Disclaimer: I make no profit in any form from the authoring of this fan fiction. All characters, events, and places are property of the original author, Stephenie Meyer. I simply play in the world she has provided for us.

As always, thank-you, to my wonderful beta, Catherine (dollybigmomma). I can't express how much I appreciate all her help and encouragement with my stories. Also, please check out a blog post done about me over at Altered Lambs and Sacrificial Lions. I am honored and humbled to have read the post from IDreamOfEddie. Thank you so much! And now, I give you.... Edward.

Saved

It would always be that way for me, too. I would always love this fragile human girl, for the rest of my limitless existence. -Edward Cullen, Midnight Sun

Chapter 17

I heard her before she even had to say a word. Her thoughts, her many erratic, confusing thoughts, spoke louder than any words she could ever say. They were a mixture of events uncertain, old regrets, a broken heart, but most importantly was her hope for the future.

I pulled myself up off the wrinkled bed and made my way to the door, opening it slightly to see her beaming face.

She didn't wait for the welcome invitation. No, Alice simply pushed the door open and danced over to my rumpled bed, her body doing an intricate set of movements until she finally sat down on the ebony duvet, legs tucked underneath her and a smile on her face.

I tried to bring myself up to her level of cheerfulness, but couldn't muster the happiness. It was gone. All my joy, all the pleasure had vacated my cold body since she had been gone. I couldn't blame her. The way I had left her all those years ago was wrong. I knew it then, I knew it now. As much as I wish I could, I couldn't go back and change the events that brought us here.

"Today's the day," Alice's singsong voice called from the bed.

I scanned her thoughts, but only came up with a blur of thoughts, nothing concise or clear. My abilities had seemed to falter since she left for Paris, and her eventual complete leaving. I could still read thoughts; they just seemed to have a sort of white noise to the edges of them.

"What do you mean?" I asked, flopping myself into a chair. No longer did I use the manners that had been bred into me from birth and then Esme's fine mothering. If I wanted to sit, I sat. If I wanted to ignore someone, I did. I kept away from polite conversation because I was sure I didn't have anything to say.

"It's the change, the moment we've all been waiting for," she said mysteriously. And for once, for the first time ever, I simply wanted to walk over to Alice and bang her hard head around, just a little bit. It wouldn't hurt her; just simply put her in order a bit.

"I really have no clue what you're referring to," I drawled in a somewhat lazy voice. I guess part of me didn't care. I was content enough to sit in my room and live in the memory of her.

"I think somewhere along the line, Edward, you've lost your mind," Alice mumbled, but with sensitive hearing, I heard it quite clearly, even rolling my eyes at her afterwards.

"Well, that tends to happen when the love of my life, well, existence, leaves me for good with romantic intentions towards my brother," I said dryly.

They all thought I didn't know, that they could keep something so vital from me, but they were wrong. I had known all along. It wasn't the big things that triggered the alarm in my mind. It was the small movements that Bella and Jasper had made towards one another. It was the slight brush of his arm along hers, the quickening heart rate that leapt from her chest when he was near. It was the way they looked at each other that had given it away. Bella had looked at Jasper like she had once looked at me. Then I knew, and then I gave up. I just wanted to see her again. I wanted to tell her that I loved her, that I was sorry.

Seeing the hurt look on Alice's face and the guilty thoughts in her mind, I softened my tone and gave her a light grin. "It's fine, Alice. I've just needed to accept how it is."

"You've been near dead for five years, Edward," Alice said bluntly as she picked at a loose thread on her black pants. "You don't feed, you don't play music, you don't.... I don't know, live?"

"I know," I admitted quickly, because what was the point in arguing? "I know how it will end and it's simply taken a bit of time to say goodbye to what I thought would be my future."

"I can understand that," she murmured. "Come sit with me, Edward. I want to talk to you."

She patted a spot next to her and I pulled my weary body over towards her, sitting where she had indicated.

"This future has always been set and now it's time for it to happen." Her amber eyes had taken on that far away look and I knew that she was seeing, probably remembering her visions from before. "It's time for you to set things right, for you to give Bella her future back."

My dead heart clenched as I realized what I would have to do. I would have to tell her goodbye. I would have to give up our past so that she could have her future, with him.

"I know you don't see everything, but what do you see for me?" I asked quietly, voicing aloud the thoughts that had been haunting me for years. What would I be, without her?

Alice looked at me, her eyes softening and her smile illuminating her pixie-like face. "You won't be alone, Edward. I can promise you that. The heartache will end when you see what you have. Your future will be brighter than anything you could have dreamed," she finished cryptically, leaving me to wonder what it was about, but having no choice but to trust in her.

She left a few minutes later, giving me the details I would need and a little push on what I should say in case words didn't come to mind at that moment. As she had opened the door, she had turned to me and given me just an extra nudge of confidence. "It will work out, Edward, I promise," she had said before shutting the door.

As I packed a small bag and grabbed the keys to the old house, Alice's scent of vanilla and peach lingered in my room. Feeling hope, I made my bed and finally lay to rest some of my regret.

~*~

I sat in the driveway and looked up at the white Victorian that graced the landscape. I had expected it to change, but it was still the same house that it had always been, it just held new memories. Out of all the houses we had lived in, this was my favorite. It wasn't only the wide open spaces and the freedom to not hide; it was her lingering presence that permeated the walls. It was the same for the rest of my family.

This was home.

I shut off the engine and grabbed my bag from the passenger seat of the Volvo, taking it with me to the door. As I slid the key into the lock and heard it release, I let out a deep sigh. I was ready, and surprisingly, I was okay with it.

I walked into the foyer and was blasted with the memories the house held. From my spot by the door, I could see the formal dining room, decorated in Esme's signature light and airy décor. To the left of me I could see the living room with my piano covered with a white sheet in the corner. I could almost hear the melody that I had created solely for her. The notes rushed over me with their sweet, tormenting sounds.

My heart and chest constricted painfully, but I succeeded in pushing it away. As selfish as I knew I could be, I loved her more and resolved to do right by her, where I had only done wrong before.

I pushed open the widows to let the fresh air come in and banish the slight musty scent that lingered in the air from our five year absence. As the light filtered in, I felt the pressure inside me lighten considerably.

After basking in the pure light for a few minutes I proceeded to pull the linens off of the furniture and clean up the accumulated dust. I knew I didn't have long, so I finished the chore as quickly as was possible and finished with a light spray of Febreze. It was a clean cotton smell that I knew would only be enhanced by her scent when she finally showed up.

With everything done, I moved to the last piece, my piano, and pulled the cover off of it, revealing its gleaming surface. I sat down on the smooth bench and slid up the key cover. I could smell the cleaning treatment of beeswax Esme had used on the instrument to keep its shine; I could smell the aged wood, even the ivory of the keys.

The notes I remembered earlier found their way to my fingers and a second later, the familiar song was flowing out of me, onto the keys for the last time.

"It's beautiful."

I closed my eyes tightly as her voice washed over me, knowing that future moments like these would be few and far between.

"It's you," I responded quietly, not trusting myself yet to turn and look at her face. "This is what I hear when you're near. If you were music, Bella, this would be it. The high notes are your laughter; the low ones are your tears. This melody is your life."

I heard her shaky intake of breath as I continued to play. The lullaby wound around us, weaving a spell between the two of us. She sat down next to me on the bench and I could see the tears falling slowly down her smooth cheeks. I couldn't read her mind, but I knew her well enough to know why she wept. Each tear was for the past, what would have been the future and all of our memories in between. If I had the ability to cry, I probably would have joined her, so poignant and alive was the reflection of the brief life we had lived together.

As she brushed a tissue under her eyes, cleaning up the smeared mascara and pushed her hair back from her face, the notes faded out slowly until they were locked into the past, where they would remain.

"Hello, Bella," I said, turning to finally look at her angelic face. There were tear stains on her cheeks and her nose was a bit red from her crying, but she was still beautiful. She still took my breath away.

"Hello, Edward," she replied softly, her eyes crinkling slightly at the corners as she spoke.

I drank in her face and noticed the slight changes that were there. Her face had slimmed down, allowing her more womanly features to slip through. Her cheekbones were set high, covered with a light pink blush. Her lips were fuller and tinted slightly with gloss. They were parted and I could see her beautiful, even teeth peeking out from her smile. Her eyebrows were arched finely, shaping her face and completing the heart shaped picture that I had loved for so long. As my eyes roamed her face, I noticed that one thing hadn't changed. Her almond shaped eyes were still the same. The rich chocolate still shone with her vitality, her sparkle, her life.

"I'm not a teenager anymore," she laughed, smoothing her fingers over the non-existent lines.

"No," I agreed happily, "you're not."

"So," she said, getting up from the bench and moving around the room, touching various trinkets that had been left behind in our haste to leave all those years before after her disaster of a birthday. "What are you doing here?"

"Alice sent me," I shrugged, not quite ready to tell her goodbye. I wanted to be in her presence alone, for just a bit longer.

"Really?" she asked, her bright eyes lighting up her face the way they used to when she was just a few years younger.

"Yeah. She seemed to think now was as good of a time as any to lay the past to rest. Somehow she convinced me to come, not like I wouldn't have come the moment you asked me, too," I joked with her, pleased to see the gentle smile that graced her lips as she looked at me.

"It's been a long time," she reminisced before sitting on one of the now dust free sofas.

"It has been," I agreed. "But, there's a lot to look forward to," I quickly reassured her as I noticed her shoulders sink.

"I thought it would change," she said softly. "I was so sure my actions would have changed everything. That what I had wanted would be out of reach."

I sank down next to her and pulled her hand into mine, luxuriating in the feel of her soft, warm skin in contact with mine. "Not everything Alice sees is right. We've always known that the future can be changed, but some things are certain." I choked back the lump in my throat before continuing. "You and Jasper, that's a for sure thing, Bella."

I watched the girl, no, woman, before me compose herself. She had really done the things I had hoped for her. She had lived, experienced what it was like to be young and to explore. And that was when it hit me, the issue that I had always been at war with. Changing Bella wouldn't have taken away her life; it would have only added a new chapter. For so long, I had lived with the belief that what I was, that my very existence, was wrong. But I knew now that Bella could never be wrong. She would always be pure, the mold that God used to cancel out all the evil before. Her soul was beautiful and would always remain so, regardless of the beat of her heart. I now understood.

"Edward?" she asked softly, waking me up to the present. "Where did you go?"

"Nowhere," I said to her. "Some things just take a little longer to sink in."

She looked at me like I had sprouted an extra head, but quickly shook her head and laughed deep from her chest, filling the house with her own unique brand of magic.

"He still loves you," I said, finally admitting to her the one thing that could take away any pain she had. "He misses you and thinks of you, everyday."

I watched as she lowered her eyes, a frown crossing her face. "You don't have to lie," she whispered.

"I'm not. Your face has been at the front of his thoughts every day. He thinks of you at all moments of the day. He'll see something and light up, your smile playing before his eyes." I paused for a moment, controlling myself. "He thinks of you as often, I'm sure, as you think of him."

She beamed up at me. "I was certain I had ruined everything, that he would hate me after I left."

I inwardly cringed because when Jasper had returned from Paris, his defenses had been down and I had heard it all. I knew that they had been intimate, and that to Jasper, it had been the most profound moment of his life. He had been devastated at her leaving, but he also carried with him the thoughts of why she had gone. He had understood and accepted the things that I had never been able to do. Jasper understood Bella. He knew her inside and out. There weren't pieces of her that were a mystery to him, like they had been to me. She had been sure enough of him, of them, to never hide.

"I don't think he could ever have it in him to hate you," I replied."It was fate, Bella, and the rest of us stood in the way for too long. That's done now."

"What do you mean?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at me and pursing her lips to the side.

I shook my head. "That isn't my story to tell, and it's in the past, Bella. Bringing it up will only cause you more harm. Leave the past where it's at, where it doesn't have the power to hurt you any longer."

Understanding flickered on her face and she fell silent. I waited for a moment and breathed her in one more time. After this, she wouldn't belong to me anymore and I wanted this last bit.

"I love you, Bella."

I wanted to clamp my hand over my mouth as the outburst came out. That wasn't what I had meant to say, but I was glad to have it out there.

"Edward, I..." she started, only to have me stop her by holding up my hand.

"I love you, Bella," I began again. "I've loved you from almost the moment I learned your name. I loved your scent, your laughter, your selflessness, even your clumsiness. I also know, without a doubt, that you loved me, too." Her face softened as I said this, resembling the angel I knew her to be. "But, our time has passed. I hurt you and I won't forgive myself for that. But, you have a chance. A chance that I couldn't give you. Your future is waiting for you. All you have to do is reach out your hand and take it."

Bella grinned at me and I released the pain I had held onto for so long.

"You know, Edward. I think I'll do just that."

~*~

'So, how did it go?" Alice's voice sounded through the phone.

"It was good. I did what I came to do," I said, resigned and knowing that I couldn't go back.

"I knew you'd be able to do it," she replied and I could almost see her smile even though she was thousands of miles away from me.

"I guess. It was hard, but not as bad as I thought it would be."

"Well, when you know it's right, it isn't as difficult as it seems," she said in her all knowing kind of way.

"How are you holding up?" I wasn't sure how she was going to take this. Jasper and she had split before Jasper had gone to Paris. It hadn't been an easy road, but she had seemed to traverse it just fine. She had her good days, but there were some bad ones in between.

"I'm doing remarkably okay. It's hard, knowing he really won't be mine, but it's for the best." She paused before continuing, "I've done enough to keep them apart and I'll have to live with that, but I'm glad to have the ability to fix things. Plus, it doesn't exactly hurt to know what my future looks like."

"I'm here for you, Alice. Just say the word," I reminded her, really wishing she was by my side so I could offer her comfort.

"I know, and I appreciate that," she thanked me.

"Did you tell him?" I asked, referring to Jasper and the recent developments.

"Yes. He should be there tomorrow," she chuckled and it caught through the line, transferring to me. "He's ecstatic. Still a bit hurt over what happened, but ready to move past it with her."

"That's good. Bella was shocked with the news that he still cared." I shook my head and rolled my eyes at her ill beliefs. How she could ever think that anyone's love for her could change, I didn't know.

"She's always been that way. Hopefully Jasper can change her mind on those things." We were silent for a moment, the only sound in the house was Bella's soft breathing from down the hall in Carlisle and Esme's old room. "It's all going to work out, Edward. I promise."

Somehow I felt reassured with her easy knowledge of the future. When the line clicked dead, I leaned back against the solid wood beams of the wraparound porch, letting the sights and sounds of the night wash over and relax me. I had done it. It hadn't been easy and my heart still ached from the bruising I gave it today in letting her go, but I had succeeded. I said goodbye, I told her I loved her and I gave her the hope she would need to continue.

I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. For the first time in years, I was free of the past. I heard her content breathing from inside the house and smiled.

I was free, and finally, so was she.

I will be chained to my computer for the next week, attempting to finish this story. With one in the works that I am really looking forward to, I am trying to finish out the rest of my Twilight stories. The order is as follows; Saved, Second Chances and then Revealing Eternity. I will also be editing The Passage of Time within the next month. Thank you all again for sticking with me and giving the story a chance to grow to what it has become today. I'm honored and touched (hopefully later by Daddy Cullen.) LOL