Chapter 28

Bella

The sound of my phone alarm sounding off startled both Edward and me awake the next morning, reminding us to get ourselves ready for our flight to Seattle.

Almost immediately, I winced as I shifted my body to attempt to reach for the device. A peaceful six hours of slumber had allowed me to drift away from reality for enough time to temporarily forget about the events of the past evening. Until of course the pain radiated through my lumbar region, worse than ever, and Edward placed a gentle hand on my arm, keeping me in place.

"I'll get it," he didn't sound like someone who'd just woken up.

Furthermore, upon closer inspection of his face, I noted the telltale signs of sleep deficiency in the form of deep purple circles under his eyes. My still-waking body instantly switched into concerned mode as he hovered over me to stop the alarm, before returning to his original position.

As he combed his hands through his hair, sitting up and looking over at me, I began to bite nervously on the inside of my cheek.

"Couldn't sleep?" I asked feebly, getting the impression that my bruised body may have had something to do with his insomnia.

He didn't really look fazed as he shook his head. But upon seeing the creases in my forehead forming, he hurried to reassure me, "I'm sure I'll get some rest on the plane." He was trying his best to make sure that I wasn't anxious, but seeing him in the state that he was in… I couldn't help but feel the way that I did.

As I rested my head against the padded headboard, I let out a soft sigh, feeling his hand reach for mine before he pulled it towards his lips. The small action caused a smile to make its way across my face, somewhat helping to ease the worries that were building up inside of me. No matter how many reassurances I threw his way that I was fine, and that the pain would dissipate in time, there was a part of me that knew he wouldn't rest easy until my skin went back to its original colour.

"We should probably get ready," I continued to gaze over at him, seeing his head slowly dip down in a nod.

"I'll meet you back here in half an hour?" he lifted both eyebrows, as my smile widened.

"Looking forward to it," quickly, I swiped a peck on his lips, watching the characteristic grin sweep across his face before he let out a low chuckle.

Releasing my hand, he made his way towards the door separating our rooms, allowing me some privacy as I selected my outfit for the trip.

Keeping my mind occupied with details of last-minute items I needed to stow into my suitcase allowed me to draw away from micromanaging every injury on my body. I became so distracted, in fact, that I didn't even chance a glance in the mirror as I undressed for the shower, and clothed myself thereafter.

It was only after I'd zipped the suitcase, lifting it up towards me, that I heard a soft knock at mine and Edward's shared door, bringing me back into reality.

"Can I come in?" he asked, ever polite, as I crossed the room to open the door to him.

"You ready?" I wondered aloud. He nodded easily with a small smile, before opening his mouth, seeming like there was something else he wanted to say.

"What is it?" I asked, all the while, reaching for my luggage and accompanying handbag, as Edward's unease grew.

"I was just wondering if there have been any… improvements," his voice dropped off on the last word, causing me to freeze, fixing my eyes back on his as my shoulders dropped.

I wasn't annoyed, despite what he may have thought prior to asking the question. If anything, I was just as wary as he was, given the fact that I had yet to inspect myself. I'd been avoiding it, in fact. Part of the whole 'putting this behind me' thing.

"I don't know," I answered uncertainly, tacking on a shrug, "I haven't checked."

He looked at me for a couple of seconds, stepping in closer.

"May I?" he wondered, eyes gravitating to the hem of my sweater, his hand following cautiously, as I attempted to keep the surprise out of my expression. I mean, it made sense that he would want to check up on the progress of my healing. Future medical professional and all that.

Still, the gesture sent a flurry of butterflies through my stomach.

Embarrassingly, I stuttered, "S-sure," I consented with a nod, somehow managing to keep the heat from spreading to my face.

He kept his eyes on mine to make sure that I wasn't simply trying to appease him. Then, once he was satisfied with what he found in my expression, he moved around me, taking care to be gentle as he lifted the bottom of my shirt upward.

I heard him gather a deep breath, before appearing to lower his body to get an even closer look.

Then of course there was a moment where I almost jumped out of my skin, feeling his fingers lightly trace the area. He didn't use any pressure, so there was virtually no pain, but the action caused the butterflies floating around in my stomach to intensify that much more.

"Sorry," a swift apology came from him, "Did that hurt?"

I turned my head so that I was facing him as he looked up at me.

Shaking my head quickly, I shot him a smile to reassure him that I'd simply been startled by the sudden contact.

My eyes continued to follow him as he stood, biting the inside of his cheek and seeming as though he was trying to control his expression. I didn't like that look.

"The bruises have darkened in colour," he stated matter-of-factly, "I'm pretty sure you'll be even more sore today. But it's part of the healing process. It's supposed to get worse before it gets better. By tomorrow, things should start to look up." He swallowed, ending with a nod, as I looked down at our shoes, a couple of inches apart. It was entirely obvious that he was attempting to dissociate from the situation and look at me from a purely medical perspective.

I couldn't really imagine what he must've been going through, seeing my already hideous bruising worsen, and knowing that there wasn't very much he could do to help me. Not that I wanted help, per se, but I knew that he felt pretty powerless not being able to speed up the healing process for me. There wasn't any real form of treatment besides rest and lack of added pressure on the area.

As always, I didn't find myself wanting to dwell on the topic, reaching for his hand instead, "We should leave."

His response was a slow nod as he tightened his grip on my hand, before tugging me towards him ever so carefully. Smoothly, his free hand came to rest on my face, "You're sure that this is still what you want to do?"

My mind probably could've changed overnight, hence the pressing question, but I still found myself letting out a dejected sigh. With a slightly apologetic smile, I forced myself to look into his eyes as I answered, not necessarily confident in my decision but feeling that it was the one I was most comfortable with.

"Yes," I nodded for emphasis, as he continued to keep his expression collected, before performing a nod of his known. "All right." Once again, I appreciated that he wasn't patronizing me for sticking with the choice that I'd made. Of course I understood why he wanted to go to the officials – I'd thought that I'd wanted the same thing when everything had gone down. But, hard as it was to know that Jacob Black probably wasn't receiving the sort of justice that he deserved, I also knew that even harder than that would be the prospect of reliving everything and having everyone in my life relive it along with me.

We stalked down the hallway into the elevator, down into the lobby to drop off our keys.

The hotel had remained relatively quiet throughout the duration of our stay in Chicago, mainly because security had been amped up to keep the paparazzi off the premises. But screaming fans were a different ordeal. With Christmas fast approaching, more kids were going on break, and therefore able to convince their parents to visit us either on set or at the hotel.

Usually, I didn't mind going to greet them. I wholeheartedly understood the sentiment, the joy it gave them to meet their favorite celebrity. It was an honour that I could be grouped into that category for some people. But I was still very much in the recovery phase after having someone throw his body on top of me and attempt to cut off my air supply.

Fans would never intentionally harm me, but their enthusiasm could often come off in the wrong way, which I currently wasn't in the right frame of mind to deal with. Hence, the reason I followed Edward downstairs into underground parking, as opposed to going outside and signing some autographs.

However, I also made sure to set a mental reminder to myself to tweet out an apology note to all of the people waiting to see me. I didn't enjoy disappointing anyone, but in this case, I knew that it was better to be safe than sorry.

The process of returning to our rental car currently stationed underground went relatively smoothly. Due to the security measures put in place, it was pretty much impossible for anyone not checked in to the hotel to weasel their way into a parking space, so we were in the all clear as Edward relieved me of my luggage, stowing his and mine into the trunk.

After getting myself buckled in, my reflexes kicked in causing me to reach for his hand, currently settled on the gear, shifting into 'Drive'.

The corners of his lips upturned just as mine did, before I turned to lean my head against the window and he began to lace his fingers through mine. It had truly been a wonder that I'd survived without reaching out to touch him in those few hours last night.

As much as I wished that there was some way I could've protected him from knowing what had happened to me, and knowing that there wasn't anything that he could've done about it, I also knew that, more importantly, keeping any sort of secret from him would've been a much worse decision. The last thing I would ever want to do was intentionally place distance between us.


Edward remained particular stiff, keeping one hand interlocked with mine, the other attached to his suitcase, which he used as a barrier to all of the men holding and flashing their cameras. He didn't let up on his posture until we'd made our way inside the airport, receiving our tickets and speeding through security.

The hood of my sweater was thrown up just for good measure as we waited at our gate. However, I'd found it to be somewhat unnecessary considering most people hadn't been made aware to my recently changed dirty blonde hair.

The two of us continued to sit in relative silence for a couple of minutes, leaning against one another. I'd purchased a book to read to pass the time – Jellicoe Road. It had been somewhat slow for the first few pages, but before long, I found myself engrossed in the storyline of the book.

That was until I felt Edward go rigid beside me.

My head immediately whipped up to meet his, only to see that he was practically burning a hole through the television set hanging a feet few from us.

Rather than ask him what the matter was, I followed his gaze, having to bite down on the inside of my cheek to control my reaction.

"Actor, Jacob Black, 22, checked into rehab" was the first headline to assault my line of sight, before an image of him, latching onto Leah Turner and concealing his face with a scarf came into view.

The volume was muted, but thankfully, the subtitles allowed us to gather the important pieces of the storyline as the news anchor read off the teleprompter.

"The well-known actor has been checked into the Wonderland rehab facility, citing 'drug addiction and anger management' as the reasoning behind the sudden decision. This may come as a huge shock to fans of the actor, more recently known for his role as Gale in The Hunger Games, however, Black says that he is determined to work through his issues and make a proper recovery. He says that the last thing he would want is for his addiction to harm anyone," my eyes followed the lines of text, as Edward's body remained frozen.

Rather than release any of his tension, he seemed to grow more irritated as the seconds ticked by.

"He's being praised for deciding to go to rehab," he whispered, somewhat in disbelief, as my eyes continued to stay trained on his impossibly still figure.

"Edward…" I began to say, not quite sure of how I was meant to continue, or reassure him that all of this was okay. Because I knew that it wasn't.

"No one is ever going to know what he did to you. No one is ever going to know the real reason he made this decision. He wouldn't even have gone to rehab if it weren't for his girlfriend." Edward was still staring down the screen as if he could somehow project his emotions onto Jacob Black himself, as I felt myself sigh, almost shutting my eyes in the process.

"They're acting like he's some kind of hero for making this profound change in his life. It's disgusting," he wasn't so much speaking to me as he was speaking his thoughts aloud, and all I could do was sit there, pressing the side of my face against my hand.

I knew what he was feeling – I'd be lying if I said it wasn't stinging me just the slightest bit seeing how easily Jacob Black was getting off for everything that he'd put me through. For almost killing me.

I'd known all along that, no matter what – court intervention or not – Jacob's worst punishment would be rehab. But now, to see the media's positive portrayal of him…

Maybe it would help speed up his recovery seeing all of those words of support from his fans.

But it wasn't exactly helping with Edward's recovery of this whole ordeal.

And I know what you're thinking right about now – what about me? How did I feel about everything?

Well, to be honest, seeing Edward in this kind of emotional suffering was much more painful to me than any of the bruises Jacob Black had inflicted upon me. What I wanted more than anything was for the lines of worry to fade from his face.

But they weren't going to leave until I was all healed. I'd already realized that.

"I'm sorry," Edward's eyes finally came back into focus, having looked distinctly glazed over for the past few minutes. He turned to face me, remorse filling his eyes for expressing his feelings so bluntly, as I shook my head, reaching for his hand.

"No… I get it, Edward," I squeezed his hand in mine, breathing out, "I can't ask you to accept my choice with open arms. That's not fair, considering the fact that I'd probably be just as angry as you, if I were in your position." I looked down briefly before finally meeting his eyes, "This is just… something that I want to do, and yes, it sucks that no one's aware of the reasoning behind everything. But if this is the last I see of him - the last reminder of what he did – I think it's worth it."

Edward's eyes held mine for a long while, before his hold on me tightened, pulling me into his side.

"If you can handle all of this," he shook his head, sighing a bit, "then I can certainly push on through."

I felt his lips against the top of my head, as I reached for his free hand, pulling it to my lips and giving him a kiss of my own.

He didn't have to do any of the things he was doing – say any of the things he was saying. In fact, there wasn't any obligation for him to stay and endure the things that he was, with me. But… here he was.

I looked up towards him, a small appreciative smile fixed on my face as the flight announcement was made, calling all first and business class passengers to board.

My smile widened almost imperceptibly, "Time to go home."


As we touched down in Port Angeles, making our way through baggage claim, Edward assisted me with my bags, only really needing to for a short amount of time as they were all relieved by Emmett, greeting us in front of his maroon Jeep with his signature dimpled grin.

The smile I hadn't realized had been spread on my face immediately stretched from ear to ear.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my famous sister and her famous boyfriend," he began shaking his head towards us, blatantly mocking the two of us. It didn't take very long for him to close the distance between us, engulfing Edward and me in a group bear hug.

Almost immediately, the harsh reminder of my bruises caused me to flinch, and though Emmett was too wrapped up in his joy at being reunited with us to notice, Edward certainly did.

"Uh, Emmett, not that we don't appreciate your enthusiasm, but could you maybe let go?" he was desperately attempting to sound respectful, but there was a sense of urgency and worry that was thwarting the tone of his voice just a bit. I had to fight down a smile, before my amusement turned to dread feeling my brother immediately retract from us. The smile had wavered on his face.

"It's not anything, really," I began to say, hesitating for a moment too long and seeing Emmett's eyebrows wrinkle apprehensively at my poor start of an explanation.

"Bella got… injured on set, so just, try not to jostle her too much," Edward forced a smile, as I found myself biting down onto my lip as Emmett's eyes flickered immediately to me.

"God, I'm sorry, Bells. You should've told me before! What happened?" and then as an afterthought, he began to shake his head, "I always knew action movies were too dangerous for you."

I opened my mouth, but found myself failing to continue describing the events leading up to my injury of sorts. And then once again, Edward was jumping in as my savior, rescuing me from the act of having to lie quite miserably to my brother. Although Emmett had a harder time seeing right through me, he was still pretty well versed in my attempts at dishonesty.

"There was a malfunction with one of the harnesses," and then Edward cleared his throat, waving his hand as if there was much more to it, "Long story, but it's all sorted now."

"Can you sue?" my brother's eyes wandered between the two of us, widening slightly, as I took a deep breath, feeling oddly as though this lie was turning into a perfect analogy for the Jacob incident, and my decision thereafter.

"I've… decided not to," I struggled to get the words out, as Emmett let out a slow exhale, still keeping his eyes wide, "Are you sure?"

As I nodded, his head shook for a final time, "Well I guess you know what you're doing… But I hope you're not hurt too badly, sis."

All of the fake smiling was beginning to hurt my face, but I could feel it coming to an end as I answered, "No, no. I'll be fine soon enough."

"Well I feel good that at least Edward was there for you," Emmett's somber expression turned more relieved, as he patted his friend on the shoulder, and I felt distinctly as though Jacob's knee was still pressed against my stomach.

Edward's expression very clearly dropped upon hearing that particular statement, turning ghostly white, as I resisted the urge to shut my eyes.

Unknowingly, my brother had just reminded my boyfriend of the fact that he hadn't been there for me. Not when everything had happened. It was a fact that I'd been trying to get Edward to stop dwelling on. And here I could already see the guilt returning to his eyes.

My hand reached for his, squeezing and hoping to pull him back into the present, back to me. It was a sad attempt at getting him to remember that I was perfectly okay now, give or take a couple of bruises.

"So do I," I found my voice, facing Emmett, "I don't know what I would've done without him." It was the first lie I hadn't told in the past minute.

I didn't actually know how I would've been coping with the situation I was in, without Edward. If it weren't for him, I definitely wouldn't have been able to keep myself so… composed. His presence, and his emotions over everything that had happened were pretty much forcing me to be strong. For him.

He looked down at me briefly, an intensity in his eyes so fierce that I found myself feeling like I should look away, but also finding that I was unable to.

In the background, Emmett began to open the trunk, beginning the act of piling the luggage in.

"Are the others meeting us for dinner?" I began to wonder, as Edward kindly helped me into my seat, despite my reassurances that I was capable of getting in myself. He didn't relent, but to be fair, it was also because I was visibly struggling to get myself seated comfortably in the back.

"Yeah, I just have to swing by and pick Rosalie up from a family thing," upon hearing that piece of information, Edward paused in his act of shutting the door to the backseat.

Instead of going around to the passenger side as I'd been anticipating he would've done, he slid in to get himself seated beside me.

"Rose can take the front," was all he said when Emmett lifted an eyebrow towards him.

"How generous," Emmett smiled, as Edward looked towards me for the millionth time, making sure that I was all right.

And as much as all of this care and concern was endearing, it was also troubling to see him in this kind of state over me. It made me wish that I could've somehow changed the past so that I wouldn't have entered my dressing room the night before, causing the events that had, to unfold.

Of course, wishing for those kinds of things didn't help anyone, but simply put, I hated seeing him in this state of anguish. And I hated Jacob for causing it.


The sky had darkened considerably, and it was soon approaching nightfall when Emmett pulled into the driveway of my childhood home.

"We're here!" Emmett yelled, calling the house's attention to us, as a distinctly familiar squeal sounded down the hallway, before soon getting accompanied by a pair of running feet.

Uh oh.

Edward's body tensed next to mine, as he let go of his suitcase, stepping protectively in front of me, and pretty much causing Alice to come to a screeching halt.

"Whoa," she said, as I peeked from around Edward's side.

"Sorry, Alice. I think Edward just wanted to make sure that you weren't too aggressive in your greeting," I found myself having to hold back a laugh, as Alice's expression turned the slightest bit outraged, "Me? Aggressive?"

Almost immediately, Jasper appeared at her side, resting a hand on her shoulder as he spoke, "Honey, you do have a tendency to hug quite… passionately."

It was weird how difficult it was to get mad at anything that Jasper had to say, especially when he spoke in that slow, soothing tone that he characteristically took on whenever there was a need to calm someone down – that someone, more often than not, being Alice Brandon.

I decided to step in before she could get the wrong idea, "And not that I don't love your hugs, because I do… but… I have a couple of bruises that are still in the early stages of healing. Nothing to worry about, just letting you know."

The slight frown that had taken shape on the pixie's face immediately lifted up as her expression turned to one of surprise.

"Oh," she sighed, looking up to Edward, "Well I guess I'll take back what I said about you being an asshole."

There was a short pause in conversation, before, "… You never said I was an asshole."

The cheeky grin to grace Alice's lips almost caused me to smile, as Edward continued to look uneasy.

"I was thinking it," she tapped her forehead, before not-so-gently shoving him out of the way so that she had a clear view of me.

"Bella!" she threw her hands out, her grin so bright it almost blinded me.

"Alice," I laughed, taking the initiative to wrap my arms around her, and feeling her quite delicately pat my back, shooting a pointed look to Edward, who was still hovering near us, as we pulled away.

"Hi Jasper," I smiled to the tall blond, who, if possible, was even more careful as he embraced me, "Good to see you, Bella."

As Edward gave each of them a hug of his own, Emmett began to clear his throat, "Alright, can we head over to the dining room now?" He was one of those people who took on an irritable persona whenever he was the slightest bit hungry. I knew that if we wasted any more time with small talk, his tone would veer from snippy to pissed off.

So, I began to nod my head enthusiastically along with the others, as Rosalie and Alice slowed to stay at my side and I asked them each about their exams, which had just passed.

After receiving slight shrugs in answer and waving hands, I gathered the general impression that they had gone well enough.

Of course there was much more to catch up on, but upon our entrance into the room, my eyes wandered to the three adults milling near the table and chatting away, watching as all three of their faces brightened up.

"Hi, Dad," I grinned, waltzing over to him as Edward went over to greet his own parents.

It was heartwarming seeing the large smiles sweep across both his mom and dad's faces, and while he wrapped them each in a hug, I followed suit with Charlie. Soon enough, I came around to hug Edward's parents, who both expressed their happiness to see me, whilst Charlie patted Edward on the back.

As we gathered around the table, filled to capacity with a smorgasbord of food, conversation flowed freely and easily from one topic to another, before settling on the filming in Chicago, and how everything had been going in that area. Edward was still holding a great deal of stiffness in his body, thinking about how we'd left things in that city, but as I placed a hand on his thigh, his eyes shifted down to my hand, a different kind of tension filling his body.

I bit my tongue to keep myself from laughing.

I felt that the group collectively was curious to know how he'd been getting along, acting-wise. "Edward's brilliant on set. He really fell into the whole process like if he'd been doing it his entire life. I think you all are going to be amazed when the movie comes out."

Alice immediately squealed, clapping her hands together, "I know this is a reach… but is there any possibility of us getting a little preview," she pinched her fingers together as if to show that she would simply be happy with one scene.

A smile had already been fixed upon Edward's face after hearing my praises for him, but looking around the room and seeing everyone's heads nodding vigorously and giving yells of agreement, both of us began to beam. I could feel the two of us slowly but surely moving our focus away from Jacob Black, into something a little bit more meaningless, but still important to us. And as I felt that happen, I was also filled with a sort of hope that in time, me and Edward would be able to actually move past this whole thing. Maybe not fully, but just enough to get back to a good place wherein neither of us was filled with anxiety.

But despite the positive effect Alice's question had had on the two of us overall, I could also sense an air of nervousness building around Edward at the prospect of allowing everyone here to see him in action. Our friends had already seen his capabilities, but there were his parents, and my father…

"Well… we haven't exactly finished the movie as yet. We've only really finished the indoor scenes, and some of the outdoor ones," I began, as faces around the table immediately fell into pouts and sighs.

Then I giggled, biting my lip, "… But, after dinner, I'd be willing to show you anything that we have shot."

"Yes!" all of the girls screamed, while the guys had a pretty difficult time hiding their own enthusiasm, their smiles stretching.

Following that agreement, it seemed that everyone began stuffing their faces with mashed potatoes, lasagna, and a variety of the other foods laid out. Even the girls, who usually took twice as long to eat their food as the boys, somehow managed to chow down their meals before their significant others.

I couldn't stop laughing the entire time, seeing everyone so obviously eager. And I swore that every time I had an outburst like that, I'd feel Edward's eyes on me, making me look over and widen my smile.

"Okay, is everyone done? Everyone's done. Let's go," Alice slid out of her chair as we all laughed good-naturedly, before following suit as I led the way to the living room, reaching into my carry-on for my laptop.

Edward and I had both been sent some of the edited scenes, compiled into one long clip, so as the group of parents and friends sat on various couches in the living room, I began mirroring the screen on my laptop to the large screen above the fireplace.

Clicking a few more buttons, I pulled up the clip, making sure that the volume was at an optimum level, before looking around the room, "You guys ready?"

Rosalie, Alice, and, even Esme, screamed, "Yes!"

To which, I cracked a smile, before hitting play and coming to sit slowly beside Edward as his arm immediately wrapped around my shoulders.

As we'd warned everyone, the movie, obviously, hadn't been finished as yet, so the most they were going to see were a few of the clips that had already been edited for the film. Things weren't exactly in order, even, so they really were just going to have make do with what they got.

And most of what they would get would be scenes between Edward and myself.

Even though actually acting the scenes out with Edward had felt like the most natural thing in the world, and everyone on set had been perfectly comfortable with all of the romantic scenes, in real life, we weren't exactly the most public people when it came to broadcasting our affection.

"I just realized that our parents are going to be seeing us make out… several times," I whispered to him, feeling him freeze immediately. Not that I was particularly worried about Esme and Carlisle's reactions – they themselves were extremely comfortable showing their own PDA, and had no problem with seeing me with their son. It was flattering, really, how much they openly adored me. The feeling was definitely mutual.

Charlie, on the other hand...

As everyone laughed at one of the more sarcastic and humorous scenes that Edward and I had shared, the screen faded out to the well-known scene in Four's bedroom, where he and Tris kiss for the first time.

Knowing what was coming already, I suddenly buried my face into Edward's chest, peeping at everyone's reactions before glancing at the screen. In response, his hold on me tightened as a low chuckle erupted from his chest. There was a twinkle in his eyes as he looked down at my partially hidden figure.

The girls cooed as our characters went back and forth with a few lines after Four had taken Tris through his fear simulation. Emmett and Jasper let out wolf-whistles as Edward took off his shirt, and sitting on the couch, I could feel my face heating up as I admired the image. The scene moved on to me tracing the drawn-on tattoos on his back with my fingertips, before, of course, I watched Edward kiss me.

I couldn't describe to you how odd it was to see a playback of that. It was one thing to actually be in the position, but another to watch a video of it.

I finally understood why everyone on set had been blown away by our chemistry – egotistic as it sounds. As I watched myself get lost in Edward's eyes on-screen, my face shifted so that I was looking up at him sitting next to me. His eyes moved down to meet mine, appearing to be having the same thought that I was. We both stared at each other for a while, sharing this unspoken feeling.

A sheepish smile spread across my face slowly, my cheeks flaming up, as Edward appeared distinctly as though he was trying to suppress the urge to kiss me.

Mind you, had we not been surrounded by our parents and friends, I probably would've taken the initiative.

Awkwardly, we both turned and watched everyone look on as we continued our heated on-screen kiss, before the clip transitioned into a few more note-worthy ones. Finally, just as things were getting interesting in one particular scene, the screen faded to black, and most of the room anticipated that that would be the end of things.

But then I saw myself and Edward return into view, looking away from the camera as if we were listening to the director, Neil's instructions.

"Okay, Bella, could you just say that line one more time, but… angrier," he instructed me off-screen, as I watched myself nod, absorbing the orders and taking a deep breath as I turned to face Edward once more.

The camera was at an angle such that it was on Edward's back, and on my face, and as Neil called for another take, I only managed to make it midway into saying my line before I broke character, beginning to laugh as the camera showed Edward's back shaking with laughter as well.

"I'm sorry, that was my fault. We can do another take," Edward began to turn, still finding himself laughing as I began to laugh at two of us on-screen. The room was having an equally difficult time containing their laughter as well.

"Bloopers?" Emmett asked from beside us, as both Edward and me nodded, vividly recalling this particular day. The set had famously termed it the 'neverending laugh', which is pretty self-explanatory. It had all started because Edward had apparently found me completely humorous whenever I was attempting to act mad.

No matter how hard we both tried, we couldn't seem to shake our giggles.

I even feigned annoyance at one point, just before the fifth take, "Come on, Edward. Be serious," which our friends and parents had all found absolutely hilarious, and so had Edward at the time of filming. If possible, it had only made him laugh harder at me.

I watched myself clutching onto him for support, before pushing myself away, still laughing and shaking my head. "I think we need to come back to this one, sorry," I said, still laughing and wiping my eyes as I walked away, both hearing laughter on set. Thankfully, everyone had found our slight unprofessionalism completely amusing – the laughter had been contagious – and we plowed on with filming, eventually returning to the scene and capturing the essence without breaking character.

There were a couple more highly entertaining ones – I'd pranked Edward a couple of times with Zoë, and he'd done a brilliant job at getting me back. And then there were a few wherein Neil had had to verbally call my attention back to him because I'd become so fascinated with watching Edward as he'd practiced his lines. Those had sent Emmett roaring with laughter.

And then, the clip finally came to a close.

"Well looks like you two worked hard, and played hard," Rosalie pretty much summed up the entire experience in a statement, as Edward and me looked over at one another, smiling to ourselves.

"You could say that," I began to grin.

As I looked around the room, almost everyone was wearing wide smiles. Charlie's face had gone through several shades of red before settling on a purplish colour.

Oh, dear.

I almost wanted to say something to calm him down, until Esme spoke up.

"Edward, I'm so proud of you. You both could not be more fitting for these roles," her face was glowing, as Edward bowed his head modestly, standing up to wrap her in a hug as his father followed suit, clapping him on the back, clearly surprised, but all the same, pleased with his son's abilities.

It seemed to be exactly what my own father had needed to hear to soften up and focus on the bigger picture here.

He looked to be overwhelmed as he looked over at me again, before wrapping me in a light hug. In the next moment, he was casting his gaze towards Edward, and giving a nod, "You're not so bad, Edward."

Well, it wasn't "amazing" or "mind-blowing", but seeing as Charlie had just witnessed his daughter being attacked by her boyfriend's mouth, we were both pretty much taking what we could get. Edward seemed more grateful than anything that Charlie hadn't gone and threatened him with his shotgun for putting his hands on me. In turn, I held back a laugh at Charlie's straight-forwardness, hugging him back, before releasing, and turning once more to Edward.

"Hey," I smiled, "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Things rarely are when you're next to me," his answer came immediately, filled with complete honesty as my eyes widened ever so slightly. Even he seemed surprised that his answer had been so forthcoming, but he didn't seem to regret the words now that they were out.

I didn't like to live in the past, but looking at him, seeing and feeling the love filling his eyes, it was almost surreal thinking about the fact that just a few months ago, we'd both been sitting on this very couch, itching to get to know each other better.

Everything had changed, certainly.


A/N: I'm really really sorry about the late update! I tried to finish this last weekend, but with all the packing and flying back to uni, it just didn't happen. And then it got hit with another awful round of the flu this week. My immune system hates me.

I also had a bit of writer's block, so apologies if it shows! The next chapter or two will be filler chapters that were in the original version of the story (with a few changes), and then I think one more chapter after that. Then, epilogue. So, I still have some time left!

Please drop me a review letting me know your thoughts of this chapter/the story thus far. Thank you guys!

Xoxo

LoveACullen