Edward never left...
Story begins immediately after the party
"He's waiting for you." Edward knew before we even left the truck that Charlie was staring at the game, waiting for my return after the big party. The party I didn't want, the party I didn't need, the party that went horribly wrong. My hand moved down to the bandage on my arm, and I glanced at it. Edward looked at me anxiously, but said nothing. I took a deep breath as I tried to walk through the front door without tripping. "Hey Bells, how was the part....." Charlie stopped short when he caught a glimpse of my bandaged arm. He shook his head. "What happened this time?" "I fell. No big deal." I muttered. "It's been a long night, I'm going to bed." Charlie mumbled a half reply as his attention returned to the television. I hurried upstairs and was relieved to see that Edward had stayed, he waited for me. My relief disappeared the instant I saw his eyes. They were tense, anxious. "Edward..." He cut me off. "Bella, when I think about what could have happened tonight, when I think about the danger I put you in, that I have been putting in, that I will continue to put you in, how can you even look at me? How can you believe me when I tell you that I love you, after all of this, how?" I scowled at him. I was getting tired of this same story, over and over. Didn't he see how much we belonged together? That tonight was no big deal? Sure it seems bad, but nothing happened. Everything turned out fine. He turned his gaze to the window as I climbed up into his arms. "Edward, I love you. I know how much you love me; you have proven that to me over and over again." He snorted. "Tonight was not that bad..." He turned to me with a look of disbelief. "It was NOT that bad. Look, if I wasn't so clumsy and stupid, none of this would have happened. Anyone else would have opened that gift with no problem, but of course I had to go cut myself. Typical Bella. Well I am not going to let you put the blame on yourself, or anyone else besides me. From now on someone else can open my gifts....well until I don't have to worry about silly things like cutting myself anymore." I glanced at him carefully out of the corner of my eye; he was shaking his head with his eyes closed. "Let's not discuss this anymore tonight okay?" He eyes were pleading. "Okay." I happily agreed. The last thing I wanted to do was rehash the total disaster that was my birthday party. The thought of it made me cringe, the stupid paper cut I gave myself trying to open a gift, then Edward throwing himself into me when Jasper lost control, broken crystal, blood, and chaos as seven vampires tried to deal with the scent and sight of my blood. Sighing, I climbed into bed, and Edward slid in beside me. He began to hum my lullaby and I was asleep.
My eyes fluttered open slowly. I felt a jabbing pain in my arm, and began to remember the events of the previous night. My eyes flew open, suddenly terrified, I looked around and instant relief and joy flooded through me. Edward had stayed. He was smiling at me from the chair in the corner of the room. "Good morning." He said lovingly. I beamed at him. "You stayed." "Of course I stayed." He looked a little offended by my surprise. "It's just that....after last night...I-I...wasn't sure if..." "Bella," Edward was by my side in a flash. "I told you, I am not strong enough to stay away from you, even if that's what is best for you. I love you too much, you have my heart." I sighed happily and threw my arms around him. He chuckled softly and held me there for what seemed like forever. Then he slowly pulled away. "As much as I'd love to stay this way, you do have to get ready for school, that is if you intend to graduate this year?" I sighed and pulled myself up out of bed and grabbed my bag of bathroom stuff. "I won't be long." I grumbled. I could hear more chuckling as I closed the door behind me. School was more of the same. The same groupings at lunch, the same topics of discussion. I was anxious to get this day behind me. I was anxious to speak with Alice, Carlisle, Esme, Emmet, Rosalie and especially Jasper. I wanted to talk to them, reassure them, let them know that everything was okay. That what happened wasn't their fault, it was my fault and I didn't blame them at all. I needed to know they weren't worrying about this. Edward was still upset, but he promised me that he would try to let it go. I hoped desperately that he would, but I knew Edward too well, he was not in the habit of letting things go. Especially where my safety was concerned. I glanced at the clock, relieved to see that the bell was about to ring for the end of the day. Good. I needed to fix this mess.
He was waiting for me just outside my classroom. Smiling at me, trying to hide the tension I could still see in his eyes. I sighed, and took his hand. We walked to his car, he was so quiet. "Edward, I can't stand it!" I finally said, frustrated. He looked at me questioningly. "Oh please, don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. You are so quiet, and you are not fooling me at all, I can tell that you are still thinking about the.....incident. This is ridiculous. I'm fine. "I shoved my bandaged arm in his face. "You see? Fine! A little scrape and lost blood, nothing I haven't dealt with a hundred times before. And I don't want any nonsense about vampires and danger. Enough of this already!" I huffed and looked out the window. Too angry to face him, and too frustrated not to cry if I said anything else. I could feel Edward's eyes on me. "Would you please watch the road?" I muttered quietly. He sighed and reached his hand over to touch my face. I turned back to him, hoping I could keep the tears from spilling out over my cheeks. "You know, you are adorable when you are angry." He half smiled. I scowled at him. "Bella, please. I am trying, you know I am trying. But this is hard for me, seeing you like that, all I want to do is protect you. The problem is, I am the very thing that you need protecting from." He held up his hand as I opened my mouth to argue. "No, we aren't doing this. I know that you hate it when I talk like this, but it's how I feel, it's how it is. It doesn't change my love for you and it doesn't change things between us. I'm here, I'll always be here. That won't change. But you need to know that I have these feelings and it's going to be hard for me...it's...going to take time for me to try to move past them, to accept that the dangers are there and try to anticipate them more carefully. I don't want to argue about this Bella, so please let's just leave it be. "I sighed, and nodded. I didn't want to argue about this either. And I knew Edward was being honest, he was trying, though I wish it was a bit easier for him. I tried to imagine what it would be like for me if things were the other way around, and I understood his pain and frustration. I smiled at him and took his hand. He rubbed his thumb softly along my fingers. I wanted to reason with him, if he would only agree to my change, these silly problems would go away. There would be no danger of me hurting myself, no human complications. It would just be us, together forever. But I knew he wouldn't hear it. And now was not the time. So I resigned myself to a night of reassuring his family that I was fine. This would have to be a discussion for another day.....
I walked through the front door of the Cullen's home; it seemed strange that the last time I was here I was, once again, injured by my own clumsiness. The thought of the blood pouring down my arm made me wince, and I tried to catch myself before Edward noticed. I didn't. "Bella...we don't have to do this. We could go ---" I cut him off. "Edward I want to do this, I want them to understand that I don't blame them. "They know that Bella." Edward pressed his lips together in a thin line and sighed heavily. I looked at him questioningly, and then realized what had caused his sudden tension. Rosalie. Coming down the stairs, gliding smoothly and looking beautiful and perfect as always. My breath caught as I looked at her. Her beauty still amazed me. Her face was anything but friendly as she glared at me. In fact she looked so angry I had to turn my eyes away from her. I felt Edward stiffen. "Rosalie I don't appreciate that." I heard Edward mutter. "Well Edward, last night was a perfect example of why she doesn`t fit into this family. She doesn`t belong here. Just look how upset she has made everyone, look at the setback she has caused Jasper. We don`t need those kinds of problems. She`s more trouble than she`s worth." As she said the words, I could feel my stomach twisting on itself. Was I worth all this trouble? Edward growled at her. "I will NOT allow you to talk like that about Bella. She has done nothing wrong. Last night was an accident, and you did nothing but make things worse with your petty attitude!" "Edward, Rosalie, that's enough." I heard Carlisle's voice coming around the corner. "Rosalie, it's time for you to go. Emmet is waiting." I looked at Edward. "They're going hunting." He whispered. "Edward you need to calm down. I know Rosalie has upset you, but you know how she feels and you cannot let her upset you that way." He looked at me. "Bella, no one blames you for what happened last night. We all feel terrible about the way things happened. " His face was full of regret. And somewhere in the distance I heard Rosalie snort. We all ignored her. "I hope that we haven't made you feel unwelcome here. You know that you are always welcome and we hope that you will continue to feel comfortable spending time with us here." I couldn't believe he would think I blamed them for my stupidity. "Carlisle, I only want you to know that I don't blame any of you for what happened last night. It was my clumsiness, as usual, that caused things to go badly. I wanted to apologize---" He put his hand up. "No, Bella, this was not your fault and I won't have you blaming yourself. I know that Jasper feels terrible about what happened. He and Alice have decided to take some time on their own. A bit of a vacation. He just needed some time away." I felt terrible, but at the same time happy that they still wanted me to be a part of Edward's life. I nodded. There was nothing else I could say. I had caused this mess, had forced Jasper to take time away, had infuriated Rosalie. I felt like the more I tried to fix it, the worse I would make it. So I left it at that. Edward took too my hand and led me upstairs, I had a feeling he wanted to be away from last night's memories.
I stared up at Edward, watching his face. He was gazing out his bedroom window, thinking, I assumed. I didn't speak; I just watched him, his beautiful marble skin and golden eyes. I was lost in him when he pulled me from my daze. "Bella." He said softly as he slowly turned towards me. I didn't reply; my heart was pounding in my chest, as it did every time he looked into my eyes. He moved toward me and brushed his hand slowly down my face, then my arm, then landed his hand on my waist. He pulled me in for a gentle hug. In one swift, invisible motion he had me against the wall, smiling his crooked smile at me. My heart thudded louder, and of course, my face flushed. He smiled wider at that. He bent his face toward me and brushed his lips along my cheek, my neck and finally my lips. Gently at first, and then harder, deeper. I knotted my hands up in his hair and breathed his name. And he slowly pulled away. I was breathing hard, of course. And he was chuckling. If he continued to do this to me, I wasn't sure if I would survive long enough to convince him to change me. My heart would surely thud so hard it would explode one of these times. "I think it's time I got you home." I nodded, it was getting late anyway and Charlie would be waiting. He hugged me again, and clasping my hand, let me down the stairs and out to where my truck was waiting. I slid into the driver's seat, much to Edwards's frustration, he always wanted to drive. It didn't take long to get home, despite my truck's 55 mph limit. And when we were getting close to Charlie's, Edward's face tightened and his back stiffened. I immediately threw my eyes toward the house, and then I saw Billy Black and his son Jacob in the driveway talking to Charlie. I glanced at Edward, but he was already hopping out of the truck, while it was still moving. I was never going to get used to that. "I'll see you soon." He whispered as he kissed my cheek quickly, and then he was gone. I pulled into the driveway and Charlie smiled. "Hey Bells! Billy here was just inviting us over for dinner tomorrow night." Great, I thought. This should be interesting. "Oh, I---" Charlie interrupted my reply. "You want to come, right Bells?" What could I say? "Yeah, sure. Sounds great." I lied. Charlie nodded happily. "See, I told you she'd want to come. You and Jacob can hang out while Billy and I watch the game." I sighed. This felt like an attempt to get me away from Forks, and certain residents of the area. Billy was not very subtle. "Yeah, great." I said. Trying to sound enthusiastic. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he'd succeeded. I mumbled something about homework and said goodbye to the Blacks, I could see Jacob smiling as I walked past him. I headed inside and stomped my way up the stairs to my room. I waited for the sound of Billy's car leaving. Then I heard Charlie coming inside, and the inevitable sounds of the television being turned on. I ran over to my window and tried to see through the darkness. "You really are adorable when you're angry." I jumped and a small squeak escaped from my throat. "Edward!" He smiled at me. "They just want an excuse to get me away from you, even if it is for one night. Billy's probably going to corner me and start going on about my safety and what is and isn't Charlie's business. Ugh." Edward sighed. "Bella, you need to relax. There's nothing Billy can say to Charlie that will be of much consequence. Tough I hate the idea of you being away from me, where I can protect you." His face looked pained. "Please be careful Bella, try not to hurt yourself." He was completely serious as he looked at me with pleading eyes and an overly concerned expression. I scowled at him and glanced down at my bandaged arm. He looked away. "I hate not being able to be there and keep you safe." He whispered. I sighed. "Edward, it's just one night. I'll be fine." He turned to me and I was instantly pulled against his chest. He crushed his lips against mine, for a moment it was just the two of us. Edward and Bella, and no one else in the world. "I'm holding you to that." He whispered.