Thank you for all the wonderful reviews for the last chapter! I really hope you like this chapter! There's a bit of a surprise in this chapter! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own any recognizable characters or references. The characters belong to Stephanie Meyer. The only thing I own is the plot of this story.

Chapter 12: Bella's Lullaby

EPOV

So far I couldn't complain about my birthday. I mean I'd spent most of the day with my friends. Alice had some plans for us to go out to some club later tonight and mom had cooked a fantastic meal for everyone. Not to mention that Maria had made red velvet cupcakes for us, which as always tasted delicious. Yeah I definitely could not complain.

To think that there wasn't much that could surprise me anymore. Aside from when Bella announced her engagement. But I was wrong. Here I was standing in the living room with Emmett and Jasper waiting for the girls to finish getting ready so we could all leave. But I was not prepared for what I saw.

The girls came down the stairs. Alice and Rosalie looked beautiful but it wasn't them that I was currently worried about. When Bella entered the living room, I felt my jaw go slack. She was beautiful and breath-taking. She was also very sexy in the silver dress that I assume was Alice's doing.

She had filled out well over the last 5 years. She'd always been beautiful. But college had been good for her. She had curves in all the right places. When we were in high school, I'd always known she was beautiful. And fear for fear of changing our relationship I never told her how I felt.

I could see Bella staring at me intently. I noticed her bite her lower lip in the cute way that she always did.

She slowly made her way toward me.

"Bella, you look beautiful." I said staring into her brown eyes. She smiled and started blushing.

"Thank you. You clean up pretty nicely yourself." She told me.

Soon Rosalie was telling that it was time to go. We had all piled into the limo. Emmett popped open a bottle of champagne and gave a toast to Alice and I.

When we arrived to Eclipse I was pretty glad that Alice had everything arranged because I really did not want to be waiting outside on that long line. Emmett and Jasper ordered a round of shots for us all when we had gotten to the VIP Room. And it wasn't long before Alice was already dragging Jasper out onto the dance floor. Emmett and Rosalie didn't look like they were going to be moving anytime soon.

I quickly turned my attention to Bella. "So Bella, do you want to dance?" I asked her.

"We can go in a bit, I kind of want a margarita." She said. I rolled my eyes at her playfully but didn't press her. She quickly ordered a margarita for herself while I ordered myself another drink.

When she had received her drink she downed it pretty quickly. I stared a bit shocked. "Thirsty much?" I asked her.

She rolled her eyes at me. "Yeah, and these margaritas are awesome!" she exclaimed as she waved for the bartender to bring her another one. I laughed at her as I took a sip of my drink. If she kept downing them the way she was she'd be gone before the night was close to being over.

By the time she was on her 3rd margarita I had had enough waiting. I know she was a bit worried because Jacob hadn't texted her. So I decided to distract her some more. I noticed that she was swaying to the music that was playing. I stood up and held my hand out to her. She gracefully took it and I led her downstairs. She, however, quickly took the lead and led me towards the middle dance floor.

I hadn't danced with Bella in a long time. But all those times we danced together it was just Bella and Edward, two friends having fun; now it's Bella and Edward, the best friend who's in love with his best friend.

I was standing behind as she started moving to the music. I placed my hands on her hips and pulled her against me, her back to my chest. I'd never danced with Bella like this. But I can't deny that I wouldn't mind dancing with her like this more often. We both moved in sync with the music.

She moved with grace and even managed to take me by surprise a bit when she bent over to the front. I tried to keep my cool and willing myself not to get hard. This was Bella after all. We continued dancing and bumping and grinding. We even dropped it low at some point. We completely lost ourselves to the music.

The song changed to one with more of a Latin beat to it. Before Bella could do anything else, I grabbed her hand and spun her to face me. I could feel her breast against my chest. She gingerly placed her hand on my bicep. We both moved to the music. I felt that familiar spark that I always felt between us. She was my home.

I felt her move her hands up to my neck and felt her start playing with my hair a bit. I just into her chocolate brown eyes. I could get lost in them forever. She stared back at me. Her eyes were a bit darker. They looked like they were filled with want and desire. We stared at each other intently as we moved on the dance floor without once missing a beat. Our foreheads were touching and I noticed that her breathing had become shallower. I don't know if it was because of all the dancing or what.

Being so close to her allowed me to be encased by her scent or fresh strawberries; a scent that I would be able to recognize anywhere and would always remind me of her. Her pink tongue stuck out of her mouth and licked her lips before she captured her bottom lip in between her teeth. How I wanted to bit that lip of hers. If only I could kiss her. Just one kiss.

And then some girl bumped into us causing whatever spell we were under to break. We both turned to look at the girl who apologized while eyeing me up and down like I was a piece of meat.

Maybe it's a good thing that she had bumped into you guys. Hello, Bella has a fiancé! I Heard my conscious say to me. But if we had kissed once maybe she'd see that she was making a mistake. But then again it'd be wrong to kiss her knowing that she's engaged. I feel so confused.

Bella grabbed my hand and led me back to the VIP room. Everyone was staring at us when we walked in. Obviously they had seen us while we were dancing. They wisely chose not to comment as I sat down and quickly down another shot.

What was Bella doing to me? I'd never felt this strongly about her before.

~~~~~~CWTL~~~~~~

The sun was shining brightly into the room. What time was it? I didn't want to look at the clock. I knew that once I did my body would force me to stay awake. Sadly, my curiosity for the time of day got the best of me. I looked at the clock and it read 10:30am. I groaned as I turned over and covered my head with the blankets. I didn't want to get out of bed. And I had a pounding headache. How much did I drink last night? It didn't seem like much, but then again whoever was making the drinks last night was making them strong.

After a few minutes of willing myself to go back to sleep I came to the conclusion that it just wasn't going to happen. I got out of bed and made my way to the bathroom to start my day.

Around 12:00 I made my way downstairs. My headache was significantly lighter. Thank god. I walked into the kitchen to find that it was empty. I walked out of kitchen and tried to listen for any noise. Granted it was a big house but I had good hearing.

"Mom!" I called out but heard nothing in return. "Alice?" Silence. I knew dad was at the hospital. I sighed before making my way back into the kitchen to make myself something to eat. Looks like everyone was gone for the day.

I went into the fridge and pulled out some things to make myself a sandwich when I heard the doorbell ring. I made my way to the door and saw Jasper standing there. What was he doing here?

"Hey Jasper." I said allowing him to walk in.

"Hey Edward." He answered as he walked in and made his way to my kitchen as if he owned the place. I followed him and eyed him curiously as he sat down at the isle in the kitchen. "Can you make one of those for me?" he asked. I looked at him weirdly.

"Yeah, but you didn't come over for a sandwich, I'm assuming." I said as I made us both a sandwich.

"No I didn't. I came over to spend some time with one of my best guy friends, and to talk to you." He said as the bottom half of his body moved from side to side on the bar stool. He could be so weird sometimes.

"Talk to me about what?" I asked as I placed his sandwich in front of him. I watched as he took a bite of his sandwich.

"You and Bella." He said simply before getting up and grabbing a soda out of the fridge.

"What about us?"

"I saw you two last night, while you were dancing." Yeah I kind of figured he had seen us. "Things got pretty heated between you two. Alice and I were on the dance floor when you guys got really into it. If I didn't know any better I'd think you two were sleeping together." He said before stopping mid bite. "You're not sleeping together are you?"

I started to choke on my sandwich. "What? No, we're not sleeping together!" I said as I drank form of my soda.

"Oh okay. I just thought that maybe—"

"Jasper, she has a fiancé. Bella and I have never done anything close to the romantic nature, especially anything close to sex. I mean yeah we've kissed once but that was because we were curious as to what all the hype was about. And I don't even think that counted we were both 13." I said.

"All the more reason for you to be careful," he said before wiping his mouth. "Look you and Bella have been close your entire lives. I've seen the way you look at her. You look at her the way I look at Alice. I wouldn't want you to ruin your friendship with her because of your feelings." He said with all sincerity.

"I know, and I don't plan it. And you do realize Alice thinks the opposite right?" I asked him. He nodded.

"I'm not saying you shouldn't go for it, I'm just saying to be careful how you handle it. Your situation is very sensitive." He said. Jasper was right. This situation was very sensitive. And it could go 1 of 3 ways. I could go for her and she could reject me and marry Jacob, or I could go for her and she could love me back, or I could not do anything and watch as the girl of my dreams marries someone else.

"Yeah man I know it is. I just haven't figured out what I'm going to do." I said.

"Well, either way, you might want to figure it out soon. The wedding may be another 3 months but you'd be surprised how fast time can fly." Jasper said as he finished his sandwich. I didn't answer him. He was also right about me needing to figure everything out. Either way, no matter what I did, things were going to be different. They would never be the same.

"Now enough of the heavy stuff, by the way, you should be glad I talked to you and not Emmett, lord only knows what he would say. Let's go play some pool." Jasper said as he placed his dish in the sink and made his way to the game room downstairs. I shook my head and placed my plate in the sink before washing them and putting them away then joining Jasper downstairs.

Jasper had already set up then pool table. I grabbed a cue stick and broke the balls sinking a solid into the right corner pocket.

"I'll be stripes." Jasper said like he had a choice in the matter. I went on to try and sink another ball.

"So how are things going with you?" I asked him as the ball nearly missed the pocket.

"Great. I mean, I couldn't be happier. I have an interview for a teaching position at Walton Academy." Jasper said sinking two balls into the lower left pocket.

"Our old high school? Wow, They actually let you back into the building?" I asked him joking around. He turned and looked at me.

"I seem to recall that it was always you and Emmett getting into trouble. I was always innocently dragged into them." He answered. I laughed at him.

"That excuse only worked for so long. You weren't the new kid forever you know." I said. It was true, in High School, Emmett and I were always getting ourselves into trouble. It wasn't our fault and it's not like we had been doing anything like terrible. Everything always had a worthy cause. When Jasper moved and joined our group, the first few times he hadn't even known what we were up to. After a while he learned not to ask questions.

"Yeah, I strictly remember the headmaster telling me at some point to find a new crowd to hang out with." Jasper said chuckling at the memory.

"Hey we weren't bad. I mean, I was in Honors and AP classes as well as the honor roll. And Emmett was the star football player and though he may look it, he was pretty smart himself. So I had no idea why the headmaster thought we were so troublesome." I answered.

"That's probably why we got off easy compared to most students. We were in well academic standings." He answered. I nodded. It's not like they could have suspended us if they wanted to. Our parents always made a generous donation to the school every year.

"Amigos! Como estan?" I heard the booming voice of Emmett as he made his way downstairs.

"Emmett must you be so loud? And who let you in?" I asked him.

"Me? Loud? Never. And I knocked and rang the doorbell but no one answered. And your backdoor was unlocked so I just figured I'd come find you." Emmett said as he sat himself down in a chair. I shook my head at him. We really needed to start locking that door. We rarely ever locked it when one of us was home. "Playing a game of pool I see."

"Yes, playing a game and reminiscing about high school." Jasper said as I took my turn.

"Man, I miss those days." Emmett said. Jasper nodded in agreement.

"Oh by the way, Mom and Dad's annual 4th of July BBQ is coming up." I said.

"Oh yeah! BBQ! I love the BBQs our families have." Emmett said excitedly.

"You like them for the family moments or for the food?" I asked him.

"Definitely the food. I'm a growing boy." He said smiling cheekily.

"Emmett, first of all, you are a man not a boy. Second of all, you're not growing anymore." Jasper said chuckling. Emmett pouted.

"The food keeps up my stamina. Got to keep Rosie satisfied if you know what I mean." Emmett said while wagging his eyebrows up and down.

"Emmett, gross! That's my sister! How you feel if I said that about Bella?" Jasper said as I chuckled.

"You wouldn't because I'd expect Eddie boy here to beat the crap out of you for it first." Emmett said. I rolled my eyes.

"If Jasper would be talking about anyone, it would be Alice before Bella. And don't even think about it Jasper." I said. Emmett laughed.

"That's true." Emmett said.

"Okay can we stop talking about doing each other's sisters now?" Jasper said. I agreed as did Emmett.

We played 3 more games of pool, before Emmett and Jasper left. I made my way upstairs.

On my way upstairs and passed by the room that held my piano. I paused in the doorway. I hadn't played it since I've been back home. In fact, I hadn't played much in the last 5 years since the s I opened the door entered the room. I made my way towards the piano. I lifted the piano cover gently and ran my hands along some of the ivory keys. I gave myself a small smile as I sat down on the piano bench and played a chord.

I quickly played my mom's favorite song. It was like I'd never stopped playing. My fingers missed the keys, my ears missed the beautiful sound, and my heart missed playing.

I played through a few more of my favorites, before the melody turned into the familiar beginning notes of a song that I couldn't forget even if I tried. Bella's lullaby was one of the first songs I had ever composed. I still remember the first time I had played it for her.

"Where are we going, Edward?" an 11 year old Bella said as she followed a 12 year old Edward. They had been playing in the forest that was behind both the Cullen's and Swan's backyard. Edward was leading back to his house on the trail that led them to the meadow that they had discovered together a few weeks prior.

"We're going back to my house. I want to show you something." He said as his walking sped up a bit. Bella could barely keep up with him. He was only a couple of inches taller than her but he was also more graceful than she was.

"Edward slow down." she said as she tripped and fell over a branch. She let out a small squeak as she fell. Edward turned around and saw her on the ground. He had forgotten that she was extremely clumsy sometimes. He honestly forgot sometimes.

"Bella, are you okay?" he asked as he helped her up off the ground. Bella stood up and wiped her jeans with her hands.

"Yeah, except now there's a hole in my pants." She said as she noticed the hole that had formed on the right knee of her jeans. "Why are you in such a rush?" she asked him curiously. They usually took their time when they were walking back to the house.

"I just really want to show you something. It's a surprise." Edward said excitedly as he continued back towards the house. Bella huffed but didn't say anything. She didn't really like surprises.

He didn't let go of her hand this time, but he did slow down his pace. They walked together in a comfortable silence. Soon they made it back to Edward's house. Edward led her towards the room where his piano was.

"Are you going to play your piano? I love listening to you play!" Bella said excitedly. Edward had learned how to play when he was 8. He played it very well, and Bella always loved hearing him play.

They both sat down on the piano bench. As Edward lifted the piano cover and touched the keys. He was a bit nervous. He'd never played anything he'd composed for Bella before.

"Why are you so nervous?" Bella asked noticing that he still hadn't started playing. Edward smiled at Bella before he took a deep breath.

He played the first few notes. Bella didn't recognize the song. It wasn't until further into the song that she realized that Edward had composed it himself. It was soft like a lullaby. Bella could feel her eyes closing as she listened to the song. It was beautiful and it tugged at her heart. She felt the tears falling down her face.

Soon the song ended. Edward turned to look at Bella and saw that her eyes were closed and she had tears streaming down her face.

"Why are you crying?" he asked worried that she really had hurt herself badly when she fell earlier.

"That song was beautiful. Did you write it?" she asked. Edward nodded.

"It was inspired by someone very important in my life. And I wrote it as a gift." Edward said.

"I think Esme will love it!" Bella said. Edward chuckled making Bella confused.

"It's not for my mom. I wrote it for my best friend." He said smiling. Bella stared at Edward. He wrote her a song. Edward, her best friend, wrote her a song. Bella's face broke out into a giant grin before she pulled Edward into a bone crushing hug that could rival Emmett's.

"You wrote me a song? Oh my gosh, thank you!" She said. Edward laughed at her.

"I was going to play for you tomorrow at you birthday but I was so excited I couldn't wait. Do you really like it?" he asked her.

"Like it? I love it!" Bella said. "Will you play it again?" Edward laughed but started playing the song again.

If only I had known then the type of hold she would have and has had over me. Only 96 days left till the wedding. 96 days to make Bella realize the mistake she was making in marrying Jacob.

There you go! I hope you guys like it! And I hope you enjoyed that little flashback. As always please Read & Review!