Author's Note: Yay! Another update! Man, start calling me "butter", because I'm on a roll! Okay, so that joke was totally cheesy, but the chapter is pretty awesome. At least I think so. So read it and let me know.

I was hanging out with Alice and Edward the other day, having a good time. We were just chilling out, watching movies, doing whatever. Alice totally gave me a kickass makeover and Edward kept telling me how beautiful I looked. Suddenly, Bella walked into the room, bitch-slapped me, and told me that I don't own Twilight. Boo.

Here it is.

Bella leaned toward me, her long, mahogany curls falling softly over her shoulder. She smiled sweetly and ran her warm hand across my cheek, my eyes closing of their own accord. The warmth of her skin was a welcome sensation, something I had been without for far too many months. Her finger grazed across my bottom lip, and the hot desire I always felt when I was near her flared in the pit of my stomach. I took a settling breath to keep myself in check, and then I slowly and carefully closed the distance between us. Her soft lips pressed gently against mine, and the burning desire was joined by a scorching sensation in my throat. I pushed that sensation to the back of my mind and focused solely on Bella. She was here, and she loved me. Despite what I had done to her, she somehow still had room for me in her heart, and that made me feel indescribable. My hands traced her face, reacquainting myself with every beautiful feature. She pulled away momentarily and whispered my name before bringing her mouth back to mine.

"Edward."

She was fading. My angel was leaving me, and I could do nothing to stop her. It was exactly what I had done to her, and a fresh wave of despair washed over me.

Bella! I tried to call out to her, but my voice wasn't working. She was almost completely gone now.

"Edward," she called again. "Edward!"

My eyes snapped open, and I turned to glance at Alice. She chuckled and re-focused on the road.

"Man, if I didn't know any better, I would have thought you were sleeping. What were you thinking about?"

"Bella." And oh, it was the sweetest delusion.

"I should have known. I just wanted to tell you that we're almost there."

I breathed a sigh of relief as I looked out the window at the familiar forests. We passed a sign welcoming us to the city of Forks, but to me, it said "Welcome Home." The most incredible feeling coursed through me, and it felt like things might work out all right after all.

The car suddenly swerved off the road, and I glared at Alice in disbelief.

"What the hell, Alice?"

She stared blankly ahead, a look of pure horror on her face.

"No!" she cried frantically before unblocking her thoughts.

Bella was sitting on the floor of her bedroom, fiddling with something that I couldn't see. She groaned in frustration and stood up, walking across the room to turn on the light beside her bed. She returned to where she had been seated, picking something up and carrying it over to her nightstand, sitting down on her bed. Her hands were trembling as she held the object where she could see it more clearly. The light glinted off of the small piece of metal, and I instantly realized what it was: a razor blade. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes momentarily, and when she opened them, there was no trace of fear.

"Edward," she murmured. "This is for you. I love you so much. I always will."

She pressed the blade to her wrist and moved it slowly across her skin. The blood seeped out of the cut, pooling up on her arm and running down her hand. It dripped onto the floor, creating small puddles of scarlet. The razor fell to the floor with a tiny clang, and Bella collapsed on her bed, unconscious. Then everything went black.

"No," Alice whispered, defeated. "We're not going to make it."

"Alice!" I roared, panic heavy in my voice. "How long do we have?!"

"Um, about two minutes."

"And how far from her house are we?"

"About five miles," she replied gravely.

"Go faster! We need to get there. NOW!"

"You're car won't get us there in time. You need to run."

"What if I don't make it?"

"GO!" she commanded.

I leapt from the car and ran. I ran faster than I ever thought was possible, but it was physically impossible for me to go slower. Bella was going to kill herself, and it would all be my fault. But what if I got there and she'd already cut herself? Would I be able to restrain myself, or would I be the active cause of her death? I couldn't think about that. I would make it there in time. I didn't have a choice. I arrived on Bella's street, and I took the last five bounds or so to her house, springing lithely up the tree and standing on the limb outside her window. She was sitting on her floor, fiddling with the razor, and a small sigh escaped my lips. I wasn't too late. I grabbed the bottom of the window and slid it open silently, not disturbing Bella from her…activities. A rush of air hit me like a freight train, and Bella's scent almost knocked me off my feet. It was the sweetest combination of freesia, lavender, and a hint of strawberries, all mixed with fire. The scent of her burned my throat, but I forgot all about the dry sensation as she stood up and turned around, heading for the light on her nightstand.

"Bella," I murmured. Her head snapped up and toward the window, her tear-stained face creating a heartbreaking but beautiful mask of pain. She stared at me, eyes wide, and the silence that stretched between us was unbearable. Finally, she spoke, her voice trembling.

"E-Edward?"

I smiled encouragingly. "Yes, love. It's me."

She smiled briefly, and then her face crumpled. She darted to the spot on the floor, picking up the razor. She turned toward me again, keeping her eyes locked on mine.

"Bella, please. Put it d--" A sob escaped her throat, cutting me off.

"God, when will it end?! I can't…I can't keep imagining you here. This is killing me!"

"Please, love. Put the razor down," I begged her, taking another step closer.

"Don't! Don't come any closer. Please," she was pleading with me, agony plain in her voice.

"Bella, you aren't hallucinating. I'm here. I'm back."

"Please just stop," she whispered desperately. "Just leave me alone to die."

She honestly planned to kill herself. She wanted to end her life, and it was all my fault. We were both silent for an immeasurable period of time.

"No. I won't leave you. Never again, I promise." She snorted, rolling her eyes in sarcastic disbelief. "What? You don't believe me?"

"How can I believe you when you aren't even here?! I felt myself slipping away over the past seven months, and now, well, I guess I've completely lost it. But as far as delusions go, this is the most realistic one yet." I stood with my mouth agape. She'd hallucinated about me before? I stayed perfectly motionless as she continued with her little rant. "Your eyes…they're exactly the same as I remembered. And your face, your body, everything…God, you're beautiful." Her thoughtful expression faded, replaced by anger. "How could you leave me? Didn't you realize what it would do to me? Jesus, Edward! I loved you! I still love you! That's why I can't be here anymore. I just can't take the pain. I need to end this once and for all. So I guess this is goodbye. Again. I love you." She raised the hand holding the razor and inched it slowly toward her left wrist, sucking in a deep breath and closing her eyes.

"Bella!" I cried in desperation. Her eyes snapped open, focusing on mine. "Please don't do this. I'm here. I need you. I love you."

"You…love me?"

"Yes, Bella. Yes. I love you more than any one person has other loved another. You don't know how it's tortured me to be away from you. I can't be without you any longer. I'm back, Bella. And I'm here to stay. Right beside you, no matter what. I swear on my existence, I'll never leave you again."

Her eyes softened, but I could see that she was still wary.

"But how do I know for sure? How do I know you aren't just another hallucination?" I thought for a brief second.

"Put the razor down first, love." She opened her hand slowly and the tiny piece of metal hit the floor with a small clang.

"Now what?" she asked.

I knew exactly how I would show her that I was here. As I closed the distance between us in two strides, I wasn't sure if I was doing this entirely for Bella's sake. I needed to feel her, to make sure that she was still the same Bella I remembered. For the most part, she looked the same, just sadder. Her eyes didn't dance with excitement as they once had. Instead, they stared back at me, deep but empty pools of chocolate. Right before I reached her, I was sure I saw some spark of electricity in those beautiful orbs, but I needed her too much to be one hundred percent sure. I carefully took her face in my hands, pausing when my lips were just half an inch from hers, testing my self control. I had been away from Bella for so long that I wasn't sure if this was safe. Strangely, though, all I felt was pure need that pulled me to her like a gravitational force. She exhaled, whispering my name like a prayer.

"Oh, Edward…"

And then I not-so-gently touched my lips to hers.

No experience in my 90-some years could ever come close to comparing to the feel of Bella's lips against mine. Kissing her for the first time in seven months was like being reborn. I kissed her sweetly, adoringly, and although I initiated the kiss, she soon took control. Her warm hands snaked up my neck and into my hair, holding me to her exactly like she used to. I sighed, and she shivered before pulling herself tightly against me, molding her soft body to my marble frame. Despite the fact that I had been gone so long and had grown unaccustomed to her scent, I didn't feel the need to pull away as I usually did when things went this far. Instead, I moved my hands to Bella's waist, picking her up so her face was on the same level as mine. She wrapped her legs around my waist, holding herself up while my hands worked their way up to her back. I pulled away for a moment, remembering something crucial.

"Breathe, love."

Bella sucked in a deep, shuddering breath and crushed her mouth to mine with all the strength that her fragile human body could muster. I chuckled deep in my throat, ignoring the fire that was exponentially building there. I kissed her back, holding her as tightly as I could without crushing her, but when her tongue swept across my lower lip, the fire flared hotter than ever, and I pulled away, closing my eyes and focusing on gaining control.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, chuckling a little. "I kind of forgot."

I opened my eyes to see Bella staring at me, still inches from my face. Either my imagination was playing tricks on me, or some of that lost excitement was back in her eyes, making Bella shine with radiant beauty. I smiled and kissed the tip of her nose, marveling in the silky-smooth texture of her skin.

"You really scared me for a moment, there," I confessed, walking her over and placing her on the bed. I sat down beside her, taking her hand in mine. "I thought you were going to take yourself away from me forever."

"Yeah? Well now you know how I felt. I thought you were never coming back. And life without you isn't life at all, Edward. I'd rather die than be without you again. I need you. But more importantly, I need you to need me. If you're back just because Alice saw my little…episode…in a vision, then I want you to tell me. I can't start thinking that you're back for good if you're just going to leave again. If you say you're staying, then you need to promise me. Swear to me, Edward, that you'll stay forever."

"Bella," I said, taking her face in my hands once again. She glanced downward, avoiding my intense stare. "Bella, look at me." She kept her eyes down. "Please look at me." She grudgingly met my gaze, and I smiled slightly. "Love, I don't know how to put my need for you into words. These past seven months have been the worst of my entire existence. I wasn't going to make it much longer without you, I knew it. But somehow, I couldn't bring myself to return to you. I didn't want to ruin any chance you might have had at a normal life. That's why I left, love. You deserve a life devoid of vampires. You deserve to live a long happy life with someone who can love you without restraint. But theory was far easier than practice when Alice had a vision of you with that…that vile Mike Newton. I was feeling so many things; I couldn't keep track of them all. Jealousy, rage, despair, longing. I longed to be back in your arms, Bella. So Alice and I drove back. When we were just miles from here, there was another vision."

"Edward, I'm so…I'm so sorry. I never--"

"No, Love. Don't apologize. I should be the one doing that. But let me finish first. Alice had another vision. But in this one, I saw the most important thing of my life taking herself away from me. I was coming back for you, but you were leaving. I can't even begin to tell you how afraid I was. It was excruciating, the thought of you being gone, no longer alive as I wished you to be. All I could think about was making it here in time to stop you. I had to tell you that I lied. Before, in the forest. When I told you I didn't want you, it was the darkest and most horrible lie I could have ever fabricated. I had to tell you that I loved you. I never stopped loving you, Bella, and I swear to you I never will. If you'll let me, I want to spend every second of every hour of every day proving that to you. I'm so sorry I left you, and I will never forgive myself for it. I'm not asking for your forgiveness, because I know that it's impossible to forgive me for such a thing, but I'm asking for your understanding. I need you to understand why I left, why I stayed away, and why I came back. I love you, Bella. And I will for the rest of eternity."

Tears were flowing silently down Bella's cheeks, and I leaned forward to kiss them away.

"I understand, Edward, and I forgive you. You said I don't have to forgive you, but I do. I love you so much it hurts. All I want is to spend the rest of forever with you."

I wrapped her into an embrace, both of us silent.

"Edward, I need you to do something for me."

"Anything, love."

"Kiss me again," she commanded.

And I obliged without further argument.

A/N: Review! Let me know what you think! Seriously, you guys are the best.

Love you all.