Disclaimer: I don't own any of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight characters.

And thank you to those of you who reviewed that while they were uneasy with the path I had taken in the last chapter with the whole misunderstanding thing that they trusted me with Edward and Bella to pull us out of the cliche'd fanfiction bog and get back to the originality that drew them to FDKK to begin with. I promise you guys that if there wasn't a set purpose to all of this, I never would have taken us here, but there are implications that reach far beyond the surface.

I also think Bella's POV at the beginning of this chapter may shed some light into why she chose to run away instead of confronting them. No matter how confident and independent we are, we all have our insecurities and little cracks in our veneer that can cause us to react differently than maybe we would in other situations. No matter how grown up and confident we are, our past experiences and impressions often cloud our judgment. She's also going to make some extremely stupid decisions in her attempts to escape everything. Okay, enough justifying, I don't want to slip and give something away and ruin some of the future chapters by giving too much away.

This one is shorter than the last four or five have been, but there's a ton of drama packed into these paragraphs.We also have a lot of shifting POV's and a new one we haven't seen before.

Thanks to my awesome, wonderful, fantastic, fabulous, gifted, awesome, hard working betas SassenachWench and Sihaya 9 and all of you awesome readers and reviewers out there!

This chapter is unedited :)

Runaway Rollercoaster

BPOV

After Alice and Rose left me alone in my room, I tried to rest my eyes. Tried being the operative word, because every time I closed my eyes, I would see THEM in each other's arms, her mouth on his, and I would feel the knife slice deep in my chest all over again. It hurt so bad, it felt as though the breath was knocked completely out of me every single time it would replay in my mind's eye, I would start all over again with a fresh round of body shaking sobs.

After my third flashback, I was hit with the sudden need to get away, go back to Chicago, and be as far away from Edward Masen as humanly possible. I rolled over, clicking on the bedside lamp. I slammed open the drawer to find the phone book.

I opened to the page with the listing for Amtrak, dialing the number with a new determination. Thankfully, a train was scheduled to pass through town in half an hour. I would have to change lines in Minneapolis for an express train to Chicago. I was so relieved to find a train with minimal stops. If all went according to plan, I would be back home in eleven hours.

I wrote a note, letting everyone know I was catching a train home with my reservation details so they wouldn't worry and could enjoy the rest of their trip. I grabbed my bags, peeking out the door of the hotel, before sliding out as quietly as I could. I took a dark side street four blocks to the train station, being careful to avoid the main streets where the others might see me.

Without any commotion or drama, I stepped onto the tall silver Amtrak train and settled into a seat, resting my exhausted head on the headrest and staring at the dark countryside streaking by my window. I willed my eyes to stay open, not wanting to relive my heartbreak again.

I managed to stay awake until reaching Minneapolis, where I rushed to catch my connecting train, barely making it before the train pulled away from the station. I settled into a new seat, once again fighting my fluttering eyelids. Eventually, I lost the war.

As I had feared, my dreams gave me no refuge from my living nightmare.

Everything transpired just as it had that night, except in my dream I stayed longer to see Edward push her back and lay her across the table, devouring her body with his mouth. I covered my mouth to keep in my cries, but he heard me anyway and turned to look at me, laughing. He stood up, pulling her up to his side, keeping her tightly wrapped in his arms and running his hand down her back to cup her ass cheek with a sneer.

"Don't worry about it, Bella, I found someone not quite so frigid to spend my time with. I mean, the blowjob was great, but who wants a blow when you can have a good ole' fashioned fuckfest? It was fun, but you're way too boring, and if I'm totally honest, you're plain as fuck. You don't know how much it killed me to have to constantly try to convince you that you were beautiful. It was fucking exhausting. You're just too much work, so I'm done. Sorry babe."

I felt my heart splinter and shatter in a forceful explosion in my chest. My lungs burned and my stomach acids boiled up my esophagus. I cried, running out the door to heave my last meal in the street.

I jerked awake, sobbing as I gasped for breath. It took a few seconds to realize I was on the train trying to get back home. I looked around self consciously to see that a couple of my fellow midnight passengers were watching me with strained expressions over their newspapers and cups of coffee. I looked away, out the window, hiding behind my wild tangled hair, feeling my face heat in my embarrassment and my eyes burn with the creation of more tears.

As I felt the cold round metal circle on my finger, my chest tightened painfully. I slowly slid the ring off of my finger, slipping it on my necklace for safe keeping. I didn't want to loose the precious heirloom, and yet not willing to wear the painful reminder on my finger of what wasn't mine a second longer. I would go to his apartment in a few days, get my things, and leave it on his dresser. Until then, I couldn't risk anything happening to it, however painful, it was a very valuable antique.

I dared not fall asleep again for the rest of the trip. I rested my head against the cold glass of the window, staring into the blackness beyond. I watched the pitch of the night slowly lighten to gray before an unhurried orange haze streaked the sky. It continued building in brightness until the bright yellow sun crested fully along the horizon, exposing the ever thickening urban sprawl as we flew closer and closer to the heart of Chicago.

The train pulled into Union Station at ten in the morning. I struggled to drag my suitcase off, my tired body bogged down by both physical and emotional exhaustion. I flagged down a cab, asking them to take me Hancock. I may have been heartbroken and exhausted, but I wasn't stupid. I was going to the safest place I knew; even if the only guards on duty were still in Minnesota with everyone else, there were still the Hancock guards to get past. I'd be fine.

The old gray haired security guard, Tony, smiled at me with a nod as I walked in, passing by him to the elevators. I made my way up to Alice's floor, leaving my bags in the entryway after I let myself in. Shuffling to the settee, I collapsed, unable to move my body even one inch further. My mind, no longer able to stay conscious, shut down, dropping me into a deep and thankfully dreamless sleep.

TragerPOV

I was in a bad fucking mood. How the fuck was I supposed to catch the bitch if she was never alone? I certainly wasn't going to be stupid enough to follow her to bumfuck Minnesota, where she would be surrounded by even more cops. No, I was staying in Chicago, working on a plan to get her alone.

I was actually considering going in disguise and cutting myself with my knife in order to get her to treat me. Then I could take her out in the ER, but that would be way too public and there was no way I'd make it out. No, I needed a better plan, to bide my time. I had plenty of safety nets…eventually one of them would provide an opportunity.

Just as I was thinking of the possible ways I could take her out, my phone rang. I picked it up with a frown. Tony, what the fuck could Tony tell me when she wasn't even in town?

"Tony, what can you do for me?"

He cleared his throat and I could hear the scowl in his voice. The man hated me, as he should.

"This clears the debt, Wingnut. My son is free and clear after I do you this solid, is that understood?"

"I don't believe you are really in the position to be making demands, old man."

He growled, "Listen fucker, if you're not going to forgive my son's gambling debts and let him be, then I have no further business with you. I want your word that this is done and that he will be safe."

I chuckled, these guys were so fucking easy to manipulate. "Fine Tony, you do me this solid and he's free and clear. You might want to tell him to find a good gambling treatment clinic, or else I might just end up calling for your services again in the future."

Tony sighed, before whimpering like a pansy ass. I was beginning to get inpatient when he ground out, "She's here. She just arrived; looking like someone killed her parents. She's alone, no guards, no friends, nobody."

I smiled so big it hurt my cheeks, finally something going my way. Maybe this day wasn't going to be as bad as I thought.

"Good work, Tony. Consider your son free and clear after you let me up to her floor. I want to go in the back way so that I'm not seen. Are we clear?"

"Crystal."

I exited my apartment, practically running down to my car. I sped through the Chicago streets, parking a block away from Hancock.

Tony POV

Damn, I hated doing that. I liked Bella. She was a good kid, but my son is my son. I had to help him. I gave the intel to Wingnut and I would let him up. Once he was gone though, I knew I had to do something to help her.

Wingnut came sauntering in, looking cocky as hell. I led him through the back hallway to the service elevator. It moved much slower than the express the residents used, because it was a heavy-duty design with larger cables and motors to haul heavy furniture and equipment. It would buy me a bit more time.

The second the elevator left the floor, I ran to my desk. I picked up the phone, dialing the Brandon's apartment, but she didn't answer. My heart began to pound as I dialed again, and finally on the third time she answered.

"There isn't much time, Bella, this is Tony in lobby security. Trager is in the building. Do not open your door! Make sure all of the locks are secure and go hide in the back of the apartment. I'm calling the police right now."

I heard her terrified shriek before she choked out a thank you before hanging up. I was just picking up the receiver to call 911, when her brother and the rest of their friends including Miss Brandon, rushing through the doors. They ran directly to me, asking if I had seen Bella. I quickly explained she was here and that Trager was in the building. Edward, Emmett, and Jake all ran straight to the express elevator, while Jasper jumped over the desk. He pinned me to the wall, screaming in my face that I was a dead man.

I knew I deserved it. I told my pathetic tale through gasping strangled breaths. Jasper kept me pinned to the wall, while Miss Brandon begged him to release me.

EPOV

It was three in the morning when I woke up in the hospital. I was dizzy when I got up from the bed and dressed. Everyone followed me as I walked out the front door. I just needed to get to Bella.

As we talked I discovered Emmett had done a fine job of kicking my ass, breaking my nose, which was throbbing and making my eyes feel as though they were bulging out of my skull. He had also given me a bit of a concussion. I didn't give a shit, barely taking in the information. I asked them to tell me more about what the hell happened with Bella.

I thought I was going to puke all over the van when they told me about how excited she was to see me and she had noticed me walking into the bar. She rushed ahead of everyone to see me, only to walk in for the tiny fraction of time that passed between when Tanya hugged and kissed me and when I pulled away from her, explaining that I never had those feelings for her and was completely in love with Bella. Holy fuck, when I thought about what that had looked like, what she must have thought, how that would have made her feel, I began to get dizzy again. The torturous pain that stabbed in my chest was too much. Oh my poor Bella!

She ran back to the hotel in hysterical tears. The second she mentioned what she saw, Emmett went apeshit and left to go pound my ass, which he did quite effectively, not that I blamed him. I wanted to kick my own ass for even allowing the situation to get that far. Rose and Alice helped calm her down, got her pain meds and water, and at Bella's request left her to sleep.

Not too long after they left her, the call came in that I was being rushed to the hospital thanks to Emmett's beating. Alice left the hotel to join us, while Rose stayed in the room next to Bella's to wait. At some point, I guess Rose dozed off only to be awoken when Emmett called her from the hospital with an update on my condition. That was two in the morning. When she went next door, Bella didn't open the door. She hadn't given anyone else the key, so Rose went to the front desk, convincing the night duty clerk to let her in only to find Bella was gone and had left a note.

She apologized for ruining everyone's weekend, as if it was her fault, and explained she was catching the eleven o'clock train to Minneapolis where she was switching to an express to Chicago. The train was scheduled to arrive at ten in the morning. She promised to go straight to Alice's.

She had a four-hour head start, which meant she would be in Chicago in seven hours. If we followed the speed limit, we'd be two hours behind, but not a single one of us argued when Emmett suggested we push the engines as hard as we could manage.

We entered Chicago at ten on the dot, piling out of the vans in front of the building by ten thirty. We all ran in, shouting over one another at the security guard, asking if Bella had arrived, discovering to our horror that Trager was already here.

My heart was pounding in my chest. I felt like I could throw up as we waited what seemed like an eternity for the elevator to reach the top floor where Bella was, and Trager might be. I reached in my back pocket for my knife, opening it so I'd have some sort of weapon in case we met him in the hallway when the door opened. At the same time, Jake pulled out his nine millimeter, and Emmett flipped open his own blade.

We were halfway up when my phone rang. Jasper told us what he had gotten out of the guard. Even though we were behind him, he had sent Trager up the service elevator that took twice as long to reach the top floor than the express we had taken. With any luck, we would beat him to the floor, or at the very least, hopefully get there at the same time.

As the door opened, we sprinted down the hallway, keeping our eyes opened for Trager. We ran to the door of the apartment, knocking and yelling for Bella.

Emmett fumbled with the key in the knob. He got the knob and deadbolt unlocked, but when we went to open the door, the two security chains became taut between the door and the frame, not allowing us further entry.

Emmett leaned as far into the doorway as he could, yelling for Bella. He told her that we were here.

"E…E…Emmett?" We heard her screech from somewhere deep in the apartment. He yelled back that it was okay, we were here and she was safe.

I could hear her feet running to the door, then saw the door close almost all the way as the chains rattled. The door flew open to reveal Bella. She was paler than I had ever seen staring at us with wide, shocked eyes. She stood in the doorway brandishing a meat cleaver in her shaking hands.

"It's okay honey, we're here," Emmett soothed as he crossed the threshold, holding his hand out for the knife.

She let go and Emmett grabbed it, setting it on the counter behind him as she collapsed in his arms in loud sobs.

I turned to see Jake looking toward the end of the hallway, eyes narrowed. We both followed Emmett and Bella into the apartment, securing the doors behind us.

Trager POV

The fucking elevator was slower than shit. It took a good fifteen minutes to get to the top of the monstrosity they call a building. After the doors opened once I reached the floor I needed, my smile died. I was about to round the corner at the end of the hall, when I heard deep male voices yelling the bitch's name.

I peeked around the corner to see the brother, the other cop, and the bodyguard all standing there, yelling through a crack in the door. I felt the anger boil in my veins as I watched my best shot disintegrate in front of my eyes.

Tony was a dead man. She wasn't alone. Not only that, but the rest of the fuckers who had been gone all week were back too. Fucker thought he was so smart, trying to set a trap. Well, he was going to see just how smart he really was when he buried his son, who would be found tomorrow in a random alley overdosed on heroin.

I chanced another glance, shooting back around the corner and directly into the stairwell when the tall bodyguard nearly spotted me. I ran down several flights of stairs before emerging on another floor. I took an elevator down to the third floor, where I got back on the stairs to the first floor where I wandered around the service halls until I found a door that opened to the street, disappearing into the crowd.

Another chance would come around soon…it just had to.

EmPOV

I held my baby sister in my arms while she shook violently, still in shock from everything that had happened over the last twelve or so hours. I glared over at Edward. I knew now that it was all a huge misunderstanding, but it still didn't change me feeling like every bit of this mess was 100% his fault.

He looked over at Bella, pain etching his face and swelling in his eyes. He knew exactly where the blame for all of this really lay.

I slowly led her over to the long couch thing. I sat down, pulling her to snuggle into my side as her wide frightened eyes appeared to look straight through me.

"Is…is he gone? Did you see him?" She whispered in a shaky voice.

"Who, sweetheart?"

She looked up at me and growled. I was relieved to see the life spring back into her eyes.

"Don't pull that with me! You know exactly who I'm talking about. Tony called up and warned me Trager was in the building. I'm not sure how or why he got past him, but he told me to bolt the door and the chains and hide in the back of the apartment while he called the police. When I heard the door, I just knew it was him," her voice began to shake.

The tremble in her limbs resumed again, "I bit my hand. trying not to scream." She showed me her hand with the deep imprints of her full set of teeth, front to back.

She stopped, pulling in a ragged breath, "Then I heard your voice calling for me. At first I thought I was dreaming because I knew you were in Minnesota. Then you answered me, and I felt so relieved, rushing out to let you in. You must have beaten him up here."

She stopped and looked up at me in confusion, "Why are you here, Emmett? You guys are all supposed to be in Minnesota."

I couldn't help but scoff, "Yeah, Bella, we're really going to let you run off to Chicago where a henchman for the mob is trying to get his hands on you while heartbroken and hurting, and not go after you. Sure, baby, and I'm a billionair…and there are pigs flying around outside on wings of angels."

I pulled her close as she began to bawl again, burying her face in my chest. "I'm so sorry," She babbled through her sobs.

"Why did you leave, sweetie? You should have stayed."

She gasped in a gulp of air, before she mumbled into my shirt, "I…I couldn't stay. It hurt too much."

Edward stepped forward to run his hand down her arm. He started to say something when she wrenched her arm out of his grasp, growling with more energy than I had seen yet since our arrival,

"Don't you touch me Edward! Never again!"

"Bella…PLEASE," Edward begged.

She shot him a look that could light a fire in an instant; Edward recoiled as though he had actually been burned by it.

"No! I don't need to hear your excuses! I know what I saw. Jesus, you're away from me for one measly week and you're already messing around on me? What the hell, Edward? Obviously we have two very different views of what it means to love someone! I, for one, will not put up with yours!"

"Bella, you don't understand…it really wasn't what it looked like!" Edward looked desperate and on the verge of tears himself.

Bella jumped up off the couch, stepping toe to toe with him.

"Boy that sounds familiar, Edward. Hmm…I seem to remember you saying that about a certain slutty blonde nurse I caught you groping in the doctor's lounge. Oh, but I guess since the slut in Minnesota was blonde then it didn't feel as wrong, right? That's why you always screwed the blondes after all, because they didn't remind you of me. I'm tired of the lines and the excuses, Edward. I just can't do this!"

She ripped something from around her neck and threw it at his chest before spinning on her heels, beginning to march down the hallway.

I looked back to see Edward fall on his knees grabbing his stomach as though someone had just performed Hari Kari on him. His other hand reached out to pick up the necklace off the floor. I saw the diamond heart ring in his hand.

I rolled my eyes, knowing if I didn't step in that they would both be hurting a lot longer than necessary. Besides, I owed him for kicking his ass for no reason.

"Wait, Bells."

She froze mid step, turning to look at me, tears streaking her pink cheeks.

"Hold on sec. He's not lying. Do you honestly think I'd be standing in the same room with the asshole if he were?"

Bella's eyes widened, deep lines forming between her brows as she looked at me in a long silence. Then her eyes shot over to see Edward, still on his knees, looking up at her with his own tear streaked face. Her face softened a bit, but she was still confused.

"Come sit back down honey, this is going to take a while."

She walked over to me, sitting mechanically down next to me. I took her hands, as Edward watched with desperation in his eyes.

"When I heard your story, I stormed down and walked in to see them sitting at a table on the far side of the room talking. They weren't even touching Bells, but the conversation looked serious. I was in a rage, though. I walked straight over, picked him up by the neck, and slammed him into the wall, punching him a couple of times for good measure. When he tried to explain, I popped him again in the nose. That's when the girl came up screaming behind me that I had it all wrong."

Bella shook her head in confusion, trying to reconcile what she had witnessed with how it could possibly be wrong. She looked over at Edward and then back to me.

I told her the story about how Edward had apologized to the blonde and she had taken it wrong and kissed him, but he pulled away and told her he was in love with Bella.

Tears filled her eyes again as she looked back at Edward and then to me to confirm that it was true.

I nodded my head. "You just caught the really, really wrong moment sweetie. If you had stayed a second or two longer, you would have seen him pull her way and turn her down. I know what you saw appeared to be really damning, but I believed her Bells. I guess she was an old friend that he knew from his childhood, before his Dad died. Anyway, they were really close, but grew apart when Edward shut down. Not only that, she told him that his mother is living near where we were in Minnesota."

Bella's eyes grew big as saucers. Before I could blink, she was kneeling on the floor in front of Edward, running her hands through his hair. She told him she was sorry, asking if he was okay.

He began to break down again, grabbing her and hugging her to his chest, as he began to whisper to her so low I couldn't hear.

In that moment, I saw all I ever needed to see. Edward needed Bella and Bella needed Edward. She was the one person he could really, truly be himself with. He could tell her all the things he kept bottled up inside. They completed each other in a way that nobody else could do for them. It was then that I knew, I would never have to worry about Edward hurting my sister on purpose ever again.

I looked up at Jake, nodding toward the door. We left them to have a private moment to discuss all the shit that had gone down in the last few days. Who would have thought yesterday morning that we would be here now? Life is so insane sometimes.

Jake and I split up. I took the stairs and Jake took the service elevator. We checked along the way to see if there were any signs of Trager, but it seemed he was gone.

BPOV

To say that the last twenty-four hours had been a roller coaster ride would be the biggest understatement in the history of the planet earth. I had gone from excited to see the man I loved, to heartbroken, to terrified for my life, to shocked at being saved by my brother and said boyfriend, to pissed as hell and out for blood, and finally settling on apologetic and hurting for my Edward.

I still had a hard time grasping the fact that what I had seen in the bar, which had seemed so straightforward at the time, had been so terribly wrong. Edward didn't make the pass and he didn't allow the blonde to make her move either. In fact, he told her he was in love with me. If only I had stayed a few more seconds, if only I had confronted them instead of running like I always seem to do when I'm hurting, I could have saved us all so much pain and drama.

I was still reluctant to believe the story, but the proof was irrefutable. Emmett was not only in the same room with Edward without breaking every bone in his body, but he was telling me the whole story, actually encouraging me to believe it. I was just beginning to grasp that fact when Emmett said that the slut had told Edward that his mother was living in Minnesota. Suddenly I didn't feel the hurt or anger anymore, all I could feel was pain and worry for Edward. My poor Edward was a crying broken heap on the floor. I knew he needed me.

Before my mind actually made the decision, my body had reacted. I was on my knees in front of him, running my hands through his hair, whispering words of apology and comfort.

Edward's watery eyes looked up at me, and suddenly a switch flipped behind the green irises from hopelessness to relief. He reached forward and crushed me into his chest with his arms, sobbing into my hair. I wrapped my arms around his neck, squeezing back with all my might.

After a moment, he sat back, caressing my face with his hands as he told me all about what happened. He kept saying over and over how sorry he was that I saw that moment, but never for one second had he even considered taking his long lost friend up on her offer.

He explained their childhood, their closeness, and then how he had pushed her away when his father died. He went on to tell me how years later, when they were in high school, he had tried to bed her like all the rest of the female population, only to be refuted.

He told me about glimpsing her and his mother's profiles' the first night they visited the bar, right after they got the call out orders from camp. He explained how he had hoped on Thursday to see her again to know for sure, how the possibility of his mother being there had haunted his thoughts the rest of the week. Then they caught sight of each other Thursday, just as they were being called out for the second time. He had felt a desperate need to both apologize, and ask about his mother, so he asked to meet her there at the same time Friday night.

He held it together though all of that, until he started telling me about his conversation, her reactions, and finally how he felt when he knew that his mother was living nine hours away from Chicago for quite some time, now happily married to a rich man who owned a resort on a nearby mountain.

I pulled him close again, soothing his sobs as he lamented over the fact that his own mother didn't care. She hadn't even bothered to contact him, to see if he was alive and well, to know anything about him. In that moment, he wasn't the twenty-seven year old seasoned SWAT officer, but instead he was the heartbroken ten year old boy she abandoned with her sister and brother-in-law when he needed his mother's love the most. He sobbed as he released seventeen years of pent up anguish and pain at the rejection of his mother. At that point, I would have given my eyeteeth to be able to take a bat to her skull for ever hurting her son so badly.

At some point early in our conversation, Emmett and Jake left. Since then, nobody had returned to the apartment. I lost all track of time, eventually encouraging Edward to move to the couch. I had him lay down with me, cuddling his head to my chest, while he continued to talk about all the things he was feeling.

Eventually, our conversation evolved away from the pain to how he had felt being away from me, how he had missed my touch, and how every night he dreamed of being back in my embrace. What really broke my heart though was how scared he said was when he heard I had left alone.

The entire time we talked, he fiddled with the ring I had so stupidly thrown at him in my rage earlier in the morning. The sadness in his eyes was heartbreaking.

"Bella? I understand why you took this off and threw it at me, but now that we've talked things through, would you be willing to accept it again? Please? It doesn't belong to me anymore anyway. It's yours, forever."

I sucked in a ragged breath and nodded.

He smiled up at me, lifting my right hand, sliding the ring back onto my finger where it belonged. The metal that had felt so cold and painful on my finger just a few hours before, now felt warm and comforting.

He picked up my hand and kissed just above the ring.

"Please don't ever take it off again, Love. This is where it belongs."

I nodded, leaning forward to kiss him. We lay there with our eyes closed, our foreheads touching, for a long time before I opened my eyes, looking at his face.

I reached a hand out, tenderly probing his swollen, bruised nose and cheeks.

"Oh baby, I'm so sorry. Emmett really did a number on you didn't he? Are you feeling okay? Do you need anything?"

He shook his head, pulling me closer to his side. "I have all I need right here."

My heart swelled as I ran my fingers comfortingly through his hair.

After a while, I asked what all happened and what the doctors said at the hospital. I nearly smacked him when I found out that he had left the hospital with a possible concussion without being officially released. I didn't though, I was glad he was in my arms. I also knew that if he was still awake and coherent at this point with so little sleep, then he was going to be okay.

Eventually, he shifted back down to rest his head on my chest, commenting on how soothing my heartbeat was. Moments later, his breathing leveled out, his arms and head growing heavy on my frame.

I guess I joined him soon after, because at some point I found myself opening my eyes to the sound of people milling around the apartment. I looked up, meeting gazes with Emmett, who smiled and walked back to the bedrooms.

A few moments later, Rose and Alice came into the room. They caressed my forehead, whispering apologies for not paying closer attention the night before.

I shook my head and whispered that I was the one who owed them all apologies.

Soon everyone cleared out, I assumed to collapse into their own beds and get some rest. I fell back to sleep still, clutching my Edward to my chest as his grip tightened around my waist.