Author's Chapter Notes:

Hai bbs.

I'm short and so is this chapter, but I think we'll both turn out ok.

SM owns Twilight. I tie it up and burn it with cigarettes.

Emma's POV

"Follow me," Brad looked over his shoulder with a smile and tugged on my hand as we stepped into the crisp night air. We took a few steps forward, well he took steps, I kind of tripped on my toes and tried to make into a cool dance. Drunk doesn't wear so well on the clumsy.

When we were about 10 yards from the house, I looked around.

I did not see any gazebo.

That's when I felt his hand close over my mouth and his arm form manacles behind my back as he dragged me off the property and into the thin forest surrounding the backyard.

Bella's POV

He looked tired and war-beaten when he finally stepped back into the house. I was still sitting silently at the piano but I rose when he approached me.

"Leaving?" he asked wearily.

I nodded, shifting my eyes from him and looking at the door.

"I'll come with you."

The words struck a painful memory that I'd buried for so long, I'd almost forgotten about it entirely. But they brought me back to a time when my battle scars were fresh, when the only thing I understood was suffering. I knew just how to answer.

"You can't, Edward. Where I'm going... it's not the right place for you."

His face crumpled and his eyes glowed with pain.

He remembered, too.

"I'm no good for you, Edward." I took a step towards him and he cowered back. "My world is not for you," I recited, advancing on him with each word.

"Bella, please-" he began, but I cut him off.

"I don't want you, Edward."

And that changes things.

His hand reached up and twisted the fabric of his shirt into a fist, resting over a heart that, while long dead, was surely aching anyway.

"Of course, I'll always love you... in a way. But what happened tonight made me realize that it's time for a change. I'm tired of pretending to be something I'm not, Edward. I've let this go on much too long and I'm sorry for that."

"Don't. Don't do this," he said quietly, shaking his head with his gaze cast downward.

He knew the script perfectly.

"You're not good for me, Edward."

I had spent the duration of my life thinking the exact opposite was true. Funny how one infinitesimal shift in the stratosphere can change everything under the sun.

I closed the distance between us and put my hand under his chin, lifting it so he had to look at me. "I promise that this will be the last time you see me. I won't come back. I won't put you through anything like this again. You can go on with your life without any more interference from me."

He tried to shift his eyes away from what came next but I ducked back into his line of vision and trained my burning stare into the sad pools of liquid gold set in the beautiful, icy planes of his face.

"It will be as if I'd never existed."

His face was eerily blank, wiped clean of emotion. The back of his legs hit the piano bench and he sunk down to a seated position, right hand still clutching his empty heart as he stared unseeingly past me and into what I imagine was the very same abyss I contended with 22 years ago.

He had a line here, but it appeared that he was going to skip it. I chose to ignore his negligence.

"You won't forget about me," I continued, as if answering a question he forgot to ask, "but I don't have to tell you how easily distracted your kind is, do I?"

His face seemed to fall further still, though I didn't think it was possible. This must have been what I'd looked like to Jacob after Edward had gone; I'd seen this same expression in the mirror for quite some time all those years ago. Love, life, meaning... over.

It wasn't easy to watch. I almost felt like I was reliving it through his clear and present agony. But it was immeasurably better to be on the delivering end of grief.

"You left. And I had to grow up. We're like Peter Pan and Wendy now, Edward, and you still live in this world of make believe. But I can't. I have a life, and while it isn't perfect like everything you lay your hands on," I paused for a minute to amend the statement, adding except for sex, of course in my head, grateful for the one millionth time that he couldn't hear my thoughts, "but it's mine. I have a man that loved me when you didn't. A man that I love back, who doesn't make me compromise anything.

"I didn't truly realize it until your presence raised the question. Like, how do you know chocolate is your favorite ice cream cone flavor when you've never tasted vanilla? But I licked. And I only had to do it once. I like chocolate better.

"I used to think about my life without you as an ever-present new moon, a starless night, my darkest hours. But I can see now that it was all just hiding behind the clouds for a very long time. And now that they've parted, it's like my world has been set on fire once more, without any consideration for you. I love Jacob. It's easy with him. He is my life now.

"You don't have to tell me how much it hurts. I know. Maybe better than anyone else in the world. Twenty two years ago, I was in your exact position... well, not exact position, I was sobbing in an inconsolable heap on the damp bracken of the forest floor for several hours. Lucky for you, I have the good taste and common sense to break a person's heart in a well-decorated Victorian living room. But I've felt it, Edward. I told you I wouldn't wish it on anyone, and I meant it. It's only unfortunate circumstance that's making me do this to you now. And while I can't say it ever gets better... it does get easier. Slowly, so slowly you almost can't tell it's happening, it all gets easier. Sleeping, breathing, living..." as I trailed off I realized he didn't really do any of them anyway. It made my quirk my head to the side, amused. He and I were, and had always been, two very different creatures.

"I really was never meant for your world. And now there's no room for you in mine." He closed his eyes and held very still.

"That's everything, I suppose." I almost felt like brushing my hands clean. Our final act was coming to a close. No encore, no curtain call. It ended here. "I won't bother you again. Goodbye, Edward."

I ducked down to his level, leaned over his shoulder and delicately pressed my lips to his cheek, then let them rest on the shell of his ear and whispered softly into it.

"Clean break."

And I was gone.

Chapter End Notes:

Reuse, reduce, recycle, and review. It's good for the environment.