The basis of this short story belongs to Stephenie Meyer – author of the Twilight Series (including characters and story lines).

Determined - BPOV

Finally, the end of the school day had arrived. It was not an easy one by any means, but it definitely was not the assault that I had prepared myself for, either. I got through the first day of 'their' return physically unscathed. But emotionally, I was my own worst enemy. As I made my way to the parking lot, the only thing I could think about was those three words: I miss you, I miss you, I miss you…

It made my heart melt every time I pictured him communicating slyly, via my Chem book, and then returning it to me to discover at a later time. I missed him as well. I knew it wasn't long before I caved.

I arrived at my car and without looking I tossed my book bag into the passenger's seat.

"Ouch!" screeched a small voice. I looked over to see Alice patiently seated in my passenger's seat, holding my 15 pound book bag as if it were a cupcake displayed gently on her dainty little hand. "That hurt Bella" she lied, offering up a smile and a wink. "I'm very fragile you know?" Just then she hopped out of the truck and made her way over, throwing her arms around me, suffocating me in a bear hug. "I missed you, Bella!"

"Alice," I choked, "it's been less than one full day since I've seen you." I reminded her. As if she needed reminding. Her memory was far more mature and developed than mine could ever be.

"I know, I know. It just feels like it has been longer than that, that's all. Can I get a ride home with you?" she bounced.

"Of course you can. I'm heading to Angela's house anyways. Hop in."

I backed out of my parking spot slowly. I had learned that sometimes my truck had a mind of its own. I had learned that the hard way. My dented bumper was proof enough.

"Could you have parked any further away, Bella?" she giggled.

I gave her the stink eye and then threw my car into drive. I immediately slammed on my breaks. Edward was nonchalantly walking across the lot in front of my truck. I hadn't noticed but he and Rosalie had parked their cars one row over from mine. He glanced over and smiled cunningly. This was all part of his master plan. I was sure of it.

I looked over at Alice, "Does that answer your question?" I asked rhetorically, motioning with my head toward Edward. He had reached his car by now, so I took the opportunity and sped off.

She smiled suspiciously.

It didn't take long for Alice to strike up conversation. Conversation meaning I spoke about five words to her fifteen. She asked me how Charlie was doing and if he had become suspicious of anything since I had come back. She also spoke about Jasper and how exceptional his progress had become in regard to his 'vegetarian diet'. She also spoke a bit of their time away and how much she had missed Forks. How much she had missed me in particular. It made me feel good to know that she had missed my friendship as much as I had missed hers. She made sure to tread lightly on the subject of Edward. She mentioned him only twice, and it was in a casual circumstance. Once she was finished sharing some of the details of the past six months of her life, she stopped to look at me.

"So, do you have any questions?" She asked. You didn't have to have extra ordinary senses to know what I was thinking. "Don't be afraid, Bella" she said, patting my shoulder in reassurance. "I was told that I am allowed to tell you whatever you would like to know."

I looked at her in order to read her facial expression. I knew that she would never lie to me.

"Yes, I may have a few questions, if you don't mind?"

"Not at all, Bella, ask away!"

I took a moment to think of the very first question that I wanted to ask. I stared at the road ahead of me, turning onto the dirt road that would eventually lead me to the Cullen's house.

I had decided.

"How come you did not come to me before you left?" I asked. "How come you didn't say good-bye?"

She lowered her head. "I'm sorry, Bella. I'm sorry for that." She sounded ashamed. "You don't know how angry I was that I was not allowed to say good-bye. You don't know how angry I was at him. He told us that we were not allowed to contact you in any way. He said that it would only make it more difficult to move on, for all of us. I understand that he was only trying to protect you, but I couldn't help but be angry with him for putting us all in that position." She looked over at me. I'm sure she was measuring my reaction.

I felt angry again. As she finished telling me this, I couldn't help but recall all of those dreaded feelings of abandonment. I shook it off.

"Yeah, I understand. I guess." I answered simply. "I mean, I guess that seeing you guys would not have softened the blow. It was all just so sudden. Looking back there were definitely clues, but I would have never thought that it would have resulted in your guys' leaving. It was my fault really."

"Bella, stop, it was not your fault. Nothing about this situation is your fault. You have done nothing but understand and love us all unconditionally. You even kept our secret from your family and friends. If anyone should apologize, it's us. We brought you into our world and it was not fair how you were left like that. And even after our departure, you still kept our secret. It is amazing really. How a human could be so loyal to us. You're special. That's why we all love you. That's why Edward is in love with you." She looked at me cautiously, afraid of how I would react to her last statement. When I didn't react, and just stared forward without expression, she continued. "He loves you more than anything Bella, he asked me to tell you that. He's devastated."

Neither of us spoke again until we reached the front of her house. I looked around for his car.

"Don't worry, he's not here. He knew that you were bringing me home and did not want to make you uncomfortable."

I stared out the window into the dense forest surrounding their house. "I don't know how we got here, Alice." I said, pausing momentarily. "I've been alone and heartbroken for the last six months – literally, destroyed. I just couldn't understand how that came to be. After all of the things he promised me, and after how much he declared he loved me over and over. Then he just left. As lame as my sob story is, it's hard for me to move on from that. Even though he promised to never leave me again. How can I trust him after everything that has happened?" I turned to her, desperate for answers. But I knew that she didn't hold the answers that I was searching for. He and I were the only people who had them.

"I don't know, Bella. I cannot begin to understand what you must be feeling right now. And I'm sorry that I can't help you. I can only tell you what I know."

I sat there twiddling my hands in my lap.

"Maybe you should speak to Edward again?" She proposed.

I registered that for a moment before answering. "Yeah, I suppose. Another time though. I'm supposed to go to Angela's to hang out for a little bit, but I think that I'm going to call her to reschedule. I don't know if I feel up to talking about all of this again right now. I'd rather just head home and do some chores."

"I understand." She said. "Does that mean that you don't want to ask me any more questions? You only asked one."

"True. But all my questions come pretty loaded. We could be here for hours." I laughed casually, trying to lighten up the mood again.

"Very true." She giggled in response. "I'm sure you have a lot to think about, so on that note, I will let myself out." She turned to me and gave me another infamous Cullen bear hug. "Thanks for the ride, Bella. It was really nice to talk to you. And call me if you ever ever ever want to talk." She said squeezing me tighter, before releasing me.

"Thanks, Alice. I'll see you tomorrow at school."

Before she closed the door I called her name to stop her. "Do you mind if I allow myself one more?"

She leaned against the open door frame, smiling, "Shoot!"

"Can you just tell me what he was like these past six months? How he was doing? What he was doing?" My one question turned into three and I knew that we could possibly be here for some time, but I couldn't drive away not knowing. I couldn't wait any longer.

She hesitated before answering my question. Her face turned serious and sad. "That's a tough one, Bella. I would love to tell you what I know, but what I know is very limited. I think that you would get a more complete answer if you just spoke with him about it. What I can tell you is that we did not see much of Edward while we were away." She studied my expression, probably finding confusion in its place. "We only saw Edward a couple of days out of the six months that we were gone, and he has never told us exactly what he was doing, or where he was."

It took me a moment to register what she was telling me. What could have kept him away from his family for all that time? They were a unit, a clan, take one and you get all seven.

"We kind of just stopped calling him after a while because he would never answer his phone, or return our calls. We wanted to give him the space he desired." She lifted her hands in bewilderment. "I'm sorry that I don't have more information for you, Bella. I wish for both of our sakes that I did. He was very careful to keep his distance from me so that I could not tell the others where to find him. He did an excellent job at that, because the few visions that I did get were very dark and dirty. Nothing in what I saw could point us in his direction."

I sat there for another moment before speaking. "Well then, I guess time will tell. But if he doesn't want to share his journey with his family, I'm sure he won't want to share it with me." I pointed out to her.

"On the contrary, Bella, I think that you are the only person that he wants to share this information with. You may want to find out."

"Alright well thanks again, Alice. It was nice of you let me grill you."

"Anytime, Bella, I'll see you later!" she answered, shutting my door and dancing off toward the house.

I watched her walk into the Cullen's house and then I continued to stare at it for a moment before pulling away. It felt like so long ago that I was last in that house.

I drove home in a zombie-like state. My mind wandered across all of the possibilities of Edward's disappearance. I couldn't really think of any one place where Alice would not have been able to 'see' him. Surely she would have recognized the icy architecture of the Alaskan mountains, or the wet landscape of the rainforests that inhabited the earth. Honestly, I couldn't picture him anywhere but here. I couldn't picture him anywhere but in his meadow, or sitting next to me in Biology. I wasn't sure if I even had a right to ask him. We were not together during that time. He did not owe me an explanation, but I had a feeling that Alice was right. Maybe I was the only person he would tell. I would soon find out.

I called Angela and cancelled my pity date. I made my way home instead. Charlie wasn't home yet, so I kept myself busy by doing laundry and cooking dinner. Once that was done, my next mission was to clean the house. I lied, telling myself that it was dirty in the first place, but I was not going to allow myself to just sit around and do nothing. Even worse, sit around and think. After a couple of hours of cleaning, it was nearly seven o'clock and Charlie was still no where to be seen. I decided to take my dinner and head upstairs to finish my Chemistry homework. I pulled out my book, and there it was - his little handwritten note:

I miss you.

I must have read it twenty-five times before I made my decision. I was going to drive over to the Cullen's house and talk with Edward. We both needed this.

I grabbed my keys and my sweatshirt and headed out in my truck. I didn't bother calling, as I'm sure Alice had already seen me returning. If not, it was just a matter of time before she did. As I rounded the corner and approached the house, I saw Edward sitting on the front porch steps waiting for me.