Disclaimer: I still don't own Twilight. Stephenie Meyer still does.

Edward's Point of View

But by morning I had come down from the high watching Bella had given me. I was a little more reasonable. Instead of staying with Bella no matter what, I decided on a slightly safer plan of action. I would not leave – unless it was absolutely necessary. Unless it was the last option in the world, the one single option that was left. Otherwise, I was staying, come hell or high water. And I hated myself for it. I loved Bella, of that I was sure. But if I loved her so much, why didn't I leave, and guarantee her safety, let her live a normal life, away from the monsters. It was the logical thing to do. And yet, I couldn't bring myself to take the steps away from her. Not unless there was no other choice.

I watched Bella sleep until about five o'clock in the morning. Then I ran home, still shaken and awed by the revelation that had come to me in the night. And I was eager too – school would start in a few hours, and I could actually interact with her there, rather than just watching her sleep. Just a few hours – or eternities, depending on how you looked at it. When I got home, Alice was waiting for me, of course. When I entered the large family room, she was leaning up against the banister, grinning at me, her face bright with victory. So, she began, you've finally figured it out. Now can I meet her?

I rubbed my eyes briefly. I was still reluctant to bring Bella completely into my world of shadows, but, if I was going to be with her, she would have to meet my family eventually. Besides, if I didn't agree to Alice's wish, she would probably just do it behind my back. "Just – just give me some time with her first," I stuttered. "I want to do this gradually."

Alice squealed and jumped up and down in excitement. Don't worry about today – it will be great! she called after me as she dashed upstairs to share the news with Jasper. As she ran upstairs like she was being chased, Carlisle came downstairs at a much more reasonable pace.

His eyes followed her as she ran, then he turned to me. What has her so excited? he inquired. Then he saw the expression on my face, and his eyes widened. I saw my face through his eyes, and I had to admit, I did look a tad strange. My face glowed with excitement, my eyes were round with wonder and, if I was being honest, shock. There was a tender smile on my mouth. Edward? Carlisle asked, confused, What happened? In his mind, he was running over various scenarios to explain how I looked. Does this have anything to do with this? He showed me a memory then – Alice having a vision, then cursing. Jasper darting over to her side and asking what she had seen, and Alice replying in a snarl, "He's leaving again." Then another memory – Alice's eyes going blank again, then when they refocused, Alice cheering. This time, when Jasper asked her what she had seen, she just smiled smugly and replied, "Edward will tell you,"

I smiled. "Yes," I replied, then called, in a slightly louder voice, "Rosalie, Emmett, Esme, Jasper, Alice? Could you come down here for a moment?"

They did, and I detected the same curious edge in all of their thoughts. They wanted to know what was going on. Esme spoke first, her voice worried. "Alice said you were leaving, but then she said you'd changed your mind. What happened to make you want to leave in the first place?"

My reply was short – this was not what I wanted to talk about. "I thought it would be best to make sure that Bella would be safe, at the time."

Rosalie frowned at me. "At the time?" she repeated. "What do you mean, at the time? Why did you change your mind?"

I opened my mouth to tell her – but I was suddenly anxious. I hesitated, wondering how to tell them. I began carefully. "It ..... might not be necessary for me to leave. I would rather not ..... not if I can help it."

My family started at me, wondering why I was suddenly so nervous. I was a little surprised at myself as well, but I had no ideahow to say it! What are you dancing around? Emmett demanded. What ever it is, just say it!

I supposed that was the best way – fast. I looked at the floor. "I ... I love her." I said quickly, softly. The words were calm and sure, leaving no room for doubt. I was struck again by the certainty of it. I raised my eyes to my family's shocked faces. "I love her," I repeated, a little louder this time, my voice even firmer.

There was a millisecond of complete silence before pandemonium broke out. On the one hand, Carlisle was extremely happy for me, as was Esme, who was trying to keep from jumping up and down like Alice in her excitement. Emmett and Jasper thought I was out of my mind, but they could still tell that I was happy, and were happy for me.

On the other hand, however, Rosalie's face was whiter than white, and her eyes were pitch black with her fury. She was rigid in her chair and her lips were pulled back over her bared teeth. So what now? she snarled silently. Will you tell her what you are? Bring her here? Compromise us all? She doesn't belong with you.

I felt an instinctive snarl build in my chest at her words. "No, I will not tell her what we are, Rosalie."

Rosalie didn't bother to speak in her mind anymore. "What a perfect way to begin a relationship – with a lie," she said acidicly.

My lips curled up and I tensed to spring as I answered in a blistering snarl. "I will not expose her to our world!"

Rosalie hissed savagely. You already have, she told me silently, her mind seething with fury.

I jumped to my feet and started to make a sharp retort, but Carlisle cut me off. "Enough. This is Edward's choice, Rosalie. Not mine, not yours. He will do as he sees fit."

Rosalie got up and stormed out of the house, but not with out throwing a last remark over her shoulder. "Just wait. She will bring the Volturi down on us."

I felt a shiver run through me. If the Volturi found out about about Bella, then they would react in the usual way – kill the threat. A ferocious anger exploded inside of me. Just let them try, I thought to myself. I'll take on the whole guard single handedly if they so much as touch a hair on her head. Out loud, I said "It won't come to that." I hoped I was right. I was betting Bella's life on it.

But I couldn't stay focused on the bad things for long. My mind kept returning to the night. The way Bella had said my name as she dreamed of me. I replayed that memory over and over in my head, until I felt like I would burst with the joy it gave me. And as I remembered, three notes popped randomly into my head. Three high, sweet, pure notes, that seemed to express exactly the feelings I had for Bella. I hummed them to myself experimentally. Almost unconsciously, I started to pair the three notes with other notes, experimenting with different melodies in my mind. I had made my way through two measures without really meaning to before an I got an incredible idea. Bella loved music. I would write her a song. A lullaby – it was fitting, since the most wonderful moment of my life had happened while she was sleeping. I dashed over to my piano, siting quickly and playing what I had so far. Perfect. Esme seemed to agree – I could hear her thoughts from upstairs. I quickly added more, using my new, strong emotions as a guide. I had to backtrack a few times – the combinations I tried never sounded wrong, exactly, but neither did they sound perfect. And I wanted this to be perfect for Bella.

I wasn't really listening to the thoughts of my family as I played, but when I was almost finished, Alice's thoughts caught my attention. She was brooding over her vision of Bella as a vampire. It had been blurry before, when I was ignoring Bella, but now it was crystal clear, set in stone. Sadness washed over me, and the notes I played reflected the change in my mood. The music became melancholy, wistful, as I remembered that I was such a danger to Bella, and as I wished I could change for her. I sensed that I had come to the right place to end her lullaby, so I played one final note, and let hover poignantly in the air. I played the entire song again, searching for any flaw that I could improve. There were none. I glanced at the clock – it was now six A.M. Only two hours to go until school started. I played every piece of music I could think of to pass the time. It was a good choice – I certainly had plenty of music memorized from the past one hundred years. I wasn't even one hundredth of the way through everything I knew before it was seven forty-five. I stopped playing and ran upstairs to change clothes, anticipation humming in my veins. It was time for school.

Bella's Point of View

After Charlie dropped me off, I trudged to my locker without any enthusiasm. Edward's resistance was wearing me down – I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep up my morale, despite Alice's advice. I went through the day like a zombie, keeping my head down and my mouth closed, but I couldn't keep down my excitement when the bell rang, calling us to lunch. Even if Edward didn't want to talk to me, at least I could hear him talk to his family. I got in line with Jessica and Angela, listening for the Cullen's quiet breathing in their usual corner. But I could only hear four people breathing. I inhaled, sifting through the smell of the food and the multitude of perfumes and colognes, looking for the Cullen's scents. I found all five of them, so who wasn't sitting with the others?

Edward answered me in his own way. After I had gone through the line and was following Jessica and Angela's footsteps to our table, I heard his light steps coming toward us. My heart skipped a beat, then started beating double time. A cool hand reached out and touched my arm, silently asking me to stop. "Would you like to sit with me today?" he murmured, his silken voice close to my ear. I felt heat rising in my cheeks as I nodded.

I'd heard Jess and Angela stop when I had, so I turned toward where I could hear them breathing, and asked, "Do you mind?"

"No," they answered simultaneously.

Edward turned me gently and steered me to a new part of the cafeteria, on I hadn't been to before. I heard a chair scrape the linoleum when Edward pulled it out for me, and he guided me carefully toward it. I sat, my mind churning. What was he doing? Why was he doing this, after he all he had told me the day before? He didn't seem like the type to play with a person's emotions. I heard Edward sit down across from me. There was a moment of tense silence between us before I couldn't stand the curiosity boiling inside of me anymore, and gave voice to the question that had been raging in my mind. "What are you doing?" I whispered.

Edward didn't answer for a moment, and I waited, holding my breath. Then he leaned forward, and whispered an answer that made me happier than I'd ever been. "What you asked me to do. I'm stopping."