Disclaimer: I keep thinking one of these days I'll wake up and miraculously own Twilight...and yet I wake every morning and realize I still don't...

I just looked at him with wide eyes. This had to be a dream. There was no way this could be real. I was still sleeping on the plane. That had to be it. This was too good to be true, so I assumed it wasn't true. He could see my skepticism and he pressed on, trying to get me to believe him.

"I only left the first time because I thought it was what was best for you. But it wasn't, I can see that now. I wanted to keep you safe and out of harms way. I thought I could be selfless and unselfish and walk away from you, the best thing that's ever happened to me, the reason for my existence, because it was what was best for you. Or at least I thought it was. But I can't live without you! I can't be selfless, or unselfish, or any of those things. I need you! Please, please believe me when I say that I love you and that I need you. I can't live without you, not anymore."

I looked down at the ground as his words processed through my brain. I was sure now that I was dreaming. Those sweet words that I had been wishing he would say to me again for the last eight months couldn't be true. I wanted them too badly so I must be dreaming them.

Wish fulfillment.

I needed to wake up from this dream before it could hurt me more. So I did what any rational person would do when they thought they were sleeping and needed to be woken up. I smacked myself. Edwards eyes got huge when he saw this. I looked back at him and he was still here. So I smacked myself again. It obviously hadn't woken me up the first time, so maybe the second time would work. Edward grabbed my wrists before I could smack myself again.

"Bella! What on earth are you doing?" He almost shouted. His eyes were bewildered as he took in my pained expression, a pain that had nothing to do with being smacked. My eyes started to tear again and a few slipped down my cheek. He gathered both of my wrists in one hand and wiped the tears away from my face.

"I'm trying to wake up. I'm obviously asleep and dreaming. You can't possibly be here saying these things to me, the things I've wanted to hear for months. You cant be telling me that you want me to take you back. These are all of the things I want to say to you but know I cant. This isn't real. It cant be because its too good to be true." I was sobbing by the end of my little speech.

He pulled me against his chest, and I didn't fight him. It felt so nice to be held by him, even if it wasn't real. Maybe, I could just stay here, asleep forever, in his arms, where I so desperately wanted to be. But I knew that I would wake up eventually and be alone again. I wanted to try and get as much out of this as possible for when I was alone, but I was afraid it would hurt too much. I looked up to see him smiling my favorite crooked smile, and I felt my breath hitch.

"Oh Bella," He said as he leaned down and kissed my forehead. "You're still as stubborn as when I left you. Can you please try to believe me when I say that I love you and I'm really here and you're here and that this isn't a dream. I don't think I deserve to be in your dreams at all after what I've done to you and put you through."

I was about to protest but he put a finger to my lips and silenced me.

"Please just listen for a moment. I need you so much it hurts, and I haven't felt pain in a very long time. You're the only one who makes me feel like I actually have some semblance of a beating and feeling heart. That's a feeling I haven't experienced in over 90 years. When I'm with you I feel complete and whole and content. No, more than content, I feel so happy to be near you that I can't contain it. But when you're gone, and I'm not here with you, I can't feel at all. Everything seems meaningless and I can't find a reason to do anything without you. You are my whole life, you always have been, since that first day I met you. I need to be with you Bella. I love you more than you can comprehend."

I looked at him, my mouth agape, staring dumfounded at him. Did he just profess his undying love for me in the middle of an airport? Eight months after he left me and told me he didn't want me anymore? This didn't make any sense.

"But…But in the woods…the day you left…you said…you didn't want me. What changed? I don't understand." The words came out strangled and contorted. I was trying my hardest to speak around the giant lump that was forming in my throat.

"Nothing changed Bella. Nothing at all."

I winced and drew back from where his hands held mine. I was unbelievably confused. How did he feel then? Did he want me or not. He said he loved me and then said nothing had changed. I had to be missing something. He held me tighter, realizing what he had said and what I knew the words meant.

"No! No, I didn't mean it like that! What I meant to say was that nothing changed in the first place. I lied when I told you I didn't want you. I have always wanted you, and I always will. I only said what I did in the forest to try and give you a clean break, so you could move on quicker, without me there, thinking that you were free from me. I wanted to give you some kind of closure so you could try and have a safer, normal life. I didn't mean anything I said in the forest, except that I love you. There is no way that I could ever not want you. There will never be any possible way that I could ever not want you. You are my life, Bella, I need you, I want you, I love you."

His golden eyes burned with a vindictive fury that I had never seen before. He meant every word he said and he had never meant anything more than he did now. Maybe I wasn't dreaming. Maybe this was real and he really did want me the way I wanted him. I didn't want to accept that, because there was still a large possibility that he could be a dream.

He could still see my skepticism and his eyes burned with a more intense fury. They burned with passion, I could see that. Before I knew what he was doing, he leaned down, with the speed of lightning, and kissed me. This kiss held countless emotions ranging from love, passion, lust, longing, relief, truthfulness, and kindness, all of the things I had wished for.

I kissed him back. All of my pent up anger, the love I felt for him, all of the things I was feeling in that instant were thrown into that kiss. I felt his lips curve upward when he felt me respond. How could I not? I loved him, regardless of whether or not he was real, and I couldn't deny that.

He pulled back after a second more, and looked at me. The same feelings from his kiss where in his eyes, and I'm sure I was the same way.

"Still dreaming?" he asked me, the crooked grin back on his face.

"I'm not sure. If I was, I probably would have woken up from that." His face spread into a wider grin as I spoke. "But then again, maybe not. I don't really know anything any more."

He leaned down, close to my lips again, and whispered against them.

"Well, maybe one more would help." He then pressed his cold lips to mine.

But this kiss wasn't as desperate as the last. This was sweet, and gentle, but still as passionate as the first. I felt his cold lips mold around mine as I kissed him back, molding my lips to meet his. My fingers knotted in his hair, of their own doing, and I felt him press me tighter to him, one hand on my waist, the other on the small of my back. He pulled away, again, after a moment and smiled at me. It was a questioning smile, though. He was asking me, through his smile, if I had decided I was awake yet.

I had to think about that. I wasn't sure myself whether or not I was. Those kisses should have woken me up. Less than that had done the trick before. The thought that maybe I wasn't dreaming floated back to me and I grasped it. I wasn't imaginative enough to have dreamed everything that happened in Italy. So maybe, just maybe, he really was here and he wanted to keep me, and love me, and hold me. That little shred of hope was enough for me for now. I knew I would regret it later if he did, in fact, leave me again. But I'd take my chances. I looked back at him and pressed my lips to his a third time. This kiss was the same as the second, sweet and tender. His lips curved again, underneath mine. I pulled away first this time, to look into his eyes. They were bright and happy and just the way I remembered them. I could feel my face break into a crazy grin. It felt right.

"I love you, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen. I always have, and I always will." I looked at him as I spoke these words, with a clear, strong voice, that surprised me. He just looked back at me with the same eyes and spoke quietly, but with a strong undertone, every word ringing with truth.

"I love you, Isabella Marie Swan, with my entire, unbeating heart, always and forever."

My face erupted in a huge smile and I couldn't contain the singing in my heart. It felt like I was going to burst. I leaned forward and kissed him again, this time just like the first. He kissed me back and after a moment, we stood up and looked at each other. He looked deep into my eyes and spoke with the same strong voice.

"I will never leave you again. I cannot live without you. I love you."

Edward had never broken a promise to me before. His words were a promise to me, to him, to the both of us, saying that we'd be together forever. I took his words and accepted them. I felt happier than I had ever been in my life. The hole in my chest was gone. He wanted me the same way I wanted him. Forever started to sound like a good word.

"I love you Edward. You don't know how long I've waited to hear those words again."

His eyes tightened just a bit when I said this and sorrow was evident in his voice.

"I will never forgive myself for what I have put you through. For leaving you."

I smiled and tried to lighten his mood.

"Well, you have forever to make it up to me, don't you?" He laughed as I reached up to wrap my arms around his neck. He wrapped his around my waist and pressed me close to his body. I loved the way we seemed to fit together like two pieces of a puzzle. It felt right.

"Yes, forever." His words were another promise, one I would make sure he would keep.

He leaned down to kiss me again and I stretched up on my tiptoes to meet his lips that much sooner. Once our lips met, he lifted me off the ground and swung me up into his arms, never breaking the kiss. I laughed and pulled away.

"Edward, we look silly. We're in the middle of an airport."

He looked back at me and a wicked glint flashed into his eyes.

"I don't care what other people think. I finally have you back and I don't ever want to let go of you again. But I guess you are right."

He set me back on my feet but kept his arm tightly wrapped around my waist and we walked back to his family. I was a bit sheepish at first, not sure what they would think of my behavior earlier, but my shy feelings were erased when Esme pulled me into a tight hug.

"Thank you so much for going and saving my son. I will never be able to repay you. I'm so glad to see you again!" She squeezed me tighter as she spoke this last sentence. Carlisle looked at me with a warm smile.

"Thank you Bella. We owe you."

"Hardly." I responded.

Alice ran over to me, squealing quietly.

"Bella!!!!! I'm so glad you decided to forgive my loser of a brother. He was miserable without you, we all were."

Edward moved behind me then, and wrapped his arms tightly around my waist. I linked my fingers through his and his arms tightened. I turned my face around to look at him and he smiled hugely and planted a kiss on his lips. He pulled away and looked at Carlisle and I noticed an odd look pass between the two of them. I then realized that they were having a silent moment of conversation. He looked back at me and spoke, once the conversation was done.

"Bella, we really should get you back to Charlie. He'll be worried, if I know anything of him."

I looked back at him and knew he was right. He had been away for a while, but he still knew me and my father like the back of his hand.

"You're right. After everything that's happened lately, my leaving couldn't have helped with the stress Charlie was under. Especially after what happened with Harry." My face grew somber as I said these words. Edwards arms tightened around me, letting me know he was here for me. I leaned back into him for a moment, relishing in the feel of his stone arms around me. After taking a few seconds to collect my thoughts, I pulled slightly away from Edward and he loosened his arms. I kept a firm grasp on one of his hands and turned to look at him.

"Lets go." I let out a resigned sigh after I said this.

So this chapter was basically pure fluff. It's pretty lovey dovey and all of the mushy gushy stuff but thats the way the fingers were flowing across my keyboard. I don't fight it when the creative juices start flowing.

Reviews are awesome as always