A/N: Once again, thank you to everybody who reviewed!

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, settings, etc. of the book Twilight/New Moon/Eclipse. The original characters and plot are the property of the brilliant Stephenie Meyer.

"Edward," Alice smiled as she walked up to him and hugged him.

"Welcome home," Jasper said, patting Edward's shoulder as he walked out of the room.

"It's good to be back," Edward said looking knowingly into Alice's eyes.

Alice averted her gaze quickly.

"I'm so sorry I had to involve you in this, Alice," Edward said.

"You're close with Bella and I had no right to cut her out of your life. I only hope that you can understand

why I had to do it..." his voice trailed.

"Edward," Alice began.

"I don't know if you fully realize the...the ...damage you caused when you left," she said, searching for the

right word to describe the state of things.

"Not just to Bella, but to everyone she loves," Alice continued.

Edward sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands.

"I know," he whispered.

"I tried so hard to make myself forget she ever existed, but how could I? She is and always will be the reason

for my existence."

They both sat in silence for a moment.

"Thank you for not telling her that I was coming home," he said.

"I know how difficult it must have been for you, and I will be eternally grateful to you for that."

"Yes, it was difficult," Alice agreed, "but it wasn't my place to tell her," she said.

Jasper knocked softly on the door and came in the bedroom.

"Alice, we should join the rest of the family soon," he said.

"Edward, will you come with us?" he asked.

"No, thank you. I've had quite enough to sustain me for a few more days. I'll stay here and wait for everyone

to return," Edward decided.

After Alice and Jasper had gone, Edward sat down on the bench in front of the grand piano. He ran his long,

graceful fingers along the keys. He closed his eyes and began to play a very soothing song that he knew by

heart. The song that could bring him closer to Bella, if only for this one moment.

He straightened suddenly and looked at the clock.

1:32 AM.

Edward was out the door and seated in his Volvo in a nano-second. He pulled out of the driveway and drove

for a few minutes, then stopped the car. From a distance, he could see the house, and decided to park his car

far out of sight. He stalked quietly around the shrubbery and hoped that the unusually warmer weather would

work in his favor tonight.

It did.

The window to Bella's bedroom was opened just enough for him to get through.

Edward scaled the side of the house agilely, and looked inside to make sure she was asleep before

climbing into her bedroom.

He stood in the dark corner of her room for a moment, contemplating whether or not he should stay or go.

He looked over at Bella, sound asleep and took an unnecessary breath of air. If his heart was capable

of beating, it would surely be straining to break free of his chest right now at the sight of her.

Soundlessly, he walked over to the chair that he had rocked her to sleep in so many nights before, and sat

down.

Folding his hands in his lap, he watched her sleep until dawn's pink fingers streaked faintly across the

sky. He walked over to where she lay and hovered near her cheek hesitantly, breathing softly. He turned his

head away and sauntered over to the window. With one last glance at Bella, he climbed out of sight.

Bella stirred faintly and shivered from the sudden icy breeze that had lapped at her ear. Fumbling around

clumsily in the lavender-gray dimness of her bedroom, she walked over to her window and closed it shut.

The smell of something burning and Charlie cursing loudly downstairs forced Bella out of bed

ridiculously early for a Saturday morning.

"Everything okay, dad?" she asked.

"Hey, Bells," he said half-heartedly, throwing a blackened piece of something unrecognizable in the garbage can.

"I never could get the hang of cooking pancakes," he said with a laugh.

"You had the flame on too high," Bella pointed out, turning the knob on the stove to the off position.

"You don't want to nuke the poor pancakes," she said sarcastically.

Charlie nodded in agreement.

She poured herself a bowl of cereal and sat down at the table.

"So, spring break," Charlie said.

"You must be excited. It looks like the weather is going to be pretty gorgeous," Charlie motioned to the

shaft of sunlight pouring through the window in their kitchen.

"Yeah," Bella agreed.

"So, a couple of guys down at the station were talking about maybe taking a fishing trip down to Silver

Lake this whole week since the weather's been so nice," Charlie said casually.

"I invited Billy Black and he seems to be real excited about it."

"Oh," Bella said thoughtfully.

"But, uh, if you need me to stay here with you, I will,"Charlie tried to hide the disappointment in his voice.

"No, dad. Please go. I'll be fine. Really," Bella assured him.

"You sure?" Charlie asked excited.

"Yeah. I'll probably hang out with Jake most of the time anyway," Bella said.

Charlie raised his eyebrows.

"...and Jess and do some girly stuff. It'll be great," Bella finished quickly.

Little did Charlie know that she hadn't spoken to Jessica Stanley for months, but she knew that he didn't

want her to ignore her other friends.

"So when are you leaving?" Bella asked, clearing her throat uncomfortably.

"Pretty early tomorrow morning. Probably before sunrise. It's a pretty long drive and we want to get a

good spot," he said.

Charlie began to go on about how much fish he was hoping to catch and the differences between types of

bass.

Bella nodded and threw in an "Oh," or "wow," every now and then to pretend she was really interested in

Charlie's conversation.

She always hated fishing.

The next morning, Bella lay in bed relishing the fact that she had the house to herself for a whole week.

Since Charlie was already gone, she decided to go visit Jacob.

She dialed his phone number and waited impatiently as the phone rang.

"Hello?" Jacob answered in a barely audible voice.

"Jake? Are you alright?" Bella asked.

"Bella?" He asked deliriously.

"Yeah," she said confused, "you sound terrible, Jake. Are you sick?"

"Yes. I mean, no," he said quickly.

"Can I do anything? Do you need me to come over?" She asked.

"No!" Jake yelled.

Bella jumped at the sudden change in his tone.

"Please, Bella. I'm fine. I'll be fine. Don't come over here okay?" He demanded hastily, and hung up the

phone.

Bella held the phone in her hand, her mouth open in dismay.

What was going on with Jacob?

Please read and review! There's some exciting stuff to come so stay tuned!