A/N: Nothing much happens in this chapter but since people have been hoping for Edward and Bella get back together, I'm considering making it happen. Right now this is kind of leading up to Edward/Bella and Hope/Ryan. I'm actually quite proud of it.

Once again, thank you to my reviewers:
twilightluver001, Freaky Capricorn, LinkinPark101, Blair Cullen, Em'sGirl23, spunkymonkey5712, melissa1995, and ReaderRapid.

I'm so sorry I haven't been thanking my reviewers! I'll have internet 24/7 for a while so it shouldn't be a problem. Also, in your reviews, I'm interested in seeing what you all think is going to happen in the coming chapters. So feel free to let me know or even suggest things! Now read, enjoy and review!

Chapter Twelve
Personal Hell, Private Heaven

Edward paced back and forth. He was furious with what he had just heard. Why couldn't Jacob and Bella go farther away from the house so thoughts weren't making his mind seem claustrophobic? "Ugh!" Edward groaned as he punched a hole in the wall. Edward leaned up against the wall and slid down it. He placed his head into his pale hands. "I can't let that happen," Edward told himself.

"Are you alright?" Her voice rang throughout his ears. To Edward, the voice of Bella Swan's, was far more beautiful than any vampire. Edward lifted his head from his hands to look at Bella. For an instant, topaz and brown met one another. Edward gave off a small smile then put his head back into his hands. Bella sighed loudly and sat down beside Edward.

"I didn't come here to yell at you, Edward," Bella told Edward. The vampire looked at Bella with a skeptical look. "Oh really?" Edward asked. "Bella, you came here and you were ready to burn the house to the ground. Not only that but you called me irresponsible. I'm way older than you are. Trust me. I'm far from irresponsible."

"But you haven't been a parent for fifteen years," Bella laughed. Edward smiled a bit more. He hated the way he felt right now. More than anything, he wanted to kiss Bella. She knew that he still loved her. Edward just wished that Bella felt the same way.

There was silence between the two before Bella stood. Edward looked up at Bella. The woman before him was holding out her hand. Edward took Bella's hand and stood. "You haven't changed much in fifteen years," Bella told Edward. Edward crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Well," Edward told Bella, "I am a vampire. I don't exactly age."

Hope Elizabeth Cullen stared out through the crack of her door. She couldn't believe what was taking place between her parents. They still looked sad to Hope but they also looked happy. "Hope, stop spying," Cassie told her friend. Hope looked back at Cassie and rolled her eyes. "You're the one who taught me how," Hope sarcastically replied. Cassie flashed Hope a huge grin.

"You should stop worrying about your parent's love life," Cassie told Hope, "And start worrying about yours."

"I'm fifteen, Cass. I don't need a love life."

Hope's remark received a laugh from Cassie. Hope rolled her eyes again before taking a seat beside Cassie in the large queen-sized bed. "But you should consider dating," Cassie told Hope. "A lot of the guys at school long for you. Even the seniors want you." Hope scoffed at Cassie's words which caused her friend to frown. "I'm serious!" Cassie exclaimed.

"Senior boys? After a freshman?" Hope asked. "Cassie, you obviously don't know anything. In high school, if the seniors go for the new meat, all they want is a piece of ass or they want to embarrass you horribly. Ryan is their main target!" Cassie crossed her arms in a pout like manner. She didn't like being reminded of what her twin brother had to go through everyday at school. Ryan got made fun of constantly because he had never been with a girl in anyway. Because of that he ended up being called queer and other inappropriate things. It didn't help when Cassie and Hope defended him at all either.

"And do you know why Ryan's their main target, Hope?" Cassie asked. Her eyebrows were raised and her body language showed that she was becoming extremely defensive. Hope shook her head and examined her fingernails, like Cassie usually did when she didn't want to have a certain conversation. "Girls like Ry," Cassie told Hope. "But he turns them down because he's convinced that someday you'll give him a chance. He's into sports and all that jazz but he's afraid if he joins any sort of jock team that he'll become a complete asshole and you'll stop being his friend. He's terrified that he'll never get to experience being in a relationship because he only wants to be in a relationship with you."

Hope looked up from Cassie. Her mouth hung up at everything Cassie said. "Boy, you sure are straightforward," Hope said with no emotion in her voice. Cassie sighed and placed her hands on her friend's shoulders. She turned Hope to look at her and smiled. "My twin brother is pretty much head over heels in love with you, Jelly Belly." Hope couldn't help but laugh at the nickname that Cassie has used on her since they were six. "I'm afraid," Hope began, "That he doesn't know what love is, Buzzy Bee."

Cassie stared at Hope in disbelief and dropped her hands from her friend's shoulders. "Can you honestly tell me that you don't have any feelings for Ryan at all?" Cassie asked. "I mean, I see the way you two look at each other out of the corner of your eye. You act like no one notices but they do. I bet Edward even noticed the way Ry was looking at you a few days ago." Hope blushed at everything Cassie was saying. She didn't know how to react though. She always considered Ryan one of her very best friends.

But just the mention of his name…

Hope turned a darker shade of red and looked away from Cassie's accusing eyes. She felt like Cassie's gaze was burning a whole into her face from all the staring. "I know you like him," Cassie told Hope. Hope looked down at her hands that were playing with the bed sheet.

"I don't know," Hope replied with a sigh. "I don't know how I feel about Ryan but I do know that without you and him, even though he was totally against it, I'm really glad you two stuck with me and came with me to find my dad."

It was late. Bella could sense it. Carly and the people that were able to sleep were upstairs. But for some odd reason, Bella didn't even feel tired. She sat at the kitchen table next to Edward. A cup of coffee was in her hand.

Maybe that's why I can't sleep, Bella thought to herself as she looked down at the coffee mug.

Bella also felt uneasy. Edward was smiling and he had his eyes on her for the past hour. "What?" Bella asked with amusement in her voice. Edward smiled his famous crooked grin and Bella felt as if her heart was about to burst out of her chest.

"What are you so freaked out about?" Edward asked in his usual musical voice. His voice and grin didn't seem to make Bella feel any better. She shook her head to try to clear her thoughts. She wanted to stop thinking about the past she had with Edward. That was over now.

"Seeing you," Bella replied. "I didn't want Hope to find out from you. I wanted to be the one to tell her everything." Bella swore that she heard Edward sigh. She noticed the vampire run a hand through his bronze hair.

"Then why won't you tell her that when she's old enough she'll marry Jacob?" Edward asked. No emotion, except for concern, was present on Edward's face. "Why didn't you tell me that in ten years or so that my son-in-law will be a filthy… a smelly… a werewolf?" Bella knew that her mouth was hanging open. She stared into her cup of coffee some more. She didn't know how to answer Edward. She wasn't even sure she wanted to.

"She just found out that her father and the rest of her family are vampires," Bella finally replied after a moment of silence. "Jacob and Hope are really close. I don't want to ruin that right now."

"But you want to ruin that in the future? Now who is the irresponsible one?"

Bella shot a deadly glare at Edward and practically growled at him. "I'm just trying to protect my daughter," Bella snapped. "I don't want her going through the same heartbreak that I did." Now it was Edward's turn to glare at his former lover.

"It's nearly two in the morning. Why are we even having this conversation?"

"Because you're a complete jerk who brought it up."

"I am not a jerk!"

"Good!" Bella practically shouted. "Then since you aren't a jerk, Mr. Cullen, you can tell our daughter that her godfather imprinted on her." Edward hung his mouth open and went to protest but he only found Bella's hand in his face. "You brought this on yourself."

"You've been around vampires and werewolves for too long," snickered Edward. "You're extremely scary when you get angry."

"Jake figured that I scared you at least a little bit." Edward glared again at the mention of Bella's werewolf friend. "You know, Edward, we'll be leaving for Forks in a few days. Before I go, we need to talk about Hope."

"You're going to pull her away from us aren't you?" Edward asked sadly. Bella was shocked to hear Edward's question. Did he really think of her to be so cruel? Bella sighed and replied, "I'm not going to pull Hope away from you, Edward. She's obviously bonded with everyone. I'm surprised Rosalie even accepted her."

Edward chuckled but he couldn't help agree with Bella. Rosalie didn't really like anyone except her family and even then she sometimes acted as if she didn't like them very much. "So what would you like to do?" Edward asked. Bella looked into Edward's beautiful topaz eyes. "I don't really know," Bella replied. "I mean, plane tickets aren't a problem if she wanted to come out here and visit. I can afford them or you can."

"Maybe I'll move to New York," Edward suggested. "I'm sure there's some place that's not sunny all the time."

"Los Angeles is sunny practically all the time," Bella laughed. "Why did you even move here?"

"Carlisle liked the hospital. He leaves in the morning when it's dark and comes home when it gets dark. None of us really go out into the sun. Alice enjoys shopping the most when it's cloudy. I don't know why."

"She's just Alice," Bella said. "She's a shop-a-holic just like my daughter and her best friend." Bella and Edward both laughed at the mention of both Alice and Hope loving to shop. The laughter stopped when Edward ran a hand through Bella's curls.

"I missed you, Bella," Edward replied. All Bella could do was nod. She liked Edward's touch but it was making her extremely uncomfortable.Oh no, Bella thought to herself as she noticed Edward leaning close to her. He looked as if he was going to kiss her.

Bella's heart fluttered furiously and just as his lips were about to come in contact with her own, Bella turned her head causing Edward to kiss her cheek. Bella didn't look at Edward after that. She immediately stood and placed her half empty coffee mug into the sink.

"Good night," Bella whispered to Edward as she made her way upstairs to one of five guest bedrooms.

Hope stared up at the ceiling with her arms behind her head. Cassie's words swam throughout her mind and it was beginning to drive her insane. What was worse was that she couldn't seem to force Ryan's face out of her mind. She never really noticed how much she cared for Ryan until today.

His perfect smile and his short spiky blond hair…

His somewhat pale complexion…

Hope found that she loved practically everything about Ryan Newman. With a quiet sigh, Hope rolled over onto her side and faced the door. It was going to be a long night if she couldn't get Ryan out of her head.

That's when it dawned on her.

"She's right," Hope murmured in an awed voice. "I think I like you, Ry."