A/n: Yeah…this chapter is kinda mushy and all that, so if you don't like that kind of thing (although I don't know why you would be reading this if you didn't) then don't read this chapter.

"Edward? What's wrong?" He felt like laughing at the absurdity of it all. Here she was lying on her bed with a wound in her side, most likely in pain, and she was worrying about what was wrong with him. Instead he took her hand and put it to his cheek, kissing her palm and looking into her beautiful but confused eyes.

"Isabella, dear sweet Isabella…" Edward's eyes drifted shut as he whispered the words to her. He felt her move and opened his eyes to see her head turned away from him.

So she was still mad. He sighed in frustration, for he didn't know how to make it up to her. He began to drop her hand but her fingers tightened, holding his hand.

Her head turned back to him and she was smiling warmly, nearly causing Edward to gasp at how angelic she looked.

"Edward, please lay on the bed with me. I doubt that you will willingly let go of my hand, and it is getting fair uncomfortable with my arm held aloft." She laughed lightly as he crawled over her instead of letting go of her hand to walk around the bed.

He situated himself and they were silent for a few minutes before Bella turned over onto her side to look at him. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye before turning onto his side as well. He still cradled her hand to his heart.

"I…I don't think I can ever forget what I had to see that day Edward. You with another woman." Bella took a shaky breath, forcing herself to finish what she had begun, thinking back to Tanya's words. Edward looked so sad, she felt like comforting him, happy that the rest of what she had to say would do just that.

"But, I think I can forgive." Bella watched as his expression froze, turning from sad to overjoyed, his green eyes glinting just before he kissed her gently on the lips.

Bella hadn't realized that her reaction would be so strong. She pressed herself against him, growling a bit when there was still room between them. She straddled his hips and bent down, hair forming a dark curtain, to kiss him. She stopped when she realized what she had done and slowly went back to how she had been before she had gone crazy.

"Isabella," Edward moaned in a torment, though he made no move to continue what Bella had started. Her cheeks were on fire and she cleared her throat.

"I am so sorry. That was…uncalled for." Edward laughed and moved closer to Bella, kissing her slowly, building up the flame before moving down to her neck.

She was entranced, but she managed to break out of it when he began to kiss the tops of her breasts.

"Wait," she said in a weak voice, knowing that Edward would do no such thing. She had to force herself to grab his shoulders and try to push him away.

When he understood what she wanted he did so, but with a hurt expression on his face. Bella's heart wrenched and she tried to explain, pulling him down to her for a hug.

"Edward, I want to wait until after we are married to…" Bella managed to whisper, trailing off meaningfully, smoothing his silky hair with one hand, rubbing his back with the other. How to explain?

"You see, Tanya came and talked to me after I had realized that Daniel was your son and she wanted desperately to explain why you had had a child with her." Edward stiffened in her arms, and she continued to rub his back, cursing herself for trying to bring it up. Too late now, she thought with a sigh.

"She told me that you had been promised to each other, that I had come between you and your love for her. Don't worry," she said hurriedly, feeling the arms wrap around her protectively and the hands connected to them clench, "She said it in a very nice way, but I understood her meaning. She said that what I saw was the last time between you two, and in a sick, perverse way, I could understand and couldn't make myself completely hate you or her for that matter."

Bella sighed and kissed the side of Edward's head, pressing it to her shoulder.

"She told me that you had asked her for it to be the last time between you, that you did it for me. She said it was out of love for me that you asked, but I disregarded her words, scoffing at the thought. I was still bitter about what I had come upon, but now that I have seen you cry because of a little wound to my side, I can see her point."

Edward turned to look at her, his eyes disbelieving. Did she really think that the wound to her side was 'little'? Men would show a wound like that (once healed of course) to their bed mates to spice things up. And she thought it was little.

"Isabella! That wound is not little. You could have died if it went any further in-," He broke off when the truth of his words hit him in the face. A world without the fiery noble woman who had burned his bed and slapped him, spoken her mind, smile as if all the world was made of good? Isabella who actually listened to commoners and old nobles, who played with children. A world without Isabella, Edward pondered, stunning himself with his conclusion.

The thought was incomprehensible. And he smiled at the woman in question, embracing what his mind had come to.

"Edward…I need you to tell me the truth. Was Tanya right? Is it-is it possible that you love me?"

He stroked her cheek, ran his fingers across her lips, her neck, her hair. He had never felt this with another, not even Tanya. He watched as Bella's eyes grew concerned, to frightened, to impatient. He chuckled, thinking that her emotions were so raw that it was refreshing.

He lightly claimed her lips before pulling back, hand cradling the side of her face. Her eyes were still closed, and her cheeks were flushed.

"Can you really doubt that I love you Isabella?" She gasped and flung her arms around him, and he rolled over so that she was on top of him and he was stroking her hair and rubbing her back.

"I did not realize before that this strong emotion I feel for you was love, not until that fateful day that you walked into my room, seeing me in the act. I saw the pain that flashed across your features and I felt horrible. A monster in the form of a man. It hurt more when you refused to talk to me, or when all that you said was sarcastic or filled with rage. I couldn't bring myself to do it then, but I damn will do it now."

He took a deep breath, watching as a few strands of Bella's hair fell onto his chest.

"Isabella of Condre, I apologize for what you saw that day with such sincerity that it is a bit painful to admit that I have done you wrong. And I thank you with my heart, which is now yours, for your ability to forgive, if not forget."

His hands went to her sides and pressed on them but he let go immediately when Bella winced in pain. He had momentarily forgotten about her wound. He gently moved her off of him so that she was resting beside him before he moved to the edge of the bed and sat up. He turned to Bella and smiled. Bella responded with one of her own before blushing slightly.

"Edward…can you say it one more time?" Guessing what she meant he laughed lightly, the sound music to Bella's ears.

"Isabella, I will be saying it for the rest of my life, but if it means so much to you," he turned completely now and got onto his stomach next to her, his mouth at the crook of her neck.

"I love you."