AN: OK, so sorry to leave you on a bit of a cliffhanger for such a long time... well, no, not really ;) But Edward found it "difficult" to express himself... you'll see why.

Enjoy ;)

Climbing the Walls

Edward

When I finally found my bed just as the sun came out, it felt awkwardly cold and empty. My eyes closed and I let the tiredness take over my body, since my feet refused to cooperate with pacing around.

"Edward…" the soft whisper hit my ears as I walked out of the bathroom and got ready to head down to the sofa that I assigned for myself. I was way too drunk to go home, but sober enough to not try and crash in someone's room as that usually ended in disaster.

I was on the same floor as Bella's room was on, that much I was painfully aware of when I walked into the bathroom and locked the door. More than I needed to use it for the official reason I gave Rosalie and Emmett, I wanted some privacy and this was easier than going home.

"Edward…" the voice was now louder and I was convinced that I hadn't imagined it.

My feet ignored my brain's screams about how this wasn't safe or nice or any of that rubbish. They simply followed my hard-on down the short corridor to a door that was partially open. When I stopped in the door frame, it took me only a second to readjust my eyes to the darkness and the sight that welcomed me was so breathtaking, I nearly gasped out loud.

Bella was lying on her bed, her eyes closed, body arched up and her mouth slightly open as she whispered my name over and over. I followed the curve of her body with my eyes and stopped at the sight of her thumb rubbing over her clit and two fingers disappearing inside her. I felt a little like a stalker when I moved towards the bed to get a better view of her, but I couldn't stop myself. I didn't know whether it was because of the alcohol in my system or the fact that I was finally wrapping my head around the fact that I might like her.

All I knew in that moment was that I needed to touch her, even though it was a turn-on to watch her like this. I almost jumped on the bed, but decided to slide gently next to her, quickly covering her lips with mine to stop a possible scream, as I was pretty sure she wasn't expecting anyone to join her. Immediately, she relaxed and I let my hands caress her body, sliding one down to her core where I replaced her thumb with mine on her clit. Once again, her body arched off the bed when my fingers joined hers following the same rhythm she had started on her own. It didn't take long for her to tense around the fingers and I pressed my lips against her mouth to capture the loud moan escaping out of her throat.

When the trembling of her body faded away, she reached out to me so she could repay the favour, but it wasn't what I was looking for. Instead, I wrapped my arms around her and buried my face in her hair. I heard her breathing even out and I watched her peaceful face for a while.

'Damn, Bella, you have my head spinning in all directions,' I whispered into her hair, 'I can't do this anymore, not like this. I think…'

I never finished that thought while whispering to her for fear that she wasn't completely asleep and would've heard me. But that moment, with my arms wrapped around her and breathing in her perfume, I knew I didn't want to leave. I fell in love with Bella Swan and I was pretty sure she didn't feel the same way about me, so when I was convinced that she was deep in the land of dreams, I slipped away and pretty much ran home.

When I got there, I jumped straight into the cold shower and let it wash over me, trying to decode the thoughts in my own brain. The thoughts didn't stop as I paced around the apartment in a haze caused by my long night, but too preoccupied to let sleep take over. I had a vague idea of where I was going to go with my train of thoughts, but I was so terrified of the result at that point, I desperately needed to do it gradually. Sadly, that wasn't to be as before I came to the one obvious conclusion and came to terms with it, I was yanked out of my reverie and out of my bed by a loud voice booming through my apartment.

"Edward! I hear the shower, I know you're there, get out!" Emmett's voice made the walls shake a little and I reluctantly left my wet sanctuary.

"What, grizzly?" I growled at him as I finally made it out to the kitchen. Note to self: do NOT give Emmett keys to your place again. In fact, take away the one he has now.

"Oh don't be so grumpy Edward, it's like you haven't gotten laid for months," Em laughed but when I froze, he immediately pulled his head out of the cupboard he was rummaging through.

"What?" I snapped at him as he gave me a long stare.

"You have gotten laid recently, right?" he asked, referring to our conversation a while ago.

"I am not having this conversation with you again," I grabbed my coffee cup, determined to ignore him.

"Did you talk to Bella?" his tone softened and he sat down at the table, watching me as I made my caffeine fix.

"No," I sighed, "It's not like we had a chance to talk. Last night wasn't the best time, was it?"

"Edward, you have to talk to her," Emmett said with an unusually serious tone, "the way the girl looks at you, it's just…"

"Did she say something?" my head snapped and my eyes were glued to his face, looking for a glimmer of something that would give me hope.

"No, but I have eyes. The two of you were practically glowing with tension last night," he snorted, "if it were anyone else, I'd tell you to just get over it, but…"

"I don't know how, Emmett. I… oh crap."

"You have fallen for her, haven't you?"

"Yeah," I said, exasperated by the conversation and by the state of my life.

"Just… tell her," Emmett looked at me, "It can't hurt, can it?"

"It can, but that's not the problem," I stood up and paced around the kitchen, "I just freeze anytime I want to talk to her."

I quickly gave Emmett a rundown of how I left in the morning and how I almost told Bella about my feelings. I left out the intimate details as I was quite sure she would kill me by throwing me under a horde of elephants if I told anyone. But I did mention to him that when I started telling her, she was most likely already asleep and couldn't hear me. Emmett insisted that I just go over and talk to her, but I was quite sure that I didn't have the courage to just tell her outright.

When he left, I got dressed and looked over my schedule at the café for the week and realized I was pencilled down to play in a few days. Suddenly, I had an idea and my face brightened with a smile. She would remember. I was convinced she'd recognize the song I now planned on playing.

And if she didn't, Alice would know and … this had to work.

I sat down with my composition book and flipped through it until I landed on the first song I ever wrote, back in high school. We may have been kids at the time, but I realized, looking through the notes on the paper, that my revelation hadn't been entirely accurate. I haven't just fallen in love with Bella now; I had been in love with her since the night of her graduation party.