Here it is.... the chapter you've all been waiting for.... Chapter 24, Bella and Edward's confrontation and reunion.... or is it? But before we begin, I would like to share some exciting news with you, my darling fans. I have a new story out! It's a one-shot song-fic called "Decode" based off of the Paramore song by the same name (yes, from the Twilight movie soundtrack. It is amazing, non?) Anywho, I would greatly appreciate it if you all would go and read it and maybe even review it? Please?

So what did everyone think of the movie? I saw it last weekend, and thought it was simply fabulous. The reveal scene was very well written and I loved the sparkle effect. It wasn't what I expected, but it worked. Of course, Robert Pattinson was divine as Edward and Kristen Stewart made an amazing Bella. All of the casting was fab. I loved Alice especially. The baseball scene was soooo cool - the way Alice pitches is amazing. I love how she just kicks her leg up so flawlessly. She'd make an amazing dancer. But I'm rambling.

Chapter 24 – Forgive or Forget? (Bella's POV)

One week later…

Getting Edward out of my life was easy. I never saw him anymore, so it was simple enough to say he was out of my life. Getting him out of my mind was another thing entirely. I never stopped thinking about him. I knew that he had left me and I knew he was presumably courting Tanya, but I still wouldn't forget about him. My dreams at night were filled with him. Some nights I would dream about the masquerade ball, other nights I would have dreams were I was forced to watch as he and Tanya got married, and every so often the dream would just be about him being near me, always a little out of reach. I would chase him, but he'd just get farther and farther away until he disappeared.

There was never any relief from the agony. His pained expression from the night of the masquerade ball haunted me day and night. Rose's words from the day after haunted me. It was torture and I couldn't escape. The only temporary relief I had were my books. There, in another world, with people who didn't really exist, the pain was numbed enough for me to forget about it for a little while. I was back to the state I had been after the initial betrayal: a half-human, a zombie, only eating and drinking and speaking if spoken to. I was back to my half-aware existence.

I was in my room, reading a book, hoping to numb the pain when someone knocked on my door. "Yes?" I said. Jonathan opened the door.

"Miss Swan, a letter just arrived for you," he said.

"Who is it from?"

"It bares no name and the messenger was instructed not to say who sent him."

"Very well. Leave it on my desk." He placed the letter on the desk and left. I put down the book and walked over to the desk to see the letter. My name was written on the envelope in a clear, elegant script. The handwriting made my blood run cold. I knew that writing. It was Edward's. A wave of emotions crashed over me. Anger. Hatred. Love. Longing. Pain. My thoughts were completely scrambled and I didn't know what to do. Part of me thought I should simply burn it without reading it. Part of me thought I should read it, and then burn it. Part of me thought I should read it and not burn it unless it was completely necessary. That part won. I picked up the letter, opened it slowly, and began to read.

Dear Isabella, he wrote. I know there is a very good chance that your eyes may never see this letter. If by some miracle they do, I want you to know that I am sorry. I am sorry that I hurt you as badly as I have. I never meant to do anything like this to you. I truly care about you and I regret my actions. If you can find it in your heart to forgive me, I will be waiting for you at the town square this afternoon at 4 o'clock, simply to talk. We do not have to go back to the way we were, but if we can at least be friends again, I will be happy enough. I hope to see you at four. Sincerely, Edward.

I stood there, frozen, the letter in my hand. I looked over at my clock and saw that it was already two in the afternoon. Only two hours to decide whether to meet Edward or not. Two hours to decide if I was going to forgive him, or forget him. Two hours to make one of the toughest decisions of my life….

One the one hand, I was still angry over his betrayal. He may have apologized, but after the performance at the masquerade ball, how could I forgive him? How could I trust him when Tanya still thinks he cares? One of them is either deluding themselves or not telling the other the truth. I had to believe that Edward hadn't confessed the truth to Tanya. Then I remembered his reaction. He had seemed…. angry and upset that Tanya would not leave him alone. He resisted her attempts to get him to dance with her. So does that mean that Tanya was at fault? Was she deluding herself into thinking that Edward still cared? It seemed highly possible. Maybe I should go meet him, I thought. Even if we don't return to our courtship, we could still be friends. I'm going to go. I rejected that last thought as soon as it entered my head. I wasn't going to go running to meet him as soon as he gave me the chance. I didn't want to look desperate. If he was really sorry, he would come to me. I would not go running back to him.

Three days later…

Three days had passed since Edward sent me the letter and I hadn't gone to meet him. He still hadn't come. I guess he wasn't truly sorry after all, I thought bitterly. My pain increased at that thought. I needed to get out, to get some air and clear my head. I raced outside, pausing only to tell Jonathan that if any visitors should come for me, to send them to the gazebo. I ran without stopping, straight to the gazebo. I sat down on the porch swing inside and stared dejectedly around me. Lost in my pain, I didn't notice someone walking up the path towards me. I didn't hear their footsteps on the stairs or the floor. I didn't even realize they were there until they sat down next to me on the porch swing, jostling it and shaking me out of reverie. I jumped slightly.

"I'm sorry," said the soft, velvety voice. "I didn't mean to scare you." I turned my head to the left slightly and my eyes widened in shock. Edward sat next to me, handsome as ever in a light-colored suit. I felt my heart breaking as I looked at him. Pain was etched across his face, shone in his green eyes, their usual emerald glow dimmed. I knew it was probably an accurate reflection of how I looked right now.

For a while, neither of us spoke. Finally, I found my voice. "Why are you here, Edward?" My voice was soft, broken, barely above a whisper.

"Why didn't you come meet me?" he asked in response. "Am I too late?"

Decision time. Was I going to forgive him? "I… I don't know," I mumbled.

"Isabella, I'm not going to force you to forgive me. If you don't want to forgive me, I understand. I've hurt you badly and I'm sorry. I want you to forgive me, but you don't have to if you don't feel you can." He paused, but I couldn't speak. "Do you need a little time to think?" I nodded my head ever so slightly. "Okay. You take your time and think about this. I'll leave so you can think in peace." He stood up and began walking away, the pain even more visible on his face. My own pain became unbearable and tears began to fall down my face.

"Wait," I said through my tears, standing. He paused at the bottom of the stairs, but didn't look at me. "Don't go." He turned to look at me, the tiniest hint of shock breaking through the pain. "Please don't go, Edward." He hesitated at the bottom of the stairs. "Don't leave me," I begged softly. The flow of tears became heavier. I could barely see him.

Edward hesitated for a few more seconds at the foot of the stairs. Slowly, he started walking towards me, careful not to startle me. He tentatively wrapped his arms around me. I buried my face in his chest, still crying. He made no move to stop me; instead, his arms constricted tighter around my waist, holding me closer.

"You have no idea how bad I feel about this, Bella," he said. "Seeing you crying like this and knowing I'm the cause. I never should have fallen for her fake attraction."

I looked up at him. "Wh-what?"

He looked away. "Tanya never actually cared about me," he said, his voice hard. He let go of me and walked over to the swing and sat down, placing his head in his hands. I sat to next to him, cautiously, close enough to touch him. "I was nothing more than a play toy to her. She only wanted me around until someone better came along. I thought she really had feelings for me. I certainly had feelings for her. But they didn't have even one tenth, no, one hundredth of the power that my feelings for you have. I was such a fool not to see this before."

"I don't understand. If you realized that you don't really care for her and she didn't really care for you, then why was she still under the impression that you did care at the ball?"

"She was deluding herself. She thought that I was with you to make her jealous. She thought I still cared."

"Did you still care at that point?"

"No. At that point, the only thing on my mind was convincing you to forgive me. I was so determined to get you to forgive me. I was willing to try anything. The stunt at the masquerade ball was actually Jasper's idea. Jasper, Emmett, and I got Lauren, Jessica, and Angela to help us find you, Alice, and Rosalie. At first I was convinced it wouldn't work, but as time wore down, and nothing else seemed even possible, I grew fonder of the idea. If only Tanya hadn't appeared when she did…"

"And the letter?"

He lifted his head and looked straight into my eyes. "I've spent the past two weeks thinking only about you, Isabella. My every waking thought was consumed with getting you to forgive me. I wanted you to talk to me again, even if it was only to tell me that you never wanted to see me again. Sending you that letter was a huge risk. I didn't know if you would even read it, and if you did, if you would even care enough to come meet me. Since I wasn't sure, I promised myself that if you didn't come, I would come here the next day and talk to you."

"Then why did you only come now?" I asked.

"I'm a coward, Isabella," Edward confessed. "It took me three days to find enough courage and confidence to come talk to you. I still don't know how I managed to come here."

Tentatively, I reached out and placed my hand on Edward's. "I'm glad you came, Edward. I really am."

Edward appraised me silently. "Well, Isabella, I've answered all of your questions, now I think it's time you answered mine." I nodded. "Let's start with my question from earlier: why didn't you come meet me?"

I hesitated, trying to find the right words to phrase how I felt. "I didn't meet you because… because I was too afraid that going to see you would make me look weak. I was afraid that it would look like I couldn't function without you. I care about you, Edward, I do; I just don't want to be dependant on you or any other man. I want to have someone who cares about me, but I also want to have my own life. Does that make sense?"

He nodded. "I understand that entirely."

I smiled weakly with relief. "Good." We were silent for a while. "Any more questions?" I asked finally.

"Only one."

"Yes?"

"Why did you run away from me at the masquerade ball? Not when Tanya appeared, the second time. When we were alone, in the entrance hall."

I hesitated again. "I can't entirely explain why I ran away, Edward," I began. "In part, it's because of what I was telling you before, about not wanting to seem weak. I didn't want it to look like any man could hurt me as badly as he wanted and as long as he planned a romantic apology, I would forgive him."

"Again, I understand that, Isabella, and I think that it's good."

"You do?"

"Yes. You shouldn't have to seem weak or be dependant on a man. You are a strong young woman and should be able to live on your own, and be loved for it. Now what's the other part of this?"

I sighed. "The other part is that…. that I didn't…. I didn't feel like I could forgive you yet. After what happened with us and with Tanya, especially that night, I just wasn't sure that I was ready to forgive you and put everything in the past."

"So what about now? Are you ready to forgive me? Or am I too late?"

I thought about this question for a few seconds. "I'm not ready to forgive you, Edward. I am forgiving you. I can't stay mad at you, Edward. My other feelings for you are too strong for anger to last long against them."

Edward smiled the crooked smile I knew and loved. "Lucky me, then." He shifted his weight slightly and I caught a glimpse of something purple, white, and yellow on the swing beside him, just out of my range of viewing.

"What is that beside you, Edward?" I asked, pointing.

He flushed slightly. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice," he mumbled, producing a small bouquet of purple, yellow, and soft white wildflowers from beside him.

My breath caught in my throat. "Are… are those for me?" I stuttered.

"Of course," he said with the same dazzling smile. At a loss for words, I simply reached out and took the bouquet. I inhaled the luscious scent of the flowers, lost in their beauty. They seemed so familiar….

I gasped. "Are… are these from…?"

"The meadow?" Edward finished my sentence. "Yes. I thought it might… help me a little if I brought you something from the meadow where we told each other we…." He didn't get to finish his sentence because at that exact moment I threw my arms around his neck, bouquet and all, and hugged him as hard as I could. He wrapped his arms around my waist, drawing me into his lap and hugging me back.

"So you forgive me, Isabella?" he whispered in my ear.

"Of course I forgive you, Edward. How could I not? I love you."

"I love you too, Isabella."

"Edward, call me Bella, please. Isabella just feels so… formal."

He smiled. "Bella. The Italian word for beautiful. How fitting for a girl as beautiful as you, Bella." He kissed me quickly on the cheek. "My beautiful, beautiful Bella." I smiled at his words and nestled closer to him, resting my head on his chest. We sat like this for a while, simply talking. Every so often, Edward would press a gentle kiss on my forehead, the top of my head, my cheeks. After a long while, he extracted a pocket-watch from his pocket and glanced at it. His eyes widened.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's just later than I thought, that's all," he said, putting it away and sliding me off his lap and onto the swing beside him. "I need to go run an errand. It shouldn't take me more than two hours." I pouted. Two hours without Edward? I might just die. He saw my pout and laughed. "Don't worry," he said. "If all goes well, I should have a surprise for you when I return." My pout deepened. I hate surprises. He saw the pout deepen. "What's wrong, Bella?"

"I'm not the biggest fan of surprises, Edward, so you probably should tell me now."

"I have to run my errand first. I'm already late. Wait right here for me, love. I'll be back soon." He bent down and kissed me on the cheek before turning and walking away swiftly. When he reached the point where the path curved out of sight of the gazebo, he turned to make sure I was still here. Satisfied, he blew me one last kiss and disappeared. Still slightly disgruntled over the fact that this errand included a surprise for me, I watched him go. I wonder what the surprise is, I thought, curiosity getting the better of me. I nestled back into the swing's cushions and spent the time day-dreaming about Edward's surprise. What could it be…?

Anybody feel like they have a guess what the surprise is? Feel free to tell me in a review! So now I would like to ask three favors of you all. Those three favors are for you to please:

a)review this story!

b)read my new story "Decode" and review that story!

c)tell me what you think about a boys version of "A Different Kind of World!" I have some really great ideas and I promise it won't be a repeat of this! Don't forget, there's already the back-story of Edward and Tanya's romance, as well as what I'm cooking up for Emmett and Jasper. It will be a great story, I promise!

Until next time, sweeties.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo, TwilightTeen212