Hey, everyone. Sorry about the incredibly long wait on this chapter. I (Abbie) do have a reason for not writing recently, let's just say what's happening with Bella's mum is also happening to me :'( Anyway, this is the last chapter before we skip ahead a few weeks. Me and Ashleigh both feel its starting to drag a bit so we're giving it the old '6 weeks later!" trick lol This chapter probably should actually be before Rose's party because its still in the week before :S but that's my fault and its done now lol When this is all complete I will make this seven and seven, chapter eight but for now I hope your not too confused :) Anyway, here's chapter eight...

Chapter Eight

'Always'

Bella.

I barely remember walking down the stairs on the morning after she left us. I barely remember waking up or anything before I got here, looking into the kitchen from the hallway. Dad doesn't say a word to me as I slowly walk towards him, he doesn't even look up from staring into his coffee mug. His eyes look blank and distant. How long has he been sitting there? All night? Mostly likely, I answer my own mental question because I can tell he hasn't moved. He's wearing the same clothes as when I got in last night. I tried to talk to him about what I saw but he wouldn't answer with anything other than a simple 'she's gone and she's not coming back this time'. I'd asked what he'd meant be 'this time' and had gotten no answer. Mom had clearly done runners on us before and come back. I felt so angry and so hurt but I didn't show it. I didn't cry though, if I cried wouldn't it only make dad feel worse.

I knew it was untouched coffee in his mug because I'd made it before I'd gone up to bed last night. It's only been less than a day and mom's absence has done this to him? I swallow back the lump in my throat and call

"Dad?"

He doesn't answer me but I know he heard me. His eyes flickered just slightly at the sound of my voice. I can't let him do this. I can't let him shut down. This is exactly what I felt like when he told me I couldn't see Edward and part of me wants to punish him. Let him keep sitting there, let him feel the same pain but the only way we can both move forward is to take each day as it comes. Moving forward requires him getting on with his usual life and me with mine. I can't miss school again today but I've got plenty of time to prepare myself for that. Dad, on the other hand, starts work in an hour. I would say that I got up early to make sure he went but I never really slept. My eyes are heavy and my

"Dad?!"

I repeat this time a bit louder and when again he doesn't response I move over to the sink. I grab one of the upside down glasses and fill it was cold water. He's going to work or at least getting showered and changed, I will make sure of it.

"Dad?"

I try one more time before throwing the cold water straight into his blank face.

"Bella!"

He screams at me and I know I'm in trouble but it doesn't matter. Anger's an emotion and emotion, even that particular emotion is better than nothing at all. His glare softens as he comes back down to earth. He slowly reverts back to sadness as reality hits him again.

"You've got work in an hour."

I tell him, he nods and sits back down at the table. I sigh

"Dad, you have to go to work."

He shakes his head which makes him look a little like a kind of moody teenager. I've never seen dad act like this but I don't care what's happened with mum. I will not let this fuck up our family!

"Look, I get that this sucks but I'm going to school anyway. So get off your ass and get ready for work!"

He turns to me, shocked but I just glare. I shouldn't fight with him but part of me knows I have to be harsh to get my point across. He wouldn't have listened to simple polite persuasion because what he needed was a good hard shove in the right direction and that direction was work. Life had to go on. I grab hold of his arm and tug him up out of the chair. He doesn't fight me as I guide him to the stairs.

"Have a shower and I'll make breakfast."

He begrudgingly goes up the stairs, and has his shower. I can hear the water on upstairs as I cook up the last of the bacon and wait for the bread to toast. When he reenters the kitchen he's wearing his work uniform. I can't help but smile when I see him looking like his normal self. He sits down at the table, in a different chair this time. I pass him the toasted bacon sandwich and he thanks me. It feels almost normal, acting like this in the kitchen now. I know that everything's not ok but we'll get there and I know that even if mum does decide to come back a few weeks or months down the line, things wont be the same, not for me anyway. I think I'm still partly in shock by what's happened and when it hits me properly it's going to hurt, bad.

I sit down next to dad and eat my own sandwich but with a glass of orange juice rather than coffee. When he's done, he's up and out of his chair in seconds. It's almost like if he doesn't go now then maybe he'll lose the confidence to leave the house or something.

"Bye, Bells. I'll be back before 6."

I nod since I know that he doesn't, normally, get home much before half past five. To my surprise, he leans down as plants a kiss on my forehead. Dad's not one for expressing his emotions. Well, not these kinds of emotions. He's off striding down the hallway before I've even really registered what's just happened. It's such a rarity to even get a hug from dad that it takes me a moment to overcome the shock of it.

I hear the front door slam and suddenly the emptiness of the house is painful. The silence, that would normally be filled with my mum's stream of unimportant chatter, is deafening on my ears and makes my chest hurt. I can't take the quiet. It hurts more than seeing dad fall apart, than watching her scream at him on the driveway. It's only been a minute give or take since dad left but I already can't stand it. I need to get out of this house. Even though I'm only dressed in my pink and cow print pyjamas and my feet are bare I grab my keys and I'm half way out the door before I've even really thought through where I'm heading. I jump in the car and just drive. Drive away from my now broken home and the crushing silence. I turn my radio on and up to drown out the memory.

I pull up into the Cullen's drive way but not right up to the house. I dig my phone out of my bag and hit ring. It takes him a while to answer but since its only 7:30 in the morning I understand why.

"Hello?"

His voice is groggy and thick with sleep and now that he's answered I actually don't know what to say. I feel insane for doing it but I can't stop it happening. I burst into noisy tears and couldn't manage to say a word.

"Bella? Is that you?"

I nod and then realise he can't see me and force myself to say

"Yeah"

He quickly suggested picking me up and in response to it I tell him

"No need, I'm outside."

"Why did you drive over here in the state your in?! I would've picked you up!"

He rants and I lift the phone away from my ear. I love him but he worry's like an old woman. Before I really have time to think he's walking down the drive towards me. He still held the phone to his ear but his ranting had stopped.

"Bella you still there?"

I don't bother answering since he's so close to my car now I just wipe my eyes with my hand and open the door. I hang up the moment I've stepped out onto the gravel and closed the door. The little stones push painfully on the bare soles of my feet but its easily forgotten when he pulls me close into a hug. Just that simple comforting gesture helps immensely. It doesn't make the painful emptiness in my chest disappear but it fills it ever so slightly.

"I love you"

I find myself whispering against his chest, I can't see but I can tell he's smiling when he says it back to me. He holds me tight for a while and even though its still pretty cold I don't want to go inside. I don't want to let him go, don't want to feel the empty numbness that has appeared in my chest over night. I will have to face this pain at some point but not right now, not today. I told dad I was going to school and I meant it. If I was going to tell dad off for moping then I wasn't allowed to myself. I would survive today as long as he was with me, I would always survive with him by my side.

Alice.

I jump down from the motorbike after Jasper and the second I do someone grabs my arm. When I feel her nails pushing into my skin I know who it is, Rose.

"Have you seen them?"

Well, she's in a good mood this morning isn't she? I don't even get a 'hello'!

"Er no, I've only just got here, remember?"

She sighs and lets me go

"Who was I supposed to have seen anyway?"

"Who do you think?"

My first thought is Bella but if it was her then Rose would have asked 'have you seen her?' not them. She grabs my wrist this time and turns us both around so we're facing out into the parking lot. I see who she means then, Edward, Bella and her friend Angela standing in front of Edward's car. Angela stood looking uncomfortable but smiling a little all the same, Edward was holding onto Bella's hand and standing as close to her as was humanly possible.

I caught Bella's shy wondering gaze and she blushed when I did before burying her now red face into his chest. He slipped his hand out of hers and wrapped it around her shoulders. I couldn't help but smile myself at the sight

"Why are you smiling? This isn't a good thing!"

Rose said frowning at me.

"I'm happy for them and you should be too."

She laughed and said with sarcasm.

"Right yeah sure."

Before turning her back on the happy couple and walking over to Emmett who took her hand instantly and lead her towards the school building.

I was about to turn away myself when I felt Jasper's arms slip around my waist and pull me into his chest.

"You're not mad that I didn't tell you about them, are you?"

I shook my head and turned around in his hold, looking up into his blue eyes and saying

"It wasn't your secret to tell."

He smiled down at me for a moment before leaning slowly towards me. I could my heart beat faster at the memories of last night. Yes, it hadn't been so great for me at first but the second time around it wasn't that bad at all. I was looking forward to tonight when hopefully our third time would be as great as people said sex should be. His lips meet mine and for a moment it was bliss but that blissful feeling is soon shattered when yet again we are interrupted by an old enemy, the bell. I want so badly to ignore it but I can't. The loud shrill noise cuts right through the happy feeling that has surfaced at his touch. I sigh and whisper in the sexiest voice I can manage

"Save it for tonight."

His eyes cloud with a look that I can only describe as lust and he sighs too as he laces his fingers through mine.

"I love you"

He bends down to whisper it in my ear and a little shiver runs down my spine.

"I love you too and I always will."

The smile that crosses his face takes my breath away and I follow him into the school building in a daze. God, I love Jasper so much and I meant what I said to him, I will always love him and I will always be with him because nothing will ever tear us apart, nothing ever could.

A/N: Ok, I personally promise to make sure the next chapter is up in at least a week if we get 5+ reviews for this chapter :D I don't like to do stuff like that readers but we both need some motivation to keep this story up on here and not give up on it :)

Thanks for reading :)

Abbie & Ashleigh :)