A/N: This is just a short one-shot, but I want to know what you guys think! Review, please!

Disclaimer: I checked, I am not Stephenie Meyer.

Chapter 4, Nature

Edward POV

I stared down at her sleeping form, debating with myself. Today we had decided to go hunting farther away – near Mt. Saint Helens this time – and as usual I kept putting my departure off till the last possible minute. Ever since I left her almost a year ago I would wait for as long as possible before hunting, and then for shorter periods of time. Although she usually was the one that would practically kick me out to go out and hunt, I knew it hurt her every minute that I was gone.

And so I waited as long as I could before I was leaving at 6 with Emmet and Jasper. 5:30, 5:45, 5:55, 5:59. I drank in her face one last time then gently set her down on her bed. Her brow immediately furrowed and she turned over as she always did when she would notice I had left. It took all of my strength of will not to pick her back up and just hold her, but I turned and quickly wrote her a note. Her day would be bad enough without me butI could at least try and make it a bit brighter.

I put it gently on her pillow, and then on impulse I bent down and kissed her softly on the cheek. Her face immediately softened and she smiled. As always when she smiled, it took my breath away how beautiful she was even when she was asleep. I suddenly heard Jasper say that they were going to leave without me. I sighed and then tore my gaze away from her, then jumped out of the window.

I landed running, and was off to where they were heading for. We were all going in my Volvo, and they had already left and were heading for the highway. I began to run faster, trying futilely notto think of her and focus on what we were going to do, but it didn't work. As I ran to catch up with them, I kept remembering the feel of her in my arms when I would hold her and run like this.

I finally caught up to them a little ways out of Forks, and I darted in through the passenger door that Emmet held open for me. I landed lightly in the front seat and shut the door quickly behind myself.

"What took you so long, Edward?" Emmet asked, punching me in the arm. I turned back to look at him and growled deep down. He stared back at me unperturbed. "You know what I think? I think you're slowing down because of her."

I glared at him balefully. "I'm going to get you for that." I promised grimly. Jasper just laughed, thinking about Alice.

We rode in silence the rest of the way to the mountain park. When we reached it, Jasper quickly parked and we all got out. We grabbed the camping gear that was our props and headed up the trail. We walked and ran in intervals depending on when humans were around and we made it quickly to the end of the trail.

There, we stepped off the trail and started running to the top of the mountain, racing. When we reached the top, we shed our gear and prepared to start hunting. Because we so close to humans, we were going to have to take more precautions and only have one of us hunt at a time, while the other two made sure we came in contact with no humans.

We had decided earlier to have Emmet go first and so Jasper and I stood off to one side as Emmet stood still and breathed deeply, letting his guard down and opening up to the feeling of the hunt. His head suddenly whipped around as he caught a scent. He raced away in to the trees to an unsuspecting bear. Jasper and I followed slightly behind him.

Suddenly I felt something change in Alice's thoughts. Although I couldn't hear all of her thoughts from so far away I could hear major changes in her thoughts because I was so used to listening to her thoughts. I froze as I heard her shouting.

In less than a second my phone was out and I was dialing her cell. She picked up on the first ring and immediately began talking.

"She's heading to La Push, Edward. It was a last minute decision and I'm not going to be able to catch her before she gets there." Alice told me, speaking quickly.

I wanted to start yelling at her or at least be angry, but Jasper was still close enough to me to keep me calm. "I'm coming back." I told her calmly and shut the phone before she could say anything else.

I was immediately running and it only took 5 minutes for me to reach the car again. As soon as I reached the car, I felt Jasper give up on trying to calm me, and as I got in the car he thought, Don't do anything you'll regret later.

I slammed the car into reverse and soon was back on the highway. I pushed the car faster and faster until I was going at 150 mph. I had to force myself to keep a hold of my strength and not crush the steering wheel in my anger.

All I could think was, How could she do this! I had told her it wasn't safe, yet she still persisted in going!

My thoughts just kept repeating themselves all through the drive. I didn't know where I was heading but as I came into Forks, I felt Alice coming up on me and I could hear what was going through her mind. It was me going to La Push and then mine and Bella's fate disappearing.

I swore violently. I knew that I couldn't do that, but I just wanted to get her out of there. I had no idea what was happening to her or if she was alright. I reached the line between our side and the werewolves and parked the car.

I sat staring at the marker between our lands, fuming. As I sat and waited I slowly cooled down and began to think rationally. I had known this would happen, she had been trying to get a hold of him since we had gotten back from Italy – it shouldn't have surprised me this much. But I guess what hurt me so much was that she was always trying so hard to go and see him or talk to him. Even when she was with me she would sometimesget this distant look in her eyes and even without reading her thoughts, I would know that she was thinking of him. I knew I was just jealous of their bond, but I was also afraid.

I was afraid that someday she would realize that she loved Jacob and she would leave me for him. The thought made me wince. I had seen images of how Bella was when I had left her, but truth be told, I had ended up being worse than her. I hadn't even been able to manage a normal life without her there with me. I was left trying to make it through even one minute at a time. I didn't want to go through that again.

I was suddenly aware of the sound of a distant rumble. I sat up straight in my seat and I turned the car on. There was no mistaking the deafening roar of Bella's truck. I sighed in relief as it finally came into view, but then my annoyance came back. I knew she would put off talking till the last possible moment and so I followed her as she went to Angela's.

As Bella parked in front of her house, I drove past carefully and around the corner. I parked there for a moment, debating on whether or not to stay here and listen to Angela's thoughts on the conversation or to go to Bella's house and wait for her there. I decided to go to her house and wait so I would be sure to have myself under control.

I quickly pulled away and raced to my house to park my car. I pulled in and was out running before anyone could come out and talk to me. I didn't' want to be talked to at the moment. I made it to her house in less than 5 minutes and jumped lithely into her room as usual.

There I sat down in the rocking chair in the corner of her room, and facing her alarm clock, waited for her to come back home.