A/N: Thank you for all the reviews on the last chapter, it's lovely to see so many nice words. Thanks also to Astro for her valiant use of the yellow highlighter tool.

I'm hoping to post links to teasers for future chapters on my Twitter, the link for which can be found on my profile. I'd love it if you said hello.

I hope you enjoy.

There's a lipstick stain on the mirror in the bedroom, and today I do nothing but lie in bed and stare at it. It seems so stupid, so inconsequential, but it's as if that smudge is a part of you and I've lost too many of those to willingly wipe one away. I trace that mark with my eyes until they burn, and when I close them the image of blush-pink gloss on your lips is tattooed onto the backs of my eyelids. There's a flashbulb memory, a perfect picture of you smiling and laughing as I tried to wipe the sticky shine of it from my cheek, and no matter which way I turn I can't outrun it. The blanket over me tangles with my body until I'm trapped in more ways than one, and I give myself over to the pain that causes my body to fold. I curl into a ball, twisted into a comforter you picked out, and as the salt of tears reaches the crack in my lips I know nightmares don't only happen when you're asleep.

**DB**

Dear Bella,

Our makeshift prom used to be one of my favorite memories but now it pulls on the string connecting my stomach and throat, emptying one and clogging the other. I wasn't surprised when you expressed no desire to go to the Forks High Prom given that you'd never shown an interest in any of the dances before, though there was a part of me that thought Prom would be different. It wasn't, though – or at least I didn't think it was, until I saw the wistful furrow of your eyebrows whenever Alice spoke about her dress. I realized that you didn't want to go to the school's event but you didn't want to miss out either, and that's when the idea of a prom just for you came to mind.

It took a lot of begging my mom for help before anything began to take hold, and it took me having to explain to your dad what my plan was before he'd agree to let me see any of your clothes to check for a size. The twitch in his moustache wasn't much, but it was enough to let me know I was doing a good thing for you. I made secret plans and covert trips to buy everything I'd need, trying to act like I didn't hear the pleading tone in your voice when you asked if I thought Prom was a rite of passage.

I turned up on your doorstep on the evening of the dance wearing a suit that was too long in the arms and too big around the middle, and when you opened your door with reddened eyes I felt as small as the blazer made me seem. You were excited even though you tried to tamp it down, and all the planning was almost worth it as you saw the peach lace of the dress I'd picked out for you to wear. I can still feel the tense set of my muscles and the endless racing of my heart as you stopped directly over the threshold to the garden, the back of your head giving me no clues as to your thoughts as you took in all I'd done.

The streamers began to look like cheap tissue paper the longer you were silent, the fairy lights I'd woven through tree branches seeming just a little duller. You finally turned around just as the black fist of anxiety grabbed a hold of my stomach, the shine of your eyes and the round bead of a tear near your mouth making it clench that much harder until I could barely breathe.

The smile that came next made me breathless for a whole other reason, liquid relief spreading warm through my limbs. Your eyes were closed as we danced, as though you trusted me to lead. Your face was wet when you laid it against my chest, and it didn't take long until mine was too as you told me you loved me for the first time. Swaying slowly on uneven grass, I wrapped my body around yours just as you'd wrapped yourself around my heart.

I thought I knew love then, but it's nothing compared to how much I love you now. Even after everything, even as I sit at a desk writing memories of a life that barely feels like my own anymore, I love you. I just wish all the tears I made you cry had only ever been happy ones.

Yours, always,

Edward

A/N: Please let me know what you think.