The rest of the sections of the story won't be as long as the first. I had a surge of energy with Part I that probably won't be happening again. Thanks to everybody for the reviews!

Soundtrack:

Joshua Radin - The Fear You Won't Fall

Tom Petty - Square One

Ray Lamontagne - Hold You In My Arms


II.

Edward finally broke his gaze away, letting his arms drop at his sides. I saw Emmett and Rosalie out of the corning of my eye, frozen in place, their jaws both hanging open. I turned and saw the same reaction coming from Alice and Jasper. My face became hot and I lowered my eyes to the ground.

Thankfully, Esme and Carlisle had missed our little show and rushed towards our group a moment later, giving us all hugs and wishing up a happy new year. Carlisle kissed Alice on the forehead, forcing her to regain her composure. Esme then turned to Edward and brought him in for a long embrace, whispering something into his ear. He smiled lightly at her as he pulled back. He nodded once and they disappeared from the crowd, out of my view. I backed up slowly and sat down at the nearest table, realizing how shaky I was. I reached for a half empty glass of champagne and drank it in one big gulp as I watched Alice and Rosalie make their way over to me.

"Bella," Alice said, both of them sitting on either side of me, "what was that?"

I put my hands up to show her I was as confused at she was. "Alice I honestly don't know. I didn't know, how was I supposed to know he felt that way towards me?" The words came pouring out. "He told me he couldn't take his eyes of me, and I didn't know what to say Alice. Then that…" I gestured towards the dance floor. "He just grabbed me and kissed me…" I kept trailing off, looking between both of my friends.

"You kissed him back." Rosalie pointed out.

"Yes. I did, I kissed him back." I agreed, putting my head between my hands. "I kissed him back and I didn't want him to stop." At this, I looked up at Alice, waiting for her reaction. She sighed, and to my surprise, she smiled.

"Bella, he's my brother and I love him and I love you too. You could be the one to change his life around." She said it as if it were a fact, causing my eyes to widen. "I suspected that he had feelings for you long before this, but I never thought he would act on it, and I wasn't sure if you felt the same. You were always so angry at him." She rolled her eyes.

"Alice I'm not sure I'm not angry at him." I admitted. "I'm not sure of anything right now. How can I feel any certain way towards him when I know that I don't even know who he really is?"

Alice and Rosalie both became quiet. I was desperate to know what they were really thinking. I knew there something about Edward he didn't feel comfortable telling me about, and the thought made me feel uneasy. If Alice kept it from me, I realized, it must be big.

"Come on Bella," Alice said, suddenly springing to her feet with enthusiasm. "We are totally snowed in here, let's get something comfortable on and check out a movie from the front desk."

I smiled at her, grateful at her attempt to take my mind of this, but I didn't think a movie stuck in between Alice, Jasper, Rose, and Emmett would work for me right now. "I think I'm going to get to bed Alice," I said apologetically. "I'm exhausted."

She stuck out her lower lip but didn't seem too disappointed. I was sure she was more or less happy with just her and Jasper watching a movie.

When we realized that Emmett and Rose had already bounded back to their room, to do what I could only guess, we waited for Esme to return so we could say our final goodnights. After another ten minutes, she did reappear. I blinked back disappointment when I realized Edward was no longer with her.

"Did you have a good time Bella?" Esme asked me as she approached.

I nodded, "I did, thank you so much again for everything. It's been an amazing night." If only she knew.

Suddenly her eyes became emotional and she reached out to put her hand on my arm, the expression on her beautiful face soft. "Bella, please be patient with my son. He's always trying to be a hero, trying to deal with everything on his own. I hope that you'll fight to make him let you in. It will be worth it, I can promise you that."

I gulped and nodded stupidly. Maybe she did know. I glanced out of the corner of my eye at Carlisle, who was looking away politely, letting his wife have this moment with me. Alice suddenly lightly skipped, with her arms outstretched, into her mother's arms. I sighed gratefully as she saved me from having to form a coherent response.

After saying goodnight to Carlisle as well, I got into the elevator with Jasper and Alice, my eyelids starting to droop. I was leaving heavily against the side of the glass, ready to shut off my mind and get some rest.

When we got to my room both Jasper and Alice scooped me up in warm hugs, Jasper kissing my cheek lightly. After watching him and Alice go down the hall hand in hand, I turned and entered my room, quickly stripping off my dress and heels. I pulled a pair of sweatpants and a plain white tank top of out of my small overnight bag and put them on slowly, groaning as the muffled sounds of Emmett, Rose, and a squeaking bed frame began to trickle through the wall. I walked quickly towards the bathroom, hoping Emmett's confidence was to make up for something he lacked and that they would be finished soon.

When I got there I barely recognized the girl staring back at me in the mirror. I worked at scrubbing the makeup off my face until my skin was raw and pink.

"Dang waterproof eyeliner!" I huffed, throwing the bottle of makeup remover into the sink as hard as I could, immediately thanking the manufacturer for putting their product in a plastic container. Finally, before I could stop myself, I was sinking down onto the bathroom floor with tears running down my face. I cursed the champagne. Edward too.

Just as I thought his name I heard at light knock on my door. I jumped up, wiping my tears away quickly and cleaning my hands off on my grey cotton pants. I walked towards the door and hesitated as I looked through the peephole and saw Edward there. My heart jumped in my chest as I slowly opened the door.

"Can I come in Bella?" he asked softly, frustrating me as he lowered his eyes from mine.

I took a step back, letting him know it was okay. I stood awkwardly in the middle of my room, my hands at my side. I waited for him to speak but he just sat on my bed quietly. His bronze hair was wilder than usual, as if he had been pulling at it, and his face was sallow. Did I have this effect on him?

"Edward," I said impatiently when I couldn't take the silence anymore. "Why did you come here if you're not even going to talk?"

He looked up at me, his lips twisting upwards. "I was waiting for you to say something Bella."

I put my hands on my hips and placed my weight on one leg to show him that was completely unacceptable. He admitted his feelings for me, he kissed me. I may have reciprocated the act, but there was no way he was going to get out of this.

I went even crazier when he got up and started to pace back and forth, stopping only when he heard the sounds going on next door. Without warning, he started to laugh wildly.

"Edward! You are driving me insane. What is your deal?" I was getting mad now. It was completely unfair of him to do this. I needed something from him and instead he was acting half crazy.

"You kissed me back." He finally said, his face suddenly serious again.

"Yes, I think everybody has established that." I snapped. He winced and I instantly softened my tone. "Edward, I just don't get this. You won't explain anything to me.

"What do you want to know Bella?" he asked tightly, sitting back down on the bed, his voice nearing the edge of anger. "Do you want to know my past? Why I get irritated so easily? Why I'm such a mess?" he was talking fast now, his eyes cold. "Do you want to know Bella, why I had to leave school? You know, it's not so easy to study when you're too busy snorting cocaine up your nose and emptying fifths of liquor into your stomach. It's not so easy to make it to classes when you can't even stand up straight. When you wake up at four in the afternoon wondering how it is you're still alive."

I was frozen in place, my eyes wide in disbelief, and he clenched his teeth when he saw the expression on my face.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to lose yourself - to completely go away? To look in the mirror and not even recognize who you are? I'm twenty-one years old and I feel like an old man Bella. I let myself go, and I hurt my family. I hurt Alice, literally. Do you want to hear about that too?"

I didn't think I did, but I couldn't speak. My voice was caught in the back of my throat.

"I hit her." He said bluntly, studying my face for a reaction. I was careful not to give one, but inside my stomach rolled over on itself. "She was trying to reason with me, trying to help me, and I hit her. The next day, when I remembered what I had done and I saw the bruise on her face and on her arm from where I had grabbed her, I called my parents and asked them to come get me. I checked into a rehab center two days later." His shoulders slumped forward and he looked down miserably.

"Why?" I choked out. He didn't look up as he answered my question.

"It started before here; I guess it probably started my senior year of high school. I had spent so many years trying to be the portrait of perfection. I got good grades, I excelled at just about every sport, and I hung out right the right people, dated the right girls…" as he trailed off I felt a knot in my stomach at the word girls. "Of course, you come to find out the right people weren't ever right for you at all. You find out that everything is bound to fall down sometime or another. Sooner or later we all found out how rich we were, how important we were, and how easily we could get away with things."

I waited as patiently as I could as he paused, struggling to find the right words.

"I started to drink heavily sometime near graduation. It was fun and it was normal for us. The word 'excess' never crossed my mind. Eventually though, I began to grow temperamental. I started lashing out as my Mother – at Esme – the kindest woman on the face of the earth. I wouldn't listen to a word Carlisle had to say and I treated Alice like a parasite. Eventually I started to think I wasn't good enough for them, that I never had been. They started looking at me with such disappointment – I couldn't take it. That's when James, a friend of mine, introduced cocaine in my life. It made everything better, I felt amazing. When I moved here I was already waist-deep in my addictions."

He looked into my eyes and my arms were aching to hold him. He looked so vulnerable, so exhausted. I realized in that moment how much it had taken him to admit all of this to me, to remember it with such detail. He finally trusted me with his past and I vowed to handle it the best way I could. I slowly sat down next to him on the bed, our arms lightly touching.

"How long have you been sober?" I asked softly, staring at his hands, which he had tightened into fists.

"Next week will be eleven months." He said, "But it never goes away Bella. That night at Jasper's party he caught me going for a drink. That's why he told Alice I didn't feel well, that's why I was less than kind to you. Sometimes I just don't know if I can do this and I just wish everybody else would hate me as much as I hate myself and just let me give in."

I shifted to face him and he turned towards me in response. I put my hands over his fists, looking up into his beautiful eyes. "I don't hate you." I said firmly. His eyes burned and I leaned forward, bringing my lips to his.

It felt as good as it did the first time. It felt right. He reached for me, wrapping his arms around my body and I pressed tightly against him, our lips never separating. He pushed against me until I was lying down beneath him. I brought my hands underneath his shift and ran them up his back, causing a shudder to run through his body. I had never wanted somebody so badly in my life.

Suddenly, he was off of me. I sat up, confused. He was across the bed, panting, his eyes a mix of emotions.

"Bella if you want me the way I want you after knowing all of this, I won't be able to say no to you. I don't want you to get hurt, but I don't think I can turn back if you tell me you want me here."

Why would I get hurt if we both care about each other? What a ridiculous thought. I just couldn't understand it until I saw the look in his eyes shift. "You think you'll go back to is." I said flatly. It was a statement.

"I don't want too," Edward said earnestly, "but I can't promise you I won't Bella. I can't promise this isn't going to be a long and dark road. What kind of person am I if I bring you along with me?"

I paused, letting the idea sink in. It would be hard, that was a fact. I was getting myself into something big here, bigger than myself. I sighed as the feeling of his lips came rushing back to me and I shook my head at him with a timid smile. "You have no choice Edward. I want you here, with me."

His expression became soft and he laid back on the pillow, gesturing for me to come to him. I did, snuggling up against his side, feeling his warmth. I tried to stay away but my body was exhausted and as I drifted to sleep, I couldn't help but notice how my head fit perfectly in the nook of his arm.