By the time I made it home from my morning trip to The Rec, Mom was up and the aroma of a freshly brewed pot of coffee welcomed me on my way into the house. She was in the kitchen, opening and closing cabinet doors, her slippered feet shuffling against the old, wooden floors. It was one of those comforting sounds of home.

"Just coming home now?" She called over her shoulder as she poured herself a cup. She reached into the cabinet and poured another steaming cup for me, sliding the coffee across the table. I followed her, sitting down at the table in the kitchen in comfortable silence for a few moments, each of us softly blowing the steam away from the warm liquid.

"No, I left here a little while ago. Dropped something off at The Rec." I placed my cup down in front of me and stretched, my early morning trek reminding me that I didn't like to do 'mornings'. Or 'treks'.

Mom eyed me suspiciously, her eyebrows furrowing in my direction, "This early in the morning?"

I nodded and laughed, catching her tone. "I didn't think I would have another chance to get over there today."

She nodded as I rattled off all of the things on my to-do list before the rehearsal dinner tonight and the wedding tomorrow. Mani and pedis were on the top of the list, followed by finishing up the ironing of the bows for the reception. Somewhere in there I would have to shop for a dress for the rehearsal dinner, shower, get ready, and be ready for Edward to pick me up by quarter to six. Edward picking me up was reminiscent of our homecomings and high school proms, complete with my parents being the ever proud spectators.

I was already tired just thinking about everything that was ahead in the next twenty four hours, and something told me to prepare for it.

Maybe I could somehow squeeze a nap into my busy schedule today.

"You need any help?" Mom asked, raising her coffee cup to her lips to take a small and careful sip.

I thought about it. "I could probably use a hand but you don't have to, Mom." Finished with my coffee, I got up from the table and rinsed my cup under the water in the sink. "I do need to use whatever space is left in your dining room, though."

Mom scoffed, joining me at the sink. "Well, what's more space when you've already taken up most of the room, already?

Peering over her, I looked into the dining room and saw that she was right. Three large boxes of black satin bows, untied and in need of ironing, took up the long, rectangular shaped dining room table. My dress for tomorrow hung on the curtain rod, ready for another sweep of Mom's steam iron.

"Want to go for a walk?"

I looked at the time, noting that it was still too early for our mani/pedi appointment and too late for me to even attempt to fall back asleep.

My mom and I set a snail's pace, not really walking with a cardio purpose in mind, but rather just to enjoy the nature around us and the company within us. Being able to have these moments with my mother, when time seemed to slow down and the early morning sun hitting her face in just the perfect light, were just two more reasons why Forks was growing on me.

We had plenty of space between us on the sidewalk as my former neighborhood came and went beneath our feet, but we preferred to stay close together. Perhaps it was for warmth but I had always leaned on her for more than that. Being twenty eight years old did nothing to change that fact.

"Do you need my car for tonight?" Her voice broke through my unusually sappy thoughts, and I shook my head.

"No, Edward is going to pick me up. Thanks, though," I answered, and she chuckled softly to herself at the mention of Edward's name. I shot her a look in jest and she laughed harder, shaking her head with a sigh as her laughter quieted.

"It must kill you not to have a car," she said, changing the subject but not really at all. She was always good at talking about something indirectly but still managed to squeeze out the answers she wanted.

"It's not so bad. I don't have a car back in New York, you know," I reminded her, turning the corner so our house was back in view. "It's the whole 'depending on others for rides' that's killing me."

Mom disagreed, "I think your friends are so happy to have you here that picking you up isn't an inconvenience."

"Yeah, maybe," I said, thinking back to Edward last night when he asked if he could take me to the rehearsal dinner. My breath quickened at the thought of Edward.

We stopped at our house, sitting on the front porch for the last few calm moments I would end up having in the next two days.

"Your friends aren't the only ones that like having you around."

I turned towards my mom, smiling and leaning back into the cold patio cushions on the front porch. "I didn't think it would feel like this being back home," I said. "So comforting."

"Like home?"

"Exactly."

She looked out into the trees in front of us, silent for a minute or two, comfortable enough not to fill it with anything unnecessary. Eventually, she reached for my hand and held it on her lap. "You know I support you in whatever you do, Bella. All I ask is that whatever decision you make, to stay or to go, that you do it because it was what you wanted. Not because it was the right thing to do. But because you wanted it."

-tr-

By noon, my finger and toenails were spiffed, polished, and a beautifully completed French Manicure adorned both with perfection. Rose and I had stayed behind to grab lunch and to find me a dress for tonight, leaving Alice behind for a relaxing massage and facial because the poor girl needed it. Everything was coming together spectacularly, exactly as she had spent the last year planning it, and yet Alice was beginning to doubt and stress all of things that she had worked so hard to make perfect. Rose and I had left her almost comatose beneath the hands of a magical masseuse while we slipped out to the mall.

I never was a particularly flashy girl, which was why I wasn't nervous about waiting for the last minute to find a dress for tonight. Alice and Rose, on the other hand, naturally had theirs already. I would like to think I would have, as well, if I had gone home to New York after Alice's bachelorette party in Mexico instead of heading right to Forks. But there we were, in front of dress after dress of my choice, and I wanted it to be perfect.

Rose, of course, was the one rather loudly to point out why I wanted the dress to be perfect, rightly so with the acknowledgment that I wanted a dress that would definitely tell me whether or not Edward was as lost with me as I was beginning to become with him.

As I held a dress in my hand, running my fingers lightly over the winter burgundy silk and the lace sleeves down to the wrist, something told me to slow down. To take it all in. Something told me to remember the night as a turning point for myself, and not just for Alice and Jasper.

I shivered at the prospect.

-tr-

Once Rose and I had gotten home from the mall, we got right to work on the bows. Rose, Mom, and me had developed a fast and efficient system and we were finished by 3:30. Happy with our work and what we had accomplished in the short time we had, worried with how much time we had left to get ready before the rehearsal dinner, Rose had left in a whirlwind and I had hopped into the shower with just enough time to shave every speck of hair that threatened to make an appearance.

I mean, it was winter (hello?) so it had to happen at least twice this season, I joked while I sat down on my bed in a towel and looked at the expanse of clothes in front of me.

I had gone with the burgundy dress, happy with the way it hung to a respectable place on my thigh. Tomorrow I would be in a strapless dress outside in the middle of winter, so tonight I decided that sleeves of lace down to my wrists would be perfect for tonight. The lace matched the burgundy of the dress, the neckline dipping low enough not to embarrass my father but low enough to inspire curiosity of what lay beneath.

I decided to let the air settle in my hair for a little while before tackling and taming the wild beast that sat upon my head. Tomorrow, it would be curled and pinned and swept to one side, so for now my plan was to let it hang loosely beneath my shoulder blades, bouncing with volume and curled on the ends.

At 5:00, after I had just finished the last of my makeup, I was reaching for the curling iron when my phone vibrated from my nightstand. Placing the curling stand back down, I walked over and picked up the phone, not expecting to see Tyler's name pop up on the screen.

I had spoken to Tyler somewhat during my time here, but only through text. It wasn't that I didn't want to talk to him. It was that I was the Queen of Awkward and I wasn't sure if I could handle myself at the moment.

I answered after I took a deep breath.

"Hello?" Why do people still answer their phones with a questionable hello when we can now see who's there?

"Hey, Bella."

I wasn't expecting a rush of emotion at the sound of his voice. Nervousness? Sure. Awkwardness? Plenty. Sadness? I wasn't expecting that. I had spent the past few weeks trying to decipher my feelings for Edward that my feelings for Tyler had been pushed to the side and forgotten for the time being. His voice through the other end of the phone reminded me that I had at one point loved him, even though at the end I hadn't been able to love him enough.

"Hey," I said, sitting down on my bed carefully as not to wrinkle the dress that only had thirty more minutes to be put on, "What's going on?"

I cringed at my words.

He exhaled on the other end, "Nothing, really. Court's on a recess so I thought I would check in with you. See how you're doing."

I could picture him on the outside steps in New York, winter gray skies and the bustling of thousands of people around him.

"I'm okay. Fine, I guess." I trailed off, relaxing into our conversation. "How about you?"

"You want the real answer?"

"Of course."

"I've been better," Tyler admitted, pausing for a moment. He cleared his throat. "I'm trying."

"I know." I said hoarsely, my voice threatening to resolve beneath the mounting guilt. "I'm sor-"

"No, Bella. Stop. That's not why I called. Honestly." I could hear his sincerity. "I just wanted to talk to you. We were friends before, remember?"

"Did you think I forgot?" I asked softly.

I could see him shaking his head. "No, well, I was hoping you didn't." He paused momentarily. "Is it just as cold out there in Washington as it is in New York?"

"Maybe colder?" I smiled. "I took a walk with my mom earlier and I'm still thawing."

"Any snow?"

"Not at the moment but I'm sure there's a storm coming next week or sometime soon."

Talking about the weather was safe, and it was a start. If there was one thing I wanted for Tyler and I, it was to part amicably and respectfully. We would never be able to erase the history between us, and twenty minutes later I looked at the time and had to say my goodbyes.

"Thanks for calling, Tyler."

"Anytime, Bella. I'll talk to you later."

He absolutely would, and I would have known how soon that would be if I hadn't forgotten my phone at home.

-tr-

In true Edward fashion, he overcame all obstacles and managed to work, get a haircut, pick up his tux, get ready, and be at my house to pick me up by exactly quarter to six.

I, on the other hand, who had more time than he did to get ready for the night, was not ready when I heard the knock on the front door from upstairs. Physically, I was ready. Hair done and curled. Make up on and blended perfectly onto my skin. Heels painfully cutting off circulation to my toes. Perfume spritzed behind my ears, against the side of my neck, with a couple of other tiny sprays further beyond. Mentally, I was not.

Mentally, I was still reeling from talking to Tyler. Mentally, I tried to prepare myself for what Edward in a suit and fresh haircut could do to my fragile self. I hoped I would be strong enough to survive it.

I wished my house had been built in a way so that I could peer down into the living room without anyone seeing me. I would have liked to have been able to prepare myself for what was about to happen.

Instead, I took one more deep breath in to calm my nerves and with an unsteady step on a high heel, I quickly turned my light off and disappeared down the stairs.

The top of the steps were hidden from view, and I relished in my hiding spot as I overheard Edward and my mom exchange pleasantries after so long of not seeing each other. Their kind words to one another were genuine and it warmed my heart enough for me to leave everything I was worried about on the top step and join them.

There really weren't words quite strong enough to describe the vision of Edward in a suit and tie standing in my living room, waiting for me. He eyed me on the stairs, faltering slightly at the sight of me, but he never took the focus off of my mother babbling on about who knew what. Always respectable to others when life really had given him no reason to be. I tried to be discreet, peering at him as I disappeared into the hallway closet to put on a coat, but at some point I stopped caring and took a moment to soak him in.

His hair, while freshly cut, still exuded a bronze copper so distinctively Edward that I believed that moment that the color was made, saved, and destined his and his only. It was short on the sides, longer and devilishly spiked on the top, the strands made to appear meticulously messy in its beauty. In actuality, it was already driving me insane with an intense urge to run my fingers through it and mess it up some more.

Was I ogling? I didn't care. I was too busy memorizing the black against gray suit ensemble he was wearing so deliciously perfect that I almost forgot our plans for the evening and that my mother was there inviting him to her next book club meeting.

"I'd love to," Edward finished with Mom, stepping back slightly to make room for me as I joined them in the living room.

"Love to what?" I asked, grabbing the clutch that Rose had insisted paired perfectly with the heels that were collecting a pool of my blood.

"Try out the new pastries at the bakery," Mom answered, moving over to the door as if she read my nervous mind. "Edward hasn't been to the bakery in years."

"Years?" I asked, looking over at him.

"It's true. Years," he smirked.

"Have a good time tonight, kids." My mom called as we disappeared down the driveway. "We won't wait up."

-tr-

I couldn't place my favorite moment from the car to the venue. It could have been when Edward, the man who liked like sin itself, stuttered over his words when he was trying to tell me how beautiful he thought I looked. It could have been when I crossed my leg over my knee and his eyes drifted further than he intended. Or maybe it was right after that and he had quickly diverted his eyes back to the road and nervously rubbed his hand across the back of his neck.

I could think of several more as the miles added on, emboldening each other in our unspoken quest to find our way back to each other again. Too soon, the venue where the ceremony was to take place was before us. It was a perfect, quaint and tiny venue buried within the evergreens of the rolling hills of the state.

We had realized on our drive that I had left my phone at home. Knowing we wouldn't have had time to turn around to get it, Edward had promised to take as many pictures as I needed for the night, so stepped out of the car, tightening our jackets from the chill of the higher altitude, and joined Emmett and Rose on the sidewalk in front. We had seen them getting out of their car as we pulled into the parking lot, and they had waited for us so we could walk in together.

The tiny venue on the outside held nothing back on the inside. Rustic and full of soft lighting and enough candles to make Yankee Candle jealous, it was almost as beautiful as the smiles on Alice and Jasper's faces.

High off my thrilling car ride with Edward, I hugged them both and told them how absolutely happy I was for them. We all waited as the rest of the bridal party and other important key figures for tomorrow joined us, laughing and making jokes in preparation for the big day the next day.

There wasn't a face not smiling in the whole room, each of us filled with all of the happy emotions that only a highly anticipated wedding could bring.

Eventually, the wedding planner who was thrilled to hear that I had finished and brought those damn chair bows with me, led us into the room where the ceremony was to take place. Decorated similarly to the lobby, the room was split evenly down the middle by an aisle of old cobblestone with a set of chairs on either side for the guests to view the ceremony. We listened to her as she explained how we would enter, exit, walk correctly, and where we would sit and stand during the ceremony. I had been in a few weddings before this so this was nothing new to me, but I did get a kick out of how confused the guys looked. Apparently they didn't think they needed any practice with walking or sitting, but eventually they learned that there was a method to the wedding planner's madness.

While we waited for the pianist to take his place, we all chatted amongst ourselves.

"Here goes nothing," I muttered mostly to myself as I eyed the cobblestone aisle and my heels.

"What do you mean?" Edward questioned.

I shook my head and waved off his concern. "Eh, it's an old bridesmaid's piece of advice. Wear the shoes you'll be wearing to the wedding so you can practice walking in them." I motioned towards the treacherous aisle.

Understanding flashing on his face, he nodded and gave me a smile. "Is that so?"

"The last thing I want is to slip on my walk down the aisle just because my shoes weren't used to the floor," I explained.

"So you're wearing these shoes tonight so your shoes will remember how the floor feels tomorrow?"

"Precisely."

"Like muscle memory, but for shoes."

"Yes!"

He laughed before the pianist signaled he was ready to begin. "I'm so glad I'm not a bridesmaid. Too many rules."

"Stop complaining and don't let me fall."

"Never."

-tr-

"I never knew how much effort goes into planning a wedding," Edward groaned on our way home from dinner. It was nearing ten and we had all separated with optimistic exhaustion, saying goodbye with happy sentiments. I had promised I would be at Alice's house by eleven in the morning before slipping into Edward's awaiting passenger seat, watching as Alice and Jasper enjoyed their last few minutes together before seeing each other again as husband and wife.

I laughed. "You only have one job tomorrow," I said, swatting at his hand as it rested between us on the arm rest. "Wake up and be at the venue by 2:30 for pictures."

"That's two things." He noted, pointing in my direction. "See? It just became complicated."

"As crazy as tomorrow is going to be, I can't wait," I said, trailing off and looking out the window. "They're really happy."

"I know." Edward agreed, adding, "It's kind of hard to miss it."

I looked over at him and caught him smiling in my direction. "Contagious?"

"Very," he answered, his hand trying to cover a smile that threatened to take over his whole face. Swoon. "Oh, shit. It's The Rec."

He picked up his phone that was chirping loudly in the space between us.

"Alarm?"

He nodded and tossed the phone back into the center console. "This fucking thing goes off at the threat of the wind."

Laughing, I said, "We're right here. I don't mind stopping by."

"You sure?" He asked. I nodded. "I won't be long."

He parked the car in the driveway in a hurry despite my telling him there was no need to rush. He smiled and opened his door and I quickly followed him, reaching for his outstretched hand as we ran as fast as my heels could carry me in the dark uneven gravel. He managed to stop the loud blaring sound of the alarm after a few minutes of colorful expletives flying out of his mouth to my amused ears. I really had been no help at all, laughing at him in his time of distress, but I couldn't help myself. Finally he was able to open the door and we stepped inside, our ears still ringing through the now silent building and woods around us.

"What do you think did it?"

"Raccoons, probably. Want to see?"

I didn't answer. I just followed him and our entwined hands to a door down the hallway from the bathroom we had just completed a few days ago. I eyed the painting of the entangled branches and twigs that I had placed above the fireplace just that morning, looking back at our joined fingers.

Roots.

"Where are we going?"

He didn't answer me, just continued down the hallway until he stopped at a door that Edward had told me was a closet so messy that even I wasn't able to see it yet.

The threat of spiders had kept me away before but now I found myself following him willingly once he unlocked and opened the door. It was dark behind the door, lacking any light at all except for the small flashlight on Edward's phone, and the first thing I noticed was the way my heels sunk deep into what felt like plush carpeting. I paused for a moment, tugging on Edward's hand in front of me to tell him I needed to stop, and reached down to take off both of the deathtraps on my feet. My feet melted into the carpet, and even through the darkness I could sense Edward's sense of humor kick in at my expense. He pulled me forward again, gently maneuvering our way up the staircase and into what looked like a bunch of nothing in the darkness. Letting go of my hand for a moment, he flipped on the nearest light switch, basking this new world he had let me into with a bright light.

He gave me a moment for my eyes to adjust, and when they did, I took a few steps into what appeared to be a hallway. I looked at Edward strangely, but headed forward at his request, down the hallway and into a large open space.

The space was empty, but it was obvious what he had planned to do with it.

"Do you live here?"

"More like sleep here, but yes," he said, motioning towards the empty space. "It's not much yet, I know."

He was right; it wasn't much of anything.

But to him, it was everything.

The space was large enough for me to imagine a gorgeous open floor plan with enormous open windows spanning the back wall. An area to the left clearly marked for a kitchen and vast dining room area beside it overlooking the endless greens and browns of the towering trees. I turned back towards him, where he was leaning against the deeply stained brown wooden walls, waiting for my reaction. I looked in the area in front of him, imagining a couch so inviting I could disappear into it beyond the cushions.

"Not much?" I asked in disbelief. My bare feet pattered against the barren floors.

"No furniture," he said. "Just a place for me to sleep right now."

"And your security tapes?"

"Yes, back here," he replied, pointing a thumb behind him in the direction we had just come from. "Come with me?"

I could tell he was uneasy at this revelation, and I wanted nothing but to quiet his insecurities, so I smiled softly at him and grabbed his hand again. He held it between his hands for a second before leading us back down the hallway we had stepped onto.

"I plan on putting this into the other bedroom once I get the room finished," he said over his shoulder, leading me to a large room. He didn't flick the lights on; the computer screens in the far corner gave off enough light. "For now I have it set up in my room. This way I can catch any trespassers who feel the need to deliver paintings at odd hours."

"You were watching me?"

"The whole time."

Taking a few steps into the room, I turned in slow circles to take it all in. I stopped at the foot of his bed, pointing towards it in shock. "Wow. Just a place to sleep? I've never seen a bed this big in my life."

He shrugged and looked down at his feet, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck with his hand again like he had done in the car. "Yeah, I've never had one of my own before so I guess I went a little overboard."

"Your own house?"

"A bed."

At that moment, I could not have cared any less about the damn raccoons that had set off the alarm that had brought us here in the first place. Instead, I focused on the only thing that mattered.

Him.

A grown man who had grown up without the basic necessities to call his own.

A grown man who was suddenly stopped in his pursuit of rewinding video feed to meet my unwavering gaze.

A grown man who recognized that this night had turned into what we had both desperately wanted but unplanned, nonetheless.

I had been so mesmerized by the size of the bed that was backed against the center of the wall in the room that I wasn't aware that Edward had sat down at the desk in the corner that held his security needs. He was rewinding to a half hour ago when his alarm had gone off on our way home from dinner, his face blue from the glow of the computer screens in front of him. He had loosened his tie enough and removed his jacket, placing it on the chair behind him.

"See? Raccoons again," he had said triumphantly, enjoying this little game he had created for himself in the first place he had ever been able to call home.

If I wasn't in love with him before, then there was no stopping me now.

I left my spot in front of the bed and walked over to him at his desk, leaning on it enough so it supported my weight. I placed myself directly in front of him, blocking his view of the screen before he knew what was happening. Before he could finish his sentence.

The moment before I grabbed him by his tie and tugged his mouth to mine was fleeting, but in that moment I saw everything I needed to know flash across his face.

Hesitation.

Desire.

Want.

Need.

Eventually, his hesitation was overruled by everything else. Simultaneously he threw himself into our kiss and rolled his chair closer to me, effectively closing space between us. I had released his tie to finally, finally, run my fingers through his hair, giving him the opportunity to wrap his arms around my waist.

He was right about muscle memory earlier. As I struggled to keep myself upright against the desk, our lips remembered the magic they had once made together. His lips were soft and gentle yet able to crush mine beneath his, unrelenting in their torrent against mine. The slip of his tongue only made my legs crumble against the desk, and I pushed myself back so I was sitting on the desk completely, never once breaking away from his mouth and tongue that threatened to consume me.

"You're going to have to tell me to stop."

He was the first one to be able to speak once we had parted for air, his lips never leaving my skin, even when he got down on both of his knees in front of the desk, his spot in the chair long forgotten. His forehead rested on my shoulder as we tried to catch our breath, his lips leaving a trail of kisses down my collarbone, down my chest, further down until his hot breath warmed the fabric in front of my navel.

I didn't want him to stop.

My mouth couldn't form the words to tell him how much I wanted him. Needed him. The seconds ticked by as I tried to answer him, my head tilted back to the side so the only thing I could see was his shorn hair dipping further down my body. His fingers slid up my thigh, and I whispered a sound so full of fire that Edward spurned into life, wrapping my legs around his neck with such force that both of my hands clung to the edge of the desk as if my life depended on it.

I did think that my life threatened expiration when his lips kissed me over my pair of black satin underwear, so soft that I would gladly and unabashedly beg for more.

"I won't let you stop," I finally answered him, unable to deny my lips from his any longer.

Our mouths met again with frenzy unmatched and incomparable.

The outside world was long forgotten.

If the raccoons set off the alarm again, we never would have noticed.

Also going unnoticed was Edward's phone repeatedly vibrating with a message from Emmett telling him to get me home because Tyler was waiting for me at my parent's house.

-tr-

To be continued.

Sorry, I had to stop it there otherwise the chapter would have gone on forever.

There's more next chapter, I promise.

To refresh your memory, I would reread Chapter 10. We are now onto Part 3, which is now the present time.

Thanks for reading and rec'ing, but most importantly, stay safe!