-10-

BPOV

I sighed, looking at the clock for the 90483904392th time in the last hour.

It was 7:30, and Edward was still at work. He was usually home by now.

I used to like being alone, when I was with James.

But now being alone scared me, every time there was any kind of noise I panicked, giving myself an attack, thinking it was James, somehow finding me, to take me back to Forks. I hated that I had turned into such a huge scaredy cat, it was pathetic.

I was so lost in thought that I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the front door open. I jumped behind the couch, and crouched down on my hands and knees, praying for my life.

It was only when I heard the clinking of heels when I realized how ridiculous I was. I stood up, wiping myself off sheepishly. I looked up to see Alice and Jasper standing in front of the couch. Alice looking at me disapproving, and Jasper looking concerned.

"Bella," Alice scolded, putting her hands on her hips. She had witnessed me do this multiple times. I had filled her in on some of the situation with James, leaving out the more gory details, as I did with Edward. Jasper knew as well. I was comfortable with him. He was easy to talk to.

But none of them knew the whole truth. They would never look at me the same if they knew just how bad things were.

"Sorry Alice, Jasper." I said and sent them a small smile.

"Get dressed, we are going to make you over!" she announced, a big grin covering her face.

"What?" I asked, looking between the two. Jasper sent me an apologetic look from behind Alice and shrugged.

"Come on, I'm helping you pick out an outfit, after your makeover, Edward is going to meet the three of us for dinner, chop, chop!" Alice demanded, grabbing my arm and pulling me up the stairs. I turned to look at Jasper, to get him to save me from his evil wife, but he snickered, plopping down on the couch, getting comfortable. Which made me a little worried.

"Alice, why do I need a makeover?" I asked her once we made it to my room. I sat on the edge of my bed, watching her rifle through the clothes I had.

"None of this will do." she said giving me an incredulous look, ignoring my question "I guess what your wearing is fine, for now, we'll just stop by the mall on the way to dinner" I looked down at my outfit, I was wearing a pair of skinny jeans and a plain tank top. I thought I looked fine.

Something told me not to fight with Alice.

I put on a pair of flip flops and reluctantly followed her down the stairs. She was going on and on about all the different things we could do to my hair.

I liked my hair. Why did I have to change it?

I followed her and Jasper to Jasper's SUV, and climbed in the back, watching how Jasper held the door open for both Alice and me, and shut them both once we were securely in the car.

Who said chivalry was dead? James had never done that for me, Charlie did when I was a little kid, but that was it.

As Jasper drove, Alice continued to chatter about hair, nails, makeup, and clothes. I chose to stay quiet, Alice didn't seem to notice, she was in her own little fashion world. Jasper was another story though, he kept glancing at me in the rearview mirror.

We pulled up to the salon, Snips & Tips. I inwardly groaned as Alice literally dragged me in. "Is this really necessary?" I finally asked as she pushed me into a chair. I looked between her and Jasper, waiting for someone to answer me.

Alice looked at me, and opened her mouth like she was about to answer, but Jasper beat her to it. Luckily I think that was better for me.

"Bella. Do you want to be recognized? On the off chance James or someone else is around, do you want to be so easily picked out?" a southern drawl clear in his voice.

I bit my bottom lip and shook my head. "I promise, we won't do anything drastic sweetheart, just so it's a little harder for him to recognize you." he finished, giving my shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

I sighed, nodding, giving in. He did have a point.

Alice jumped up and down in excitement, and told the hairdresser, the woman doing my nails, the woman doing my eyebrows, and the woman doing my toenails exactly what she wanted.

After what felt like seven hours they were all finally done. I decided to take small steps first.

I looked down at my feet, my toes had clear polish, and white tips. Simple enough. I looked at my fingernails, also clear, with white tips. Not as bad as I thought.

I took a deep breath and spun my chair around to look at myself in the mirror. My normally, dark brown long hair, was now a caramel color, cut just above my shoulders, with side swept bangs, and layers. My eyebrows didn't look much different, thinner and groomed.

"Wow, I like it." I finally managed to say, earning a chuckle from Jasper, and Alice was immediately at my side jumping up and down beaming.

"See!" she squealed excitedly "you look so amazing, and different enough so that a quick glance someone from your past wouldn't recognize you!" she added in quietly, but I was too busy gawking at myself to realize that Alice had already paid.

She was now dragging both Jasper and I back to the car, going on about how we had very little time to find an outfit before dinner. I just shrugged my shoulders and followed them.

We pulled up to the mall, and Jasper opted to stay in the car. To say I was jealous was an understatement. Shopping had never been my thing. I made sure to shoot him a glare as she hauled me out of the car. He had the nerve to laugh at me.

Alice and I fought the entire time we were at the mall. I know I wasn't being fair, seeing as how she was spending money on me, and pampering me. I just didn't see the reason why I had to try on a million different black shirts.

I loved Alice, I really did, she had become an amazing friend, she always knew if I was having an off day, she knew how to cheer me up, I could tell her things, even the attraction I had to her brother, and she would hear me out, and give me her honest opinion. She would tell me things about her, and Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett, and Edward. She really made me feel like I belonged.

I just hated shopping.

We finally agreed on an outfit. A navy blue halter dress, it was tight and then flared out at the waist. She tried to get me to wear heels, but I refused, and she must have realized I wouldn't cave on that, so we settled for white flats. Once she had forcefully, shoved me into the dressing room, and locked me in, I changed.

We were now at the restaurant, La Bella Italiana, I smirked at the name, following Jasper and Alice to the front desk, where a young looking hostess greeted us. Licking her lips as she looked at Jasper. I felt my face redden at her boldness.

"Table for 4 please." Alice said sneering at the girl, wrapping her tiny arm around Jasper, making sure her left hand was clearly exposed, "under Cullen." she continued, narrowing her eyes at the hostess. For being so tiny, Alice was pretty intimidating. I made sure to save this view and to make sure to never get on her bad side. Ever.

The hostess immediately sensed Alice's anger and backed off. She led us to the table where Edward was already sitting, nearly throwing the menus on the table, and took off.

I relaxed when I saw Edward. The day full of shopping and makeovers seemed worth it, now that I knew I was safe, and near him. He made things okay, and he wasn't bad to look at either.

He stood up when he saw me and walked up to me, pulling me into a hug. I relaxed into his chest, and his familiar smell of mint, and clean.

"Bella, you look absolutely stunning." he whispered in my ear as he pulled my chair out for me. I blushed and took the seat next to him.

Throughout dinner, he found my hand under the table and held it, while Alice told us stories about growing up with two older brothers, and Jasper told us embarrassing stories about Rosalie. We laughed loudly, and enjoyed our time together, it felt almost perfect.

I felt so much better than I had in a long time, I couldn't remember the last time I had gone out with friends and laughed, and didn't have to worry about what I said, or what would happen once we got home. It felt good to be normal.

At the end of the night I thanked Alice and Jasper for everything, we said our goodbyes and got into Edward's Volvo. We made small talk about our days, the entire time Edward never took his hand from mine, and everything just felt right.

"Bella," Edward said softly, as we stepped onto his porch, the cool night air wrapped around us, I shuttered a little bit. He took a step closer, and lifted his fingers to my face, trailing them down my cheek and along my jaw line, leaving a fiery trail as he went. I felt my butterflies flutter, and my heart start to pound on my ribcage like a jackhammer. "I just want to try something." he whispered, leaning down closer to me, he brushed his lips lightly against mine, I was sure if my eyes were open I could see the sparks it had caused. He must have felt it too, because he pulled me closer to him, and began to kiss me with more passion behind it.

I slid my arms around his neck, having to lean into him from my knees going weak, as our lips moved together, I ran my tongue along his bottom lip, he moaned into my mouth, it was the sexiest moan I had ever heard, it sent chills down my spine.

It was over too quickly as he pulled away, breaking our kiss, but not our eye contact "Bella." he said exasperated. I felt myself instantly panic, my breathing start to shorten.

"Edward, I don't know if I'm ready for any type of relationship, I still have so much to work out, but I do know that I do have feelings for you, I feel so safe with you, and I like how things have been going with us.. I just…" I trailed off, word vomit again. But I wasn't embarrassed, I wanted to be honest with him.

"Bella, I don't expect us to rush anything, I don't even expect us to have any kind of label, or anything. I feel the same way about you, you're always on my mind, all the time, and you have made my life so much better since you walked into it. I would never want to rush you or make you feel uncomfortable, or anything like that. We can do this on your terms, I am fully prepared to stand by your side and help you heal and get back to the woman you want to be." He said, brushing a loose strand of hair from my face.

"Let's just take it day by day." I suggested, because that's the only way I knew how to live, and it seemed to be working with us thus far.

"I like the sound of that." He smiled, giving me a soft kiss on the forehead.

"Thank you." I smiled up at him, a genuine smile.

"It's getting late. I have to work tomorrow." he smiled, unlocking the door and leading me inside.

I felt almost incomplete not touching him. When he was near me all my problems, and fears melted away. When we were touching, even if it was just something little, my world was absolutely perfect. I had never felt that before.

"This is for you, if you have any questions, we can talk tomorrow alright?" he handed me a thick manila envelope, kissed the top of my head and walked up the stairs.

I leaned against the counter, still being dazed by the kiss, and opened the envelope, I wasn't sure what any of this would be, I remembered Edward saying he was going to start making things more permanent, but I wasn't sure what that meant.

The first few things I pulled out were ID's, A social security card, a license, a credit card, and a library card. The pictures on the I.D's were the ones Alice had snapped at the mall after my makeover tonight, she was a sneaky little thing. I looked at them, they all had the name Bella Elizabeth Masen. The address on the license was Edward's address. My social security number had completely changed.

I pulled out the rest of the documents. There was a birth certificate that was completely bogus. But it looked authentic, luckily my birthday was the same. Along with a passport. A high school diploma. A college bachelor's degree which I actually earned back in my old life, how Edward knew these things was beyond me.

The last sheet of paper in the envelope was a note from Edward. His writing was almost perfect, as if it was a font on a computer.

Bella,

I hope this is not completely crossing the line, Aro, the man who helped me with
this, works with the hospital and with the government, whenever a patient is in a
life threatening situation, they help us out by completely changing the identity of
the patient. I was able to let them keep your first name at Bella, and Elizabeth
Masen is my mother's name, I hope you don't mind. It seemed fitting. Everything
is legit, you will be able to start work at the gift shop whenever you are ready to
work, I can help you set up a bank account, and then we can work on getting you
back on your feet.

Thank you for coming into my life, Bella Masen, it means more than you know.

- Edward.

I felt tears well up in my eyes. He had gone above and beyond to help me, and I would repay him as much as I could. He saved my life, I would be forever grateful to Edward Cullen.

I gathered the paperwork and made my way up the stairs.

I was going to get my life back on track. Work at the hospital gift shop until I could find a more fitting job for myself. I would get a car and a cell phone as soon as possible. I was going to build my life back up, better than I was before.

I fell asleep quickly, and had the first full night sleep in years.