This was my TLS flashfic for the week of 7/19/13. It was kinda fun doing a canon Edward and Bella for a change.
"Edward, what's wrong?" After a hundred and thirty years of marriage I know when something is wrong. There was something weighing on Edward's mind, and if I didn't address it then he would never let it go.
"I was just thinking." He smiled but it wasn't the lopsided grin that I loved.
"About?"
"Your eighteenth birthday."
I swallowed thickly. "Why?"
"I guess it all came flooding back. I left you alone and defenseless. I took everyone and everything with me. It must have really been like I never existed."
"Your voice in my head was all I had left."
I wrapped my arms around his waist, holding him close and reminding both of us that we were here, together, forever.
"Did you ever wish that you couldn't hear me?"
"Just once. I thought I was crazy."
"I'm so sorry, Bella." I can tell from the thickness of his voice that he would be crying. "Nothing I ever do will make up for leaving you with no one."
"You already have. You're here now."
I kissed him, and although I knew it will take a while longer to truly convince him, I knew I could break through. He's was with me now. That was all that mattered.