Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

A/N: Sorry for the delay again, guys. Life is just really crazy and writing has taken a backseat. I'm trying my best though, so just bear with me.


Say It Ain't So

- 6 -

Emmett POV

Time passed slowly as everyone thought about the depth of Edward's words. It made perfect sense to me; I didn't understand why everyone was having such difficulty with this.

Well, that's not exactly the truth. I knew why Bella was having such a hard time.

Edward had not only broken her heart but taken it with him when he left. And now he was back. For her. But did that mean he wanted her back? He hadn't said it in those words exactly, but there existed no dynamic within our group where Edward and Bella weren't together. It wouldn't work.

If Bella didn't take him back, then our group couldn't expand to include Edward. Was that the holdup? Was everyone worried that Bella would turn him down? Or did they just not want Edward around anymore?

Rose was mad. I knew my wife well enough to realize this wasn't just about Bella for her. Of course, she was angry that Edward had treated the Bella the way he did, but there was more to it. Rosalie felt personally betrayed that Edward would take the existence our friendship, the well-being of our family, and throw it out the window like it didn't matter to him anymore. She wasn't just worried that Bella wouldn't accept Edward's apology; Rosalie didn't know if she could forgive him, too.

Bella's eyes were on Edward, just like his were on her. They were only vaguely aware of the rest of us, only enough to know they couldn't speak freely. They needed to speak privately. But were they ready? Bella's eyes were on fire. Misunderstanding and resentment flashed through the deep brown and her cheeks with flushed with anger.

I wasn't worried that she wouldn't take him back. They belonged together – of course, it would work out. I was worried that Bella wouldn't say the right thing. Edward had hurt her and after five years, she still carried that hurt with her. Knowing her as well as I did, I knew she wanted to make him hurt as much as she did. She couldn't allow him to think what had been done didn't matter. But would Edward take her back after all was said and done?

He didn't deserve the punishment. He shouldn't have to repay his debts to us forever. We needed to forgive him and move on. After all, he belonged here, with us. Simple as that. Easy as pie.

Pie.

I was hungry. Mexican Monday had been postponed. Indefinitely, it seemed. My stomach rumbled at the thought of what I should have been eating at that exact to me, Rosalie shut me death glare.

Apparently, I wasn't supposed to be thinking about food at a time like this.

I shrugged, offering a bit of a pout, hoping my beautiful wife would take pity on me. She rolled her eyes, officially giving my permission to be hungry.

Perfect.

I looked around the room and wondered if anyone else was hungry. They were all still staring at each other. And by that, I mean Bella and Edward were still staring at each other. Rosalie was watching them, looking back and forth between the two, curious as to who would break first. Alice had her eyes closed and was leaning back against Jasper, who's head was titled back. His eyes focused on circular movements of the wooden fan above us, as though he was trying to lose himself in it. He could have been sleeping though; I probably wouldn't have known the difference.

We weren't getting anywhere.

Suddenly, I had the solution.

"Who's hungry?" I asked, standing up. Rose immediately tugged against my hand. I squeezed hers gently, asking her to trust me, before I let go. Her hand fluttered back to her lap and her eyes never left me. She was wary. "Come on, Edward; let's go pick something up for everyone."

At first, it didn't even look like my words had registered to anyone besides Rosalie. But then, Bella's eyes dropped and sat back against the couch, mimicking Jasper. Silently, Edward stood and followed me out of the apartment.

Neither of us spoke until we were out of the building and crossing the street at the next block.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"Tijuana Ranchero," I answered as we climbed the stairs to the L station.

Not another word for the next twenty-five minutes, while we switched lines twice and walked the remaining few blocks to the restaurant. Once inside, I led Edward to a private table towards the back.

The manager immediately saw me and made started on his way over to our table. I caught his eye over Edward's shoulder and shook my head roughly. I held up two fingers and watched as he walked back towards the kitchen. He said something to one of his employees, who then went behind the bar. She grabbed two bottles of beer from the cooler underneath and cracked the caps off.

Neither of us said a word as she brought the drinks to us and set them on the table. She opened her mouth, I'm sure to ask if I wanted the regular order, but before she could utter a word, I shook my head again.

I took a long draw then watched Edward do the same.

"It's Mexican Monday," I said.

"Excuse me?"

"Mexican Monday," I repeated. "Every Monday that we've been in Chicago, we've come here. Even though we weren't going to be coming here tonight, it was going to be our first Mexican Monday after the summer. Rose and I were going to have everyone over for Mexican."

"Congratulations," Edward said. "On your marriage. I never got the say that before. I'm sorry I couldn't be there."

"You don't have to apologize, Edward. As great as it would have been to have you there, I understand that you weren't ready to come home."

"And thank you for today, too. For forgiving me so easily." These words were hard for him to say; he looked down and studied the table while speaking. He took another sip of his beer before looking at me.

"There was never anything to forgive you for. Sure, I wished you'd hung around, but you were only doing what you thought you needed to do. You could have handled things better, but you were young – you didn't know any better."

"When did you get to be so smart?"

"It's been five years, Ed. Didn't think I could mature in your absence?" I watched as annoyance flashed through his face. "Still hate that name? Some things never changed."

Just like that, we'd reverted back to our old roles. We shared a laugh before polishing off our drinks. Like magic, two new ones appeared in front of us, courtesy of the waitress.

Edward let out a long sigh as he picked up the full bottle. "I doubt everyone's going to be as understanding as you."

"Well, not everyone's as awesome as me," I said, very seriously. It was true.

"Good to know your ego has grown over the years." Edward sat forward in his chair. His elbows hung in the air as the edge of the table dug into the fabric covering his forearms. His fingers interlocked around the brown longneck.

I could have continued to joke with him, but I knew it wasn't going to help the situation any.

"You know why I brought you with me, right?" I asked.

"Because you want to prolong the inevitable."

"What's the inevitable?"

"Bella's not going to forgive me. She's going to ask me to leave – no, tell me. She's going to tell me to leave."

"Stop being so cynical. You don't know that's going to happen."

"What reason does she have to forgive me? It's taken me five years to forgive myself and swallow my pride." He was raising his voice, but luckily we were tucked in the back corner and no one was paying us any attention. He paused a moment before quietly adding, "I'm not exactly making this easy for her. I don't know how to make this easy for her."

"Edward, there's nothing more you can do. You made your case. Now you've just got to wait. But you need to let her think about it. You couldn't expect to have an answer right away; I knew you wanted one. If you sat there staring at her any longer, she was going to tell you to get lost. Give her time," I instructed.

"It's been five years – five years! It's hell knowing she's so close but I can't do anything. And I thought telling her was going to be the hard part."

"What is the hard part?" I asked.

"This. Being here, without her. Being anywhere without her. The entire trip home the only thing I could think of was seeing her again; I never let myself think past that. I knew what I had to do, I knew what I had to say and I knew she what her choices were: take me back or send me on my way. Either way, I would know how she felt. I never thought about this waiting, this suspense. Seeing her and not knowing." He let out another long sigh. "I love her, Emmett."

"I know you do. You never stopped." My voice was abrasive, accusing him for what he said all those years ago. I forgave him, but I still didn't understand why he'd lied.

"I thought I could, I thought I could convince myself that I'd moved on. As the years went on, it did become easier, but only because I was numb to everything around me. And then…" His voiced trailed off and my eyes filled with water. He rubbed at them roughly, scrubbing over his entire face, then ran his fingers through his hair, pulling roughly at the ends. "And then, I wasn't."

Something happened. There was a reason he was here now. He wasn't the same anymore.

"I can't survive without her, Em. What am I suppose to do if she says 'no'?" He didn't fight the tears this time, and only one managed to break free. It raced down his cheek and he made no move to brush it away.

"You said it before: this is your home. So you stay here and you wait. You wait until she's ready," I said adamantly. I wasn't letting Edward walk away again.

"What if she's never ready? What if she doesn't want to be ready? What if I can't undo what I did? This is all my fault."

I hit my fist against the table, successfully pulling Edward out of his daze. "First off, stop. Just stop. Don't let the waiting kill you. Thinking about every 'what if' isn't going to get you anything except a headache and broken heart. But you need to tell her this. Explaining where you've been the past five years is great, but you need to tell her how you feel."

"She won't let me."

"Yes, she will. This is a lot to take in; she needs time to wrap her head around it. But you need to tell her you love her, Edward. You need to tell her you never stopped. And she needs to believe you. She wants to believe you, but the truth is when you told her you didn't love her, you broke her. She's been thinking that your entire relationship was a lie. You need to convince her that it wasn't."

"I don't know how – wait, what? When did I say I didn't love her?" he asked, setting down his beer and staring me down.

"That night in the car, when you told her you were leaving."

"She said I told her that I didn't love her?" he asked. His eyes were wide and angry.

"She didn't say anything. She never told us anything about that night. Actually, she's never talked about any of it," I explained.

"Then how do you know what I said?"

"Because I was there, outside the car. I was going to sneak up on you but then I heard her yelling and saw you. You were just sitting there, taking it. You wouldn't even look at her! Then you told her you didn't love her anymore." How could he not remember that night? It was burned in my brain and I hadn't even meant to be a part of it.

"That's not what I said! I could never say that to Bella; I could never lie about my love for her." He pushed himself away from the table and looked away, disgusted. "Is that why everyone hates me so much? Because they thought I told Bella I didn't love her?"

"The words are irrelevant. What matters is that you lied to her. They're angry because you lied."

"I never lied to her. I would never, could never. You have to believe that." His green eyes bore into me and showed nothing but sincerity.

"Then what did you say?" Now I knew how Bella felt; that everything I'd thought for the past five years had been a lie.

"That I couldn't love her. I told her I couldn't love her anymore, because that was the truth. I was leaving, I wasn't right for her. She needed somebody who could be there for her. It was breaking my heart to leave her and I knew she was going to hate me for going. But I couldn't go on loving her, knowing that she wouldn't ever love me again. I couldn't allow myself to love her – not when it was only going to bring so much pain. I couldn't look at her because I wouldn't have been able to handle seeing the pain I was causing her. It was bad enough hearing it in her voice, hearing it in her cries. I let her yell at me because I deserved. I just didn't know I wouldn't be able to stop loving her."

He couldn't love her? Not he didn't love her? Was there a difference?

"Did you explain that to her?"

Edward shrugged. "I thought so."

"Oh, god. Edward, I'm so sorry. I thought I heard you say you didn't love her. And I ran upstairs and told everyone, and – I'm so sorry. I never meant for it to get out of hand." I couldn't believe I was the reason for all the turmoil. If they all just understood what had really happened, then maybe no one would be this angry. But Bella had never corrected our anger. She knew we were mad at him for leaving, for hurting her – didn't she? Why hadn't she ever said anything about him, about that night?

"It's not your fault, Emmett. And it doesn't matter. It doesn't change the fact that I left, that I hurt her – that I hurt all of you. You should all be angry with me. I'll never blame you for hating me."

"We don't hate you. We just didn't know what to think. We didn't understand how you could just leave like that. But now I know, you were being so selfless. You were –"

"Selfless?" he laughed. "More like selfish. I was leaving to go do exactly what I wanted. I made the decision all on my own and didn't consult any of you. I barely even said goodbye, Emmett. I was a coward; I'm sorry."

"Like I said before," I said, flashing him a smile, complete with a dimple, "you never had anything to apologize for."

"Well I owe it to the rest, then," he said, giving me his own crooked grin.

"What do you say we get out of here then so you can tell them and get your girl back?"

Edward nodded as I stood up and told the manager I'd take the usual order along with a few other dishes. There would have been plenty of food for the six of us with our regular assortment, but my hunger had only expanded as I'd drank and talked to Edward.

It was time to dig in.

A/N: Bella's up next! But first, tell me what you thought. Did you love it? Hate it?