I do not own Twilight.

Continuation from the last chapter…I just didn't want this to be super long and super out of order with the other chapters.

I lean up on my knees so he can't pretend I'm not here, or pretend he hasn't said any of this or whatever the fuck he's trying to do. I grab at his shirt, twisting the hem by his shoulder in my fingers.

"It wasn't easy for me, Edward." My words make him look down at me, his head still thrown back. "I did the exact opposite—I stayed in or when to the last places I knew you'd be because I knew if I saw you it would be all over. I knew if I caught a glimpse of you, there was nothing that would stop me from running back to you."

I catch the softening of his eyes and he lifts his head, turning his body to face me, resting the side of his head back against the cushion.

"Not even Mike," I whisper. "I didn't love Mike, Edward. I didn't even want to be with him."

"Then why were you?" he asks but his tone isn't angry or judgmental.

I shrug because I don't have any other answer. "My mom?"

Edward sighs and looks away from me, but I continue, "She didn't want to see me so…depressed, I guess. She wanted me to date. I pushed back for as long as I could until…"

"Until Mike came along," he finishes for me, looking back at me. His eyes have hardened to a metallic green.

"He was…I thought he was the complete opposite of you. I thought it would be good for me. But then I started finding things in him that reminded me of you. He was so quiet sometimes," I smile to myself, shake my head. "There would be days when he would hardly even talk to me, but he did it because he didn't have anything to say. You do it because you keep everything in here." I let go of his shirt to drag my hand down his chest. I cover it like he did when I first got here and his eyes melt.

I stare at my hand over his dark green shirt, feeling the cotton fabric on the pads of my fingers, wishing it was his bare skin. "Sometimes I thought you'd explode from how much you kept inside. And the way you'd watch me sometimes…" I glance up at him and he's watching me in that way, the way that makes me want to kiss him and demand he tell me what he's thinking at the same time. "Like there's a million things running through your mind, but you'd just look at me and I could swear—can swear—I see it all running through your eyes."

His own gaze is moving between mine and I feel the warm drops of tears beading my eyelashes, dropping to my cheeks. "I could see how much I hurt you," I whisper. "How much of a strain it took for you to be with me.

"Towards the end, I thought I was ruining you. The anger and doubt was eating you alive and I-I thought if I just left…if I just walked away that somehow you'd be able to right all of your overwhelming feelings." I don't even know if he can understand me anymore through my crying, but he's still watching me, his fingers brushing over my legs, my arms, my back, anything to soothe me. "I thought I was doing the right thing, Edward," I sob. "I thought I was helping you but I was just hurting both of us even more and I was so stupid and I didn't even stop to think we could just work through it and I didn't…I couldn't…"

My words break off into hysterics and I'm barely even aware as he pulls me to him, cradling me, holding me like he used to. He doesn't say anything to refute my words or make me feel worse, just holds me and rocks me against him until eventually my sobs break down and I'm left gripping him tightly, my mind and tears calming. His mouth is pressed to my head and he sighs against my hair.

"You leaving me was probably the best thing for me. For us," he says. I pull away from beneath his chin just enough to glance up at him. There are tears in the corner of his eyes, my own wetting his shirt. I reach up to brush the few that dropped from him away and he closes his eyes.

"You leaving made me realize I couldn't keep treating you that way. That you wouldn't stick around forever. In jail, the therapist told me I was treating you how my dad treats my mom. It made me sick to my stomach, her telling me that, but she was right.

"Where I thought I was doing the exact opposite of what my dad did, I was still putting you through so much emotionally. I was doing everything in my power to not turn into him, and the result was that I became him."

I gasp, pulling myself up to stare directly into his eyes because he can't be so foolish as to think…

"No, you didn't," I say harshly. "Don't ever say that. You'll never be like that man."

Edward only smiles sadly and pulls me back to him, pressing his lips to my forehead. The kiss is hot, searing. "Now I won't, but I can see now I was going down that path. I was manipulative with you. I was trying to find every reason in the book for you not to leave me and it resulted in the opposite. Bella," he takes my face in his hands, his palms flat against my face, making sure I'm listening and I am. I always am and I always will."

"I've learned my lesson," he continues. "I'll never treat you that way again. I'll never doubt your honesty, never demand answers from you. You can go where you want, talk to who you want and I won't let it bother me because I know. I know how much you love me, how much you want to be with me." He shakes his head, pulling me even closer to him. "If jail showed me anything…you visiting me despite everything showed me just that. You need me like I need you."

I'm biting my lip hard and Edward's thumb moves to pull it from between my teeth. "I do," I whisper, the tears threatening to spill for a different reason entirely, now. "I do need you. I love you. I always have and I always will. Only you."

He smiles lightly and pulls my face to him, turning me just enough so that his lips meet my cheek. "And I'll try not to get lost in my own thoughts. I'll try to articulate more, but I need you to tell me what you need, okay? If I'm being quiet or if I'm stressing you out, I need you to tell me because sometimes I don't realize I'm being that way."

I'm already smiling halfway through his promises, "Okay."

His fingers brush down my cheeks, pulling at my jaw, tilting me to look at him. "I love you," he whispers and his words are harsh, unnegotiable, and I grin at him again.

"I love you, too."

He tilts my head and presses his lips to mine. It's a quick, chaste kiss but filled with endless passion and promise. I drop myself, resting my head against his shoulder and he wraps his arms around me. We sit like that for what feels like hours, just relishing in each other's company, in each other's arms.

Something we have deprived ourselves of for the past two years.