Disclaimer: I own nothing.

I just want to say all of your collective enthusiasm makes me so excited. I have already pre-written quite a bit, so the plot is sort of set, but I love your guesses and I do take them into account, so keep them coming.

EPOV

Bella's musical voice rang through me, instantly making me feel more at ease. Jake slowly turned around, he was suppressing his wolf nature that wanted to defend himself against Bella.

"Bella?" Jake sighed in relief, "I didn't expect you to seem so you, except for the creepy red eyes."

Bella chuckled lightly, "I'm still me, Jake. Although I can see what everyone's talking about, Jake. You really do stink."

I laughed as Jake scoffed and rolled his eyes.

He pulled Bella into an embrace. It was amazing to me how well controlled she was. Although I could hear from Jake's thoughts that she was holding him too tightly, but he didn't want to say anything, so I didn't either. They pulled away after a moment.

"You'll look after them, right, Jake? Make sure Charlie's okay?" I could hear the concern in Bella's melodic voice, this would be the hardest part for her, leaving her mourning parents behind.

"Don't worry, Bella. We'll look after him," Jake affirmed. He didn't like the idea of not seeing Bella anymore, I appreciated he didn't voice his opinion to her, I didn't want to make this any more challenging for her.

"We should head back before someone notices we're gone, Jacob." I didn't want to go play the role of grieving husband any longer, but it would be wrong to leave her parents like that. It didn't suppress the urge to stay here in Bella's presence.

"Go, Edward. I'll be waiting for you when you come back." Bella always knew just what to say.

"Promise?" I didn't hide the desperation in my voice. It was the same desperation I heard in Bella's voice when I promised her I wouldn't leave again after the Port Angeles incident. So much had changed since then, everything had changed since those first days.

"I promise, now go." Bella leaned in and kissed me lightly. She pulled away before I could pull her any closer. I could hear the slight envy in Jake's thoughts, but I chose to ignore it. Jacob and I slowly walked back to Charlie's house.

"You have to leave?" Jacob's voice broke the silence.

I nodded, "They believe she's gone, we can't risk someone seeing her."

"Why did she have to die?" The anger was building in his thoughts. 'How could you just watch everyone mourn her?'

I flinched at his words. "We don't have a choice, Jacob. There are rules even we cannot break, to do so would be to sentence Charlie and Renee to death." I paused. "And how would we explain that Bella just miraculously beat terminal cancer? People wouldn't just let that go, Jacob."

'Charlie and Renee thought they put her in the ground.' I could see flashes of Renee and Charlie's pained faces in Jacob's memory. I winced at the memory, I knew he was doing it on purpose, and even though I knew there hadn't been another alternative, I felt awful at the pain Renee and Charlie were being put through.

"There was nothing we could do, Bella made her choice. Do not make this more difficult for her, Jacob," I seethed. I suppressed the low growling building in my chest, it would not benefit anyone to get into a physical altercation with Jacob.

We didn't say anything else as we walked back to Charlie's house. Nobody had noticed our absence. I tried to maintain my composure, but the more people came up to me to offer condolences, the more they talked about her in the past tense, I felt my patience thinning.

I'd noticed Charlie had walked off a while ago, I could hear his heartbeat upstairs. I made my way through the gathering of people.

I noticed Bella's bedroom door opened slightly. I saw flickers of Charlie's quiet thoughts, quick flashes of memories of Bella, most of them when she was healthy, but a few from her early adolescence with a bald head. She looked terrible, but she maintained that positive front for everyone. The way only Bella did.

I saw him sitting on her bed, most of her possessions were gone, but all the furniture was still there. Her desk, the rocking chair, her bed, and a few of her items remained in the room. I could still smell her, almost feel her presence.

I knocked lightly to alert him to my presence, which he still hadn't noticed. He jumped ever so slightly. He turned his head slightly just enough to acknowledge my presence, but not to show his face. I could hear the light scent of salt, he had been crying. There were no more tears streaming down his face, so I assumed I could join him without overstepping.

"Sorry, I'll," he cleared his throat, "I'll be down in a minute."

I shook my head, "I actually came up here to get away as well, it's a bit overwhelming."

"Yeah, Renee enjoys being around people, but me…," his voice trailed off.

"Bella's gets that from you," I smiled fondly at the thought of her and her antisocial tendencies. We sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes.

"You don't talk about her in the past tense." Charlie's statement surprised me. Apparently Bella's perceptiveness was an inherited trait.

I shook my head, "It doesn't feel right," I took a deep breath. "She told me she'd be with me always, I'm holding her to that."

I knew it was a cliche, but Charlie just nodded like he knew exactly what I meant.

"We knew this was coming, I knew it would break my heart, but I'm just so mad at her," he laughed humorlessly, I was surprised to hear the slight tone of anger in his voice, it wasn't that it was an irrational response to grief, but Charlie had always been a passive person. I thought about his anger when Carlisle had told him that this was it for Bella, how he hadn't wanted to accept this fate.

The first time I had seen Bella lying in a hospital bed I had felt that same frustration and anger. When he walked into that hallway that last time after receiving that grave news, the choked sobs that came from him made me want to flinch, I didn't so as to not worry Bella. Now the sadness had turned into anger, some part of him wanted to believe that he would not outlive his only child, and like every parent's worst nightmare, he had. "I can't believe she'd leave us. It's not right, I know, but..." I could see the whites of his knuckles as he clutched Bella's comforter as he shook his head and sighed.

I wasn't sure what was the right thing to say, I just placed my hand on his shoulder, and sat next to him.

"I understand the feeling well. I had been very upset with her as well," I sighed. "The first time she was in the hospital. I begged her to try something, anything to survive. My father told me it wasn't a good idea, but I pleaded with her anyway. He told me to really look at her, that you could see that pain in her eyes. I looked at her, really looked and I saw it myself. She fought so hard, Charlie. She was just so tired," I felt the sob rising in my throat, grief apparent in my voice. My heart was aching, but my separation from Bella wasn't permanent, whereas Charlie's was.

I hoped my words made him feel better.

"She didn't want to leave us," I promised. Solace was what Bella had wanted to offer her parents, and I. I was unwilling to accept, I didn't want anything except Bella, but now I understood Bella's reasoning. At a time like this, solace and apologies was all that one could truly offer.

I saw the tears silently falling down his face again, maybe I had said the wrong thing and made him feel worse. He started nodding his head, "Thank you," his voice was muffled and tainted through the tears.

Renee and Esme came to find us not long after. They found us sitting on Bella's bed, in silence, staring at the purple walls of Bella's old bedroom. It was definitely an odd sight.

Neither I nor Charlie wanted people to come up here in Bella's room, so we returned downstairs.

As the evening finally came to a close, I was pretty sure I had seen every person who lived in this monotonous small town. The way they spoke about Bella proved they had no clue who Bella actually was. I felt the urge to tell people who Bella actually was as a person, that I was the person that she chose to love, how we both knew each other inside and out, to dispel all of these cliches that they spoke of.

It was more than irksome to watch as people claimed to have been good friends with Bella, speaking like they knew Bella, They knew nothing about her. She was an object of fascination to them, not a person, something to fixate their gossip on. The only thing that consoled me was that I did know Bella. She was mine as I was hers.

People gave their condolences to Charlie, Renee, and I one last time before they walked out the door. I wondered that if, after this, would any of them think of Bella again, or would she become some distant memory, perhaps a tragic tale of the perfect girl with only one fatal flaw.

Charlie slumped down in his recliner. I could see the toll the last week had taken on him. Renee took comfort in the groups of people. It was fascinating just how different her and Bella really were. Renee and Bella were complete opposites. I felt the slight tug of resentment towards Renee again for leaving Bella to pick up whatever slack Renee's off-beat personality caused, but I knew Bella loved her very much, and I could hear from Renee's very loud thoughts just how much she truly loved Bella.

I only needed to tie one last loose end. I needed to inform Charlie that I was leaving town. My family was staying behind for another year or so to avoid suspicion. My story was that I couldn't stand to hang around Forks anymore, that I couldn't bear the constant reminder of the memories that Bella and I had made. If Bella had died, this would have been entirely true. Bella would have haunted this small town with the memory of her. I was thankful that this was just a cover story. In reality, I would be taking Bella on a honeymoon that we weren't able to have before.

It was baffling to think that we were still newlyweds. We had been through so much together in such a short amount of time.

Soon it was just Renee, Charlie and I sitting in the living room.

Bella had told me Renee wasn't much of a planner, that she was sporadic in nature. This couldn't have been more evident in her loud thoughts. Her main focus was still Bella, but she kept inundating herself with menial topics and tasks to distract from the grief.

She thought about what they would do with the amount of food they had received, about how Phil, who had left to give us some privacy, was feeling, about Charlie, about me. Apparently my eulogy truly cemented just how much love I had for Bella. Of course, I loved her more than humanly possible, but Renee understood the best she could.

Her thoughts kept circling back to me, she had decided that I was going to be her distraction for now. It was helpful that I knew her questions before she asked them, I could formulate the best possible answers to appease her.

"Edward," Renee's voice broke through the silence, I raised my head. "What are you going to do now?"

"Umm..I'm not entirely sure, perhaps college in a year or so," I began to explain. I took a deep breath and started to tie up my final loose end, "I am going to London for a bit. Bella always wanted to go, so I'm going to go for her, she can live vicariously through me." I made sure to keep up my human tics while talking, this time I was fidgeting with my fingers, like Bella had done many times.

Renee recognized the tic in her thoughts, but did not vocalize it. "London? Don't you want to stay here with your family? And what about school?"

I knew Bella had told her that we had both tested out, but apparently she had forgotten. "I, um, tested out with Bella, so I don't need to stay here. And my family understands, Forks holds too many memories of us."

Renee nodded, she remembered how suffocating this town had been for herself. I could tell Charlie did not agree with my leaving, but he kept his opinion to himself. He did understand the solitude I was seeking. I would have to let my family know not to let him isolate himself too much.

Before I left, Renee tried to get me to take some of the food that they had been given, I politely declined. Bella didn't eat food anymore, so it would simply go to waste. I informed them I would be leaving first thing tomorrow morning, but my family would be there if they need anything at all. It felt slightly wrong to leave like that, but they understood.

Renee approached me to comfort me. It was strange and amusing and, honestly, a bit embarrassing to realize how much being near Bella had softened me. It seemed like no one was afraid of me any more.

If Emmett found out about this, that I was now apparently freely hugging humans, he would be laughing for the next century, but I embraced them one last time, and left.

I made my way back to the cottage where Bella would be waiting for me. I found her standing against the piano. It looked like she had been writing, but when I walked in she was watching the door waiting for me to return like she had promised.