DISCLAIMER: The characters do not belong to me…they are all the creations of the wonderful Stephenie Meyer.

I'm so sorry, Edward! Bella made me do it!!

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Bella returns home after a weekend with her sisters.

Missing Bella – Day 3 – Part 1 (Slight Lemon warning)

I was in my room, pacing in front of the bed when I heard it. Rose's engine. I ran out of the house and to the garage, praying Bella was with them. I knew in my heart that she wasn't. And yet I was still hit hard when I saw it was just Rose and Alice. I panicked and it came out as anger.

"Where is she?" I growled.

"Who?" Rose replied, pulling her bags out of the back.

"Bella!" I yelled.

"Don't yell at me, Edward," Rose fumed. "I just got here. What's going on?"

"Bella went for a walk the same day you two supposedly went on your little spa weekend. She hasn't come home. That was three days ago!" I snarled.

"Don't you take that tone with us," Alice chided. "We've been at the spa. Do you want to see the receipts? Besides, if you hadn't been such an idiot with your car, she probably wouldn't have walked off."

I fell to the ground and put my head in my hands. I had been on an emotional roller coaster from the moment I'd found her missing. I was so tired from all the worry and regret. The deep ache in my heart and the fear that she didn't want me anymore didn't help matters. "I just want to know if she's all right. She's not answering my calls. I've been calling you both for the last three days and I just kept getting everyone's voicemail."

"Would you like me to look for her?" Alice offered.

I stood up and brushed off my clothes. I had left many messages, wanting nothing more. Now that I had the chance, I was scared to take it. What if Alice saw nothing? That would mean Bella was with Jacob. Or what if Alice saw Bella somewhere else and she was happy without me? "No. I don't want to give her another reason to be angry." I stomped back up to the house and slammed the door. I went straight for my room, avoiding Esme's questioning eyes.

I closed the door and stared at her side of the bed. I wondered if I would ever see her sitting there again. I took a deep breath and decided to try her phone one more time.

"Hello," she said.

"Bella!" I was so relieved that it was really her. But then panic took over again. What if she only answered to tell me she's not coming back? I wasn't ready to hear that. I asked a question instead. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Edward. I told you, I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself."

"Will you be home soon? I really miss you. I'm … I'm really sorry about the car thing. I don't know why I acted that way. It's just … I guess I'm just a little protective of my car. But it's really our car now. Bella, I'm really sorry. Please say you'll come home soon." I was pacing again by this point. I was trying to keep my voice calm and failing miserably.

"What are you doing right now?"

"Pacing in our room and trying to stop pulling at my hair."

"Wow! That's probably the most honest answer you've ever given willingly."

"I really miss you, Bella. I would do anything to get you to come home."

"Anything?"

"Absolutely. Whatever you want, Bella. Just please come home!" I was begging and I didn't give a damn. I loved her and I missed her and I wanted her home.

"Let me think about it."

"I love you, Bella. With all my heart and soul."

"I thought you didn't have a soul."

"You are my soul, Bella. You are the only thing that makes me feel like I'm not a monster. I love you."

"I love you too, Edward. I'll call you as soon as I decide what I'm going to do."

"Bella. Be Safe!"

"I will. I love you." She hung up and the brief respite I'd had from the ache in my heart disappeared. The pain roared back to life with vengeance.

My phone rang seconds later. It was her. Maybe she would come home after all. "Bella!" I sighed.

"I've decided what I want. I want you to promise that you will never act the way you did about the car again. If I trust you with everything of mine, you have to return that trust."

"Absolutely, Bella. Will you please come home now?"

"Not yet. I want you to do something else."

"What?"

"Go to your window and look out into the front yard."

I wondered why she would ask for such a strange thing, but decided it didn't matter. If Bella wanted me to look out the window, I would. I thought about rubbing my eyes. I didn't feel I could trust them. Standing in the yard below me was an angel, my angel!

I ran from the room and out of the house, wanting to catch her before she could leave again. I needed to make sure she was real just as much. I tackled her to the ground and covered her face in kisses. She laughed and the ache in my chest backed off and allowed me to breathe for the first time in three days.

"So did you miss me?" she teased.

"Please don't ever do that again, Bella," I whispered, burying my face against her neck. I tried to fill myself up with her sweet smell. I'd missed her so much. "I couldn't stand not knowing where you were. Be mad at me all you want, but do it where I can see you. Please!"

She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tightly. "I missed you too."

"Picky's home!" Emmett yelled. Bella laughed and pushed me so that I would let her sit up. I refused to let go so I pulled her into my lap, locking my arms around her waist to keep her from disappearing.

"Finally!" Jasper muttered. He marched over to us and yanked Bella out of my arms onto her feet. I wasn't sure where he'd got the strength from. "Now take him upstairs and fix him," he growled at Bella, pointing at me. "He's driving me insane!"

"Jasper!" Bella gasped.

Emmett's booming laughter filled the air. "Alice! You better get down here! Jasper is about to force Edward and Bella to have sex in the front yard! I think Edward's sexual frustration has finally pushed him over the edge."

Alice ran out of the house and started tugging on Jasper's arm. Rosalie showed up and smacked Emmett in the head. He chuckled and kissed Rose's cheek.

Bella held her hand out to me. "Let's go for a walk and give Jazz a chance to calm down."

I let her pull me up and then I twined our fingers together so she couldn't let go. We ran into the woods together until we were far enough in to give Jasper peace. Bella slowed us to a walk.

"I guess you really did miss me if Jazz is acting so weird," she teased.

"Bella, I … You make me feel weak. No one has ever done that before. I suppose I should be ashamed to admit it, but I want you to understand just how much power you have over me. You've always said you wished you had as strong of an effect on me as I do on you. I'm telling you right now, you absolutely do. Being without you near me was absolutely unbearable. But I did deserve it for my behavior. I'm sorry about that."

"Thank you for being so honest and sincere, Edward. It means a lot to me. But I want to apologize too. I shouldn't have left angry. I should have tried to talk to you more. I asked you at Christmas not to walk off. I should have given you that same respect. I'm sorry."

"Would it be okay if I asked where you were?"

"I'm not ready to tell you yet. But believe me when I say that I was perfectly safe and not in any sort of danger for even a fraction of a second. I made sure that I was safe for you."

"Thank you. I would be completely lost without you."

Bella stopped us and wrapped her arms around my neck. She stared at me for a long moment before speaking. I spent the entire time praying she would say that she still loved me. "I would be just as lost without you," she finally said. She kissed me then, harder than she ever had before. I was starting to believe that she might forgive me after all, but I couldn't wait any longer to find out.

I broke our kiss and tried to catch my breath so I could ask for her forgiveness. "Bella, you mean so much to me. I can't believe I was so stupid." I rested my forehead against hers and rubbed her sides gently. I just needed to be touching her, to be sure she was standing here with me. "I am so sorry. Please say that you forgive me."

"Tell me why? Tell me how you could trust me with your heart but not your car," she said, rubbing the spot where my heart would beat if I were human.

"I … I don't know. Pride, I think. I know it sounds stupid, but I take pride in never having had so much as a scratch on that car."

"And you automatically assumed I would do something horrible to it?"

"No, Bella! I just … I guess part of me was still thinking of how clumsy you were as a human. It sounds so very stupid now."

"Edward," she said, taking my face into her hands. I prayed she could see my regret and sorrow as well as my joy that she was home. "I forgive you."

The words I had been waiting to hear! I smiled, filled with joy and thankfulness that my angel was here and was willing to forgive me. I wanted to tell her everything I was feeling, but she never gave me the chance. She pulled me to her roughly and kissed me just as hard as she had earlier. She started yanking on my shirt, seemingly aggravated that it hadn't disappeared yet. She stopped kissing me and tore my shirt away. I tried to get a look at her eyes to understand what this was, but she was already kissing me again.

I tried to break the kiss to ask, but she was so eager and so insistent. And we hadn't been this close to each other since the night before I left for Vegas. So I gave in and reached out, unbuttoning her shirt and tossing it away as quickly as I could. She pushed my mouth open with hers and I felt her tongue rub against mine. I couldn't keep from moaning and when she heard it, she pressed her chest tighter against mine. I was still trying to catch up with the kiss when I felt her pushing away the rest of my clothing. I had no idea where Bella had been, but she had come back confident and fully in control. Somehow, my little temptress had found a way to become even sexier! When she ran her hand against me, I lost all the control I had left. I growled at her and she pulled away, gasping for air.

I took that as my chance to help her out of the rest of her clothing. I grabbed her hips and sucked hard against her neck. Her scent was always strongest at her neck. I wanted to taste and smell as much of her as possible. I couldn't seem to get enough though. I growled at her again and licked from the base of her neck to the edge of her jaw. I pushed her hips harder against me and whispered against her lips, "You are mine and I love you."

"Forever," she purred, putting her forehead against my shoulder. And then she said the words I had been hoping to hear. The words that cleared my mind of anything that wasn't related to the Goddess before me. "Show me how much you missed me."