A/N: My favorite chapter, I hope it's one of yours as well. I love reviews – I only got one review last chapter. That made me sad. I would love to feel some love.

Bella

I felt…weak to say the least. Saying goodbye to Charlie had been harder than I thought and I had turned to him – the one whom I had been avoiding, to comfort me. I had absentmindedly let down the guard I had been so mercifully building against him, only for it to come to a crashing halt that night.

I sighed, starting blindly out into the blurring scenery. I had insisted to Carlisle that I ride out to Alaska with him & Esme; I felt that I wasn't ready to face anyone in my weak state, I didn't need anyone else's sympathy worrying.

But he knew. He had heard everything – I heard everything.

That night as Edward carried me out of my father's house – all of our emotions, intentions, lies, truths, everything was now laid out on the table.

I love you. I'm not good enough. I'm sorry. You deserve better. Please don't leave me. I hate you for what you've done. Please love me back. I need you.

Images… of our meadow from that day also made an appearance - him telling me that I shouldn't ask silly questions as I told him I loved him. Images… of us happy, laughing…images of what I missed and what I didn't understand.

I breathed in heavily; dry tears were threatening to stain my porcelain face. Esme turned and looked at me with her concerned motherly eyes. I smiled softly at her, thankful for hers and Carlisle 's understanding silence. She grasped my hand softly and squeezed it.

"Almost home dear, just wait – you'll love it." She said reassuringly. I squeezed her hand back softly.

"I'm sure I will Esme." I replied politely as we pulled up to a large, intricate white cottage home. My face became plastered against the window like a little child's. The house was simply exquisite – breathtaking even.

"Oh, Esme! This is…just wonderful!" I exclaimed, getting out of the Mercedes as quickly as my body would allow me to. My feet crunched against the gravel, as I took in my new surroundings. Alice, Jasper, Edward and Emmett had arrived first, their eyes wondering about the lavish exterior of the house as well. Alice squealed a little, making her way towards me, grasping me in a hug.

"Oh Bella, it's so pretty, isn't it? And look! There's more!" Alice pointed, grabbing my arm, pulling me around the huge house. What I saw next was beyond magnificent - three cottages, not as big as the main house laid strewn across the acres of the land. I felt Carlisle 's and Esme's presence behind me.

"Three guest houses? That's quite a bit, isn't it?" I asked in astonishment. Esme seemed hesitant to answer quickly.

"Well, um…you see Bella, dear …" Carlisle cleared his throat.

"For the two married couple, of course and the other one is for guests we might get, the Denali clan is nearby, remember Bella?" I nodded, making a silent, 'O', I should of known that.

Carlisle had always talked extremely high of the Denali clan , for as long as I can remember. According to Carlisle, they were the only other set of vampires that led same values and diet as we do.

"You can also meet the Denali clan when we move there, they're such respectful people, and good friends."

"The Denali clan?" I had asked.

"Yes, Bella. They are the only other vampires known to us who live by our diet." Carlisle responded.

"Oh, that's nice. How many of them are they?"

"Well, let's see...there's Eleazer, Carmen, Irina, Kate and Tanya." At the corner of my eye I saw Edward's face take

on a grimace look – I tried not to notice.

"There was another one, James, but he uh, stands unaccounted for at the moment." I looked at him slightly puzzled, but Carlisle didn't want to seem to continue the topic, so I didn't push it.

"Do they have gifts like us?" I asked curiously.

"Yes, so more important than others."

"Oh?"

"You'll learn soon enough, come now, we've got planning to do for your first semester of college."

"Bella? Yo, earth to Bella!" I jumped a little, realizing that Emmett was standing behind me, booming my name.

" Damnit Emmett! You know how I hate that!" I squealed, punching him in the arm. He winced slightly - I just grinned.

"Show off." He mumbled, rubbing his arm.

"Your just a grumpy butt because you know she can kick your ass." Alice retorted. Emmett then resorted to sticking out his tongue.

"Children!" Esme cried, astounded. We all turned to look at her. "You think after all this time that you guys can try behave like adults." She said, shaking her lush, dark, golden waves. We just grinned from ear to ear. Poor Esme, putting up with us for all these years .

"Anyways, " she continued, "please let's start unpacking...the Denali clan is coming for a visit later." Rose and Alice seemed thrilled for the Denali visit, even Jasper and Emmett looked pleased. However, Edward seemed to ball his fists and put a sour look onto his gorgeous face.

I just sighed. Some things never change.

I just about finished putting the touches on my room as I heard an unfamiliar voice waft through the air.

"Ah, Carlisle , Esme, you do not know how happy I am that you guys are here!" A wonderfully masculine voice rang throughout the house. Carlisle 's laughter chimed.

"I can assure you that we are just as happy to be here."

"Ah! Alice, Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper! It's so wonderful to see you guys again! Oh Carlisle, where are your other two children? Especially Bella, I'm thrilled to meet her." I winced at the sound of my name, meeting new people was not one of my fortes.

"She'll be down in a moment, I'm sure." Carlisle replied. I took a deep breath.

You can do this Bella, they are just other vampires. I chuckled. Vampires.

I made my way down the staircase, grasping the railing, making sure not to trip even the slightest. However, my foot caught underneath me and I stumbled a little, trying to regain my balance.

Great, there goes my confidence, right down the drain.

I took a quite glance at Carlisle and he seemed to smile in reassurance.

"Bella...these are our friends, the Denali clan." A gorgeous Spanish woman came up to me and hugged me lightly.

"Oh Bella! It's such a pleasure to finally meet you! I'm Carmen; this Eleazar, Kate, Irina, and Tanya.

Gorgeous was the one word to describe every single one of them. I felt horribly ugly next to them. Plain and average Bella. I put on my best smile and nodded to each of them. The most gorgeous one - Tanya, came up to me and hugged me slightly. I just stood there, feeling a bit awkward by her forwardness.

"Oh Bella, you're so... pretty." She purred, her long pale fingers coiling in the ends of my hair; I shifted uncomfortably. Her eyes then shifted upwards, looking behind me, her eyes twinkled in delight.

"Edward! Oh how I've missed you my darling!" My body tensed as I realized that he was standing right behind me.

"Tanya." He answered politely, his velvet voice instantly piercing my heart.

Edward… my darling?

She moved around me, her body leaning in towards Edward's. I must of unknowingly growled as Tanya looked at me with surprised eyes.

"Oh my! It seems I've intruded. Edward, I didn't know that you and Bella were together." She seemed to emphasize on the word together as I could feel Edward's face drop slightly.

"We're not." He stated back smoothly. Blank tears caught in my throat. Tanya's eyes seemed to gleam in sheer delight.

"Oh, that's a shame then. But, that does give us a chance for something, doesn't it Edward?" Her ochre eyes caught mine. "Well, that's if Bella's okay with it, of course."

With all the effort I could muster, I put on my 'I don't give a shit smile' and softly replied, "I don't give a damn what you guys do." Taking a breath, I proceeded to make my way around the room, introducing myself to the others.

Edward

I despise Tanya. I mean I really, really despise that woman. I snorted - and to think Carlisle and Eleazar thought that maybe we've could've been mates. I shuttered at that thought. She was a horrible, deceiving woman – I would've taken Rose over her, any day.

And for her to taunt my Bella like that was just plain ugly of her. It had made… me extremely annoyed.

"Edward, dear?" Tanya purred, her still on my arm. I growled slightly – I could feel Jasper trying to calm me, but little use that was.

With clenched teeth I spoke, "Get the hell away from me Tanya". She pouted her full ruby lips.

"Oh Edward, don't be so…" Obviously she wasn't getting the message.

"Get off me…!" I tried to jerk away from her but I suddenly felt drunk and light as air. In my fogginess, my mind came up with one answer – Kate. I tried to fight it – but my body was too heavy, the air too thick.

'No!' I heard someone cry off in the far distance. 'Leave him alone!' a sweet voice chimed. Ah, my sweet voice, a voice I have dreamt about for the past few years – Bella, my sweet, innocent Bella.

I was suddenly jerked out of my reverie with Bella standing in front of me, her hands wrapped around me - protecting me.

I will kill you if you dare hurt him! He's mine! Just stop it, please. Her thoughts were running wild.

Carmen cleared her throat, "Tanya, why don't you show you let Esme and Carlisle show us the rest of the house?" Alice chimed in after Carmen.

"Oh yes! Irina, Tanya, you'll just love the back part of the house, let us show you!" I saw Bella look at Alice thankfully. Carlisle gave me a quick side glance, Now's the time to talk to her, Edward. I nodded, he was right.

After the others had left, Bella realized that her arms were still around me. She let go quickly, moving a few steps from me. She proceeded to cross her arms and looked down.

"Talk to me about what Edward?" She asked, her voice sounding smaller than usual. I sighed, where do I begin?

Well, 'I'm sorry' would be a good start wouldn't it? Or how about, 'I love you'?

"Bella, I…" I started, she just stared at me, awaiting for the conversation to began. I didn't want to do this here, not where everyone was within earshot.

"I want to show you something, will you please come with me?" Her eyes softened as her soft lips parted, answering my question with a soft 'yes'. I took her hand, making sure that my thoughts were shut off to her – just for the ride, I didn't want to share them quite yet.

I loved running – not only was it exhilarating, but it was at the most – calming. After that incident with Tanya and my pending talk with Bella, I was full of unnecessary nerves. Slowing down, we reached to where I wanted to take her, a quaint little spot, much like our meadow back home. I wanted to start anew here with everything, and I wanted her to know that.

We came to a stop and I let go of Bella's hand. Her amber eyes scanned the serene patch of land and she seemed to sigh.

"It's almost like the one in Forks, isn't it?" She asked, her fingers touching the random greenery.

"Yes," I answered, my eyes on her, "Bella, I need to tell you something, but you can't say anything until I'm finished is that okay?"

She nodded, her mind elsewhere, her fingers still studying the plants. I took in a deep, unnecessary breath.

Now or never. Tell her you love her, that you need her – forever. And in that exact moment, that's what I did.

"Bella, I love you. I need you – I've been stupid a fool even, to ever deny my feelings for you. I just don't know what came over me that day in the meadow, I yearned to tell you how I felt, how I truly felt – yet I couldn't justify ever being good enough for someone like you. I hope that there's some way, somehow that you can forgive me and that you can accept me again." I opened my eyes to find Bella, with her back to me, her hands busy with something insignificant. Was she even listening to me? My fragile heart began to break… maybe I was too late.

"Bella?" She turned around, a simple, thick branch in her hand. She began to nonchalantly turn it around in her fingers, taking small strides towards me. I tried to look into her eyes, to see if I could capture some sort of emotion, but her eyes were fixated on the broken branch.

"You know," She began, "a stick is such a simple thing, isn't it?" I furrowed my eyebrows together – had she just not of heard me confess everything to her?

"You see, they probably think to themselves that they aren't even worthy to hold up the lovely branches that are covered in the lush green and the dainty pale flowers. They must think that without them, they would be better off, that there was something stronger, more powerful then they. Yet, little do the branches know that without them, the wonderful greenery and dainty flowers are simply nothing. The branches are their rock and that without them, they can't survive – they don't want to survive. Funny how human nature and human life are similar, isn't it Edward?"

It dawned on me. She was the greenery – bright, exuberant, and lush and I was the branches – full of doubt, self loathing, and self worthlessness. But me without her and her without me neither of us could survive. I embraced her, without asking. I needed to feel her – needed to hear her.

Let's start over. Ask me again… please Bella. She smiled the faintest of smiles.

Edward, do you think we could ever be like Alice and Jasper or Emmett and Rose? My dead heart soared.

Yes, my dear Bella, yes we could. Please forgive me my sweet Bella.

She laughed softly. "Oh Edward, I could never be mad at you, I love you."

My laughter caught up with hers, "I love you too Bella, I love you too."