A/N: I'm so sorry about the late update! This was my last week of school before winter break, so i had a TON of work to do. But now I have all the time in the world to write for the next 2 weeks! Hurray!

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all of its characters.

To any of you that asked me about The Host, and if it gets better, it does. I have to agree with you guys that the first few chapters were extremely confusing and hard to follow, but if you keep reading, it starts to make sense. There's a lot to keep track of, but it eventually all comes together. For those of you that put it down after 100 pages, I'm telling you to pick it back up and read the entire thing. It's one of the best books I've read in a looooong time. Also, I usually can't stand science fiction, but this wasn't really written like a sci-fi book, it just had a sci-fi setting...So if you thought that it would be weird because of the sci-fi factor, you're wrong! So go read! =]

Enough of my rant, and enjoy chapter 7 of my story...


EPOV

I woke up with the sun streaming through the window of my bedroom onto my face. I rolled over to find Bella curled up on her side, snoring lightly. She looked so peaceful, as if there wasn't a trouble in the world. Her face was completely smoothed out in its relaxed state, and suddenly she looked much younger. She looked as though my accident had never happened, and we were still carefree high school seniors.

Assuming she had gotten even less sleep than me these past few days, I decided not to wake her up as I flipped onto my back under the familiar fluffy blue comforters on my old bed. I laid completely still, letting my skin soak up the burning bright sun, and took a deep breath.

Yesterday after making up, Bella and I ate dinner with the family and went to bed early. We didn't speak much for the rest of the night, so I knew we were going to have to talk about some things today; neither of us were mad anymore, but there was still so much to discuss. For one, I wanted to know if I'd been having more flashbacks without realizing it. Also, now that I was done being an immature, stubborn jerk, I needed to know more information about Esme's condition. If my mother had cancer, I wanted to know as much as possible. Lastly, Bella and I probably needed to talk about our relationship, along with my condition. Today was going to be long and stressful, so I rolled over to get a couple more hours of sleep.

***

"Edward."

I felt small, soft hands gently rubbing my back.

"Edward, wake up," I heard Bella sigh, bringing me out of my daze.

I opened my eyes and smiled up at her, stretching my arms and legs out to the sides.

"Morning, sleepyhead." She bent down and kissed my forehead lightly.

"Good morning, Bella."

"Want breakfast? Carlisle made omelettes."

"Mmm yeah, how about I meet you downstairs in a minute?" I needed another second to keep myself in check.

Bella nodded, understanding, and stood up. She walked to the door but stopped and turned to face me, still lying on the bed. "I love you– remember that." She smiled and opened the door.

I sighed. "Always."

Bella walked out and closed the door behind her, and I stretched my limbs as far as they could possibly go. I could feel random joints popping and cracking, and then completely relaxed my entire body. This had become another part of my routine lately. It felt absolutely amazing– I needed that stretching and relaxing like a drug. I took a couple deep breaths, steadying my pulse, and sat up. The room was impossibly bright, bathed in the sunlight shining through the big window that was more like a wall. I blinked my eyes a few times, and walked over to my dresser to find something comfortable to throw on. The past couple weeks, I had found that the easiest way to remember things was by having a routine– this was my morning routine. I lazily shrugged a hoodie over my head and walked downstairs to be enveloped in the scent of breakfast foods.

I walked into the kitchen to find my entire family sitting around and chatting happily. The mood was drastically better in this house today than it was yesterday.

"Morning, Edward," Alice chirped as she closed the fridge door with orange juice in hand.

"Morning," I yawned, still not completely awake. I walked over to Bella and slipped my arm around her waist. She grinned widely up at me and pressed her body closer to mine. "It smells fantastic in here."

Carlisle smiled proudly. "It better– I've been slaving over the stove for two hours making several servings of pancakes and omelettes." He threw a pointed glare at Emmett and we all laughed.

"I'm a growing man, okay?" He complained, chuckling.

"Em, you haven't been able to use that excuse since high school," Rosalie joked, kissing him on the cheek.

"I'm just hungry, then. Are you guys happy?" Emmett grumbled, throwing his hands in the air.

We all laughed again, and went back to eating. Once everyone was finished, they filed out of the kitchen two-by-two to go off on their own. Bella and I were the last ones left, having woken up the latest, and were enjoying our private time together.

I started. "Bella, we should probably talk about some things today..."

She sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right." She looked up from her toast and gave me a half-smile.

"I just don't want to have anything hanging over our heads anymore, you know?"

"No, you're right... So what do you want to talk about first?"

"Well, these past couple days I couldn't get out of my head the thought that maybe I've been having other flashbacks in my dreams."

"I was thinking the same thing, too."

"Really? Okay so I guess I should describe a couple dreams I've been having and you can tell me if they're real or not?"

Bella nodded and took another bite of her toast. "Shoot."

"Hmm, okay, well last night I dreamt that I was swimming in a stream of some sort, and you were there with me. We were talking about grapes?"

She chuckled. "No, that didn't happen. Try another."

"Sometimes I have this one dream where Emmett and I are walking through the front door of our house, and the lights are off, but suddenly the whole family pops up and screams 'surprise'. I remember that every time I have this dream, the house is completely decked out, as if Alice bought an entire party store."

I looked at Bella, who appeared to be thinking this over. "Did we all look younger in this dream?"

"Yeah, maybe a couple years younger, now that you mention it."

Her face lit up. "It was your twenty first birthday party! You had no idea what was going on– Emmett had taken you to a baseball game for the day."

"So wait, it was a flashback?" I felt triumphant.

"I guess so! I mean, that definitely happened." Bella beamed at me, and I happily kissed her cheek. "Tell me another."

"I had this one dream where we were sitting in some dimly lit café, and everyone was speaking French. Then this waiter came and I accidentally ordered heavy cream with sugar. It was disgusting, I think I may have spit it out involuntarily."

Bella smiled, laughing. "Yes! That was in Paris!"

"...I did that?" I mentally slapped myself at the thought of being a stupid American.

She nodded. "It was hilarious. Everyone there was staring at us like we had personally offended all of them."

"I can see why..." I snorted, now elated that I had, in fact, been having flashbacks while I slept.

"Tell me about another dream," Bella urged, looking as excited as I was feeling.

I thought for a second, trying to remember all of the dreams I had been having since the accident. I thought of one particular dream, and blushed minutely. I looked down, hoping that Bella wouldn't notice.

"What?" Damn.

"Nothing, never mind; I'm thinking." I blushed even more.

"Oh, come on, Edward. Obviously it's something."

"Don't worry about it."

"You can't do that! Tell me!" She laughed, swatting playfully at my arm.

"Er..." I hesitated, not wanting to embarrass her with this certain dream.

"I'm waaaaiting," she sang sarcastically.

"It's sort of awkward."

"I don't care. I want to hear about everything you've dreamt of."

I smiled, giving in. "Okay, but I warned you."

She nodded enthusiastically, indicating for me to go on with my story.

"It's a sex dream."

"Oh." Now she was the one who was blushing.

I paused. "...Do you really own a leather cat suit?" I had to know.

Bella, now furiously blushing, snorted nervously. "Yes," she whispered.

"I guess that one was real, then." I waited until she looked up at me again, and flashed her my crooked grin.

"Oh, Edward, I'm so happy for you! Even if you're not remembering everything, little bits and pieces are making their way back into your brain subconsciously. Maybe it'll eventually just flood back!"

"I sure hope so," I sighed, and reached over to give Bella a huge hug. She squeezed me tightly against her, as if she was willing my memories to return, and scrunched her hands in my hair.

"I've been wanting to do this for a couple of days now," she sighed, reaching up to catch my lips in her mouth

I crushed my lips into her own, and wasted no time as I opened my mouth to trace the outline of hers with my tongue. She groaned into my mouth, urging me on, as I lightly bit her bottom lip, sucking and pulling on it. She pulled my hair in her fists, making it almost painful. I slipped my tongue into her warm mouth, feeling and tasting her as I massaged her tongue with my own. I put my hand on the back of her neck, pulling her face impossibly closer to mine. I felt her teeth lightly graze my bottom lip, and I moaned into her mouth, kissing her harder. She tilted her head, forcing her tongue further into my mouth, and moved her hands down to my chest.

Needing to breath, I moved my mouth to the crook of her neck and lazily swept my lips back and forth, trying to gain control of my air. Bella panted into my ear, and hugged me closer to her as she let me assault her neck. I moved my mouth back to hers one more time, placing a light kiss on her lips. I pulled away and she rested her forehead on mine, not wanting to break the contact.

"Thank you," she breathed.

"No, thank you," I chuckled back, basking in the aftereffects of our first kiss in what felt like forever.

BPOV

It felt absolutely amazing to be kissing Edward again; I had severely missed his lips on mine these past couple days. As I stood there, with Edward's arms pulling me close, I forgot about how stressful this day was supposed to be. I knew that eventually, other things would need to be discussed; but for now, I just wanted to stare into Edward's blazing green eyes and not talk about anything in particular– maybe even just keep kissing him. I was positive that I could never get bored with the feeling of his lips on mine– it still knocked my breath out every time, and I had been kissing him for years. Being close to him was my own personal heaven; with Edward by my side, it felt as though I could get through anything. Even the stress of his Amnesia.

"Bella," Edward breathed softly, bringing me out of my daydreaming. "I think we should go talk to Esme."

I nodded my head. "I was sort of hoping we could just stay here like this for the rest of the day," I joked, but nonetheless pulled away– unwillingly, I might add.

Edward sighed, taking my hand in his. "Yeah, me too, but unfortunately the real world awaits us."

We walked into the livingroom to find Esme and Carlisle sitting together on the couch, each with their head buried in a book. Edward cleared his throat loudly.

Esme looked up. "Oh, hi sweetie."

"Hi, mom, can we talk to you guys?"

"Sure, have a seat." Carlisle folded the page down to mark his place, and set the book on the floor.

I sat down on the end of the couch next to Edward, and rubbed circles into the back of his hand with my thumb– I knew it would instantly soothe him.

"So, what would you like to talk about? The weather? Politics?" Esme joked, knowing where this was headed.

Edward chuckled, but then got a serious look on his face. "Actually, I wanted to know more about your... cancer." He practically coughed out the word.

Esme nodded, and patted her son on the arm. "What do you want to know?"

Edward began firing off question after question.

"Are you in remission now?" Edward asked nervously.

"Yes, it's been about a month since that was official."

"Did you have chemotherapy?"

Esme nodded dreadfully. "It was horrible. My hair fell out and everything. Luckily, it was pretty fast-growing afterwards." She ran her fingers through the short hair on her scalp.

"Did it hurt?" Edward grimaced.

"I felt sore and tired a lot, but to be honest, I was pretty drugged up."

"So, what now?"

"Now, my doctor says that since we caught it early, there's a good chance of it not returning– they removed the whole tumor during surgery. I just have to remember to be as healthy as possible."

Edward nodded. "Makes sense."

"Is there anything else you want to know, honey?"

"Just tell me the next time something happens."

"Don't worry, we will." Esme smiled warmly at her son, and reached over to hug him. He kept his hand in mine, squeezing it for reassurance.

"I love you mom–dad." Edward glanced towards Esme and Carlisle.

"We love you too," Esme said, standing up. "You two should get out of this house– go out for lunch or something."

Edward turned to smile at me. "Maybe we will."

I smiled back warmly, knowing all too well how much comforting Edward was about to need from me. Esme and Carlisle walked into the kitchen, and Edward and I went upstairs to his room. I closed the door behind us and flopped onto the bed, bringing Edward down with me.

"How are you?" I asked, searching his face.

"Okay, I guess. It's a lot to comprehend. I'm just glad she's okay now."

"Me too," I sighed, rubbing Edward's knee with my palm.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, before Edward leaned over and softly kissed my temple. "Thank you for everything, Bella."

"Don't worry about it." I smiled, and turned to place a chaste kiss on his lips.

"I just...can't even imagine you not being in my life anymore. I have no idea how I could have done this without you."

I smiled weakly and laid back onto the bed. "I'm tired from all this thinking."

Edward joined me, wrapping his arms around my waist. He whispered into my ear, causing me to shiver. "Let's just stay here all day."

"You know we're not done talking," I sighed.

"I know that, but like you said, all this thinking is exhausting. Besides, we have some physical contact to catch up on."

I chuckled softly, and turned my head to kiss his chest. "So, what are we gonna do?"

"Sleep."

"No, silly. I mean in the broader sense of the word."

"Whatever we can?" Edward asked slowly.

"I guess that's all we really can ever do. But I mean, what about us? Where does that leave you and me?"

"Where do you want it to leave us?" He lightly brushed his teeth against my earlobe, and I shivered, feeling my breath becoming slightly ragged.

"I don't want to rush anything."

"Me, neither." His warm breath blew across my neck, causing the little hairs to stand up.

I tried desperately to stay coherent, but with Edward intentionally turning me on, it was nearly impossible. "Um.. I... " I swallowed loudly, trying to push back the moan that was attempting to escape my lips.

"Yes?" Edward breathed lightly.

"I don't remember what I was going to say," I sighed, fighting the urge to give in.

"Well," Edward kissed the back of my neck. "I think that we should just do what feels right." He lightly licked the back of my neck, and blew his hot breath across it.

I squirmed a little, hardly able to hold myself back. "I think...that sounds like a good idea." Edward dragged his lips from my neck up to the patch of skin below my earlobe, and down again. Unable to take it any longer, I flipped over and grabbed his lips forcefully with mine, using my hands to pull his face even closer. He pulled my body tightly against his so I could feel every curve of his muscle, and rolled over on top of me. He held up his body weight with his arms, slightly pressing up against me. I groaned into his mouth and wrapped my legs around his waist, wanting to feel him even closer. I bit and licked his bottom lip softly as he played with my hair that was splayed out onto the bed. He pushed his tongue into my mouth, sweeping it across my teeth. Just as I was moving my hands to his hair, my stomach growled fiercely.

Edward pulled away abruptly, laughing. He looked at my stomach. "Way to ruin the mood," he sighed, before rolling to my side and sitting up. "We should get some lunch. Wanna go out?"

"Sure," I grumbled, angry at the bad timing of my hunger.

Edward chuckled, and kissed the tip of my nose. "Get up, I'm hungry too." He flashed his crooked smile at me, making my heart melt briefly, and held his arm out. "Shall we?"

I took his hand, using his body weight to haul myself off the bed. "I'm in the mood for sushi."

"Sushi, it is." Edward sighed, twisting his fingers into my own.

***

I sat staring across from Edward, trying to wipe the grin off my face, as he struggled with his chopsticks. I guess they were sort of hard to use, but it was just plain hilarious. He was continuously dropping his salmon roll into the small bowl of soy sauce, causing his food to be inedible. Not to mention, some of the salty brown sauce would fly into the air and land on Edward's shirt. It was quite the show.

I snorted. "Edward, maybe you should give up on the soy sauce. Or the chopsticks. Either one..."

He looked up at me, obviously frustrated, and smiled. "I guess Japanese food isn't really my thing, huh?"

"I guess not."

He placed his chopsticks down by his plate and picked up a fork. "Much better," he chuckled. I smiled back at him and took another bite of my tempura. Edward cleared his throat. "This is good."

"The sushi?"

Edward sighed. "No; us. We're good together."

"We are, aren't we." I reached across the table and grabbed his hand with my own.

"So, about us..."

"Yes?"

"I think we should just go with it, and do what feels natural."

I nodded, agreeing. "Just, I think we should go slow."

"I agree completely," Edward said, squeezing my hand.

"The only reason I say that is because of the Amnesia. I don't want to rush into anything that doesn't feel right to you. You still don't really know me all that well..."

"Although I feel like I've known you forever."

"Still..." I sighed, not knowing what to say. "I really want to make this work, Edward."

"Me, too. That's why I'm agreeing with you."

"Okay. It's settled then. Let's just... go with the flow." I grinned at Edward.

"Go with the flow," he murmured, flashing his crooked grin back at me.

After that slightly awkward chat, we finished our meal in near silence, keeping conversation light and sparse. After the week we had just had, Edward and I both needed a break from stressing over everything. We needed to be happy.

We left the restaurant and drove back to the Cullen's house, where we would be staying for another couple days. Rosalie and Emmett wanted the entire family together to help finish with a few wedding plans, so we were all sticking around. It was great to be with my second family again.

Edward and I walked through the front door to find the entire family sitting on the floor in the livingroom, playing Catch Phrase.

"Ummm... it's soft and squishy and you eat it." Emmett scrambled to beat the clock.

"Bread!" Alice yelled.

"Okay, what kind? It's processed!"

"White bread!"

"What brand?"

"WONDER BREAD!" Jasper yelled in exasperation, grabbing the electronic game from Emmett's hand and going to the next word.

Edward laughed, and the whole family looked up at us, coming out of their trance. "Hey, guys."

"Come join us!" Carlisle chuckled, waving his hand in the air.

We sat down in the circle and played Catch Phrase for what felt like hours. By the time we were all too exhausted to play another round, it was dark outside. The whole family had been exploding with laughter the entire game, and looking around at everyone's faces as we sat there in silence, I could tell it was the happiest any of us had been in a long time.

Esme let out a deep breath, standing up. "I think I'm going to make dinner. Any requests?"

"Mac and cheese!" Emmett said, causing the rest of us to start laughing uncontrollably again. He looked at us, confused. "What?"

"You really are ten years old, Em," Rosalie chuckled from my side. She shook her head and patted him on the back.

Emmett rolled his eyes and stood up. "Care to join me upstairs, Rose?" He smirked at her. Rosalie got up from the floor and wrapped her arm around his waist. We all groaned, knowing it wouldn't be safe for any of us to go upstairs for the next hour, at least.

I jumped to my feet and pulled Edward up with me. "Let's go rest for a while before dinner, okay?"

"Sounds good," he agreed, following me up the stairs.

EPOV

Once we got to my bedroom and closed the door behind us, Bella and I simultaneously flopped onto the bed, exhausted.

"That was a long day," I sighed, rolling over to face Bella. I lifted the palm of my hand to her cheek and stroked it softly.

"Mmm," she mumbled, leaning her face into my hand. "I could use an extra long nap."

"Too bad we have to make an appearance at the dinner table tonight."

"Can't we just pretend we're sick or something?"

I chuckled. "I wish– I've had enough of my family for one day."

Bella smiled and inched her body closer into mine. "It would be nice to have some more time to ourselves, but we rarely see your family so much. It's kind of nice, I think. I love your family– they are my family, too, you know."

I nodded and wrapped my arm around her tiny waist. "And they love you too. I can see that you're as much a part of this family as the rest of us. But sometimes I need a break from them all."

Bella smiled and placed a small kiss on my forehead. I closed my eyes and let my head rest on the fluffy pillow. Bella followed suit and scooted even closer to wrap her own arms around me, and we fell into a light sleep.

"Edward! Bella! Mon says dinner's ready!" Alice pounded on the door, waking us up.

"We'll be down in a second!" I shouted back at my sister, throwing my pillow across the room. "Bella, we have to get up," I said in a much quieter voice, lightly rubbing her shoulder.

"What?" She blinked her eyes a couple times before rubbing at them with her hands to remove the sleep.

"I'm sorry for waking you, but it's time for dinner." I smiled apologetically down at her.

"Oh, okay. One second," Bella mumbled, taking inventory on herself. She sat up, smoothing out her clothes and patting down her messy hair. "Okay. Ready." We stood up and walked downstairs into the diningroom.

Eating dinner, I could tell that the entire family was utterly exhausted. None of us made much of an effort to keep a conversation going, and we barely touched the food. I was putting a forkful of salad into my mouth when Rosalie spoke up.

"If you're all free tomorrow, Em and I were hoping we could all sit down and go over some wedding plans?" She asked the room, but smiled widely at Emmett when their eyes met.

"That would be fine, Rosalie," Carlisle said, swallowing his food. "I don't have to go into work until later in the afternoon, so how about we do it late morning-early afternoon?" He looked around the table, noting our silent agreements.

"Late morning-early afternoon it is!" Rose chirped, clearly elated at the subject of her upcoming wedding.

We sat around the dinner table for a little while longer, finishing our meal and making small talk. I looked over to see that Bella was finished, not to mention looking like she was about to fall asleep, and cleared my throat.

"I think Bella and I are going to turn in for the night." I gestured towards Bella, who was struggling to keep herself upright. She smiled at me gratefully and stood up.

"Thank you for the dinner, Esme, it was wonderful."

"No problem, dear. You two go get some sleep." She knowingly looked from Bella to me, then went back to clearing our plates. "Night, kids."

"Night, mom."

"Goodnight Esme."

We walked upstairs and took turns washing up in my bathroom. When I stepped back into the bedroom after brushing my teeth, I found Bella already tucked into bed, snoring lightly. She had a faint smile on her face, and I couldn't help but feel completely full of love for this beautiful woman. I crawled slowly into the bed and curled my body carefully around Bella, making sure not to wake her. I kissed her cheek softly and hugged her little form into my chest. How did I ever get so lucky to have someone like Bella in my life?


So there's chapter 7

REVIEW pretty please with Edward on top! =]

(and remember to read The Host)