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EPOV

"…still sleeping…"

Voices and incoherent words began to penetrate my subconscious, pulling me out of my sleep.

"wake him up…late…I know…"

I was sucked back into the unconscious world.

My dreams last night were filled with her. Only fleeting moments.

Of her tears, over missed moments.

Her smiles. In a white dress.

Her laughter, carrying boxes into an empty home.

The feel of her skin on mine.

I slowly came back to consciousness, and I felt a dull ache begin to form in my skull.

I reached next to me, hoping I would feel her body next to me, so I could pull her to me for a repeat of last night.

But there was nothing there.

I should have been prepared. I was expecting it to happen. I was well aware of the impending return. I knew I would have to go back to my old life. I had wanted to go back to my old life. But that was before her.

I didn't want to return to my lonely life that didn't consist of her warmth and her touch and her unconditional love. I didn't want to leave her after getting a taste of what I would eventually have. Of the happiness that made me realize how unhappy I truly was. I had expected more time, not a tease.

But as I opened my eyes and saw my vaguely familiar apartment ceiling staring back at me, I knew my time was up.

No.

I shot up out of bed quickly and scrambled to the door.

I immediately grabbed my head as the pounding behind my eyes came at full force.

"Fuck." I mumbled, opening the door.

"Fuck indeed," I heard a familiar voice and looked up to see Carlisle at my kitchen table with a cup of coffee in his hand.

I was frozen in my spot. I stared at him, and he stared right back at me. I opened my mouth and closed it. He tilted his head and furrowed his eyebrows.

"Are you…you? Or the other you?" I whispered.

"What?"

"What are you doing here?" I snapped.

Carlisle frowned, looking incredibly confused. "I slept here last night," he chuckled awkwardly.

I couldn't comprehend what was going on.

Last night?

I rushed to my refrigerator where my dry erase calendar lay and I looked at the year. 2012.

June 14th.

That meant last night was their anniversary.

"Did somebody put something in your drink last night?"

I turned to him and he had his eyebrows raised.

"Edward, what's wrong?"

I couldn't speak. The lump in my throat was too big. Just the night before…wherever I had been…I had accepted that he was gone. And here he was.

In my kitchen.

Alive.

I slowly walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him.

"I love you, Dad," I mumbled into his shirt.

"I love you, too, Edward," he replied, patting my back. I pulled away and looked him in the eye.

"Please don't ever die."

Suddenly, his expression changed from confused to guilty to neutral. I wouldn't have seen it had I not been looking for it.

He knew.

He knew and he didn't fucking tell me.

He tried to cover it with a smile. "We can't really control that, now can we?"

I sighed and sat down at the table with him. I stared at the table for a moment, remembering the strange dream within a dream in which Bella and I had had sex. And then I frowned because she wasn't a part of my life.

Because what I had experienced was only a glimpse of some strange situation that I had hoped to be a dream. The despair of that thought began to crush me along with the fact that my father was sitting in front of me, denying his mortality. And I clenched my fists as the rage over this unfair situation began to overtake me. I breathed in slowly, trying to fight it down. The lump returned to my throat and I felt my eyes water.

Life was really fucking unfair.

I shook my head.

"I had a dream last night about you," I spoke quietly. "You…died…Well, you were dead and you came back and told me things. That I wasn't happy and you were worried about me."

I sucked in a breath. "It was awful. So I…I need you around. And not to die."

"Edward, you don't need me around. You're doing great on your own. You're a good man," he smiled. My head snapped up at those familiar words. Did he have any idea? "And besides, I'm not going anywhere."

My eyes focused in on his and I could see it plain as day…the secret he needed to keep.

Fuck.

"Actually, I do need you to follow me back to the house. Alice somehow got back there. Your mother has been calling me nonstop, and I didn't want to wake you or Emmett up, knowing you'd probably not be happy with me," he chuckled.

"Emmett's here?" Carlisle nodded to the couch and my eyes followed his. Sure enough, Emmett was passed out, half naked on my couch. I walked over and shook him until he woke up.

"Get dressed. We're going to the bar."

"Fuckin' sweet," he responded in a raspy voice. "Round 2."

"It's—" I glanced at the clock to see it was already 2PM, "oh shit, it's actually pretty late. But, no, we're not going to get drunk. We're going to get our cars, dumb ass."

"Aw man…but I want to meet some chicks."

"No," I snapped. "You have Ros-" I stopped myself. He didn't have Rosalie. I didn't have Bella. She was…a dream. I thought back to my dreams from last night. I frowned. They were…unfamiliar. I hadn't experienced Bella moving into a new place. Or in a white dress. My eyes widened in realization.

These dreams weren't from that strange experience I had, but rather, they were glimpses of memories that I should have had when I was with her, but God or fate or whoever it may be, was laughing at the irony of it all. I had those…but I didn't have her.

"I have a rose?" he sat up, looking around. His hair was all over the place and his eyes were bloodshot. Bella would easily make fun of him. I smirked.

And then I berated myself internally because well, I didn't even know if she was real or not. And even if she was real, I hadn't met her. She had to exist though. It felt so real.

When would I meet her if she did exist? Did she ever give me a clue?

"Don't worry, Esme…I would have been right there with you had I met Edward a few days earlier. We would have been puke buddies."

My heart soared.

I was going to meet my girl.


-Bravery