Hope Chapter 6 Love?, a twilight fanfic

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, from the Twilight series are the property of their respective owners, mainly Stephanie Meyer. The original characters and plot are the property of the authors. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.

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Hope

Chapter 6 – Love?

His reaction was not as I thought it would be. Maybe I had been too expectant but I had hoped that Edward would have been glad to see me. But, he turned to the rest of the family with such an angry look on his face it almost scared me. "Which one of you did this to her?" he hissed, glaring at them all before his eyes locked on Alice, "Was it you? I specifically told you all to STAY AWAY" he growled.

Anger began to rise in me, clouding my vision. Edward had every right to be angry at me or at Laurent but he had no right to be angry with his family. They had done nothing but be kind to me and take me in. I saw his movement towards Alice and, before I even realised I had moved, I stood in front of him. His face registered shock that I was there, and then he even looked annoyed at me. Maybe I'd had it wrong; maybe he didn't love me anymore. Why else would he be annoyed to see me. But, regardless, he was not going to hurt his family because of me.

"How dare you?" I whispered, quiet at first but my voice eventually rose in volume. His face showed surprise as I spoke to him. "Your family has done nothing but help me when they found out I hadn't died, so how dare you accuse them of doing this to me. Even if they had done it, I would have been glad because one of them would have actually had the guts to do what you couldn't" His face began to show hurt, and I knew I was probably going too far but I couldn't stop now.

"For your information, our lovely friend Laurent did this to me. Would it help you if I told you he made sure I had nowhere to run? If I told you that he was going to kill me? That the only reason I am here in front of you is because the wolves you hate so much, saved me?" I was sobbing by this point, all the pent up emotion was finally coming out. "Well Edward, you are obviously disappointed to see me here, and so I'll be sure not to outstay my welcome. I'll be gone as soon as I get myself sorted" and with that I ran out of the house.

I ignored the shouts after me, I had to keep running, it was the only thing that was keeping me from breaking down completely. I finally came to rest at a small lake. I had no idea how far I had run or where exactly I was but I couldn't continue anymore. I sank to the floor, sobbing even though the tears wouldn't come. I wrapped my arms around my legs and wondered what I had done to make Edward hate me so much. I had been so sure that he still loved me. I was so sure that everything was going to be ok when I'd seen the Cullen's. How stupid was I to think that I could get my happy ending.

I was startled out of my musings by someone softly calling my name. I turned my head and then I saw him. Edward was watching me warily, a look of sadness on his beautiful face. It hurt so much to think of how much I loved him and yet he didn't return it. I stood on my feet and turned to look at him.

"I'm sorry Edward, I won't be here much longer" I made to move past him when he caught my arm.

"What are you talking about Bella?" he asked a confused look on his face. I tore my eyes away from his, it hurt too much and replied "I know you don't want me here, I'll be gone soon".

I didn't know what happened next but all I heard was his low chuckle and a soft "Oh Bella" and then his lips were on mine. My mind went blank and his kiss invoked feelings I thought I would never feel again. I felt dizzy with lust as his grip on me tightened and he crushed his lips to mine. They were not as I remembered, no longer hard and cold, they were soft and warm. I could match his strength now, there was no reason to be careful anymore, and so I crushed myself to him and let out a small moan of pleasure as our tongues battled for dominance.

And as quickly as it had started, I returned to my senses, I pushed him away from me. His face showed confusion and he let out a "what..." before I started to shout at him.

"What was that Edward? First you leave me. Then I get my hopes up thinking you might still love me, and then I get here and you obviously don't want me here. And then... you kiss me. You can't keep playing with my emotions" I sobbed.

"Oh Bella" he whispered, pulling me to his chest. "I'm so very sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I left because I thought it would be safer for you, I thought you would be able to lead a normal life without all this danger following you everywhere, I guess that worked well, huh?" he chuckled "But Bella, I lied when I said I didn't love you, you are my entire world and leaving you was the hardest thing I ever did" he closed his eyes as though in pain.

"I had hoped" I said softly, "I found the photos and the CD under my floorboards; I had hoped that it meant you couldn't bring yourself to leave me with nothing because you still cared. But I could never understand why you would love plain old me... I think that's what made it so easy to believe".

He pushed me away from his chest at this point, and gripped my forearms roughly, and angry look on his face, "Bella, you have never been plain, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever met. Your compassion for other people gives you the biggest heart I have ever known. If anything I could never understand why you chose to love me"

I crushed myself against him and whispered against his neck "looks like we're stuck with each other then". I felt him smile against my hair and hug me tighter.

"Bella..." he whispered, pushing me away slightly "I need to explain that it wasn't that I didn't want you here when I first saw you. I was angry that you had to go through something like that alone. I was angry at my family because I thought they had gone behind my back, which I have apologised to them for. But I want you to know that there is no way on this earth that I do not want you here. I may have been unwilling to thrust this life upon you back in Forks but now that it's happened, I can't say as I'm upset" he grinned at me, pulling me against him tightly.

I had no idea how long we stood like that, just content to hold each other again, stealing the odd kiss now and then but Edward eventually tugged at my hand, pulling me back towards the house.

"Come on, it's getting late, and although they'll already know what's happened..."

"Alice" we both said together, laughing at each other,

"I'm sure they want to see us" he finished.

We walked back towards the house, slightly faster than human speed, content to just be walking hand in hand, to just be us. As we neared the house we could make out a little pixie shape, hopping from one foot to the other. I pulled Edward to a stop and put my finger to my lip, he grinned back, knowing I wanted to stop and make Alice wait.

"Argh, I know you're stood there watching me, get over here and stop being stupid" Alice shouted.

We both laughed and continued walking around the trees that took us to the back of the house. As soon as we came into sight Alice squealed and launched herself at me. We fell to the floor laughing, and I heard a booming laugh come from inside the house and a rather loud "Alright! Pile on".

We quickly righted ourselves for fear of Emmett actually jumping on us. Alice let go of me but would not move from my side, but that was fine by me. I looked to my best friend on my right, my love on the left and our whole family stood before us and knew things were looking up.

Ok, sorry again that this chapter was late. I've had loads of university work to do and real life really took over for a while!

Just the epilogue to go, which I will try to have out as soon as possible.

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