Hello all! Here's your promised Sunday update! I hope this chapter is satisfactory in terms of Edward's reaction to her "blow up speech"…if not, there is another EPOV in the making! Thanks to all of you who reviewed!

RemedyX

Team Edwacob lover of both

mercedesfrk1121

divine divinity

pmvb11

colliechild

augustine4

Lady April of Ohio

april nichole

twilightgrl61692

liz345

TwilightFanGirlForever96

hailey famous

Monstergrrlshow

jeniffer masen

EllyCullen

angelinvestigationsfan

,..baby

tigger5600

XxClairesyxX

Angels And Airwaves

medievalove

Dancemydreams

Ratava100d

Team Sparkle

Koinaka

Kaitlin13

Kolored

Secretly-A-Vampiire

chocolatease

and

kayla13

Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer…if I was I wouldn't be writing fan fiction! I'd be writing original fiction!

Chapter Seven

Edward had heard my whole blow up speech. I wondered why his face looked like that. I thought it might be guilt…But I knew that it wasn't. He spoke to me. "Did you sleep well?"

"No."

"Right," he went to go upstairs.

"Wait! Edward!"

"Yes?"

"I never meant for you to hear that, any of it. I'm very angry at you, but you didn't deserve any of that. Sorry."

"That's alright. I'd always rather that you told me what you were thinking."

Emmett piped up, "She wasn't saying that for your benefit, brother. It was for mine."

"No," I told them, "It was for me. I just needed to let it out. I haven't talked about that to anyone. Ever. That's why I was planning to go to Forks today. I wanted to talk to Jacob. I'm leaving on the ten o' clock flight." I told them.

Edward nodded and began to mount the stairs; he was disappearing fast, so I let him go. The mother in me knew that he had a lot to digest, even though the ex-girlfriend in me wanted him to suffer. "What did I say last night?" I asked Emmett.

"Erm, do you want to take a walk?"

Some people may be unnerved by the idea of taking a walk alone with a vampire, I wasn't one of them. "Yes." I said, I needed to get out of the house.

When we were sufficiently far enough from the house, we were sitting outside of a closed café pretty much across town. "Alright," said Emmett. "You know how we have perfect memories?"

"Yes."

"I don't know what any of what you said means, but I can guess, so I'll just say the words, alright?"

"Okay."

He launched right into it. "You said: come for a walk with me. And then you didn't say anything for a long while. That was when Edward came downstairs. After that you said plenty of things in quick succession. I'll just say them, alright?"

"Alright."

"Okay, let's talk. Why now? Another year –…. And then you whispered this: When you say we –, and then you said: okay, I'll come with you. And then: Where you are is the right place for me. Don't be ridiculous, you're the very best part of my life. What happened with Jasper – that was nothing, Edward! Nothing! You promised! In Phoenix you promised that you would stay –"

Emmett took a breath. I realized that what he was saying was the exact conversation the night that Edward had left me, only without Edward's lines. It was like a one man show. I had to try hard not to stop him. I knew the rest, but he didn't know that I knew the rest. And now I realized why Jasper and Alice had to leave. I must have made him feel guilty. As Emmett continued I felt like such a shmuck. "And then you exploded: No! you said, This is about my soul isn't it? Carlisle told me about that, and I don't care, Edward. I don't care! You can have my soul. I don't want it without you – it's yours already! Then you got really quiet, Bella, and said: You…don't…want me?"

"Emmett, stop. I know what happened next. Edward left. It's as simple as that. I'll bet I stopped talking then, because I woke then. I feel awful that I upset Jasper, though."

"Don't feel bad. I think you upset Edward worst of all. He left as you were talking about Jasper. And Alice took Jasper out after you were done."

"Oh Emmett, after you left I was heartbroken. I missed all of you. But it wasn't just like the love of my life had left me; it was as if someone had died. Because I wanted to have your life so badly, I wanted to be one of you so badly; it was as if a future me had died. And she did. Vampire Bella can never be. By leaving, he destroyed my love and my life. It took a very long time to put myself together again." My eyes began to water.

Emmett reached over and patted me on the head, gently. "That's alright, Bella."

That was the final straw. His pity made it final, the tears were coming more freely then. I was sobbing into his lap, his hand stroking my hair. "I'm so sorry, Emmett." I blubbered, "Thanks for being such a good friend."

"No problem. Anytime you need a shoulder to cry on, you know where to find me." A few minutes later the tears subsided and Emmett proposed that we go back to the house. I agreed. I had to apologize to Edward and Jasper, and then talk to Alice.

I hopped on Emmett's back and he ran me back to their house in one minute flat. I sighed, I couldn't get too used to this; it was bringing back memories. He set me back down on the couch, but I got right back up again and went to Edward's room. As I suspected, he was in there listening to music. It was the music that he was listening to that was surprising. I distinctly heard Clare de Lune wafting from his stereo. But the music cut off very quickly when I knocked on the door. Edward let me in. I left the door open.

"Hey Edward. I'm really sorry about last night. I didn't mean for you to hear that. I' sure that it must have made you feel really awkward."

"What do you mean? When you asked if I was going to have my way with you?"

"What?" I hadn't remembered that part. I blushed, "I said that?"

"Yes." He smiled my favorite crooked smile. I loved that smile. I almost melted.

"Oh, sorry. I was definitely drunk last night. But no, that is not what I meant. I was actually talking about my sleep talking. I didn't mean for you to hear that. It must have been embarrassing for you in front of your family."

"No, no, don't worry about it. I wasn't embarrassed. Were you?"

"No. I'm just sorry that you had to go through that." I said.

"That's alright. I didn't mind…" he trailed off, but I thought I heard him say "Just hearing your voice is torture enough."

Huh, so he thought that my voice was torture. I was seriously affronted. "Huh," I said, and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind me.

"Bella?" I heard his voice behind me. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Was it something I said?" He seemed genuinely concerned. But I knew how good an actor he could be. I shrugged and started down the stairs of their mansion. "Bella!"

I turned. "What, Edward!" Emmett and Alice showed up in the entrance room to watch this play out. Jasper, Carlisle, Esme, and Rosalie joined them quickly. Apparently Alice and Jasper had returned while Emmett and I were out.

"What's wrong?"

"Why do you care?" And then I gasped. He felt guilty! Poor kid. I smiled at him, "Don't worry about me, Edward. I'm a grown-up now: I can take care of myself."

"I worry all the time, Bella. I'm always afraid that I'll hurt you…again." He seemed to have tacked that last bit on as an afterthought. I felt really bad for him.

"It's alright Edward. I'm fine now; I really don't need you to look after me."

He mumbled something.

"What? Speak up, I'm an old lady, you know."

"I said, I want to look after you."

"What?"

"I said, I want to look –"

I cut him off, "I know what you said."

"Then why did you ask again?"

"Because I thought I'd heard wrong."

"No, no. Not at all. I want to take care of you Bella. I can see that I was wrong and should not have left you. It was disastrous for both of us apparently. I know this is sort of sudden and random, but I love you Isabella Marie Swan. I'm so so sorry!"

"What?" I said for the third time.

"I said –"

"I heard you!" I sort of stood there awkwardly for a moment. But I couldn't believe him. I forced a laugh weakly out of my throat. "Ha ha, what's the punch line?"

Edward looked affronted. Jasper was about to say something, but Alice put a hand on his arm. I gasped. He really meant it! He really loved me! Jasper could feel it! He loved me…but I wasn't ready for that. I mean, I had Alice now. She deserved a human father. Wait, did I just think 'father'? Would I marry Edward if I had the chance? I thought about it and decided that I wouldn't. It just wasn't logical. I mean, I was thirty-five and here he was standing in front of me in all of his seventeen-year-old underage glory. Besides, technically, he was young enough to be my son.

I opened my mouth to politely bow out, reject him kindly, but never got the chance. He flew down the stairs faster than I could see, and his lips were suddenly softly, gently, on mine.

It was a feeling that I had missed for what seemed like an age and a half. I dreamed about Edward's kisses, I fantasized that we would meet on the street and he would kiss me. I wanted him to kiss me. And I knew that I did, but now was not the time. He just exacerbated my hurt by doing so. I was not an object to be used! I know realized that in the past, when we had been together, he was always controlling, protecting me, making decisions for me, I didn't mind then, but now I was 'all grown-up.' I was my own person now, not an Extension of Edward. I had needed someone to look after me like that back then, but not now. Not anymore. I would kiss him when I was good and ready.

I stilled my movements that, until that point, had been surprised. I froze, the way I had when Jacob first kissed me. I only let him kiss me because I knew it would be useless to try to fight him off the same way that it had been with Jake. Esme noticed, Alice noticed, Jasper knew my feelings. Esme gasped, Jasper almost went to rip Edward off of me, I heard from Alice later, but again he was held back by his wife.

When Edward was finished, I turned around and stormed from the house. "Bye, see you around Alice! I won't be here for a while, though."

I got outside and realized that I had no car with me. I went back inside, Alice was three steps ahead of me, I stepped inside and she tossed me a set of car keys. I nodded my head in thanks; Edward and the rest of the family were all standing there in shock. I waved to her again and beeped the keys to unlock the car. What a surprise, a yellow Porsche unlocked itself. It looked extremely expensive and very fast. I shook my head, but was too eager to leave to go and demand a different car. Besides, I was too afraid that I would get the Volvo if I went back in.

I drove home, trying not to think about anything but the roads and street signs.

When I arrived home, I grabbed my bags and put them into my own car. I left the Porsche in my apartment garage and put the keys in my pocket. I concentrated on a decision to park the Porsche where it was, hoping that Alice would See me and her car.

The next thing I did was to pack up some food for the airplane ride, by then I had only about two hours left to waste before picking up Alice. I had nothing better to do, so I sat down to watch TV. In a few minutes, my phone rang.

I picked it up. "Hello, this is Bella Swan speaking."

"Bella, this is Alice."

"Hello Alice. I'm sorry for walking out on you like that, I didn't mean any disrespect." I suddenly realized that I had never gotten a chance to thank Esme and Carlisle for their hospitality. I ordered Alice to do it for me.

"Alright, but listen Bella. Here's what I have to tell you. First of all, Edward is a pigheaded prat, and there's nothing anybody can do about it. Currently he's banging away…" she held the phone away from her ear and I could hear a piano in the far distance. "I'm outside. That's how loud he is. In any case, I am so sorry for what he did to you. He won't apologize, but I will for him. I know that he's never moved on, and I tried to convince him that he shouldn't, but you know Edward…I mean, that was totally uncalled for I –"

I cut Alice off, "What do you mean, he's never moved on?"

"Well, that when we left he stopped doing anything. This is the first that he's been active since we left Forks. He basically moped the entire time. He's been very poorly, and I think that could excuse his rash behavior, at least a little bit?"

"But he's never moved on?"

"Well, yes! Didn't…wait, Emmett told me…" Alice was silent for about a second, "Bella, what did Edward tell you when we left?"

"You heard my dream. That was my side of the conversation. I'll bet that you can catch the drift. And please tell Jasper that I'm sorry, and that I didn't mean to offend him. Tell him that I forgave him the moment he even stepped toward me. I've never blamed him! Tell him that!"

"Of course, Bella, but you didn't answer my question."

I didn't have the bravery to relive that day for the second time in twenty four hours. I gave Alice a quick summary, "We went walking in the woods and then he told me to keep myself safe and that you all had to move. At first I wanted to move with you, but he convinced me to stay."

"But what were his exact words to you Bella?"

"I…I can't, Alice, you can't ask me to…" I swallowed hard, trying not to cry.

"Sorry."

"That's alright, Alice, I understand that you need to know. He told me that he didn't love me anymore, and that I should keep myself safe for Charlie."

"He did WHAT!!!" I almost dropped the phone. I heard the piano in the background cut off. Alice swore quietly, it sounded odd in her high shimmering voice. "I've got to go Bella, I'll call you before you get on the plane. And please leave my keys under the cushion of the red chair in the lobby of your building. I'll get them from there later today, bye!" Alice hung up. I did as well.

I checked the time, I had one hour and fifty-three minutes before I could pick up Little Alice.