Disclaimer: Not that it will come as a surprise to anyone reading this, but Twilight and it's characters do not belong to me, Stephanie Meyer is the only one that can make that claim. I just like to play in the wonderful universe she created.

As always, thanks to my betas Im2xshy and Kzintikiller for their invaluable support and input. I never would have posted this story if not for them. They also both write awesome fan fiction stories of their own in the Twilight universe so please look them up here on this site and check them out. You won't be disappointed.

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who added me and my story to their alerts and left me reviews. As long as you don't have your private messaging feature disabled and this website cooperates, I've been trying to reply to all the reviews as quickly as I can. The response you've given this story has been amazing and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it.

At the end of the last chapter, Edward and Carlisle had discussed Bella's condition and Edward was determined to tell her just how much she was wanted.

Oh, and there are a couple of things I'd like to mention before you head down below to read this chapter.

First, as you will probably notice, small parts of the dialog coming out of Edward's mouth in this chapter are straight out of New Moon. I did that to help weave this story and canon together a bit.

Second, we really get to see inside Bella's head for the first time in this chapter, but there's a twist to things that may have you scratching your heads and going, huh? I will explain more at the end of the chapter, but I hope this twist doesn't send you all running for the hills (don't worry, nothing violent or anything like that, just a different take on something that happened in New Moon).

Okay, I'll stop obsessing now and let you read.

Chapter 7

EDWARD

Rose and Alice caught up with me at the top of the stairs . "Edward, wait," Alice said.

Rose reached out and snagged my arm. "Edward, we think you should hunt first before you see Bella again. Especially if you want to see her alone. We can tell you haven't hunted much, if at all, in weeks."

"I'm fine," I said pulling my arm from her grasp.

"No, you're not fine," Alice put in. "We're not blind. You're starving yourself just like Bella is. You can hardly expect her to eat when it's plain to see you're not either."

"The two things are not related," I said defensively.

"The hell they're not," Rose argued, her eyes flat. "The only difference is Bella won't try and attack you like a shark attacks chum in the water."

I looked at both of them. "I've never been more in control of that part of my nature than I am right now. There will be time for me to hunt later. Right now I have to focus on Bella."

"At least let one of us go in there with you," Alice suggested.

"No, I want to see her alone," I said determinedly, then narrowed my eyes at Alice. "Unless you've seen something?"

"No," she hesitated. "It's just that you might not be thinking it now so I wouldn't see it, but what if you go in there and you smell her and it sets you off?"

"I didn't have any trouble last night," I pointed out.

"Well, you do have a point there, I guess," she agreed reluctantly.

I could see what Carlisle meant about them being protective of Bella. As annoying as it was, I could still appreciate them trying to watch over her. "I swear to you both, I will not hurt her."

Of the two of them Rose looked the most hesitant, but I think she could see that she didn't really have any recourse to stop me from seeing Bella. And maybe, just maybe, part of her acknowledged that I was the best hope for getting back the Bella we all knew and loved.

"We're going to be right outside the door," Rose said. "If we hear anything weird, or Alice sees something, we're coming in."

I nodded. "Fair enough."

The three of us walked down the hall to Bella's room. I didn't even glance back at them as I opened the door and stepped inside. Closing the door behind me, I realized that I was suddenly very nervous. What should I say to Bella... what COULD I say to her? I had no defense against what I'd done, no way to undo or change what she'd suffered because of my harsh words and foolish decisions.

If I hadn't been watching, even with my vampire senses, I would have missed it. Bella had been watching me in the reflection of the window. So that's how she was able to hide many of her reactions from the rest of the family, she didn't need to turn around or move anything but her eyes. She could see what she needed to in the reflection of the window and act accordingly. The reflection was very pale, but I was surprised no one had noticed that before now. The tiniest of gasps passed her lips and in the second our eyes met in the reflection, hers eyes darted away. Then the face in the window was blank again. The only thing that gave her away now was the fact that her heart was racing. Given Carlisle's comment about never hearing her heartbeat or breathing change, apparently that was something new.

Oh, yes, Rose was right. Bella was definitely in there. Now the problem became how to get her to come out.

Perhaps the best thing to do was start with something easy. "Hello, Bella."

There was no response, not that I really expected any. I supposed that would have been too easy. Not quite sure of what to try next, I merely stood there and allowed myself the luxury of watching her and being in her presence for a few moments.

Wearing jeans, a t-shirt and a hoodie, her hair was still damp from her shower. The smell of her strawberry shampoo and her unique freesia scent filled the room. For me, it was the scent of home. As it had last night, the scent made my throat burn, but even in my underfed condition I had no problem controlling it.

Seeing her again, was both pleasure and pain for me. While it was wonderful to see her alive and to be able to drink in the sight and scent of her, the fact that she wasn't rushing to me and was so broken, all because of me, caused a wrenching pain inside me.

I heard her heartbeat slow slightly as she processed my presence and brought herself back under control, but it was still beating faster than normal. Studying her, I felt renewed concern over how very thin she was. She'd lost so much weight that her body looked tiny and frail. Her clothes all but swam on her and she was dwarfed by the large leather chair. Her reflected image looked ghostly in the window, making the dark circles under her eyes appear that much more noticeable.

Slowly, so as not to scare or startle her, I walked over and knelt down beside her chair. I kept my voice soft and gentle when I spoke. "Bella?" There was no flicker of acknowledgement. "Could you please look at me?"

Still no response.

Gently, I reached a finger out to move the hair back from her face. Her heart accelerated again and my stomach dropped when she recoiled away from me to huddle silently against the far side of the chair. As I suspected, this was not going to be easy.

Maybe if I just talked and she listened I could get through to her. She always used to say she liked the sound of my voice.

"I owe you an apology, Bella." I sighed. "No, of course I owe you much, much more than that. But you have to know that I had no idea my leaving would affect you so deeply or that you might be physically harmed."

Frustrated that she still wasn't responding, I dragged a hand through my hair and I wished for the hundredth time that I could see into her mind.

"I only left because I wanted you to have a chance at a normal, happy life," I continued. "I could see what I was doing to you – keeping you constantly on the edge of danger, so I had to try. I had to do something, and it seemed like leaving was the only way. If I hadn't thought you would be better off, I could have never made myself leave."

I moved around so I was kneeling in front of her. "I lied to you that day in the forest, Bella, I know it was unforgiveable, but I had to. You weren't going to let me go. I could see that. Lying to you was the only way I thought I could get you to let me go. I didn't want to do it – it felt like it would kill me to do it – but I knew that if I couldn't convince you that I didn't love you anymore, it would take you just that much longer to get on with your life. Now I see how wrong I was. My leaving didn't do you any good at all. I'm sorry that I lied, sorry that my leaving was a worthless effort. Sorry that I lied to save you and I almost killed you."

I took a breath and hoped she would hear what I said next if nothing else. "But never, not for one moment, did I leave because I didn't love you or want you. Of course, I love you, I've always loved you and I will love you as long as I exist. I was thinking of you, seeing your face in my mind, every second that I was away."

There had still been no reaction from her. Her body was turned slightly away from me so I reached out to lay my hands on her arms to gently turn her in my direction, perhaps even get her to LOOK at me so that she would see the truth in my eyes.

The moment my hands touched her arms, I finally got a reaction. The only problem was, it was so shocking it took a moment for me to process it. She began to flail her arms, swinging out wildly, the only sound she made was something between a grunt and a whimper.

The panicked sound of it was like a knife through my silent heart.

Then I realized she wasn't trying to hit me, she was only trying to get me to let go of her and I remembered what Alice said about her not wanting to be touched. If I'd been human, the brace she was wearing on her broken arm could have done some damage, but her blows were nothing to me. While I could have held onto her, I would have had to tighten my grip on her and the last thing I wanted to do was cause her further injury or pain. Worried that she might also hurt herself or further injure her broken arm or her ribs if she didn't stop, I instantly let go.

"I'm sorry, Bella," I said sitting back so she would feel a bit of space between us. I felt a prickling sensation in my eyes and a tightness in my throat and chest that told me if I retained the ability to shed tears, I would be doing so now.

Still whimpering slightly, chest heaving, Bella pressed herself deeper into the chair and curled her uninjured arm around her chest. I cursed myself; from the way her breath was heaving, her still healing ribs must be hurting her.

Rose and Alice picked that moment to charge into the room. They saw me sitting on the floor with Bella huddled in the chair. I was relieved to see that her breathing had begun to slow and the whimpering had finally stopped.

"What did you do?" Rose demanded silently.

I didn't respond to Rose. Instead, I continued to look at Bella, who in turn continued to look blankly off to her right.

"You just couldn't help yourself could you?" Rose's mind snapped. "You had to upset her."

Well, at least I got a response, I thought miserably, but I didn't say it.

"I hope you know how lucky you were, Edward," Alice's mind said to me.

"Why?" I asked quietly enough that Bella wouldn't hear me.

Alice's expression was grim. "I had a vision of the way you held onto her arms. Normally, she starts screaming when we try and touch her like that."

The idea that Bella might start screaming because of something I did was another punch to my chest. I don't know what I would have done if she'd actually started screaming. I probably would have started screaming right along with her.

"Edward? Can we see you out in the hall?" Rose thought. It sounded more like a demand than a request.

I didn't want to go. Even if we remained in our current positions and did not speak, all I wanted to do was stay with Bella. I knew that if I just stayed with her long enough, I could somehow reach her. But at the moment, I had the feeling that Alice and Rose would fight me on that and I didn't want a scene that might further upset her.

Silently, I stood up and started for the door. I was halfway across the room when I saw the shocked look on Rose's face. She was staring in Bella's direction. I whipped around to see that Bella had moved to the side of the chair closest to me and now she was looking right at me. Her expression was almost pleading and her hand was outstretched as if she wanted to pull me back.

In that moment, my dead heart almost started beating again. Hope and relief flooded through me at the knowledge that she was in there and I could reach her.

I took two steps toward her. She shrank back into the chair slightly. It was as if she didn't want me to go, but was still hesitant to really acknowledge it.

"Slowly, Edward," Alice chided in my head. "She startles easily."

Carefully, I crossed the remaining distance between us until I was standing next to the chair. The hand she'd had outstretched had moved to wrap around her middle again, but I took it as a good sign that she continued to look up at me. There wasn't much in her expression though; she merely watched me. I didn't want to break the fragile beginning we had apparently developed, so I didn't risk trying to touch her again.

Since I currently had her full attention, I tried to make the most of my words. "I'm just going to step out in the hall to talk to Rose and Alice and then I'll be back. I'm not leaving you, Bella. I won't touch you again if you don't want me to, but I'm never leaving you again. And if it takes the rest of eternity to convince you of that and for you to speak to me again, then that's how long I'll sit with you and wait." I tried to make her smile. "But you should remember that I can wait a lot longer than you can."

Of course, she didn't smile and only continued to look up at me. After staring at her a moment longer, I reluctantly followed Alice and Rose out into the hall.

BELLA

As soon as the door closed behind Edward, I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding. Why was he here? As if it wasn't hard enough to be around his family, now I had to face seeing him too.

"But isn't that what you wanted?" the voice flashed into my head and I looked up to see him leaning against the window.

I studied him for a moment. He looked good. But then he always looked good. Perfect even. However, every time I saw him I found myself a little surprised that he wasn't more dressed up. Not that I minded. In bare feet, tight jeans and a simple grey t-shirt he still looked positively edible. It just seemed to me that my hallucinations of Edward should be better dressed.

"Well?" he teased. Amusement danced in his green eyes. Yes, my 'mental' Edward had green eyes, so sue me. "Hello? Anyone in there?"

"You would know better than I would, wouldn't you?" I replied. "You're the one in my head."

"Touché," he said. "But you still didn't answer my question."

I mentally sighed. I started having these internal conversations with 'mental' Edward when I was in the hospital. He'd become my therapist of sorts since I couldn't actually talk to the doctors there about the situation with the real Edward. It was a little hard to explain, but there was nothing romantic between us. I had no problem separating him from my sparkly, blood-thirsty, stupid-Volvo-driving, love-of-my-life and vampire ex-boyfriend, Edward Cullen. This Edward was just a friend and a confidant. I felt about him how I imagined I might have felt about Edward's biological brother if he'd had one.

Despite the fact that he looked like Edward, I called him 'Anthony' because it hurt less than calling him Edward and it helped to keep things straight in my head. When I first started seeing him I worried that I had gone completely crazy, but I calmed down a little when I realized that I was fully aware that he was just a hallucination in my own head. Wasn't there some old saying about the fact that if you THOUGHT you were crazy you probably weren't? Truly crazy people usually thought they were perfectly normal. I nearly laughed at that one. I was nowhere near 'normal.' I was seventeen shades of screwed up and I knew it. That must make me the sanest person around. A truly scary thought.

Then there was the fact that Anthony's presence was always so comforting to me and I felt safe with him... well except when the monster had come for me in the hospital. The monster who had hurt me. Anthony had been there in the room with me, yelling at him, but he had been powerless to stop him.

Well, at least I don't think he stopped the monster. I didn't know what else to call the man... the thing that had attacked me in the hospital. I didn't even know his name or if I had, I'd forgotten it. Much of my time in the hospital was a blurry jumble to me so I don't really know who or what saved me. One moment, the monster was there hurting me and Anthony was doing what he could to watch over me and then I was here... with the Cullens. Maybe they saved me, but I honestly didn't know.

Sometimes, the holes in my memory felt like big empty spaces that were large enough to sail the Titanic through and then other times they felt like mental land mines waiting to go off if I poked at them too hard.

"Ah, hem..." Anthony prompted.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, what was the question again?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes in exasperation. "You wanted Edward here, didn't you? That's been your wish ever since he left, right?" For some reason Edward's name never hurt when it came out of Anthony's mouth. "So now you've got him. He's right outside. Why don't you just run into his arms like they do in the movies? Nightmare over, fairytale back on."

Actually I wanted to do just that. More than I'd ever wanted anything. The gaping hole that had existed in my chest for the past few months was much smaller now, but it was still there. I knew it wouldn't close completely until I opened myself up to Edward again. Unfortunately, my own fear and insecurities wouldn't allow me to do that.

"Oh, be serious," I replied.

"I am being serious," he said. "What's the problem?"

"The problem is he's here for the same reason that the rest of them are here, because he feels guilty," I told him. "In fact, they probably called him because they finally figured out how screwed up I am and didn't think they could get through to me any other way."

Anthony considered that. "I don't know; he seemed pretty sincere when he said he loved you and was sorry for lying to you and leaving you."

I snorted. "Edward can be a good actor when he needs to be."

"Oh, I get it. You think he's a liar and a jerk," he said matter-of-factly.

"No, of course not!" I yelled... or at least as much as I could yell inside my own head. "He's not like that at all. He's got a good heart and a good soul."

"If he's so great, then why did he leave you?"

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. "How many times do we have to go over this? It's not his fault. It's me. It was my fault. I wasn't enough for him."

"So are you saying he never loved you at all?" Anthony asked.

"No..." I said slowly. "I think he did love me in the beginning. He just got tired of me and... moved on."

He snorted. "You're still not giving me much reason to like the guy."

"I don't care if you like him or not. Just don't say anything bad about him," I snapped.

"Hey, I'm not the one who said he was a good actor," he pointed out.

"I wasn't saying that as a bad thing, I was just... making an observation," I replied. "He's had to learn how to do that to protect himself and his family. I don't hold it against him."

Anthony was quiet for a long moment, his expression softening. "Well, if he's such a good guy, maybe you should try talking to him. You know, just to really make sure he was just 'acting' when he said those things to you a few minutes ago about why he lied to you and left you in the forest. I mean you definitely wouldn't want to find out that he was lying to you before and is telling the truth NOW."

I knew Anthony was trying to use some kind of reverse psychology on me, but I couldn't - wouldn't - let myself dwell on the possibility that Edward was telling the truth now. If I did, I'd start hoping again and hope wasn't really a luxury I could afford anymore. I shook my head.

"No, I can't talk to him any more than I can talk to the rest of his family. It's bad enough that I slipped up in front of Rose and Carlisle."

"But you talk to me without any trouble and I'm just a variation of him," he pointed out. "Why won't you talk to him or any of them directly?"

"Because you're in my head," I pointed out. "You can't leave me. He can't say the same, none of them can. If I talk to them, I'll just get attached and eventually they'll leave me again." There was more to it than that, but I wasn't going to open that can of worms, not even with Anthony.

He nodded sagely. "Ah, I see, so we're back to your abandonment issues?"

His comment irritated me to no end. It made me feel like I was being interviewed for some psychological textbook. I glared at him. "When you say we're 'back to them' it implies we actually left them in the first place."

He smirked. "Oooo, someone's feeling feisty today."

I went from irritated to angry. He could make me mad like no one else I knew. I crossed my arms and refused to comment further.

"Oh, so now you're not talking to me either?" he said, his voice was amused rather than concerned. "The list of people you're willing to converse with is getting pretty short, Bella. When you won't even talk to your own hallucination, it might be time to pack it in."

"I'll talk to you when you say something worth commenting on," I said through gritted teeth.

He sat in front of me with his back against the window. "Okay, so you want me to say something worth responding to?" he mused. "Fine. Why don't you tell me whether or not you still love him after all he's put you through?"

"Don't be ridiculous," I said.

"Who's being ridiculous?" he replied. "It's a valid question. After everything that's happened to you since he left, it's not unreasonable to wonder how you feel about him."

I had no trouble answering this question. "My feelings for him will never change. I love him and I'll always love him."

He nodded. "Then I think you owe it to him and yourself to talk things through with him," he said. "If you talk to him long enough, you should be able figure out if he's here's out of guilt or because he really wants to be with you. But either way, at least you'll know for sure."

I was quiet for a long time as I thought about that. "But what if it's door number one?" I asked softly.

"Door number one? What, do I look like Monty Hall?" he teased.

I rolled my eyes. "You pick NOW to be a smart ass? I'm being serious here and you're cracking jokes. I thought you were supposed to be Edward's alter ego, not Emmett's."

"Any alter ego in the storm," he said. "Admit it, I keep you entertained."

"That's one way to put it," I muttered.

"Okay, look. If you figure out that he really is only here out of guilt, then you can go back to not talking to anyone and we can sit here and I'll teach you how to play Bridge," he said.

"I already know how to play Bridge," I grumbled. "Gran taught me how to play a long time ago."

He shrugged. "Then I'll teach you whatever you want."

I watched him, something squeezing my heart almost to the point of pain. "If he really wanted me to be with him, he'd change me."

All the humor faded from Anthony's eyes and he sighed. "Oh, Bella, I know that you see it that way, but it's not that simple for him. You're not the only one with self-esteem issues, remember?"

Now it was my turn to sigh. "I know, he thinks he has no soul and by changing me he thinks he'll take mine away too," I said, repeating the argument Edward always gave me for why he wouldn't change me.

"Yes, exactly," Anthony said. "There's also the fact that he doesn't want to condemn you to an eternity of blood lust."

I was just as tired of this argument as I was of the other one. "But it's my life, my existence... whatever. Don't I get a say? Doesn't he know I would go through anything to be with him forever?" I argued. "As for the question about his soul, I know he has one. An amazing one. Why can't he just see himself like I see him?"

Anthony's green eyes stared back at me. "I imagine he wonders the same thing about you," he said quietly. "You spend all your time thinking you're not good enough. But what if you're more than good enough for him? What if you're everything to him and he really DID leave you because he thought you'd be better off without him?"

I had no real answer for that. Again, I couldn't afford to let myself hope that Anthony might be right. If Edward had left me because he thought I'd be better off without him, then I guess it was sweet and a little amazing in a completely twisted and masochistic sort of way.

"That's not the case," I insisted. "But if it was, I'd want to find a baseball bat and try to beat some sense into his head for thinking that he and I being apart was a good idea."

Anthony grinned. "That's the spirit. Does Edward know you have this violent streak in you?"

"He wouldn't see it as a violent streak. A wooden baseball bat to the head is like a love tap to him."

"I guess you have a point there." He cocked his head at me and smirked. "So are you saying you'd like to give him a love tap?"

"I'm not going there, Anthony," I warned. "He's here because he feels guilty. End of story."

He sighed. "You are so stubborn."

My hallucination looked so honestly disappointed in me, I actually felt guilty. There had to be something twisted about that. Maybe I wasn't so sane after all.

"Okay, fine," I finally relented. "I won't make you any promises, but I'll THINK about talking to him."

He grinned widely. "I knew you'd cave eventually."

"Oh, shut up," I grumbled.

Just then, I heard the door knob turn and in the reflection on the window, I saw the bedroom door open and Edward entered the room again. He was alone now. Rose and Alice were nowhere to be seen and I wondered how far away they were. The two of them and Esme had hovered over me like mother hens since I'd been here. Actually the whole family had been hovering over me since I'd been here, including Carlisle and Emmett. Emmett had done his level best to get me to laugh and he'd looked so hurt when I hadn't responded. I still felt a little bad about that. But what he didn't understand was that I didn't laugh anymore. It hurt too much to laugh... and I didn't mean because of my injured ribs.

The only one I hadn't seen was Jasper and it worried me that my presence here might be too uncomfortable for him and he'd left. Even though I never blamed him for a moment, I was sure he felt badly about his behavior on my birthday. I just hoped that my presence here hadn't driven a wedge between him and Alice.

"Speak of the devil," Anthony mumbled regarding Edward's presence.

"Knock it off," I admonished.

"Oh, calm down," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "We're inside your head so we're safe. He can't hear you and if he can't hear you, he REALLY can't hear me."

Still watching Edward's reflection, his eyes met mine in the glass. I knew he'd seen me watching him in the reflection earlier so it seemed a little pointless for me to try and hide it now. He crossed the room and sat down by the window, right next to where Anthony was already sitting. Any closer and he would have been sitting on top of Anthony. With the two of them sitting together like that, they really did look like twins.

My eyes looked at Anthony as he leaned in to study Edward for a moment. "Hmmm, he is good looking, I will give him that. If you like that underfed vampire look."

"Underfed?" I said.

"Sure. Just look at him," Anthony said. "He doesn't look like he's hunted in a longtime."

I shifted my gaze back to Edward again. He did look underfed. VERY underfed. His eyes were black and the shadows under them were huge and a deeper purple than I'd ever seen them. In light of that, I was a little surprised that Edward looked so calm and relaxed as he looked up at me from his spot on the floor.

"See what I mean?" Anthony softly.

I nodded. "He looks thinner too," I observed. "I didn't even realize vampires could lose weight."

"You're two of a kind there."

I shot him a glare. "I'll eat when I feel like it."

"Hmmm, I'll bet he said something just like that a couple of times lately too."

"Would you just drop it?" I snapped.

Anthony threw up his hands. "Okay, okay. You don't have to be so touchy."

I didn't want to dwell on the possibility that Edward and I were both basically starving ourselves. I knew why I was doing it, but I couldn't understand what Edward's motivation might be. There had to be another reason behind his gaunt appearance.

I looked back at Edward and I was surprised to see he was staring at me with a rather puzzled expression on his face, as if he was trying to figure out some great mystery.

"Okay, why is he staring at me like that?" I asked Anthony. "It's kind of unnerving."

"Well, my first guess would be that he's doing it because he really missed you over the last few months, but I know you'll just say that's impossible," Anthony replied. "So I'm going to go with my second guess and say it's probably part of his master plan to get you to talk."

"How is staring at me going to get me to talk to him?"

He shrugged. "He probably figures that if he stares at you long enough, you'll have to speak to him when you tell him to knock it off."

"Well, it's not going to work," I said stubbornly as looked at a point above Edward's head.

Not actually looking at Edward didn't do any good. I could still feel his eyes on me. I'd always been able to sense it when he was watching me. My brain, of course, didn't help either when it began to rerun pictures of Edward both before and after he'd left.

When my memory flashed to the night of my birthday party, I suddenly realized that something had been bothering me about the clothes Edward was currently wearing and I finally figured out what it was. Even though my memory of the last few months was spotty, I was pretty sure he was still wearing at least part of the same outfit he'd been wearing that night. They were tattered and a bit dirty but they were definitely the same. Why would he still be wearing that outfit?

A rather unpleasant idea began to take root in my brain. Could it be that his 'distractions' had been so engaging that he'd forgotten to hunt or change clothes?

That idea did not sit well in my stomach.

Anthony's voice brought me back to the present. "So, I have a question."

"You always have a question," I shot back; my voice sharper than was called for.

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Fine, be that way."

I sighed. "What is it?"

"No, never mind," he said, not budging.

"Oh, would just ask me the damn question already?"

"Well, gee, when you put it so nicely, how can I refuse?" he groused.

"Anthony..." I all but whined.

"Okay, fine... I just wanted to know why you smashed the bathroom mirror," he said. "You never did tell me."

Well, that came out of left field. It also wasn't something I wanted to talk about, even with Anthony. "You know, you don't have to ask me questions," I evaded. "You're in my head, you can just root around and find the answer yourself."

"Nah, that would be too easy," he said with a grin. "I like hearing you tell me instead."

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you but I'm not telling you about the thing with the mirror."

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because I don't want talk about it," I told him.

"Why not?" he repeated.

"Oh, my God. What, are you five?" I said. "I'm not talking about it so leave it alone."

"Spoilsport," he grumbled.

"That's me, Miss Spoilsport," I shot back.

"I'm not going to give up, you know."

"Yeah, I know," I muttered. "But I'm not going to tell you, so get used to disappointment."

Slowly, Edward, the real Edward, turned his head turned to the side as if he were going to address Anthony. The idea was crazy, of course, but that's what it looked like. Then he turned back to me.

"Bella? Who are you talking to?"

I froze. Oh, crap. Had he somehow heard me talking to Anthony?

TBC...

So, as I'm sure many of you have figured out, the 'twist' I mentioned at the opening of this chapter was Anthony. In the book version of New Moon, Edward manifests himself as a voice to Bella when she does something dangerous and in the movie version, he manifests himself as an actual visual image. I've just taken that idea and changed it slightly. In my story, Anthony shows up more than just when Bella is going to do something dangerous. He serves as her therapist more than anything else and her discussions with him help to reveal what's going on in her head. When she talks to him, she does not speak out loud in the traditional sense and the conversations go on inside her mind. What she doesn't realize though is that she is unconsciously moving her lips when she talks to him. That is what Edward, Rose and others have noticed when they are watching her. Anthony won't play a huge part in the story, he was kind of a crutch for Bella while Edward was gone but now that Edward's back, Anthony will not be around as much.

Oh, also, for those of you from another country or that are too young to know this, Anthony's comment to Bella about not being 'Monty Hall', refers to the fact that Monty Hall was the host of an old game show called "Let's Make a Deal."

Next week, more of Edward trying to communicate with Bella. Also, Alice has an important vision that has her asking to speak to Carlisle alone so she can ask for his help.