I was debating putting this up later but I just went…what the hell! So here you are my adoring fans…*cue coughing, silence and slight cricket chirping in the back ground*…oh whatever!

You can't guess what's going to happen. You really, really, can't.

Promise.

It'll make you go 'OH SH*T!' and then laugh. Really. Hard.

Because it's so ridiculous.

And because you know it's ridiculous.

And because you can take comfort in the fact that Edward didn't get although you did.

And because Edward is a very stupid, very jealous character that I like to screw with…

Enjoy, my minions!
x.o.x.o

Tress. Blues.

Chapter 16. The Meadow.

Bella's POV.

Did I tell them to pack up? Yes. Did I tell them there was no way to stay here with the Cullens in town? Yes. Did I not beg them that we leave as soon as possible? Yes. Did they listen? No. Of course not. That would be much too easy.

My family is impossible. Really. You go out for an hour to make flight arrangements and they take off. I had an idea of where they went but I didn't think I was ready to see any of them yet. And I wouldn't be ready for maybe….forever? Maybe longer.

But I needed to get away from her. The empty house was not good to my head, it made it easier to let my mind get out of control. So I ran out the door again and into the forest, running so fast no one would see me, so far that I doubt Max and Jenna could know where I was.

It was freeing; a run where I could pretend that nothing was wrong. That I was still Bella Swan. That Edward still loved me. That everything was fine. I followed up a small path, further to the east than I'd been with the rest of my family. And then I stopped all of a sudden but instead of crashing down on me that I was not Bella Swan, that Edward did not love me and that everything was not fine, I was still on cloud nine because subconsciously I had driven myself back in time.

Over the last ninety years, the meadow hadn't changed a bit. Although it was moonlight that threw rainbows off my skin instead of sunlight off Edward, it still had the same perfect shape, the same yellow, white and purple flowers dotted the silky green grass. I smiled and looked down at my skin. It glowed like crystal in the perfect, unclouded moonlight and I gazed at it like I had so many years before.

I wandered around the edge of it at a human place and recognised the place where I'd seen Laurent for the last time, which sent shivers up my spine. It was always a happy ending place though. Where I'd kissed Edward, where I'd first seen Jacob as a…wolf. That made me feel sick. How had Jacob fared over the years? Did he ever love someone? Did he keep living as a wolf? Was he still alive? The joy I felt at Jacob being alive was completely irrational. Werewolves didn't like vampires. They didn't mix. But Jacob…was my friend. My best friend. I'd told him I didn't care what he was and in return, he'd chosen to stick by me and promise to be my friend, always.

Did that still apply now that I was technically dead?

There was a slight breeze and I inhaled so deep I thought my lungs might burst full of oxygen. It was cool and fresh, just like Edward's actually…I remember the day he brought me here so clearly in my mind and I remember what he'd shown me.

On a whim, I raced around the edge of the meadow in half a second just as he'd shown me and reached up into the branches of an oak. I snapped off a thick piece and balanced it in my hand, feeling dejavu wash over me as I through it hard into another tree which shuddered and groaned on impact. "As if he needed any of that…" I murmured. He hadn't needed anything. Everything was completely natural, too natural as he'd thought. Edward was like oxygen. Impossible to live without healthily. Jacob might've been my sun but I could live in darkness if I had air. I would live in darkness forever, as long as I had him.

Suddenly there were the lithe footfalls of a vampire that I barely heard, they were going so fast. I didn't think it was anyone from my coven. I ducked up into the oak tree, for leverage just in case. A tall figure stepped into the meadow and I pounced without thinking. He turned with record time but I was just slightly faster. He was on the grass in a second, my knees pinning down his arms and hands around his throat.

It was Edward. He lay beneath me with a shocked expression before looking pointedly at my position and raising an eyebrow. I was a little stunned. I hadn't been this close to him in so long…but I was across the other side of the meadow by the time he had opened his mouth, crouched and snarling. "Bella?" the one word rang out in the clearing, so soft but so clear. There was hope and sadness, elatedness and pain. I didn't understand it.

I straightened myself and kept my expression carefully blank. "Yes Edward?" I replied, flatly. His name sent a thrill through me as much as I tried not to let it.

He stood up in a flash and gazed at me with bright topaz eyes. There were dark circles around them though. I didn't like them. "I can't…how are…you're alive." He stuttered and I found the fact that he was stumbling so obviously over his words kinda funny. Here I thought it would always be me who was stumbling.

"Yes." I said, sourly. His expression darkened but I sensed it was not meant for me.

"Who did this to you?" he asked, calmly. His voice was strained though, so full of rage is was quiet. I wondered why that was. It didn't make sense.

"Victoria," I answered, softly. I was trying so hard not to let myself hope. I was trying so hard to push him from my heart but he was-he was breaking, digging, clawing through the walls I'd put up and now they were fast becoming meaningless. The snarl he gave echoed around the meadow and I felt myself being lifted up by my overactive imagination. I squashed it back down to earth and buried it with facts. He left me. Remember Bella, remember.

"I'm so sorry Bella, I never-" I cut his apology short. It wasn't helping my cause.

"It wasn't your fault Edward. It never was." I said, quietly.

"I'll kill her Bella, she won't-" I cut him off again. It definitely wasn't helping. Facts Bella. Facts.

"You can't. The wolves took care of it." I said, curtly. I don't know whether it was my voice or my statement that stunned him more.

"Wolves?" he asked, tightly. I nodded and suddenly he was closer to me. Not as close as before, maybe two feet away with a look of pure hatred on his face. I pulled my shoulders back, ready to defend Jacob from whatever prejudices he had with them but suddenly he reached out and pulled me towards him, crushing me against his chest. "I'm sorry Bella. I never should've left you here, with wolves, the worst thing out there besides vampires!" But I was only half listening.

My heart felt like it would start beating again from the contact and I felt my entire self lighten with ecstasy. I'd forgotten how good it felt to be this close to him even though he was so much softer now, when I was a vampire too…but this was irrational. Completely stupid. It was…guilt! That was it! Nothing else! I convinced myself and I pulled away in a flash, although their was a second of hesitation. Pain crossed his face. "What? What's wrong?" I guess I must've looked as anguished as I felt so I wiped my face again.

"I don't think it's really appropriate for us to…to touch, like that." I said, quietly. Edward's arms, still around my shoulders, loosened and slipped away, reluctantly. "I'm sure your distractions wouldn't appreciate it." I said, a little coldly. His face looked surprised before it split into a grin and he laughed.

Laughed. Like it was funny that I was broken and beaten on the inside at mentioning his reasons for leaving. I turned away and began to walk, at a human pace out of the meadow when suddenly his hand grabbed mine and he twirled me back into the stony circle of his arms. I wanted to stay there. I wanted to stay right there, looking up into his eyes forever but I couldn't. It wasn't sensible. And right now, sense was the only thing keeping me from kissing his perfect lips with enough force to part continents.

Apparently, though, sense wasn't enough for Edward because his lips crashed down on mine anyway. It was like nothing had changed. Like I was still human and stupid and reckless, as my hands travelled up into his hair and my mouth moved as eagerly as his did. His lips were so warm now, so soft…He was torturing me slowly and painfully but right then I was in bliss. Which is why it needed to stop, I reminded myself as I pushed him away. His face was twisted in surprise and pain. "Edward it isn't…logical for you to act like that out of guilt. Don't try and make things up to me because you feel sorry for me." I said, a little breathless. "You don't owe me anything…like I said, it isn't your fault."

But I wished I would just shut up and let him kiss me again. He chuckled again, his face split into that crooked grin I loved so much. "Bella," he murmured, tightening his arms around me. "Isabella Marie Swan. I'm not doing this out of guilt." Those were perfect words. Absolutely perfect to the world where he loved me. But here, in reality, they were just twisted and mutilated sounds that made no sense and caused pain. I pulled away again.

"What?" I asked, bewildered. "Edward, you can't just say that and make it true."

He chuckled only it was edged with frustration this time. "It already is. Bella I left because it was better for you to be around humans. People who were like you, who wouldn't kill you in a moment's notice. And now I hear you didn't even have a normal life!" he said, a tad angrily. "All that time I spent in agony, away from you was all to waste because first you go off with werewolves and then Victoria…" he ended with a growl before gazing down at me with an expression I could only define as love. But though my heart was desperately wishing that were true, my brain was warning me that it wasn't. It was a show. A lie. "I can only say she's lucky the wolves took her first otherwise she'd be suffering a very painful death for doing this to you." I closed my eyes as his finger stroked my cheek, so softly.

"Your distractions?" I murmured, remembering my former point. It was so hard to think with him here, right in front of me, so close…

He laughed lightly. "I'm a good liar Bella. I have to be. I needed a way for you to let me go and so…I made up the distractions. There is nothing to distract me from you, not then, not now, not ever." I opened my eyes and suddenly I felt angry. Angry at his family for letting him leave like that. Angry at his moronic idea of what humanity should be. Angry at Edward for even considering I'd be better off without him.

I shoved him away with all my vampiric strength and flew across the meadow. I turned to him, fuming. "You…left…me…to…be…HUMAN?!?" I screeched, furious. Edward looked nervous for the first time I'd ever known him.

"I thought it was better for you-" he began. I groaned, loudly. The one time he was selfish and he thought it was the right thing…ugh.

"Better for me? That's all you care about! What you THINK is better for me! It wasn't better! I went through hell whenever someone said your name for crying out loud!" he winced. "The one time you should've listened to me! Listened to what I KNEW was better for me, you had to go and try to make me better when I was already fine!" I ranted, my eyes narrowed to slits. The range of emotions electrified my words, sending completely new meaning through them. "It's just too late to try and make that better Edward! Way, way too late!"

Edward's face screwed up in pain, so heartbreaking I almost forgave him. But I just couldn't overlook this. Not yet at least. "I am sorry Bella. I tried so hard to do what was best but in the end…" he trailed off and I growled softly.

"That's my point. It never made any difference." I said, sourly. Victoria still bit me. I still became a vampire. And I didn't have him to help me through it. I was alone during one of the worst parts of my life.

"Is there anything I can do?" he begged, stepping closer until he was only a few feet away again. The moon lit up our skin and it was painfully clear how beautiful he was. I wondered what it was like seeing me in the moonlight for him. I didn't want to forgive him. I really didn't, not yet. But maybe… "Please Bella, is there anything I can do to make this right again?" There was that word again. Right. Wrong and Right and yet he always chose wrong, believing it to be its partner.

I starting to feel the rage bubble up again so I decided that I was not going to forgive him while he was still being like this. "No." I said, childishly turning away. I could feel him stiffen behind me.

"Is there- is there someone else?" he asked, ending with a slight snarl. Never in my entire immortal life did I ever do anything as stupid as I did right then. I turned around, feeling angry and hurt and spiteful and looked him right in the eye.

"Yes. The other vampire you saw at school today. Chen."

Shit.

Ooooooh….clifffffffiiiiiie!

I might put my next chapter in Edward's perspective so you can get a good feel about how those words affected him….bwahahahahaha

And so my masterful plan is revealed!
DO you like it? DO you hate it? Remember guys, I'm nothing but an ExB shipper, do not worry. I thought about it for a while and decided what the hell…let's torment Edward for a while!

R and R

Tress.

P.S. Thanks for your thoughts on Jacob's return. The poll will be closing after Christmas so get in now and vote free!

P.S.S. Right now, I'm leaning towards the negative 'Do not, I repeat do NOT, put Jacob back in. DO NOT DO IT TRESS!' side but hey, I can be swayed…as can my poll….you decide.