Yay! This chapter almost made me cry, for many different reasons.

I don't own Twilight. (ooh, yes i do! I bought it yesterday!! yay! and new moon and eclipse!! woo-hoo!)

Edward's POV

I quickly introduced Ashleigh to my family and let her bond with them and tell them about how she saved me in Italy. I was eager to follow Bella. Luckily for me, Daniel had walked over to hear Ashleigh's stories, so I was able to slip out unnoticed. I looked around for Bella, but I didn't see her. I walked into the woods, hoping that she didn't go too far. I heard a sound over the noise of the rain and headed in the direction the sound was coming from.

Pretty soon, I saw Bella. She was on the ground, crying. I raced over to her as fast as I could. She didn't hear me approach. I sat on the ground next to her.

Normally, I would have taken her in my arms to hold her, but I didn't know how she'd feel about that now. I wanted to hold her, to stroke her hair and kiss her and tell her it was alright. I wanted so much to do that. But I didn't want to make her uncomfortable, and I didn't want her to reject me.

Hesitantly, I reached out to stroke her hair. She reacted to my touch, trying to push herself off the ground. I acted out of habit, pulling her into my lap.

When I realised what I did, I froze, expecting her to get mad, but she just sat in my lap, still crying.

I stroked her hair and held her close to me. Part of me was happy to be holding her again. It was if my heart had been torn in half before, but was now whole. I actually felt like myself now that I was holding Bella. But the other part of me was crying with her, upset that she was sad.

I held her in my lap, stroking her hair. I wanted to tell her that it was ok, that everything was alright, but I restrained myself. Still, it seemed like I should be saying something to her.

"I'm sorry." The words came out of my mouth before I could stop them. But they sounded right, so I kept saying them and stroking her hair.

"I'm sorry." Stroke. "I'm sorry, Bella." Stroke. "Bella, I am so sorry." Stroke. "I am so sorry."

The last one came out as a whisper, and I felt unshed tears in my eyes.

"Sorry? What the heck do you have to be sorry for?" She pushed herself away from my chest to look into my eyes. She had stopped crying, but there were still tears in her eyes.

"I-I'm sorry." I couldn't say anything else. I was unbelievably happy to be holding her in my arms again, but I was a fool if I thought she felt the same way.

"What are you sorry for, Edward? For not believing me when I said there was a new vampire in town? For not apologising when you found out I was right? For leaving me again after you swore not to? For breaking my heart? How many times are you going to put me through this, Edward? I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know, so I can prepare myself for it next time." Her eyes quickly turned from sad to angry, but I could detect traces of pain in her eyes. It hurt me more than her words.

I grabbed her arms gently, making it so she'd have to look at me.

"Bella, I am so sorry. I am sorry for not believing you. I am sorry for not apologising. I am sorry for leaving. I am sorry for breaking your heart. I know my promises don't mean anything to you anymore, but I do promise to never leave you again." As I spoke, the anger went out of her eyes, but the pain, sadness, and tears were still there.

"You've said that before," she whispered. "How can I believe you when you've said that before, but you left anyway? How can I trust you, Edward?" Pain struck me with her words. Of course I couldn't expect her to believe me or trust me, but I had hoped.

"I am so sorry, Bella. I am. I know you can't trust me, but I want you to."

"That's the thing. I think I do. I know I shouldn't, but my heart acts without my head."

My heart leaped with joy when she said that. Does that mean she still loves me?

"I'm sorry," I said again.

"You said you would never leave me unless I wanted you to. So why? Why did you leave? Were you mad at me or something?"

"No, Bella. I wasn't mad at you. I thought you wanted me to leave."

"What? Why would you think that? Because we got into a little fight, because I insisted that I saw a new vampire? Why?"

How did she not know?

"No. Because I saw you with him, Bella. I saw you. He was holding you. The way you only let me hold you. I thought you were mad at me. I thought you didn't love me anymore." My voice broke on the last sentence.

Bella's eyes were wide with shock.

"What? You thought I didn't love you? Edward, I could never not love you. Even when you were gone, I loved you."

Her words sparked a joy in me. She loved me.

"What? But, you. Daniel. I saw. What?" Well, that's embarrassing. Speak in sentences, Edward!

"Daniel came to my house to tell me that the Cullens were considering having him in the coven. He told me that you know of his existence. But you never came to apologise."

"I tried. As soon as Carlisle let me go, I raced over to your house to tell you. That's when I saw you with him. That's when I thought you didn't love me anymore. That's when I left."

Bella paused in thought for a minute.

"Edward. That was when I was crying, because you weren't there with me, apologising. Daniel was only holding me in comfort. It didn't became anything more until I learned that you left. Even then, I still loved you. I just tried to ignore it so it wouldn't seem like I was using Daniel. But I think I was. He kept me from falling apart completely."

Now it was my turn to pause and think.

"So, I left because you and Daniel were together, but you weren't together, he was just comforting you because you were crying because I wasn't there?"

"Yep."

I paused to think again.

"Well, crap." My words pretty much summed it up. Bella giggled.

"Crap indeed."

"It was just a big misunderstanding."

"Yes, it was."

A misunderstanding. I shook my head and sighed.

"Edward." I looked at Bella. Fresh tears were in her eyes.

"You're back." A grin spread across her face. She flung her arms around my neck and hugged me. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her back, breathing in her scent. I was hugging Bella. We were together.

Bella pulled away from the hug, but kept her arms around me. Now she looked into my eyes, her face close to mine.

Instinct overwhelmed me and I found myself closing the space between our lips.

I held her tighter as she kissed me back. Her hands were moving around my head, messing up my hair. I pulled her closer to me, trying to make up for lost time. She seemed happy to comply.

When her breathing became ragged, I moved my lips from hers but kept them on her, kissing her chin, her cheek, her jawline, her neck. I didn't want to stop kissing her, ever. Her breathing resumed normalcy and I moved my lips back up to hers. She kissed me back with more passion than she ever had before, and for once I wasn't about to stop her. I wanted her more than ever.

But my rules still remained, so when she leaned into me, pushing me towards the ground, I had to remove my lips from hers.

"Bella," I sighed.

She groaned.

"Edward, I haven't seen you for a month. Or more, I really don't know."

"I know, Bella. And I've missed you. More than you could possibly imagine. But, it doesn't change anything as far as that goes."

She leaned back and whimpered, trying to give me the puppy dog pout.

"You still have to marry me first."

"Okay." She flung her arms around my neck again, this time with force. I leaned back automatically. I was used to moving around her, so that my strong, hard body wouldn't hurt her. So when she pushed me back, I reacted as if she actually had pushed me back, though she didn't have the strength to do it.

Her lips moved around mine with more activity than before. It took me awhile to clear my head and stop her.

"You realise you haven't actually broken up with Daniel yet?" I smiled crookedly at her, but I was not expecting her response.

"Fine. You realise you actually haven't broken up with Ashleigh yet?" She started to get off my lap.

"What?" I held her still, not wanting her to be away from me yet.

"Bella, Ashleigh and I are not together. We never were."

"But then why--" I cut her off.

"I did nothing but drive for a couple of days, but at one point I had to stop and rest and clear my head. She was the waitress in the diner where I stopped. She then followed me to Italy and stopped me from--" I stopped talking, remembering that she didn't like talk of my suicide plans.

"Stopped you from what, Edward? You didn't, you weren't... Edward! What the, why would you, I. Oh my gosh. Edward, so you realise that if Ashleigh hadn't stopped you, you wouldn't be here right now and it would have been all because of a misunderstanding?!"

"Sorry."

"You better never do that again, Edward. I mean it this time. Even if I were to stop loving you, which I never could, you are not allowed to have the Volturi kill you. Do you hear me, Edward? No!" She was so adamant in her demand that I found it hard not to laugh, much less disagree.

"Okay. I'm sorry."

"You better be." She smiled, forcing another crooked grin from me.

"I missed you," I stroked her cheek.

"I missed you, too." She stroked mine, looking into my eyes. How I wished I could read her mind.

"I love you." I tried to make my eyes convey the message as much as possible.

"I love you, too." Her eyes said the same.

I kissed her softly. Then I picked her up in my arms and stood up. I set her down on her feet, my arm still around her waist.

"They're probably wondering where we are," I said. She sighed.

"I have to go break Daniel's heart."

We walked out of the woods together. Together, the way it should be. And the way it will be. Forever

Awwww, how did you like that ending!? Please review.