Stephenie Meyer still owns Twilight

A/N:

So, I had just determined to just go straight to the Emmett chapter, and had actually started writing it, when your reviews started coming in. It was pretty unanimous, you wanted the Edward chapter first. So, I switched gears and wrote up his PoV.

This is essentially Bella's chapter, written over again from Edward's PoV, so that you could see what he was thinking through all of it. If you're not interested in Edward's side of things, or reading the whole rock scene over again, feel free to skip this one. You won't miss out on anything plot related, it doesn't further the story any, it's just my answer to the requests I had. Think of it like a bonus chapter.

Anyway, here you go, hope you like it. (It's proof that I try to take your recommendations to heart, when I can. ;o)

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Edward

I watched as Alice grabbed Bella and took her out back for their little walk. After they left I walked over to the window as nonchalantly as I could, knowing I wasn't fooling anyone, but not caring at that point.

I looked to see in which direction they would go, figuring that they would probably head towards my rock. When I had my guess confirmed I turned away from the window, only to find Jasper staring me down.

He arched an eyebrow at me, in silent question, and I shook my head no. I wasn't ready to talk yet. Cluing Alice into my feelings and telling the rest of my family about them were two totally different things. I wasn't quite ready to spread the word yet.

I went in search of something to do to distract me. I wanted to give Alice and Bella some alone time, before I went out in search of them. And I would go out in search of them. I had been obsessively thinking about Bella ever since lunch today, I was impatient to spend some time with her.

I roamed around the house for a bit before Jasper challenged me to a game of foosball. Half an hour later it was obvious to us both that I had no interest in the game.

Jasper took pity on me, saying, "Edward, just go. You've given them long enough, it won't seem stalkerish if you head out there now."

Oh god, I was pathetic. The worst part was, I couldn't even bring myself to try to deny it. I was thankful that at least Rosalie and Emmett weren't around at the moment to witness my piteous state, having gone of for some alone time together.

"Thanks Jaz. Don't tell Emmett about this and I'll owe you one," I said.

"Yeah, just don't forget about this, because I will be collecting on this one day," he answered.

I laughed as I headed out the door. Jaz and I were always owing each other over one thing or another. It had gotten to the point where we could no longer keep track of who owed who.

I headed out to my rock and actually had to force myself to walk slowly, I almost felt the urge to run all the way down. I couldn't remember the last time I had felt like this, felt so exhilarated and excited for something. Her little concession at lunch today had given me hope, and was spurring me on.

Once down by the stream I turned the corner to head in the direction of my rock and, I was guessing, the girls. As I got closer I could see that they were both laying down on the rock, enjoying the nice day. It was then that I remembered Alice's vision, and knew that I was seeing part of it now. The way they girls were lying there, it was just how I had seen it in her mind.

The thought slowed my steps down. I had the sudden urge to tell Bella about our abilities. I wondered what Alice would say about it, if she would object or not. Somehow, I doubted it. Bella was her best friend, it must be hard for her to keep secrets from her, especially one like this.

I wondered how Bella would react if we were to share our secret with her. Would she view us as freaks? Would she distance herself from us if we told her? Would she resent us, as I always thought James had done once he had found out? My mind raced over all of the possibilities, each one bad, each one ending with her avoiding us because of our talents.

Just then Bella, then Alice, sat up and looked over at me. I must have had a panicked look on my face because I instantly picked up on Alice's thoughts, hearing her wonder what was wrong.

"What's up Edward? Everything all right?" she asked, sounding calmer than her thoughts.

"Yeah, it's just that I recognize this scene," I answered, hoping she would understand what I was referring to.

I could see it in her face, see that she had understood what I was talking about as she looked around her, comparing the scene around her to that of her vision.

The urge to tell Bella the truth about us became so overwhelming in that instant, so strong, that my panic of just seconds ago was wiped away by it. I wanted to be honest with her, wanted her to know all of us, and not just the parts we showed to rest of the world.

I had no idea how she would react, but I was willing to take a chance and find out.

Before I could change my mind and chicken out, I said to my sister, "Alice, let's tell her."

I knew she wouldn't need any more explanation than that. I would leave it up to Alice, if she said yes we would divulge our secrets to Bella. If she said no, I was willing to wait, for the moment.

"I've been wanting to anyway. I was just giving you some time before I asked you about it," she said to me.

My stomach did a little flip in nervousness at her answer. We were actually going to tell her then.

Bella cut in, asking, "What are you guys talking about?"

I climbed up onto the rock with them while I tried, and failed, to get control of my nerves. I wasn't sure how this conversation would go, but I knew it very well had the potential to destroy me.

I took a deep breath before saying, "Alice and I are different, Bella."

"Different how?" she asked.

I knew that it was now or never.

"We have these things we can do that others can't, we call them our abilities. I'm guessing it's something we were born with, maybe our parents had them too, or maybe we're just freaks," I explained.

Alice, as she always did, got worked up as soon as I called us freaks.

"Edward! We're not freaks!" she practically yelled at me.

Alice and I always argued about this. She didn't think that our abilities made us any different than the people around us. I knew though that if the world knew of our talents they would label us freaks, or worse.

It kept us apart from others, our abilities, but also our need to hide them from everyone else. We could never quite be ourselves around people, never let them see us for who we really were. It was just another reason why we were more comfortable around our family than around everyone else. They knew who we were, what we could do, and loved us despite it.

"We are, Alice, otherwise we wouldn't have to bother hiding this part of ourselves," I said, knowing it was true, wishing it wasn't.

I could see Alice trying to decide at that point whether it was worth arguing with me over or not, but then decided we should continue on with our explanation to Bella. I was thankful, now that we had started our story I wanted to just get this over with. I was starting to feel sick, worrying over the outcome here.

Alice took over, explaining her abilities to Bella and her limitations. I couldn't tell what Bella was thinking while she listened to Alice. Of course, the one time I would have loved to use my ability, to know what was going through Bella's mind, and it didn't work.

When Alice was done with her explanation, Bella turned to me asking, "And what about you Edward? Do you have visions too?"

"No. Alice and I have different talents. She sees visions, I hear people's thoughts," I explained.

"In the same way Alice gets fragments, so too do I. I can't like pick up everything someone is thinking, but I can get the gist of it, especially if I concentrate real hard. For instance, if someone is stressing out over their grades at school, I can easily pick up their stress, and a lot of the times pick up that it's school related, but I don't always pick up that it's grades in particular they're worried about. That kind of thing. I'm not flooded with thoughts constantly though, or anything. I can shut it off when I want to, and often do," I finished.

I could see the panic cross her face then. Knew she had to be wondering if I'd been listening into her thoughts, violating her privacy. I wondered briefly what it was that her private thoughts entailed, stopping myself before I could go any further with that line of thought.

"Have you been reading my thoughts?" she asked.

This was the part that Alice didn't know about yet. "No. I can't," I explained.

Alice's head whipped over to look at me, shock and confusions showing on her face.

"What do you mean you can't?" Alice asked.

"I noticed it today at lunch. I pretty much haven't listened into anyone's thoughts in a couple of weeks now, so today I thought I would flex myself a little. I was picking up on the thoughts of everyone in the cafeteria, just scanning here and there for practice. I finished with our table, and realized that when I tried to pick up anything from Bella, all I got was silence. Since then I've been randomly trying to get something from her, each time with the same results, nothing," I answered.

"What do you think that means? Why do you think you can't hear her thoughts?" Alice asked.

"I have no idea. There must be something different about her mind than everyone else's. It's the only explanation I can come up with. I've never noticed this with anyone else, as far as I know, she's the first," I explained.

I had been thinking about this since lunch today, and that was the only thing I'd come up with. I had no idea why, out of all the people in the world, Isabella Swan seemed to be the one person who's mind I couldn't penetrate. What made her different from everyone else?

Just then Bella let out a big sigh, almost as if she was frustrated. It wasn't quite the reaction I had been expecting. I looked over to try to decipher what she was thinking.

"Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt. It's just that this just proves to me that I'm not normal. Something is wrong with me, I'm not like the people around me," she said.

Alice laughed at her, surprised by her line of thought.

"Bella, in case you hadn't noticed, neither are Edward and I. Maybe that's why we have this pull to each other, maybe it's why we get along so well together. Whatever is different about us is different about you, too, just not in the same exact way," Alice said.

"So you guys get cool talents, and I just get silence," Bella said, almost sulking.

"Would you prefer that Edward was able to read your mind? Because I can tell you from first hand experience that it isn't fun," Alice asked her.

I was flabbergasted. I couldn't understand, did she actually not care about our abilities? I stood up to walk around, hoping it would help me to think clearly.

"So wait. You're okay with this? Our abilities don't bother you?" I asked in disbelief.

"No, why would they? They don't change who you are. It doesn't make you any different, it just adds another layer to who you are. Besides, who wouldn't want to have an ability like that? We all dream of that kind of thing when we're kids. It's kind of cool to have friends who actually have talents like that. I'm special by association," she explained, ending with a little laugh.

Alice threw herself at Bella, landing in her lap, wrapping her arms around her in a big hug.

"Alice, I don't see what the big deal is. Did you really think this would change how I saw you? That it would somehow effect our friendship?" Bella asked.

"I hoped not, but you never know, Bella. Most people would look at us as freaks and then want nothing to do with us," Alice answered.

"Most people are idiots then, and probably not worth worrying about in the first place," Bella returned.

I was overwhelmed. I stared at this woman, trying to figure her out. I couldn't understand how she could so easily accept us.

For one moment I was angry, not at her, but at everyone we had grown up with who had dropped us so easily.

They hadn't been able to get past Alice and Jasper, then Emmett and Rose dating. It had been a complete non-issue for Bella. The people who had known us for years couldn't accept us, but this girl, who hadn't known us at all, was able to do so without blinking.

Now we tell her that we have abilities that set us apart from everyone else, that essentially made us freaks, and again, complete acceptance.

I wanted to be able to get in her head, wanted to understand what made her so accepting, wanted to see what she was thinking. I had the sudden urge to pounce on her, to take her head in my hands, to try to get as close as possible to her, in the hopes that her thoughts would somehow become clear to me.

I realized then that she was looking over at me, so I allowed myself to smile at her. I wanted her to know how grateful I was, for my own sake, but also, for my sister's as well.

I wanted her to see how happy I was in that moment, and I was almost overwhelmingly happy. I had never thought to find love, never thought to find this kind of happiness at all, but to find someone who had accepted us so completely, with no strings attached, it was more than I could have ever wished for.

If I was ever able to win her love in return, something I was more determined than ever to do, I knew that it would be life altering for me. I knew that there would be no return for me from that.

I watched as Bella took in my smile, watched as she got lost in her own thoughts. I could see her working through something and I wondered what it was. I saw her come to a decision, then I watched as she smiled back at me.

I knew that it wasn't just any old smile. I might not have been able to read her thoughts, but this time she was letting them show through on her face.

I knew that things had just changed between us. She had finally accepted me into her world, I could see she was going to drop the wall she had resurrected between us, going to give me my shot at her heart.

We were only at the starting point, she was giving me a chance, but I knew her feelings for me weren't the same as my feelings for her yet.

I had admitted to myself that I was in love with her, she was only just allowing us to see what we had. I knew that she would become my world, that she was already very much becoming so, while she was only just letting me into hers. We still had a ways to go, but for the first time I knew we were both willing to walk the same path, willing to see where we could go, together.

I was so overcome with hope in that moment, so overwhelmed by the need to walk over and scoop Bella up in my arms, to feel that physical connection with her, that I started to take a step towards her before I realized what I was doing.

At the last second, my mind clamped down on my body, willing it to stay still, forcing myself to remain where I was. The urge to go over to her, to touch her, to allow myself to feel her, was so strong that it physically hurt me. I almost bent over, my need like a physical weight, almost let it overwhelm me.

Alice, still laying in Bella's lap, was the only thing restraining me. When I did allow myself to go to Bella, to allow myself to touch her as I wanted to, I wanted it to be when we were by ourselves. I wanted the freedom to express myself, without either of us having to worry about others watching. I didn't want to have to share Bella, not even with Alice.

I did the only thing I had left to me at that point, I let everything I was feeling come through on my face. If I couldn't show Bella how I felt by going to her, I would let her see what I was feeling on my face.

I took a deep breath, then allowed my hope to come through. I let her see how much this moment meant to me, how much she meant to me. I closed my eyes, when I opened them again I allowed my need to show through in my eyes, let my intense longing for her come across. I wanted her to see that she was becoming my world, and that I thought of her my every waking minute.

I saw her take it all in, then watched as she threw her head back and laughed out loud.

Alice looked up at her to see what had her laughing, then looked over at me. I knew that although she hadn't gotten everything, that she at least knew that something had just happened between Bella and I, and I saw her break into a big Alice grin. The little imp was happy for us, as I knew she would be.

I closed my eyes and said a little pray of thanks, to whoever was listening. I knew how lucky I was to be getting this second chance. Three weeks ago, without even realizing it, I had almost destroyed my life. Today, by sheer luck, I was getting the chance to undo that mistake, to fix everything I had almost ruined.

I was sure that today was the first day of the rest of my life. I didn't know what tomorrow would bring, but I didn't care, as long as Isabella Swan was there with me, walking along next to me, hopefully holding my hand in hers.

A/N:

So what did you think? I was nervous writing this after yesterday's chapter, because everyone seemed to love yesterday's so much (which surprised me because I basically wrote it as filler, and to wrap a few things up before we get into the next bit of the story). Please feel free to let me know if I was successful, or not, with this one.

All right, gotta run. You all should know who's up next.

Thanks again everyone!

Ciao