BPOV

"Okay…why are we whispering?" I asked, mimicking the aforementioned whisper.

And so began my running commentary on The Lord of the Rings as we all settled in and pressed play on our respective ends of the video chat. I had to admit, the music was stellar and hauntingly beautiful, but the woman's voice was chilling, and to be honest, a little creepy.

…but they were all of them deceived, for another ring was made.

"Of course, there was. Why wouldn't there be?" I remarked and heard Jasper's chuckle in the background.

In the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doom, the Dark Lord Sauron forged, in secret, a Master Ring to control all others…

"There's always that one psycho, power-hungry control freak, right? What would a story be without one big, ultimate evil trying to destroy everything in existen…What in the actual fuck is that, and why does it look like it's nose had a bad run in with a stapler or something?" I exclaimed, only gasping more as each consecutive creature got progressively uglier.

Edward cleared his throat to disguise his laughter, and I tore my eyes away from the television long enough to shoot him a glare. "Those are orcs, love. And it's eventually explained why they look that way. Now, hush and just watch."

"You're the one that wanted commentary, so you hush," I retorted, popping a piece of popcorn into my mouth for effect, and then returned my attention to the screen.

I honestly thought it would be harder to focus on the story, since that kind of fantasy had never quite been my thing. Yet, the pacing through what was apparently thousands of years of history actually kept me engaged.

Then, we got to the "present".

I thought for sure I was annoying both of the guys as I remarked on the hobbits and how adorable they were, despite their nasty, furry feet, how illegal it should be for anyone to have eyes as beautiful as Frodo's, and how absolutely precious Sam was.

The instant Bilbo disappeared from sight, however, I was stunned into silence for several minutes, until my darling Sam was pulled through the window.

…that is I heard a good deal about a ring, and a Dark Lord, and something about the end of the world…

"Oh, that's all, Sam?" I chuckled, shaking my head. "Oh god, I love him."

"Just wait," Jasper said with a dramatic edge to his voice, and I glanced at the chat window to find Edward nodding in agreement.

"Oh, don't you jackasses tell me that I'm gonna end up hating Sam, because I will turn this movie off right the fuck now," I stated in a harsh whisper, remembering that there were young children somewhere nearby on the other end, and I had no idea how far my voice would carry through the house.

Edward rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I promise, you won't hate Sam."

"I better not," I grumbled under my breath as I adjusted my position on the couch to lay on my side, propping my head up on my hand.

After a while, it seemed that Edward and his brother were finding more entertainment in my reactions and comments than in the movie itself. To be fair, I found them a bit surprising as well, but the movie was nothing like I expected it to be. Gorgeous scenery, a perfect combination of story, action, and even a sprinkling of comedy here and there—"what about second breakfast?"—and a myriad of characters that, while a score card might be needed to keep track of them all, were nonetheless interesting.

Before I knew it, more than two hours had passed, and I was cursing at my screen. "How many freakin' times are they going to stab this one little hobbit? Damn! You can't kill the main character! Come on!"

Less than ten minutes later, though, I was screaming "No!" right along with Frodo, and tears were pooling in my eyes after Gandalf let go of the ledge.

"What the fuck! How do you kill off Gandalf? They need him! Shut up, you jerks," I ranted as I reached for the box of tissues I had on my end table, as the guys were not even attempting to hide their laughter that time. "I hate you both for doing this to me, and there's still more than an hour to go. I should stop this thing right now. Oh god, no, don't show me crying hobbits. That's not fair!"

I listened to them and kept watching, against my better judgement, and my commentary continued to amuse them.

…"Oh, was that some shade from the elf, Gimli? Burn! Gandalf told you that going through Moria was stupid!"

…"I'm with Aragorn here, dude. Men can't be trusted with the ring. That's already been proven."

…"Damn this music is fantastic. I really need this soundtrack immediately."

…"Shit shit shit, where's Frodo? Oh noooo, that's Boromir's shield!"

…"First Boromir, now you, Aragorn? Come on, you're supposed to be stronger than that. Don't do it! Oh shit, it's talking to you. No no no…oh thank god. Wait, what? How the hell are you going to protect him if he's off running? What…the…fuck…one dude can't take on all that! Is Aragorn going to bite it now, too?"

…"Every goddamned movie, Sean Bean? Are you serious?"

…"Sam, you clearly don't comprehend the meaning of the words 'going alone'. What are you doing? No, Sam! Not you, too! Don't you fucking drown!"

Tears were streaming down my face in a constant flow by that point, and my coffee table had a few balls of crumbled tissue scattered across it. I grabbed another one as Sam made his little speech about his promise after Frodo saved him, and grumbled at Edward and Jasper, who were surprisingly quiet at the moment. "It's a good thing I keep a box of these beside my couch at all times. You didn't warn me that there would be tears! I don't think there's been a more perfect character ever than Sam."

The two men silently nodded along but were clearly engrossed in what was happening on the screen for the time being. Before I knew it, the other three were off to find the other two hobbits, Frodo and Sam were headed to Mordor, and the credits were rolling.

"Excuse me, what? That's it? You can't just leave it there. That was not…are you kidding me? Nearly thirty minutes just for the credits? They could have fit a whole lot more movie in that time," I exclaimed, throwing my box of tissues across the room at the television.

"I'm under the impression that you liked it then?" Edward said, and my attention was drawn back to the iPad and his face. "I don't think I've ever heard you talk so much through any movie we've watched together."

I narrowed my eyes at him, attempting to compose myself and form an expression of nonchalance, unwilling to fully admit to anything of the sort—especially with the smug smile he was currently sporting. "It was okay, but you wanted commentary, so I was only obliging. However, I think I would agree with your sister-in-law. Your niece is way too young for that."

"Women!" I heard Jasper sigh exasperatedly, followed by another laugh and the sound of beer bottles clanging. "You loved it, admit it!"

I could feel my lips twitching with the urge to smile, and once I saw the crinkles deepening at the corners of Edward's eyes, I lost the battle. "Okay, yes, I did like it. It was a little slow at times, but it was not as boring as I thought it would be."

"Yes, she's been converted, Jasper!" Edward called out as he rose from the couch and began moving through the house. I couldn't quite make out his brother's responses to him or to my insistence that "converted" was not exactly the right term, so I assumed he was heading in the opposite direction.

My assumption was proven right when I heard a door open and close, causing the screen to go almost completely black. The sound of shuffling filled the speakers, and with a click, Edward was illuminated again by a table lamp, and his head was resting on a pillow with an arm bent beneath it.

"You can be honest. I won't force you to watch the other two if you don't truly want to. Truthfully, I didn't expect you to agree with watching one tonight. I was only teasing," he said softly, and I watched as my Edward fully reappeared.

Not that I minded the carefree and even slightly obnoxious persona he seemed to have with his brother; it just wasn't what I was accustomed to.

"Are you just trying to get out of your end of the agreement, mister?" I teased, coaxing a soft laugh and denial from him and watching as his exhaustion became more noticeable as he relaxed into the bed. "I'm glad we did this, though. It was fun, and I'll admit that I'm interested enough to want to at least watch the next one. That's as far as I'll go for now."

Edward's smile grew a little, quirking one corner of his mouth a little more than the other. "You're still welcome to grab the others from my shelf. I don't mind at all."

Shaking my head, I felt that sharp twist in my heart again. It was starting to make its presence known all too often for me lately, but there was nothing I could do about it. Yet, now that we didn't have an additional audience, I also didn't feel the need to keep up as much of a bravado anymore, either. "No, I can wait. I had fun, but it wasn't the same. I missed having you here."

I heard Edward's sigh, but as I'd already lowered my eyes, I didn't see his facial expression. The seconds of silence felt like hours, and I mentally scolded myself—making him feel guilty is not exactly giving him space to think, Bella. His next words halted time altogether for a moment, though. "I miss you, too, Bella. So much."

.

.

.

I thought the first two days of Edward being away was difficult, but I clearly hadn't taken into account how much that could increase just by indulging in that experience with him, even virtually. Hearing his laugh, seeing his smile, and then to top it all off, the sound of his voice as he spoke those words in barely above a whisper.

I miss you, too, Bella. So much.

My mind had been stirring for hours after I finally had to let him go so that he could sleep, while my day was still barely half over—damn time zones. If I'd ever had any doubts about my feelings about him before, they had completely evaporated now.

Edward was part of me. I didn't want to say that I could not live without him, but it definitely was a prospect that was wholly undesirable to me. Whatever the future held for me, I wanted him to be in it. My heart was his in a way it hadn't ever belonged to anyone else, and likely never would again. I loved him to the very core of my being.

Now, I could only hope that he felt even a fraction of that for me in return.

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EPOV

Despite my thorough level of exhaustion that had been present even before we sat down to watch the movie, and even with the struggle to stay awake while talking to Bella for a bit afterward, my sleep was fitful. I dreamed that I was back in Washington, sitting on Bella's couch with her in my arms, snuggled up to my side.

I could even smell her shampoo, wafting up from her hair as her head lay on my chest, and feel the warmth of her body against me. I noticed nothing else around us, but as she tilted her face up to look at me, and I was just about to meet her lips with mine, I woke with a start. She wasn't there, and I found myself far from where I wanted to be at that moment—alone in the cold, empty bed of my childhood bedroom.

Every time I closed my eyes over the next several hours, she was there, only to vanish again when they opened. By four a.m., I just resolved to stay awake and do exactly what I'd come all that way to do in the first place—think.

Yet why was I over-analyzing something that should really be quite simple? Bella meant the world to me, and I was happier when we were together than I could ever remember being in all eight years of my relationship with Chelsea.

I also couldn't deny that Jasper had been right the night before. As much as I loved and missed my family and England, the likelihood of my permanent return anytime in the near or distant future was slim to none. My home was now in Washington, and Bella was far more than my landlord, which was also becoming nothing more than a lame excuse.

She really was the best part of my life, and kissing her, while being the closest thing to heaven I thought I could ever experience, brought that realization to the forefront. Although I supposed I had loved Chelsea in some capacity, enough to spend eight years of my life with her, we never shared the level of closeness and companionship that was the core of my relationship with Bella. It had hurt when Chelsea and I had parted ways, yet even after nearly a decade together, it hadn't been as devastating as it probably should have been. My trust had been shattered by her far more than my heart ever was.

However, just the thought of Bella someday deciding that I was not what she truly wanted anymore hurt a thousand times worse, and we hadn't shared anything more physically intimate than that one kiss. Sure, the attraction between us was strong, but did we want the same things? In every other way, the age difference between us didn't matter one bit and rarely did I even think about it. Yet, there were certain times where it needed to be taken into account. Whereas I was already in my thirties, established in my career, and ready for the next stage of my life, was she? Halfway through her twenties, she was still finding her footing both within her profession and life as a whole, but did that necessarily mean that she wasn't ready for a substantial relationship?

"My God, man. You're still overthinking it all, aren't you?" Jasper asked when he entered the kitchen the next morning with Charlotte in his arms and Sophie trailing close behind.

"Overthinking what? And you, watch your language," my mother interjected, her eyes fixed directly on me after I'd muttered a vaguely profane response to my brother. She waved her spatula in the direction of the two girls and then turned back around to resume preparing breakfast.

Jasper grinned triumphantly at me, and I discreetly used my middle finger to rub my temple, causing him to laugh before turning to answer our mother. "Edward's friend over stateside. Seems there might be a little more than friendship going on there."

She glanced over her shoulder at me, her bright green eyes glinting and the lines around them deepening with her smile. "Is that right?"

"Mum," I responded with a sigh but was momentarily distracted by Sophie attempting to climb into my lap. Once I'd lifted her up, she wrapped her tiny arms around my neck and gave me a kiss on the cheek, and I blew a small raspberry on hers, her giggles filled the kitchen, and as she settled to sit on my leg, I kissed the top of her head. When I glanced up again, both my mother and brother looked identical with their matching expressions and smiles. "You're just as bad as he is, Mother."

"Is it really so horrible for me to want to see my baby happy and settled, maybe even with little ones of his own?" she asked almost wistfully, plating up the food and carrying it to the table, her gaze lingering on my niece seated on my lap.

"She has a point, Edward," Jasper commented, sliding Charlotte into her highchair. "You're not getting any younger, and I was already married and a dad by your age, nearly with another one on the way."

I rolled my eyes, exhaling heavily. "I'm hardly teetering on an expiration date, Jasper, but I also didn't have my soulmate practically attached to my hip at the age of ten, either."

Our mother shot a disapproving look toward Jasper and sat in the chair beside me, resting her hand on my arm. "We're not judging you, love. And I had a feeling there was more than friendly inclinations toward this young woman, just by the way you would talk about her when we spoke. You're both single, so there's nothing wrong with that. Is something else holding you back? Does she not feel the same?"

I closed my eyes to block out my brother's smirk and then rubbed my hand over my face roughly. "No, that's not it. I just needed some time to think and get my head together."

"Sometimes thinking too much causes more problems than it solves in the end," my mother said, taking hold of my hand and pulling it away from my face. "Things like this require a leap of faith, Edward. You can't let one bad experience cast a shadow over everything, and she sounds like a lovely girl from all you've told me about her."

Jasper started chuckling, and both of us shifted our gazes over to him, though mine was closer to a glare. He shook his head as he stood at the counter, preparing Charlotte's cereal, as she beat her tiny hands on the tray of the highchair and bounced excitedly. "What? I'm not disagreeing. On the contrary, I actually liked her a lot. She's cute and funny, and sure doesn't take any of your…stuff."

"Why would Bella take your stuff? That's not very nice," Sophie chimed in, unconsciously bringing some much-needed levity to the moment in response to her father attempting to edit himself in front of the kids. We needed to take a moment to restrain our chuckles, which only confused her more.

"Figure of speech, sweetheart. Bella doesn't take any of my stuff," I replied, kissing her temple as that seemed to satisfy her and she resumed eating the scrambled eggs her grandmother had made for her. Then, I turned my attention back to my mother and brother. "Jasper, we talked about this last night. You know my reasons."

"And I also know that nearly every one of them is a line of bollocks," Jasper replied, only mouthing the last word while our mother surprisingly remained quiet and just listened. "When you actually let yourself just be in the moment without dissecting absolutely everything, you were the happiest I have ever seen you. Yeah, good friends can be like that, too, and if that was all either of you wanted, that would be fine. But it's not, and you know it. It was as clear to see with her last night as it is with you right this second."

I heard Mum sigh softly beside me and turned my head to look at her, and her eyes held an expression I couldn't define. "Darling, we can't tell you what to do. This is a decision that only the two of you can make. Any relationship carries its share of risks, and I know how much you value Bella's friendship. Your father and I struggled with the same uncertainty after ten years of a very close friendship before we decided to take things any further with one another. If this woman makes you happy, and she cares for you as much as you obviously care for her, that seems like a chance that could be worth taking."

Jasper settled into the chair in front of Charlotte with a clear "I told you so" look in his eye before turning his attention to feeding his daughter.

"Done!" Sophie announced, dropping her fork into the bowl and throwing her hands in the air, narrowly missing the side of my face, and then looked up at me. "Harry Potter now, please."

"Sophie, let Uncle Edward finish his own breakfast while you go wake up Mummy," Jasper reprimanded but finished his statement sharing a smirk with her. Within a minute of Sophie sliding off my lap and making her way upstairs, he began counting down. "In three, two…"

"Jasper William Henry Cullen!" Alice's voice echoed through the ceiling, and we all began chuckling.

"All four names this time. Must have been quite an evening out," Jasper chortled without a hint of regret until our father walked in, rubbing his ear and glaring at Jasper. "Sorry, Dad."

My mother ran a gentle hand over my hair as she rose to greet Dad and fix him a plate. I quietly watched them as I began eating my own breakfast, marveling at the love that still radiated between them after nearly thirty-five years of marriage. They'd always told us while growing up that being friends for so long beforehand was what they attributed the success of their relationship to.

The foundation was already laid, and we only needed to build on what was there, they'd say, and that much showed. My mother didn't take care of my father because it was expected of her as a wife; she truly wanted to and enjoyed it. And he never took it for granted, still thanking her with a kiss on the cheek, just as he had when we were kids.

The same went for Alice and Jasper, despite her current displeasure with him as she entered the kitchen with Sophie in tow. He lifted off the chair in between bites for Charlotte to peck her lips with his, and though she put up a good fight to stay mad at him, we all caught the tiny smile on her face as she went about making her tea.

Each of them had taken the same risks I was now agonizing over and come out the better for it. Perhaps I really was just thinking too much, and as much as I wanted to deny it and hated myself for it, letting what happened with Chelsea cloud my judgement more than I thought when it came to Bella. Denying myself, and her, of something that had the potential of being just as wonderful as what was filling the room around me. The concerns about losing Bella as a friend seemed a bit farfetched, when I thought about it, given how she was still there without fail, even after I'd been a moody asshole.

All throughout the time I spent with Sophie watching that Harry Potter movie—which I would admit wasn't half bad—and the subsequent hour and a half she spent fast asleep on my lap, my thoughts were never far from Bella. She and I needed to talk, and I had barely started my two-week stay with my family. I didn't want to cut that time short, unsure of when I'd be able to come back for another visit, but it was definitely going to make the time move a little slower.

Then, around five that evening, as if she somehow knew I was thinking about her, I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I looked to find a text from Bella.

This is entirely your fault and I may never forgive you for this.

I was momentarily confused, hoping that maybe she had mistakenly texted me with a message intended for someone else. Then an image popped up, and I barked out a laugh, drawing the attention of everyone in the room, but I only turned my phone toward Jasper, and he joined in. It was a photo of a shrink-wrapped, extended edition set of the Lord of the Rings movies.

You could have just borrowed mine if you were that anxious. But I thought you were going to wait?

It left me hanging! 11 days is a long time to wait, Edward!

I sighed as I read her text. Tell me about it, I thought.