Come on, guys. Let's start reviewing! I want to hear what you guys have to say. Good, bad, anything. I don't care if it's one word. My first Twilight fanfic.

I own nothing - it all belongs to the amazing Stephenie Meyer.

BPOV

Where was Edward? I glanced around my room. It was the middle of the night. He wasn't out hunting. My heart would've remembered.

I'd just woken up from being blissfully asleep, and now he was gone. This wasn't a good sign. Had he been here when I'd fallen asleep? I tried to recall that piece of information through the hazy cloud in my brain.

"Edward?" I mumbled, still slightly groggy, but quickly waking up. He'd left me. Again.

My throat closed up, and I was having trouble breathing. The room started to spin from lack of oxygen. He'd left me. Edward had left. He was gone. Alice was gone. Esme wasn't here. They were all gone.

The only difference was that he hadn't stuck around to say goodbye this time. He'd left me without a word. I couldn't remember his face being any different, like it had the first time, but maybe he was just better at it this time around.

Sobs started wrenching themselves from deep in my chest. They seemed to start in my soul and pulse outward.

"Bella?"

I glanced up, startled. I hadn't woken Charlie, had I? If he saw me like this again... Well, it wouldn't be good.

But it was Edward. It wasn't just his voice this time. It was his angelic face, twisted in pain and confusion. His perfect body, coming closer to me at a human pace.

"Bella?" he asked again.

The hallucinations were already back? That was fast. I just pressed my lips together, shaking my head in anguish. How would I be able to explain this to Charlie?

"Bella, what's the matter?" he whispered anxiously.

He reached out hesitantly to place his icy hand on my arm. And the chill that went through me was all too familiar. Edward was here. He was really here.

I threw myself at him. He caught me easily. He rubbed his hands across my shoulders tenderly. "Bella, love, please say something," he begged.

He hadn't left me. "Where'd you go?" I whispered, trying to get my breathing back to normal, though that was difficult for an entirely different reason this time. His proximity was doing crazy things to my heartbeat.

"Emmett wouldn't leave me alone about wrestling. I thought I'd be back before you woke up. Are you all right? Did you hurt yourself?" he asked nervously, his eyes roaming over my body, making sure there wasn't any blood or swelling.

"No," I mumbled, blinking back more tears. The ones that had already glided down my cheeks I rubbed away.

"Bella, what happened?"

"I woke up, and you w-weren't th-there, and I -" I stopped because I didn't trust my voice anymore.

"Oh, Bella," he sighed sadly. "I'm sorry. I didn't think you were going to wake up. I was only gone for half an hour." He smiled apologetically at me. "I'm sorry for leaving you," he murmured.

"It's okay. You came back," I whispered.

"I'll never leave you again, Bella." He pulled me tightly against his freezing, rock-hard body. But though it was cold and hard, it had always seemed warm and soft to me. I was never uncomfortable lying against him. I never had been.

"It's okay because you won't ever have to in a few weeks."

His body went rigid underneath me. "Bella." The word was a warning.

"You promised. I'll be with you forever." Something abruptly scared me. What if he didn't want me for forever? "Well, unless you don't want me for forever," I mumbled dejectedly.

Edward sighed softly. "Bella, you know I want you to be with me forever."

"You do?" I whispered. The idea that this perfect, amazing creature wanted me for eternity was a little mind-blowing. You couldn't blame me for being a tad skeptical.

I felt him smile. "Of course I do, you silly, beautiful girl. You're my life. My existence. I need you - all of you - all the time - every day," he whispered, kissing my cheek and forehead between every word.

I stayed silent, taking that in. He really did want me, didn't he?

"Do you want to sleep again?"

"Will you stay with me?"

"Always," he answered.

I snuggled deeper into his arms, sighing softly, burying my face in his icy chest. He started to hum my lullaby, his angel's voice in my ear.

"I love you, Isabella Marie, with all my heart and soul, I truly do," he whispered before resuming my lullaby.