Thanks for joining me again. Sorry it took so long, but I hope it was worth the wait.
DISCLAIMER: Twilight, and everything associated with it, does not belong to me in any way, shape, or form.
Edward POV
I had waited so long to hear her say my name, I hadn't even known how much I missed it. No one else could fill two syllables with as much love as she could, and she didn't even have to try.
"Wait." She didn't realize, either, the effect that her voice had on me. She didn't realize that I would follow any command she gave, which may have accounted for the involuntary shudder that ran through her body when I obeyed. I threw her a questioning glance, waiting for her next order. She ran a hand through her hair, then hugged her knees to her chest. With a start, she looked up at me and stammered, "Hu- human moment," before hurrying to the bathroom.
I stared after her in confusion. It was times like these when I regretted the fact that Bella was the only exception to my gift. If I could only know what she was thinking about, maybe I could help. No, stop that, I scolded myself. She needs to figure this out for herself, whatever this is. No butting in. I repeated the mantra to myself, using all of my control to stop from breaking down the door and demanding an explanation. I sat on her bed, and prepared to wait, forever, if necessary. It could have been minutes, hours, even decades and I wouldn't have known the difference. Time had ceased to hold meaning for me, when the only time that mattered was the time I spent with her.
Bella POV
You've really outdone yourself this time, I told myself, splashing cold water on my face. My delusions had escalated from voices to visions. He had made it undeniably clear that he would never come back, and I believed what he had said more than I believed what I saw with my own two eyes. Talking to my imagination was just the icing on the cake. I stared at the stranger in the mirror, hoping that she could help me forget. I sighed and tried to clear my head. After the dream I had, it was no surprise that I was seeing him now. I could still remember the feel of his arms around me, his hands stroking my hair, his voice whispering in my ear. I had no idea what I had imagined him saying, but then I had never known what to expect from him. I only know that his words were soft spoken, the way he would talk when he was telling me how much he loved me. I wondered if any of it was true, or if he had been lying to me from the start. No, I figured, he had probably thought he loved me, but when he finally came to his senses, couldn't stand the thought of living a lie any longer. That would perfectly explain the abrupt change in personality. I took deep breaths to calm my racing heart, and turned on the shower. A long, steamy shower was exactly what I needed to start the day off on a better foot. While waiting for the water to heat up, I caught myself humming a familiar tune. My lullaby. If I closed my eyes, I could almost imagine it was him. My voice could never match his dulcet tones exactly, but the running water mostly obscured the discrepancies. I didn't think that his song would ever cease to have its soothing effect over me, and by the time I had finished my shower I felt immensely better. There was no hurry, so I took my time before heading back to my bedroom. I put my pajamas back on, in case Charlie hadn't left yet. I still wasn't comfortable walking around the house in only a towel. I don't know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't what I found.
Edward POV
Her hair was still wet and matted from the shower; she obviously hadn't tackled it with a brush yet. She was still wearing her favorite gray sweat pants and an old t-shirt, the same outfit she had been wearing last night. Her heart literally skipped a beat when she saw me, then continued at a pace that was too fast to be healthy. I may have been a little rusty on my medical knowledge, but having a perfect memory had its uses.
"You need to sit down," I told her quietly, "before you faint." She did as I asked, but instead of coming next to me as I had hoped, she stumbled over to the old rocking chair. I had known the instant she woke up that there was no turning back now, that I had long passed the point of no return. I waited for her to pass judgment, to tell me what my fate was. Either I would spend the rest of my existence with her, or she could send me away, for good this time. This time around, the decision was in her hands and I would respect her wishes. The look on her face passed from confusion to relief, and finally settled at worried. My brows furrowed as I tried to understand what she could possibly be thinking.
"What's wrong?" I asked carefully, afraid to upset her any more.
"I could ask you the same thing," she replied with just as much caution. When I didn't answer, she continued. "Something must have happened, or you wouldn't be here. I'm surprised you didn't send Alice, actually, unless," worry turned to panic, "she's okay, isn't she?" The idea was so ludicrous, that Alice would let anything happen to her or anyone else, but I held back my laughter and merely sighed.
"Everything is fine, Bella," I assured her. "Everyone is doing just fine. You have nothing to worry about."
"Speak for yourself," she muttered under her breath. I don't think she meant for me to hear, but before I could figure out what she meant, she clearly addressed me. "Well, you did make it perfectly clear that what happens to your family is none of my business." She looked down at the end of her statement, unable to meet my eyes.
"Bella," I started, intending to contradict her statement. But I realized that what she said was the simple truth. I had mercilessly cut her off and she had every right to want nothing to do with me. But she had shown genuine concern when she thought something had happened to Alice made me hope, even though Alice had not been the one to decide to leave. She still cared about my family, that much was true, but I wondered if she could still care about me. When she saw that I had no intent to continue, she glared.
"Are you going to answer my questions?" she asked coldly. "From earlier. Where have you been?" I noticed the rephrasing. She didn't mention how she hadn't eaten, hadn't slept, had cried until she couldn't breathe. I thought out my answer carefully, so as to not give anything away.
"I was doing what I thought was best for you," I said slowly. "There was some unfinished business to take care of."
"Could you be any vaguer?" she scoffed. "Tell me the truth, Edward, for once. Don't sugar coat it, don't edit, just spit it out. Don't I deserve at least that much?" Her question stung, because we both knew that she deserved so much more than I could possibly offer. It was my turn to avoid her gaze, so I stared at my feet while answering.
Bella POV
The moment he took his onyx eyes off mine, I knew we were finally getting somewhere. If he wanted to lie, he would do it straight to my face. Telling the truth required much more concentration, hence looking at the floor.
"Don't make this about me Bella," he made one last feeble attempt to avoid the question.
"But it's always been about you, hasn't it Edward?" I practically shouted at him. The anger had resurfaced, now that I was assured the safety of his family, the people I had hoped to one day claim as my family. "You are the one that took off. I will never understand how you can be completely in love with someone one day and completely not the next. Without explanation, without warning, Edward, you did everything but take our memories with you. You didn't leave me anything. Tell me again how you were doing what was best for me."
"I was protecting you," he thundered. Any normal person would have shrunk back in fear, but I was glad to be getting some kind of emotion out of him. "Everything I have ever done since the day we met has been in your best interests."
"Prove it," I hissed. "Start from the end, and work your way back."
"Do you honestly have no idea how much danger I put you in just by being in the same room?" he was incredulous now. "Not to mention the rest of my family, much less the rest of my kind."
"That has never bothered me, and you know it," I threw back. "And since when do you get to choose who I hang out with? I know what the risks are, but I decided a long time ago that I don't care." I stressed the last two words, hoping that it would sink into his thick skull this time. "Being with you far surpasses everything else." Okay, so that last part had slipped out. I hadn't meant to make this about my undying love, but if that's how the cookie crumbled, then so be it. His sharp and unnecessary intake of breath surprised me, but not near as much as what he said.
"Is that present tense?" his silky voice turned husky, tense, on the verge of breaking. I shook my head in disbelief, unable to imagine why he couldn't understand my attachment to him. That, plus only Edward would pay attention to insignificant details like what tense I had spoken in.
"Past, present, and future," was my reply and I did my best to hold his gaze. His eyes were smoldering, something that I hadn't realized I had missed so much until now.
The next chapter should be up soon, but, as always, I would love to know what you think. Until next time...