Disclaimer: Somewhere in Time and Twilight are not mine.

A/N: Happy Friday everybody! As promised, this chapter is 100 o/o new material never-before-seen-in-the-oneshot.

Enjoy!

Chapter 9: Rude Awakening

EPOV

The painful throbbing in my head is the first thing I'm aware of. A distant second is the smell of fresh hay and horseflesh. I try and gingerly feel the pulsing knot on the back of my head but I can't seem to move my arms. I open my eyes to find myself bound and gagged in what appears to be a stable. None of that really bothers me though. The panic I feel rising in my chest has nothing to do with my current physical state but everything to do with the sunlight streaming in through the doors and windows. Sunlight. It's morning. Oh God. The company has left. Where is Bella? She's lost to me now. Why would she stay? All we had was half a day of talking, connecting, and one dance. One kiss. I feel the bile rise in my throat and I can't tell if it's from my probable concussion or the thought that Bella is gone. I don't care to figure it out. I need to get out of here.

I pull hard at the ropes knotted to my wrists. I can't seem to get much leverage in this awkward position with my hands behind my back. My shoulder is screaming at me. They must not have bothered to lay me down, just dropped my unconscious body to the stable floor. I pull and pull and I can feel the ropes biting into the skin of my wrists but I don't care. I have to get to her. I need to find her. This isn't working. I try and calm myself enough to really take in my surroundings. Maybe there is something I can use… but there's not. I'm on the floor of an open empty stall with nothing but hay around me.

If my legs were free I could probably stand and walk out of here. Surely someone would see me then and help with the bindings at my wrists. I pull as best I can to loosen the bonds around my knees and ankles but I have no luck there either. I may not be able to walk but I can still use my legs to push myself out of the stall. After a few grunts and shoves and shimmies I can see out of the stall. I don't see anyone and, other than the occasional sound made by the horses, I don't hear anything. I do my best to call for help through the gag anyway. No response.

Then I see it. Hanging from a nail on the stable across from me is an unlit kerosene lamp. I used to have one once. Emmet broke it years ago when we went camping. It didn't take much. He just dropped it and the glass shade broke. I remember it well because I cut myself on the sharp glass shards. It's not a pocket knife but it'll due.

I flop around like a fish out of water and push and inch myself across the floor to other stall. I flip onto my back and shrug my way up the wall. I'm almost there, I just need to lean a little to the right and then the lantern will be at my shoulder. With one last carefully placed shrug I hook the lantern with my shoulder; it comes unhooked from its nail and falls to the floor. I have never been so happy to hear the sound of glass breaking in all my life.

I quickly lower myself and find a shard large enough to use. I grind and saw at the rope at my wrist frustrated how long it's taking and that I can't seem to keep up the pressure. I silently curse James Meadows for having competent goons who actually know how to tie a decent knot. James… James is with Bella. Oh God! My fingers are cramping but I don't care. I need to get free. I have to get to Bella. I am so scared of what he might do to her. He was so angry and odd last night. He was becoming unhinged. I change my mind. I now pray that she didn't stay behind, that she left with him and gave him no reason to hurt her. I'm shocked out of my panic when the rope finally gives way and with a twist and a pull the bindings are loose enough that they fall from my wrists. I don't waste a second of time and immediately cut at the ropes hobbling my legs. They fall away much quicker that the binding at my wrists now that I have full use of my hands.

I throw the broken glass aside and spring to my feet ripping the gag from my mouth as I run outside. I pause only for a moment to let my eyes adjust to the early morning light and take in my surroundings. I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I see The Grand before me. I wasn't taken far. They just dumped me in the hotel's own stable. I run like a man on fire towards the building. The hotel is quiet and the lobby is almost completely empty since, judging from the sun, it's just after dawn. I head straight to room 117 and I'm conflicted as to what I pray to find. As much as I hope Bella left quietly with James, I know the safest place for her to be is far away from him. I bang on her door willing her to answer it. Please, oh please, answer the door, Bella.

My chest is getting so tight.

"Bella!" Please answer.

I bang some more. My fist is starting to hurt but I need to know. I lay my forehead against the wood praying for her to be there. I knock again. It's hard to breathe.

"Sir? Are you alright?"

I turn to find Jasper standing in the hall with a concerned expression on his face. "Jasper! The company. Are they gone?"

He tilts his head and furrows his brow, confused. I think he is concentrating more on my disheveled and battered condition than my words. "Company, sir?"

"The ones who put on the play last night." I urgently explain trying not to sound like a crazy person. "Where are they? Are they gone?"

"They left last night, as soon as they were packed, sir," he nodded.

Defeated and resigned, I turn with a curt nod leaving Jasper without an explanation. There is nothing for me here now. She's not here. I need to get out of this damned hotel. I stride through the lobby, ignoring the shocked stares of the early risers clearly disturbed my appearance. I step into the morning sun on the large rear porch and try to take a deep breath of the cool morning air. The ache in my chest is still there, constricting. My heart feels like it has been crushed. The pain gives me something to concentrate on other than… her.

My head hurts. I gingerly finger the knot at the back of my head. No dried blood, that's good. When I grimace at the sting from my prodding fingers, I feel the tightness of the skin stretched across my cheekbone. I probably have a bit of a black eye but it feels like my cheek absorbed most of the force from that punch. I definitely took a few hits to my gut last night, maybe even a kick to the ribs. There's a slice to the palm of my hand from the broken glass, not too deep and the bleeding appears to have stopped. With a small grunt, I sit down dejectedly on a bench overlooking the lush landscaping. I don't see it. I'm too lost in my own head. What should I do now? Where should I go? If I even had the money to get to Denver, I have no way of knowing where in Denver she is. Maybe someone at the hotel knows their next stop. Maybe if I…

"EDWARD!?" I hear her cry out from far away. I jump to my feet and turn head towards the sound of her voice; my pains and aches completely forgotten in my euphoria at the sight of her. There she is, my Bella, standing on the back lawn. "Edward!" Her whole face lights up when our eyes meet. She looks like an angel in white and I almost can't believe my eyes. She gathers her long skirt and starts running.

"Bella!" I call out in answer as I start flying down the long staircase down to the lawn. I take the steps three and four at a time and I don't really slow down or stop when I reach her. We almost spin out of control as I pull her into my arms and crush her to me and laugh, kissing her face all over. I can't believe she's here. She's really here in my arms so I hold her close and hug her fiercely. It feels so good, so right, to have her arms tightly wrapped around my waist and her head pressing into my shoulder. I can't believe that James left her behind- James…

"Are you all right?" I pull back and search her beaming face for any imperfections, any sign that he may have hurt her. There are none.

"Oh, yes," she breathes with a dazzling smile, laughing as her hands clutch and pull at my shoulders to bring me down for another kiss.

"I thought I'd lost you." I tell her with disbelief still in my voice. I cradle her face in my hands and gaze into her eyes with all the love I have for her.

"Never," she smiles and I take another quick kiss. Then with more conviction, "Never, never, never."

The air seems to gently vibrate around us, electrified by the emotion of our reunion. We gaze into each others eyes and our smiles fade as I slowly lean down and she stretches up to meet me. This kiss is different from the others. The desperation and pain is replaced by feelings of contentment and relief. The sense of urgency is gone now that we are in each others arms again. This kiss is soft and slow; our lips linger before coming together again and again. Pulling back from each other, we smile as she removes her hands from my shoulders and I place my hand at the small of her back to lead her back into the hotel. There are no more words, our eyes tell the other everything there is to say.

A/N: Review please!! I love hearing from you guys!

It looks like everyone was tickled over the whole Victor/Victoria thing. It only reinforced my sadness that I wasn't able to torture her a bit more without messing up the rhythm of the last chapter. The plot bunnies did strike as I read your reviews and I thought I might do a series of sideshots for this story like: Victor and Laurent licking their wounds after their encounter with Edward ('cause you know Edward had to get a few good licks in before he went down), BPOV of thier first meeting or first kiss or the play or maybe something with Alice (I miss Alice!)... OOooo! How about elderly Bella's POV of the night she gives Edward the pocket watch!? Whatcha think? Anything you'd like to see? Let me know what you'd like to see the most in your reviews and be sure to have me on author alert so you'll be notified when I post the sideshot/stories, OK?

So who wants to kiss Edward's boo boos all better? Maybe play a little naughty nurse? Show of hands please? LOL Sorry, I can't help it. You would know what I'm talking about if you read the latest update for ObsessingOverEdward's story Holding Out For You. If you don't know what I'm talking about... Shame on you! Go read it now -and everything else she ever wrote, too, 'cause it's all amazing! You won't regret it. :o)

Coming Up Next: The Lemon! I hope to have it posted Sunday at the latest. I have to rework the entire first half of it, more or less, since the oneshot is a meshing of thier first kiss and their 'first time'. I could just hack that bit off and have it start all hot and heavy from the get go but this is supossed to be a gentle romance so I'd like to give it the attention it deserves. You guys who send me all the loverly reviews make the extra work worth it. ;o) Thanks!