Title: Banishment

Author: meggers102290

Rating: M (mature) due to language and mild sexual content

Pairings: Edward/Bella

Disclaimer: all characters are the property of Stephenie Meyer's genius imagination. I have no ownership of them at all.

Summary: All relationships need to have a bit of drama and disagreement, right?

Setting: This is my insert for the last few chapters of eclipse. Shortly before Jacob receives an invitation to the wedding from Edward.

"Go to sleep, Bella" his silk voice ordered. I lifted one eyelid so he could see my eye rolling rebelliously beneath it. The past two weeks he had been insistent upon making me sleep as much as possible. Every time I would complain he would point out that there wasn't much time for me to sleep left so I should enjoy the escape while it was available. I had a suspicion that it had something to do with the fact that he got some kind of weird enjoyment out of watching me sleep and listening to me talk endlessly about the things that he couldn't read in my mind.

"Honestly Bella," He continued, " You need to sleep. If you don't stop this stubborn resistance, I may have to leave."

"No." I discarded the idea. "I'm not tired at all, really. I took a nap today while you guys were hunting." This time he rolled his eyes. I couldn't tell weather the attitude was due to disbelief or defeat. I took advantage of his submissiveness to slip in a quick question that had been playing on the edge of my thoughts all evening. "You said Alice sent out wedding invitations yesterday, right?"

"Yes." He eyed me warily, sensing my alternative reasoning for asking about something that Alice had clearly made a point of over-elaboration.

I hesitated, biting my lip without realizing it. Big mistake.

"Continue.." Edward pushed.

I met his gaze for a long moment before hesitantly resuming my thought, paying extra attention to the way I phrased my sentences.

" Did she end up… or rather, did she even consider sending invitations to… well…." My hesitation gave away the punch line.

"La Push" he concluded for me.

I said nothing, but stared at him intently waiting to read his reaction through his facial expressions. He was too cautious though, and kept his thoughts carefully hidden beneath his perfect and angelic façade. An immeasurable amount of time passed before he opened his mouth to speak again

"No, Bella. I was not informed that she did." He smoothly stated. "I did not expect that you would have wanted to see Jacob at our wedding though. But then again, I couldn't be expected to seeing as I can not read your mind and you tend to keep all of your thoughts involving him securely concealed." I sensed a slight note of sarcasm infiltrating the sweet sound of his voice.

He was right though, I rarely spoke to him about Jacob. The last time we had been in the same room.. -Or, tent, rather- with Edward, I was employing Jacob as my half naked personal space heater in the interest of maintaining possession of all ten of my toes. And after that, I had not been able to place myself in Jacob's presence at all without him repeatedly proclaiming his undying love and devotion for me. Things had been… well, awkward. But even so, Jacob was still like a brother to me.

"What are you implying" I retorted coldly.

His eyes found mine and he studied my face before responding

"You love him." It was not a question.

"I believe we have discussed the topic of how I feel about Jacob many times and just to recap.." I shot back "If the love you are referring to is the brother/sister/family kind of love, then yes. You are exactly right." Of course I would never admit to Edward that I loved Jacob as anything else. I was still not entirely allowing myself to believe it.

His eyes betrayed his disbelief.

Somehow, Edward and Jacob both were certain that I was in love with Jacob. I stood my ground still insisting that they were both crazy. I refused to let myself think about the possibility of loving Jacob. Any time I considered it, I felt immediately guilty and I was not willing to make any bigger of a mess of things than I had already.

I shook my head in disgust and disbelief at Edwards annoying persistence, but when I opened my mouth to speak, he cut me off.

"Bella, if you want to invite him, then invite him. Hell, why don't you even ask him to be your maid of honor." The sarcasm was apparent now. He wasn't even trying to conceal his distaste. His words had stung, he knew that Alice was going to be my maid of honor…. And implying that I would ever replace her with Jacob made it sound like he had no faith in me at all.

I made no show of hiding the hurt in my features. I wanted him to know how hurt I was.

" Really, Edward?" I fought tears. "Do you really think that little of me?" I broke our gaze and focused on the water stains on my ceiling. I couldn't lose it now, I couldn't be this weak. Damn my tear ducts! I wanted him to know I was hurt, but proving again that I was a weak cry-baby was not in my intentions.

Still staring at the ceiling, I continued.

" I never even said that I wanted to invite him. I was just asking if Alice had so I could prepare myself. I think it would be weird and awkward if he came… and I don't want to hurt his feelings anyways." I lied.

"Liar." For someone who couldn't read my mind, he sure could read me like an open book sometimes. "Bella, I didn't mean to undermine your morals… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said….. Bella, are you crying?"

"No." I sniffed.

"Isabella Swan," he pulled my chin up until he captured my eyes with his own. "Are you crying because I'm right?"

"NO!" I scowled. "I'm crying because your being an asshole." He opened his mouth but I cut him off. "Your so convinced that you know what I'm thinking all the time when in all reality, out of everyone in this universe, I am the LAST person you can honestly say that about!"

"Your right Bella." He caught me off guard with that one. " I'm sorry for being so observant."

"UGH!" I groaned. "What are you saying Edward, what do you want me to say? Do you want me to just break down and say 'Oh Edward, you're right. I'm in LOVE with Jacob and I want him at our wedding so that he can take advantage of the objection opportunity and steal me away!'" I mocked mercilessly. "Is that what you want me to say?"

He chuckled. "Hey now, I thought mind-reading was my job" He jested.

My jaw dropped. I took his words maybe a little bit too seriously.

"Edward Cullen, how the hell could you even entertain the idea of me leaving you for him!" I was speaking as loudly as I could without risking waking up Charlie. "How could you…. For one second…. How… Edward!" I was clearly sobbing now. I could not even fathom how he could be so sure of something that even I didn't understand fully.

His arms circled around me and pulled me closer as he stared intently into my eyes. I detected a remaining hint of mockery in them as he tried to do that dazzling thing that was so unfair. No. I wouldn't have it. He was not going to bat his long eyelashes and get me to forgive him this time. He had gone too far. I straightened my arms in front of my chest in an attempt that would be considered very weak in comparison to any resistance he could make. I felt his body tense in shock as he correctly interpreted my body language. He backed-off and let go of me. My tear filled eyes turned furious.

"Get out."

He blinked once in shock and inhaled sharply as he tried to determine if I was serious or not.

I was.

"Edward, get out. Now!" I ordered as I rolled out of bed and pointed at the window.

"Awe, come on Bella. Don't get mad at me for being percept…."

"OUT!"

That was that. I had shouted the last order. Charlie was sure to have heard. Edward had about 15 seconds to leave before Charlie caught him in here and came after him with a gun.

Edward gave me one last fleeting look. I could tell that my sudden temper had drawn his full attention to how much he had actually hurt me.

"I'm sorry Bella" he whispered, and then flung himself gracefully out the window.

The creak of a door alerted me of Charlie's approach. I laid back down in my bed, still cold from Edwards marble body, and fumed silently as Charlie creaked open my door to check on me. After Charlie's loud snores from the other room told me that he was asleep again, I gave in to the tears. I wasn't worried about Edward returning. He wouldn't come back. Not tonight, and not for the rest of the week, I decided. My window would be locked. So would my door, if it came down to it.

How could he be so stupid!? I marveled. What had possessed him to be so rude and unconscious of my feelings. He had never been that harsh before. Jealousy? That was the only possible conclusion. He was jealous of the fact that there was another man that I could potentially have feelings for. But I didn't. Or at least I was convinced of that for now. I certainly knew that my love for Edward was stronger than any emotion I could ever have. But the fact that he did not trust me or believe me enough to accept that was agonizing. I couldn't sleep any more now than I could before, though for a different reason. I was definitely exhausted now, but I hadn't slept in this bed without Edward beside me for near 6 months now. His scent was still faintly noticeable. It made me miss him, against my better judgement. I decidedly stood up and stripped all of the sheets and blankets and even pillows clear off my bed. There… his scent was gone. I curled up on the rough mattress with no blankets and cried myself to a fitful sleep.

Morning held no promise. I woke up without cold arms embracing me and knew that however this day turned out was my fault. I had to send him away, didn't I? Oh well, he deserved it and now I have to stick with my decision.

Charlie was already gone to work when I got downstairs. The first thing I did was open the front door and step briefly out onto the porch to remove the house key from its hiding place. I threw it on the kitchen counter and scrounged up a bowl of cereal.

On a normal morning I would have sat at the table and stared at Edward staring at me while I chewed, but this was not a normal morning. Edward was not here. "And well he shouldn't be" I reminded myself out loud.

"Talking to yourself?"

The voice frightened me. I spun in a circle, spilling some cereal down the front of me.

"Alice!" I exhaled.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. " She apologized. "Now would you mind explaining to me what is going on?"

"What do you mean?" I asked as innocently as I could.

"What I mean is… why did my brother come home last night?"

"Alice, let me define for you the word 'home'" I skirted around answering.

"Bella, you know exactly what I mean. He looked dead, no pun intended. He walked in and went up to his room without speaking to anyone. He's still up there too, sulking, for all I know."

"Oh." I casually chewed a spoonful of cereal trying to portray my indifference.

"Maybe its none of my business, but I really would like to know what happened."

I sighed. She had her own significant way of dazzling a person to get her way. I relayed for her Edward and I's argument from the previous night, leaving out the tears and the stripping of the bed.

"That explains it." She stated.

I nodded. "So Edwards sulking huh?"

"I didn't mean it explained him… I meant it explained you."

"What do you mean?"

"Bella,.." she hesitated. "You look like shit, honey.."

I blushed. I had neglected my morning grooming routine due to Edwards absence. I had no one to impress. Not that my ordinary features were impressive anyways…

"How long are you going to keep this up?" Alice interrupted.

"I can't tell you. I don't want him to see it in your thoughts."

She groaned. "Bella, don't torture him anymore. Its not just him you're torturing, its all of us. Do you think we want to deal with him moping?"

I held up a hand to silence her. "I am not forgiving him that easily. He hurt my feelings and I need some time to……" I didn't know what I needed time for.

She frowned at my sudden silence. "Well, I have to go hunting now.. But just…. Promise me that you'll at least think about talking to him. Soon."

"Okay, Alice." I knew there was no hope in arguing with her.

She turned to exit, but suddenly stopped and spun on her heel.

"ONE WEEK!" She gasped.

I scowled. Unfair. The Cullens always used their mind tricks to get an edge over me. Like they needed any more of an edge.

"Goodbye Alice. Happy hunting" I dismissed as I began to wash my cereal bowl.

She groaned in disgust and gracefully bounded out the door.

I felt suddenly smug. Edward felt bad. Good. That was the plan.

Edward.

I turned to stare at the seat he would have normally been occupying. A all-to-familiar pain in my stomach made me realize that I was not doing much better than Edward….. And this was my choice. I slid down to the kitchen floor, clenching my sides as the familiar lonliness set in. I desperately clung to the two halves of myself, not willing to go to pieces again. I took some deep breaths and got back to my feet. I decided to go about my day as if nothing was missing. I proceeded to take a shower and do the laundry and dishes. I made an elaborate dinner for Charlie. The effort I put into it made me realize that I had been slacking on cooking since Edward was around. I felt guilty for making Charlie suffer. I set my mind to making up for it with a week of gourmet feasts.

The week carried on in a similar fashion. I set myself to house arrest, repeatedly cleaning things that were already clean… performing acts of culinary mastery, and focusing on keeping the hole in my heart from getting carried away. I barely slept. I tried to listen to music and read, but the words kept finding excuses to throw an imperfect vision of Edward into my head. Occasionally Alice would stop by and beg me to stop being reclusive. She claimed that the entire family missed me, even Rosalie. I found that highly unlikely, but I allowed it. None of her attempts drew me closer to forgiving him until she stormed in and practically yelled…

"Why!, OH WHY! Do I suddenly see your wedding disappearing?" Her tone was very accusatory.

"I don't know, Alice."

"Did you make any recent last minute invitations?"

I caught on. "No, Alice, I didn't send any invitations to La Push." She looked shockingly disappointed. I gave her a quizzical glance.

"Well…." she faltered… "If its not because of werewolves…."

I understood. Could my refusal to speak with him be so hurtful that it would….. Put a halt to our marriage? I hugged myself, not wanting to let the pieces of me fall apart in front of Alice. I started breathing heavily. How long had it been……. 6 days? Wow. No wonder I was such a mess. And now I realized that my rebellious stubbornes and refusal to see him may have cost us our future. It was almost too much.

"I think you should leave now, Alice."

The tone of my voice was convincing enough. She looked at my pained expression and my arms wrapped tightly around myself, she gave me a fleeting look of sympathy.. and was gone. Just like her brother.

Gone.

It was all my fault, how much more could I screw up. The tears that stung my eyes were cut off by the unexpected sound of the phone ringing. I expected it would be Edward, so I lifted the reciever and sighed,

"I'm sorry."

Pause.

"For what?" Jacob's voice seemed confused.

"JAKE!" I exclaimed. I hadn't realized how long it had been since I'd heard his voice.

"Yeah, hey Bells." He said conversationally. "Look, I can't talk long, but I just wanted to call and thank you for the invitation."

My heart stopped.

"In…..invitation?" I stammered.

"Yeah, ya know.. To your wedding. I got it this morning. Thanks. I didn't really know how to react at first - especially with the personal little note your blo-... Edward attached.. but thanks. "

I was at a complete loss for words.. "I, umm… your welcome, I guess."

"Don't worry, Bella. I'll behave, I promise." He assured me.

"Yeah, sure Jake." I was still in shock. I heard some shouting on the other line followed with Jacob's hasty goodbye. I set down the phone.

"Edward." I whispered to myself.

There were the tears that the phone had scared away. They flowed fearlessly now. Down my cheeks, into my hair. Edward invited him. That was good, right? I couldn't tell. I didn't even know why I was crying anymore. I suddenly felt very claustrophobic. I gasped for air as I clutched my sides together. I stumbled to the front door and let myself out into the rain. The heavy water droplets soaked my face and washed away my tears. I stared at the sky in wonder. I couldn't tell if I was still crying, that was one benefit of rain, I decided.

Almost instinctively, I turned my head to the right. He was there. I couldn't see him, but I could feel him. I headed in the direction of the woods. As I grew nearer I spotted him sitting on the damp ground soaking wet. He immediately stood and prepared himself for my repeated banishment. He was ready to be sent away again, I could tell. And as I ran towards him, tripping and stumbling all the way, he winced as if he expected me to try to hit him. It was an odd wince though. As if he was more afraid of what the blow would do to me rather than him. Instead of screaming or yelling or punching him I jumped at him. He caught me without even staggering under my weight. I wrapped my legs around his torso and weaved my fingers in his soaking wet hair and pressed my lips to his.

This kiss was unlike any I had ever experienced. He kissed me back with more passion than either of us had ever been introduced to. His fingers curled into my hair, securing my face to his. I traced the outline of his lips with my tongue and expected him to recoil with the effort of behaving himself. He didn't however, he returned the motion with more experience and precision than I thought possible. A sharp crack of unexpected thunder tore us apart. I was panting, hard. He was smiling my favorite crooked smile.

"I thought you were going to kick my ass." He admitted.

"It ran through my mind." I returned the honesty.

Another crack of thunder sent us running for the house. I slipped on the mud but he was there. He caught me in his arms and ran me to the house in less than a second. I began up the stairs, but he made it there before me and pressed me to the wall in another deep kiss. His body contoured to my own and he hiked my leg over his hip. My breath caught in my throat and he removed his lips from mine, suspecting that I needed to breath again. He replaced his mouth at my colarbone and placed a trail of freezing kisses from shoulder to shoulder as he carried me to my room. He didn't seem the least bit surprised at the fact that my bed had no sheets. Barely breaking his contact with me, he swept up a blanket out of the corner of the room and positioned himself on the mattress with my rain drenched form tucked tightly in the comforter. He held me in those longed for arms and stared intently at me for… how long? It didn't matter. I was with Edward again.

"Bella" He broke the silence. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to.."

I cut him off by placing my finger against his lips.

"Shutup. Its alright. I over-reacted, it was not your fau-"

"Yes it was my fault. I was unfair and inconsiderate of you. You were completely within your right to send me away."

I was silent for a moment. Pondering this.

"Why did you invite him?" I asked.

"Bella, you were unhappy with me. I trated you badly and I had to make up for it. I did a lot of thinking while I was without you. I had to get my mind off of you somehow, I mean. And, Bella…. I love you. And I don't care who is at the wedding… as long as there is one."

"Edward, do you have any idea how hurt I was when you said you thought I could leave you for him?" I didn't often let Edward know how much he hurt me, but then again... it didn't happen often enough to be considered a problem.

He looked down. "I'm so sorry Bella. It was foolish and wrong of me."

"Edward, look at me." I requested. His eyes slowly traveled back up to meet mine. "I love you Edward. There is no feeling of love in this world more powerful than the love I feel for you. I could never look at anyone the way I look at you. You are my one and my only and I will never want to be without you."

He raised his eyebrows.

"No." I corrected him before he spoke. "This past week I did not WANT to be without you at all. It killed me." I admitted.

"Is that why you were holding yourself together all the time?" I should have known he would be watching.

I sighed in defeat, but didn't answer his question.

He read my sigh as a yes and wrapped his arms around me.

"I'm sorry Bella." He whispered again.

"What must I do to get you to shutup about that?" I pondered aloud.

He smiled deviously and occupied his lips with my own for a brief moment.

"That will do." I whispered against his lips.

He smiled, and then grew abruptly serious as he remembered a question.

"What did Alice say that freaked you out so much? I got here right after, so I didn't hear."

"Oh, that. She said she saw the wedding disappear." I understood now, why it had.

"And what did you assume. You were obviously shocked that I invited Jacob, so that wasn't it."

I blushed.

"What is it, Bella?" He dazzled me. Not fair.

I gave in. "I was afraid that my avoiding you was going to result in the cancelation of our wedding."

If Charlie had been at home and asleep at that precise moment, instead of at work.. He would have definitely heard the roar of laughter that Edward emitted.

I frowned.

He grabbed my face in his hands. "Silly Bella. That wedding, our wedding, means more to me than almost anything. You, mean more to me than anything. Nothing could make me want to cancel that wedding. "

"Same here" I smilled.

He kissed me lightly.

"I love you Bella."

"I love you too… and I missed you."

"I missed you too sweetheart. And I'm so sor-"

Taking his advice I cut off his additional unnecessary apology with my lips. He took the hint and let the point drop.

"Don't you have to cook supper?" He asked.

"Charlie can live with pizza." I grinned.