A/N: So thanks for all the reviews! It made me happy to log on to my email and have a page full of emails from fanfiction after only having the story up for an hour :-) you are all wonderful. Okay, so parts of this are taken from New Moon, but not word for word - I felt like Edward might still say VERY similar things, but obviously the situation has changed because she didn't jump... just throwing that out there. Okay, well this story has got me excited, so I will hopefully get the next chapter up soon. You all had wonderful reviews for the first chapter, so do it again!

Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer, and don't own any of this Twilightness.

Chapter Two

"Edward?" I gasped, looking into the eyes I was certain I'd never see again.

He took a step toward me, and at the last possible second I forced myself to not run straight into his arms. Things were different now.

"What's wrong?" he asked, stopping short.

"I… I… what are you doing here?" I stammered, refusing to believe that after all this time and all my hallucinations, he was really here, standing in my room like nothing had changed.

He looked absolutely perfect in every way, hair dripping lightly onto my floor from the heavy rainfall outside. His eyes were the exact perfect shade of ochre that I remembered, and his skin even had a slight shimmer in the moonlight. It took all my strength to remain standing.

"I came back for you," he said, a slightly confused expression on his face. "Aren't you happy to see me?"

"Where were you?!" I stage-whispered at him, not wanting to wake Charlie.

"Why don't we go somewhere where we can talk," he pressed on, and I realized his eyes were full of desperation. He didn't want to wake Charlie, either. "Let's go back to my house," he offered, taking another step toward me.

"GET AWAY FROM HER," Jacob hissed from the window.

Oh man. Talk about the shit hitting the fan.

"Get out of here you dog," Edward spat at him.

"What's he doing here?" Jacob asked, crossing the room and putting himself between Edward and I.

Crap. Oh crap. I started to hyperventilate; my brain couldn't even process what was happening.

"Get away, look what you're doing to her!" Edward pleaded with Jacob, trying once again to move closer to me.

"Don't make me kill you," Jake threatened, wrapping his arms around me. "I'm not the one that's doing this to her."

"You… ah," Edward said, and a pained look crossed his face. Jacob must've filled him in on our current situation with his thoughts. "You're… together now? I suppose that's quite fair," he whispered, barely audibly. "You had every right to move on… I really did want you to move on…"

Jacob and I watched him pace back and forth in my tiny bedroom, talking to himself.

"Edward?" I asked after a moment.

"I don't like this Bella," he admitted, never taking his eyes off of Jacob. "He'll get you hurt."

"Like you didn't put her life in danger every second you were near her?" Jacob asked incredulously.

"I was – am – stronger than you," Edward insisted. "I may have endangered her life, but I also kept her safe. I never let anything hurt her…"

"What about when Jasper tried to attack her? When James did attack her?" Jake pressed. Edward's eyes flashed to me. Crap.

"Yeah, I told him about that," I admitted.

"Why?" Edward asked, wide-eyed.

"Because, well we're kind of…" I couldn't say those words. Not to Edward when he was finally here, finally real.

"We're together now," Jake finished for me, "and when you're in a relationship with someone, you tell them everything. You don't hide things or pretend. You're honest."

"Well, I suppose that's fair," Edward said, finally composing himself. "I wanted you to move on and be happy… and I can see that you have. I admit I had somewhat hoped you hadn't, but it's better for you this way, I'm sure."

"You should go," Jake insisted, releasing me and once more putting himself between Edward and I.

"Yes, perhaps," Edward agreed, and moved to the window. "I'll see you soon, love," he promised, and disappeared out the window.

"Why did you come back?" I asked Jake once I was quite certain Edward was gone.

"Well, with our watch for Victoria, I offered to keep an eye on the house tonight," he said with a shrug. "When I got close, I smelled a vampire, and didn't know who it would be, so I came in."

"What's he doing back here?" I asked aloud, but mostly to myself.

"I dunno," Jake admitted, "but I don't like it. He hurt you so badly… he shouldn't be coming back around here anymore. I won't let him hurt you again."

"I should get some sleep," I mumbled, stifling a yawn.

"Right, of course," he agreed. He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. "Sweet dreams, Bella… I'll be right outside."

He disappeared through my window and left me quite alone in the darkness. I was exhausted, of course, but there was no way I was going to be getting any sleep now. I grabbed my shower bag and headed into the bathroom. I took the hottest shower imaginable, barely feeling the heat because my mind was so preoccupied.

Edward was back. He was here, and he was real. It would be perfect, if not for the fact that I was with Jacob. And giving up Edward had been a huge deal for me. It took me months to even be able to function after what he did to me. Jacob fixed me. How could I turn my back on that?

But…Edward. Edward! He and I were meant to be, weren't we? Didn't the fact that he came back, even though he'd promised I would never hear from him again, mean something? It had to!

But no. I was with Jake now. I couldn't just throw that away because Edward was back. Edward, who had hurt me more than anyone ever had, who destroyed me so completely that I didn't think I'd ever be whole again… I couldn't go back to that. That wasn't healthy, and I was trying so hard to piece myself back together these days.

I made up my mind: I would stay with Jake. I just had to force myself to resist Edward.

The weekend crawled by as I waited on edge for Edward to reappear. I rehearsed what I was say to him over and over again, desperate to say it right when the time came. Unfortunately, I didn't know when that time would be. He had said, "I'll see you soon." When was "soon"? I had no idea, but I was nervous for when "soon" came.

Somehow, Monday morning rolled around and there was still no sign of Edward. I was happy about that; maybe "soon" would actually come later. After all, time was sort of relative for someone like Edward. Plus, Jake promised to meet me the second school let out, and we were going to do something fun. He hadn't explained what, but regardless, I was excited. I was a bit more reckless around him, and had more fun.

I pulled into my usual parking spot at Forks High, and cut the engine on my truck. I was still self-conscious of the noisy engine, even after all this time. Sure, everyone was used to it by now, but that didn't mean it wasn't still a huge nuisance. I swung my door open but had to pull it quickly closed to avoid hitting the car pulling into the space beside mine. A shiny… silver… oh no.

"Stupid shiny Volvo owner!" I hissed under my breath, jumping out and bee lining toward my first period class. I knew running away was useless, and that he could catch me in an instant, but I still had to try.

"Bella," he said, catching my sleeve and holding me back just inches from the door. Damn. So close.

"What is it," I sighed, turning to face him. I figured if I just let him speak, he'd say what he needed to say and we'd be done.

"We need to talk about this," he said quietly, keeping a firm grip on my arm.

"Fine, but later. I've got class," I said, starting to walk away.

"Me too," he said with a grin, flourishing a paper in front of me. My eyes scanned down his schedule quickly. It was identical to mine.

"What's this?" I asked, gesturing toward the paper.

"It's the schedule we made up at the beginning of the year," he said with a smirk. "When I re-registered at Forks High, they gave me my old schedule back. Shall we?" he asked, putting an arm around my shoulders and leading me off toward the first class.

"Hey, you can't do that anymore," I said weakly, shrugging his arm off. He let it fall behind me, and his smile disappeared.

"Did I hurt you that badly?" he asked, and I could see panic rising in his eyes.

"You don't know the half of it," I mumbled, and sped up a little, hoping he'd keep the slower pace and let me walk alone.

Throughout our morning classes, he kept silent and I was grateful. I could see Jessica out of the corner of my eye, just itching to ask for details, but Edward was never far enough away for her to do so. What was I going to say anyway, that I was with Jake, but Edward being back made me question every feeling I'd ever had? This situation was far too complicated to be explained sufficiently to someone like her.

At lunch, Edward followed me through the lunch line, buying food he would never touch just for show. "Can we talk now?" he whispered as soon as I had paid for my slice of pizza and coke.

"I dunno Edward," I began, praying that I had the resolve to stay faithful to Jacob with Edward here, and so close…

"We can go outside, out of ear shot," he insisted.

Out of ear shot? What did that mean? I looked up for the first time in the cafeteria to find literally every pair of eyes in the place focused on Edward and I. Oh crap.

"Fine," I sighed. "But only because I know you're going to talk whether I want you to or not, and I'd rather not have the entire school watching it happen."

"Why don't we sit in the bed of your truck?" he suggested, leading me outside. It wasn't raining, the first day in weeks, but it was still overcast enough for Edward to be out in public. I attempted to hop into the bed of my truck, but failed miserably. Edward caught me inches off the ground, and set me gently down in the back.

"Thanks," I mumbled, but groaned at the sight of my food sitting in the mud.

"Here," he said quietly with a smile, setting his tray in front of me. Pizza and a coke. What, did Alice see me falling into the mud, and so he knew it was coming?

"Okay, speak," I sighed, putting the pizza into my mouth and tearing off a large bite with my teeth.

"Bella, love," he began, but I cut him off.

"Hey, no 'love'," I protested.

His face looked pained. "Please, Bella," he insisted. "Just, let me speak. I thought I was doing what was best for you; in fact, I was certain of it. If I hadn't thought that my leaving was the very best thing for you, I never could've brought myself to do it. As it is, I failed miserably. I couldn't stay away. I got to the point where I missed you so badly, thoughts of you consumed literally every second of my day."

"I…" I began, but I was speechless.

"I can't stay away from you, Bella," he said weakly, dazzling me with his brilliant eyes. "I tried, I swear I tried, but I can't do it."

"Edward, maybe you were right in leaving," I said quietly, staring down at my hands.

"No, I wasn't. I can protect you from Jasper," he insisted quickly, tilting my head up to look at him. "I didn't need to leave when that happened. I could've stayed, could've protected you better, could've saved you from yourself!"

"It's dangerous for me to be around you," I stated firmly, trying to keep the conviction in my voice. I couldn't go back to him; not again.

"I'll change you right now!" he cried desperately. "We can go away together, and I can make you one of us, and we won't have to worry about anything hurting you! It won't be dangerous for me to be around you… we can have forever," he promised, whispering into my ear with his melodic voice. It was impossible to resist.

"Edward," I said weakly, on the verge of giving in.

"Bella, love–" he began, but stopped short as a great rumbling sound grew louder.

Jacob squealed around the corner of the parking lot with a sheepish grin. His face fell short when he saw who I was sitting with.

"What the hell is this?"

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Okay, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll get the next one up as soon as I can! REVIEW!!