A/N Greetings to anybody who might be reading this. You've made it to the sixth chapter! I'm impressed, and honored.

Disclaimer: Guess what? I do not own "Twilight" so all these lovely characters do not belong to me. So thank Stephanie for her creativity. I don't mean any harm by publishing this story on this site

Hope you enjoy memories, cuz you're about to get a blast from Bella's—er I mean Rachel's past. Hope you like it (or don't mind too much…. I don't know about you, but I can't wait for the action!)

Chapter 6 – EPOV

Of course Bella would be able to shock me with her questions yet again. She was so unlike anybody else in the world. Not only was I intrigued by her question, but I was blindingly happy that she remembered even more of my family, of her life.

The enormous grin on my face probably gave me away, but I decided to play with her anyway, "I'm not sure, Bella. What's her last name?"

At this she looked confused. She seemed to ponder for a moment, biting her lip again in concentration. "Cullen?" she asked uncertainly, repeating the surname I had given her when I formally introduced myself.

My smile grew larger still and I nodded my head, "My sister."

She smiled in response, but the smile faltered slowly and a sad look invaded her face. "I think I must be dreaming again," she confessed, "This isn't really possible, I just have an extremely overactive imagination, and here I've let it take over."

"Bella you're not that creative," I teased, "But you can never know for sure, this might just be a dream," I added broodingly, "Although speaking of dreams, I believe you were about to disclose some of yours?"

"But how do I know you're not a dream right now?" she argued.

"I suppose you don't," I replied. She scowled a little and bit her lip. It was adorable. "Why don't you tell me about the dreams you've already had."

"Alright," she reluctantly agreed. "I started having these dreams a few years ago, right after my mother died. At the time it was every once in a while, now I have them much more often and for the past few weeks I've been having them nearly every night."

She paused to see how I would interpret that information. "You're mother died?" I affirmed, "And what about your father?" I knew she was a ward of the state from reading her file, but it was still disheartening hearing her reaffirm the fact that she was an orphan.

"I never knew my father," she said neutrally, "Stephanie always said that he was the most fortunate mistake she ever made, since that's how she got me." Her tone became reverent when she spoke of her mother, but there was also a small smile in her voice which mirrored the one on her face. I recognized that smile instantly. It was proud, doting, defensive, and it told me that Bella, or Rachel I supposed, was the caretaker once again in her relationship with her mother.

"Tell me about your mother," I ordered.

The smile returned, "Well we looked nothing alike really. She was beautiful and had a great sense of humor. She was a klutz, much like myself. She could be a bit crazy and very forgetful at times because she was so passionate about life and about her stories. She was a writer, and she wrote the most beautiful fictions. I used to make her read them to me when I was little until I was old enough to read myself, and she never seemed to mind. She loved reading anything and everything, and I think she passed her love of ancient classics on to me."

"How did she die?" I prompted quietly, "If you don't mind me asking."

"It's okay," she answered, "It was more than three years ago, I should talk about it sooner or later, right?" she paused and gave me a sad smile, "We got into a car accident one day when she picked me up from school. We were T-boned by one of those super-semi trucks whose brakes locked up as he tried to stop at a red light. Stephanie had just started into the intersection so the truck only crashed into the front of the car," Bella looked down and let her hair cover her face again, "Stephanie's laptop as well as a box full of printouts and revisions from her latest novel were piled in the front seat so I took the back passenger-side seat that day.

"Her latest book, which was destroyed in the crash," she added poignantly, "Saved my life. I walked away from the accident with a few bumps and bruises, but Stephanie died on the spot."

Bella was lost in her memories and I was heartbroken. Why was fate so cruel? I had thought that she was punishing me for my misdeeds, but now I saw the truth. Fate was torturing Bella, an innocent soul. Killing her once wasn't enough so Fate decided to bring her back to life and torture her some more. I was lost in contemplation of my own until Bella continued with her story.

"I searched for Stephanie's cell phone so I could call 911. I kept asking her where it was even though she couldn't answer. Her hand was covered in blood, but she reached out and touched my face. The phone was in her hand and she dropped it on my lap. She said 'I love you Bella' then she closed her eyes. She never opened them again, the paramedics pronounced her dead as soon as they arrived." It was quiet for a long moment before Bella finally spoke again, "The worst part is that it was all my fault."

I stared at her in disbelief. She couldn't possibly think that there was anything she could have done to change what happened, that would simply be outrageous. "Bella," I scolded, "What happened was a tragedy, but it most certainly was not your fault."

A single tear fell from her eye onto her bed sheets and I regretted making her tell the story. "It was," she argued, "I was the one who asked her to pick me up from school that day. Usually I just walked home, but I had had one of these horrible headaches that I used to get all the time, and I also wanted to stop and get some groceries on the way home," she added a bit offhandedly. She looked beside herself in grief and self blame. I wanted to hold her and tell her everything would be alright, but I couldn't. I didn't want to scare her by breaching her personal space with my cold skin, but I also didn't know that everything would be alright. I couldn't comfort her, and I couldn't comfort myself, so I sat with my hands in my lap and listened.

"I called her when I got out of class, she was at the library." Bella continued with her story, "She loved to work on her stories at the library, I have no idea why," Bella's doting smile this time didn't reach her eyes, "I asked her to come pick me up because my head hurt too much to walk to the grocery store then carry all the groceries home. She dropped what she was doing and left the library instantaneously. She always worried about my headaches, so I didn't like to tell her about them, but I did anyway that day. It was only after the accident when the doctors gave me a CAT scan at the hospital that I found out the reason I was having those headaches was because I was so sick."

I couldn't hold myself back anymore. Bloodlust and cold, hard skin be damned, I reached over and hugged her. I held her in my arms as lightly as I could bear so I wouldn't hurt her but I never wanted to let go. She hugged me back and I assumed it was a strong hug for a human, it felt like butterfly kisses to me. "Oh Bella," I sighed, "I'm so very sorry."

She let go and stared up at me. The look was slightly dazed, "Please don't Edward," she said quietly, "Please don't feel sorry for me, I don't want pity and I don't deserve sympathy. It was my fault."

I tried to argue, but she stopped me, "You know I once theorized that everything happens for a reason," she continued to stare deep into my eyes and I was more than willing to search the depths of her chocolately pools in response, "A few months before her death, I had a talk with Stephanie about life insurance." Bella paused, allowing a slightly amused expression to fill her features with the memory.

"I asked her if she thought it would be a good idea to purchase some sort of life insurance policy in case something ever happened to her so that I would be taken care of," she explained, "I know I was too young to be thinking about things like that, but she agreed right away that it was completely necessary." She was shaking her head now as she continued with her story. "Of course being the crazy, passionate woman that she was, Stephanie went out the next day while I was at school and bought the most expensive, most thorough life insurance package she could find. I was less than thrilled and tried to convince her that I wouldn't need that much protection, not to mention there was a one in a million chance that I would ever need to file the claim. She would hear nothing of my arguments and I eventually gave up. She could be rather stubborn sometimes," Bella smiled lovingly again.

"Well as you can imagine, being in and out of a hospital for three years can be rather costly. Her insurance plan covers it all for me. I've received top of the line treatment everywhere I've gone. I've spent the last few years in downtown Chicago. The University Hospital recently added a very hi-tech cancer center and I was receiving treatment. Their radiation technology has come a long way, I would've hated to have to go through the old fashioned chemotherapy, and did you know people used to lose all their hair?"

I smiled at Bella's rapid change of subject. I of course remembered very well the old days of chemotherapy, but I wanted to know more about Bella's new life and the hardships she had faced. "So how did you end up here in Glen Ellyn?"

"This is where I'm from," she answered quickly. "When I found out that I wouldn't be going back to the orphanage, that I would be a permanent hospital resident, I asked to be transferred back here to Glen Ellyn. I just wanted to go home, or be as close to home as I could manage, and I didn't want to spend the rest of my life in the teaching hospital."

I tried to smother the sadness which was threatening to explode in my stomach with Bella's story. She had had a really hard past three years, and she had to fight for a final request: to get away from the everyday examinations by students at the University Hospital. "It took a few phone calls, but Mrs. Christianson, the hospital social worker here finally helped me. She's such a nice lady and she's dealing with a lot. Her daughter is stuck here in the hospital as well, she has a heart disease, it's incurable and she's going to need a transplant soon if she's going to have any hope of surviving. Her name is Christy, and she's a sweet little girl, she's come to visit me four times already since I got here," Bella smiled and I pictured the little girl my family and I saw sneaking out of this very room earlier today,

"Seeing how worried Mrs. Christianson is makes me kind of glad that Stephanie isn't around to deal with all this. Sometimes I wish that she was here so I could talk to her, but I know it's better that she's not, I don't think she would have handled this too well. She probably would have had a heart attack and a couple of ulcers by now," Bella laughed then grew quiet, "I feel like I've been monopolizing this conversation," she finally said, "I've told you so much about me, but I know nothing about you except for your name and the names of your mother and sister."

Bella was just as brave and just as selfless as I remembered, so of course she was just as curious too. It warmed my cold dead heart having her back in my arms again, but it chilled me to the bone knowing what she had to go through to reach that point. "Bella you've dealt with so much in your life," I said quietly. I scooted myself a little further away from her and it hurt to do so. It was getting very late and Bella needed her rest, "I should let you go to sleep now."

She looked shocked and clearly disappointed that I had come to this conclusion as I slowly stood up so I could head out and let her sleep. "Wait," she pleaded, "You're leaving? I'm not tired at all! I've slept nearly the whole day, I sleep almost everyday. Don't you want to hear about those dreams?" she baited.

I of course couldn't deny her, and she had my interest piqued with her dreams. I wasn't planning on actually leaving her right away anyway. I was just going to head out of her room so she would be able to fall asleep, then I would stay nearby so I could keep an eye on her. "Alright Bella," I conceded and returned to my place on her bed, "Tell me about your dreams."

She smiled and then blushed. It was irresistible and I desperately wanted to know what she was thinking. I tried to keep my curiosity in check as I waited for her to begin her story. "After the accident," she finally began, "I had nightmares almost every night. I usually woke up screaming or crying. My mother's last words 'I love you Bella' always resounded in my head and tore at my heart in my subconscious mind. After a few weeks her final words began to change in my dreams. Well I suppose it wasn't the words that changed, but the way she said them, her voice changed. It wasn't her voice anymore, and it wasn't her saying it anymore. Most of all, the way I felt when I heard those words in my dreams changed. No longer did they make me want to cry because of my loss, but they made me want to sing. They made me happy and I felt complete for those few minutes inside my head until I woke up and realized it wasn't real. Eventually the nightmares went away, but I still dreamt of that voice. Those dreams changed too, they became more detailed." She paused and looked at me shyly so I nodded for her to continue.

"Sometimes I dreamt of dark clouds and rain. Sometimes I saw blurs of green plants. I hate the rain, but in my dreams the clouds and rainy skies were always a good thing. For some reason, the clouds meant that I would see the boy who said he loved me and called me Bella, the boy who I knew that I loved even though I never really met him, the boy who looks remarkably just like you," she smiled tentatively.

I gazed into her eyes for a few seconds as she stopped speaking and I saw what I had never imagined even hoping for. Love. At that moment it didn't matter that we had been apart for over fifty years. It didn't matter that we only had six months. It didn't matter that she wasn't sure who I was. The only thing that mattered was that I loved her, and now I knew that however unexplainably, she loved me back. I should have known better than to think that death or my lack thereof could keep us apart. I was awed into silence as this revelation hit me so I sat there gaping at her until she continued her story.

She took a deep breath, "He, well you, began creeping into my nightmares as well, but you always saved me and protected me from whatever demon was haunting my sleep. Once I had a nightmare that I could have sworn was real. I was in a room with lots of mirrors." She paused when I inhaled sharply. I knew which nightmare she was referring to. "There was a man with some sort of video recording device which looked very old. He taunted me and tortured me. He had the reddest eyes I had ever seen and I thought that he would kill me. But then you burst into the room and saved me. I think there were more people with you, but I wasn't positive. I remember hearing Alice's voice too."

"I will never let anyone hurt you again," I vowed solemnly. I had promised myself once that I would do whatever it took to protect Isabella Swan from danger, even if the danger was me. I failed once before, but I would not fail again. Bella was my life and always had been since the moment I laid eyes on her more than half a century ago. If fate had other plans for Bella, then I would fight Fate. I would rebel against my overbearing master. I was unsure what the next few months would hold in store for us, but I knew that I would never be too far from Bella's side. I would never leave her for as long as she lived.

She seemed puzzled at my oath but seemed to think better than to question it. "Bella," I tried again, "You really do need to sleep now. I'll be back tomorrow after school to visit you, I promise."

"Where do you go to school?" she asked. Her curiosity never ceased.

"Glen Ellyn Hills High School"

"Oh I would still be going to school there as well, what grade are you in?"

"Eleventh"

"Right, me too, well I would have been if I could still go to school," she said remotely.

"Don't worry you're not missing too much. High school is the dullest torture ever invented," I assured her, "So if you're sixteen now, you must have been fifteen when you started eleventh grade right? Why so young?" I wondered. Her birthday wasn't until September and school started in late July now.

"I skipped a grade," she said sheepishly. "Stephanie always thought I was a bit too old for my body so she let me skip eighth grade and start high school early. You don't seem much like an eleventh grader yourself though. How old are you?"

I almost laughed at the irony of the situation. This was too familiar, but I was not about to divulge all my secrets tonight. "Seventeen," I replied out of habit.

She stared at me questioningly for a moment. Suddenly a light filled her eye as if she was having some sort of revelation, "And how long have you been seventeen?"

This time I really did laugh, and she seemed taken aback. "That's enough questions for tonight I think. You should really try to go to sleep now, what does it take for you to fall asleep, should I sing you a song?" I half joked.

The surprise on her face only increased, "Like a lullaby?" she whispered, so quietly I wasn't sure I would have heard it if I had been human.

More seriously I replied, "Would you like that?"

She nodded uncertainly so I began humming the lullaby she inspired me to write long ago. She smiled and spoke to herself in a voice I knew I was not meant to hear. "My lullaby," she whispered. I beamed in response but her eyes were already closed. I was so happy that she remembered her lullaby, that she remembered me at all. Then all of a sudden her eyes bolted open again. "Can I just ask you one more question?" she pleaded.

I nodded in approval.

"Your eyes," she stated. I knew all too well where this train of thought was headed, and it was nowhere safe if Bella was going to stay in the dark about vampires this time around. "They were black, like onyx earlier today and now they're deep gold, just like my dreams. What changed?"

"Would you believe I got contacts?" I asked humorlessly.

She shook her head. "No there's something more. Something you don't want to tell me," she said and I frowned. She was too perceptive for her own good. "It's something important, and I think it's the key to all this. I will figure it out," she warned.

"I really wish you wouldn't try," I repeated those words I had used long ago in an attempt to discourage her curiosity, "But I don't know why I bother trying to keep it from you," I finally confessed, completely resigned, "You figured it out last time, with a little help I admit, you're bound to figure it out again."

"Last time?" she asked, curiosity ruling her features.

"Perhaps, if you reassigned some of your dreams as memories, some of this would make a little bit more sense to you," I divulged, unsure if I was giving her too much information and far too soon. I didn't want to frighten her or even sadden her. I just wanted to enjoy her company while I could. I knew it was selfish, but if she loved me too, after all this time, then maybe it was right.

She seemed confused, but she closed her eyes and I began singing her lullaby once again. I sat there on the edge of her bed for a few more minutes, watching her face, rememorizing the features I had known and loved, and then lost for more than fifty years. She looked much more peaceful in sleep then she used to. Her face was relaxed and her beautiful hair fell down past her shoulders. I switched off the light by her bed and picked up the stack of books I had all but forgotten I was going to give to her. I placed the stack on the table beside her bed and took one final look before heading out. I ignored the burn in the back of my throat and lightly kissed her forehead. She stirred and I worried that I had woken her. "I love you too Edward," she said softly and I smiled. It seemed the sleep talking hadn't been lost in death. I loved her more than she could ever know and I reveled in the thought that she loved me still.

I finally took my leave and wandered into the hallway outside Bella's room. I locked the door and scanned the surrounding area for any humans. I heard only the dreams of the children who slept in the same hall as Bella so I ran all the way out of the hospital at vampire pace. I drove back to my house and heard the concerned thoughts of my family from the moment I pulled into the driveway. The night had passed too quickly, talking to Bella. It was after four o'clock in the morning, and we would leave for school in less than three hours. I knew my family would bombard me with questions and concerns as soon as I stepped into the house, but I didn't mind. Nothing they could say would bring me down at that moment. I had my Bella back and she loved me after all this time.

I marched into the house with a smile on my face and a skip in my stride. Surprisingly my family was not gathered in the living room waiting for me. The only one waiting to greet me was Alice. She smiled at me, but said nothing. I convinced them to leave you alone for tonight. Nobody is going to bother you about Bella, for tonight at least. I had another vision about Bella today. I'm not sure about the time frame, but I think it's soon. She replayed the vision in her mind. It was Bella walking through our house holding my hand. She looked radiant, and she looked curious, but she also looked right at home, like she belonged. It warmed my cold heart further and I smiled at Alice.

"Thanks Alice," I said quietly. I made a split second decision to let Alice in on a secret that I knew would make her blissfully happy. "She asked about you tonight, Alice." Alice simply stared at me in response, stunned, "She was wondering if I knew you," I grinned, enjoying Alice's frenzied and excited thoughts.

She remembered me? Bella remembered me? It was amazing enough that she remembered Edward, but she remembered me too, and she didn't even see me! I knew we would be best friends!

I walked away leaving Alice to her thoughts. I heard Jasper in the library down the hall, wondering why his soul mate was so happy right now. I had to admit that I could practically feel the waves of happiness rolling off of Alice so it must be extremely potent for Jasper, the empathic vampire. I found myself in the dining room/family room staring at the old piano that Esme had shipped here from a storage unit in Forks. I hadn't played once since I last played for Bella but as I looked at the pristine instrument that sat in front of me I couldn't deny the urge.

I sat down at the piano bench and played until it was time to get ready for school. I played Bella's lullaby over and over again, changing and adding to it each time. With each new version of the song, I tried to make it as beautiful as she was, but that was impossible. I was finally satisfied shortly before I left for school. The song was no longer a lullaby, but a song about waking up. During those fifty three agonizing years, I had wanted nothing but sleep, but yesterday rather than granting me sleep, Bella had woken me up. She brought me back to life in a way that only she could, and once again I knew that I would never be the same, and I never wanted to.