A/N: To my loyal readers, thank you so much for putting up with my lack of postings/delay between chapters. As some of you know I've recently moved! I'm still trying to get settled in, so I can't promise that I will be updating regularly again quite yet. However, I will be posting another chapter immediately after this one as a little something extra :).

Disclaimer: The characters of Twilight are owned by Stephenie Meyer. The original content and ideas of this story are those of TheGirlNtheYellowShoes.

Neverland Never Lasts

"Never say good-bye because good-bye means going away and going away means forgetting." ~ Peter Pan

When I woke the next morning I was lying in a bed. I looked around before trying to sit up. My head felt heavy, in fact, I felt like a total bobble head. If one can feel like a bobble head... I guess one would have to know what a bobble head feels like first.

I groaned and let out a light breath, reaching up to cradle my head in my hands as my eyes adjusted. A soft light shown through the crack in the drapes and I looked up again to take in the room. It was beautiful with deep, rich colors and the huge bed seemed to swallow me whole. I sighed and rolled onto my side, cuddling one of the large pillows.

I found myself pondering the same thing I'd pondered since day one of being in this enchanting, yet deadly, time warp... I was trying to figure out what was real and what was make believe. I was trying to decide what was a figment of my imagination and what, if anything, could not possibly be imagined. I wanted to know what in the hell was going on and could I trust any of it to be real?

One name came to mind... Edward. I could trust him. I knew that, because I had seen him beyond this world... but could I trust myself to know that something in this world may never be in another? And did I care? I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't hear it when he entered the room.

"Bella." Came a sweet velvet voice as he sat on the side of the bed. I slowly rolled over to face Edward, his eyes sad.

"Hi," I croaked out, a small smile gracing my lips at the sight of his beautiful face.

"How are you feeling?" He rubbed my arm lightly before bringing it to rest over my hand. I swallowed. His touch made it hard for me to put two letters together, much less a word or even a sentence.

After a few breaths I nodded, "I'm okay." I tried to say it in the most assuring tone I could muster, whispering so my voiced didn't crack.

He looked me over, I assumed looking for any new bruises that may have popped up over night and his green eyes came back to rest on my head. I involuntarily brought my hand up to touch the left corner he was staring at and he caught my hand in his own.

"No," He whispered before bringing my hand to his mouth, kissing it and placing it back on my stomach, not letting it go.

"Is it that bad?" I asked, briefly wondering if my modeling career was over until I realized I didn't much care at this point.

He shook his head. "It will heal, I just don't want it to get infected." He sighed, "Your face is slightly bruised though." Anger flashed in his eyes before pain and guilt followed.

"But I'm alive." I said after a moment. His nod of hesitant agreement was followed by a long awkward silence.

"It's too dangerous for you here Bella.... You need to go home." He said ending the silence.

I yanked my hands away startled at his words. I sat up too quickly, but not stopping as I crawled backwards until my body met the bed frame with a thud. He stared at me wide eyed as I steadied myself and tried to focus on my breathing, eventually having to put my head against the headboard and closing my eyes.

When I opened them I knew Edward would be inches from my face, I felt his eyes gazing intensely at me and I could smell the lilac and honey. So, I opened my eyes slowly in anticipation of his closeness as my heart sputtered slightly.

He had moved further onto the bed, leaning over me, one hand on either side of my body and his brow was furrowed at me curiously.

"You don't want to go?" He raised his eyebrows in surprise.

I shook my head lightly, "I...." I didn't continue. I brought my hands into my lap and looked down at them.

"Bella, you don't belong here." he said after a moment.

That was when it hit me... he knew everything and had probably known from the beginning.

"I'd be selfish to ask you to stay," he whispered a moment later and I looked at him confused.

I felt a lone tear escape down my face at the thought that he hadn't wanted me after all, mentally kicking myself for allowing the attachment and realizing that he was trying to give me a chance to go back to my life... to go back to my father who I knew desperately needed me.

He took my chin into his hand to force me to look at him, before whipping away my tear with his other hand. He brought the hand back down to rest it on my waist before inching even closer to me.

"I would want nothing more than to see you stay and it will pain me to watch you go, but this world.... it's too dangerous for you," He shook his head, "You're too beautiful, too enchanting and too naive for such a seemingly simple world."

I gaped at him, my mouth falling open, he wanted me to stay? But he'd just said...

"Speak to me," He said finally. "Please."

I sighed before reaching up to touch his face, lightly tracing his jawline, his skin burning beneath my finger tips. Edward was different and I knew it, how else does someone live almost 500 years? And if my life hadn't of become anything similar to that of Twilight, I would have had to of taken a wild guess. But I knew better. After all, I had read the book. All four of them. Just because this much had worked out didn't mean the rest of it was meant to. I definitely wasn't that naive.

I licked my lips before pulling my bottom one into my mouth and looked back into his eyes, they were so beautiful, "I know." I said finally. "I know I should go home and God bless my father, he needs me, but I'm... I'm so scared to leave you. Because that pain... it could kill me."

"You're already dead Bella," He shook his head. "If you stay here... you will die." All of a sudden the cool facade and the built up wall around Edward Cullen had crumpled. And I could do nothing but stare in shock.

"I was dead the moment you laid eyes on me," I said knowingly. "So what does it matter if I leave now? I'm still dead..."

He narrowed his eyes at me, finally realizing I knew more than he'd bargained for me to know. He sighed and leaned back running his hand through his hair.

"If you.... if you leave now, I have a chance at protecting you."

"You already do."

"No, Bella. This isn't your life."

"Then who's is it?"

"Bella, you have to go back." He said angrily before standing. I felt the tears sting my cheeks. I couldn't stop them. Not now, not this time. How can someone go through two heartbreaks in three weeks? It's impossible. My heart ached and I momentarily felt it skip a few beats it wasn't supposed to. I brought my hands up to my head and leaned over my legs feeling liked I'd be sick.

I felt him touch my arm lightly before sighing. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, not opening my eyes. I wasn't okay.

I felt him sit back onto the bed, taking off his jacket and kicking off his shoes. He turned to me and slowly slid his arms around and under me, pulling me back down onto the bed, before sliding closer to me and wrapping them around me.

I just laid there for a long moment without saying anything as he took deep breaths into my hair and the side of my neck and in that moment I realized I wanted him to kill me. Because I'd rather die than have to live without him.

When had I become so dependent on someone besides myself? I sighed.

"My darling," He whispered.

I turned around in his arms to face him. I looked into his eyes as I put a hand on his chest and my other found its way to his waist. He slid a hand down my body, picking up my hips and inching them towards him before intertwining our legs. When he brought his hand back up he brushed through my hair, getting it out of my face and my cut. Being on my side made my ribs ache, but I pushed the thought to the back of my mind, I was going to savor this moment.

"Edward..." I started. I honestly didn't know what to say.

He looked at me, waiting for me to finish.

I sighed again wincing in pain and his hand made it's way to my face, pain touching his own eyes.

"When I came here, however it was that I did... I left behind a girl that always got everything she wanted and I've become a girl that is finally truly thankful for everything she has been given and... a girl that wants more than what her past shallow life had to offer her." I shook my head.

"That doesn't mean you should stay and live a life that's not yours to live." He whispered, "You need to take what you've learned and live your own life to the fullest."

"I know..." I said the tears coming back.

"Shhhh my sweet Bella." He chuckled lightly, "This goodbye isn't forever." He whispered inching towards my face.

"Why does God always take everyone away from me?" I choked out unexpectedly. Edward Froze. He rolled me to my back before bring himself to hover over me, his knees on either side as he leaned down to meet my face. His hands cradled my cheeks and he looked intently into my eyes.

"What do you mean by that?"

I shook my head. "My mom... My sister... I'm always so alone because anyone that has ever meant anything to me... has disappeared or been taken away." I choked out in between sobs.

"Bella," He breathed shaking his head, "shhhhhhhh," his cool breath washing over my face, calming me.

He brought his lips to my own, "I'm not going anywhere. I will always be here," he said, his lips grazing mine. I closed my eyes, feeling them roll back into my head and inhaled at his closeness before his lips finally met my own lightly. He kissed me with such care and so gentle as I started kissing him back, my hands reaching up and snaking through his hair. His lips tasted of honey and I licked the bottom one, drawing it into my mouth and between my teeth. He groaned into my mouth before his tongue found it's way in between my parted lips to caress mine.

He pulled back after a moment and I fought to catch my breath as slowly as possible so it wouldn't hurt. "I will be there, just as I am here." He said suddenly. My eyes opened to meet his. He was looking at me cautiously, as if he half expected me to jump from the bed and run away.

"You said it yourself... I save you at 17," He smirked. "If that's the case... then do you realize you are saying I will wait 5 lifetimes just to see you again? You have to believe that I will be there... because if not, I now know that means your impending death." He shook his head and winced at the idea. "Meaning I will have never met you... and I can't bare that thought... the thought of having never laid eyes on you."

I just stared at him. He would wait for me? But why hadn't he ever seemed interested before? When I'd seen him at the nightclub a year ago, it seemed like I was in the way. As if I were a threat to something.

He rolled back onto his side and slowly pulled me back into his arms, "you need to rest." He whispered into my ear, his lips grazing right below my earlobe making me gasp and making my body electric. I shifted myself closer to him and I heard him chuckle.

"Relax Bella," He said after a moment, taking his free hand and caressing my lower back, "Later..... rest now." He said whispering again before kissing me on the forehead.

I felt my body relax at the touch of his kiss and I sank into him, finally giving back into the darkness.