So here's my incredibly sincere apology which I owe you all.
I AM SO SORRY.
Gah, I have never in the history of EVER posted a chapter this late before. I promise, promise, promise it will never happen again.
School just ended for me so I am as free as a bird for the next free months and my writing time is going to be at it's max.
I've lately just had so many finals to worry about, but don't worry, they're done with now. (:

So there's my apology.
I am so so SO sorry for being so MIA lately.
Like I said - I promise to be a way more actively involved participant in both the FF and the Twitter world.
You guys can hold me to it even.

OH, and thank you so much for all the wishes to get well.
They really did wonders and I am currently almost recovered.
Ya'll need to shoot me a PM so we can catch up from all the time I've been out.
You know how much I absolutely adore hearing from you, write? :D


EPOV - Séjour Belle

I wasn't sure if she was just being emotional or if she was really that upset.

"Edward," she sniffed, clinging onto my shirt and burying her head into my chest as she sat in my lap. "We can't. . .we can't be apart." I flexed my arms around her, tightening my grip. "You don't. . .understand. The only time I feel safe is when I'm with you."

The crying hadn't started until a good hour after they left and the magnitude of what Charlie had said really set in.

On top of being pissed off with my shitty life, I was beyond frustrated with everything going on. My anger really was suppose to be directed towards Charlie for coming up with such a shitty plan, but as much as I wanted to be mad at him, how could I? He was only trying to help.

I just wasn't sure whether he really understood Bella and I's relationship; how her and I worked. As incredibly lame-ass and sappy as it was, without the other, we literally couldn't function correctly.

I mean shit, she had gone missing for fifteen minutes yesterday and I had been extremely close to losing it. By what Charlie had told me, neither of us would be able to be in contact with each other for up to a fucking month.

A month.

I couldn't survive fifteen minutes without the girl and he was expecting me to do a month?

My frustration quickly worsened as I sighed, pressing my nose into her hair and breathing in her sweet floral scent. Hell would be so big of an understatement being without her. I wasn't even being the slightest bit over-dramatic either.

Fuck. . .my life.

Okay, so in retrospect maybe it wouldn't end up being a month. Like Charlie had said – maybe it would end up only being a few days. Or a few months. Holy shit, I wasn't gonna be able to do this.

Bella sniffed loudly again. If I thought I had it bad, I couldn't even imagine what she was going through. And that was really saying something. In the past month or so, she had lost her mom, Laurent, gotten kidnapped, almost died like five times, just got thrown off a motorcycle, and now has to deal with separation from me – supposedly the one person who can make her feel better.

I really, truly, honestly didn't know what to do.

"Bee, it's gonna be alright, I promise," I told her softly as I gently ran my hands up and down her back. I don't know why I always lied to her all the time. Maybe it's because I was protecting her from the truth.

I didn't want there to be a single thought in her mind that had to do with the possibility of something happening to us, causing us to never be able to be together again.

See, that was all fine and dandy in my mind because I was used to shit like that. I wouldn't let her become like me and have negative thoughts constantly be ruling her mind. I knew how to cope and handle my own problems because I was so accustomed to having bad things happen to me left and right.

Not a single bad thing had happened to her before she came skipping along into my life. In the last few months, she has probably gone through just as much as I have in the last three years. Which was three years too many.

We laid on the couch and watched movies together as the rest of the evening carried on. Since Bella was still so exhausted, she fell asleep snuggled on my chest a little after nine.

I ended up having a long conversation with both Jasper and Alice on speaker phone, giving them the run-down of the last few days. I told them about the car chase yesterday – which they had seen on the news, I told them about how I had hurt Bella during sex – I didn't care if they knew or not, I honestly just had to get it out of my system and vent, I told them about Carlisle coming; the conversation I had in the morning with him and then the conversation Charlie and us had, along with the recent plans that had been plotted out to take place in the next couple of days.

The both of them drank in the information as if it were their own lives as well. I guess that's what families did though.

Evidentially, our conversation apparently require a visit on their behalf with a knock on the door no more than a half-hour after I had gotten off of the phone with them.

Quickly carrying Bella after onto the bed and tucking her in under the sheets without waking her up, I walked across the large room to answer the door.

As soon as I opened it, Alice opened her mouth widely to say something loud. I quickly reached my hand out, clamping it tightly over her mouth before her obnoxiously loud voice would carry through the room.

"Bella's sleeping," I hissed.

She glared at me before shoving my hand away from her face and pushing past me into the room. Jazz gave me an apologetic look before following after her.

She took my spot on the couch as Jazz plopped down next to her, casually throwing an arm around her shoulder. I sighed, easing myself into the armchair. Unsure of why this visit was necessary considering the amount of time I had just spent on the phone with the two of them, I pursed my lips in curiosity.

"What have you done to the poor girl?" Al muttered in disapproval as she glanced over at Bella's sleeping form. "I don't think I've ever seen her so worn down before."

I shrugged, not feeling like repeating something I had just told her no longer than a half-hour ago.

"Alice," I muttered in irritation before she could scold me again. "Why are you here?"

She stared at me, then at Jazz for a long moment, then back at me again. "We want in."

I blinked. "What?"

"You heard me," she repeated impishly. "Jazzy and I want in on your plan."

This was going down a path I didn't want to walk. "My plan? No, it's hardly my plan. If I had it my way, the plan would be a lot different."

"Edward," she sighed, "Stop trying to avoid the conversation."

"Maybe it's not worth having." I snapped, a little too loudly.

"Hey now," Jazz quickly responded with a nervous chuckle. "Don't be a douche and wake your lady over there."

I automatically lowered my voice. "You guys can't be serious about this," I stated, shaking my head.

Alice pursed her lips, determined. "You better believe that we're a hundred percent serious. Why else would we drive over here at ten-thirty? This is important, so I'd appreciate it if you'd just listen to what we have to say."

I would listen alright, but there was another person who needed to be included as well. "Alright, hang on a sec – I'll be right back."

I left the room, stepping out in the hallway to be greeted by the lovely two men in suits. I smiled politely at the both of them before walking to the room next to me and hesitantly knocking on the door.

"Edward," Charlie looked slightly alarmed. "What is it?"

"Nothing's wrong," I quickly assured him. "Alice and Jasper are here and I think their conversation requires your attendance."

He was a step ahead of me as he turned to grab his room key, slipped it in his pocket, and stepped out into the hallway, shutting his door quietly behind him.

"Bella asleep?" He asked curiously as I slid my laminated key through the slot, unlocking it.

"She's out cold," I confirmed before opening the door.

Neither Alice or Jasper looked surprised when they saw who I had gotten.

The conversation resumed as soon as we were all comfortably sitting. "Well," Charlie began. "What is it that you kids wanted to talk to me about exactly?"

The conversation went on for a good hour. At first, Charlie had been just as against the idea as I had. The more we talked though, the more he actually began to considerate the possibility of the idea. It was also extremely difficult to deny Alice of what she wanted.

Not wanting them to get roped into something like this, I had tried throwing around excuses. Theoretically, that would have worked. Except for the fact that really, I had no excuses to throw.

Their school had finished last week, so they had nothing on their hands but time.

In the end though, it was Charlie who made the ultimate decision. The two of them would accompany Bella and I. Jasper would go with Bella; Alice would go with me.

I was amazed that they could just agree to something like that willingly. Even after I told them the time period of separation was indifferent. I just couldn't fathom their drastic decision, but was grateful none-the-less.

"Edward," Jasper said as soon as Charlie left, "We are family. Family helps each other. And trust me," he chuckled. "We've been doing a pretty shitty job of helping you two lately. We wanna help now though."

I wasn't gonna be an unappreciative asshole and pretend I wasn't absolutely thrilled with what they were doing, so I sent them both a wide grin. "Thanks."

A few moments of silence passed by. Alice glanced at Bella before knitting her eyebrows together as a look of distress crossed her delicate face. "You two are okay, right, Edward?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's still happy, lovey bliss between the two of you, right?" She asked cautiously.

Yeah, aside from the fact that my presence was basically destroying her life, we were doing just dandy. "Yes, Alice. I'm hers, she's mine."

The look on my face as I said that must have been silently implying 'even though I don't deserve her, she's still mine' instead of what actually came out. Of course, Alice picked up on that right away.

Apparently, so did Jazz. "Edward, stop doubting yourself so much, man." He told me in the most un-Jazz like way. Lord help him if he had been spending too much time with Alice lately.

I didn't say anything, and Alice sighed.

"You wanna know why you two are perfect for each other?" She asked, "It's because you even each other out. Neither of you are anywhere near perfect, but where one of you has a flaw, the other thrives." She smiled softly. "You bring out the best in each other and make your imperfections work." She paused for a moment, pursing her lips. "So next time you wonder how two people like you; two opposite people can be in love, just ask yourself this: Could you ever love anyone else?"

Her words were actually kinda moving. . .inspirational even. Shit that was heavy. "Uh, thanks, Al." I responded, staring awkwardly down at the floor. I decided not to give her the satisfaction of admitting to her being right.

Jasper sighed in exasperation. "You've been practicing that speech for a while now, haven't you, hon?"

She shrugged with a cheerful smile. "I knew he'd need to hear it eventually," she confirmed. "I mean, you know Edward – he's like an all or nothing kinda guy. I figured this was not an area he should be doubting when he's got so much else to worry about right now."

"I knew there was a reason I loved you," he gave her a tight squeeze, kissing her openly on the lips before grinning and pulling away.

"Ew. I'm still in the room. Just. . .stop." I grimaced at the two of them, shaking my head.

Alice's jaw dropped a whole ten feet as annoyance suddenly flashed into her bright eyes. "Edward Cullen, don't you even start with me. If I had a dime every time I caught you and Bella in an act of. . .intimacy, I'd be a goddamn billionaire by now."

"You know, it's really late," I observed, "You two should get home and get some rest."

Jasper smirked at me in disbelief. "Well isn't somebody anxious." He rose from the sofa, pulling Alice up with him. "Don't worry, we'll happily oblige to your request, your highness. I'm sure Alice doesn't want anymore dimes."

"Time to go," I snapped defensively while fighting back a smile at the same time. I guided them out the door before promising them that I'd let them know what the plan was as soon as I figured it out myself.

Despite the popular belief, I actually did need to get some sleep. The last few days had been so fucking long; mix that with my lack of sleep and my knees got shaky at the thought. It was well past eleven and I wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed with my girl.

I quickly changed into some sweats, disregarded my shirt, and carefully slipped underneath the covers next to Bella. I pressed myself up tightly against her; her back against my chest as I draped an arm around the front of her torso and buried my face in her soft hair.

For the first time in a long time, I successfully managed to achieve ten hours worth of sleep.

I laid in bed with Bella an extra hour before she eventually woke up. "Good morning," she grinned lazily, tilting her head up in the hopes for a kiss I quickly granted her. She yawned sleepily, reaching up to rub her eyes. "I need some coffee," she informed me as she stretched her arms out in front of her.

"I would image so," I chuckled lightly. "You've slept so much lately, I'm actually impressed."

She grimaced as a slightly apologetic expression crossed her face. "Yeah, I've been kinda a sucky roommate lately, haven't I? Sorry for being so. . .boring."

I smirked at her wide brown eyes before ruffling her hair. "You, my dear, are the farthest thing from boring I've ever known. Hush up or I won't accept your already unnecessary apology."

Since it was already almost noon, we ended up just heading down to grab some lunch at the hotel restaurant. As Bella ordered her cappuccino, the chair next to her slid out and was suddenly occupied by her dad.

"Mornin', kids." he commented pleasantly. "You two sleep well?"

Bella nodded, surprised by our recent company. "She was out cold for like eighteen ours," I informed him as he poured himself a glass of water from the pitcher on her table. "I think she slept just a little more than well."

"Damn, Bells," he chuckled in disbelief. "I bet you're feeling pretty brand new right now, aren't you? Your body recover all right I hope?" He asked her in all honesty.

I choked on my water. For a fleeting moment, I was purely horrified. Until I realized that he wasn't referring to Bella and I's activities, rather her little bike spill. The profound smirk she wore on her face told me my thoughts were blatantly obvious.

"I feel great," she told him with a smile. "Wonderful, actually." She shot me a very pointed glance. "In fact, I feel like I could do anything today – I just have so much energy. . ."

I gulped, shifting uncomfortably in my seat. This was going to be a long meal if that's how she was going to play it. I shot her an irritated glare. The innuendos she chose to drop around her father were definitely not appreciated by yours truly. Especially since I knew he wasn't stupid, and damn well knew he realized how. . .close his daughter and I were.

"Good, good," he responded, seemingly oblivious to the little exchange the two of us were having. "Listen, I came down here to let you to know that we figured out the schedule." He paused, glancing warily around the room to make sure there weren't any unwanted listeners.

"You'll each be leaving here early tomorrow morning. Probably like five-ish. We have cars ready along with fake registration and all the works. Bella, you and Jasper will be heading west and Carlisle will trail you a couple miles behind. That way it won't look so suspicious. Edward – you and Alice will be heading east. Billy, who you met the other day, is going to be trailing the two of you."

Tomorrow morning. My stomach sank a little and suddenly I wasn't very hungry. I had expected it to be soon, but I guess I had hoped soon meant just a little later. I guess it was better than putting it off for months on end. I sighed, staring down at the shiny porcelain plate before me.

"I've established ground rules but I'm not gonna go over them until tomorrow right before you leave." He let us know tersely. Once he was finished with his statement, he contemplated silently for a few moments on whether he needed to say anymore.

He didn't. Shortly after he was finished with his lecture he excused himself from the table. For the first time since he had sat down, I moved my gaze directly to Bella's. She was already staring at me. Her expression tugged at my fucking heart; all traces of the happy girl this morning gone.

"Bee, stop." I pleaded. "Don't look at me like that, you know it's gonna be fine."

"Okay," she replied simply, the pained expression never leaving her face.

Once we got back up to the room, Bella subjected herself to the shower. I would have take one with her, had last time resulted in different consequences. I was still so cautious about crossing a line again. Last time it had been an innocent message which had verged on to become a rampage. I definitely didn't want that to happen again.

Figuring today was just gonna be another lounge day, I changed back into what I had wore to bed. After I made a quick call to Jasper telling him what the plan was, I went out onto the balcony, relaxing on a chair facing the sunny Chicago sky.

No more than ten minutes later the sound of the sliding glass door interrupted my thoughts. I watched as Bella appeared in that fuzzy pink bathrobe of hers with her wet mahogany hair falling in ringlets down her back and shoulders.

Neither of us saying anything, she slowly moved herself to stand in front of me. Never tearing her big brown eyes from mine, she bit her lip and did the last thing I expected her to do on the planet.

My breath caught as her robe fell silently to the floor. The way she was looking at me caused the speed of my heart to race faster than it ever had before. Her eyes were encouraging me. She wanted me to look.

So I did. Reluctantly, I tore my eyes from hers to trail slowly down her glorious body.

The hot sun sparkled off her damp, glistening body as I kept my jaw from dropping to the fucking floor. Her pale skin looked smooth as velvet and my eyes traced hungrily over her curves. When I finally met her gaze once again, my heart began to race even further and I was pretty positive she could hear it too.

She looked so confident – so sexy.

I wasn't sure where her sudden urge to do this came; whether it was because after tomorrow we'd be separated for an indefinite amount of time or simply just because we needed to have a time where we could get it right.

I blinked once. The sight before me was only the kind of thing you saw in your dreams. It wasn't every day that the most adorably, insanely good-looking girl just stood in front of you wearing nothing but her own skin.

I was suddenly extremely glad at the privacy the side balcony walls provided. We were too high up for anyone to see front on, but from the sides. . .We had neighbors. Let's just say that walls had never been more appreciated in my life.

Because I was fairly certain that if anyone ever saw Bella like this; like how I saw her in that exact moment, I'd have to kill them. Dead serious, no joke. She was mine. Only I would ever get to see her like this.

I was immobile. I couldn't move even if I wanted to. It was just that she came out of nowhere with this little. . .surprise. Everything had been going in slow motion before and at once, everything sped up again.

She slowly walked the few steps' distance to where I was sitting. Without warning she hitched one leg over the left side of my hip and the other over the right, sitting on me and full-on straddling my lap – totally, completely exposed.

"Holy fuck," I breathed, automatically moving my hands to the sides of her hips. My erection was pressed painfully between her hips and the restraining fabric I wore.

She brought both her hands up to the sides of my face, running them through my hair as she inched closer to me. "We're not going to be together on your birthday, so I'm doing this now." She leaned her face in until our lips finally met. "Happy birthday," she whispered.

My birthday was the farthest thing from my mind as I enjoyed my gift. She was giving me herself. Funny how ironic life was sometimes – I was already hers. I sucked viciously at her lips for a few seconds before I darted my head down, enclosing my lips around her very profoundly erect nipples.

She threw her head back, bucking her hips further into mine as a loud moan escaped her lips. I slowly drew my lips back up her neck and to her lips once again. Her hands ran along my shoulders, trailing up and down my chest as I shivered in response.

Her fingers hooked around the elastic waste band of my sweatpants. She leaned into my ear, her hot breath tickling my skin. "These need to go," she purred before bringing her lips back to mine. I groaned every time I felt our chests just barely brush together, nodding in response to her statement.

I was letting her lead. I didn't want this time to be anything like last time, and I certainly didn't want to do anything to hurt her again. With her still sitting very comfortably on my lap, I raised my hips up to help her slide the only thing that stood between us, kicking them off as soon as they reached my ankles.

She gasped loudly into my mouth as she lowered herself down once again, brushing against my very obvious erection. Bella was wet. Really wet. I removed one of my hands from her hips, trailing it down until I was hovering over her heat.

Very slowly, I ran my index finger over her exposed clit as her grip in my hair tightened and she let out a soft cry. Enjoying the lovely sounds she was making, I proceeded on to slowly repeat the motion a few times. Then, I gently slid a finger inside of her.

"Edward," she moaned as I watched in satisfaction her eyes roll back into her head a little bit.

As I continued working my finger around, my dick started to get really jealous. My initial thoughts whenever I had sex with Bella were to take things slow; make them special. Yeah. Well, I never really kept the incentive to follow through with that.

Being the impatient people we were, that wasn't all a bad thing.

So I removed my finger, connected my mouth with hers, thrust deeply into her, and gave her a little present of her own. After all, who knew when the next chance I would get to do this would be? Let's just say, I made sure that every surface area was occupied at least once in the next two hours.

She may have been giving me a birthday present, but I was giving her a 'I-love-you-and-we'll-be-together-again-really-fucking-soon' present.

"One more," she pulled my face back down to hers as I sucked on her bottom lip for another few seconds. We were gradually making our way to the door. I pulled away again, "Wait, one more!" she quickly protested before I ducked down to meet her eager lips once again.

"Okay, okay," I chuckled. "But, Bee? We're already like ten minutes late. We need to get down to the lobby." A bellhop had already taken care of all our packed bags and everything we needed was stored in our designated cars.

"Fine," she bit her lip and gave me those damn puppy dog eyes. "But one more? Please?" I willingly gave into her pleading, scooping her up bridal style in my arms, shortly brushing my lips against hers before she began softly tugging at my bottom lip.

Not breaking the kiss, I carefully set her down gently on the ground and encircled my arms tightly around her. "We really need to go," I whispered against her lips, resting my forehead on hers.

"I know," she sighed, fluttering her eyes shut. "I know."

I leaned down, letting my lips graze hers one more time before pulling away. Wrapping an arm tightly around her waist, we finally made our way down to the lobby where we were greeted by Carlisle, Charlie, Jasper, Alice, Billy, and a few other unknowns.

Jasper had Alice in a similar position that I had Bella in. I had called him last night after Bella had fallen asleep and we both made an agreement to prioritize the safety for each other's lady. He told me if anything happened to Alice he'd cut my balls off. I told him if anything happened to Bella I'd kill him. Literally.

It had been a nice little compromise each of us planned to stick to.

Rosalie and Emmett had wanted to come and say goodbye but Charlie had requested that they didn't, not wanting anymore attention to be drawn at five in the morning than already was. Had Rosalie not still been in grieving and Emmett not been comforting her, they would have happily joined in on the plan.

Unfortunately though, that was not the case and I was actually relieved that they'd be staying behind. If anymore people chose to involve themselves I swear I'd break something expensive. This was my problem. Mine. Yet, why was everyone so eager to always come to my aid?

Instead of going over the rules, Charlie had just printed an organized list for each group to carry and follow. I chose to wait and read them until once Al and I were on the rode, nervous I'd come to too many disagreements and start yet another argument with Charlie.

"Alright, so everyone ready?" Charlie asked as we all gathered in a circle. Bella rested her head on my chest and I flexed my arms around her in attempts of the reassurance I knew I couldn't put into her head enough times.

"Bella and Jasper," Carlisle began, glancing back and forth between the two of them. "You two will leave about ten minutes before Edward and Alice do. You're going to be going West, remember. Once you get on the road, call me and only me for more instructions on where you're suppose to be going."

Jasper looked in our direction, noticing Bella who's head was still buried in my chest. "Bells, I'll take the first driving shift, comprendo? You, baby girl, need some serious R and R."

She shot him a small grin. "Thanks, Jazz."

Billy, who was apparently Al and I's 'chaperon' stepped forward. "Edward and Alice, like Carlisle said, you two will be leaving second, after Bella and Jasper get a good start. You're going East. Call me as soon as you're out of the city."

The four of us nodded. This was it. I looked down at Bella who was already staring up at me. Her face made my heart clench painfully tight as I noticed the moisture began to fill up her brownie batter eyes.

"Bells, say goodbye," Charlie instructed her softly. She never tore her gaze from me and it was like the world around us was completely forgotten.

"Edward," she whispered, reaching up to place her small hand on my cheek.

"Pretty please don't cry?" I asked quietly, placing both hands on either side of her face. My thumbs stroked light circles around on her cheeks as we looked at each other. I didn't give a shit in the slightest that everything we were currently doing was being monitored by the seven other people surrounding us.

She quickly blinked a couple of times, failing in the attempts of stopping her tears. "Hey now," I told her softly. "It'll be alright. We already went over this, remember? You can do this. We can do this."

"Promise?" Her voice was no more than a whisper.

I nodded, giving her a half-smile. "Promise."

We stared at each other for another long moment before it was my turn to sigh. "God, I'm gonna miss you so much, Bee. You don't even know how much I seriously love the shit out of you."

For the first time that morning she smirked at me. "Charming." she teased before quickly adding seriously, "I love you, too. A lot. More than you know."

I hugged her tightly to me once again, burying my face into her hair as I inhaled her sweet, unforgettable scent. "Be good," I ordered after pulling back a few inches to see her face once again. "Stay outta trouble and listen to Jazz."

"I will," she promised as I watched the water began to appear in her eyes once again. She was trying so hard not to cry that her effort was almost painful. "Don't do anything reckless," she instructed me with a very pointed glance. "And don't you dare find yourself another girlfriend." Her feeble attempt at a joke came out as more of a grimace on her part.

"Séjour belle," I whispered to her, stroking a loose piece of hair behind her ear. She pursed her lips, tilting her head to the side. "Stay beautiful, my beautiful baby."

This time when she blinked, a tear rolled down her soft cheek. "One more?" She asked with a heartbreaking expression.

"One more," I nodded, inclining my head down towards hers. As soon as our lips touched, I was actually scared that I wouldn't be able to pull away. I felt like I was home. She was my home. She was all I had.

With one last look, I reluctantly let go of her and watched as she and Jazz followed behind Carlisle, disappearing into a revolving door.

And just like that, my home was gone.


CHAPTER SONG: Better Days - The Goo Goo Dolls


FRENCH TRANSLATION: séjour belle - "stay beautiful"


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