Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or any of the wonderful characters in its pages; they belong to Stephanie Meyer.

Edward's POV

Never in my entire existence had any day been as extraordinary, as bizarre – as amazing, as this day. Sitting in my car outside of Bella's house, after being rudely kicked out by Alice I might add, I was left with some quiet time to collect my thoughts, to ponder the night's events. I tried to remember back to when it all began.

It was late, but Bella still insisted on setting her alarm for 6 in the morning as usual; a full hour before she needed to. I guess it wasn't fair for her. Even though I could spend the entire night with her, she'd only have an hour with me – consciously that is, before school interfered.

I lulled her to sleep in my arms, under the soft covers in the room of her childhood. I gently stroked the side of her face, trailing my fingers along her cheekbone and jaw line.

But she seemed distracted.

I let my fingers glide down softly to trace around her collarbone, a feat that always made her blush, but none came. No, I wouldn't give up that easily. I bent down and gently kissed the soft flesh of her neck, just below her ear.

No response.

Fine, Bella. Two can play that game, I thought to myself before trailing her neck and cheek with kisses, pausing at the corner of her mouth.

She finally looked up, as if just noticing me for the first time. She looked puzzled, but immediately softened under the intensity of my gaze. Whatever had been bothering her no longer furrowed her brow. I was still capable of dazzling her, my Bella; an unfair advantage I know, but no one ever said I had to play fair.

I bent down once again, and pressed my lips to hers. They were so soft and full of warmth; I could've stayed in that position for years and never be bored with it.

I was ready to end the kiss, as I was always the one policing our encounters, forcing them to end against my will for my better judgment always won out. Strangely, Bella pulled away before I could.

Another first.

Quiet unsettled, I pulled out the foremost weapon in my arsenal. "Isabella Marie Swan," I began. "I promise to love you forever – every single day of forever."

"I know."

She gave me a coy smile before adding, "Bedtime for the human." With that she turned over on her side and let sleep take her to a world where I was no longer welcome.

She had been acting so peculiar. I wondered what she'd been thinking about earlier. It must've been important for her to not even notice my advances on her. I told myself it didn't matter. There was only a little while longer until she starts sleep talking; maybe that'll clue me in.

It didn't occur to me how right I would be.

Suddenly my thoughts were transported to the meadow.

My blood was racing, and I wished I could slow it, sensing that this must make everything so much more difficult – the thudding of my pulse in my veins…

What the hell? I haven't had a pulse since 1918, I must be dreaming.

…Surely he could hear it.

You fool, you can't dream! Wait, hear what?

"The blush on your cheeks is lovely," he murmured. No, I murmured!

Realization finally struck me directly between the eyes. I sat motionless, a third-party observer. How can this be happening? I asked myself again, and again.

"Be very still," he/I whispered.

I watched in amazement as I slid my hands down the side of her neck.

I love watching the wind play in his bronze hair, more human than any other part of him, Bella's voice rang out again. But she hadn't said anything; her lips never parted once.

I continued watching as my nose skimmed across her collarbone, and I came to rest with the side of my face pressed against her chest.

How romantic! He's listening to my heart, Bella's tender voice cooed.

I deliberately woke myself up, well re-gathered my senses that is. I took my thumb and forefinger and pinched the bridge of my nose, like I did whenever I tried to block out someone's thoughts… Oh my God, I was blocking out Bella's thoughts.

I turned to look at Bella once more, looking so peaceful on the bed. "Was that very hard for you? She called out. Oh, please say no; please say no, I couldn't bear if he were to let go.

I smiled. Bella was dreaming of the first time I took her to the meadow. This time, however, I could not only hear what she spoke aloud, but now her thoughts as well; the commentary that made the reasons for her actions so clear.

But how on earth did this happen? What changed? Bella's thoughts were the forbidden fruit of my existence, and now here they were, served up to me on a silver platter. Was this why Bella was acting so funny earlier? Did she know I could now hear her thoughts?

All the reasons and possibilities were making my head spin; I definitely had too much free time to analyze things. I wish I could just "sleep on it," but being a vampire, I had no such luck. Maybe I could talk to Carlisle about it, but until then…what would be the harm in listening in a bit?

You might see something you don't want to hear, a small voice in the back of my mind piped up. Oh, well. I decided to take my chances, besides I still had another six hours to kill before it was time for her to wake up.

I wonder if he is as unwilling to move as I am, my angel thought.

"You have to go," my dream self said to Bella.

"I thought you couldn't read my mind." If only she knew…

"It's getting clearer," I heard myself reply. She smiled.

He is so…beautiful, it's hard to come up with words to describe him, Bella thought again. I watched as she appraised my chest where the collar of my shirt was slightly undone. I can't believe Jessica and Mike are already at the first kiss stage, I wish Edward would kiss me…

I remembered back to that real day in the meadow. I was still concerned she thought I was a monster; I was not expecting this.

I continued listening to the dream; it was so vivid I really could picture what was going on. Occasionally she'd call out in her sleep. I have to admit it was very interesting, to say the least, to finally fill in the gaps of her thought processes.

The entire scene of the meadow had played out in her head, but instead of Bella jumping on my back to go running through the forest, her dream took a very different turn. I thought it was rude to peer in on such an intimate moment, even if it was about me, but I still caught flashes of it. I felt terrible knowing all of Bella's pent up lust was unleashed while she was dreaming, I had no idea I had that kind of affect on her. But the same goes vice versa. If a cold shower still worked on me, I'd be in it after every minute spent with Bella.

Mmhmm I love when he kisses me there, Bella thought. I took a quick peek and made a mental note of it.

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful compared to her first dream. A few later ones involved Bella and her mother together, it was painfully obvious she missed her, and one of Bella and Charlie fishing. I smiled at the absurdity of that ever happening in real life.

Bella's alarm finally went off, and I reached to shut it off quickly. The moment of truth had finally arrived.

She opened her beautiful brown eyes to face me, and said "good morning."

Oh god…morning breath…bed head…ahh! She thought as she jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom. I was still in shock; I really could hear her thoughts! I sat up on the edge of her bed and awaited her return.

She crawled into my lap minutes later, apologizing for her "human minute" before adding, "If only I was immortal like you, we wouldn't have to worry about this human nonsense. Such a waste of time, if you ask me."

We both knew I didn't want to change her into one of us, but the promise had already been made. I told her she only had to wait a little while longer. I didn't see what the big deal was. She was dying to become one of the undead…yep, that's Bella alright.

However, I couldn't help but notice that her thoughts kept drifting back to her dream, the one of us in the meadow. She was trying so desperately to remember it; I could see her brows furrowed in concentration. As far as I was concerned, she seemed clueless as to my newfound ability. I decided to drop a few hints, maybe she'd catch on, and if not, well, it was fun playing with her. I cracked a smile.

"You should enjoy your sleep while you still can, Bella; you won't be having dreams like that for much longer."

She groaned and immediately suspected her sleep talking was to blame. She was remembering her dream now. I could see the pictures in my mind as she tried to push them away. She and I in our meadow, my skin sparkling in the sun, our bodies entwined… I tried to suppress my grin from growing wider.

Bella, snap out of it before he sees you blushing! She screamed, well, thought loudly. It was going to take some getting used to differentiating between the two. No matter, her infamous blush burned her cheeks pink. It was so cute, so characteristic of Bella. But what she thought next caught me off guard. Apparently the night before she had decided she wouldn't let herself be affected by me anymore. Suddenly it dawned on me; that's why she was so irresponsive last night, she was trying to disregard me! Was she trying to build up tolerance to me?

She still wouldn't meet my eye. She was almost thinking at vampire speed. I could only catch a few of her thoughts… protect my virtue…my teenage hormones need an outlet.

I can't believe she was still wrapped up in that. We'd made our deal already, poor, impatient Bella. Lucky I had her hormones on my side, my best ally in her agreeing to marry me.

Breaking her reverie, I dropped another subtle hint, and congratulated myself on its cleverness. "Don't worry, Bella, nothing you said was incriminating. Besides, if I could dream at all, it would be about you. And I'm not ashamed of it."

I hoped that would ease her mind a bit.

Ugh! He always knows exactly what I want to hear. Bella better be prepared from now on then. She was beginning to get ahead of herself in her thoughts. I couldn't have her asking questions just yet. I turned to look at her, hoping to convey "an entire forest," as I'd once referred to it as, of love with my eyes. That seemed to do the trick. She nuzzled her head into my chest, and took in a deep breath.

I wish I could stay in his arms forever…

She thought before asking me, "Whatever are you thinking?" I didn't need to read her mind to know how to respond to this one.

"I could stay here forever, too."

We stayed embraced like that for slightly less than an hour. Her thoughts drifted outside to the cloudy day, and although she missed Phoenix's sunny days, she was happy for the cover so that I could accompany her for the eight terribly tiresome hours of high school, as she so eloquently thought it.

Shortly thereafter Charlie left for work and Bella began wondering what her father might say if he knew I was the reason behind her thinking inappropriate thoughts and dreaming scandalous dreams…

Immediately uncomfortable with Bella's sudden thought path, I shifted her slightly and kissed her gently, attempting to bring her attention back to the here and now. "I love you," I whispered.

She made to kiss me passionately, but apparently thought better of it. I didn't need to hear her thoughts to know she was embarrassed. Like the old adage, "a picture's worth a thousand words," in Bella's case, her flaming cheeks told the whole story. I broke her trance with the comforter and assured her we would be together soon. I was ever so tempted by her blood, but that wasn't the only thing about her I found utterly irresistible.

Again we huddled there together, simply enjoying the feel of each other's bodies on our own. My ears pricked at a sound in the distance, too faint for Bella's ears.

I can't believe I didn't see this before! I still don't believe it! I wonder what Carlisle will say…

I heard Alice's thoughts a mile before she barged through the bedroom door. Bella, of course, was completely shocked, and I smiled that she was more disappointed at our ruined "moment" than anything.

Edward Cullen, you answer me right now! Is it true that you can hear Bella's thoughts? Alice thought at me. I arched my head up ever so slightly to the ceiling and then back down to look at Alice; I'd answered a silent "yes," not rolled my eyes like Bella had thought. She really was quite perceptive.

I noticed the gigantic shopping bags Alice had brought with her and was immediately disgruntled. "Really, Alice. I think Bella can get dressed by herself today," I huffed.

Alice went off on a tangent about being a wonderful sister for coming to help Bella or something. When she got started, I couldn't help but tune her words out, both thought and spoken aloud. Bella was scowling, and already planning to wear her blue sweater because she knew how much I fancied her in the color.

Seeing that Bella had chosen to wear the blue sweater, Alice immediately replied she would not have her looking like a "blueberry," and definitely not for my sake.

Edward Cullen, you leave this room this instant or I will tell Bella about your little secret, do you understand? Alice thought at me. Even worse, I'll kidnap her and take her shopping the entire weekend – and I'll get Rosalie in on it too, she added as an afterthought. I couldn't decide which option was worse, so I opted to leave straightaway. I hadn't even begun to think of telling Bella about my discovery, but I didn't want to start now.

"Fine, I'll be waiting in the car," I declared to Alice. With a final look at Bella I made my way to the Volvo, only to wait another 30 minutes before the girls decided to grace me with their presence once again.

I still hadn't come any closer to figuring out why I could suddenly hear Bella's thoughts. The only thing that struck me was that Bella had deliberately been acting funny the night before. Or maybe I was making something big out of nothing? I'd been known to do that plenty of times before. But was it really so difficult for me to just accept such a wonderful endowment? Now I truly was the envy of every other guy on the planet – I knew what my woman wanted, a feat I'd have never thought possible considering Bella's strong, resilient mind.

Finally Alice slid in the backseat, and Bella got into the one next to me. I had to hand it to Alice, Bella really did look beautiful. I revved the engine and rocketed to the highway, no doubt startling Bella, who was clutching her seat because of my near "autobahn speeds."

A final thought occurred to me before I depressed the gas pedal even further. If I had believed this morning was interesting, I couldn't wait to see what this afternoon held in store for me.

Author's Note: Wow that was a long chapter! So what do you think, should I do a few more chapters with Edward's POV, or stick with Bella's? Don't hesitate to review; it really motivates me to get these out faster!