DISCLAIMER: the twilight universe belongs to the talented Stephanie Meyer… I'm just obsessed. lol

AUTHOR'S NOTE: some Edward/Bella fluff and some more Zach as requested. Please read and review.

(Jack Johnson)

-BPOV-

I was vaguely aware of the light rainfall hitting my window pane, making melodious pinging noises. I groaned and rolled over to glance at my alarm clock through groggy eyes. The blinking red light informed me it was 5:45 AM.

Oh! Too early. I stretched and rolled over to bury my face in my pillow, determined to sleep a little while longer. As I turned my head into my pillow I caught a whiff of the most heavenly scent. It reminded me of Edward…

"oh!"

I sat bolt upright in my bed as the memories of last night flooded back into consciousness. I bit my lip as memories of crying in front of Edward washed over me. It almost seemed like a dream, with all that he had said, but my swollen eyes and head ach did well to convince me last night was reality.

There was a piece of paper sitting on the edge of my pillow, folded in two, my name scrawled across the outside in perfected calligraphy.

Dearest Bella,

I went home early this morning. I didn't believe it would be a good thing for Charlie to see my Volvo sitting in your driveway so early in the morning. I will be back soon to pick you up for school. Please remember to eat something. Look after my heart, I've left it with you.

Forever yours,

Edward

My head felt as if it was about to split in two, the effect of which you can only achieve from crying for a long period of time, but I still felt a smile sneaking its way onto my face as I clutched the note in my hand carefully. I let it overtake my features with no resistance. So I was grinning like an idiot as I took one more sniff of my pillow, something that would have been immensely more than embarrassing if anyone had been watching, and got out of bed to go take a shower.

---

Edward was waiting outside in the Volvo by the time I was ready. I had no idea when he had arrived. Even though I had been peaking out of my window every five minutes he seemed to appear out of no where. I didn't hesitate as I hopped into the passenger seat this time.

I was greeted with a warm smile from Edward.

"Seat belt my love." he reminded me.

I grinned back and snapped the belt on. He chuckled at my apparent enthusiasm. It was remarkable how simply seeing him set my mood for the day. Not to mention awakening to a flawless, supremely romantic note from the man I loved with all my heart did a little something to lighten my mood all on its own.

"Good morning." I chirped.

I was so happy… almost blissful that I almost sounded like Alice. I chuckled to myself of the sound of euphoria coming from my mouth.

Edward leaned over and kissed me.

"Good morning." he sighed, his breath wafting over my face, leaving me in a trance like state.

"There you go again…" I grumbled.

Edward reversed out of the driveway, shooting me a questioning look. I blushed as I realized I had spoken out loud, knowing that I was going to have to explain my thoughts now. There was nothing that frustrated Edward further than when I edited my thoughts. It would drive him nuts if I didn't elaborate.

I sighed.

"Dazzling me." I mumbled.

Edward cocked an eyebrow at me.

"You have mentioned "dazzling" once before. I still don't have the slightest idea what you mean."I bit my lip, trying to word my explanation.

"You remember me mentioning that?" I asked coyly, trying to stall.

"I remember everything you say Love." he sighed, as if he weren't too pleased with the fact but he had come to except it as a reality he had come to terms with. The irritated look on his face was slightly amusing.

"You were quite angry with me if I remember correctly."

He looked at me and I blushed, remembering how I had snapped at him. I nodded and he continued.

He chuckled.

"We were in Biology. It was the day after Emmett and Rose moved that asinine Newton's car."

He snarled Mike's name and I looked to him with eyebrows raised accusingly.

"Are you jealous Edward?" I asked incredulously. It seemed ridicules to say the very least. Mike was… what had he just said? Asinine? Yeah. That sounds about right. And Edward was… Edward. He was so perfect that there wasn't even a word in my vocabulary to describe him. He was in a class all his own.

"I am jealous of everyone that has ever come in contact with you." he stated simply. "But you are attempting to distract me."

I blushed at his words and looked down at my hands.

"Dazzling?" he prompted. "You have no idea how frustrating it is for me not to hear your thoughts."

I scoffed.

"That's how everyone feels all the time Edward." I reminded him and he shrugged.

"Oh come on! You can't honestly saw you don't see the way girls look at each you." I huffed, giving in.

He looked over with a smile tugging on the edge of his lips, just begging to release that lopsided grin that I loved, amusement dancing in his eyes.

"I 'dazzle' them?" he asked incredulously, humor coloring his tone.

I nodded curtly, arms still crossed. Edward's expression turned from highly amused to deadly serious in an instant.

"Do I dazzle you?" he asked.

I swallowed hard.

"Frequently." I admitted.

Edward smiled brightly and grudgingly returned his eyes back to the road so that I could breath again.

We drove for a few minutes in silence, just enjoying being together.

"I was thinking." Edward broke the silence, making me look over curiously.

He kept his eyes focused intently on the road, a stark contrast to his playful, flirtatious, tone from before.

"… about your nightmares." he continued, peeking out of the corner of his eye to gage my reaction.

I stiffened a little and nodded once, my eyes trained purposefully forward.

"why don't you tell me something about Zach?" he prompted.

I looked down at my hands and swallowed around the lump that had suddenly appeared in my throat as the memories of my brother flooded over me.

"I already told you what happened." I whispered.

"I was actually thinking you could tell me something good you remember about him."

I looked up, tears already forming in my eyes.

"What?"

He shrugged but I could tell he felt anything but nonchalance about this topic; his eyes gave him away. While his posture was relaxed and an encouraging smile played at his lips his eyes were tight and filled with concern.

"I thought perhaps if you told me some of your more pleasant memories they could replace some of the more… unpleasant ones."

I suppose his reasoning made sense but it would be so hard. I realized with a sharp pang that I was going to have to try to remember the good times. I knew the remembrance of my brother was still in there somewhere but it was almost as if I was going to have to dig around the vibrant memories of the retched to reach the joyful.

I could feel Edward's eye trained on me, probably making sure I was going to be able to handle this, making sure I wasn't going to need saving once again. But I knew without a doubt that if it didn't go well and I did need rescuing Edward would be prepared and willing to be my savior.

"It may help with your nightmares my Love." He whispered and I looked over to see him watching me anxiously.

It was a miracle we hadn't crashed yet. His eyes were on me so much more than they were the road. I took a deep breath and swallowed once again around the lump in my throat and this time a single tear escaped but I nodded once.

---

"One night Zach came into my room really late." I began with a shaky breath.

Edward squeezed my hand encouragingly. We had decided this was a plausible excuse to skip class and we had headed straight for our meadow. Now he was sitting beside me, lending me the strength to continue just as he had in the restaurant that night so long ago when I had finally opened up.

I don't know why I had thought of this particular story. It was so random and not really all that significant but when I had started to delve into the hazy memories of laughter and smiles I had emerged with this one.

"I remember the house was really quiet and I rolled over to look at the clock. You know when you're still waking up and nothing is really clear yet?" I asked and Edward nodded, smiling fondly.

"well everything was still really fuzzy and I rolled over too far and fell off of my bed. That was a pretty effective way to wake up." I chuckled as I remembered sobering from the haze of recent sleep with acute speed.

"Zach was trying so hard not to laugh as I sat up looking all confused, but still more wide awake than it should be humanly possible at that time. He was biting his lip, trying to keep quiet because Mom was still sleeping."

I threw myself completely into the memory, and not because I had promised Edward I would try, because the memory was becoming more clear. It was almost as if I had been transported back in time. I could almost smell him as he bent down to offer me a hand to help me stand.

"'We're going out!' he said, all excited. My brother's eyes would light up when he got excited. I don't know how to explain it. Like they would turn a lighter shade of brown when he was talking about something he was really passionate about or when he was really happy."

"Like you." Edward said and I looked up, almost surprised to see that he was still sitting beside me and we were still surrounded by the trees enveloping our meadow. I had almost forgotten I was speaking out loud.

"What?"

Edward looked at the ground.

"I didn't mean to interrupt you my Love; my apologies. I'll be good." he looked up and grinned sheepishly. "I was just saying that I understand completely about the intensity of his eyes because it seems it is something you had in common."

I smiled fondly at him.

"My brother was very tall." I commented as I remembered. "But other than that we did look a lot alike."

Edward nodded and I let myself drift back into my memories.

"He told me to get dressed and when I came into the kitchen he handed me a cup of coffee. He showed me a map and said we were going on a surprise trip. I had just rolled my eyes. My brother was always doing something spontaneous. Once he got an idea in his head there was no stopping him. He just went for it, whether it was 4 o'clock in the afternoon or 2AM. I'm not like that. I probably over think everything probably." I admitted.

"I was the responsible one, always trying to talk him out of his craziest ideas and going along with the ones he was determined to carry out good-naturedly. Well, this time he decided it would be great if we filled the tank up and drove. Just drove. He closed his eyes and picked a place on the map and then ran for the car."

I smiled as I recalled the look on his face when I asked him where we were going. I don't know Bells! That's why it'll be fun! He explained excitedly.

"I hadn't really been convinced that driving aimlessly though Arizona at two in the morning would be all he thought it would be but I went anyway. I got in the car and he was hopping around, his hair flying everywhere."

I swallowed. I had forgotten about how he would jump around, his curly hair always bouncing all over the place when he got really excited.

"Did you ever get to where you wanted to go?" Edward asked and I only then realized I had stopped talking, lost in my own thoughts.

I chuckled.

"No. turns out he had forgotten to fill up the tank and we ended up stuck at some random 24hourdinner on the side of the highway. I was mad at him but he just shrugged and told me the trip wasn't all a bust."

Edward looked at me and I grinned.

"He loved their chocolate malts." I explained.

He chuckled.

"Did he make it up to you?"

"No. he didn't have to. After a while I stopped pouting and he bought me one of the malts he had been raving about since we had gotten there and I started having fun before I knew it. Zach had a way of doing that." I said. "You could have fun with him no matter where you were."

I picked a piece of grass and fiddled with it.

"Mom wasn't too happy when she had to come get us at five in the morning from three towns over though."

AUTHOR'S NOTE: What do you think?

-PREVIEW OF NEXT CHAPTER-

"Bella is mine. I feel very protective of her so forgive me if I found your actions today slightly unsettling."

James wasn't only pallid. He was no longer breathing. I wasn't sure if that was a reaction to my threats or an effect of dangling from my fist by his collar.

"You will leave her alone." I said intentionally slow, enunciating every word so there was no miscommunication of some sort.

I was not making a request. It was a demand.