EMPOV:

It had been 6 weeks since Bella has even so much as looked at me or Jasper. I looked like hell. I couldn't shave, hell it's disgusting to say, but it looked like I didn't shower.

When I'd pass by the other kids at school they would all give me strange looks, which I wasn't used to. But, I didn't care. I'd lost Bella, and there was no way to get her back. Not after the bullshit that Jasper and I put her through.

Jasper and I talked about the ordeal, and decided we were better than being mad at each other. We were dudes. He agreed to step aside and let me try to make my way with Bella, but not before making me promise to do it the right way.

"Don't half ass this, McCarty. She deserves the grand gesture." He'd say. What the fuck was I going to do as a grand gesture?

I tried leaving notes in her locker, and I felt a little stalkerish waiting in the wings to see if she'd read them, but she always threw them onto the floor and walked away.

If I tried to call her house, Chief Swan would give the frustrated sigh and tell me she's not home, when I knew good and well she was. She ignored her friends, except for Alice, Rose, and Edward.

I called Alice up.

"Talk to me." She practically sang.

"Tell me what to do, Alice." I begged.

I heard her go silent for a few moments before she spoke up.

"You need to make a grand gesture for her love."

"Why do people keep telling me that? What am I going to do? Bella likes simple things, she's not a grand type of person." I almost yelled.

She sighed. "Meet me at the diner in ten minutes."

APOV:

I sat at the diner waiting on Emmett to show up. I played lazily with the straw wrapper and noticed him walking by.

He came in looking like ass.

"You can't even bother to shave? Are you fucking serious man? You look like Will Ferrell in Anchorman. You know, when he's walking down the street chugging the milk? You're just missing the red jacket." I snapped.

"I don't care anymore. It's not about looks, don't you see that? I don't even care about myself enough to work out."

I nearly choked. Working out and looking good were the biggest thing in his life, next to Bella.

I sat for a moment waiting for him to ask me for help. I could see he clearly needed it.

"Tell me what to do, Alice. Please."

I sat still for awhile and pondered. "Does Bella still have that big tree by her window?" I smirked.

A look of hope lit up his face. "Yeah! She does. But... but why?"

"You used to climb it all the time when you needed her to fix you, right? To make everything right?"

He paused. "Yeah. I did."

"Climb the tree. She if she's ready to make you better. Shit, it can't hurt. You look like death warmed over." I held my nose. "And you smell kinda' ripe."

JPOV:

I decided to let Bella go. She loved Emmett, I could see it in her eyes. I can't say that it didn't hurt a little, but I would soon enough get over it. I am Jasper fucking Hale. I got this shit on lock down.

Emmett called me up and asked me for a suggestion for a love poem to recite to Bella outside her bedroom window. I didn't hesitate. He was my best friend, and so was she. I gave him a Maya Angelou poem, "In and Out of Time." He thanked me and hung up.

Good luck man.

EMPOV:

I jumped in the shower and brushed my teeth. I shaved my face and drove down to the barber to get my hair trimmed up. If I was going to do this, I wasn't going to do it half-assed.

It was around 8 p.m. when I pulled up to the curb outside of Bella's yard. The air smelled thick of rain and I knew that if I was going to do this, it should be soon. I'd deal with the consequences of Charlie some other time.

I climbed my way up by her bedroom window. I could see her holding a picture of me that she kept on her dresser. It looked like she was crying. I yelled just loud enough for her to hear me. She shot a scowling look at me. A feeling of pure terror went through me.

I begged for her to open the window and let me talk to her. It took some begging, but she finally did.

"You've got two minutes. That's it." She snapped.

"That's all I need."

I started rambling off how sorry I was and how big of an ass I am. She rolled her eyes, keeping her arms crossed the whole time.

I handed her the poem and it started pouring. It was freezing.

"I'm just..s-sorry, Bella." I managed to stammer through chattering teeth.

"Leave. Now." Her expression was black and evil. Fuckin' hell.

I climbed down the tree, the rain soaking me. I wanted to ball up and die right there.

I got to the edge of her lawn when I heard the door slam shut.

"Why now, Emmett?" It was her voice. Her saying my name gave me more goosebumps than I already had.

"Why w-what?" I chattered.

"You just realize you love me? What's with climbing the tree to my window. Did you think that it was going to fix everything?"

I paused for a minute. I was shaking. Not from nerves, but because I was fucking cold.

"B-Bella. I've loved you my whole life, in one form or another. J-Just b-because I didn't t-tell you until recently d-doesn't mean I mean it any less. I c-climbed the t-tree because I n-needed to see you. I'll come b-back every day of the r-rest of m-my life if that's w-what it takes." I put my hands to my mouth and exhaled sharply trying to warm them up.

Bella stood expressionless before me. "You only say you love me, because you're alone. If you had someone you wouldn't feel this way. It's too convenient."

"I w-would go to the p-pits of h-hell for you." I took shaky steps to her and put my icy hands on her face. My speech suddenly seemed so clear. "You're my heaven, Bella. T-there isn't a hell on this earth that I w-wouldn't go through to be with you."

The tears started flowing from her eyes then. Even through the rain and tears, her eyes were the most beautiful thing within a ten mile radius.

She hit me in the chest as I hugged her to me. "I love you, B-Bella."

She looked up at me with a half smile. "What took you so long?"

Then as I was going to attempt to kiss her, Charlie had to come out the door with his cockblock radar on just before my lips met hers. "You kids are gonna' get sick out here. Get in the house."

Okay, so maybe he was helping me out, I hope.

We walked into the house and Charlie brought me some towels while Bella went and changed in her room.

"I'm going to bed now, son. Keep your hands off of my daughter. You hurt her again, they won't find your body, do I make myself clear?"

I stopped drying off long enough to swallow the lump that had formed in my throat. "Yes. Crystal, Chief."

He padded up to his bedroom and Bella leaned over the banister and waved me up. I walked up the stairs to her room and she started rifling through her drawers, apparently trying to find one of my hundred t-shirts she'd borrowed in her lifetime.

She tossed a gray Forks High t-shirt at me and a pair of sleep pants that I kept there for emergencies.

"I can go in the other room if you want to change." She blushed.

"No. I am sure I don't have anything you haven't see before, Bella." I laughed.

I tugged my shirt off and her mouth gaped open. She walked slowly toward me and handed me the towel. I grinned a little out of the corner of my mouth.

"You never did finish that kiss." She was looking up at me through her eye lashes.

I lifted her chin with my finger, looked deep into her eyes and just before closing mine, I kissed her. Gently. Sweetly. Lovingly. Because, that's what she deserved. Love. No more of this half-assed shit anymore.

I was going to go big or go home. I made the grand gesture, and now I was reaping the benefits. Who knew a cowboy and a sprite would be so helpful?

Things can only get better from here, right?