Chapter 2

As the weeks passed and the semester went all, all seemed to be going well. Carlisle would talk of his favorite student, but never giving enough away for anyone to realize it was Bella. But it still pained him to see Edward so unhappy when he knew how to take it all away. In his heart Bella and Edward would always be meant to be with one another and as much as he wanted that, he wasn't sure it was going to happen just yet -- or if ever. For now he would just bide his time and keep his promise to Bella.

Bella loved having Carlisle as a teacher, he was there to help her if she had a question and seemed to really enjoy teaching. But as Thanksgiving break approached she was starting to let down her guard. She thought about Edward every day, but it was different then when Carlisle wasn't back in her life. Now she wondered what would happen if Edward knew they were close to one another -- would he come for her? But she needed to banish those thoughts, she needed to pack to go home.

"Thanks for the notes." She said as she walked out of Carlisle's office and into his classroom, bumping right into Esme. She dropped her head and ran, hoping she wasn't recognized. Carlisle had the same thought, knowing how angry his wife would be with him.

"Carlisle Cullen you have a lot of explaining to do." Esme said as she slammed the door to the office, nearly removing it from the hinges. She recognized Bella immediately -- a mother knew!

"She's been in my class all semester. And no one knows besides you now." He confessed.

"Why?" She said, trying not to scream. "Why would you keep this from everyone -- from Edward? He's a mess at home, he won't even leave his room unless we force him to go hunting and the one thing that could bring him back to us, give us back our son has been in your life for weeks!"

"Because its what she wanted. It took her a long time to get a reasonable life together. One that didn't include our family -- which was what Edward wanted. What was I suppose to do? Bring all that crashing to a halt because our son 'might' change his mind? We are still the same threat to her safety as we were then in his mind. Why put her through that if it won't change anything. The only person that hurts is her and I'm sorry I can't do it. You didn't see her that first day when I just said his name, there was so much pain in her eyes that I wanted to cry for the first time in centuries! She has her life together and she is going to be an amazing nurse!"

"But how could no one know, Alice and Edward?"

"Alice had a vision of her, but she didn't recognize her. Bella was the girl that fainted my first day here. As for Edward, well I learned Japanese and made sure to keep my thoughts consumed with that. And he's so distracted with his depression and guilt, so he never even tried to figure it out."

"We have to tell him, he's hurting!"

"It's not our place, its their choice. If Bella asked I would have taken her there immediately. She didn't! We have to let them live their lives."

"But they belong together. I've never seen anyone love someone as much as he loves her." She said, hugging her husband.

"Doesn't matter, so you need to cloud your thoughts that you seen her…" he said and neither seen Bella open the door behind them.

"No you don't." She said softly and they both faced her. "Carlisle I'm sorry I made you lie. It wasn't fair to you or your family. I just wasn't sure I could handle it. But you don't have to keep this up, Esme knows and I'm sure he has suspected something was up." Neither missed the wince in her voice as she thought of their son. Both wanted to make it go away, seeing how it was tearing her apart. "He's made it clear he doesn't want me and isn't coming back. There's no reason in deluding myself into thinking we have this fairy tale romance that will survive the ages because we don't. He made that clear when he left -- I just didn't want to believe it. I just felt if he didn't know where I was, then he couldn't come back and there was still that chance he loved me…" she trailed off and closed her eyes, trying to will back the tears. "Tell him, not that he'll care but tell him I'm here and your student. Tell Alice, Emmet and Rosalie hi for me and I miss them. Tell Jasper I don't hold any harsh feelings towards him and understand he would never hurt me of his own accord. It was an accident, simple as that and I would never blame him for it. Send them all my love." She said and hugged Esme. "I've missed you," she said softly and pulled away. "See you after break Carlisle. Bye Esme." She said and ran out of the room, waiting to let her tears fall.

"She's destroyed." Esme said as she turned around to face Carlisle, in her own way understanding why he made the choice he did. "She still loves him and is still so sweet and loving after everything, she is still so…" she stopped unable to find the word.

"Bella." he said and nodded. "But what do we do?" He said and she was already on the phone with their kids, a plan on her mind. One he was sure was already in affect. He knew they would tell everyone, Esme couldn't keep the secret and he wasn't sure he wanted to anymore.

Bella never went to her dorm that night, she just couldn't face it. She needed to think and clear her mind. She knew Carlisle would keep his word, but seeing Esme changed everything. She drove to a local diner and sat there crying into her coffee, she didn't know what to do next. And for once it was completely up to her!

Esme and Carlisle went straight home and walked in to find everyone in the living room -- except Edward.

"He's in his room." Jasper said, still feeling guilt over all that happened. Carlisle didn't say anything, just for the first time in weeks -- didn't cloud his thoughts and waited as Edward was downstairs in seconds, slamming Carlisle into the wall before anyone knew what happened.

"How could you? How could you not tell me! Lying to us for all this time! How dare you! What gave you the right to play God with my life!" He screamed as Emmet and Jasper pulled him off Carlisle. Everyone still not knowing what happened.

"Edward this is what you wanted." He said, reminding him of how he left Bella in the woods. "'Like I never existed!' Those were your words not mine."

"But…" he started and stopped, he couldn't argue with facts. He just wanted to understand, put it all together. "How?" Was all he said as he slid down the wall and sat on the floor, his head buried in his hands. Carlisle explained everything to them, all about who is favorite student really was. Jasper tried to calm them all down but it wasn't easy, everyone was angry -- even Rosalie.

"How could you not tell me it was her?" Alice cried and Carlisle looked at the floor.

"She asked I keep it to myself, it took her a long time to get back to living. We abandoned her, if anything I owed her my word to keep her confidence. You didn't see her, just the image of me in that room was too much, she fainted immediately. I refused to push her backwards, to…it wasn't fair."

"Then what changed?" Emmet asked, angry to not have his little sister and confused at how his father did a 180.

"I seen her when I went to talk to Carlisle. I recognized her and she heard us arguing at Carlisle keeping her secret. She apologized, said it was her idea and unfair to ignore his loyalty to our family. She didn't want to put him in that place anymore and said it was ok. She said it didn't matter anymore, and to send her love." Esme said and turned to Edward. "It doesn't matter because she doesn't think you love her, I'm not sure she believes you ever did. She is still so broken and you are the only one to fix her. The only thing your leaving did was kill her ability to love and trust. She's no safer and Jasper, she doesn't blame you for anything. Edward, you can have her back, have the life you want with her if you just go get her! She made it your choice, you know where she is and you know how she feels -- what are you going to do about it?" She said and walked away.

"I didn't know you'd want to know, I did but I wasn't sure. You were so determined to leave her in Forks, in the past that I thought being so close and not being allowed to go near her would somehow make you hurt more. And even as I clouded my thoughts you never wondered why so I took that as a sign. She's still your Bella on the inside, just has a little tougher shell now." He said and left, Emmet and Rosalie following without a word being spoken.

"Edward, I know what you think but these years apart have done nothing but make us all miserable. We all miss her, she's apart of this family whether you are willing to accept that or not. But its time for a change, for redemption. Go get her, because if you don't, then you might not get another chance. You two are soul mates, but that doesn't mean you will be together unless you fight for it. You may be two halves to a whole, but sometimes pieces get separated and it takes a really determined one to find its counterpoint. You know where yours is, so get it before someone else does. She might decide to stop waiting and settle for someone else, it seems like she's almost there now. I don't know if you can handle that, watching her date and marry someone who isn't you. I could never handle giving Alice away to anyone, so I can only imagine what you are going through." He said and walked out, leaving Alice to run and hug Edward.

"I'm sorry I didn't see this. That vision was blurry when Carlisle first got the job, I'm sorry I didn't recognize her."

"He black short hair can do that. She is different, I could see that. But am I right to go after her?" He said and both turned to see the door opened and someone standing there. The one person they both never thought they'd see again.