Thank you to those who gave me reviews- there were so kind and greatly appreciated! This chapter is finally going to give us a peek into just how deeply their separation has affected each of them.

BPOV

I laid in my bed wondering what Edward was doing. Did he finally go home now that I had vacated the Cullen house? I hoped so; it was selfish of me to be the reason that he was unable to be around his family. A stab of guilt went through me as I realized how much of his family he gave up of his family just to constantly be with me. I was such a hideously selfish person and this realization weakened the stronghold on my tears and a sob ripped through me.

EPOV

I could not help it—I ran to Bella's house. Climbing up to her window, I smiled briefly as I remembered watching Bella sleep early on in our relationship, before she was even aware of my nightly visits. Relief filled my being as I peeked into Bella's room and saw her sleeping figure.

The smell of salt was still fresh in the air and I realized that she must have cried herself to sleep. A wave of pain washed over me momentarily; I knew that this was my fault. She did not deserve to be neglected in the way I had been. She would have surely been beating herself up about the entire situation, taking on the entirety of the blame in a way that only Bella could. Still, I was not sure what either of us could say to one another to fix the situation. I could not rid my mind of the constant, haunting image of Bella and Jacob in a passionate embrace, lips locked. Trying to ignore the sudden onslaught of agony that gripped me, I carefully dropped into Bella's room and sat in the rocking chair.

I quickly inspected what I could see of Bella, trying to make that sure that she had not been injured in any way since I had last laid eyes on her. I could not believe that it had only been a few hours since I had seen her—it seemed like years since we were truly together. Ah yes, the night of our engagement, the last night we were fully and completely together and happy. What a hideous turn things had taken since that.

Bella began to toss and turn in her sleep. "Edward," she murmured. I could not help the smile that hearing her say my name in her sleep brought to my face. "Edward…sorry," she mumbled and rolled over. Guilt washed over me, she had been beating herself up.

"No," Bella insisted. "No… don't leave. Not again." Agony. Either consciously or just subconsciously, she thought that her kissing Jacob would cause me to leave her again. How had the trust between us been shattered so quickly and completely? How would we fix it? I knew undoubtedly that even if we were never whole again, I would never, could never, leave Bella again. I would stay with her forever, either watching over her or trying to repair the broken trust between us. But was I ready for the conversation we needed to have?

"Please!" Bella suddenly cried. "No, Edward, stay!" Tears began to stream down her cheeks and I knew she was having one of the abandonment nightmares that had haunted her in my absence. She screamed and started to thrash around in her sheets, sobs racking her small frame. "Not again, Edward, please stay!"

I could not bear to witness Bella in such pain and because of me. Before I could think about what I was doing, I was climbing into Bella's bed and drawing her to my chest. "Bella, my Bella," I murmured to her. "I will never leave, I can't ever leave." She stayed sleeping but quieted as she snuggled closer to my chest. Stroking her hair, I hummed her lullaby and held my angel as she slept peacefully.

BPOV

I woke feeling surprisingly refreshed even before I had opened my eyes. Instinctively, I reached for Edward's hand, but found nothing. My eyes finally snapped open as a stab of disappointment tore through me. It was strange that I had slept so soundly and had no nightmares without him here with me.

Climbing out of bed and sighing, I tried to remember the last time Edward and I had been together and happy. Our engagement. That night had gone so well, he had been so happy with me finally agreeing to his proposal. I couldn't believe that I had managed to sour our relationship so quickly after he had been so blissfully joyous. I still couldn't help but to be horrified at what I done with Jacob... Jacob. I had not seen or talked to him since the newborn battle. I knew that I would need to face him eventually, that I would need to make my feelings for him explicitly clear. I had chosen Edward the day that I walked into biology. Even as he glared at with me his onyx-black eyes, darkened from hunger, I had been his and no one else's. Jacob needed to know and finally accept that.

I knew that I could not delay the confrontation any longer, my confusing relationship with Jacob had caused enough damage. Today was the day that I needed to go to La Push and tell Jacob exactly how I felt. Feeling slightly better as I now had a plan of action, I got dressed quickly and ate a small bowl of cereal before bringing to truck to life and driving down to La Push.

It wasn't until I was down the street from Jacob's house that I began to feel nervous. How would Jacob take this? Would he become so angry and upset that he would phase? Would he ever speak to me again? Would the other pack members hate me? Distracted by my fears, I pulled into his driveway far too quickly that I wanted to. Unfortunately, I was not allowed any time to gather myself in my truck—Jacob came bounding out as soon as he heard my truck pull up. Shaking slightly, I climbed out just in time for him to wrap his huge arms me in a tight bear hug.

"Bella!" he sounded so happy, I couldn't believe what I was about to him. "I missed you. I haven't seen you since—"

"Yeah, I know," I cut him off before he could mention the infidelity by name. "I was just caught up in trying to keep my story with Charlie straight I guess." I hoped he couldn't sense my nervousness, I wanted him to remain his happy self for as long as possible.

"So, are you here just to hang out? We can ride bikes, we can hike, go down to the beach, we could—"

"Actually, Jake, I really need to talk to you," I felt bad for interrupting him again but I just wanted to get this conversation over with and get back to Edward as soon as possible.

"Oh." He seemed to notice my discomfort for the first time since I had arrived. "Well, alright. Let's talk." Grabbing my hand (I allowed it just this last time, trying to justify in my mind, but knowing that I just wanted to feel his hand in mine once more), he led me out to his garage. As we talked, I tried to gather any courage in my body as I prepared to hurt yet another person that I loved.

EPOV

I sat in my room, head in my hands. Part of me regretted leaving Bella before she awoke, but I knew that I still was not ready to face her yet. I still could not figure out what I would say to her. I had forgiven her, heck I had never blamed her, but I knew that if I talked to her in my current state, it would sound like I was blaming her. I would not be able to keep my pain and feelings of betrayal out of the conversation and I did not trust myself not to get upset with her in a moment of thoughtlessness. I needed to figure out how to cope with these feelings before I saw Bella so she did not think that I blamed her or that I was angry with her. I knew that I only had a limited amount of time in which to do so before she noticed that I was avoiding her.

Alice's frantic thoughts suddenly filled my head. She's disappeared! Maybe she's just down at La Push. I think she'll be okay. Please don't overreact.

"It's fine Alice," I tried to reassure her. I could not be upset that Alice had missed Bella disappearing when I was currently doing a pitiful job of protecting her. I tried to tell myself that Bella was down just spending time with Jacob, maybe even letting him down, but I could not help the voice of doubt in my head that insisted that she was down with him. The agony that ripped through me at this thought was unbearable. Curling my knees into my chest, I tried to imagine that everything would work out, that Bella would come back and we would talk everything through.

"Edward," Alice's voice cut through the pain. I was unable to answer her. "Edward, I can't stand to see you like this. I can't stand to see either of you like this. You are being stubborn—both of you." I knew that Jasper must have felt my sudden pain and sent her up to talk to me. Alice continued. "Edward, you have to trust Bella. I can't see her right now, but I know that she will come back to you. You two are meant to be and you can't let this come between you."

I finally looked up at her. "How Alice? She obviously wants him. He tricked her into kissing him, yes. But now she is down there with him so she obviously wants more—more that I cannot give her." She looked shocked at my sudden outburst but I continued before she could respond. "Did you see that she wanted to make love to me, Alice? She wanted me, and I had to refuse her, for her safety. But that dog can make love to her and I bet everything I have ever owned that he would not refuse her. He can give her everything. Physical love, children, old age, a real life. I cannot give her any of that, Alice! So how can I not let this come between us? It already has and Bella has obviously already realized who is best for her. She has finally realized that she should not want to be with such a monster and I have to let her go because it is what's best for her." Breathing heavy for a moment, I felt a pain in my chest that was only championed by the pain I felt when I thought Bella was dead. The agony that gripped me truly overwhelmed and I collapsed on the floor, sobbing tearless sobs because the monster that I was was not worthy of crying actual tears.

Alice did not come over but I knew that she had not left the room. She did not approach me, but simply said, "It's not your choice to let her go and you need to talk to her before you ruin everything yourself." With that, she walked out.

I really hoped you liked this chapter- I think Edward was due for a little bit of a breakdown.

I don't think that I'm actually going to write out Jacob and Bella's conversation, I really want to keep this story focused on Edward and Bella, not Jacob and Bella. The next chapter is most likely going to have Bella and Edward finally talking through everything! It might be a while though, I really want to do a good job of putting together the conversation.

Thanks for sticking with this story!