Stephenie Meyer owns all of the rights.

"Do you think any of us want to look into his eyes for the next hundred years if he loses you?"

– Twilight

I was focusing hard on not running away from Edward. I could tell that he really, really wanted to talk to me, even if I was unsure as to why he wanted to. His family, it seemed, was trying to make it very clear to me that he cared about me. I still couldn't comprehend why they would want me to think that of all things, but I also wasn't going to argue with them.

We walked slowly (for a vampire, anyway) along the road for a couple of moments, draped in silence. Edward soon let out a sigh of frustration. Shocked, I turned to look at him. I hadn't even done anything, what could he possibly be frustrated about?

Edward caught me staring at him, my mouth slightly agape. "Sorry. It just still frustrates me that I have no idea what you're thinking. I thought that perhaps after all of these years, it would have changed. Especially now that you're like me..."

"Right," I replied tersely.

"Bella," he pleaded with me. I could tell that he really wanted me to listen and pay attention to what he was saying. I really wanted to, too. I mean, going 50 years with out him had been torture; it was well worth all the pain I would put myself though when he left me again just to be able to say that I had five minutes of his time.

"Yes, Edward?"

"I... you... Look, Bella, I'm sorry for everything that I've ever done to hurt you," he said quickly, though I could hear the sincerity in his voice; it was bleeding through the tone that he was using. I had never heard anyone be so sincere in my whole existence. Well, not that I could recall anyway.

I raised my eyebrow. Could I trust that? I wasn't too sure. Instead of replying to his statement, though, I kicked a rock alongside the road. My hands were shoved in the pockets of my worn and faded jeans and I wasn't looking at Edward anymore. At the pace we were walking, we'd be at the half-way home in no time.

"I have to know something."

His voice, when he said that, sounded urgent and full of curiosity. Could I deny him one question, no matter how hard it might be? No, I couldn't really do that. That wouldn't be fair to him. Even though he hadn't been quite fair to me, I couldn't deny him the simple things. When it came to Edward, I had quite a large soft spot for him. I was pretty sure that I would still do anything that he asked me to do and not question him too much. Edward still had that grip on me after all of these years. That was kind of a really scary thought, when I paused to think about it more.

"What?" I inquired, though I didn't sound rude. I didn't want to be rude to Edward. I just wanted to know what he wanted to know. I was also hoping that he didn't ask me something silly like, 'do you still love me?', because I honestly wasn't sure how I would respond to a question like that.

"Did you... ever move on. I mean, did you ever find someone else, as I intended for you?"

"Victoria didn't give me much time to do that," I replied darkly, my eyes flashing up to meet his face. The look in my eyes wiped the smile off of his face and replaced it with one of remorse. I felt somewhat bad for causing him to feel responsible, but oh well.

"But, after you were changed?" He pressed. I knew that he wasn't asking me for hard details; I could at least answer his question as straight forward as possible, right? He was just being curious, old Edward.

"No, never."

I heard his sharp intake of breath. What was he thinking? I was glad that my thoughts were still guarded against him. I couldn't even entertain the idea of him being able to understand what I was thinking at this moment. I was also very thankful that Jasper was not with us because I probably would have over done his empathy limit for the day. Something told me that Edward had been very tiring on Jasper's limit for empathy in the past 50 years.

"Did you... ever move on?" I asked Edward. Inquiring minds had to know...

"No," he replied quickly. "No, I never wanted to. No one ever seemed half as good as you, Bella. No one ever could have replaced you."

I stopped walking, and Edward stopped as well. I raised my head so that my eyes could rest on him. He met my stare with one of those crooked smiles that I used to love so much. I bit down on my lip, wondering what to say to him. I knew what I needed to say..., I just didn't know how to phrase it.

"Edward, I don't understand."

"What don't you understand?" He asking in a soothing tone as he took a step towards me. I fought the urge to step backwards some, and I won. There was a little distance between the two of us, but I felt as if I knew that it would be closing in soon.

"Besides the obvious... I... don't... understand... why... you... I don't understand why you... left," I stumbled, trying to get the words to unstick from the roof of my mouth. That had been a hard question for me to ask. I shot my eyes down, not able to look into his anymore. He was so pure..., and I was so undeserving. I could totally understand why he had left me in that aspect. But if he had never moved on...

"What's the obvious?" He asked, taking his index finger and raising my chin slightly so that I was forced to look into his golden eyes.

"I know that I'm not worth your love. I don't deserve you – you said so yourself that day that you... left."

His eyes instantaneously looked pained. "I meant for you to believe that then, Bella. I didn't mean for you to believe that still."

"What do you mean?"

Okay, now I was thoroughly confused with what he was trying to say to me. Did he mean it or didn't he? And, if he hadn't meant it, why did he say that to me? He could have saved me a lot of heartbreak and emotional stability if he had been honest with me.

"I wanted you to have a normal life, Bella! I wanted you to be happy and experience human emotions and just be content with life like that! When you were with me, I was constantly putting you in danger. You weren't safe, Bella. And you meant the world to me. If I had lost you then due to some stupid mistake that I made, I would have handed myself over to the Volturi. Bella, I couldn't keep hurting you. You deserved to be happy."

While that all made sense enough to me, I was furious with him.

"I was happy, Edward!"

"How could you be happy like that!? James was out to kill you, Victoria..., Jasper, too! You were never safe with me!"

"And you call being savagely attacked by Victoria and being changed into a vampire 'safe'?! You need to get your stupid priorities safe then, Edward Cullen!" I exclaimed, turning on my heel and walking off towards the shelter.

He was caught up to me in a second. "Bella, please. I was trying to do what I thought was best for you. Please, Bella..."

"'Please, Bella' what?" I snapped, shooting him a venomous glare. I could tell that I wounded his feelings a little, so I lightened up my glare a little. As much as I wanted to 'kiss and make up' with Edward, what he said had hurt. He was the best thing that ever happened to my life.

"Please, Bella, tell me that I'm forgiven."

"You're forgiven." I couldn't say that he wasn't. I forgave him a long time ago for breaking my heart. But just because you forgive doesn't mean that you have to forget the pain that it's caused you. Just because you forgive doesn't mean you always move on. You can forgive someone for ruthlessly murdering your best friend, but when it comes down to it, at the end of the night, you're still gonna miss your best friend and cry about it.

"Really?" He asked, looking extremely hopeful.

"Really," I agreed.

Without warning, Edward scooped me into a bone crushing hug. And I melted right into his arms, resting my head on his chest. It only took a couple of seconds of me standing like that – completely comfortable in his embrace – before I pulled away, embarrassed.

"Sorry," I murmured. "I didn't mean for that to happen..."

"It's okay," he said. Edward had on the biggest smile that I had ever seen on his face. He truly looked happy. Was it possible that I made him happy? No way, man.

"I need to go," I informed him quietly, as we were standing outside of the half-way house.

Edward had a look of intense sorrow on his face, but he nodded his head. "Okay," he replied. "Bella, I'll see you tomorrow in school, okay? Honest, I'll find you or something. I mean– is that okay with you? I'd really like to start... being your friend again, if that's okay."

Judging by his words, I could tell that he wanted something more than friendship. And, to be honest, if I could learn to trust him again, I couldn't see why we couldn't be more than friends. I couldn't help but smile broadly at his words; they meant so much to me. I would be very happy to be included in his life once more.

"It's okay," I told him happily.

"Great. Tomorrow, then. I hope you're not in too much trouble tonight."

I shrugged. "Yeah, well, it happens. After all, I'm a run away teen – what do they expect from me?"

He chuckled softly and reached of to lightly ruffle my hair. "Tomorrow," he repeated in astonished exhilaration.

I turned on my heel once more, happy. I felt as if I was floating into the half-way house on air. There was nothing that could ever compare to this feeling. All because of a silly, silly boy. It didn't matter what the director of the half-way house said to me at this point.

Edward wanted me back in his life.