Like any great love, it keeps you guessing

Like any real love, it's ever-changing

Like any true love, it drives you crazy

But you know you wouldn't change anything

~ Taylor Swift, Welcome to New York

BPOV

"Oh, my God!" I shrieked, unfortunately freezing in place with my eyes frozen on the television for an extra twenty seconds before I was able to turn around.

It was supposed to be a relaxing evening. Dinner at Carlisle and Esme's home as we dropped Masen and Lucy off to spend the week with them while we were in New York. Alice and Jasper were coming, too.

It was an evening I probably would have dreaded six months ago, but my social skills had been improving. At least around Edward's family. All social skills go down the drain when you walk in a room and see a woman screaming through giving birth on the television, though.

I turned my back as quickly as my brain allowed, burying my head in the scrapbook I had been carrying, Edward's eighteenth that I had brought to return to Esme. I opened and closed my eyes half a dozen times, hoping to erase the very graphic images now engrained in my memory.

The screaming stopped, mine and the woman's in the video.

"Is it gone?" I gasped, my eyes peaking over at Edward beside me.

I couldn't get a handle on his tone, panic still coursing through my veins, when he said, "Yes."

I turned around hesitantly, my eyes immediately going to the now black screen. Alice and Esme sat across from it. Esme looked perfectly fine, sitting with her legs crossed and a gentle smile on her face. Alice probably mirrored my own expression of blatant horror.

"What was that?" I asked, knowing all too well what it was.

"My friends' birthing video," Alice said softly. "I thought maybe watching it with Mom wouldn't be as scary."

I snorted, Alice giving me a nod. There was absolutely nothing you could do to make that less scary.

"They never showed you anything like that in school?" Edward asked, leading me over to the couch across from Alice and Esme.

I sat down, still in a bit of a horrified haze, and looked at him like he had two heads. "No. They show that in school?"

"I saw some things in a video in high school. Not… that… though," Alice mumbled.

"I had the gym teacher that gave the whole 'you have sex you die' speech," I gasped. "And, I mean," I groaned, motioning toward the television. "She was kind of right."

It wasn't something I had given much thought to before Edward and all of his not-so-subtle hints about wanting more children. But, the more I thought about it the more terrifying the whole process seemed to be. Ending up with a new little human being that you had to raise and take care of and keep safe for its entire life was stressful enough. Having to get the little thing out of you on top of that was asking a bit much in my opinion.

Edward pulled my hand away from the scrapbook, having to nearly pry my fingers free. "I don't think it's as… bad as the video makes it out to be."

My head snapped in his direction. "Then, you do it."

I watched him press his lips together in defeat. He could be calm and comforting about the whole thing all he wanted, but he was never going to have to push a human being out of his body.

He pressed his lips to my temple, mumbling something about a drink before heading toward the kitchen.

I felt a little guilty for snapping at him, but it disappeared rather quickly when the twenty seconds of what could have been a days long labor I had just seen popped back in my head.

I watched Esme pull Alice over to the couch I was on, sitting her down right next to me before she sat on the coffee table opposite of us and grabbed each of our hands.

"Childbirth sucks," she said bluntly.

I frowned. It wasn't the encouraging pep talk I had assumed was coming. I looked over at Alice, who looked just as confused as I felt.

"Childbirth sucks, but it's worth it. No, it's not fair that your husband will sit in the corner with a grin on his face the whole time while you're screaming in pain. But, in his defense, he's just excited to meet the little piece of you both."

When she realized neither Alice nor I were convinced, she kept going.

"I've done a lot of amazing things in my life. Been all over the world, won awards, met the most interesting people… but none of it compares to being a mother. Besides, they've got some amazing drugs these days."

"We're here!" Lucy's voice echoed from the foyer.

Esme gave my hand a final squeeze before she got up to go fine Lucy and Masen.

"I could be pregnant," Alice whispered, elaborating when my wide eyes met hers. "I don't know anything. We've just been trying, you know? So, theoretically, I could be doing that in nine months."

I let out a deep breath, thinking about how tiny Alice was and how not tiny the thing I saw coming out of that woman was.

"I've never been so happy to have cramps," I sighed, welcoming the dull ache in my lower abdomen.

"Lucky bitch," Alice groaned

The dinner was a blur. I couldn't remember the food or the conversation by the time Edward and I left. Thankfully, Masen and Lucy were both talkative enough for the whole table, each just as excited as their sibling about their last few days of junior year.

After changing into a pair of comfortable cotton shorts and a worn-out college t-shirt, I sat on the couch in Edward's bedroom as he got ready for bed. My routine was usually to sit here with Lady, her head in my lap for a few quiet moments before going to bed. She was spending the week with Rosalie, though, so I was all alone tonight.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Edward asked softly, gracefully sitting down on the couch beside me. He angled his body toward me, arm on the couch behind me.

"About what?"

I deserved the incredulous eyeroll I got.

"We don't need to have kids if you don't want to," he said gently. There was a hardness in his eyes though, a sadness that told me he did want more kids.

"It's not that I don't want to," I clarified. I was quiet for a minute or two, trying to organize my thoughts.

"I went to the doctor a few weeks ago, you know? And I asked her about my odds of getting pregnant naturally. I don't really know why. It just kind of popped out. But, she gave me all of these brochures and suggested supplements I could take and all of these things that made everything very real and very scary."

Edward cocked his head to the side. "Scary?"

My teeth sunk into my bottom lip. "I have no idea what it means to be a good parent," I admitted. "I have no idea how it works or what to do and I don't want to bring someone into the world only for them to have to spend five-hundred-dollars a week on therapy because they end up just as fucked as I am."

"Hey," he snapped, surprisingly frustrated. Warm fingers curled around my chin, bringing my attention up to him. "There's nothing wrong with you. There's nothing wrong with going to therapy. Hell, most people probably need it in one way or another."

"Not everyone needs a trained trauma specialist," I mumbled.

"No, but that's not your fault."

I sighed, not really wanting to go down that road anymore.

Edward's hand left my chin, curling around my cheek. "You'd make the most amazing mother, Bella. You're kind and compassionate and protective. You made a list of thirty questions about Masen and Lucy before being alone with them for the first time, and they can pretty much take care of themselves by this point."

A small smile tugged at my lips. In retrospect, none of my questions from that list were really necessary.

"I know everything about our relationship has been fast, but it doesn't have to be. If we decide we want kids, it doesn't have to be right now. It can be in a year or three or whenever we're ready."

His choice of words surprised me. "You're not ready, either?"

Edward let out small laugh. "God, no. Masen and Lucy are finally about to graduate, and I wouldn't mind a few years of you all to myself."

I breathed out a sigh of relief. He was right. Everything about us was fast. And, up until this point, I was okay with it. Happy with it, really. Because I wanted nothing more than to move in with him and marry him. I knew the next step was a baby, and I might have been subconsciously freaking out about it. While I wanted one a little more each day, the idea still scared me. Just about as much as the actual childbirth part of the deal.

"I'm still not wild about the whole childbirth part," I mumbled. Maybe it was stupid, but I felt like more women should be upset about the whole thing.

"I wouldn't be, either."

…Closure…

I should have known it was a trick as soon as we walked into Bergdorf Goodman of all places. After Edward ushered me into a waiting car at the airport, he said he needed to find an end-of-the-school-year gift for Lucy and I happily agreed to help him. Apparently, he'd already gotten Masen a car. My eyes must have about bulged out of my head when he told me that, because he quickly explained it was a car to fix up and tinker with. The car was currently mostly scrap metal at this point.

I had been happy to help find Lucy a present. If there was anywhere you could find something a teenage girl would like, it was walking down Fifth Avenue in New York City. We ended up in the perfume section of the store, where every bottle looked too expensive to even think about touching.

The man behind the counter was kind and patient, though. Which I knew was because he knew the man wandering around behind me wouldn't hesitate to spend two-hundred-dollars on a bottle of perfume.

Once I settled on a perfume that didn't make my nose curl up, he sprayed a bit on my wrist.

"This one is nice," I told Edward. I held my wrist out to him as he walked over, smiling when he pressed a soft kiss to the center of it before nodding.

"We'll take a bottle," Edward said to the salesman, who quickly got a bag ready and eagerly slid Edward's credit card.

"Anything else you need?" I asked Edward as I took the bag with a smile from the man behind the counter.

"I think maybe she'd like jewelry. Tiffany's is down the street."

"To go with the perfume?"

Edward shook his head, holding the door open for me. "The perfume is yours."

I stopped in the doorway, frowning at him. "You tricked me into picking myself out a bottle of perfume?"

Edward shrugged, not a wrinkle of worry or guilt on his face as he wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me down the busy street. "You would never walk into a store and ask me to buy you anything, let alone a two-hundred-dollar bottle of perfume. I had to get creative."

I wanted to argue, because I was a little annoyed at the trick, but he looked awfully proud of himself. And I was starting to realize I had to quickly get used to the whole gift giving thing.

We made it into Tiffany's fairly quickly. It was a Saturday afternoon, so the store was on the busy side. Still, a woman approached us immediately and asked what we were looking for.

Edward's ability to pick out a bracelet for Lucy in a matter of ten minutes told me he didn't need my help choosing a gift for her at all. I stayed by his side as he looked, careful not to let my own eyes fall to the sparkling diamonds in the case in front of us so he didn't get any ideas. It was useless, though, because as soon as they had Lucy's bracelet boxed up he turned to me.

"You can pick it out, or I can."

"Edward," I sighed. "You don't – "

"I know. Humor me, please?"

There was something in his eyes, a reason behind the sudden need to spend obscene amounts of money on me. A jewelry store was hardly the place to get into that, though. So, I left the store with a beautiful platinum necklace with a diamond studded vine hanging at the center of it.

Thankfully, after Tiffany's he decided on dinner. I was hoping that meant the shopping portion of our day was over. We ended up sitting on the patio of a casual little restaurant. I wasn't exactly dressed for a five-star dining in my off-the-shoulder sundress.

After the waiter left with our order and poured us both glasses of wine, I decided I had waited long enough.

"What's with the shopping spree?" I asked, eying him over the rim of my wine glass.

He seemed suddenly melancholy, especially after his playful afternoon. "The last time we were here, I couldn't even hold your hand outside of the hotel room. It… it never should have been like that."

I sat back in my chair, my head falling to the side as I looked at him. "You didn't know it was going to be anything more than an affair at the time."

"I knew you were too good to be kept a secret."

Butterflies fluttered around my stomach at the look on his face.

"Well, everything turned out okay in the end, so you don't need to buy me anything else for a while."

Finally, a smile tugged at the edge of his lips. "The perfume was just a coincidence. After my reaction to smelling it on you, I couldn't very well get it for my daughter."

I smiled over at him, taking a sip of my drink and hoping my wine glass hid the blush that crept up my cheeks.

…Closure…

I woke up very thoroughly intertwined with Edward, trapped beneath half of his body with a heavy arm tossed over my abdomen. I kept my eyes closed, enjoying the last few moments of rest before they drifted away. There was a familiar ache between my thighs when I stretched, as much as I could given my current entrapment.

After giving in and opening my eyes, I smiled over at the source of my soreness. Edward was still fast asleep, a quiet snore escaping him with every breath. As gently as I could, I pressed my palm into the growing scruff covering his cheek, running the tips of my fingers across his features; down the bridge of his nose, across his lips, wherever I could reach.

It took me a good five minutes to disentangle myself from him when my bladder decided staying in bed wasn't an option. Once I no longer felt like I was going to burst, I pulled on a clean pair of underwear and grabbed Edward's discarded black t-shirt from last night.

I left the bedroom quietly, gently closing the door behind me so I didn't wake Edward up, and went in search of a drink and some Tylenol. I must have had tunnel vision, heading straight to the small kitchen area and grabbing a water bottle out of the fridge. Because as I was swallowing the two pills I had grabbed from my bag on my way by, my eyes widened at the mess Edward and I had left behind in the suite. I had vague memories of how some of the destruction happened, others were a complete mystery to me.

There was a small table right beside the door that I remembered hearing fall as Edward ushered me in the room, backing me up against the wall and apparently not caring what furniture was in his way. The pillows on the couch had gotten in Edward's way at one point, and based on the aftermath he must have thrown it right into a now broken lamp lying on the floor next to it. There was a chair on its side and half a dozen other obvious disturbances to the once pristine furniture in the room that I had absolutely no memory of.

I took another gulp of water before attempting to fix what I could. I put the small table back in its place. I fixed the couch cushions and attempted to make the broken lamp at least look presentable back on its table. I found my dress crumpled in a ball and tripped over four shoes all scattered randomly around the floor.

"Oh, no," I mumbled to myself as I saw a small, broken statue in pieces on the ground. It was mostly in larger chunks, so I picked them up and attempted to piece them all together. It was an odd, ugly, but probably ungodly expensive statue of a bull that we'd have to pay for no matter how hard I tried to piece it back together, so I gave up and set all the pieces down where it once stood.

"Why aren't you in bed?" Edward's voice made me jump. I turned in the direction of the bedroom and saw him leaning against the doorframe.

"I had to pee."

"Bathroom is that way," Edward said, cheesy smile on his face as he pointed behind him.

I rolled my eyes. "Then I needed water. Then I realized we made a big fucking mess."

Edward shrugged. "It's only a little worse than last time."

I frowned at him. "There was no mess last time."

Edward walked over and grabbed one of the pieces of broken statue in front of me. "Your purse broke an equally obnoxious statue like this last year. I cleaned it up before you woke up."

My eyes widened, absolutely no memory of the first broken statue. "We're really doing them a favor because it is hideous."

"Hideous, but also worth about five grand."

I gasped, my eyes widening. "Oh, no. Maybe we can get some glue and try to salvage it?"

Even as I asked the question, I knew there was no saving the ugly little statue.

"Or we could just tell them to clear the room of any unnecessary furniture when we're here. It really just gets in the way."

My cheeks burned with memories from the night before. I wasn't sure what had gotten into me, whether it was just being away from real life with Edward or the constant sense of déjà vu that followed me through this hotel. It was the same place, the same room, we stayed in last year.

Everything was nearly the same, but completely different at the same time. By the time we had stumbled through the door last night, I had been blinded by a familiar, all-consuming need for him.

It was the exact same feeling that had me awkwardly stumble into the room after him last year, but it was unfamiliar and confusing then. Now, that same desire had grown and branched off to wanting him in a hundred other ways; I wanted to talk to him every day and attempt to cook him dinner and celebrate his birthday and fall asleep next to him every night. And, still, a year later, after all of the leaks and scandals and assumptions that our relationship would fizzle out, that innate need for his hands on my skin had only grown stronger.

Which, apparently, led to us trashing a presidential suite and breaking a five-thousand-dollar statue.

"Come back to bed," Edward sighed, grabbing my hand and pulling me away from the mess. "It's too early for this."

"It's ten," I argued, but happily followed behind him.

"On a Sunday. When we have nowhere to be until tomorrow morning."

I rolled my eyes at the state of the bedroom. I had either been too tired or too focused on getting out without waking Edward up to notice it was in an equal state of disarray. Tables were obviously shoved aside, pillows scattered the floor, random articles of clothing floated about.

I shook my head, crawling back into bed and ignoring the mess.

…Closure…

"You're much more fun to be around than any of his other girlfriends," Sam said, a slightly lopsided drunken smile on his face.

It was Tuesday night, a few days into our trip. Sam and Seth had invited us both to dinner, taking advantage of Edward's free time before his nights got later and later the closer we got to Saturday.

I liked Sam and Seth more each time I saw them. They were nearly polar opposites; Sam being loud and outspoken and very obviously gay while Seth was on the quiet side, more subdued and introverted. But, still, they were brothers and somehow still obviously similar at the same time. They had the same mannerisms, both had a slightly crude but still enjoyable sense of humor, and they were both fiercely loyal friends to Edward.

I frowned, wondering if he was assuming the women he had been with after separating from Irina were girlfriends. Then a ball of doubt settled in my stomach that maybe my assumption that those were all flings was wrong and they were girlfriends.

"Oh, yes. He was quite the ladies' man from the ages of thirteen to seventeen," Seth chuckled.

I relaxed immediately. My interest still piqued, though. "Who were his other girlfriends?"

"We don't need to go down that road," Edward said with a shake of his head. He took a swig of his beer, his free hand hanging across the back of my chair.

Dinner had ended at least an hour ago, all of us nursing drinks as the conversation flowed. I would have felt bad, taking up the table of the server who was probably hoping to get more people in and out for the night, if I didn't know Edward would leave a more than generous tip for her.

"You know all of my dating history," I countered, frowning up at him.

Edward's brows furrowed, confusion covering his face. "You don't have any."

I shrugged. "You know it all, though." I turned back toward Sam and Seth. "Go on."

"Let's see," Sam mused. "There was Melissa Ayers. I think that was your first 'official' girlfriend in middle school. I had world history with her and she had Melissa Cullen scribbled on the back of every notebook she had."

I pressed my lips together to keep from chuckling.

"Then there was Penelope Walters after her I think. She was much less dramatic than Melissa, which was a nice reprieve."

Seth scoffed. "Less dramatic? She showed up to every baseball came in a bedazzled Cullen uniform."

I couldn't stop my snort if I had tried. I did usually hate any mention or memory of the fact that Edward had years and years of history with women before me, as stupid and possessive as it was. It was hard to find anything to be mad about with these stories, though.

After finding that scrapbook in his garage, I had decided I didn't know enough about him. I knew him now, but I didn't know what he was like as a teenager or even a young adult. I didn't even know he played baseball.

"You played baseball?"

Edward smiled down at me. "I did. Middle school and high school."

I smiled to myself, adding that to my list of new information before turning back to Sam and Seth. "Who else was there?"

They listed off a few other names, relationships that evidently didn't last very long, until they got to Irina. I knew the story from there. It wasn't long after that when we decided to finally leave the restaurant, Edward dropping a couple hundred-dollar bills on the table as we left.

We ended up in Seth's gallery. It was a huge space, especially considering we were in the heart of New York City, but after seeing the sold signs on a couple of pieces, alongside the prices they went for, it was easy to see how he could afford the place.

I let Edward and his friends catch up and wandered around on my own. It came across as your typical art gallery, big white walls with podiums and frames hanging about. It didn't seem quite as intimidating as other studios, though. Maybe that was just because there was no one else here.

I ended up in front of one of the smaller paintings. It was a group of three, all obviously connected but they could be hung separately at the same time. One was dark, like a sky right before a thunderstorm, the kind that left trees uprooted and homes destroyed. Beside that was a grayish blue piece, one that, to me, seemed like the storm finally disintegrating but still leaving a flood of rain in its wake. The last one was warmer than the other two, like the sun finally breaking through the clouds.

"Do you like these?" Seth's voice was quiet, but still startled me.

"I do," I nodded. "But, I know nothing about art. I actually had to drop out of an art class in high school because it was bringing down my GPA."

Seth chuckled. "Anyone who says they know everything about art is an elitist snob. Art is whatever you want it to be. I'm sure whatever you did in your class was better than you think."

I shook my head vehemently. I couldn't even draw a straight line. "It wasn't."

"Do you want these?" Seth asked, gesturing to the trio of paintings I had been looking at. "I was going to tell Edward to pick something out for the new house."

Edward's arm wrapped around my waist as he came up beside me. "They would look good in your office."

A smile tugged at my lips. I had my own little office at our new house. It was painted a pale blue last week, and these would be perfect behind my desk. "Thanks."

Not long after watching Seth put a Sold sticker next to my new artwork, Edward and I were in the back of as SUV on our way back to the hotel. My head rested on his shoulder, eyes closed as I was drifted off into that calm place right before unconsciousness hit you. The final painting in Seth's trio flashing behind my eyelids as I felt Edward's hand squeeze my shoulder.

…Closure…

By Thursday afternoon I was used to our schedule. Edward had moved on from the writing phase of the week to the rehearsal, so I spent most of my day in his dressing room with my computer in my lap working. I was mostly here to make sure no one put him in a skit that would cause him trouble later, and anyone who was changing things around knew where to find me.

My head perked up as the door opened, Edward walking in quickly. He leaned against the wall opposite of me, downing half of a water bottle in a single gulp.

"I'll be done in a couple hours if you want to head back early."

I frowned, my head popping up from my computer screen. "What?"

"You've been cooped up in here all day. You could head back to the hotel, put on that red dress that I've fantasized about since I saw you hang it up, and I'll take you out to dinner when I'm finished."

My frown deepened. "Are you trying to get rid of me so you can do something stupid?"

Edward chortled. "No. I'm trying to take you out to a nice dinner."

"All we've done is go to nice dinners since we got here."

"We're in New York City with no children. We need to take advantage of it while we can," he shrugged.

It made sense, I supposed, taking advantage of the city and alone time while we could. Masen and Lucy would be on summer break by the time we got back to Los Angeles, and we were moving into the new house officially next weekend. I wasn't sure how summers worked for them, if they were homebodies or if they would be in and out constantly. Either way, Edward was probably right about enjoying our alone time while we had it.

"You're sure you'll be okay?" I asked, carefully closing my computer and putting it in my bag.

"I think I can handle myself for a couple hours, yes," he smiled, grabbing my bag from me. "I'll walk you to the car."

I hopped into the waiting SUV that had been driving us around the city since we got here. Edward set my bag in carefully beside me, leaning in to press a kiss to my cheek.

"I was serious about the red dress."

"Oh, I know."

I had seen him eying it every time he walked past the closet. Rosalie made me buy it a few weeks ago, despite my protests that I didn't have anywhere to wear it. It was the color of merlot with a handkerchief skirt that flowed down to my ankles. There was a simple, deep v neckline and thin straps that met in the back. A beautiful dress, but I didn't need it.

Edward apparently approved, though.

Once I made it back to the hotel, I pulled out my phone to call Rosalie on my way through the lobby. She was watching Lady for me while we were gone, and I hadn't gotten my afternoon update. I missed her fuzzy little head and the way she followed me around the house and even the way she tried to steal just about anything to get my attention.

As I put my phone up to my ear, I heard another phone start ringing across the lobby. On instinct I looked toward the sound, shrugging when it got lost in the bustle of the crowd.

I grumbled to myself after Rosalie didn't answer, but I got a text just a few seconds later.

With a client. When did you turn into a crazy dog mom? She's perfectly fine.

I couldn't even be mad at her, because I had turned into a bit of a crazy dog person. She was so cute though, so the growing pile of toys in her little corner of Edward's bedroom was unavoidable. So was my constant need to call Rosalie and make sure she was okay.

Once I got back to our suite, I decided to do exactly as Edward said and take advantage of the city and our freedom. I showered and shaved, slathered my face in a mask that was supposed to work some kind of miracle on my skin, and spent a little too much time making sure my hair curled just right. I was straightening my new diamond studded vine on my chest as Edward walked in.

I stopped in my tracks, taking an embarrassingly long time to look him over. It wasn't a rarity for me to see him in a suit, he wore one five nights a week for his show, but this one was different somehow. Maybe it fit him better or maybe the lines were straighter or maybe it was just more expensive than the Tonight Show budget allotted for his typical wardrobe. Whatever it was, the crisp black suit with the matching black button down had my stomach in knots.

"You look very handsome," I breathed out, once my brain could form words again. I walked over to him, my fingers straightening his already perfect lapels.

"You look…" he started, shaking his head as his hands came to rest carefully on my hips. "So fucking beautiful it hurts."

A small smile tugged at the corner of my mouth, only for a second before it fell. My hand cupped his very freshly shaven cheek. "Your scruff is gone."

Edward shrugged. "I'd have to shave it in a few days anyway. Are you ready to go?"

I nodded, taking Edward's outstretched arm and following him out the door.

It was another evening full of déjà vu. I felt it immediately walking into the familiar Italian restaurant, and I was about ninety percent sure that we were even at the exact same table we were that first night in New York.

"This is familiar," I mumbled, sitting across from Edward as a waiter poured two glasses of wine. I waited until he was gone before saying, "At least I didn't get ID'd this time."

Edward chuckled, shaking his head and then staring at me with a surprisingly intense gaze. Without breaking eye contact, he held his wine glass up to me in a toast.

"To one hell of a year," he said softly.

I smiled, clinking my glass with his.

…Closure…

Edward wasn't one to fidget. I rarely saw any kind of nerves or anxiety come from him, a trait of his I would always be jealous of. My eyes fell to his hand not holding mine on our drive back to the hotel, though, and I saw his fingers seemingly nervously squirming.

"Are you okay?" I asked quietly.

Edward's head snapped in my direction, like I broke him out of an all-consuming thought. "Yeah."

I didn't really believe him, but he also didn't seem like he wanted to talk about it. He had been fine through dinner, so maybe it was just nerves about Saturday. I scooted myself closer, my head falling on his shoulder.

"Thanks for dinner."

I felt his chest shake with a chuckle. "You don't have to thank me every time I buy you a meal, you know."

I shrugged, feeling him press a kiss to the top of my head. "It was an expensive dinner."

We were back at the hotel just a few minutes later. My arm was hooked through Edward's as we stepped into the elevator. I frowned at him as he hit the button for the roof, but he didn't offer any explanation.

When the elevator doors opened, I was met with twinkle lights and the kind of New York City skyline you only ever saw in pictures. There was a whole entertainment area on the roof; large couches were arranged for socializing, a now empty bar off to the side, and glass railings encompassing the roof so as to not take away from an inch of the spectacular view.

"Wow," I gasped, my eyes unsure of what to take in first. "Did you know this was up here?"

Stupid question, I thought to myself immediately.

Edward followed me out of the elevator, patient smile on his face as he nodded. We ended up side by side on the far end of the roof. I rested my arms on the railing, enjoying possibly the best view of New York City I'd ever get. The sun had set long ago, the bright lights of the buildings and the bustle of the people underfoot an entrancing scene I couldn't take my eyes off of.

"I came up here a lot last year," Edward said softly, easily tearing my attention away from the city beneath us. "Every time I tried to talk myself out of this," he emphasized, motioning between the two of us. "I'd end up out here. I don't know why. Maybe I thought the fresh air would help.

"I tried so many fucking times to leave you alone, and I could never do it. I knew there was a very slim chance of the whole thing ending well. The closest I got was that Saturday after watching you walk around sad and scared since my family showed up, but even then, I don't know if I could have followed through with it."

My attention was glued to Edward. I wasn't quite sure where all of this was coming from or where it was going. Being here had made me reminisce on our first trip, too, so maybe that was all it was.

"I figured it out, though. I realized why this whole thing always felt like it was more than just sex, even after just that first night."

As if I wasn't a very active participant in the story, I gasped out, "Why?" completely captivated.

A smile tugged at Edward's lips. "Because you, Isabella Swan, were meant to be mine. I was meant to be yours. Whichever way you want to look at it." He paused, dropping his head and shaking it before looking back over at me with bewilderment shining in his eyes. "I've never been big on the whole fate thing but I just – I know. I can feel it in my bones every time I look at you. There's… There's no other way my life could have turned out that would have been worth living without you in it."

My throat got tight, too tight for me to say anything. Not that I had a response ready, because my brain was mostly mush at that point. I had to turn my attention back toward the skyscrapers in at attempt to be able to think straight.

There's no other way my life could have turned out that would have been worth living without you in it.

His words floated through my head, over and over again. I understood what he was saying immediately, because I had felt the same way for a long time. I just always thought it was a one sided thing.

Not because I didn't think he loved or cared for me. He had shown me in a hundred different ways that he did. But, I always thought my lack of any kind of affection as a child had made me form some kind of over the top attachment to him.

Because I could see absolutely no other outcome of my life that would leave me as blissfully happy as I had been with him the last few months.

But, he felt it too. He had a completely normal childhood and felt the same unbreakable pull towards me that I felt towards him.

I turned toward him, frowning when he was no longer beside me. I stepped away from the railing, turning around completely to search for him.

"What – "

My question died on my lips as I saw him, down on one knee behind me. An answer popped out of my mouth before he could say anything.

"Yes."

A/N: I know, I know. The next chapter will probably be a little shorter than usual, though, because it's – spoiler alert – in EPOV! So, I'm hoping to get that out pretty quickly.

Thank you guys for your patience and all of the kind reviews on the last chapter. You don't know how much they mean to me.

I'll get the next chapter posted as soon as I possibly can, I promise.