A/N: Fluff, mostly. Takes place sometime between New Moon and Eclipse or during Eclipse, I suppose. Enjoy, read, and review :)

The Fight

~Bella~

While the rest of the Cullens had gone on a hunting trip, Edward had stayed behind with me. We (for once) had the entire house-more like mansion-to ourselves. Charlie thought I was spending the weekend here with Alice and that we were going shopping. The Cullens were good at lying. Their lives were built on lies.

"Bella." Edward seemed to be amusing himself simply by saying my name and listening the way it sounded.

"Edward." I mimicked him poorly.

He chuckled, tracing my cheek with his index finger. I leaned in close to him, for a kiss which he gave to me, just like he gave himself. My lips curved up into a smile against his and I pulled myself in closer. I knew what was coming-I should've expected it. His arms came up to push me away, ever so gently, as always. But I didn't want him to push me away. I fought against his arms, though I was no match for his strength.

"Bella." he said disapprovingly.

I frowned. "Edward. Please?" I asked quietly in the darkness.

He shook his head. "No, Bella, you know I can't."

I looked away from him, hurt.

"Can't or don't want to?" I asked, knowing that I was going too far, but I couldn't help myself. He was always pushing me away. Didn't he want me?

"Bella," he said my name for the fourth time, holding me close to his ice-cold chest "You know very well that that's not it."

I said nothing. I didn't want to give away the quivering that I knew would accompany my voice. A hot tear streaked down my face. It fell off my chin and landed on Edward's arm. Stupid tear.

I felt his cold hand caressing my cheek, comforting me. I didn't want to be comforted. I wanted to win. I knew I was being selfish, I knew I was being reckless, stupid, but I didn't care. I was tired of being denied.

"You're being unreasonable." he whispered quietly, trying to reason with me, but he only made me angry.

I wriggled out of his grip. I slid off the bed and walked towards the door, not saying a word. He was in front of the door blocking my way out before I'd made it two steps. I glared at him.

"Bella, love, where do you think you're going?"

"I don't know." I admitted. "La Push." I blurted out a second later, when it popped into my mind.

"There's no need to be upset, love."

"Yes, there is!" I screamed, tears finally starting to fall. "How come you think you can make any demand you want, like forcing me to marry you if I want you to be the one to change me? But when I make one little simple demand myself you-"

"One simple demand?" Edward was starting to lose his control, too. "Bella, I could kill you! Marrying me is certainly not going to kill you."

"Oh yeah? You know what I think? I think you don't even want me!" I shouted at him before I could stop myself. "We both know you're too good for me, so why don't you just go out and say it? Why don't you go visit Tanya since she likes you so much?"

He didn't say anything. He just stared at me, stunned. I moved forward to open the door, but he didn't stop me. He moved out of my way and let me pass. I stumbled down the hall and the stairs, blind through the darkness and my tears. Finally, I made it outside to my truck. I started it up and the engine roared noisily. I drove down the familiar road that led to the obscured Cullen house. I kept driving until I found myself at Jake's house.

By now it'd started to rain. I pulled up the hood on my jacket and walked up to the door of the house. I knocked on the door and three seconds later it was opened by Jacob. He grinned.

"Hey Bel-" he cut off when he saw how upset I was. "What's wrong?"

I shook my head as if to clear it.

"Edward and I had a fight."

He frowned as he let me in, though I knew he couldn't really be all that sad about it.

"You wanna talk about it?"

I shook my head. "No, but I'm not supposed to be home until tomorrow and I don't want to come up with fake excuses for Charlie. Could I stay here?" I asked hopefully.

"Of course, Bells. You're always welcome."

"Thanks." I smiled a tired and grateful smile at him.

I ended up sleeping on Jacob's couch, while he slept in the nearby armchair. The last thought I had before I fell asleep was: I wish Edward was here.

~Edward~

I stood in my "bed"room still stunned by Bella's stinging words. I wanted to go to her and make her feel better. She was always so irrational. Always saying that I was too good for her when she had it all backwards. Always thinking that I didn't want her when I couldn't imagine a world without her. Didn't she see that she was asking for death? What kind of a demand was that? I'd already agreed to sign her up for the list of the eternally damned. Wasn't that enough?

I wondered if she'd really gone to La Push. If so, that meant I would have no way of reaching her. I went to the window and jumped out, falling two stories to the ground. I ran at the too-fast speed that I usually took the time to enjoy the thrill of that pace. Not today. I had to find out if Bella had gone home or not.

~Bella~

When I woke, Jacob was no where in sight. Images of my vivid nightmare still flashed in my mind. It was the backwards version of our real fight. In the dream, he told me all the things that would make sense if he really said. The ones I didn't want to hear. He told me that he didn't love me, that he didn't want me, like he really had, months ago. Remembering everything made me want to start crying all over again, but I forced the tears back. I stood up and stretched. Jacob came down the stairs then, wearing a different pair of sweats. He grinned at me.

"Morning, Bells!"

"Hey, Jake." I said, returning the smile weakly.

He walked up to me, easily seeing through my attempt at cheerfulness.

"Bella, I can see how upset you are. What did the leech say this time? He didn't leave again, did he?"

I shook my head. "It wasn't him. It was me. I-I..." I trailed off.

"You can't keep taking the blame forever, you know."

"Jake cut that out! It really was my fault. I started arguing and he tried to calm me down and I just-I just-" I bit my lip, feeling awful for what I'd done. I felt a tear escape its prison and fall down my cheek. Stupid tears, always giving me away.

Jake pulled me into his arms which I accepted gratefully. I hugged him tight. He pulled back looking at me. He leaned down so that his tall head was level with mine. I knew exactly what he was thinking. I turned my head away.

"No, Jake." I said sternly. "Just because we had a fight doesn't mean that we're done."

He straightened back up, looking embarrassed.

"I just want you to be happy." he said quietly.

That little sentence almost broke my heart.

"I know, Jake. I know."

I stayed in his embrace a while longer, hating myself all the time for it. I didn't deserve Edward or Jacob, but somehow now I had them both. I wished that Jacob could find a girl that would be able to love him with her whole heart, the way I couldn't. I loved Jacob, but my heart already belonged to Edward, and it was much too late to take that back. I was too deeply in love. Having to chose between Edward and Jacob was the hardest thing I'd ever done and Jake just kept making it harder. Though I supposed that was really my fault. If I wanted to stop hurting Jake, the solution was to just stay away...but I couldn't.

I pulled away at last.

"Jake, I should get going. Charlie's expecting me home."

I turned to leave. That was just when I realized that I had no evidence that I had been "shopping." If I'd stayed with Edward last night, Alice would've returned by this morning and would've bought something for me to show to Charlie when I got home.

"Crap." I said quietly to myself.

Jacob made a noise behind me. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing." I said.

He walked me down to my truck and waved good-bye to me with a smile-his smile. I smiled back at my werewolf friend, even though I knew it was so unfair to do to him.

When I arrived at home, Charlie was gone for work. I breathed a sigh of relief. That solved that problem. I hung up my jacket and went to make myself a late breakfast of eggs. After washing the dishes, I went up to my bedroom and flopped down on my bed. I found myself bored and the only think to think about, the only thing I could think about was Edward and how much I wished I could take back the things I'd said.

I laid there for ten minutes. I heard the window quickly open and shut. I looked up and saw that Edward was sitting in the rocking chair. I looked up at him with sad eyes. He stared back with the same emotion. I stood and he was standing in front of me before I could blink.

"I'm sorry." he began and I could hear the pain in his voice.

I couldn't stand it one moment longer. I flung my arms around him and pressed my lips to his. I was so glad to be back in his arms, so glad that he wasn't mad. I let out a small sigh and lowered myself back to the ground. I stared at the floor.

"No, I'm sorry, Edward. It's my fault. I don't know what I was thinking."

He pulled my chin up and looked into my eyes.

"I really am sorry, though." he told me. "I know you think I can handle it, but I just keep thinking what if I slip. That's all it takes. One moment and it could be over. I won't risk your life over that. I won't." he said in earnest.

"I understand." I said. "But it's so frustrating."

"I know how you feel, love. I know you don't believe it but I do."

I smiled at him and he kissed me again.

"I love you." I said.

"I know." he replied with a grin, repeating the words I'd said over a year ago in that ballet studio in Phoenix.