I'd just like to take this moment to be extremely pompous and dedicate the entirety of 14 Days to my two betas. Limona and Pastiche Pen. Wonderful people, who know just the right level of encouragement and ass kicking. This story would suck without them.

Day 14 – How My Life was (semi) Happily Ruined

Well, that's a lie. It was raining. But it felt bright and beautiful. I was warm in my bed and the world around us is real in how we interpret it be so... whatever. For me it was bright and beautiful.

Edward showed up early, and this time I didn't find it annoying. Charlie and I were eating breakfast when he knocked on the door, and I may have let out an embarrassingly high-pitched noise of excitement. To be fair he was there to pick me up so we could go and get Fred all set up on my account, and I had been spending a lot of time with Alice.

After spending many minutes making out on Edward's bed last night, he'd walked me out to my truck, then we'd kissed some more, then I raced home, and spent hours researching the iPhone. I'd read for hours about the first iPhone had revolutionized cell phones, and starting looking into what apps I would be acquiring first.

I'd also found a weird list of facts about the phone that seemed to be comparing it to Chuck Norris.

The iPhone 4 can cure cancer with its radiation.

I was pretty sure Fred and I were going to be good friends.

"Hey," Edward said, looking all smooth and suave when I opened the front door.

"Hi," I said, anything but suave. And then I threw myself at him. He stumbled backwards on the porch and took a minute to get his balance then started kissing me back. I thought I'd become proficient with the use of my tongue last night, or Edward and I had reached an understanding of how our tongues should interact but that was nothing compared to what happened on the porch where everyone could see. He held me so tight, and his lips and tongue and his teeth went everywhere and somehow it all felt good. Caressing my chin in light back and forth strokes, barely touching me with his lips, or attacking my mouth so hard I'm sure he bruised me.

Kissing Edward was a special joy I wanted to experience over and over, all the time. It was better than putting things in my new calendar. I could feel him smiling as he moved his mouth to my ear and blew gently before returning to my mouth, re-introducing our tongues to one another. It was simple and special and didn't rely on anything before or after this moment. It was just now, and now was beautiful.

Until Charlie cleared his throat behind us—then now was awkward. But after the last two weeks, I was sure I was equipped to handle awkward.

"Sorry, Dad."

"Hi, Charlie.," Edward said, still grinning.

"Mmhmm." Charlie grunted before walking back to the kitchen.

"Your Dad go likes to make things painful for us, doesn't he?" Edward said.

"Mmhmm," I answered. "I'm dri... uh, you okay with me driving?" Edward noticed my slip up and subsequent hasty fix.

"That's fine. I like your truck." I nodded and scrambled into the driver's seat.

"So," Edward said once we were out of the neighbourhood.

"So?"

"About college."

"Right. College." And the freak out we both had on Friday.

"I got so angry because you were acting like you didn't want me to be a part of your life after high school."

"That isn't what I meant, well, maybe it was. At the time–but not anymore. I do want you to be a part of my life. Unless we break up. I mean, we're still together, right? I'm still your girlfriend? That fight wasn't a break up, was it?" Panicking while driving is difficult, so I pull over beside a stop sign and look at Edward.

"Yes, Bella. I'm still your boyfriend. We're still together. It was just a fight. But an important one, I think." Edward was trailing his fingers up and down the window in a nervous gesture. I'd never seen him do it before and it made me want to slap his hand.

A car honks and the driver yells at us as the pass us, I hadn't done a good job pulling over. Unable to bring myself to care, I just stared at his hand, going up and down the window.

"But what happens if we do break up? We change our plans, we make... together-plans, and then something happens and you start to hate me and we break up then...then what do we do? Our lives will be ruined! And stop smudging the window!" I yelled that last bit and lunge across the seats, grab his arm and yank it to me.

He chuckled a bit, and grasped my hands in his to stop himself from doing it.

"See? This is what I mean! What if we just aren't compatible? What if I'm always yelling at you and then you hate me?"

"Our lives won't be ruined, Bella." Edward started rubbing the backs of my hands with his thumbs.

"You can't know that. What if I cheat on you, or you cheat on me? Or we do something so horrible to one another that we never want to see each other again?"

"Well, we'll never have that chance unless we try to make this work. And that means changing plans. I can't promise that we will work out. I can't promise that we'll live happily ever after. Sometimes, you just have to take a leap of faith. I know that scares you. But, it's the way life is."

Edward always seemed to understand what I was thinking, even when I couldn't express it well. I smiled at him and pulled out on to the road again.

"What would you do if I said I want us to take a year off together?"

My foot pushed down on the breaks so hard and fast we screeched to a halt. I didn't know that happened outside of the movies. "What do you mean?" A year off? What does one do with a year off?

"Yeah. And go to Europe or something. See the world."

See the world? That wasn't part of my plan. "It's like you're going out of your way to change my plans as radically as possible."

He grinned and gestured at me to keep driving. "Would it really be so bad if we decided to buy plane tickets today?"

"Yes!" I yelled as the truck started moving forward again. "Where would we go? What hotel would we stay in once we got there? Why? What would we see? What would we do? We have to plan a trip like that."

"So, you're interested in planning a trip for us?"

"What?"

"I can compromise. I want to do something radical. You want to plan. Why don't you plan out our radical trip? It doesn't have to be Europe. I don't care where we go actually. I just want to see more of the world then," he gestured at the houses around us, "this."

"You're serious?" Incredulous does not begin to describe how I'm feeling.

"As a heart attack. I want to get away for a bit. And I want to get away with you."

I stopped the car again and checked to make sure no one was behind us. "You want us, the two of us, to take a trip around Europe or something that will take us so long we have to take a year off school?"

"We don't have to be gone a year. But I figure it'll take you a month to plan the trip, and we'll want to be gone for at least three months, but no longer than six, otherwise my savings will not be happy with me when we try to go to school. If we want to stay somewhere for a bit, we can. We could get under-the-table jobs and... and just be somewhere that isn't Small Town, America." Edward started bouncing in his seat and grinning wildly. He looked like four year old on a sugar high. I remembered that map all covered with pins and stickers in his room. "His version of a plan," he'd said.

I started driving again.

"Money isn't a problem for you, right?" Edward asked, which as far as I'm concerned he should have asked first.

"Why would you think that?" The fact was it wasn't, but I'd never told him that or anything.

"Well, you own a nice a new truck, you take private violin lessons, you have the latest in smartphone technology and your dad is a police officer in a small town. I figure he can't make that much money."

"My mom." I hated talking about her, and I'd been doing it a lot lately. "Mom had life insurance. I guess she wanted to look after me in the only way she could."

"That isn't the only way she took care of you."

"It isn't?"

"She sent you to live with your Dad, right? She knew she wasn't equipped to raise you properly so she sent you to someone she trusted, someone she once loved, who could raise you well. If she'd cared less, she would have been selfish and kept you with her, where you wouldn't have been happy at all and probably would've grown to hate her."

I remained silent for the rest of the drive, thinking over what Edward had said. I'd never thought of it that way before. I'd always thought she'd just abandoned me.

It took us much longer than usual to get to Port Angeles because of all the stopping and starting at the beginning of the trip. Once we were there, we headed for the mall ...or what passed for a mall in the middle of nowhere.

Everything with Fred was easy. and we were in and out within twenty minutes. And I had a new best friend!

Well, no, I had a new helper-companion-thingy.

More than a phone, less than a human.

That was my new mantra.

When we're back in the car, I look at Edward and said, "Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes." I nodded.

"Context?"

"Europe or whatever. Let's do it." I can't believe I said that out loud.

"Really? Why?"

"What do you mean, why? It was your idea!"

"But I never thought you'd agree."

"Well, it only makes sense. If we're going to be making future plans together this is a good way to spend a lot of time together without doing anything that will change our future. Do you have a passport?" I sharpened my gaze on him. If we were going away, there was so much to get done first.

Edward opened his mouth, then closed it. "That isn't quite what I..."

"Compromise, Edward. Do you have a passport?"

Edward sighed. "No," he stopped me before I could start telling me what a poor traveller he was. "I'll fill out the papers tonight. Alright? But we have to have a lot of fun and do some things spontaneously."

"I can live with that." I smiled at him and reached out, gripped his shirt and pulled him to me for a kiss. "As long as we can do that as often as possible."

Edward smiled back. "Your wish is my command."

I kissed him one more time, just because I could, then started the drive back to Forks.

"We should make a list of the ten cities we most want to visit and see how many coincide with one another, then we can-"

"You never change, do you?"

I smiled over at him I didn't know what the future would hold, but that didn't scare me as much as it used to. I was almost looking forward to it.

I took a hand off the wheel as I drove, reached over and slid mine into Edward's. Maybe it wasn't the safest way to drive, but it was the best.

'*'

And, that's that. Woah.

Sorry, about the delay...there was a small fire and I was kinda homeless for two weeks. No one was hurt or anything like that. And I'm home now! Yay!

Thank you so much to everyone for sticking with this story despite so many delays, and bad writing, and whatever other complaints you had. I really appreciate every single one of you. I hope you liked the ending!