I just wanted to tell you guys that Loyalty and Love, probably my most well known story won the Fanfiction of the Week award on the Twilight Awards Website! So yay me, I just wanted to share that happiness.

Onward...


Finding Bella was easier than I thought it would be. The first thing I did was go into the town closest to our house. I was hoping that I would pick up her scent and be able to follow it to wherever she was. I parked my car at a municipal lot and began the search on foot. It would be easier to move quickly if the vehicle didn't inhibit me. At first I wasn't able to smell her at all and I was worried she had gotten too far away for me to track her by scent alone. But I kept going through the town, taking all the back streets and darkened alleys.

Just when I began to get disheartened I caught a slight trace of an aroma that caused a fire to ignite in my throat. There was no question that it was Bella. Nothing else in the world affected me so drastically. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, wanting to draw that scent into me and determine where it was coming from. When I was able to discern a direction I followed the scent, walking at a human pace. It gradually grew stronger, increasing the screaming in my mind to kill the source of the scent but also my excitement. I had found her, this conundrum that had inundated my mind for days now. One look, just to be sure she was okay. That was all I needed.

As I continued to follow her scent I began to hear voices, low human talking. Their words were unimportant as it was not Bella that was speaking. If her voice were to sound I would pay rapt attention to every syllable she spoke, but only because I would want to hear her if she gave away any information as to why she was out near my house. The stronger her scent became the closer the voices were. There was one male voice, belonging to a 'Jack' and a female voice belonging to a 'Becky'. The louder their voices became the easier it was to pick up their minds. Becky was thinking about Jack. But Jack was thinking about the other woman with them.

He was thinking about Bella.

I saw her face in his mind, her features turned into a smile. I had been right about one thing, that expression was indeed enchanting. Then I head the sound of laughter—Bella's laughter. Jack must have said something funny. It might have been the most beautiful sound I had ever had the privilege to hear. The sound seemed to echo inside my mind, playing over and over. I smiled.

When I rounded the corner I was just behind I saw them sitting inside the restaurant that was stationed right on the end of the block. There by the front window sat a girl who looked about eighteen, a boy who looked a little older, perhaps twenty at the oldest, and Bella. Her wrist was still splinted and was resting on her lap as she drank something with her other hand. She was listening to the conversation back and forth between Jack and Becky but didn't look as though she was paying much attention. Of course I could not know that for sure because I could not hear her thoughts. The thoughts I could hear however amused me beyond belief.

Jack was focusing on Bella; trying to make her laugh, elicit any sort of positive reaction from her. He had been trying to get a date with her since their sophomore year in high school. Now they were just about to enter their freshman year of college and still he had not managed to attract that sort of attention. Still, though, he was not about to give up. Bella was his golden girl, his ideal. While he was singing her praises in his mind Becky was busy laughing at Jack. She knew that Bella had absolutely no interest in him and never would. But she also knew that no matter what he would always want her. Bella had confessed that she didn't think of Jack as anything other than a friend and even a brother on occasion. But to Jack even that was encouragement. Becky found his obvious attraction to her and his outright flirting tactics to be hilarious, though she would never tell him that.

From across the street I watched this mini drama take place. Friends sitting together talking and drinking. The waitress came over to their table and delivered the check, which Jack paid, showing that he had at least some semblance of a gentleman in him. Bella and Becky stood up as Jack grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair. The three of them walked out together and then split up as soon as they had said their goodbyes. Becky and Jack walked in the same direction because their apartments were in the same building. Bella walked off alone.

Hugging her arms to her body against the air that beginning to take on a chill at this time of night she walked toward me as I sat in the shadows. She would not know I was here. In fact even if she sensed my presence her instincts would cause her to avoid me at all costs. A natural survival instinct, a sense of self-preservation. As she drew closer to me her scent strengthened. I fought the beast in me again as I drew breath and tasted her fragrance on my tongue. Sweet, mouth watering, delectable. Without knowing exactly what I was doing I took a step to follow her as she walked past me on the other side of the street.

Silently my feet fell on the pavement and pursued this girl. The monster in me roared, but I ignored it. I watched the way her slight hips swayed as she walked down the street, oblivious she was being watched. She continued on this way for a few minutes, walking about two blocks.

Suddenly without warning she stopped. Her whole body turned as if she was sure there was someone behind her. When she was met with no one she continued to look around the area that directly surrounded her. Her eyes stopped on where I was standing and my breath froze. Surely she could not see me? I was completely in shadow, hidden in the pitch black provided by the building standing next to me. Still her eyes remained on me, as though she could see I was standing there looking back at her. Eventually she rolled her eyes and continued walking.

"Get a grip, Bella, there is no one following you," she muttered to herself. I smiled inwardly. She had better instincts than I thought. She had somehow sensed my presence even though I had done nothing to alert her senses of my being near to her. Good for her.

She continued her walk until she reached a house. She paused at the door; unlocking it with a key she pulled out from her pocket. I watched as she looked over her shoulder into the night. I looked back, wanting to actually be able to see into her face, to look into her eyes and know who she was. She sighed again and went inside, closing the door behind her and locking it from the click I heard.

That was all I needed. She had a home. She wasn't all alone in the world without a place to sleep or people to care for her. So why did I still want to follow her?

Without a second thought I went over to the side of her house, sneaking through her yard. A light flicked on in the back of the house and I nimbly climbed up a tree to see her. She was sitting on the edge of a bed, biting her lip, looking lost in thought. Before she could do anything else a phone rang. She edged over on her bed and picked up a receiver that sat on a night table.

"Hello…hi mom. Yes, I'm fine, how are you?"

Her voice sounded in her little bedroom and I reveled in the sound. A conversation continued with her mother. She didn't talk much, but when she did, it revealed plenty about her. She was a caretaker, the one who was the adult in the parent-child relationship with her mother. Her father had died a few months before and had given her the house in his will, along with all his money. Her parents were divorced.

She didn't stay on the phone long. After a half an hour she hung up with her mother after telling her she loved her and that they would speak again soon. When she put the phone down she put her head in her hands and drew a deep breath. With that steadying maneuver she got up and began pulling off her clothes. I shielded my eyes. As much as I might have wanted to know what lied beneath her clothes I was not a pervert. I was not going to peep on her naked.

Luckily with my improved sense of hearing I could tell when she had taken things from the drawers and put them on. I peeked once into the window through squinted eyes to make sure that she was indeed dressed as she flipped off her lights. The dark did not affect my ability to see her though. She settled under the covers of her bed and lay there with her eyes open. For a long time she lay awake. About an hour later she fell asleep.

Against my better judgment and without thinking I hopped down from my tree and paced over to the side of her house. I took another deep breath. Her scent swirled into my nostrils and though my throat burned and I wanted to drink her blood it was not unbearable. I crouched and sprang up, in through her window. I landed on my feet noiselessly.

Bella lay there undisturbed, still asleep. I watched her for a few minutes, her calm, quiet sleep looking peaceful. And then she mumbled. She turned over onto her side, facing away from me and muttered again, her words completely unintelligible. Then she rolled again, returning to her back.

"No," she said quite clearly. I thought she was awake. I continued to watch her without moving but she mumbled again before turning on her side again.

"Don't…please don't leave me alone."

I gazed upon this girl, watching her as she slept. Why had she just said those words? What was she dreaming that would make her say something like that? She sighed and then I smelled salt. Tears were glistening on her cheeks, running down to the nape of her neck. Why was she crying?

"Oh sweet Bella, what troubles you?" I whispered as I knelt down beside her bed. My hands acted of their own volition as my fingers reached up and wiped away a stray tear as it ran down her face. Her lips trembled as she continued to cry.

"Don't go," she whispered.

How could I refuse her?

Even though I knew she had no idea what she was saying or to who, I still could not fight her request. I sat on her floor, listening to her soft breathing and watching as her eyes twitched in REM sleep. Every once in a while she would utter more words, some of them I could understand and some of them I did not. None of them meant much of anything. Once she said, "If you don't put that down, you will be in big trouble" and I had to restrain my laughter.

As the sun rose I realized that I had to leave. Soon Bella would awaken and I could not stay and let her find me here on her floor. I stood and took one last lingering look at this girl I had spent the night with, however unknowing she might have been about the arrangement. With the sun coming through the open window she seemed to glow. There was something about her, something that words could not describe. And the tracks of her tears that had continued to spill almost the whole night through were visible on her face, reminding me that even as I watched her I didn't know her or what troubled her. But I desperately wanted to know her. I wanted to know her troubles and what I could do ease her hurt, the kind of hurt that made her cry in her sleep and beg in her dreams not to be alone.

With reluctance I leapt from her window. As I ran back to my car I thought of nothing but the girl I had just left. Would she ever know how I watched her, wiped her tears and guarded her sleep? I sat in my car for a long moment with the key in the ignition. I had managed to sit in her room, by her bed with her sleeping and not hurt her. She had been so defenseless, so open to attack but I had kept myself from doing the one thing I had wanted most to do.

But the more I thought of it, was taking her blood really what I wanted most to do? Watching as she cried, even in her sleep, I had wanted something more than her blood. Another moment had passed where the craving, the need, seemed to vanish. I simply wanted her. I wanted to hold her, to be with her, to stop her tears any way I could, no matter what it took. I wanted to heal her. I wanted…

I wanted to make her happy more than anything else. I wanted the chance. Was this what Carlisle had meant when he told me she had captured my heart and soul without knowing it? I still refused to believe that he could be right about this being love. But she certainly had gotten a hold of me and whether she knew it or not, she was not letting go.

I drove home in silence. I had the feeling when I got home there would be things to answer for. There would be questions from every member of the family, wondering where I had been and what I had been doing that I couldn't tell them about. That was unless Alice had told them where I was. I was sure she knew about this by now.

I pulled down our long driveway and before I even parked the car I heard questions. Along the several 'where was he?" and 'why didn't he just tell us where he was going?' was Carlisle's inquiry.

Did you find her?

When I got into the house the entire family was sitting and waiting for me, their thoughts running through my mind at high speeds.

"Edward, would you mind telling us where you ran off to without so much as a word?" Esme inquired. Her tone and thoughts were less accusatory and more worried and wondering. She was like my mother. I had left and not told her where I was going. She had been worried sick that something was wrong.

"I'm sorry, Esme, I should have told you I was leaving," I replied. She smiled at my apology and nodded for me to continue. She still wanted to know where I had been. So did everyone else, save for Carlisle, and Alice.

Are you going to tell them?

Alice's thoughts passed through my mind. She was smiling at me, a genuine smile, not the teasing one I was expecting. I sighed.

You smell like her, Edward.

"I went to find her, find Bella. I just wanted to make sure that she wasn't alone and injured somewhere with nowhere to go. But she is okay; she has a house and friends and she is going to college when it starts up in the fall."

"Why?" Emmett asked. I shrugged.

"Perhaps she wishes to further her education, Emmett."

"That's not what I meant, you idiot. I mean why did you go looking for her? She wasn't really our concern. If she needed our help she should have stayed. And besides you know how dangerous that was. What if you had killed her?"

I inwardly cringed. Again I was flooded with embarrassment. I could not tell them that I could hardly go a single minute without her crossing my mind. That was something no one but Carlisle would ever need to know.

"I was just curious. Here was this girl who stumbled upon on us in the middle of the night and was injured, who not only happened to be the exception to my talent, but also whose blood screamed for me every time I caught wind of her scent. Needless to say I was a tiny bit inquisitive. I wanted to know who she was, if only for my peace of mind. Now I know. She didn't know I saw her; she had no idea I was there. Everything is fine."

I received questioning looks from most of the family, all still wonder why I couldn't just leave her alone. She was a human girl whose identity and circumstances may have been a mystery but that was all. It was not nearly as intriguing as I thought it was.

'A single moment of intrigue', was that what Carlisle had said? But again I could hardly confess that to them. It wasn't as if I could try and compare the moment they met each other to the few moments I had shared with Bella, mostly because I wasn't in love with her and thusly the moments were of completely different caliber.

"Besides," Carlisle interjected, "it was in our best interest to know if she was going about telling everyone she met about the strange family that lives in the middle of the woods. To your knowledge has she commented about our existence to anyone?"

I shook my head. I was sure if she had told her friends that she had run into us, strange occurrences and all, they would have been talking about it, and if not at the very least they would have been thinking about it. But there was nothing about in their minds or their words. I could only assume she had kept it to herself. It was a wise decision. If she were to tell people about us and something akin to the media were to pick up the story there would be damage control by the Volturi, which would lead to the deaths of several people, Bella included.

"That doesn't mean she wont, it just means she hasn't yet. What if she decides to share the story with someone and exposes us?" Rosalie asked. This time it was Alice that spoke up.

"If she does anything that would put us in jeopardy I would see it before she did. Her futures are a little harder to read, they aren't always as clear as ours are, but in this case her decisions would have a direct impact on us so I would be able to tell long before anything disastrous was to occur. And besides, if she hasn't said anything yet, I don't think she will. Who would believe her about superhuman creatures anyway?"

This caused a murmur of assent. It was rare for a human to accept the existence of anything superhuman—vampires or otherwise—even when proof was put directly in front of their face. If Bella believed us to be something more than human she would be the exception to the norm. Other people who had not witnessed or experienced what she had would be hesitant to put any real stock in her claims. She didn't seem idiotic enough to think other people would really believe her if she told them about us.

"What did you tell her about us, Carlisle?" I inquired of my father. She had asked Esme about my behavior before I left and he had arrived to answer her questions just as I was going.

"I told her some version of the truth," he replied, grinning. I quirked an eyebrow.

"She asked why you had attacked her. At that point I was not one hundred percent sure myself, and I could not tell her about my suspicions either, so I simply told her an adaptation of reality. I told her that our family was different from other people. I told her that we behaved differently from other people, that our reactions to things were far more immediate and intense than those of other people. That you tried to attack her only meant that you felt drawn to her and reacted accordingly. I made it seem like a compliment rather than a near death experience."

How he twisted the truth. Nothing he said was a lie. He had been truthful with every phrase he crafted. I could almost hear the reassuring tone his voice would have taken on as he spoke to her. Nothing was wrong, it just wasn't complete. We were different from other people, in the way that we weren't really people at all. We did behave differently, because our senses were amplified beyond measure, we were faster, stronger and nearly indestructible. Our reactions were based off these enhanced senses and abilities.

Carlisle was truly a master. He had managed to explain things in a way that would not frighten her as revealing the truth would have, and yet placated her fears and inquiries.

"How did she take it?" I asked, still curious. I was not here to witness her reactions so I had to ask.

"She seemed at peace with the explanation, though of course that is simply an assumption. Jasper said she seemed calm; at least he wasn't empathetically receiving any nervousness or fear. If anything he said she seemed relieved. That was why I was so surprised that she ran away. If she wasn't afraid I don't know why she left so abruptly. Unless someone did something to scare her."

With that last remark he looked over to Emmett and Rosalie. Emmett stared at the floor. Rose looked right back at him. Emmett was embarrassed that he had let Bella get away and had not noticed that she was running. Rosalie didn't care as long as it meant our identities were safe.

"I don't think so. I think she was just tired of being here. She felt trapped. There was hostility rolling off of her before we left. I know I should have mentioned it, but I figured it was just because Emmett was bugging her," Jasper confessed.

"I was not bugging her!" Emmett shouted.

"Emmett, you sat there for an hour trying to see how red you could make her blush. I thought she was going to pass out from all the blood rushing to her face."

In Emmett's mind I could see him sitting in the living room with Bella, talking to her about things, trying to make her cheeks turn that lovely scarlet color. Apparently he found it amusing.

"She was such a funny little human. And her face looked ridiculous when it turned that color," he confessed. I laughed a little. She was a funny little human. Funny, intriguing, mysterious, beautiful and so sad. I wondered again what was it that made her so sad, that caused her to cry out that way in her sleep. I would never know. There was no reason to go find her again. There was no possible excuse for seeing her again. I had seen what I needed to see. I had figured out that she was doing just fine and was not completely alone. There was nothing left to consider.

After that the discussion dissolved into inanity. We talked about pointless, useless topics that didn't mean a thing. Easy, flowing banter between us filled the room and our family was once again at peace and whole. Alice and Jasper were supposed to go on their honeymoon but apparently Alice had decided she would rather wait and go another time. She hadn't told anyone why, except perhaps Jasper, but he wasn't telling. Neither were her thoughts revealing her motives. It wasn't as though it particularly mattered; I just wasn't fond of her increasing mystery these days. She was becoming more secretive and cryptic than I liked.

It was after a long silence that our family dispersed to do things separately. Carlisle had to go back to work at the hospital. Esme was determined to find a furniture arrangement in her bedroom that she liked, even though she had been trying without success for the past two days. Emmett was going to join Rosalie in their bedroom for something that I chose not to look into. Jasper was already reading a book and Alice looked at me and smiled as I stood up to go hunt.

"I'll come," she said pleasantly. She kissed Jasper's cheek before following my steps toward the door. I sighed. I had wanted a few minutes to myself to think about how to go forward from here. I would not turn Alice away, but I had the feeling I would not get to do much internal musings on this short hunting trip.

We ran in silence into the deepness of the woods, searching out prey. I could have gone deeper and looked for something bigger that offered more of a challenge, but I wasn't up for it. I simply wanted to sate the immediate thirst. Spending the whole night with Bella had been easier than I thought it would be. There were moments when I had to turn away or take a deep gasping breath out of the window to clear my head of her scent. But the longer I stayed near her, the less it hurt me to breath her scent. My throat still burned, my body still ached for her delicious blood, but I found self-control a little easier every minute that ticked by.

After finding something to satiate my hunger I was about to start running back to the house when Alice caught my arm.

"Let's walk," she suggested. I shrugged and we walked back. It was faster than human paced walking, but still seemed unnecessarily slow. After a few silent moments I sighed again.

"Alice, would you please tell me what you came to tell me?" I asked, quite impatient.

"You're wrong, you know," she said softly.

"Wrong about what?"

"To assume that she would run screaming from you if she ever saw you again. It's actually quite to the contrary. She finds you fascinating. Terrifying? A little, but not enough to keep her from figuring you out. Which is, as I am coming to understand, similar to how you feel about her, correct?"

I balked. How could she now such things, not only about Bella, but also about me?

"Alice I don't know what you have seen but―"

"Oh Edward, it wasn't just what I saw. Whenever someone brought up your name her heart would start pounding loud in her chest and her face turned that delightful color that Emmett finds so entertaining. Not to mention the fact that Jasper said that he could feel a sort of…longing in her when someone mentioned you.

"And as for you, I don't know how stupid you think we are, but there was more than curiosity behind that visit you made to her bedroom. Yes, that's right, I saw that. The others might have wondered how if you simply followed her from afar you were able to be so drenched in her scent, but no one will ask. But the truth is, even though you found out what you set out to find, you couldn't just leave her, could you? Not after she asked you to stay."

"She didn't ask me to stay, Alice. She was talking in her sleep. She had no idea what she was saying," I replied automatically. I was processing the information I was given, still trying to work out how everything was going to fit together. How could I respond to any of that?

"You were going to stay, you know," she stated. My brow furrowed. I was going to what?

"For a while I was getting visions of her waking up and finding you there beside her bed, watching her sleep. You were going to stay. In the end you changed your mind but for a while, you were going to stay. It would have scared her, but she would have thought she was dreaming. She almost didn't believe you were real the first time she saw you, it would only to stand to reason you would have been fantasy then. She would have reached out and touched your face…"

Her eyes became far away again, as though she was having a vision, but I knew she was only remembering one. I let it slide into my mind as Alice intended it to and watched as the scene unfolded.

Bella's face was shocked. She couldn't believe I was here. She didn't think I was real.

"Dreaming," she muttered as she sat up, still staring at me. Her trembling hand reached up in my direction. She was shaking as her fingertips brushed my cheek. She recoiled instantly. I was real. Her mouth opened to say something and from there the vision faded.

"That was the last vision I had before you changed your mind. After that you just decided to leave," she said. I nodded. I was too awed to speak just yet. She would have touched me. It would have been out of curiosity, to prove to herself that I could not possibly be real, but she would have done it just the same. I could not even begin to imagine that. For one, the nearness of her, the sheer solid force her scent would have with her that close would be enough to knock me over. And yet the feel of her skin would be like warm silk. It would be like nothing else. The texture too unique for words, the warmth like a thousand suns, wonderfully burning me.

I wished I had stayed, if only for that one shocked touch. I would gladly have dealt with the repercussions of that choice for the reward of a single second of contact with her. It was not every day that an angel condescended to touch a demon. And now it would not happen. Now things were all different, there would never be another moment for that to occur. I had missed my chance.

"Its not too late you know," Alice told me. I looked over at her.

"If you find her now she wouldn't turn you away. Perhaps apologize for your earlier behavior, bring her flowers. All women like flowers. I think a black rose would be appropriate in this instance."

She grinned at me.

"Are you certain?" I asked, still unsure if this was the best way to proceed. She nodded.

Take a risk for once, Edward. I promise, things wont go as horribly as you always assume they will.

I sighed and then turned and ran. I went past the house, making my way toward town. It was noon, and as cloudy of a day as any of us could hope for. No risk of exposure. I laughed when I thought back to what Alice had told me to do. Apologize and give her flowers, black roses to be exact.

If she hadn't suggested them specifically I would not have suspected that she knew that they were supposed to symbolize, but she must have because she told me they would be 'appropriate'. I didn't know if the local florist would carry them, but if they did I was sure that would be the correct choice of flower if I were to give some to Bella.

Black roses symbolize obsession, specifically that the recipient of the flower is the object of the giver's obsession. It was quite apt.

As I neared the town I had to be careful not to be seen running behind the buildings or through the alleys until I made it to the main road where I could walk and look like any other person taking an afternoon stroll.

I still didn't know how I was supposed to go about this. I knew where her house was, but it might have seemed disturbing if I were to simply show up there without being invited or told where it was. I didn't want her to think I was stalking her, even if I sort of had been. It made me sound like a creep, and I had no intention of seeming like that to Bella.

So I hoped that she would simply be around town today as she had been the night before and I could accidentally run into her. If not I would have to keep trying.

I walked around all day. I tried to act casual and nonchalant all day. I pretended as though I belonged there as I meandered past stores and restaurants. I did not see her. I sighed as the night finally set in, the sun falling below the horizon. There were significantly less people meandering about and I figured that it would seem conspicuous for me to continue to walk around. So I made one stop before going to Bella's.

The florist was about to close. I saw the woman behind the locked door with the sign flipped to close. I knocked politely on the door.

"Sorry, we're closed, you will have to…" her voice faded as she looked up and saw me. I smiled my very best charming smile. She looked quite dazed for a moment.

"I'm sorry to bother you so late, but I was wondering if you could make an exception."

Her mind was frozen. It kicked to life suddenly, flooding me with thoughts of how attractive she thought I was. As her mind processed my request she was already heading over to the door.

"Just this once. But don't tell anyone about this or I will never hear the end of it," she told me, never taking her eyes off me except to unlock the door. She let me in and I thanked her politely, smiling graciously. Her heart was sped up with that single expression.

"Are you looking for something specifically?" she asked quietly. I nodded.

"I was wondering if you carry black roses," I said, gazing about the store. It was filled to the brim with all sorts of flowers. Each of them had a meaning, one that I could recall if I tried. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the woman nod absently.

"Yes we do. How many would you like?"

"Just one please."

She reluctantly turned her back and went in the back of the store to a refrigerator where she kept some other flowers. When she returned she was holding a single black rose in her hand. It wasn't actually black of course, but the red was so deep it was frequently mistaken for black. It looked so perfect as she laid it on the counter and punched a few numbers into the cash register.

"Two dollars and fifty cents," she said. I removed the correctly amount from my wallet and handed it over. In exchange I picked up the rose and examined it. The fragrance of the flower was sweet and subtle. I hoped she would like it.

I walked to her house via back alleys, careful not to be seen as I moved at a lightly faster than human pace. I still felt slow but I knew I was going too fast to be thought normal. As I approached her home I listened hard to see if she was home. I could not rely merely on her scent because her home would be filled with it. I could not hear much, only the gentle rustle of paper. As I drew closer I began to recognize that sound for the turning of pages. Someone was reading a book.

I went to the source of the sound and found Bella sitting in the living room part of her house, turning the pages of a book, scanning the pages in a perfunctory manner before turning them again as though she was looking for something and not reading. Eventually she got frustrated and put the book down. She sighed heavily and leaned back against the plush chair she sat upon, staring up at the ceiling. I sat and watched her for hours, as she sat there alone. She made herself dinner at one point and turned on the radio, though it became clear that she was not actually paying any attention to it. Eventually she turned off the radio and went upstairs, I presumed to go to bed. I heard the shower start. After the shower she did indeed go lie in bed, but she did the same as she had the night before, lying there awake.

After she fell asleep I snuck back into her room. It was a dangerous game I was playing here being so close to her, but I had kept the monster back the night before, there was no reason I could not do it tonight. I sat beside her bed again, waiting to see if she would talk again in her sleep. It was almost an hour before she did, and the words she spoke meant nothing to me. She did not cry in her sleep tonight, neither did her dreams cause her to cry out and beg me to stay. Still though, I could not leave.

As morning approached I felt torn. Would the moment I had seen in Alice's mind occur today if I were to stay? Or had that chance passed already? I sighed and resigned to stick to the first plan I had come up with.

I escaped through her open window again and began walking to the front of her house. On my way I stripped the rose of all its thorns, making sure she would not cut herself. I lay it then on her front stoop about a foot from the door so she would not step on it. The newspaper was there beside it, making the startling color stand out even more.

Then I waited.

It was almost an hour before Bella awoke. It was almost fifteen minutes more before she came downstairs. I would have been watching what she was doing but I was waiting in my concealed spot just on the edge of the woods to the right of her house. It gave me a perfect view of the front stoop and eventually of Bella when she found my rose.

If I had a functioning heart it would have been pounding in anticipation. I couldn't wait any longer. I was tempted to just burst in her house and hand her the damn rose if she didn't come outside soon. And then the sound of the door unlocking came to my ears. I held my breath, not to keep her scent from assaulting me but because I was keeping myself from crying out and giving myself away hen she saw what I had left her.

She stepped outside and I could already see the puzzled expression on her face. She bent over and retrieved the paper without looking at it, and at the same time picked up the rose. She stared at it intensely for a long moment before smiling slightly. She looked around, as though expecting the giver of such a gift to appear and claim the credit.

Not yet. I could not approach her yet.

But soon.