"Holy shit," Edward whispered in awe as he stared at his cuff. "I don't…I don't understand."

"It's happened, Ed," Scheduler's tone was giddy. "You have your first tear!"

"But-But that's impossible," Edward stuttered. A shaky finger reached out to stroke the crystal clover.

"Impossible? Dude, you're looking at the tangible, totally real evidence as we speak. You did it!"

"I did it," Edward repeated. His lips quirked into a smile and a small laugh escaped him. "Holy…I actually did it!"

The urge to do a victory was strong, but Edward held back. He wasn't sure if the people around him could even see him given Scheduler's powers, but he wasn't going to take the chance. After all, it looked like he was going to be seeing the people of Chicago for a lot longer than he thought.

"This is surreal," Edward sat down, eyes still on his cuff. "Who did it?"

"Did what?"

"Who gave the tear? Or, y'know, cried for me?"

"I can't tell you that."

Edward looked up at her in surprise. "What? Why?"

"It's the rules," Scheduler shrugged. She sat down next to him on the bench. "I'm not allowed to tell you."

"Right," Edward said, but his mind commenced scanning through all the names and faces he knew.

It can't be Maggie or Gianna, and it definitely couldn't have been Rose or Jacob. Newton? Nah, highly unlikely. Or maybe Bella…

Edward's back suddenly snapped ramrod straight. "Oh crap."

"What?"

"Bella, Sched!" he turned to Scheduler. "The freakin' letter I left Bella!"

In a split second, Edward was up and running towards Heaven.

"So does this mean you're done being a drama-llama and actually staying to make things right?" Scheduler asked as she easily kept up with his longer legs.

"Yes, yes, I'm staying," Edward replied hastily. "But I won't be here for long if Bella gets her hands on that letter and finds out everything!"

"Okay, first off, I'm glad as all out that you've finally come to your senses, and second, calm down for a sec! Do you even know what you're gonna do once you get back to the café?"

Edward's steps slowed as he considered her words. "Well…no. I'm kinda just…gonna wing it, I guess."

Scheduler rolled her eyes. "Wing it? You're going to wing it when you have a totally awesome and powerful ally right here?" She pointed to herself.

"Oh," Edward nodded as he slowly realized that his companion was capable of…well, a lot of things he didn't know about, probably. "Okay, then. So you can help?"

"I –" Scheduler was interrupted by her glowing and vibrating necklace. "Aw, great. I'm sorry, Ed, but you're going to have do this on your own. I have to go."

"But –" Edward began, but before he could get any more words out, Scheduler disappeared.

"Perfect timing," he muttered, running a hand through his hair and tugging.

It looked like he had no other choice than to go with his original idea: winging it.

…

Edward walked into Heaven for the second time that day with just an inkling of what he planned on doing. For lack of better ideas, he had decided that he was just going to do the same thing he did earlier – sneak up to Bella's apartment, but retrieve the letter instead of leaving it. The problem this time around, though, was that it was nearly three PM, which meant that there wouldn't be much people around to cover his tracks.

He just had to be stealthier, he guessed.

With one last mental push, Edward walked through the doors with the least amount of spectacle he could manage, and casually sat at one of the tables near the stairs. He pretended to play with his phone for about a minute and a half until he finally decided that it was the perfect time to move.

Okay, I'll make a run for it on three. One…two…

"Jazz!"

Mother. Fucker.

Edward closed his eyes in complete annoyance and deflation. Today was just the day for excellent timings, wasn't it? Eventually, he opened them only to see Rosalie Hale happily approaching his table.

"Hey," Rose greeted before unceremoniously plopping her ass on the seat in front of him. "I was hoping I would catch you today."

"You don't say."

"Yeah," Rose smiled. Edward wondered how she could be so oblivious to his obvious disinterest. "I was just thinking about how much fun we had when we had lunch together a couple days ago, so I figured maybe we can go out again. Y'know, for a bite to eat."

Are you freaking kidding me around now?

"Uh, I really can't, Rosalie. Sorry," Edward didn't sound the least bit apologetic. "I'm…kinda busy."

Rosalie's perfectly sculpted eyebrow arched as she looked back at him. "Busy. With what? I mean, you're not even working right now."

"Oh, I know. What I meant was, I'm…actually waiting for someone."

"Oh? Who?"

"Uh…"

Just then, the bell above the door rang, and in walked Edward's last-second salvation.

"Bella!" he called out, waving like an idiot as he did. "Bella, hey!"

Bella looked a little startled at the sound of her name, and when she saw who was trying to get her attention, a small, watery smile graced her lips.

"E – Jasper," she croaked once she was close to Edward's table. After a cough to clear her voice, she spoke again. "Hi."

"Hi," Edward smiled brightly at her as he stood and moved to her side. He was about to pull her in his arms for a hug, but managed to stop himself.

"Hey, Rosalie."

"Bella," Rosalie's response was curt. "It's good to see you again."

"Um, you, too."

"You're right on time, by the way." Edward interrupted the cold exchange.

"On time?"

"Yeah. We were going to hang out today, right?" Edward pleaded to her with his eyes to play along. "Rosalie just stopped by for a...chat while I was waiting for you."

"Oh. Oh," Realization dawned on Bella as she looked from Edward's hopeful eyes to Rose's hard glare. "Right. Right, um, let me just...leave some of my stuff upstairs and we can –"

"No!" Edward blurted. "I mean, no, we can just hang out at your place."

"Okay. That sounds like a good idea," Bella smiled up at him. "So, uh, I guess we should...head up, then."

"Right. Yeah," Edward turned to Rosalie. "We'll see you around, Rose."

"Mm," Rose simply hummed in response as she stood up as well. "I guess we'll just have our lunch date some other time, then." She looked at Bella with a saccharine grin plastered on her face. "We had the greatest time at Sala Bistro the other day. It's a shame Jasper has...other obligations today."

Edward saw Bella's eyes drop to the floor, and that's when he had enough. Without any hesitation, he wrapped an arm around Bella, gave Rosalie a short goodbye, and led the way up the stairs.

"Well, that was close," Edward muttered once they were out of sight. "Nice timing, by the way. You got me out of a tight situation there."

When he didn't hear any sort of reply, Edward turned to Bella to catch her staring at him. "What?" he asked self-consciously. "Is something wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry! Uh, nothing – nothing's wrong," Bella hurriedly answered. "Just got a lot on my mind today, that's all. I must've, ah, zonked out."

"You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm all good." Bella smiled and buried her hands in her pockets. "So, uh, shall we?" She gestured forward.

"Good idea," Edward nodded, stepping aside to let her open the door to her apartment. His eyes zoned in on the desk as soon as he entered.

"Do you want something to drink? Or eat?" Bella offered while she took off her coat.

Edward's stomach growled loudly at the thought of food; he had forgotten to eat anything earlier, and knowing Bella's culinary expertise, he was eager to chow down.

"I can do with some food. I mean, if you don't mind, of course."

"It's really no trouble," Bella insisted. She gestured to her living room. "Go ahead and make yourself at home. I'll just...get the stuff ready."

Edward smiled and nodded in thanks, and as soon as she had her back turned, he slowly inched his way to her desk.

There it is – just sitting on top of the book like how I left it.

Well, no shit, Sherlock. Where else would it be?

I don't know – maybe someone had gone in here and moved it or something. Her door was never locked for Pete's sake.

Enough of the mental jabbering. Just reach out and grab –

"So, um, what was going on?"

Edward nearly jumped a foot in the air, and quickly retracted his hand. "Sorry, what?"

"With...Rosalie," Bella turned from her place in the kitchen to look at him. "I mean, not that I'm trying to pry or anything, but..."

"Oh. With Rosalie. Uh..." Edward scratched the back of his neck. "She was just being overfriendly." As usual. "I wasn't even expecting her to be there."

"Oh. So...you weren't..."

"No, I...well, to be honest, I really didn't want to speak to her, so it was great that you walked in and played along. Thanks for that, by the way. I know I'm not exactly in your plans today, so..."

Bella's expression turned unreadable for a split second, but her usual warm grin lit up her face again. "It's okay. Sorry, I'm just a little confused. I figured you guys must be...friends or something. I mean, she mentioned you guys going to lunch together...?"

Fucking Rosalie and her stupid mouth. "Yeah, about that. One of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. I only agreed to go with her 'cause I was in a hurry and she wouldn't leave me alone."

"I see," Bella turned to the counter, and back with a tray of food. "Well, I made sandwiches. I hope that's okay –"

"No, that's totally fine," Edward pushed the letter out of his brain for a minute as all he could register was the nirvana Bella had placed on the counter. And it truly was nirvana. Edward had to hold back a groan after taking a bite.

It didn't take long for the plate to be emptied between the two of them, and as much as Edward wanted to keep chatting with Bella, he knew he had to get back his letter first.

"Your book collection is massive," he remarked as he casually walked to the book cases near the desk. "Though I can't say I'm surprised – your head was always buried in a book in high school."

"Yeah," Bella chuckled. "My dad used to say I could open up a library with the books I have."

"He's right," Edward chuckled with her. He placed his hand on her desk, and slowly slid it until it was right on top of the letter. "And your desk is an antique?" He needed to keep her talking and distracted from what his hand was doing.

"Uh-huh," Bella replied. "It was actually my grandma's originally."

"That's cool," Edward faced her while he oh-so-subtly brought the paper closer to him. Once it was near enough, he leaned forward a bit, and hurriedly stuffed it into his pocket. "And she gave it to you?"

"No, she gave it to my dad. And when he, um, passed away, he left it for me."

Edward's eyes grew wider. He knew all about Renee's drama, but he had no idea that Charlie had passed. The old police chief seemed so invincible. "He...oh. I'm sorry, Bella." And he really was. Bella must have felt so alone. Sure, she had her aunt and uncle, but he couldn't help but feel like he could have helped her through her grief.

Bella's eyes averted to the floor. "It was just about a month ago. Lung cancer. It was a…really long and terrible disease, so I'm just happy now that he's at peace."

"I'm sorry," Edward murmured again. "I didn't know."

"It's okay," Bella's reply was muffled against his chest. "I just, it's still kinda hard for me to talk about."

"I'm sorry."

"You really should stop apologizing," Bella smiled slightly. "So, do you still wanna hang out, or was that just an excuse to get away from Rosalie?"

Edward's responding grin was so wide, it hurt his cheeks. "I don't mind hanging out for a few more minutes."

...

Bella was back at her laptop the second she was alone in her apartment. She and Edward had talked for hours, and if anything, the additional time she'd spent with him only solidified the whole possession thing – it might have been Jasper's body he was seeing, but it was definitely Edward whom she was talking to.

She was confused about a few things, though. Like with his avoidance of Rosalie. They were engaged! Why would he be looking for excuses to not spend time with her?

"I mean, he was perfectly content to spend the afternoon with me," Bella muttered as she browsed her browser history.

Maybe it was because he felt guilty. After your whole spiel about him replacing you with Rosalie, he probably feels obligated to spend time with you.

Possible, but that doesn't seem like it.

So, what are you suggesting, then? That he's finally discovered that you're actually the love of his life and that Rosalie's a ho-bag?

That idea sounded so much like one of her day dreams in high school that Bella had to laugh. Shaking her head, she decided to just forgo the whole Rosalie situation and focus on something more important.

Now that she knew of Edward's predicament, she wanted desperately to help him. She didn't know what the next step was, though. Should she tell him that she knew? Or would that just make things worse for him? If it was the latter, what else was left for her to do, then?

With all those queries running around in her head, Bella finally found what she was looking for, and quickly clicked the link. In seconds, she was back at the blog post about the soul's fifty-day journey, and it was there where she hunted for answers.

Bella scoured the entire blog site, but unfortunately, her questions remained unanswered. She did find the author's information though, and after finding out where she lived, Bella decided on her next move.

She was going to pay Forks' resident paranormal expert a visit.

...

"Hey Alice," Jasper greeted as Mel's regular customer walked through the diner doors. He waved at her just as a yawn ripped through him.

"Hey," Alice sat at one of the high chairs. "You look tired."

"Thanks. You look nice, too." Jasper replied dryly.

Alice laughed. "Oh, you know I didn't mean it that way."

"I know," Jasper grinned at her. "I just...it seems like the sleep walking's getting worse, if that's what's causing this. I'm so freakin' tried all the time, I can't remember anything, and it's driving me insane!"

"Okay, okay. Calm down," Alice placed her hand on his. "Whatever it is that's going on, we can fix it."

Jasper tried to ignore the tingles that shot up his spine every time he touched her, and instead rubbed the back of his head with his free hand. "I don't know what to do, though. Hell, you'd think that with so much work I've been doing, I should be getting some decent sleep."

"Well…have you thought about my hypnotherapy suggestion?"

"I have, actually."

"And?"

"And...I think I'll take it."

27 Days to Go.