Thanks for commenting guys!! I know I just started posting this today, but that's because I've had this much finished for awhile now. This is the last chapter I have done, so it might be a couple day before I update again. But the more reviews I get... may make it sooner... hmm. :) Anyways, leave comments please! Also, leave any suggestions... things you want to see. Thanks!

Disclaimer... I don't own this. Nor will I ever own this. That thought makes me slightly sad...

School was a blur. I really couldn't focus on anything in any class—English included. We were studying Shakespeare—Romeo and Juliet to be exact—so I think it was a secret blessing that my mind wouldn't stay alert to the information.

But, just because I couldn't focus on the lecture, it didn't mean that my thoughts didn't involunarily stray to the subject.

I flinched internally at the thought of the bittersweet play. Was it really so different from my own life? No. was my immediate answer. And, in the mechanics, it really wasn't. But as I thought more carefully about certain themes all throughout the play, there were some very contrasting differences.

First of all, there really was never an option B for me. While, at one point, Jacob Black—my best friend and werewolf—could have been my very own Paris, that wasn't the case anymore. Since the return of the Cullens and my obvious joy over their homecoming, he hadn't spoken to me. I had betrayed him, hurt him more in those few seconds than I had ever hurt anyone before. But it was more than the fact that he wasn't speaking to me. There truly was never another option, Jake or no Jake. I would really only ever love one. And he was off in Italy now, being "distracted". He was half way around the world, my heart and ability to love with him, whether he knew it or not.

There were other differences, some less important that others, like our family's never hated each other. While Charlie did hate him with every fiber of his being, he did not regard the rest of the family in the same way. He loved Alice, was overjoyed when he heard that Carlisle had returned to work in the hospital, and was even more accepting of Emmet— the most intimidating of the Cullen men by far. The Cullens in return loved me, like I was their very own family. And because of that, they loved Charlie too.

No, that was a fairly trivial difference.

The most important caused a pull on the fault line in my heart, knocking me almost breathless.

Romeo never wanted to leave his new bride, Juliet. He only did it to keep them safe. He wanted her, just as much, if not more than they first day he saw her. She was the love of his life, and no matter how hard it was for him to leave her, he knew he needed to.

Haha. I laughed bitterly to myself. My Romeo had been slightly more selfish. Not that I could ever possibly blame him, no. No matter how much I wanted my pain and my weakness to be his fault, I could never bring myself to blame him. I was, only human, after all. It was only a matter of time before he was bored with me.

Yes, the biggest difference was hard to think of, but here it was. Romeo left Juliet because it was all he could do to protect them. He left, while he secretly would have rather died than stay away from her. He never wanted to be anywhere she wasn't. Even death couldn't separate them.

My mind suddenly flashed back to that day in my living room, watching this very play I was dissecting in my thoughts now. "Well, I wasn't going to live without you." He had said to me that fateful day of my eighteenth birthday. He told me of his little contingency plans, to end his life if he had found me dead in Phoenix.

My sub-conscience raised one question, "Was it the same?"

Bitterly, I thought, "Yes, at that moment it had been the same."

But so much had changed since then. Most of it happening within a few days of that conversation. There were actions, looks, and most importantly, words, that cancelled out all he had told me on that day. He had loved me, of that I was sure. But he was as unpredictable as his mood swings.

At least he hadn't followed through with his plans. It made living easier; knowing he was alive still.

The biggest difference was this: Romeo left when he didn't want to; He left me only because he did want to.

All along, I knew this was true, but I had never consciously formed the thought. The affect made breathing harder.

I struggled to push every thought back somewhere so I didn't have to consciously think about it. I looked up, to see Mike standing in front of me, with a concerned look on his face. It registered with me that the bell had already rang, and everyone had cleared out of the classroom, heading home for the day. Oops.

"Bella, are you OK? You look like you might faint or something." Mike was saying.

I nodded vaguely. "Just thinking, Mike. It's OK. I'm fine." Second lie I told today. It was starting to get easier for me, lying was. That scared me slightly. I had a feeling being good at lying wasn't necessarily a good thing.

"Ok, well, let's go. I'll walk you to your truck."

We walked in silence; slowly I came back to the present situation.

"Thanks, Mike." I said has he handed me back my bag. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Err, OK. See ya." He hesitated, a torn look on his face. I knew that look, and I knew what was coming next. Would he ever stop trying?

I knew the answer to that, as well. And I groaned silently as I braced myself for what he was going to ask.

"Look, Bella, I know you and—well, you know, were serious and everything about…" He paused to gage my reaction. I flinched at his words. "I'm just saying, I don't think he's coming…" He sighed. And I knew what he was getting at.

"Look, Mike, it really doesn't have anything to do with—Edward—" I had to stop. I could tell by his reaction that he didn't believe me. I continued anyways. "I just have always thought of you as a friend. A very good friend, but that's all."

I looked reluctantly at his face to see his reaction. He looked hurt at first, but then strangely hopeful.

"You said you've always thought of me as a friend… but it could change right? You think that now, but you have no idea what you'll be feeling tomorrow."

I sighed. Things like this made me rethink if I even liked him as friend.

I just looked at him for a second, opened my car door and put my bag inside. I turned back and told him goodbye.

I could see him in my rearview mirror, and he looked about as confused as I felt. Would I ever be able to lead the normal life he promised me on that last day? People like Mike, and even Angela seemed simple, along with the trivial problems of normal high school life. Could I really go back to that, after everything that had happened?

"It'll be as if I never existed." His words hit me and knocked me breathless. It had gotten shockingly easier to think about him, but there were still thoughts that made it hard to breathe. His words that day in the forest were something I consciously struggled to forget. Even as I had stood there with him, looking into his stone face that meant the very words he said, I didn't believe him.

I was suddenly angry. "Human memories fade, blah, blah, blah." I thought bitterly. Who was he kidding?! It may have been a truthful statement—for the normal human. But we both knew, I was far from normal.

I sighed. "No," I thought to myself. "I could never go back."

And now that the rest of the Cullen family had returned…

My outlook suddenly became much brighter when I realized that I was heading back to see Alice. I pushed the other painful thoughts from my head. I focused on the story Alice was going to tell me when I got there.

Suspicion crept into my thoughts, unsettling me. Here, alone in my truck, it was much easier to see through her ridiculous logic against telling me what she saw earlier in her bathroom. It had to have been something good. That look in her eyes couldn't be faked.

It could have to do with him, couldn't it? The only thing I could think of think of that could cause that much excitement would be… I gulped. It was getting harder to breathe. But this time, I forced myself to finish the thought.

His return.

I braced myself for the tear on my heart to rip open. Strangely enough, nothing like that happened. Instead a feeling of calm, of, of rightness spread throughout my entire body. Without even hearing confirmation from anyone, I knew that was exactly what her vision had been about.

Then, a sudden wave of stubbornness washed over me. I would force Alice would tell me the truth. I picked up speed in my truck, paying no attention to the whine of protest. I hardened my face; preparing for the fight I was inevitably going to start.

Alice was waiting in the living room, with Esme and Jasper when I arrived at their house. I was deliberately slow with my actions; closing the door with care and taking of my shoes one by one so I could memorize their facial expressions.

"Bella." Esme smiled warmly at me. Did I detect an underlying uncertainty in her eyes? Just as I was about to become suspicious, calm washed over me. Jasper. I sighed. This wasn't going to be easy when I couldn't even trust my own emotions.

"Hi, Emse. Jasper, Alice." I smiled.

Alice jumped up then, by my side before I could blink. "What do you want to do? There's always sometime on T.V. to watch, or maybe we could go shopping! Or, well I know you don't—"

Despite Jasper's best efforts, suspicion flowed through my body like electricity. I was not going to get sidetracked. "Stay focused, Bella." I chanted over and over to myself.

"Alice." My voice was hard, as I was trying to be strong. "I want, no, need to know about your vision." Memories of my epiphany from earlier this afternoon filled my head. I breathed slowly. My voice softened, barely above a whisper. "And please, please, don't lie to me. I don't know if I could handle—" I didn't finish. By the look on everyone's faces, they understood what I knew. I was vaguely annoyed with myself for losing my edge so quickly. I looked down, and I was dimly aware that Carlisle, Rosalie, and Emmett had joined us in the living room.

I composed myself; my breathing finally became more even. It registered with me that my cheeks were wet because I was silently crying. I looked up, into Alice's eyes.

"Bella—"

"Just tell me, Alice."

She stopped, unsure of what to say next. This really annoyed me. Wasn't it obvious to her that I already knew? There was no reason to soften the blow. She didn't have to sugarcoat it—it was already the sweetest news I'd had in months. Not that she would understand that. By the wary look on her face, it was clear she was waiting for me to break down, scream, or run away—some form of irrational human behavior.

I studied everyone else's face. They all had the same look. Reserved; uncertain. Only Rosalie seemed to fighting a battle with some other emotion I couldn't name.

I was shocked when it was her voice that I heard speaking to me.

"Bella, the vision was about him—Edward. He's coming back, here, to Forks. He'll be here tomorrow night."

I tried to look at her, but there was a large black dot right where her face should be. Colors became muted, and I was suddenly aware I was slipping down on to the floor. Even after my sudden revelation this afternoon, it was still unbelievable to hear someone else confirm it.

Then everything went black.