There he was, standing behind me, in all his godly glory. I felt the blood rush to my face. "EDWARD!" I shrieked.
I don't know which of us moved first, but suddenly I was sobbing into his chest. He put his arms around me. I soaked his shirt through, sobs shaking my shoulders. He swept my legs out from under me, and carried me upstairs to my bed. At some point, I fell asleep.
I woke up in complete darkness. I looked over at my clock. Midnight. I'd slept until night, apparently. I thought about my dreams. The first one had seemed so real... I tried not to dwell on it, expecting the hole in my chest to rip open again. I tensed, expectant. Nothing happened. I rolled over, so I could look at the ceiling. It was dark, but I could just barely see it, the crack in the corner, the light in the middle. My vision adjusted to the darkness, and I could see in more detail. I closed my eyes, trying to go back to sleep. "Bella?" A quiet voice spoke from the edge of the room. What was dangerous about this? I was trying to sleep. "What? I'm not even doing anything." I mumbled. "Or is the roof going to fall in, and I'm being risky just laying here?" "What?" Much closer now. It almost sounded real...I sat bolt upright. "Edward?" I hissed. His image was right next to me, tantalizingly close. "Yes, love?" I shook my head. "Damn." "What?" "Nothing. I just thought you were real for a second. Go back away now." He stood over me, looking way too real. I had a good imagination, it seemed. "Why would I not be real?" He sounded amused. "You can't be here." Why was I explaining myself to a hallucination? "Why not?" I sat up, realizing that my subconscious was getting way out of line. "I'm just hallucinating again." "hallucinating 'again'?" Now he sounded concerned. My beautiful hallucination put his icy hand on my forehead. I jumped out of bed, staring at him. He couldn't be...real? A cloud shifted outside my window, and moonlight pooled on his face. I didn't even have time for a conscious thought before I threw my arms around his head and kissed him full on the lips.
When a man, thirsty and tired in the desert, stumbles upon water, he doesn't wait to see if he has permission to drink. He doesn't question the fact that it appeared. Instinct takes over. So when I realized that Edward was here, really here, I immediately put thinking on hold.
Edward responded with the same aching hunger that I was feeling, hugging me close to his chest. I could really believe that he'd loved me now, really believe that he might have felt some tiny part of the horror I'd felt when he'd left. Gently, though, and with an awful sadness, as if he couldn't believe he was doing it, he surfaced, pushing me to arms length. "Bella, what were you talking about when you said I was just another hallucination? And what did you mean about nothing being risky?" I sighed. This was going to take some explaining. "You're going to think I'm insane." Edward smiled. "I hear voices. Alice sees the future. We're both surrounded by vampires and werewolves, and I'm going to think you're insane?" I nodded. "yeah, you are." He snorted. "try me."
We sat down on the bed, and I started at the beginning. The zombie-state, hanging out with Jacob, the hallucinations, Laurent, the werewolves, Victoria, cliff diving. How I'd heard his voice when I was being dangerous, how I'd ridden a motorcycle. I tried to skim through the parts that would hurt him the most, and all the while he was stroking my hair. I rested my head against his chest. When I finished my story, Edward looked at me, with a heartbroken look on his face. "You were risking your life to hear my voice?" He whispered. I nodded, and hugged him closer. "Edward?" "Yes, Bella?" "Never. Leave. Again."
He leaned down and rested his face in my hair. "Fine by me." He whispered.