjected myself to? I'm swimming with four hungry sharks here! But however horrible the prospect of having to hear four opinions about my and Edward's relationship—or lack thereof—I knew they were all right.

To all of our friends we were once deemed the perfect couple, the ones voted most likely to succeed, the ones who would undoubtedly get married first. After our four years of college those assumptions seemed to hold true. But after graduation, when Edward moved to California for medical school and I stayed behind in Seattle for my Masters, reality started to chip away at our perfect little world. I had never been more destabilized both mentally and emotionally in my entire life than that one year of being in a long distance relationship with Edward. That one year alone had done enough damage to trigger our own demise.

I became envious of the fact that he was able to start fresh in a new city, in a new state, gaining freedom and independence away from all of our friends and family. I was jealous of his new friendships with people who I didn't know or could interact with, especially with other women. And, mostly I was plagued with feelings of self doubt, wondering if he truly loved me when he decided to leave me in Seattle and move over a thousand miles away. I never mentioned these destructive thoughts, since he hardly had anything negative to say about his experience in California. Instead, my issues were left unresolved, just swept under the proverbial carpet.

But there were times when he felt the need to remind me that I was always on his mind and to focus on our future—our plans of getting married and starting a family as soon as he graduated. But because of my harboring uncertainty, I deluded myself into thinking that his words were insincere; after all, actions speak louder than words. He knew I'd be right here, waiting with open arms, and instead I felt like he was basically running away from us. With all the self doubt eating away at me, my subconscious took over to preserve whatever sanity I had left, and I involuntarily started to push him away.

After almost a year of being apart, we had reached a breaking point and I knew I had to end it. I would rather have been the one to leave before he left me. I would've never survived him ending us first. But the way he didn't put up a fight, the way he simply resigned himself to being demoted to friend status, it led me to presume he would have eventually left. After the break up, it took a few weeks for us to completely break free from each other. There was a period where we still called each other, more so out of habit, where we'd try to remain friendly, thinking we could pull off just being friends after being everything to each other for so long.

How stupid were we?

Those calls very often led to petty fights. After several petty fights, I realized the mutual love and respect we once had for one another had turned into anger and frustration. And then one day, he didn't call. I never called him to find out why. That day turned into two, three, four. It was as if we had some sort of emotional standoff—neither one wanting to be the one to falter first, at the mercy of the other. Days turned into weeks, months, years. Our emotional standoff effectively became a complete emotional shutdown. It was during that time, that I ultimately grieved the death of us.

Aside from the one time we saw each other at Angela and Eric's wedding, conversations involving Edward's whereabouts were few and far between. Since I was still very close with everyone we were associated with—and as was he—I knew both of us would have a fair idea of what each was up to. He had already completed his first year of medical school at UCLA when we ended things. I knew he graduated right before the wedding and soon found out he was dating Charlotte, a fellow med school graduate. A year later they broke up as he was starting his 2nd year of residency as a cardiologist. Now he is one of the most prominent and promising cardiologists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, juggling a grueling work schedule which effectively kept him away from Seattle.

I also knew he had remained single since dating Charlotte, warranting him the title of most eligible bachelor at the hospital. I would hear some of his dating horror stories through the grapevine and how he never offered any woman a second date. Japser claimed that his schedule did not afford him the luxury of having a woman by his side. Rosalie claimed that he just never found a woman who could ever measure up to me. That sly devil woman, always holding out hope for the fairytale ending—of Bella and Edward living happily ever after. And as much as I hated to admit it, I always wanted Rosalie to be right. If only we lived in a perfect world.

Fortunately the topics over the next several hours in the car were rather light and random. Our effortless banter allowed the time to pass by quickly, which I was thankful for. Somewhere along the line, I ended up getting slightly carsick. Perfect time to pop my Dramamine. I took my motion sickness pill, said goodnight to everyone and closed my eyes. Several hours later I awoke, realizing that I didn't dream of Edward. But then I remembered I never dreamt when I took Dramamine. Note to self: start taking Dramamine more often.

Noticing my awakened state, the guys decided to pull over at a rest stop so we could all stretch, use the bathrooms and get dinner for the road. We had roughly five more hours to go and at the rate we were driving we'd get there an hour early. Of course with Jasper and Emmett's driving skills—and their luck with never getting caught speeding—we'd definitely get there ahead of schedule. We quickly devoured our fast food in the car while Emmett drove the last leg of our trip. As the excitement of coming back to the Balboa House loomed over our heads, we couldn't help but reminisce about the good times we had all those years ago.

"Remember when we played 'dare or dare' after watching Jackass, and we dared Emmett to funnel Jack Daniels? Seriously, we were the dumbest kids ever!" Rosalie laughed as we all recalled that ridiculous and idiotic night.

"Well thank god there was only less than a quarter of the bottle left. Otherwise there would have been a hospital trip tacked onto that night. That shit was horrible…I'd never do that again, ever." Emmett cringed at the thought of his own stupidity.

"Sorry, but that night was hilarious. You stripped buck naked and ran straight towards the ocean, yelling 'Suck me, beautiful!' over and over again. And right before you got to the water you tripped and fell onto the sand. And instead of getting up, you started making sand angels, face down! Fucking priceless!" Jasper cackled, while everyone burst into fits of laughter.

"Whatever man, you had it easy. All you had to do was snort 2 lines of pepper. Fucking walk in the park!" Emmett retaliated back, defending his antics.

"Yeah, and I'm still sneezing and blowing out pepper to this day!"

At this point, all of us were in hysterics over the funnier memories we were sharing. It was nice to remember the good…and try to forget about the bad. I casually glanced out the window and noticed it was twilight. My favorite time of the day. I had remembered my dream from this morning, and this feeling of nostalgia overtook me. I found myself daydreaming about the Edward and Bella that once was.

They were brief little snippets, all snapshots of sorts—the first time he held my hand, walking to class together, smoking up in his room, dorm room parties, secret rendezvous in the piano practice rooms, unproductive study sessions, drunk dancing at the bars, seeing Seattle from the Needle, our first kiss, making sandcastles on our spring breaks, him teaching me how to surf, making love in his bedroom in Balboa, barbeques on the beach, sharing ice cream sundaes, skinny dipping in the ocean, chasing each other on Newport Pier, laying in bed and talking about nothing and everything…the day we declared our undying love for each other. They were all stolen memories from a past that no longer existed. I was abruptly broken out of my reverie when I overheard Rosalie speaking to someone on her cell phone.

"Alright. Yeah, we should be there in a few, by like 11. Okay. I'll call you when we get in. Of course, we should be up for a bit once we get there. Besides I want a celebratory toast before we all call it a night at least. Oooh, yay! Sounds good! 'Kay, see you soon, love you." Rosalie ended her call and quickly glanced over at me.

"So that was Edward." She spoke to all of us in general, but her eyes were still fixed on mine. "He'll be stopping by when we get there to say hi, help us get settled, whatnot. And he's bringing over champagne for a pre-bday toast!" She smiled back at me, all excited for the next two weeks. I couldn't help but smile back at her. It was going to be fun with all of us being together again…interesting, but certainly fun.

A nervous anticipation swept over me. Edward Cullen and Isabella Swan…coming back to the beginning. I knew this was our chance to talk, to finally deal with all of our questions that were left unanswered. To finally come to peace with what had happened between us and finally gain some closure. I was hoping against all hope that we'd be able to survive this historic occasion with our already damaged hearts still in tact. Or perhaps there was still a silver lining somewhere. Maybe it was somehow possible for us to mend our hearts together and have them irrevocably intertwined in the end.

Musical Muses:

Don't Panic – Coldplay

Breathe Me – Sia

Thanks again for reading. Any reviews are welcome and appreciated!