AN: I do not own Twilight, please take it up with Stephanie Meyer as she is the master of it all.

BPOV

Sometimes time elapses in such a rush that is hard to even catch your breath. Yet other times, it goes on so slowly it seems like everything is in slow motion, lingering, and in my case, making my aching heart tremble in pain.

It had been six weeks since the horrible joke that was my wedding. Mike had at first tried to get me back by sending me flowers and trying to be the romantic guy he never was. Then his attempts turned angry, as I would not give in and he started to threaten me. Who the fuck did he think he was? I would never let a man make me scared and I was definitely never going to let him back in my life. As far as I was concerned, his true colors had shown at last and I was very glad I was no longer married to him.

Getting our marriage annulled had been a piece of cake. I knew how much his father hated the idea of me being married to Mike, and how afraid he was that I was just some dumb gold digger looking to get in on their good fortune and name. I called him as soon as I made it back to Baltimore asking him to arrange everything in exchange for me not giving out interviews about what Mike had done and never ever asking them for any of their money. As if I would ever want any of their shitty money.

Mike was very angry but had no choice other than to accept the annulment as his father threatened to take everything from him if he did not do as he said. This was the only time I was glad they had so much power because with a blink of an eye, I was no longer tied to Mike and I could pretend that this had just been a nightmare. I was free from that asshole, and deep inside, something told me that this was the best thing that had ever happened to me because I was not really in love with him. There was nothing like that feeling I had when I met my guardian angel that fateful day. My soul mate…

I had stayed with Angela all this time trying to get myself back together. I was broken and I knew that it would be a long time before I became whole again. I contacted the Washington Post and they had already filled my position, but offered me another assistant editing job, this time with the Fashion and Style department. This was not what I really wanted to do, but I was glad that I had a job again, and that I could go back to my old life, although I wanted desperately to be different, to heal and to strengthen my soul because maybe this way I would be worthy of seeing my Edward someday again. Sigh!

For years, I had been saving money, worried that something could happen in my future. I never spent money on myself, I was always very vigilant of my finances, but I decided to live for the moment rather than for a future that might never come.

"Seize the Day," that is the mantra I kept repeating over and over to myself as I was handed the keys to my brand new condo in Bethesda, MD. I was very nervous about the purchase and also very excited that this was my new home, and the place where I would start anew.

Welcome to your new life Isabella, you deserve this! Only if I could also have him here… my love.

APOV

Our trip to Acapulco had been both good and bad. I had a feeling that Edward was going to meet someone significant there, someone that would change his life forever, and I was not wrong. He met someone, and now he was as sad as I had ever seen him. What happened?

In true Edward fashion, he had refused to give us any details on what had happened. It was our last day in Acapulco and he had disappeared for hours. I knew that something must have kept him because there was no way he could run for 4 hours. We were about to go out and start looking for him when he entered the penthouse, and everyone gasped as they looked at him. He looked so sad it broke all of our hearts and we stayed frozen in place as he made his way to his room and had a fit, throwing things all over the place.

I had another shopping expedition planned for that day, and sensing that he was not going to come out of his room anytime soon, we decided to take off, leaving him a note. We finally made it back to the hotel several hours later and he was sitting on the balcony outside, just staring into space. I looked at everyone and then looked at Edward and everyone understood that we needed time alone as they made their way to their rooms to start packing.

"What's wrong Edward?" I asked as I pulled him into a hug. "Life is so unfair Alice," he said as tears welled in his eyes. "I just met my soul mate and I just lost her, and I may never see her again… My Bella."

I knew better than to ask him for any more details and we just held each other for a while, my heart breaking almost as bad as his. How could I repair this?

It had been six weeks since that fateful day and Edward had not been the same since. He was easily distracted and refused to go out with us. He submerged himself into his work, pushing all of us away, leaving us helpless to help him. As much as I wanted to fix him, I also knew that I needed to focus on myself.

I was just appointed the new Chief Editor for the Fashion and Style section of the Washington Post. I had worked very hard for this promotion and today I was going to meet the person that was replacing me as the Assistant Editor. I knew that she had worked as an Assistant Editor for the Metro section so I was very excited to work with her because that meant that she could take the heat for all the deadlines and was a hard worker. I had inquired about her reasons for not doing the Metro section, as working that section was pretty much everyone's dream job, but they could only tell me that she had left the position ten weeks earlier for personal reasons and that they had hired someone else to replace her.

I was just settling into my new office as the saddest person, other than Edward, that I had ever seen walked into my office. "Hello Miss Cullen, my name is Isabella Swan and I was just hired for the Assistant Editor position for the Fashion and Style section," she said with surprising confidence. "Hello Isabella, it's a pleasure to meet you," I said as I extended my hand to her. "Please have a seat, I have heard wonderful things about you and I am excited that we will be working together, also, please, just call me Alice." She gave me a small smile as she sat down and we proceeded to talk about the position, my expectations, and hers.

I was impressed with Isabella. She was smart and witty. Something told me that she was going to become like a sister to me somehow. I decided right then and there that she would become my new project. I had failed miserably at making Edward happy, but perhaps I could try with her. This girl was so sad I could feel the pain coming off her in waves.

"Isabella, one of the things that I would like to implement in my department is that Fashion starts within, so I believe that a makeover is on the way for you, my dear," I told her with enough assurance that I was sure she would not suspect I was just making this up as I went. Suddenly her eyes lighted up and she seemed excited as she told me that it was fine with her, that she needed one soon. I was surprised, she definitely did not seem like the type of person that would enjoyed me playing Barbie with, but I was more excited at my triumph.

We made arrangements to meet on Saturday at the Bubbles hair salon in Bethesda. I told her that my best friend Rose lived nearby and that I would be inviting her as she was also a fashionista like me. I spent the rest of the week getting to know the rest of my team and getting to know Isabella more. She was meant to be in our lives, I just had to figure out where exactly she would fit in, and all I could think of was Edward.

BPOV

Things were taking a turn for the better. My new boss, Alice, was awesome. There were no other words to describe her. She was super hyper and had the type of bubbly personality that fit in with everyone, but most importantly I felt like I could trust her.

Alice was also beautiful. She was petite, much shorter than me, but she carried herself with such grace that she seemed to be larger than life. Her fashion sense was impeccable and I could not wait for her to help me with my makeover. This was what I needed, a new me.

I closed on my new condo on Friday and Ben and Angela had helped me move over the weekend. I had stayed with them until this morning, not wanting to be alone yet. I had changed all of my phone numbers and I made them promise that no matter how sorry Mike told them he was that they would not give him, or my family, any of my new details. I would have to deal with my family when I was strong again, the best way to deal with Renee was to not show any kind of weakness or she would take over, and I was done being handled like a puppet by everyone else. I had to laugh at myself at the irony of it all as I was putting myself in someone else's hands to make me over, but I could sense that Alice was not trying to control me, I knew she could see through me and was just trying to make me feel better.

I was just settling in for the first night in my new condo when I heard a commotion coming from the condo next door. "Aw, Rose baby, I did not mean anything by that, please open the door," I heard someone else as he proceeded to pound on the door.

"Go to hell Emmet, you can't expect to say something so stupid and get away with it, you moron," I heard someone yelled from the wall that connected my apartment to theirs. "Rose, if you don't open this door right now I am going to start singing every Britney Spears song I know, and you know baby, how much you hate her songs," and with that he started singing "Baby one more Time". What the hell, was he serious?

Without thinking, I opened the door, ready to curse the asshole out, when I saw him shaking his butt, standing there in all his glory. Wow the dude was ginormous! I could not help the gasp that escaped my mouth as I noticed him, and then tried to look at his face so he would not think I was staring at his monster, but I was too late. He kept singing as he looked at me, a huge smirk on his face.

I pushed him aside as I made my way to their door and started to knock. "Rose, is it? Could you please open the door and take the dick, I mean this huge, I mean this guy inside?"

I hear a chuckle from inside the apartment as a tall, beautiful blonde opened the door. "I take it you met Emmet," she said, tears running down her face as she tried to contain her laughter. "Emmet, get your sorry ass in here before you give our poor neighbor a heart attack," she yelled and then proceeded to smack him in the head as he made his way in. "I'm Rose and we just moved here, please forget the Gorilla here, his name is Emmett."

"Hi Rose, my name is Isabella, and as long as you can keep the gorilla and his monkey under control I think we are going to be great neighbors," I said as I shook her hand. She gave me a wink and proceeded to close the door.

I couldn't help but feel that some of my innocence had been stolen as I made my way to my condo. I could not shake the images from my head as I broke into a laughing fit thinking how ridiculous that situation had been. I had a feeling that Emmet and Rose were going to be great neighbors, and that they would at least infuse my dull life with much needed humor.

The week had gone buy without much incident. On Tuesday I decided to invite Emmet and Rose over for dinner and quickly we were becoming great friends.

I groaned when my alarm went off. Why did Alice have to insist that we needed to meet so early in the morning for my makeover? Did she enjoy torturing me so early on a Saturday morning? I was seriously starting to regret my willingness to go through this as I made my way to the shower and got ready.

It was just a minute pass eight as I made my way into the hair salon. Alice was already there and almost jumped in excitement as she saw me approach. "Isabella, you finally made it!" she said, clearly overly excited. "I would like to introduce you to my best friend, Rose," she started saying as a beautiful blonde turn around to see me. "Isabella, it's you!" Rose said as Alice looked from her to me and back at her. Rose told her that we were neighbors and how I had met Emmet, his monkey, and her on Monday evening. Alice could not contain her laughter as I told her how I had been traumatized for life at the sight of naked Emmet and his Britney Spears singing.

The day went by in a flash. Not only did I have a completely new look, Rose and Alice had also insisted on throwing my entire wardrobe away and replacing it completely. By the time we made it back to my condo, my feet were killing me. I made my way to the bathroom, as I took a real good look at my appearance. My hair used to be very long (down to my waist) and the color was like a mahogany brown. Now, I had dark black hair with a few blue highlights here and there, and it was cut in almost a bob with longer edges in the front. I liked the way it framed my face and it made me feel sexy.

My new wardrobe was in the lines on school librarian meets naughty girl, and not only did I have new clothes, but they had insisted on me buying the skimpiest underwear ever, telling me that sexy started with the undergarments. I was shocked at all the changes, but I also liked the new me. It went perfect with the nonsense independent woman personality that I was working so hard to portrait.

As I made my way to bed I could not help thinking of him, my angel. I wondered where he was. Did he have someone in his life? Was he happy? Where in the world did he live? I closed my eyes and fell asleep as I remembered detail by detail everything that happened that day, the way he kissed me, the way he held me. I missed the relationship that never was, and as happy as I had been making myself over, I could not escape the sorrow I felt for letting him go, even if he had never been mine to let go in the first place.

My Edward…