Hello again guys. I got so many emails from my last update. Way to go. :) We didn't quite get the 10 reviews I was hoping for though. :( But, we were awfully close, so let's get those 10 this time. You know how it works, first 10 reviews get a sneak peek of the next chapter, so if it isn't too much of a hassel, I'd greatly appreciate the review. :) So number wise here are the responses I got from my last chapter, I got six reviews, the story got favorited nine times, it was put on five more story alerts, and I also got one author alert and one favorite author. :) So let's keep up the sharing, because it's great to know that everyone is liking this story so much.

Side note for you guys: I think I have a new longest chapter, the one you're about to read. I really like the beginning and end of this chapter. It's a lot of coversations, so I hope I don't get too confusing. So please, leave me your thoughts on the chapter. Parts of it I loved, but other parts I feel like I could have improved on.

Now, I don't remember if I said I'd post this chapter last weekend or this weekend, but I have a lot going on right now, so please forgive me. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or anything associated with it. This story line, yes, but otherwise it all belongs to Stephenie Meyer.

"Why didn't you come after me?" Her voice cracked numerous times in the short message she had left and I felt another blow to the chest. My hand slowly left my ear and I watched as I clicked the end button. I stared blankly at the screen as her words rang through my head. Why didn't you come after me? Over and over again the words coursed through my mind, showing no sign of ever stopping.

Edward's Point of View

My mind raced as I walked to the front door. It was as if I were a zombie, my feet were moving but I wasn't processing where I was going. I pulled the door shut quietly behind me and walked towards my car, stopping only when I heard the soft voice come from behind me.

"Where are you going Edward? This is the first day we have this house. Who cares if we don't have all the furniture."

I didn't turn around just stared at the silver Volvo in the brick driveway, "I'm just going out for a drive for a little bit."

"I'll come with you; just let me grab my coat."

I heard her turning to go back inside but stopped her, "No Tanya, I just want to be alone right now."

I heard her footsteps stop followed quickly by her voice, "Did I do something wrong?" I turned around this time and faced her, my anger flowing out all at once.

"No Tanya, damn it, I'm allowed to go somewhere by myself. I don't need your fucking permission. I'm twenty-eight years old."

I had become aware of the eyes on my back as the people walking by stopped momentarily and watched the exchange.

"Edward, can we finish this inside?"

I shook my head, "No Tanya, there's nothing else to discuss. Besides that, why do you care if they all see? Wouldn't you rather they all see if for themselves? You know they are all going to talk about it later anyway."

I turned on my heels and walked the rest of the way to my car, trying my best to ignore everyone's' whispers that ranged from, they just moved into the neighborhood and it's already going to hell, or they aren't even married yet, that's going to be one relationship made in hell. It wasn't so much the fact that they were talking about us as the fact that I was already pissed off beyond all belief.

"What the hell are you all looking at? Are you afraid we're going to ruin your precious neighborhood? Good, I hope we do. Now get the hell on your way there is nothing to see here." With that I slammed the car door shut after getting in and tore from the driveway.

Where was I going to go? It's not like there was anywhere I could just show up randomly at a friend's house. They were all married or with their fiancée's enjoying their night. Either that or they were out and didn't include him because they knew I was moving today. I drove around and stopped in front of the Cantab Lounge. I walked in and went straight to the counter, and ordered the first drink that came to my head. A few drinks later and I still didn't feel any better. I threw some money down on the counter to cover my drinks and walked out of the building and sat in my car again.

As much as I tried to stop myself, my eyes instantly landed on my phone lying in the passenger seat. I reached over and grabbed it calling the first number listed in my recent calls. The phone rang, and rang, and rang and eventually went to a voicemail, perfect, that's just what I needed. I hit the end button and called again, only to get the same result. I continued to do this until after ten times I heard someone answer on the other end of the line.

"What?" Her voice was quite, scratchy from crying, and when she spoke it sounded like she had lost all hope.

"Why did you ask me that?"

"Why do you think?" When I didn't respond I heard her moving around and I figured she was in bed, "Come on Edward, you're a Harvard law graduate, I'm sure even you can figure this out. If not, think about it and call me back when you find the answer." The line clicked dead and I hit the steering wheel.

I clicked the call button again and drummed my fingers impatiently, wondering who ever thought making a phone call take this long to reach someone was a good idea.

"Edward, I need to get some sleep. I have things I have to do in the morning."

"I want you to talk to me."

I heard her let out her breath and laugh, "About what Edward? I'm the one who has done all the talking. In the last couple weeks I haven't learned anything about you that I didn't already know. So Edward I think you are the one that needs to talk to me. Why don't you answer some of my questions before I answer anymore of yours."

"Whatever you want, ask away." I suppose I could have disagreed to that, but why should I? She was right, and I would do whatever she wanted me to do.

"Why did you go to the reunion? Did you go just to dig up the past? To rub the fact that you're engaged in my face? Why?"

My elbow was on the steering wheel and my hand was in the air as my forehead rested against it.

"My intentions were never meant to rub my engagement in your face, because I wouldn't do that to you and aside from that, there isn't much to rub into someone's face about it."

"What do you mean there isn't much to rub in someone's face?"

"Exactly what it sounds like Bella. To answer your other question I went to the reunion because I wanted to see you. Obviously digging up the past came with that, but I had to see you Bella."

I heard her moving around again and could hear her drawing a shaky breath, "Why? Why did you have to see me?"

My breath slowly left my mouth as I stared out the window as people walked past the car. A few of the girls would glance my way and turn to their friends and point in my direction, but I didn't care, all I cared about was the girl on the phone.

"Because I was hoping I could prove to myself that things were over for us. I was hoping if I could prove that to myself that my relationship with Tanya would improve."

"I wish I could tell you things were over between us, but I think we both know they aren't. Not even ten years can change that." I started to say something but she spoke quickly, "But maybe that's just me, because it seemed to me like it wasn't over in the gym."

She continued talking but I wasn't listening, my mind was racing back to that night in the gym before she ran out of the room. "Bella, will you listen. You're right, things aren't over. Maybe that's why my relationship with Tanya is so bad, but what can I do about that? I won't break up with her so she can end up in a horrible situation like you. I can't do that to someone again."

"Why do you assume everyone is going to end up like me? In case you've forgotten, I'm not one that has good luck very often. Now I need to know, why didn't you come after me?"

"When?"

"Every time. In high school why didn't you come after me when you broke up with me? I saw the look on your face when you sat in your car afterward. That night of the mock graduation when I insisted on walking home, why did you give up?"

"Because aside from the time I broke up with you, everything I've ever done was in your best interest or what you wanted me to do. You asked me to stop so I did. With most people I can figure out what they really mean, but with you I can't."

"What do you mean?"

I thought for a moment, "I mean, I never know what you really mean."

I heard more shuffling coming from her end of the line, "Listen to this song."

A few seconds after she said it music drifted through the line and I listened quietly to the words, certain parts standing out more than others. In the heat of the fight; I walked away….. 'Cause I'm so mad, I might tell you that it's over. But if you look a little closer I said, "Leave," but all I really want is you to stand outside my window, throwing pebbles; screaming, "I'm in love with you." Wait there in the pourin' rain, come back for more…. Going through the photographs, staring at the phone… And all the things that I misread … That when I left I wanted you to chase after me? The part that stuck in my head was the last part, with your face, and your beautiful eyes, and the conversation, with the little white lies. And the faded picture of a beautiful night. You carry me from your car up the stairs and I'm broke-down cryin'. Wish we weren't this messed, after everything in that little black dress. After everything, I must confess, I need you..

"Is that what brought this all up?"

"Yes, because it fits what we've been going through perfectly Edward. Don't act like you weren't thinking that." I glanced out the window again as my mind raced.

"It was, but Bella, I can't do to Tanya what I did to you. I can't ruin someone else's life again."

"Like I said earlier, not everyone is going to end up like me. In case you didn't figure it out in high school, I'm not exactly a lucky person. I need to go to bed; I have to work in the morning. Goodnight, Edward."

"Night, Bella."

One Month Later

My hand yearned to pick up the phone that lay on the desk in front of me. Taunting me as if to say if I just made one phone call I'd be happy. That wasn't the case though. One month. It had been a whole month since the last time I had spoken to Bella. I wished everyday that the phone would flash her name on the caller id, but it never did. A few times I would go to call her, but once I'd pick up the phone I'd lose my nerve, or someone would interrupt me, like the one day two weeks ago.

My fingers enclosed the phone in my hand as I brought it up to me and began scrolling through the contacts, stopping the second the phone landed on the name Bella. My finger hovered over the call button, today I would call her, no questions asked, but just as I went to push the button Tanya stormed in the room.

"Who the hell were you talking to every night for at least an hour each time?" I picked up the papers she threw on the desk at me and read the number that displayed every day almost always at the same time. "Don't you dare try to tell me it's a colleague."

"It's a friend of mine Tanya. I was helping her with some things after we ran into each other at the reunion."

"She?" I saw furry and jealousy flooded her eyes, "Who the hell is she? Is it that same girl who kept abandoning her daughter at your parents'?"

"First off Tanya, she wasn't abandoning her there, she's known my family for years, besides that Esme loves her like one of her own children. Second, I do not have to explain myself to you."

"Like hell you don't, I'm your fiancée, Edward. Remember when you proposed? That entitled not keeping things from me." I stood up and shoved my phone in the pocket of my slacks as I stormed by Tanya. "Where the hell are you going? I'm talking to you." She tried to grasp my arm, but I tore it from her, "Did you cheat on me in Forks? Are you second guessing getting married to me? If you are, you best tell me now Edward. We have six months until the wedding and I will not be stood up on my wedding day."

"Shit Tanya, why the hell would I want to marry you? All we ever fucking do is fight anymore. I never cheated on you and don't plan to. If you don't know me better than that after four years of dating then being married to you is going to be a match made in hell." I stormed out of the house and slammed the door behind me, startling the neighbor as she walked past with her dog.

"Is everything alright dear?"

"Everything is fine Mrs. Heith." I could tell she didn't believe me but I was in no mood to talk to her. I just had to get as far away from here as I could.

I walked in the door two hours later, and heard sniffling coming from the living room. My hands ran through my hair subconsciously as I made my way down the hall. The frame arched over my head as I looked in the room to find Tanya sitting on the couch. Her knees were brought up to her chest and her head was resting on the back of the cushion.

"Tanya," She looked up at the sound of my voice and I made my way to sit on the couch next to her, "we need to talk."

Her eyes flooded with even more tears the second the words left my mouth, "Are you calling of the engagement?"

My heart ached to say yes, because if I said yes I would be in New Haven in a matter of minutes. "No."

"Then what do we need to talk about?"

"Us, Tanya. I can't keep doing this. We're engaged; we're supposed to love each other."

"Edward, even people in love fight."

"I know that, but not like we do. Tanya, we fight almost every day. I know I'm at fault for some of this Tanya, but we need to work through this if this is going to have any chance of ever working."

She leaned up against me and laid her hands on my upper arm, "I promise I'll try to stop, I really will."

My arm wrapped around her as I stared forward feeling nothing. Bella's face flashed in my mind and I mentally kicked myself. Tanya gave me an opportunity to leave but I didn't take it. I suddenly remembered my phone and how I had intended on calling her earlier. My hand that I had been rubbing up and down Tanya's arm reached into my pocket and hit the end button a few times so the number that I knew would still be on the screen would disappear and went back to gently running my hand up and down her arm.

The sound of the lock clicking shut on the office door reverberated through the silent office. I crossed the large room in five long strides and picked up the phone, reaching the name just as a quite knock came through the heavy wood door I had just locked minutes before. My pulse quickened, out of all the years I had been alive, I had never met anyone else who knocked like she did. I ran back to the door and pulled it open, the sounds of the busy office flooding the room at the same second my eyes locked with hers.

"Hi."

Bella's Point of View

I looked around the large room. There were people hurrying from their desk to a printer and back again or making their way from the cubicles to one of the large, closed in offices that lined the walls. I walked up to the first person I spotted and walked up to her as she shuffled through some papers at her desk.

"Excuse me," She looked up as the phone rang and she picked it up and transferred a call before looking back at me. "I'm looking for Edward Cullen, am I in the right place?"

"He's here, but you'll need to check with his secretary first." She turned around and opened a filing cabinet and watched her work for a second.

"Excuse me."

"What? I'm kind of busy at the moment."

"Who is his assistant?"

She pointed across the room at the lady sitting behind a large cubicle. I walked over and glanced at the name plates as I passed them. The office door that was shut in front of me had the name of the person I was looking for engraved on it. I looked at the lady next to me and smiled at the pictures of her with her daughters at a park and cleared my voice quietly. She jumped slightly and looked up at me.

"Could I speak to Edward Cullen?"

She looked down at her planner that lay in front of her on the desk, "Did you have an appointment with him; I don't have anything written down."

I shook my head, "No, I, uhm, it's actually kind of spur of the moment."

"What's your name? I'll call him and see if he's not busy."

"Do you have to? I kind of want to surprise him." She looked hesitant before she nodded and I made it to the door in two short steps. I raised my hand gently to the door and knocked on it quietly. I looked up at Edward as he pulled the door open quickly, "Hi."

"Hey. What are you doing here?"

I shrugged, "I don't know. I wanted to talk to you." He looked past me and held the door open wider.

"Come in." I walked past him into the large office and heard the door click shut and all the other noise fade away. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I'm not completely sure; part of it was I wanted to thank you in person for the job."

His eyes lit up and a smile spread across his face, "How is that going?"

I looked around the room, "Can I sit down?"

"Yeah," He motioned towards the couch and I sat down slowly. I looked down at my hands as he waited patiently for my answer.

"It's good, I love working with the kids. It's hard sometimes, to watch what some of them have to go through. There's this one girl named Meagan who was in a horrible car accident a few months ago and they recently put me in charge of her and she's so full of life despite everything that has happened to her. I mean, this family's car was hit in the side by a car going 70 miles per hour. Her dad, the one who was driving died at the scene of the accident and her mom was hurt but only a few broken legs. The force of the contact ended up breaking some bones in her neck. There's a chance that she could walk again someday, but for now she's completely dependent on me to help her with certain things. She's paralyzed from the waist down and she lost her father, but she's always looking at the bright side of everything. Every morning she greets me with a smile and tells me all about what she did the night before and it breaks my heart that she's in there and that she doesn't have a dad anymore because of some drunk who ran a light."

"Wow."

"What?"

"Just the whole thing, I couldn't imagine going through something like that. Plus just the way you talk about your job, you can tell how much you love doing it." I looked up at him from under my eyelashes and felt a smile play at my lips. "I envy you for that."

"For what?"

"The fact that you love your job so much. I thought this," He pointed his hand at the room, "was what I wanted to do, but now that I've been doing it, I don't think it is. I wish I would have gone to medical school."

"Then do it."

"What?" I looked up at him, he sat only inches from me and I wanted to reach out and hold onto his hand more than anything at that moment.

"Go back to school. Go to med school."

"I can't."

I did what my heart wanted and I reached out and picked up his hand. "Why not? Edward, you have one life to live, spend it doing what you love to do. I've known you for years and what you love doing is helping people. Sure you can help people here, but you know that's not the way you want to help them. You want to be a doctor, so go back to school, it'll be worth it, trust me."

He squeezed my hand and looked down at me, "You make a very good point." I smiled at him and looked down at our hands, "So, how are you getting along with everyone you work with? You haven't had any problems have you?"

I looked away at the wall that the bookcase that lined the whole wall before looking back at him, "They're all great."

"You haven't had a problem with James?" I swallowed as my mind screamed at me to tell him yes, to tell him I didn't trust him, but I couldn't.

"No, not a problem." I didn't tell him about the way he looked at me and how it sent chills down my back, made my nerves appear even in the midst of a friendly conversation with a friend, I didn't tell him any of it.

"See, Bella, what did I tell you." There was another knock on the door followed by the secretary's head popping in the room. She shot me a look that I figured out meant I needed to hide somewhere fast.

"Mr. Cullen, your fiancée is here to see you."

He looked at me and I shook my head, "Don't worry about it, I'll hide."

I crossed the room and slid under the center of his desk so my body was completely hidden underneath the thick mahogany desk. "Yeah, tell her she can come in."

I heard the secretary's heels walking away and another pair of heels walking towards us.

"Hi Eddie." I rolled my eyes at the name I knew Edward hated more than anything else. "What were you doing in here? Your secretary said she had to check to see if I could come in, she never does that."

"Nothing, I just asked her to check with me. I wanted to be alone for a while."

"Why?"

I heard him sigh in exasperation, "Because I just wanted to be alone so I could think."

"Oh," There was a pause and I heard her take a breath before she spoke again, "What were you thinking about?"

"Going back to school."

"Why?" I looked at the wood of the desk that they were on the other side of. Why would she sound disgusted by that?

"Because, I don't like what I do Tanya. There's another job that I'd rather do."

"But Eddie, why can't you just be a lawyer, I've always thought they were cute."

"Because Tanya, it's not what makes me happy. Is there something you need, because I need to get back to work."

"No, I just wanted to stop by and see you for a little bit. I was on my way to the mall. I'll see you at home." I heard the sound of her kissing his cheek and then her heels walking out of the room. I stayed where I was even after I heard the door click, trying to process the whole conversation I had just heard. I jumped when Edward appeared squatting in front of me.

"You can come out now."

"Right," I slid out from under the desk and grabbed onto the hand that Edward held out for me. "Are you guys always like that?"

"I'm not sure I'm following you."

"Do you two always sound so," I struggled to find a way to get my point across without sounding incredibly rude, "I don't even know how to explain it without sounding rude."

"It's okay I know what you're talking about. We've been in a rough patch lately."

"Oh," I looked down and pulled out my phone before checking the time, 5:29, "uhm, I should probably get going. I have to get back to New Haven tonight before 9 to get Liyah from the sitters."

"Alright, I guess I'll see you around sometime then."

I shook my head and looked at my feet, "That's another thing I wanted to talk about. I think it would be best if we stopped talking. It's hard on me, I don't know if it is you, but it is for me and when I'm with my daughter I want to give her my complete focus, not be thinking about what you are doing. So I guess that means goodbye."

I froze slightly, not expecting what he did next, but relaxed instantly. His arms were wrapped around me, holding me against him in a hug. I felt tears form in my eyes knowing this would be the last time I hugged him. I slowly and reluctantly let my arms fall from him and walked towards the door, pausing when I reached it and looking back at him over my shoulder, memorizing everything about him.

"Goodbye Edward."

"Goodbye Bella."

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