Alrighty then! Round 3 is up on deck. I spent a lot of sleepless nights trying to get this one perfect. I just had to do Edward justice, if not for your sake then for mine. It was hard because he kept trying to run away from me, and we couldn't have that could we? And yes, I put the kiss scene in here, just be patient you need to read up to it.

Mad Love to the people who reviewed. Gabriel Wolfe and slimjimjerky are some seriously cool cats.

Now, I had a playlist all planned out, but the Internet had different plans. So instead I will give you the names of the songs and tell you to go to because they have all the songs unlike all the other online music players. *snarls lowly*
Edward's Longest Night:
Dune Messiah by Brian Tyler
Preacher at Arakeen by Brian Tyler
Leto and Ghanima by Brian Tyler
Reunited by Brian Tyler
Farewell by Brian Tyler
Angels by Within Temptation (note this is just for the sound of it, the actual words have nothing to do with the story. Though it might in a twisted kind of way)
Swing Life Away by Rise Against
It's a lot, but totally worth it. Just push new tab and take care of business.

DISCLAIMER: IK BEZIT GEEN SCHEMERING. OR IF YOU DON'T SPEAK DUTCH, I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT AND I DEFINIETELY DO NOT OWN THE WORDS IN QUOTES. LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY DO. IF I OFFEND, LET ME KNOW!

Hold onto your bonnets loves and keep your arms, legs, and feet inside the vehicle at all times.

"So what?" she asked completely confused by my words.

"Excuse me?" So what so what?

"So what if I was dead?" Hearing her say the words brought back the nightmare of seeing a stone cold lifeless Bella.

"Don't you remember anything I told you before?"

"I remember everything that you told me," she said with a stone voice and a slight shiver. I knew she meant what I said in the forest. It stabbed me hearing her say that to me. But it was still less than what I deserve. I did this to my Bella. I made her cold and brittle and I had to fix it, tonight.

"Bella, you seem to be under a misapprehension. I thought I'd explained it clearly before. Bella, I can't live in a world where you don't exist." I did my best to give her a smile, but being filled with such self-loathing agony makes such endeavors difficult.

"I am…confused." I could see her mind weighing the difference between the truth I spoke now and the lies I told then. I knew that some part of this was getting through to her, but I could also see her mind beating wildly against it.

"I'm a good liar, Bella, I have to be." Her whole body stiffened and locked down as if it were about to be hit with some large object. I grabbed her shoulders and tried to shake her loose. My poor stone Bella.

"Let me finish! I'm a good liar, but still, for you to believe me so quickly…that was…excruciating. When we were in the forest, when I was telling you goodbye—you weren't going to let go, I could see that. I didn't want to do it—it felt like it would kill me to do it—but I knew that if I couldn't convince you that I didn't love you anymore, it would just take you that much longer to get on with your life. I hoped that, if you thought I'd moved on, so would you." This relief you feel Edward, this comes from telling Bella the truth, now go on!

"A clean break," she said through her pink stone lips. If it weren't for my vampire hearing I might have missed her saying it.

"Exactly. But I never imagined it would be so easy to do! I thought it would be next too impossible—that you would be so sure of the truth that I would have to lie through my teeth for hours to even plant the seed of doubt in your head. I lied, and I'm so sorry—sorry because I hurt you, sorry because it was a worthless effort. Sorry that I couldn't protect you from what I am. I lied to save you, and it didn't work. I'm sorry. But how could you believe me? After all the thousand times I've told you I love you, how could you let one word break your faith in me?" How could she? Was I that distant from her from the beginning that she could understand, no accept, that I would tire if her? "I could see it in your eyes, that you honestly believed that I didn't want you anymore. The most absurd, ridiculous concept—as if there were any way that I could exist without needing you!" I could see it and it killed me to see it. I broke everyone's heart that day, but I did the most damage to my Bella's.

She laid there in silence just staring at me. I had finally gotten the truth out after holding it to my chest for so many months. I felt like Bella had just pulled me from the depths of the crushing ocean. But she was silent now, and it scared me. Was this the point that she would tell me to leave because I had hurt her too much?

"Bella, really what are you thinking?" Her quiet mind was once again driving me into that comfortable madness that I had grown accustomed too.

"I knew it, I knew I was dreaming," she quietly wailed before breaking down to crystal tears. It killed me even more to see her crying again. It killed me more than when I saw myself killing her in the ballet studio. I will stop her tears and make this better. I am Bella's loving protector; it's my duty to keep her safe and happy.

"You're impossible." I gave a hard frustrated laugh as I gathered my thoughts to once again beat against the barriers in her mind. "How can I put this so that you'll believe me? You're not asleep, and you're not dead. I'm here, and I love you. I have always loved you, and I will always love you. I was thinking of you, seeing your face in my mind, every second that I was away. When I told you that I didn't want you, it was the blackest kind of blasphemy." Again the waves of relief pour off of me finally being able to say the words to her that I only said to her memory but two days ago. But the look on her face showed me that she wasn't in the ecstasy that I was thriving off of. She continued to cry her perfect diamond tears as she shook her head at the words I was saying. It almost seemed like she was trying to runaway to the deepest place in her mind.

"You don't believe me do you? Why can you believe the lie, but not the truth?" This was breaking my heart, but I was determined to convince her that was never leaving and that I was real and here for her.

"It never made sense for you to love me, I always knew that." Her absurd thoughts! What will it take to prove to her that I exist only for her? And then it came to me.

"I'll prove you're awake." My hands moved from holding her body to mine the holding her face. I pulled myself forward stopping only half an inch from her face, enjoying the sent that rolled off her body onto mine. Her warmth was such a wonderful tingling burn.

"Please don't," she almost whimpered to me. If my resolve weren't already set like the rising sun, I might have reconsidered. But I knew that this was the only way to prove to her that this was not a dream.

"Why not?" I begged and demanded.

"When I wake up-" I gave her a look and opened my mouth to continue the verbal battle, but she continued "-okay forget that one—when you leave again, it's going to be hard enough without this, too." She still thinks that I can leave her. My God, is there nothing I can say to prove it to her? I love you Bella. I love you I love you I love you I love you. Your hold over me is stronger than any force in the universe. Our love is what is holding the stars together.

"Yesterday, when I would touch you, you were so…hesitant, so careful, and yet still the same. I need to know why. Is it because I'm too late? Because I've hurt you too much? Because you have moved on, as I meant for you to? That would be…quite fair. I won't contest your decision. So don't try to spare my feelings, please—just tell me now whether or not you can still love me, after everything I've done to you. Can you?" I was a fool who trusted a hope. I was at her complete mercy. I didn't want to leave, but I would if she told me that she had moved on. I would kiss her forehead, and stand from her bed, and jump out of the window, and run until the world swallowed me whole. I can't live without my angel. I can't survive the evil of the world without her by my side. The darkness will drink me whole.

"What kind of an idiotic question is that?"

"Just answer it please." End the torture that I have allowed to go on for far too long for both of us.

"The way I feel about you will never change. Of course I still love you—and there's nothing you can do about it!" Her voice rang with conviction and truth and love.

"That's all I needed to hear." I pressed my lips hard against hers for the first time in what felt like eternity. I pressed my lips against her for the first time for the rest of eternity.

Every kiss that we had ever shared ravaged through my memories, leaving nothing but happiness in their wake. Every smile that touched her silk lips burned their way back into my memory. The thoughts that I banned myself from having came rushing back in vibrant color like a dam had been broken in my mind. My throat felt like it had caught fire she tasted so good. Ever part of my body that she was touching turned to ice, to never be changed again. I felt warm and frozen all at once. Every muscle of my body relaxed against her having finally achieved what they wanted for so long a time. I finally achieved what I wanted for such a long time. I was home with my beautiful fragile amazing wondrous magnificent Bella.

Isabella Marie Swan was still mine. The evils of the world couldn't touch me here. The evils of my world couldn't touch us here. Heaven was raining down on us and it was good.

My hands traced her face rememorizing it as she did the same to me. Her heartbeat became erratic as the kiss became more passionate. She was kissing me back as hard as I was kissing her. When we both needed air I pulled away from her and whispered her name like a prayer. Her hands rested on my face cooling the vengeful fire that burned against me.

I was home.

I laid my head over her heart and listened to the choirs of angels singing through her body. I remembered the way that she was holding her chest and thought that maybe I could heal the pain that lived in here. I still didn't know why it was there, but I knew it was pain.

"By the way, I'm not leaving you." Her silence was wrong. I didn't expect her to say anything, but I knew that something about this silence was wrong. I looked up to her to hold her deep brown pools within my onyx ones. "I'm not going anywhere. Not without you. I only left you in the first place because I wanted you to have a chance at a normal, happy, human life. I could see what I was doing to you—keeping you constantly on the edge of danger, taking you away from the world you belonged in, risking you life every moment I was with you. So I had to try. I had to so something, and it seemed like leaving was the only way. If I hadn't thought you would be better off, I could have never made myself leave. I'm too selfish. Only you could be more important that what I wanted…what I needed. What I want and need is to be with you, and I know I'll never be strong enough to leave you again. I have too many excuses to stay—thank heaven for that! It seems you can't be safe, no matter how many miles I put between us." This time the conviction rang with the sound of my voice. Only death would take me from her, but I didn't want to think of that right now.

"Don't promise me anything." I heard the heart break in her voice and I looked to her with passionate anger in my eyes.

"You think I'm lying to you now?" I demanded with a hint of anger, but mostly sadness.

"No—not lying. You could mean it…now. But what about tomorrow, when you think about all the reasons you left in the first place? Or next month, when Jasper takes a snap at me? It isn't as if you hadn't thought the first decision through is it? You'll end up doing what you think is right." One step forward, two steps back, the cynic in me thought. I did flinch at the memory of my brother's behavior on her birthday. In truth the only one of us who acted with any maturity was Carlisle, a fact I was not soon to forget. Even I had to run from the house to keep from hurting my precious bleeding Bella.

"I'm not as strong as you give me credit for. Right and wrong have ceased to mean much to me; I was coming back anyway. Before Rosalie told me the news, I was already past trying to live through one week at a time or even one day. I was fighting to make it through a single hour. It was only a matter of time—and not much of it—before I showed up at your window and begged you to take me back. I'd be happy to beg now, if you'd like that." Hell, I'd grovel and beg and plead and beseech and pray and anything else that she wants.

"Be serious, please," she grimaced. I knew that she was still trying to grasp the truth. How she thought she was still in a dream made no sense to me.

"Oh, I am. Will you please try to hear what I'm telling you? Will you let me attempt to explain what you mean to me?" I waited a moment to make sure that she wasn't going to interrupt me. The old Bella hated complements, so it would be interesting to see how she would take this one.

"Before you, Bella, my life was like a moonless night. Very dark, but there were stars—points of light and reason. …And then you shot across my sky like a meteor. Suddenly everything was on fire; there was brilliancy, there was beauty. When you were gone, when the meteor had fallen over the horizon, everything went black. Nothing had changed, but my eyes were blinded by the light. I couldn't see the stars anymore. And there was no more reason for anything."

"Your eyes will adjust," she mumbled.

"That's just the problem—they can't." Believe me I tried. I was too the point that I didn't want them too. If seeing in the darkness of night meant getting used to a life without Bella, then someone can gouge my eyes out right now because I don't want them.

"What about your distractions?" She was finally adding things all together in her head. I knew I was getting through the stone cold Bella to my Bella beneath.

"Just part of the lie, love. There was no distraction from the…the agony. My heart hasn't beat in almost ninety years, but this was different. It was like my heart was gone—like I was hollow. Like I'd left everything that was inside me here with you."

"That's funny," she said with a humorless chuckle.

"Funny?"

"I meant strange—I thought it was just me. Lots of pieces of me went missing, too. I haven't been able to really breathe in so long. And my heart. That was definitely lost." I laid my head over her heart again as she breathed in my scent. There was a time that I hated when she did that because it was yet another sign of the monster I am. My scent draws my prey in, at least it used too. Now it draws my love in.

"Tracking wasn't a distraction then?" she asked with a strange tone in her voice.

"No, that was never a distraction. It was an obligation." I sighed regretting this ounce of truth.

"What does that mean?" It means that I don't want to tell you the truth because I don't want to scare you.

"It means that, even though I never expect any danger from Victoria, I was going to let her get away with…" No I still can't talk about what happened a year ago. "Well, like I said, I was horrible at it. I traced her as far as Texas, but then I followed a false lead down to Brazil—and really she came here." I groaned deeply. "I wasn't even on the right continent! And all the while, worse than my worst fears--"

"You were hunting Victoria?" she interrupted me abruptly with a small shriek

"Not well. But I'll do better this time. She won't be tainting perfectly good air by breathing in an out for much longer." I felt the growl build in my chest as I thought about what she had been trying to do to my Bella. About the things that she wanted to do to my Bella. It will be a great feeling when I finally kill her, I though darkly.

"That is…out of the question." Was she defending the abomination? Clearly Bella doesn't grasp the seriousness of the situation, like always.

"It's too late for her. I might have let the other time slide, but not now, not after--"

"Didn't you just promise that you weren't going to leave? That isn't exactly compatible with an extended tracking expedition, is it?" I could hear that she was slowly getting hysterical by the thought of me leaving, and I hated myself even more.

Damn she caught me. But just thinking about Victoria escaping me caused yet another growl to build in my chest. "I will keep my promise, Bella. But Victoria is going to die. Soon." I could make it tonight if I could allow myself to pull away from Bella.

"Let's not be hasty. Maybe she's not coming back... Jake's pack probably scared her off. There's really no reason to go looking for her. Besides, I've got bigger problems than Victoria." She had a strange way of trying to calm my anger. All she was doing was shifting it from one topic to another.

"It's true. The werewolves are a problem." I pondered how I was going to fix that situation. Again when she interrupted my thought process.

She snorted, "I wasn't talking about Jacob. My problems are a lot worse than a handful of adolescent wolves getting themselves into trouble."

She has no idea how dangerous they really are. Now that the Cullens are back for good it will only make things more difficult. I'm willing to bet that a new treaty will have to be put into place to allow Bella to be with me. It will hurt her feelings and upset her to tell her what they are really capable of, but I have too. Then I saw the look in her eyes, the complete faith she had in them. At least I now knew who Jacob was. But if there is something that is scaring her more, then I need to know what it is and get rid of it now! She has no reason to fear while I'm with her, which will be until she dies. I braced myself for what is her biggest problem, some part of me knowing that it was me. "Really? Then what would be your greatest problem? That would make Victoria's returning for you seem like such an inconsequential matter in comparison?"

"How about second greatest?" she tried to compromise.

"All right," I agreed stiffly and suspiciously.

"There are others who are coming to look for me." Her almost silent whisper told me exactly how scared she was by the pompous Italians.

"The Volturi are only the second greatest?"

"You don't seem upset about it."

"Well, we have plenty of time to think it through. Time means something different to them than it does to you, or even me. They count years that way you count days. I wouldn't be surprised if you were thirty before you crossed their minds again." I knew that they worked differently than the rest of us so they didn't intimidate me in the least. Bella can live a long happy life before they come checking on her.

I saw her stiffen, as her eyes grew impossibly wider. Maybe saying that they would come anyway wasn't the right thing. Backtrack Edward! "You don't have to be afraid. I won't let them hurt you."

"While you're here." It felt like she had just punched me through the chest. But I had to endure and keep proving to her that I'm NEVER going to leave her.

I moved my hands from her back to her face, grabbing it securely, "I will never leave you again" I swear it on my family's life that I will never leave. Her response to this was telling me how deeply my leaving hurt her. My lies were too good if she couldn't believe that I would ever come back to her and mean it. My glass Bella lived in Hell while I was gone. Just imagining her pain made mine come back twofold. I found myself once again desiring a car to hit me, such a peculiar desire to have.

"But you said thirty. What? You're going to stay, but let me get all old anyway? Right?" tears silently dripped from her eyes.

I was beginning to understand her apprehension about my plans, but they were the only way. "That's exactly what I'm going to do. What choice have I? I can't not be without you, but I will not destroy your soul." I have destroyed her heart and likely her mind too; I can't take her soul from her. How much more destruction could I do to this girl? I won't let my selfishness consume me.

"Is this really…" she paused as she studied my face. I wiped a tear away from her cheek with my thumb.

"Yes?"

"But what about when I get so old that people think I'm your mother? Your grandmother?" Yet another diversion, what is she trying to hide from me? Why is she trying to hide something from me?

My hard exterior crumbled seeing the pain in her. Bella never thought herself a beauty, oh how wrong she was. This time I kissed a tear away from her cheek. "That doesn't mean anything to me. You will always be the most beautiful thing in my world. Of course…If you outgrew me—if you wanted something more—I would understand that, Bella. I promise I wouldn't stand in your way if you wanted to leave me," I hated saying this, but anything was possible while she was still human. I will never change and it could make her angry to watch her days slip by, but this was the way it had to be.

Bella must be human.

"You do realize that I'll die eventually, right?"

"I'll follow after as soon as I can."

"That is seriously…sick."

"Bella, it's the only right way left—"

"Let's just back up for a minute. You do remember the Volturi right? I can't stay human forever. They'll kill me. Even if they don't think of me till I'm thirty. Do you really think they'll forget?" She was still crying but she was now holding her own in the conversation. I could tell that she was going to push against this with all her might. It was the one thing she had wanted since we declared our love, but the one thing I can never give her. It wouldn't be giving, it would be taking.

"No. They won't forget. But…" I shook my head knowing that this next part was really going to light her fire.

"But?" she said with a hint of her famous Bella fire.

"I have a few plans." I grinned madly at her just remembering all the devious plots I had to keep her safe.

"And these plans… These plans all center around me staying human?" she said with even more fire in her quiet voice.

"Naturally," I said with an air of arrogance. This was one plan that she couldn't usurp.

Suddenly she pushed away from me and began sitting up. My breathing picked up worrying at what I had said to her to make her act like this.

"Do you want me to leave?" I couldn't disguise the pain in my voice and the flutter in her heart told me that she heard it. Her eyes were kind, but resolved.

"No, I'm leaving." She got up from me and stumbled around her room looking for something. I realized that it was her shoes that she was looking for and this made me even more suspicious than I already was.

"May I ask where you are going?"

"I'm going to your house." That was not what I was expecting, but much better than it could have been. I got up and grabbed the shoes that I had removed fifteen hours earlier. It surprised me to see that this conversation had taken an hour, I thought that it was much less time.

"Here are your shoes. How did you plan to get there?" My Bella was crafty and I knew that she was planning something in her mind.

"My truck." Nope. That still wasn't what she was planning.

"That will probably wake Charlie." I said this hoping that it would stop her, but I knew that it would only encourage her more.

She sighed standing up from putting her shoes on, "I know. But honestly, I'll be grounded for weeks as it is. How much more trouble can I really get in?"

"None. He'll blame me, not you." My mind wandered to his and I saw that he was still dreaming of what he could do to me, while he was fishing. His mind was a little predictable. I guess I just have to never agree to go fishing with him.

"If you have a better idea, I'm all ears." Her voice brought me back.

"Stay here." I think that's an excellent plan.

"No dice. But you go ahead and make yourself at home." Like she really expects me to leave her alone. This battle was lost. I was blocking her from the door when she turned to her open window. I could tell that she was seriously debating how hard it would be to jump from her window. Damn it! That girl knows that I can't let her do anything dangerous. If being wrapped around her finger wasn't so precarious I might enjoy it more.

"Okay, I'll give you a ride," admitting defeat.

"Either way. But you probably should be there, too."

"And why is that?"

"Because you're extraordinarily opinionated, and I'm sure you'll want a chance to air your views."

"My views on what subject?" I asked through a tight jaw. This really wasn't how I was expecting the night to go.

"This isn't just about you anymore. You're not the center of the universe, you know. If you're going to bring the Volturi down on us over something as stupid as leaving me human, then your family ought to have a say." I knew Bella well enough to know that I was the center of her universe. It didn't make me happy on the surface because I'm a monster and there are so many other people counting on her. Deep down it make me jump and scream and shout for joy. At least she was beginning to accept that I wasn't going to leave her, and that was a fair trade, I guess.

"A say in what?" She wouldn't….

"My mortality. I'm putting it to a vote."

She would.

Man that was intense!

Now, initially I had no intention of conintuing. But I can see the anticipation of the rest of you and know that you probably want me too. If I get oh, 5 people telling me to go on, I will. Simply as that. So hit the tiny green button and tell me how much you love me! Because I love you for reading. Oh yes I do, mad love to all the peeps on FanFiction.

I think that's all I have to say. Oh wait no, I wanted to leave you with a quote.
"If we could live without passion, maybe we'd know some kind of peace, but we would be hollow: empty rooms, shuttered and dank. Without passion we'd truly be dead." ~Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 2

~Love Jinges