Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of these characters. No copyright infringement is intended.

The days passed in a blur, Esme was back to her normal routine, determined as she put it, not to let such a small incident affect her. Carlisle was treating her like she might break at any moment, much to her annoyance. Things were back to normal, well apart from the fact I was itching to speak to Bella. She had called me when she got back to our apartment, and we talked for a while longer. I didn't want to end the call, enjoying listening to her voice, until she yawned and said that she needed to get some sleep. I wished her pleasant dreams and said I would wait for her to call. That was four days ago and I was now going out of my mind.

It took everything I had not to call her, although I came close on more than one occasion finding myself with my phone in hand before I stopped myself. Carlisle and Esme noticed something was wrong, but didn't ask me for details. I guess they thought things had gone badly when she came over, even though I told them that things were okay between us, that I wasn't giving up all hope on there being a future for us.

Sessions with Doctor Newton were continuing, it was good to have someone to talk to, someone to sound out my thoughts and feelings without them looking at me either like I was crazy or needing their pity. Today's session was one I needed, I had to talk to someone about how I felt. This was how I came to be in his office, pacing the floor while I waited for my scheduled appointment.

Kate, his receptionist kept smiling at me. She knew how anxious I was and also understood there was nothing she could do to calm me down. I glanced at my watch as my tension rose, finally taking a seat before I wore a hole in the floor, I waited, resting my head back against the wall and allowing my eyes to close. I was brought out my calm when the door to his office opened and I watched as a well dressed woman stepped out, making eye contact with me, as she closed the door behind her. Kate answered the phone, before she addressed me.

"Mr Cullen, you can go through now."

I stood, smiling at her before I stepped into the familiar surroundings of Doctor Newton's office. It never felt like a Doctor's office, the room was light and airy with a real casual feel. There was a desk, but it by no means dominated the space. I walked over to where he was stood, holding out his hand to welcome me. He indicated for me to take a seat on one of the two large, leather couches. They were situated at angles to each other, facing out across the city skyline. His approach was different, the sessions were kept relaxed and informal. It felt more like sitting and chatting with a friend. I guessed this was part of why he was successful, and why I felt so comfortable here.

As we sat down, he waited for me to speak, but I didn't know where to begin so he broke the silence.

"Have you spoken to Bella since we last met?"

"No, nothing. I have been thinking about calling her, but I don't want to crowd her. It's been ten days now. Things seemed to be getting better when we met and now, I just don't know." The words fell out In a long jumble.

"Slow down Edward, one thing at a time. You haven't called her?"

I shook my head. "No, I said I'd wait for her to call me. But she hasn't." Panic ripped through me. "Do you think she is okay?"

He nodded slowly. "Think about it logically Edward. If she wasn't okay, if anything had happened to her, you would have heard. Wouldn't you?"

A deep sigh escaped me. "Yes, you're right as always."

Bella was the focus of my thoughts, and our discussion over the next hour. As usual with our sessions I had a lot to think about, to work through in my own head before we were to meet in two week's time. By then, I hoped to have spoken to Bella, not because I wanted to know if she had found anything out from Charlie, but because I wanted to hear her voice.

When arrived home, I was alone and I hated it. The emptiness of the house felt like it was going to close in on me. It felt strange to think that, especially seeing as I'd spent so much time in a small space also having to get used to being alone. Coming home had been a shock to me, and I remembered the times that I would almost freak out when surrounded by people, yet for some reason today I wanted people to be around me. I couldn't decide what to do or where to go, all I knew was I didn't want to be alone.

Considering it was a weekday, everyone that I was close to would be working the next best thing was for me to go for a run. As I pounded the pavements the sun was warm in the early afternoon, it felt nice to be able to enjoy something as simple as this. I ran further and longer than I usually did, pushing my body to its limits. Ironically, this was the one good thing to come out of the whole mess, I was in the best physical shape of my life. No amount of gym workouts would have given me either the level of fitness or stamina that I now enjoyed.

After a long shower, I went downstairs to find my parents bustling around the kitchen, I didn't let them know that I was there, content to just stand and watch. They moved like a well oiled machine, there were moments when they would just look at each other and smile. Their love for each other was clear, and I was just about to make my presence known when my cell phone rang, making me jump and also my parents turn toward me.

The name on the screen made my heart leap and also pound harder against my chest wall, it was Bella.

"Hey." I closed my eyes at my lame greeting.

"Hey yourself. How are things?"

"Good, I've been wondering if I should call you or not, I didn't know." I rubbed my furrowed brow.

"Sorry it's taken me so long to call you, I should've called you, it's just been… Well, you know."

"I think I do. Did Charlie have any news?" Instantly I felt like I shouldn't have asked and wanted nothing more than to pull the words back.

"That's why I am calling, it's taken longer than he thought it would. Everything was hidden, it was nearly impossible to find anything."

She let out a sigh, as I fought back the urge to ask her what she meant. "Look, I think it's probably best if we meet up to go through it. Can I come to you?"

I thought for a moment. "No, Esme and Carlisle are here." I looked at my watch, it was later than I thought. "It's late, and I'm guessing this might take some time?"

"Yeah, probably best. Can we meet at the weekend, how about Saturday? You can come here late afternoon. I will make us something to eat and we can go over what I have. Then we can talk about things, well, us and where we go from here"

That meant I had to wait three days. Three long, tortuous days to find out what had happened and if there was any way that we could fix our broken relationship.

"Is there an us?" I murmured almost to myself.

"Yes, I believe there is." Her voice was almost as quiet as mine. A huge smile broke out on my face.

"Wow. So, I will see you on Saturday then."

With that the call ended. I turned to see Esme staring at me, an expectant look on her face. "Was that Bella?" I nodded, the smile on my face gave her the answer that she already knew of course. I was enveloped in her arms. "Oh, sweetheart. I hope this works out, I really do."

Pulling back from her I replied. "So I do, she is everything to me," The emotion caught in my voice.

"I know she is, now you just have to show her."

I nodded. "I don't intend to mess up this second chance."

Carlisle joined us. "Dinner is ready." He smiled at me, I was unsure if he knew what was happening, but I was sure that Esme would fill him later.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Saturday came around quicker than I thought it would, and now I found myself standing outside the door to the home I once shared with Bella. I tried to put out of my mind the last time I was here. My hand raised to knock on the door, but there was no need, it opened and revealed Bella standing there on the other side. She looked every bit as nervous as I felt.

"Come in." She stepped aside and I brushed past her and walked inside. It felt strange being back here again, it had been our home and now I felt like a stranger, a guest inside it. Looking around I saw that nothing had changed. The only things I could see missing were the photographs of us that used to hang on the wall. I couldn't blame her. Sensing her standing near me I turned to her.

"Sorry, I couldn't have them around, it hurt too much." She explained, instantly knowing what I had been looking at. "I didn't throw them away or destroy any of them."

"I know, I don't blame you." I smiled at her. "So, what are you cooking it smells good."

"I'm making lasagna, I know how much you love it."

A broad smile broke out on my face. "Sure do."

I watched as she effortlessly moved around the kitchen, preparing a salad to go with the meal. I helped by setting the table. It felt right, it felt like I was home.

Once we had eaten, Bella cleared the plates away before she indicated we should move to the corner couch. This was it, the uneasy feeling that filled my stomach made me want to run, but I was sick hiding from the truth.

"As you know, Charlie has contacts outside the normal channels." She fiddled with her hands, avoiding looking directly at me, save for a quick glance to see my response, which was a nod. "Well, they did some digging around to see if they could find anything, and there was nothing.

"What? You mean there was no trace of her?" I asked.

"Yes and no. What I mean is, there is nothing on her, it's like she never existed."

I was confused, Heidi was real, I wasn't losing my mind. "No, she was real Bella, flesh and blood, just like you are."

Bella let out a deep sigh. "What I mean is, that there is no trace of her at all, nothing. They looked into the club, the apartment and there is nothing. It all comes back to an offshore holding company registered in Monaco. The weird thing is that the only name they could find on any documents relating to Heidi, was for a child that died as an infant in the early 1980's."

"But she wasn't dead, she was very much alive. Heidi ran the club, there has to be something on her!" I exclaimed.

"Edward, they said this type of thing is common, it's a form of identity theft called 'ghosting'. They take the identity of someone who has died, and use it. Concealing the person's real identity for any number of reasons."

I was shocked."So you mean she wasn't who she said she was? She lied?"

"To all intents and purpose, yes. But seeing as you only saw her the once, she could've said she was called Marilyn Monroe, and would've had no reason to doubt her." Her hand rested on mine. "I'm sorry Edward, I know you wanted to know what happened to her, for your own sanity, but I don't think we will ever be able to find out the truth."

I nodded slowly. "Thanks for trying. Why did you tell Charlie you were asking?"

A dark chuckle escaped her lips. "I didn't tell him the truth, don't worry about that. I told him that this woman was sniffing around Jake, and I didn't trust her at all."

"He always did have a soft spot for him, didn't he." I commented.

Bella simply nodded. "Believe me when I say I'm sorry. Think finding out the truth would bring some closure to this, for all of us. Maybe we should try to move on regardless."

I met her stare. "What are you saying?"

She smiled weakly. "Okay. I'm not saying let's pretend it never happened, as that's not possible. I'm saying, let's move on, one day at a time and see where we end up, no promises though."

Her words shocked me more than anything else, the hope that I had been clinging was not going to be snatched away from me.

"Thank you, I won't let you down." Was all I could mutter under my breath.

The rest of the night was spent sitting on the couch, watching Dirty Dancing. Personally, I hated the film, but it was Bella's favorite. It brought back memories of all the nights we would sit and watch it as she always won me over. She was curled up close to me singing along to the songs and sighing whenever Patrick Swayze took his shirt off, which seemed to be every couple of minutes for me. Right now, it was just nice to spend time with her.

Somehow, she closed the gap that had been between us, and curled up with a cushion, resting on my lap, and her head on it. Instinctively, I brushed my fingers through her hair, she didn't stop me, so I continued.

Once the movie ended, I looked down and saw she had fallen asleep. Bella looked so peaceful. I wanted to freeze this moment forever, never allowing it to change, but I knew it wasn't possible. It was late now, and I needed to leave, but I didn't want to disturb her. I sat there listening to her mutter to herself in her sleep. Eventually I plucked up the courage to move, checking all the time that I wasn't disturbing her. Every part of me wanted to scoop her up in my arms and carry her to the bedroom where I knew she should be, but I couldn't do it. I went to get her a blanket to cover her, only when I stepped into our, I mean her bedroom it was strange, the room was sparse and none of her things were where they should have been.

Confused, I turned around and looked back at her sleeping so peacefully, then I remembered her saying while I was gone, how she found it hard to be in our bed. Heading down the hall to the guest bedroom. Opening the door, I saw what should have been in the master suite and it pained me to think of her living like this still. She had told me while I was missing just how hard she found it to sleep in there without me. When I came home, everything went back to how it should have been, now it was all gone. I grabbed the throw from the bed and walked out to where she was still sleeping on the couch, placing it gently over her I leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her head, intending to leave while she slept and was peaceful.

"Edward, please don't go. Stay." She muttered in her sleep. It warmed my heart to hear that her subconscious wanted me here, but I knew that I couldn't stay, it wouldn't be right. I leaned down, whispering in her ear.

"It's okay, you sleep." Sitting down next to her, she let out a sigh and seemed to settle knowing I was here. There was no way I could leave her now.

Authors Note:

Thanks for reading, please do leave a review by hitting the little button below. There will be a second update this week – I promise!

This chapter is dedicated to a Tainted Tash – Happy Birthday hun. Tash is someone I know in my real life, and is a great supporter of both me and this story. Pre-read by Leigh Warner.