12 hours.

12 hours. That was all the time guaranteed to him. All the time he might have left with the pale brunette girl currently wrapped in his cold embrace. Edward Cullen cringed internally at the thought.

12 hours from now Bella Swan would be safely home at her father's house in Forks, Washington. What if she told him that she didn't want him back? That he had hurt her too deeply or that she had found someone new?

He held her tighter against his chest.

In 12 hours everything could be different again.

Edward dreaded the possibility. He knew now that he was not able to leave her again.

He had known it since the very moment when, 12 hours earlier, in a shadowy Italian alleyway he had accepted that neither of them was actually dead.

He had been given the second chance he had wished and prayed for and he didn't intend to waste it. For the moment though, they were stuck on an international flight and Bella seemed happy enough to be held in his arms. Edward closed his eyes and inhaled her freesia scent, a scent he had missed during the long months he had been gone despite the burn it brought to his throat.

Although it was the perfect time, he didn't want to talk now. He just wanted to savor her prescence and the time he had with her. He trailed his fingers across her soft skin, tracing the contours of her beloved face again and again.

Perhaps by remaining silent now he could even buy himself a few more hours in her presence later. She would have to allow him to explain wouldn't she? Give him a chance to have the answers he needed? Needed but didn't really want. Could she forgive him, love him again?

Edward desperately wanted to know but at the same time he didn't. At least for now he had a hope that she would take him back. It was a small hope but better than knowing for sure he had lost her forever.

Unable to stop himself, he kissed Bella's hair, her wrists and her forehead. She flinched minutely at each contact. That worried Edward enough to keep his lips from the place they most longed to be; pressed against hers. What if her reaction was a sign that she had moved on as he had meant for her to?

He knew that he would beg on his knees for Bella to take him back if need be. Even if she didn't, or couldn't, he would never leave her again. If she sent him away he would disappear from her life again as she wished, but he would always be there, out of her human sight, watching over her from the shadows.

He would know soon enough, but for now he had 12 hours.

AN: So this came to me the other night when I was up late again and realized I had only 12 hours before I was supposed to be somewhere and hadn't even been to sleep yet.

So it's a bit of randomness, as always review and let me know what you think.