Thanks to all my reviewers! You all are so awesome and, well, nice!

Angelalways17- All right, I'm going to try to answer your questions. The unknown vampire grabbed Bella—she doesn't know who it is yet. Sorry about the cliffhanger ending. I haven't actually specified what's up with Alice, that's to come later. And Bella doesn't know where Edward is. Hope that helps!

And thanks for the help, MoonShineMystery…it worked!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was so startled that I practically fell over. And then I screamed some more, until my throat felt like jagged rocks.

And then I bowled that vampire over.

"Edward!" I cried. I threw my arms around him, and he fell backwards on the couch. "Edward!"

Edward was smiling. "Bella!" He said.

"Where have you been?" I demanded. "I've missed you so much! And why did you come like—"

He kissed me lightly. "I'm sorry, Bella. If I could have it any other way, I…." He stopped himself, and kissed me again.

I didn't feel like delving into the mystery again. All I wanted was to just spend time with my Edward, whom I hadn't seen in about three days. It had felt like an eternity.

I snuggled closer to him, pressing my cheek against his chest. He was wearing a sweater, and it was soft and clung to him. I could imagine his cold, sculpted chest underneath, and I shivered at the thought.

He hugged me closer. "I've missed you too, Bella. You have no idea how much."

I sighed and pulled back slightly from him. He looked hurt. "Okay, listen. I—"

He silenced me with another kiss.

"Okay, fine. If that's the way it's going to—" I stopped talking again when he pressed his marble lips to my throat.

I gave up on trying to get two words in, and let him kiss me for a few more minutes. Then I sat back. "Okay, Edward. I have some questions."

He pulled me closer and groaned. "Please, Bella. Not—"

This time, I cut him off. "Yes. Where have you been? And what the heck is going on? Where's Alice?"

Edward looked confused. "Alice? Why? Is something not well with Alice?"

It had never occurred to me that Alice and Edward might not be connected. I backtracked. "Oh, oh, nothing. But where were you? And why are you sneaking around in the middle of the night?"

He gave me another peck on the lips, and then he disappeared into the kitchen. He returned with a Coke for me. "Drink this," He ordered.

I rolled my eyes. "You're very good at not answering my questions," I announced, but he pretended like he hadn't heard.

Around midnight, I started to feel tired. "Stay with me tonight, please?" I had asked him. I was so used to falling asleep in his arms.

"I must go," He finally told me, after staring intently for a second. "Do not tell anyone I was here." His gaze locked on mine.

I couldn't say no to those smoldering topaz eyes of his. "But—all right, fine. I won't tell. But why—?"

He kissed me again, cutting off my question. He looked at me for a long moment, and then said softly, "All right, my Bella. I will stay with you tonight."

I was surprised at his sudden change of mind, I'll tell you that. But I was also immensely pleased. I happily led the way into my bedroom.

I curled into his arms, with the assurance of sweet dreams.

When I awoke, sunlight was streaming through the thin curtains at the window, and my bed was empty except for myself.

I got up and rubbed my eyes and tried not to cry as I trudged towards the kitchen to make myself some coffee. They really had stocked up—the kitchen was full of everything and anything I would ever need, including coffee and a coffeemaker.

My black coffee wasn't strong enough. A flood of questions hit me as I sat at the kitchen counter—the first, and most important, being, why had Edward shown up in the middle of the night, wearing a cloak, knocking at my back door? And why did he not want anyone to know he was here?

I sincerely hoped this was all a bad dream, but I was too afraid of it being true to pinch myself.

I also had a very bad thought—that it was all a silly dream of mine, and Edward had never come. I licked my lips as I thought about it. I finally decided it didn't matter; I could live in those few minutes that, even if I had dreamed, seemed real enough.

My mind turned back to other, more complicated issues.

In a way, this was worse than the James dilemma. Here, I had absolutely no idea what was going on. There were so many unanswered questions; like where was Alice, why was Edward hiding, why Alice's eyes had glowed red, why I was being shut up in a cottage in the middle of nowhere with instructions to not watch the TV.

Maybe a little net surfing would help clear my mind. My mind had another idea, when I logged on, though; maybe it was because of the fact that I felt so cut off from society. It didn't really bother me, but my subconscious mind led me to where I scrolled through stories about Lebanon and Israel and Iraq.

I clicked through links that seemed unusual; not that I needed any more excitement. There was a link for Offbeat stories, and a little amusement couldn't hurt.

Ahem. Yes it could. I almost fell off my chair for the second time in less than twelve hours.

The chair teetered, and I had to lean all my weight towards the desk to keep from tumbling away. Ten seconds later, everything was balanced again, thankfully without any serious spills.

I dared a glance back at the computer screen, which seemed to be mocking me with its big, shiny glare. Look! It screamed. Look at me!

There was a huge photograph of Edward plastered on the Offbeat page of CNN dot com.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Sorry again for the short chapter, but I'm just writing stuff as I get new ideas. Do you all like where I'm taking this? I'm not really sure about how the Edward part is going to go… reviews, please. And ideas are welcome.