A/N: I've been hearing in my reviews that there isn't enough Edward in the story. I happen to agree with that assessment and therefore have made this chapter 99.999 percent Edward. And fair warning, I know one of my readers has only read the first book of the series, this one does contain a small New Moon spoiler. You probably won't realize it if you haven't read New Moon but I thought I'd just mention it. Enjoy!

CHAPTER 8 STAY WITH ME

NARRATOR

The days that followed were good. Jacob only called Bella once. She told him that she was going to stay at the Cullens' until Carlisle was satisfied with the healing process and they'd talk about it later. All of the Cullens went temporarily deaf during this conversation. They didn't want to upset her too much in her current state and said nothing about her going back.

Everyone was very attentive. It made Bella feel a little weird but Carlisle told her that he didn't want her walking for a couple days. That meant if she couldn't get it from where she was sitting, someone else had to get it for her. When she had to go to the bathroom, someone would have to carry her.

Edward went downstairs on the first day. He sat on the chair furtherest away from the couch. It was awkward and difficult at first. He only spoke when he asked her if she needed anything every half hour. He also told her that if she got uncomfortable on the couch, he would take her up to the bed that was still in his room. She declined the offer. After a few hours, he began joining in on conversations his brothers and sisters were having with Bella.

Things remained very awkward until three days after the "incident."

EDWARD

Edward was sitting on the couch flipping through channels not really watching anything. Everyone had things to do today so he opted to stay with Bella. She had fallen asleep so Edward carried her to the bed. He wanted to give her some more room. Plus, he knew she only declined because she didn't want to be a bother.

In a way he was glad that the family left him alone with her. He was still fighting the urge to go down to La Push and beat the shit out of the mutt. The only thing keeping him there was knowing Bella would be alone and defenseless. He had no way of knowing if the mutt was outside waiting for her to be alone. Just as that thought was running through his head, Bella cries pierced it.

"No! Jacob, stop! Please, let me go!"

Edward was off the couch and up the stairs within a second. He opened the door to his room, ready to attack but all he found saw was Bella thrashing on the bed, tears streaming down her face. He ran to her side and began stroking her hair.

"Bella, it's okay. I'm here. You're safe. He can't hurt you, right now. I won't let him." he continued to say this to her, silent;y cursing the mutt.

Bella's eyes finally snapped open. She looked at him for a minute, pure terror on her face, but when she realized he wasn't Jacob, she broke down completely. Edward did the only thing he could think to do. He scooped her up in his arms and held her tight as she sobbed into his chest. He kept telling her that he wouldn't let Jacob hurt her.

After a half hour, Bella calmed and pulled her head off of his chest. She looked up at him for minute and jerked herself away from him. She retreated to the couch and wiped the tears from her face.

"I'm so sorry, Edward." she said her voice cracking. This confused him.

"What do you have to be sorry for?" he asked.

"I'm being so selfish." Bella stated and went on before he could contradict, "I broke your heart and here I am running to your family with my problems. I keep making you have to go away. I'm so sorry."

"Bella, stop." he said. "First of all, this family considers you part of it, regardless of our relationship. To tell you the truth, Alice has considered you a sister since I saved you from the truck." He looked up to see the confused look on Bella's face. "I'll explain later but the point is once you're a member of this family, you always will be and we'd do anything for our family. Besides, I would be very upset if you didn't think you could come here to feel safe."

Bella just nodded. From the look on her face, though, Edward could tell this hit too close to the subjects that she didn't want to talk.

"So how did I get up here?" she asked.

"After, you fell asleep, I figured you might like a little more room to move and brought you up here." he answered. He could feel even more awkwardness.

"Where is everyone?"

"Carlisle's at the hospital. Esme went to get some more food for you. Rosalie and Emmett are hunting. And since you're out of comission right now, Alice made Jasper her shopping buddy."

Bella let out a laugh.

"I should probably apologize to him. So it's just me and you then?" she asked.

"Yeah, but if you're not comfortable I can go downstairs." he didn't want to make things harder on her.

"No, stay. I miss talking to you." she said. To Edward it sounded almost pleadingly.

"Okay,what do you want to talk about?"

"Tell me about Alice and me after the van."

Edward explained about the meeting the family had after the whole thing with the van. He explained that Alice's vision of he and Bella becoming firends is what saved the situation. He told her how after that all Alice wanted to do was meet her.

Bella laughed a lot at the story. Things got more comfortable after that. Edward told her some other older family stories. Bella told him things about the pack and Charlie. They discussed how she had no idea what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. They had silently agreed to keep the conversation away from the situation with Jacob and Edward and Bella's relationship.

Bella remained on the couch, curled in a ball. Edward kept himself on the bed, on the furtherest end from the couch. He was trying to make sure that she didn't get uncomfortable or upset.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Edward began catching the happy, bubbly thoughts of Alice and the disgruntled, irritated thoughts of Jasper. He laughed.

"What?" Bella asked.

"Alice and Jasper are back." he replied. "And Jasper isn't very happy."

Bella laughed.

"And a little warning, she bought you some new clothes." he informed her so she wasn't caught of guard.

"Great." she replied and rolled her eyes. Edward laughed.

The door downstairs opened and closed.

"Hello!" Alice called in a sing song voice.

"We're upstairs." Edward said in a normal voice. "We'll be down in a minute."

"Okay." Alice said.

"Can you walk?" Edward asked. Carlisle said it's a good time for her to start trying but Edward didn't want to make her. "Or do you want me to carry you?"

"If you could help me, I'd like to try to walk." she answered. He was in front of the couch within a second.

Bella took his offered hand and he helped her stand up. He put her arm around his shoulder and they slowly headed for the door. All the way down the stairs, he had to fight the urge to kill Jacob as he felt her flinch with every other step.

They finally made it downstairs, they found Jasper and Alice sitting on the couch with the bags in the corner of the living room. As he helped Bella sit on the couch next to Alice, he caught a glimpse of Alice's thoughts.

"Things are going well, I see."

Edward just gave her a small half smile and then she turned her attention to Bella.

"So I bought you a couple outfits, you wanna see?" she asked.

"Maybe later, Alice. I'm kind of tired." Bella answered.

"Okay." Alice replied sounding slightly disappointed.

"Do you want anything to eat?" Edward said knowing she must be hungry.

"Maybe just a little." Bella replied. Edward nodded and headed to the kitchen. Alice followed.

"So what happened?" she asked in a whisper.

"She fell asleep, I took her upstairs, she had a nightmare and cried for a little bit. Then we talk about stuff." Edward replied, a little annoyed with her pushiness.

"Did you talk about the thing?" she pressed.

"No we didn't."

"Why not?"

"Because she was upset enough about her dream! I didn't want to make it any worse. Besides, I think I'm gonna wait until Carlisle tells her she's okay enough to leave."

"Why?"

"Because if it doesn't go well, I don't want to mess up what little we got back today."

Alice simply nodded. Edward opened the fridge and pulled out a bag of carrot sticks and a bottle of ranch dressing. Alice had already pulled two bowls out of the cabinet for him. He put some carrot sticks in one bowl and some ranch in the other. When he put the things back, he pulled out a diet soda for her.

Alice grabbed the bowls and the two headed back to the living room. When they reached the living room, Bella and Jasper weren't talking but Edward got the impression that they were having a conversation that they didn't want Alice to hear. He figured it was the shopping thing. He and Alice handed Bella her stuff and sat down.

The four talked about random things for the rest of the afternoon. When Esme came home, Edward, Alice, and Jasper helped her corry things in and put them away. Edward found that he liked this normal human activity. Rosalie and Emmett returned shortly after .

When Carlisle came home around nine, he requested that everyone give him a minute with Bella. He told them that he had to talk with her then check her out. Edward went upstairs and tried hard not to eavesdrop but he just had to make sure it wouldn't upset her too much. So he dipped into Carlisle thoughts for a minute.

Carlisle was telling Bella that he made Sam aware of the situation between her and Jacob. He explained that Sam promised not to say anything about it to Jacob because they didn't want to get Bella into trouble. Sam said he and the pack would keep an eye out when they were together. He said they would do what they could to keep Jacob from hurting too much.

Edward pulled out when Carlisle started the exam.

FOUR DAYS LATER...

Carlisle told Bella that he was satisfied that she was beginning to heal. He was going to allow her to leave that day. The first thing Bella did was call Jacob. She told him that she would shower and then meet him in La Push so they could discuss the situation. Edward found himself so angry when he walked in the living room while she was talking to him.

Why was she still doing this to herself? Reagardless, of what would happen when she left him, she didn't need to put up with all of it. She wasn't happy but she deserved happiness more than anyone. Why was she subjecting herself to the misery? Did she really believe that she deserved it? He hoped talking to her before she left would make a difference.

He waited until she had said goodbye to everyone then he asked the family for a minute alone. Everyone scattered throughout the house. He knew they would all be listening but at least this way it felt more private. He stood there looking at Bella for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts.

"I don't mean to be pushy but I really got to get going. What's up?" she asked.

"Why do you go back?" he finally choked out.

"Because he loves me. I know he does but he just loses control sometimes. It's hard for him to control his anger with his werewolf genes." she said.

"Don't give me that bullshit." he said. He found that he was angry, not with her but with the mutt. "If I can be around you as much as I was and keep it under control enough to not eat you then he can keep it under control enough to not hit you! And if what he does in love then you must think I hate you!"

This was not going the way he planned. He didn't want to be angry. He didn't want her to be upset. He mostly definately did not what his words to hurt her. He failed on all these things. He watched the tears roll done her face.

"Look, Edward just stop." she finally said. "Don't lecture me about this. I don't need that!"

"I'm sorry." he replied. "I didn't mean for it to come out like this. I don't want to fight about what he does nor about how he feels about you. I just wanted to say that I still love you. And I always will. I will wait for you forever but please don't make me. Stay with me now. Don't go back to him. Please!"

He hadn't meant for it to come out like that. He sounded like he was begging her to stay. He didn't want that to happen. He wanted to sound strong for her. He stood there for a minute staring into her eyes. As he watched the different emotions, fear, pain, sadness, hapiness, and hope flash quickly accross them, he desperately needed to see inside her head. When she spoke it came out as a kind of sob.

"I can't." she said.

"Why not?" he asked.

"It's just too much. I'm sorry, Edward but I really got to go." she said and opened the door. "Tell Carlisle, I said thanks for everything!"

With that said she stepped out. Edward punched the wall next to him and his fist went right through. He felt a hand on his shoulder and her Alice's thought before she said anything,

"It's not your fault."

"Don't even say it." Edward said before she could get a word in. He had been battling with this guilt for the whole month. "How could it not be my fault? I left her all those months ago. If I had stayed she would've never had to turn to him. They would've never gotten that close! And she would've never become so dependent on him!"

"You don't know that?" Alice said. "As close as Charlie and Billy are they would've spent some time around each other. Besides, when we left, we only did it to protect her."

"Fat lot of good that did!" Edward yelled. "It drove her into the arms of a pshycotic werewolf! It doesn't matter though because I give up! I don't know how to stop this! I just poured my soul out to her and she walked away!"

"She just might need time for it to sink in!" Alice argued.

"Well, hopefully that happens before your first vision comes true!" Edward yelled. He needed to get away from this. Running may not be the best idea but it was the easiest. He grabbed his keys off the dining room table and walked out the door.

ALICE

Alice sank to the floor as she listened to the tires of Edward's volvo squeal down the driveway. Her plan for Edward to save her had failed. Now, she had no idea what to do to help her best friend. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Jasper next to her. The rest of the family had drifted in to see what they could do to help. Alice looked into all of there faces.

"He's right." she said her throat felt dry. "There's nothing else we can do."

A/N: I hope this chapter turned out okay. It didn't go the way I planned. Please don't yell at me. I promise Bella does have a reason. That you'll get in this next chapter. Please, no angry mobs. Please review but don't yell at me.