Yes, I know this chapter is shorter than usual, but it couldn't be helped. Massive parts of the original chapter had to be left out, because, alas, in this story Edward, while creepy, is not a creep that stalks sleeping teenage girls. So no long chat in Bella's bedroom about her talking in her sleep. Sorry if anyone's put out by that. But never fear! Next chapter we meet the Cullens! ALL of the Cullens. Should be fun. Anyways, this chapter is mostly the come-down from the previous chapter, not all that much happens, mostly lighthearted. Which I think we all need. And I'm once again amazed by the responses I get to this little passion project; that so many people seem invested in this story I'm telling is both absurd and really, really cool. I hope to do a 'answer all questions' round, maybe in the last chapter or so, where I can address all the questions I've received over the course of this story, and give everyone some insight as to why certain things have been changed while others remain fairly similar to the original story, yada yada. Thank you to jansails, Guest (lol), snowflakelover, muffinmom, and keeper of logolepsy for your reviews, Dawn is coming, ForeverTwilite, Laura Beth Luck, SecretWriter010, Sephrenia1, Shamatt0403, Tina1970, azilia, boydroses, .10, jdc0630, julieide, kakins48, keeper of logolepsy, nicurn96, tricia2475, vrgo, and yuriana for your follows, and Dawn is coming, SecretWriter010, azilia, jdc0630, and yuriana for your faves.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

I KEPT THE WINDOWS DOWN as we drove back, turning back onto the highway. Through the rare break in the trees, I realized how low the sun was in the sky. How long could we possibly have been in that meadow for? I entertained notions of it being some sort of time locked alternate dimension we'd stumbled across for nearly five minutes, until it dawned on me that for one of the first times we were sitting in comfortable, rather than tense silence. When was the last time this had happened? Sitting in his car listening to music?

As if he'd read my mind, literally, Ed fiddled with the radio until the static faded enough that I could hear the music. I glanced over at him, fighting a smile. "Is this what I think it is?"

"If the band slows down we'll yell some more," he hummed in response.

I shook my head but whistled for a few moments until he changed the station to an eighties rock one instead. I tried to picture the Cullens with perms and smirked to myself, before commenting, "This was probably my parents' prom music."

He smirked as well. "I went to prom in the eighties once or twice."

"Are there pictures?" I inquired innocently.

"None you'll ever see," he retorted, as I snorted and turned back onto the 101.

Now that we'd established what could be called a friendship, my wariness had settled and my curiosity was starting to thrive once again. I mulled over the question in my mind for a few moments before deciding to take the plunge; after all, we'd agreed to be more open with each other, hadn't we? No more walking on egg shells.

"What did you die of, anyways?" I asked as conversationally as you could ask something like that, just as he was fiddling with the volume, and then cringed as 'Tainted Love' blasted through TT's cab.

"Sorry," Ed murmured, switching the radio off entirely, and then glanced at me. "You want to know how I died?"

My face heated up. "Well, seeing as we're friends now, I just thought-,"

He seemed to revel in my mortification; I caught a glimpse of that rare impish expression, which I hadn't seen in a while. "Like I said," he snickered, "Are you sure you're human?"

"Humans are fascinated with death," I reminded him frostily. "And I don't want to know all the gory details; it's not like that."

He just laughed, and shook his head, and then finally said, "I was very sick. It was the Spanish Influenza. Dad was there in the hospital, working as a doctor, and when given the opportunity to save a life, he took it."

I bit my lip. "What about your parents?"

Ed just shrugged, and I was reminded of just how long ago this had been for him. "They were already gone."

After another moment I asked, "Did it hurt much?"

He seemed to think about it for a moment. "I think it did. But others have had worst experiences, I'm sure. I just remember wanting the pain to stop, and then it did, and when I woke up everything was different."

I tried to imagine what that might be like, to wake up dead, and couldn't. It was too surreal. "Were you angry with him?" I thought I saw the sign for Forks in the distance, up ahead.

"I was in shock," he admitted. "It took a very long time to sink in. But he was lonely. I could see that- and he told me as much, eventually. He'd spent so long apart from everyone else… that kind of isolation, it's like a prison. It gets to be unbearable. I was the first person Dad- Carlisle- had ever attempted anything like that on."

"So it was just the two of you."

"Until he found Esme a few years later, yes."

I debated asking how Esme and the rest had died, but decided he might not be too eager to share the circumstances of his entire family's deaths. We sank back into a quiet as we entered Forks, and by the time we reached my neighborhood the sun was just beginning to set. I'd made good on my promise to Dad, not that it mattered. The cruiser wasn't in the driveway. We sat there, listening to the growl of TT's engine for another moment or two before I pulled the keys out of the ignition.

"Crap," I muttered as I clambered down from the truck and looked around. "Where is your car?"

"I walked over," Ed admitted. "Well… ran."

"Oh." We sort of stood there in the driveway before I glanced back at the house, and he seemed to take this as a cue.

"I should be going home, then."

"You could stay," I blurted out, without even thinking about it. "I mean… until my dad comes home. If you want. It's not as though- I was just going to make myself dinner."

He looked bemused. "It's not like I could join you."

My expression must have looked almost offended, because his face shifted into something a bit more open and vulnerable, and he amended with, "But if you want me to come in, I will."

"Okay," I said almost awkwardly, and as I led him up to the front door I both questioned what I was doing, and acknowledged that this was my first time ever inviting a boy into my home.

In the kitchen, he leaned against the counter and looked on with interest, as if he were watching a TV show, as I microwaved leftover lasagna. We talked while I ate, sitting across from one another at the kitchen table, until I heard a car pulling into the drive. Shit. Dad.

Ed looked torn between vague alarm and amusement. "I don't think he should catch me in here."

"Go out the back door," I urged, scrambling to my feet to go stall Dad in the doorway if need be, but the second I took my eyes off him all I heard was the scrape of his chair being pushed back, and then he was gone. I looked out the kitchen window, squinting into the dusk, but didn't see even a silhouette disappearing into the forest- had he even gone out the back door? It was still locked when I tested it, and just as I turned around Dad came into the kitchen.

"Are you alright?" he asked, and my gaze darted to the chair Ed had been sitting in. He had pushed it in, thankfully.

"Y-yeah. Just thought I heard a noise in the yard, but I think it was just a deer or something," I rambled, taking my seat again. "Do you uh, want some of this?" I indicated my meal with a wavering fork.

He shrugged. "I can get some myself, thanks Bells."

I felt my heart rate starting to slow down as he put his own piece in the microwave, until he asked, "So how was the hike?"

Right. The hike. "Okay. It was um… it was really nice weather for it."

"Your boyfriend leave already?"

I choked on the lasagna in my mouth, and swallowed hard. "Dad-,"

"Bella, you look like a cornered rabbit," he chuckled. "You know I'm not worried. Just glad you two had a nice time."

I swiftly changed the topic to his fishing trip, and pretended to be interested in the variety of bait used over the course of the day while I rinsed my dishes out in the sink. "I think I'm going to go to bed early," I told him over my shoulder. "Being outside all day kind of exhausted me."

"Alright. See you in the morning, sweetheart," Thank God he was as amenable as usual.

Once upstairs, I trudged into my room, then flicked on the light. And then I almost screamed, because there was a figure in the corner.

"Ed," I hissed, when I was certain the strangled yell wasn't going to escape. "I thought you left."

He looked somewhat unapologetic. "There was the chance your dad could have seen me running out of your yard. Didn't want to get arrested."

"Keep your voice down," I warned, paranoid, and made sure my door was firmly shut and locked behind me.

Now he took a step out of the corner he'd been lurking in. "I thought I should say goodnight, anyways. And that- that I really enjoyed today. Aside from…," he grimaced. "Some of my moments."

"I think I'm getting used to your moments," I halfheartedly reassured him, and then paused to listen. I heard the TV downstairs. Good. "But if my dad catches you in my room he's going to flip. He thinks you're an angel."

"But I am," he put a hand on his heart, his expression one of mock indignation, and a laugh bubbled up in my throat.

"Shhh. I know you're really hard to kill… but he'd probably still try."

Ed nodded. "Dad would be annoyed if he had to pick a bullet or two out of me again." He raised a hand in an odd sort of farewell, and retreated to my partially opened window, silently pushing it all the way up.

"You've been shot before?"

He grinned, and then slipped out the window and into the darkness. After a few seconds passed by I hurried over to it, peering outside, but I saw nothing but the soft glow of porch lights up and down the street and parked cars in driveways. "Good night," I muttered, then closed the window.

This is not just all in your head... Mind over matter makes these things feel so real.

- PRVIS, 'Mind Over Matter'