My plan was already in motion by the time we made it back to the truck.

If Carlisle hadn't been there, Bella definitely would have been exsanguinated. I couldn't do this to her anymore. Hadn't I just broken my promise to not put her in danger anymore?

"Say something," Bella requested after a while of silence.

"What do you want me to say?" I asked, completely emotionless. Better to detach myself now to ease myself into the inevitable.

"Tell me you forgive me." Sometimes, despite how much I loved her, she drove me crazy. Why did she have to think that everything was her fault?

"Forgive you. For what?"

"If I'd been more careful, nothing would have happened," she wallowed.

"Bella, you gave yourself a paper cut - that hardly deserves the death penalty," I reasoned.

"It's still my fault.

"Your fault? If you'd cut yourself at Mike Newton's house, with Jessica there and Angela and your other normal friends, the worst that could possibly have happened would have been what? Maybe they couldn't find you a bandage? If you'd tripped and knocked over a pile of glass plates on your own - without someone throwing you into them - even then, what's the worst? You'd get blood on the seats when they drove you to the emergency room?" I hated using this kind of tone with her. It really wasn't her fault. I really shouldn't have been yelling at her. I was more yelling at myself, angry with myself. But Bella probably didn't know the difference. Especially because she believed that it was her fault. "Mike Newton could have held your hand while they stitched you up - and he wouldn't be fighting the urge to kill you the whole time he was there. Don't try to make any of this on yourself, Bella. It will only make me more disgusted with myself!" I added for clarity.

"How the hell did Mike Newton end up in this conversation?" Bella asked.

"Mike Newton ended up in this conversation because Mike Newton would be a hell of a lot healthier for you to be with," I snapped.

"I'd rather die than be with Mike Newton," she declared. "I'd rather die than be with anyone but you."

That sucked. That made my job a whole lot harder. When I left, which I was planning on doing, she would refuse to make herself happy with anyone else. That was the one hope that I was clinging on to. That she could find happiness without me.

"Don't be melodramatic, please," I begged, hoping that her statement had just been an exaggeration.

"Well then, don't you be ridiculous," she ordered back. I stared at the road, not knowing what to say. Finally we pulled up to her house.

"Will you stay tonight?" she requested. I could tell that she wanted this night to end on a better note. But I couldn't let her hope.

"I should go home," I told her.

"For my birthday?" she added.

"You can't have it both ways - either you want people to ignore your birthday or you don't. One or the other," I said.

"Okay, I've decided that I don't want you to ignore my birthday. I'll see you upstairs," she said, without letting me deny the request. She began to grab her presents.

"You don't have to take those," I informed her.

"I want them," she stated.

"No, you don't. Carlisle and Esme spent money on you."

"I'll live," she said before tucking them under her unharmed arm.

"Let me carry them, at least," I offered, taking them from her. "I'll be in your room."

"Thanks," she said, smiling.

"Happy birthday," I wished her, before kissing her softly. I smiled the smile that I knew she loved. I might as well make her birthday as special as it could be. I owed her that much and more for what I was going to do.

I waited upstairs and listened to the converstation happeneing below me. Bella covered well when Charlie asked what happened to her arm. She was becoming a slightly decent liar. But then again, she was dating a vampire. Occasionally, under those kind of circumstances, one has a pretty good reason to lie. We had been together for nearly six months. That's a lot of practice. But she still couldn't effectively fool me.

She opened the door, already in her nighttime attire.

"Hi," I said lamely, playing with one of her still wrapped presents.

"Hi," she repeated. "Can I open my presents now?

"Where did all this enthusiasm come from?" I asked.

"You made me curious."

I unwrapped the presents for her though. I couldn't risk her getting another papercut. Not without Carlisle there to stop me if I tried to attack her. First opened was Carlisle and Esme's present: two tickets for us to go to Jacksonville to visit her mother and step-father. Unfortunately, I didn't think we would be able to use them. Well, she could use them two different times, but I would crush the excitement that she expressed at taking me with her the instant that I left her.

Then I unwrapped the present that was addressed from Alice and myself. A CD of some of my compositions. I popped it into the CD player, and after a few seconds of listening, Bella began to tear up.

"Does your arm hurt?" I asked.

"No, it's not my arm. It's beautiful, Edward. You couldn't have given me anything I would love more. I can't believe it." I could think of one thing that she wanted more, but we had already breeched that topic one too many times that day. I decided to make humor at her excitement.

"I didn't think you would let me get a piano so I could play for you here," I joked.

"You're right," she confirmed.

After getting Bella some Tylenol, I tucked her in and let her snuggle into my arms. But instead of trying to sleep, she pressed me with another question.

"What are you thinking about?" Ironic, I thought. Generally that's what I would wonder about her.

"I was thinking about right and wrong, actually," I truthfully told her. It was right for me to leave. Wrong for me to endanger her further.

"Remember how I decided that I wanted you to not ignore my birthday?" she asked.

"Yes," I replied, curious.

"Well, I was thinking, since it's still my birthday, that I'd like you to kiss me again."

"You're greedy tonight."

"Yes, I am - but please, don't do anything you don't want to do," Bella added. I laughed.

"Heaven forbid that I should do anything I don't want to do," I sighed. But that was exactly what I planned on doing. Taking myself away from the best thing that had ever happened to me.

I pressed my lips to hers. I planned to be careful, but knowing that this was one of the last times that I would be able to do this, not knowing how many more I could sneak in before my departure, I was the one who got greedy. I held her face to mine and I knew that she was getting carried away, too.

Which is exactly why I pulled away. And when I did, we were both breathless, which was odd, considering I really didn't have to breathe.

"Sorry," I apologized. "That was out of line."

"I don't mind," Bella declared.

"Try to sleep Bella."

"No, I want you to kiss me again."

"You're overestimating my self-control." Severly, I added mentally.

"Which is tempting you more, my blood or my body?" she questioned.

"It's a tie. Now why don't you stop pushing your luck and go to sleep."

"Fine," she agreed stubbornly, curling into me.

Eventually she fell asleep. I knew exactly what I had to when I got home.