A/N: I am still so blown away by the response to this story so far, and I am so grateful to you all for reading. I had to take a few days off from writing it while I wrapped up another story, but I am back to working on it again, as I finished the final chapter of FGB New Moon in EPOV today. Just needs prereading and a bit of editing. So for now, my main focuses will be this story and I Don't Want To Fight. Hopefully, if I can get another chapter finished in the next day or so, I will update this again sometime this weekend. *fingers crossed* Hope you all enjoy.

In most cases, I usually prefer dreams over thoughts. From dreams, one can wake up, and sometimes, they are even wiped from memory before full alertness has the chance to take hold.

That evening was not one of those times.

Once I'd felt sufficiently drained, I drifted off to sleep and that night's conversation stirred the most vivid images I could remember having in ages. Everything I had tried blocking from my thoughts for years came rushing back all at once, lingering in my mind when I woke suddenly hours later. My heart was thrumming painfully in my chest, I was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, and my breaths were nothing more than sharp gasps until a sob escaped me.

I could still see him looking at me in that gentle way he once did. My lips were still warm and tingling from his kisses. His arms had left their impression on my skin where they'd held me firmly against him.

And it was all a dream, while I was being dragged back into consciousness.

Banging from the kitchen caught my attention, and I swung my legs out of bed, shivering violently against the loss of warmth from my blankets. I pulled on my thick bathrobe and left my room, and I immediately spotted Edward rushing around the kitchen. His eyes met mine as he pulled the refrigerator door open to put the milk away, and I glanced to the counter to find a travel mug there. "What's going on?"

Edward sighed heavily, and the strain in his eyes caused my stomach to tighten. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I was going to leave you a note and call you later."

The rush in his voice was unnerving, as was his state of alertness at the hour displayed on the clock of the microwave. It was just after six in the morning on a Saturday and one he had off from work as well. "Are you okay?"

Edward gave an uncertain nod, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. "I'm fine. I just have to head home. Alice went into labor last night and they weren't able to stop it. Her water broke an hour ago, and Jasper said she could deliver as early as mid-morning."

My hand clasped my chest as my mind raced in panic. I knew that Edward's sister was due sometime after Christmas, but with all that had been going on recently, I couldn't remember exactly when. "Oh my God, is she okay? The baby?"

Edward's features relaxed some and I felt my own breaths calm. "Physically, both are fine. Three weeks early isn't too bad, but you know Alice. Emotionally, she's a mess and she begged me to come down. The baby might already be here by the time I get to the hospital, but I couldn't say no."

"No, of course not. Go," I breathed out and stepped forward to hug him. His free arm wrapped around me, and he pressed a kiss to my hair. "Tell her I love her, and I'll head down as soon as I'm finished at work today. It's only a few hours."

"Will do," he replied, rubbing my back briskly with his hand before pulling away and grabbing his keys from the counter.

"And don't drive too fast, okay?" I watched as he made his way to the door, and his grin before darting out of the apartment made me roll my eyes. Of course, he would; even when he didn't have somewhere urgent to be, he still drove like his ass was on fire. Only once I heard the door to the stairs close from down the hall did my thoughts begin whirling again, and I breathed out slowly.

At the base of everything, Edward was my best friend, no matter what; we had proven that just moments before. Despite the heaviness of our conversation the previous night, we weren't awkward and could still talk to each other just as we always had. Nothing had changed.

"What the hell am I thinking, everything has changed, moron," I groaned to myself hours later as I sat behind my desk, staring intently at the clock in the corner of my computer screen. I usually didn't mind being at work for a few hours on a Saturday—hell, it was four hours of overtime on my paycheck every week, and occasionally, one of the attorneys would let me off early if it was a quiet morning—but that day, it was the very last place I wanted to be.

I had my overnight bag packed and set in the back seat of my car, so I could head directly to Forks once I got off work. I was so anxious to see Alice and Jasper's brand-new baby boy, who had arrived an hour before—pink, healthy, and wailing.

And of course, I wanted to see Edward. The one slow morning that I was not let off early was the one I could have really used the most. I already had a few hours' worth of driving ahead of me, but at least then, I could distract myself with the blaring radio. Sitting there in the quiet office, with Kenny G playing above me, my mind wandered.

No matter how many times I tried to save my heart by telling myself that nothing happened, my head continued to remind me that it had. I could still hear every word he said, see every expression, and it hadn't blurred or faded as dreams tended to do throughout the day. And I saw it in his eyes that morning, even if only for a moment.

Edward had asked me to marry him and have his child. I wanted to say yes—God, did I ever. I wanted to be one of those women who could say that she married her best friend, and mean it, not just some poetic bullshit. And he looked so sincere the night before; it would be so easy for me to believe it all and say yes, if I was simply listening to my heart.

"Are you feeling all right, Bella?" a voice startled me out of my thoughts, and my eyes flew up to find Mr. Biers, my favorite of the attorneys, standing in front of my desk. "You look like you either don't feel well, or you're about to burst into tears at any minute."

His face was full of genuine concern, and I blinked against the burning in my eyes that I hadn't noticed until he said something. I shook my head and straightened in my seat, forcing a smile. "Oh no, I'm fine. I just got news that a friend of mine had a baby, and I'm really excited to go see him."

"Edward had a baby?" he asked, his features contorting with confusion.

Naturally, the two had met on a few occasions—like the numerous times I had forgotten my lunch and Edward had kindly dropped it off for me on his way to work, or when my car was in the shop and he'd brought me in after an hour's sleep, since he was on the night shift at the time. Things friends do for one another. However…

"Edward isn't the only friend I have," I replied and laughed once I caught sight of the teasing smirk on his face. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "Very funny. Actually, it's his sister, Alice. Edward is already in Forks with her, and I'm heading there myself after work. I'm just really excited."

"And you're hoping to cut out a little early?" he asked with a raised brow, and I lowered my eyes. He was always really nice to me, far more lenient than the other attorneys in the office, and I felt a bit guilty for actually taking advantage of it so often in the past. So, I couldn't meet his gaze as I shrugged and gave a small nod. He leaned down toward me and lowered his voice as he spoke. "Bella, I'm a lawyer and get paid a hell of a lot more than you do, and even I am bored as shit here on Saturdays. You're in the home stretch for the day, so go. Your check won't be docked for twenty lousy minutes."

The first genuine grin I'd been able to conjure all day touched my lips, and I even managed a small chuckle at his very informal manner as I gathered my purse and switched off my monitor. "Thank you, Mr. Biers. I really appreciate it, and I swear I'll make up the twenty minutes."

"Don't worry about it. And Bella?" he called after me as I had just reached the door, prompting me to look back at him. "It's okay to call me Riley, you know."

I gave him a timid smile in response to the broad one he wore, nodding awkwardly without a word and scurrying out the door. Mr. Biers had always been very friendly, if slightly flirtatious. While he was a very successful, good-looking man, with ocean blue eyes and blond hair, and well-tanned for a Washington native, he was also a well-known player, and even if he wasn't my boss, I wasn't interested in being someone's play thing.

Maybe I'm just reading too much into it, I thought to myself, attempting to shake off the nervous tension his smile had caused in me. I was just on an emotional edge with all that had transpired the night before, making me more sensitive to everything. Mr. Biers was just being friendly and sociable; nothing more.

I set my iPod to shuffle and began the long drive to Forks, and once I hit the highway, my thoughts returned to the choice that lay before me. Edward had really thrown me for a loop repeatedly the previous night, and my mind was having trouble wrapping around any of it. The mention of marriage and a baby was a huge shock factor, but everything that had followed only compounded it. He'd said he loved me more times than I could possibly count over the years, but there was something very different about the way he'd done so in that one particular moment. He had kissed my forehead and told me he would probably be married by now if he hadn't. And if that wasn't enough to send my mind reeling on its own, I was already trying to pick myself up from his revelation about the one and only time we'd had sex and the apparent miscommunication that followed. And not for the first time, I felt like the world's ultimate cliché.

In love with my best friend. Check.

Dated him. Check.

Had my first time with him and fucked things up by being an overly dramatic teenager. Check, check.

And then, the cherry on top—said best friend misconstrued my fear for regret, and let me go for my happiness, over the same damn fear. One big huge fucking check.

If he had been anyone else, I might have thought he was feeding me lines to bend me to his will, and I even impulsively accused him of such. I regretted it the moment it left my lips, and even more so when he actually got angry with me over it, which was rare in itself. I knew better than that; it was Edward. He would never do something like that to me, yet at the same time, I was terrified to believe it.

He was everything I had ever wanted and hearing him say all that had my heart screaming to tell him yes. To take hold of him and never let go. To believe every word he'd spoken, as it was everything I had ever dreamed of him saying to me.

If only it could really be that simple.

They will be making progress, I promise. Bear with them a little longer... like another chapter or so ;)