Obstacles

After my shower I had gone back to the bedroom to find Edward sitting on the bed tying his shoes. He was dressed casually in a black T-shirt and dark blue jeans as well as tennis shoes. "Hey," I say with a grin just as my stomach growls causing me to blush. Edward looks up at me with a crooked smile and my heart goes into overdrive.

"I thought I'd take you out to breakfast and then we'll do whatever you want," says Edward happily. I smile and nod. I was more than happy to spend the day with Edward. Edward grins and takes my hand as he walks out the door and down the stairs.

"We'll take my other car," says Edward. You'd think after living with Edward for two months I would know about him having another car. After we put on our jackets and say good bye to Esme we go out to the garage. Carlisle's Mercedes was gone, as was Alice's Porsche that she had gotten for Christmas, that was a very good day for Alice. Emmett's jeep was also gone, but Jasper's motorcycle was sitting next to where the jeep was supposed to be-for obvious reasons, one being the rain-and my…Christmas present was where it always sat. The red Ferrari was really awesome and all, but it just wasn't my style. The Ferrari sat next to Edward's Volvo and on the other side of the Volvo was a sleek, black car that didn't have to move to look fast.

"Wow, why didn't I notice that sooner?" I ask. Edward chuckles as the lights flash signaling that the doors were unlocked.

"You tend to ignore nice cars," says Edward as I sit down in the passenger's seat. Edward closes the door and gets in the driver's side. "So where would you like to eat?" I watched the garage door open as I thought of the possibilities.

"Let's go to the lodge," I say as Edward pulls out of the garage and drives towards the road.

"The lodge huh? For some reason I never pictured you as the type of person to like that place," says Edward.

"I don't," I say with a grin. "Charlie liked it though and I kind of miss going there." Edward chuckles as he pulls out onto the street and drives towards town. When we get to the lodge we park and go inside. When we get inside everyone seemed to be looking out the window at the car Edward had pulled up in.

"Excuse me," says a woman wearing an apron and a nametag that identified her as Brandi, "is that your car?"

"Yeah," says Edward.

"It's a nice car, what kind is it?" asks Brandi.

"An Aston Marten Vanquish," explains Edward politely. Of course it had some outrageous name to go with it. Didn't the car stand out enough by itself? "Table for two please; non-smoking." Brandi nods and leads us to a small table towards the back and we sit down and she hands us menus.

"I'll have an orange juice," I say.

"I'll have the same," says Edward with a smile. Brandi smiles and walks away. After watching her leave I open my menu and read it. Edward was doing the same when I glanced over my menu at him.

"Any ideas?" I ask curiously as I lay my menu down and look at Edward's.

"I was thinking of having eggs benedict," says Edward thoughtfully. I wrinkle my nose and go back to my menu.

"While that sounds…weird, I think I'll have chocolate chip pancakes," I say just as Brandi walks over carrying two glasses of orange juice.

"Are you ready to order?" asks Brandi with a smile aimed mainly at Edward. I roll my eyes as Edward orders his eggs and my pancakes. "Sausage or bacon?"

"Bacon," I say before taking a sip of my orange juice. It was a little bitter. "And could I get a glass of chocolate milk please?"

"Sure," says Brandi before walking away. I push my glass aside and look out the window at the sunny morning. Everyone seemed to be out enjoying the sun for once.

"So where to after this?" asks Edward before taking a drink of his juice and making a face before pushing it to the side. I giggle before thinking about where I could possibly want to go.

"I'd like to go to the cemetery," I say. Edward's eyes widen just as Brandi comes back and gives me the glass of milk I had asked for.

"Could I get a coffee?" asks Edward. Brandi nods and walks away. Edward turns back to me. "Why the cemetery?"

"I want to see their graves," I whisper sadly. "I want to say good-bye."

"Okay," whispers Edward.

So after breakfast we go back out to Edward's car and Edward drives towards the cemetery. I wasn't sure I was ready for this, but I had to face this obstacle eventually, I knew that. Edward was quiet as he drove and I caught him glance at me every once in a while. I knew he was concerned about me. I sigh heavily and look out the window as we pull into the cemetery. "We'll have to do a bit of a search I think," says Edward as he parks and turns off the car.

"I need minute," I whisper as I stare at the large cemetery full of tombstones and knowing that two of them belonged to my parents. After a minute or two that seemed longer than it was-I only knew it had been a minute or two because I had checked the time when we'd stopped-I get out of the car and Edward walks around the front to meet me and take my hand.

"So where would you like to start?" asks Edward.

"Near grandma Swan," I say without hesitation. I had already thought about that, I knew we wouldn't know where the graves were, but we were going to find them.

"You'll have to lead the way," admits Edward after a few seconds.

It ended up taking us about an hour to find the graves since they weren't really near Grandma Swan like I had hoped. Just as we get there the rain decides to make an appearance, which suited me just fine, I didn't want the sun when I felt like crying. The graves were simple; they had their date of birth and death as well as a verse from the bible and pictures of them before they had died. I wondered who had paid for them because I was pretty sure I hadn't, I don't remember even the mention of a funeral, and coming here was pretty much a guess.

The graves had been visited recently because there were flowers-lilies-on both graves. Ignoring the rain I sit down on the wet grass and let the tears I was holding back run down my cheeks. "I can't believe you two are gone," I whisper brokenly. Edward kneels down next to me and rubs my back in a gesture of comfort. "You two are supposed to be here now! You're supposed to be yelling at me because you're totally pissed that I'm dating Edward who is twenty and I'm supposed to be yelling back that it's only four years difference and we haven't had sex and I'm not pregnant. Hell, I'm supposed to be able to say that I'm still a virgin! I can't do any of those things when you're buried six feet under my feet!"

Edward wraps his arms around me and lets me cry into his chest. "I'm sure if they were here they'd be doing all of those things and more, but if they were here, that would also mean that you never went to the sanitarium and I would have never met you," whispers Edward into my ear. I knew he was right and for that I was thankful, but not for their death, I would never be thankful for that and I knew that wasn't what Edward was suggesting at all. He wasn't any happier about their death than I was, but he didn't know them. How can you cry over someone you don't know?

And then I felt it. Edward was shaking a little and drops that had nothing to do with the rain were falling on my neck. "Edward?" I whisper turning to look at him. He was crying! "Why are you crying?"

"I'm crying for you, Bella. For you and your parents and everything you've had to go through in the last four years, Love. No one should ever have to o through that, and I just realized exactly what it is you're going through," whisper Edward brokenly. I kiss him and turn back to the graves.

"What about your mom? You lost a parent too," I whisper.

"Yes, but I was a baby, I didn't understand it at the time. Don't get me wrong, I miss my mother very much, but I've had my father and Esme as well as Emmett to help me through it all, and you've had four years in a sanitarium with mo recollection of what happened and now that you do know, it's as if your whole world is falling around you," says Edward as he takes my hand in his. "It may not feel like that to you, but it seems like it would to me."

"I have you to help me get through it all, as well as Emmett, Esme, Carlisle, Alice, and Jasper. I have more than I could ever hope for," I say fondly. "But it's not the same as having my real mom and dad either."

Edward nuzzles my neck before kissing it and pulling me closer to him. We were both soaked, and then I heard the sound of footsteps coming towards us.

End Chapter

A/N: Man, I know it's taking me forever to post, but my grandma's computer has been down the last two weekends. Also, if the people I beta read for read this, I have not abandoned you! I promise to come back to you as soon as I possibly can and you can get as mad as you want at me, but next fall will be much better because I'll have my own laptop with internet and I will be able to get to you all much sooner! Plus that means I can update faster. ; ] thanks for the reviews by the way, and I hope to get a million more. Well…a million is a bit of an exaggeration…=/ but I wouldn't mind a million! =D LOL TTYL. Sayonara! =]