A/N: Serious review reply fail! Sorry! Just know that I appreciate each one. Read my A/N at the bottom - it's a little important.

Thanks to my prereader, Softragoo - WTF would I do without you?

Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all things Twilight.

Twenty three

"Do you want me to tell Esme that you're in town?" Emmett asked before leaving for work.

"Yeah, tell her that I promise to see her before I go back."

"Don't let that asshole next door's mood get to you," he advised. "Have a good trip."

I didn't hesitate before defending Edward. "He's not an asshole, Emmett. There's just a lot going on with him right now."

He cocked an eyebrow at me. "You have no idea."

Before I could add anything, he was kissing Rose and walking out the door.

The next few hours, I spent coloring with Sammy, playing a video game with Emily and chatting with Rose. It felt good to be doing something that didn't involve therapy or working for a change. While I was glad to be getting along better with Charlie, there was still a heaviness bearing down on me when I was living in Forks. I'd been able to move around in my own home without thinking of James but it still haunted me that he'd been there, living in that house. As much as I tried to move past it, I never felt at home there. I'd only been back in Chicago for twenty four hours and already, I felt fifty pounds lighter.

A loud crashing noise came from Edward's apartment. I met Rose's wide eyes and made a what-the-hell-was-that face. She shrugged in response.

Emily was the first one to speak up. "Do you think he's okay?"

The craziest thing about Jasper was that I was actually starting to like him. Sure, he was eccentric and messy and slightly creepy but he didn't seem to have a mean bone in his body. He was gentle with Sammy, he teased Emily and even Emmett seemed to find his sappy jokes humorous. However, as much as I liked the guy, there was no way I was going over and checking on him when he was by himself.

"I'm sure he's fine," I lied.

"He was probably dancing and stumbled on something," Rose said then added, "You know how he likes to dance."

Emily nodded and went back to her video game.

I shot Rose a shocked face. "He does?"

"Oh yes, he does," she said dryly.

"How long has he been in town?"

"A few days but it's felt like weeks." She sighed and tightened her pony tail. "Don't get me wrong, I like the guy but he's definitely a strange one."

"What does he do for a living?"

She snorted. "Nothing."

When three 'o clock rolled around, I was psyched and ready to hit the road. Rose tried to talk me out of it one more time but I wasn't budging. This was something I felt I had to do. Everyone could see it—Edward was spinning out of control but no one was doing anything to help him except offer him their patience. Rose and Emmett were trying to raise two kids; it was understandable that they didn't have the time to devote to Edward's well-being. Understandable but not excusable. Edward had done everything in his power to keep Rose and the kids safe while Emmett was in prison, all because he felt he owed Emmett this great debt. Now, that Emmett was out and Edward was left to simmer in his own issues, they didn't want to deal with it. They loved Edward, I got that but they didn't love him enough to take certain risks; such as take the long road in order to talk some sense into him.

Edward was stubborn and practically a masochist. He wouldn't be easy to reach but I had a week to try. I wasn't sure if there was any chance at salvaging what we once had but it was worth the risk to make him believe in himself. I couldn't, and wouldn't let Edward self-destruct because he would do the same for me.

Three knocks on the door broke me away from my thoughts. Edward was waiting on the other side, looking somber in a pair of dark sunglasses and a White Sox ball cap.

"You ready?" he asked.

"Yep."

"Jasper is already out there, probably waiting to fight me for the front seat." He rolled his eyes and then grabbed the duffel out of my hands to carry it. "Do you mind if I doze off on the way down? The route we're going to take is pretty simple."

I shook my head, although a little disappointed. "No, that's fine."

"Shotgun!" Jasper yelled out as soon as we got in earshot. He yanked on the door handle even though it was still locked. "I called it first! Shotgun!"

"You can have the front seat, Jasper," Edward mumbled.

Jasper looked a little saddened at the lack of fight for riding shotgun. Edward threw our bags into the trunk and then got in the back, seating himself sideways so that his head rested against the glass and his long legs stretched out in front of him.

"I get to pick the music!" Jasper was bouncing in his seat with excitement, looking like a child who'd gone through premature puberty. There were flakes of something in his beard and I pointed it out to him. He explained the hazards of eating toast when you have such "voluptuous growth" on your chin.

"Do you know how to get on Interstate 55, Bella?" Edward grumbled from the back seat.

"I don't know how to get anywhere in Chicago," I explained.

He told me where to go as Jasper flipped through his disorganized collection of CD's that he kept in a small box. None of the discs had cases and I doubted they would play without skipping. Once, we got on the 55, Edward told me to wake him up when we got to Bloomington.

"How far are we from Bloomington?" I asked Jasper after Edward had been silent for a few minutes.

"A couple of hours," he replied, holding out a shiny silver disc on his index finger. "I make all my own CD's."

I wasn't sure if that meant that he actually performed his own music and recorded it or if he just burned them. It didn't take long to figure it out when he popped it in and Whitney Houston's voice broke the silence.

Edward was right—Jasper loved to sing. His voice wasn't as bad as the songs that he liked to belt out. I never had anything against Enrique Iglesias until I listened to Jasper sing the song Hero. It wasn't meant to be comical, which was the bad thing. An hour into the journey and I made the mistake of giggling at the way his pitch squealed during a Train song. I swear, he was a shoulder pat away from tearing up.

When Kanye's Gold digger came on, I'd had enough. There was no way I could get through that one. I turned the volume down and told Jasper that he was killing me with the volume and his song selection.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Whaddya' mean?" He asked, surprised at my comment. "These are classics!"

I cocked an eyebrow and glanced at him. "I hardly think that Gold digger is a classic."

"Well, what would you suggest?"

For a few beats, I thought about what would be nice to hear after all of…that. I'd talked to my dad a few hours prior and the concern in his voice was still fresh in my mind.

"You wouldn't happen to have any Johnny Cash, would you?" I had grown up listening to Johnny and had hated it until I grew up and realized just how musically genius he was.

A slow grin spread out from under the beard. "Do I ever…"

After a few prison songs, a forced duet of Jackson, and Amazing Grace, I glanced behind me to look at Edward. His head was leaning back against the window and his body seemed relaxed but I couldn't tell if he was really asleep or not.

"Jasper," I said, turning down the music, "use your creepy sleep-watching super powers and see if you think that Edward is out."

He ignored the "creepy" part and turned around to look at Edward for a few moments. "I'm eighty five percent sure that he's asleep."

That was good enough for me. "When was the last time you saw him?"

"About eight years ago when he was in Pekin. He looked pretty bad ass in that orange jumper." He frowned. "He didn't seem to think so."

"Why did you stop visiting?"

Jasper pulled a pack of Twizzlers out of his bag and offered me one. I shook my head with a smile, declining the snack.

"He told me to," he replied. "I used to bring letters from his Grandma whenever I would visit because she wanted to stay in touch. She said that she sent a few in the mail and they were sent back so she wanted me to hand deliver them."

"His grandma? He never mentioned his grandma."

Jasper glanced over his shoulder at Edward, obviously uneasy about talking about him while he dozed. "Edward didn't want to stay in touch with any of his family. He knew how his parents felt about him and…well, he wanted to keep his distance."

I frowned at the steering wheel. "What about you? Why did he tell you to stop coming and visiting him?"

"Same reason, I guess."

He chewed on his Twizzlers—loudly, might I add—while I chewed on what he had just told me. Edward had family that loved him and wanted to keep in touch with him. While I understood keeping Jasper at arm's length because he was Alice's boyfriend, the man who'd brought her to that damn party in the first place, but his own grandma?

The answer was plain. Edward thought he was toxic. In his mind, he only passed pain into others and no joy. It was almost a given for him to send me away, back to where I belonged. In his own twisted mind, it was his gift to me. Keep me from becoming poisoned by him and he could sleep easier at night.

"Do you remember Alice?" I asked.

It was hard to see his expression under the mop of blonde fuzz on his face but I sensed sadness.

"Of course, I do." He bit off some licorice before continuing, "She was such a feisty little thing—very stubborn and she had a temper but damn, she was beautiful."

"Did you love her?" The question may have been inappropriate for a man I'd just met and I held my breath for his answer. Something told me that when Jasper got upset, he really got upset.

"I was eighteen so…who knows? I cared for her and I loved hanging out with her but we were so young." He was quiet for a moment before grinning widely at me. "She wanted to be a Veterinarian."

I smiled. "Edward told me about the wolves."

He nodded. "Oh, yes, Jericho, the wolf. She made me take her down there a few times. When she was there…it was like, she was home, you know? She loved that place." Slowly, he leaned over, smiled and blinked both eyes at me in that twitchy fashion I'd grown accustomed to. "Sometimes, I was jealous over that overgrown dog."

I laughed.

"Pull over," Edward barked from the back seat.

My heart skipped a beat and I jumped at the sound of his voice. "What?"

"Find a gas station somewhere," he mumbled, sitting up. "I need some coffee."

The next five minutes before finally spotting a gas station were painfully silent. I wasn't sure how much Edward had heard, probably all of it, but I felt guilty. I peeked at Jasper and he looked like he was in some sort of pain, probably the same horrible guilt that I was feeling.

"I gotta piss like a mo'fo'."

Or maybe he just had to pee real bad.

Edward started pumping gas as Jasper hightailed it into the small gas station, only to emerge a few seconds later with a large wooden block. He shook the wooden block at Edward and explained with a smile that it was attached to the key to the restroom.

Edward replied with silence.

I sighed and decided that now as good of a time as any to apologize. Surprisingly, he offered me a small smile as I walked up to him.

"How close are we?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Probably a little over an hour."

I fidgeted under his eyes. The gas pumped clicked off and I jumped.

"Look, Edward, I don't know how much you heard when I was talking to Jasper but I wanted to say that I'm sorry. I should have—"

"It's fine, Bella." The taut muscles of his face and the tight grip of his jaw made it clear that it wasn't fine.

"Were you asleep at all?" He didn't answer me. "Take off those damn sunglasses and look at me, Edward."

He swallowed as he looked down at me…or I imagined he was looking down at me since I couldn't see his eyes. With a sigh, he opened his mouth to speak but Jasper conveniently cut him off.

"Whew! That was the longest piss I've taken in, shit, since that time I took that bet in fifth grade that I could hold my urine for twenty fours." He tugged at his beard and both of his eyes twitched at me. "I almost made it."

After Jasper settled himself in the car, I noted, "At least that proves that it's a personality quirk and not chemically related."

The corner of Edward's mouth twitched. "What?"

I nodded my head toward Jasper. "He's always been odd—doing shit like that in fifth grade? Have you always been friends with him?"

After leaning his back against the car, he crossed his arms over his chest. "You seemed to be having a good time with him while I was dozing in the back seat."

With narrowed eyes, I said, "He's a good guy. Just because I said he was 'odd', doesn't mean that I don't like him."

The tip of his tongue made a pass over his bottom lip and I shamelessly watched every second of the motion.

"I went to school with Jasper since we were in kindergarten. I was the one who made that bet with him in fifth grade." He leaned forward suddenly, twisted the gas cap on and flipped the tiny door closed. "And he did not love Alice."

He went to move away from me to the other side of the car but I grabbed his forearm, stopping him. It was the first time we'd touched since before I'd gone back to Forks. His skin was soft on my fingers and the heat from it radiated into my pores. Unable to stop myself, I released my hold and ran my fingertips up the soft hair of his arm. I shivered. I'd missed Edward in so many ways: His sense of humor, his protectiveness, his kindness but in that moment, I realized that I missed the feeling that filled my belly when he touched me—that warm, fuzzy, fluttery feeling that made my knees weak and my heart pound in my throat.

Whether he was conscious of that feeling or not, he drew closer to me until his thigh brushed against my hip. The feel of his sweet breath in my hair and the warmth of his body made sweat bead on the back of my neck. I felt like I was suffocating but in a good way; drowning in everything Edward.

"You can talk to me, you know," I whispered into the hollow of his neck.

His lips brushed my forehead. "You can talk to me too. It wasn't necessary for you to wait until I was asleep and try to drag information out of Jasper."

I looked up at him, trying to gauge his emotions but his dark sunglasses kept those eyes contained behind blackness. "If it's any consolation, he wasn't much help."

That earned me a grin. "Maybe if you listened to some more Enrique, he would have opened up a little more."

Edward drove the rest of the way—silent but less tense. I dozed off in the back to Eddie Grant (and Jasper) singing Electric Avenue; I awoke to Wham!—Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go. The car stopped and I opened my eyes to Jasper smiling at me from the passenger seat.

"I don't care what you say, Jasper, that is entirely too creepy."

He shrugged. "You talk in your sleep."

I sighed dramatically. "I know." He blinked at me. "Okay, I give…what did I say?"

With his brows furrowed, he shifted in his seat so that he was looking at me. "Something about the dark and being afraid; you whimpered a little." My legs suddenly felt ten times heavier, sluggish with anxiety. I'd felt good on this trip but my subconscious always had a way of letting me know when I was getting in over my head. I took a good look at the motel where we were staying; it looked safe enough but was there really a place that was 'safe enough'? "Oh! And you ordered a pizza—thin crust and light on the sauce."

I sat in silence, deep in thought until Edward came back to the car. We piled out, took long stretches and followed him up the stairs to the second level.

"Jazz, you're in this room." I thought it was odd how Jasper supposedly lived in this town but he was still staying in the motel with us but I didn't say anything. "Bella, you're here and I'm next door."

"Bella, you wanna switch?" Jasper asked, doing the double eye twitch thing.

Before I could reply, Edward spoke up. "No, Bella is in the middle."

Jasper waggled his eyebrows. "Sounds kinky."

I laughed but Edward closed his eyes and shook his head at his friend.

"We should order a pizza," Jasper said as we all put our keys into our doors. "Bella got me in the mood for a pepperoni thin crust."

I rolled my eyes but agreed that pizza did sound pretty damn good. Edward told us to get settled in and come back to his room in a half hour for dinner.

After I opened my door, I blindly felt around the wall for a light switch but felt none. The sun was low in the sky but the dark curtains made it difficult to make out details of the room until my eyes adjusted. When they did, I made a beeline for the lamp by the bed. It was the only light except for the bathroom; my stomach tied itself into knots. Thank God for my nightlights; those combined with the bathroom light would be perfect. The cheap framed pictures of purple flowers and farm animals was an attempt to make this a cheerful room but the dark curtains and brown comforter on the bed set my nerves on edge. It had taken me months to be comfortable enough to sleep in my own bedroom; in a strange place, it wasn't going to be easy. In short, it was going to suck.

After turning on the bathroom light, I grabbed my key and stepped outside to the balcony. With my eyes closed, I took a deep breath in through my nose and blew it out past pursed lips. Resting on my elbows, I leaned on the railing and jumped when a door slammed.

"You okay?"

I flinched and my hand flew to my chest. "Jesus! You scared me!"

Still adorned in those blasted sunglasses, Edward came and stood beside me, leaning his hip against the metal railing. "It doesn't seem like you're hard to scare. You sure you're okay with—"

"I'm fine," I said, cutting him off. "I was just getting some fresh air. What are you doing out here?"

"Waiting for the pizza."

He moved a little closer and my elbow lightly grazed his; it may as well have been our entire nude bodies, by the way my insides jerked by the slight touch.

"Do you hate him?" I asked.

Edward swallowed and shifted on his feet. Our elbows lost contact. "Who?"

"Jasper," I said. "Do you hate him for taking Alice to that party?"

His knuckles grazed over the scruff of his jaw. "Bella, do we have to talk about this now? It's been a long day and…"

I waited for him to finish but he didn't. Instead, he focused the lenses of his glasses on the setting sun.

"What's the plan for tomorrow? Or is our schedule off limits, too?" He cut his eyes to me but his expression remained neutral. "Are you giving me the stink eye? If so, you should grow a pair and take off the sunglasses so that I can effectually see the stink eye and react accordingly."

He barked out a laugh and if I didn't know better, I would have thought it was actual genuine laughter. Instead, it was laced with bitter sadness. "For the record, I was not giving you the 'stink eye'."

"Okay, well then, what is our schedule like for tomorrow?"

That pink, dangerous tongue of his made another pass over his bottom lip. "I am going to my grandmother's house; you can hang out here with Jasper."

"I want to meet your grandma."

"You can meet her some other time but not tomorrow." I gave him the stink eye and in response, he quirked an eyebrow. "This isn't going to be easy and I don't want—"

"That's the whole reason that I should be there, Edward." Reluctantly, I grabbed his hand with mine and squeezed. "You're not alone so stop acting like you are. It's the reason I drove you down here, so I could be here for you."

He shook his head, looking pained. "You don't owe me anything, Bella."

My smirk held no humor. "I'm not doing this to pay a debt, Edward. Do you know how much you—"

"Pizza here yet?" Jasper's shout interrupted my impending confession. "I'm freaking starved!"

I dropped Edward's hand and he moved away from me. "It'll be here in a few minutes."

"Thank the heavens!" Jasper propped his elbows next to mine and grinned at the sunset. "That's a beautiful thing, isn't it?"

My eyes followed his gaze and I mentally kicked myself for not realizing what was happening right in front of us. The yellow rays of the sun meshed with high level clouds creating a pinkish hue along the horizon.

"It certainly is," Edward mumbled.

I glanced at him. Even though his shades were in place, I could see that he wasn't referring to the magnificence of Mother Nature. He was looking at me.

XxXxXx

Jasper ended up coming along with us the next day to Edward's grandmother's house since he seemed to know her better than Edward did. The anxiety was seeping from Edward's pores and even Jasper kept his mouth shut on the short drive over. I yawned like a cat when we pulled into the concrete driveway of a little yellow house in a quaint neighborhood not far from our motel.

"You didn't sleep well?" Edward asked, looking at me in the rear view mirror.

"Not really," I said through another yawn and then changed the subject. "This is where she lives?"

All of us stared at the house for a few beats.

"Whelp, let's get this show on the road. Grammy Betsy always has the best homemade cookies on hand." Jasper got out of the car and slammed the door before making his way up to the front door.

I leaned forward between the two front seats. "Has she always lived here?"

Edward nodded. "She's lived here for over forty years."

My eyes scanned all of her lawn ornaments. "What about the cats?" I pointed to the cat statues beside the neatly trimmed bushes that ran along the side of her house. "And the gnome? How old is he?"

The corners of his mouth twitched. "I haven't had the honor of meeting them yet."

"What is it that they say? There's no time like the present?"

We got out of the car and joined Jasper on the porch, who was doing some impatient squirming.

"This is your dad's mom?" Edward nodded. "You haven't seen her since…"

He cleared his throat. "Since Alice was alive."

The severity of the situation hit me. This was huge for Edward, life-changing and I couldn't believe that he wanted to come here alone. I wanted to shake him silly and hug him all at the same time. For months, I relied on him to get me through some of the toughest times of my life yet he wanted to go about this solo.

Edward took a deep breath and knocked on her door. The sound of a dog yapping echoed as we waited.

"That's Buster. Don't let him get too close to your leg," Jasper advised.

Before I could ask him to explain, the door crept open and a short lady with a bun of silver hair on top her head peeked out at us. Her cheeks looked soft and plump and her lips pursed in concern. She looked carefully at Edward and then me but when she saw Jasper, her face lit up.

"Jazzy!" She took the lock off the screen door and opened it for us. "Who are your friends?"

My heart hurt for Edward. She didn't even recognize her own grandson but he took it gracefully, smiling at her as Jazz leaned in and gave her a hug.

"Uh…" You knew things were intense when Jasper was at a loss for words.

"Grandma, it's me, Edward."

She gave him the best look she could, considering Jasper was still swamping her in a hug. I wanted to grab him by the back of the shirt and drag him off of her but there was that whole first impressions thing to think about.

When Jasper released her and moved around her to quiet the yapping dog, she looked Edward up and down. Her eyes filled with tears and she put a trembling hand over her mouth. Edward stared back at her, probably praying to the God of Tears for a remission in this instance. It didn't work.

"Is it really you?" Her voice was muffled by her hand. "Edward?"

He nodded and chuckled nervously. "It's really me."

"Oh, Lord, come in, come in," she said, waving him in.

His foot barely graced the threshold before she wrapped her thin arms around his torso and squeezed. The return hug was less enthusiastic but I sighed in relief. I don't know what he was expecting but it wasn't this.

"Grammy Betsy, this is Bella—my future wife," Jasper said with a grin.

My jaw dropped and my palm twitched to slap Jasper. Instead, I smiled at the delightful woman in front of me. "I'm not. I mean, I am Bella, but I'm not Jasper's future wife."

Edward's grandma raised her silver eyebrows at Jasper.

"She's in denial," he explained.

"Jasper…" Edward warned.

Jasper did a smart thing and changed the subject. "You got any cookies?"

"In the kitchen—on top the bread box." He clapped like a wannabe cheerleader before scurrying off.

"Bella? Are you a friend of Edward's, then?"

"Yeah, yeah, I am. It's very good to meet you."

Her smile was so grandmotherly that it made me yearn for my own grandparents whom passed away before I got a chance to know them. "Edward…"—she put a hand on his shoulder—"come sit down and I'll get you kids something to eat."

"Oh, you don't have to go to any trouble. I just—"

She waved him off. "Nonsense. I've got a pot of soup cooking right now."

"It's so good to see you, Edward," she said as we sat down at her kitchen table. Buster, a very spunky Boston Terrier, bounced around by her feet as she moved around the stove, probably hoping for a crumb to fall. "Did you get my letters that I sent?"

Edward struggled for a moment to answer, his knuckles grazing over his jaw. "I, uh, didn't because it was too hard for me to read them. It was rotten of me, I know, but I sent them back to you. I'm sorry."

She looked confused but shrugged. "Well, I'm glad that you're here now. Jasper says that you live up in Chicago?"

For the next half hour, Edward caught his grandma up with his life—his job, his hobbies and his friends, including The McCarty's. She listened intently, occasionally stirring the soup she had simmering on the stove. Jasper got down on the floor and played with Buster as they talked. When Edward would get to some of the more difficult parts of his life, like his Sunday routine, I'd put a hand on his shoulder or graze his shoe with mine just so he remembered what I'd told him the night before: He wasn't alone. It amazed me that he shared so much with her; it was almost as if he had been waiting for this moment.

"And, Bella, do you live in Chicago?"

"No, Mrs. Masen, I live in Washington," I said.

A look of shock took over her face. "Are you going to be a politician?"

I chuckled. "No, I live in the state of Washington. The town I live in is called Forks."

She put a hand to her chest. "Oh, thank goodness. Politicians make my skin crawl."

We all muttered out agreements.

After she'd spooned out a bowl of soup for all of us, she sat down beside Jasper and told us to dig in. My stomach growled at the idea of home cooked soup, something I hadn't had since my parents were still married. I put the first bite in my mouth and froze. It was horrible. Terrible. I tried desperately to keep a neutral face but it was hopeless as I grabbed for my napkin to give my mouth a fake once-over. I peeked at Edward and he gave me an apologetic smile. Jasper, however, was shoveling it down as if he hadn't eaten in weeks.

"This is so good, Grammy," he said, slurping on his spoon.

She chuckled. "Well, I'm not as good of a cook as I used to be but I still got a little bit of a fire in my oven."

I made appropriate humming noises to go along with Jasper's compliment.

We made awkward small talk throughout the rest of the meal, the big elephant in the room sitting right on Edward's shoulders. As Betsy spoke about her involvement in the church, I felt something grab hold of my leg. At first, I thought that Edward was trying to pass me some secret message but when I glanced at him, he was enthralled with what his grandma was telling him. I peeked under the table and found myself face to face with Buster who had taken a sudden liking to my leg. And when I say "liking"…I mean full-out-humping-machine liking.

My face flushed with embarrassment as I tried desperately to kick him off. He didn't budge; his little arms were wrapped so tightly around my knee that no amount of foot movement was going to stop him from having his way with my ankle. I tried to push him off with my other foot but he managed to evade and twist his body and keep his grip. I reached down, trying not to draw attention to myself because let's face it…being humped by a dog is humiliating. He had this look on his face like he was…satisfied. That, mixed with the soup I'd just forced down, made my stomach lurch. After some serious effort on my part, I managed to pry him off my leg but not before he snapped at me, barely missing my skin. Unfortunately, the sound of his snarl brought attention to my situation.

"Is Buster begging again?" Betsy asked, rising from her seat. "Buster! Leave Bella alone! She's our guest!"

I asked Edward for help with a look.

"Why don't Bella and I clean off the table for you, Grandma. I think I'd love some of those cookies that Jasper keeps raving about."

"They're Keebler," she announced.

Thank God…

Jasper stopped chewing on a cracker and with a full mouth, he said, "Keebler? But I thought…"

Betsy put a hand on his shoulder and shot him a regretful look. "Oh, Jazz, Honey, they've always been Keebler."

That officially took the wind out of Jasper's sails along with his appetite. He frowned and set the half-eaten cracker down on the table.

Buster kept eyeing me as we cleaned off the table and once Betsy left to show Jasper her newest addition to her Precious Moments collections, I voiced my concerns to Edward.

"That dog is crazy!" He looked down at Buster for a few beats before going back to loading the dishwasher. "I'm serious, Edward! He…he tried to bite me!"

I left out the humping part for my own humility's sake.

"Maybe he's one of those tough love kinds of dogs. Maybe he only tried to bite you to see what you taste like." He smiled at me, showing me all his teeth. "Typical male."

I scowled at him. "Look at how he's looking at me." Buster was panting and his little bug eyes were watching my every movement. "I know it sounds crazy but…don't leave me alone with him, okay?"

Edward laughed. A real, full belly laugh.

Do you know the feeling when you discover a song or a band and it's the best freaking thing that had ever graced your ears? You wonder to yourself how you ever survived without that song in your life? That was what hearing Edward's laugh was like for me. I hadn't heard it in months and I felt instantly elated, almost high over the sound. It was worth a thousand dog-humpings and a million puncture wounds.

"I'm serious," I hissed, fighting my own laughter. "How can such a horrible little dog live with such a sweet old lady?"

With both hands on the counter, he leaned forward and sighed out a few residual laughs. "Oh, God, Bella, I missed you so much."

Instantly, I sobered. It was the first genuine thing he'd said to me since I'd come to Chicago and by the look on his face, he'd let it slip. It was a heat-of-the-moment kind of confession but I took pleasure in that because I knew that he meant it. He straightened up and walked toward me, slowly and unsure, and I inched closer to him. It sounded cliché and cheesy and something out of a lame romance novel, but our attraction to each other was magnetic. When our eyes met in situations like this, like the one we'd had the night before on the balcony of the motel, it was magical. Everything else disappeared. Nothing mattered but each other.

His fingertips brushed over my forearm and he leaned into me, inhaling the scent of my hair. Slowly, his fingers made a pass over my shoulder and then over my collarbone. Somewhere along the line, I stopped breathing. My heart pounded so loud in my ears that I was sure his grandma could hear it in the next room. Shaking, I ran my hand up his stomach and came to a stop on his chest, just over his heart. I could feel his pounding just as fiercely as mine. I smiled.

"You shouldn't have come back, Bella," he whispered against my temple. "You are so good, so, so good."

"So are you," I whispered back, my lips moving against the skin of his neck. "For what it counts, I missed you too."

He placed his other hand on my back and I could feel him internally struggling. Push or pull, fight or flight. I brushed my lips along his jaw and he sighed, almost whimpered, into my hair.

"Hey guys! You have to see this!" The sound of Jasper voice was like an electric shock and we flew apart, both breathless and red-faced. "Grammy Betsy has a little person that looks just like me!" We tried to act casual, both of us picking up a dish and running a cloth over it. Jasper held up a little doll that did indeed look like him, beard and everything.

"That's awesome, Jasper!" I said enthusiastically.

"So cool!" Edward blurted.

Jasper dropped the hand that was holding the doll and narrowed his eyes at us. "What's going on with you two?"

"Nothing!"

"What are you talking about?"

I glanced at Edward and he was avoiding eye contact with Jasper, rubbing an already clean pan furiously.

"Uh huh," he mumbled. "Just remember your promise to me, Bella."

Then he was gone, heading toward the living room.

My mouth dropped open. "He's infuriating."

Edward laughed. "He's definitely special."

After we'd finished cleaning up the dishes, with no further incidents, we moved into the living room where Jasper had his feet kicked back. The TV was turned onto some soap opera. Both of them were enthralled with the storyline so much so that I hated to interrupt.

"Grandma," Edward started but hesitated. The big pink elephant was about to make its debut. "I wanted to ask you about my parents."

Jasper clicked the TV off and straightened. I sat down on the couch, sandwiched between Edward and Jasper as Betsy offered us cookies.

"You dad is at hospice and…" She closed her eyes and took a breath for courage. "The doctors say that he has anywhere from a day to two months left. I was there yesterday and he doesn't even seem like…"

The room grew thick with emotion as she struggled to compose herself. I grabbed Edward's hand and squeezed.

"Jasper said that he wants to see me," Edward managed.

She nodded quickly. "He does and I really hope that you go. I know that...after the accident, it was a difficult time for everyone and he didn't handle it in the best way."

I bit my lip, wanting to say how under exaggerated that was. His parents had disowned him which was inexcusable. I grew furious at his parents, whom I hadn't even met and a little angry at Betsy. Edward squeezed my hand, sensing my thoughts.

"I know that they shut you out of their life and you may not feel that he deserves this chance but don't you have some things to say to him? Even if it's just…goodbye?" Her voice broke and Jasper leaned over and put an arm around her shoulders. "After the divorce, your parents—"

Edward interrupted. "Divorce? My parents are divorced?"

She looked puzzled. "Well, yeah, they've been divorced for seven years. Your mom started drinking and Ed couldn't handle it. He was struggling with his business and grieving over losing both, you and Alice."

"Whose fault was that?" I blurted and instantly regretted it.

"Ed will admit that it was his fault that he lost touch with you, Edward—especially now. He'd like a chance to be at peace with that before he goes."

My tongue was aching from all the biting but I had to look at it from her perspective; it couldn't have been easy for her. The natural order of things had betrayed her and she would be burying her child—plus, she had to actually watch him die. Edward's grandmother was the only member of his family that actually tried to keep in touch with him after his incarceration and he didn't follow through with their relationship. That was his fault. He had his reasons but he was still to blame for her absence in his life.

Edward was silent beside me as his grandma leaned forward in her chair. "It's up to you what you do, Eddie, but no matter what you decide, I'm always going to be your Granny. I really hope that you keep in touch, even after…"

He cleared his throat and nodded his head, not in agreement but in consideration.

"Your grandma is bad ass, Edward," Jasper said as we piled into the car.

I was driving, Jasper was riding shotgun and Edward was in the back with those pesky sunglasses on.

"Do you see her a lot, Jasper?" I asked, turning the engine over. "You seem pretty close to her."

He shrugged. "I lived here, on and off, for a few months last year"

"You did?" I looked at Edward's reflection in the rear view mirror and he didn't look surprised.

"Yep."

We didn't say anything else on the way back except for the occasional directions from Jasper. I couldn't imagine what was going on in Edward's head after hearing his grandma's plea for her son, his father. No matter what he decided, I was going to be there to back him up.

"I'm fucking starved," Edward murmured as pulled into the parking lot of the motel. "I'm going to take a walk, get something to eat. You guys want anything?"

"Dude, I'm totally full on that soup," Jasper groaned, holding his stomach. "Where do you think you'll go?"

"I don't know; probably McDonalds or something."

"You want some company?" I asked.

"Nah, I won't be gone long."

"A Big Mac sure sounds tasty, though," Jasper said, looking thoughtful. "I haven't had their french fries in ages, either."

Edward rolled his eyes. "I'll get you some food. Bella? Want anything?"

I gave him my food order and watched him walk away; his shoulders slumped and his hands were stuffed deeply into the pockets of his jeans. Edward looked defeated and it bothered me.

"You wanna do it?" Jasper asked as both of his eyes twitched closed.

"Do what?"

He nudged me with his elbow. "You know…"

"Ugh! Gross!" I shoved him away.

His eyebrows waggled frantically as he grinned and entered his room. Before the door closed behind him, I heard him holler, "Your loss!"

XxXxXx

That night I had a nightmare—a James nightmare. It had been months since my brain had conjured him up while I was unconscious. I blamed it on the strange environment and my overtired state when I went to bed. When I shot up in bed, drenched in sweat, I was panting and my face was covered in tears. My eyes scanned the room that was lit only by the bathroom, and through blurry vision I saw a shadow.

There was a man in my room.

I stopped breathing. My fingers gripped the sheets and I watched the form sit unmoving in the corner by the door. Then I waited…and waited…nothing happened. He just sat there, probably watching me panic and enjoying the power he had over me by simply existing.

Edward was next door. If I called for him, he'd either have to break down the door or I'd have to unlock it. I glanced briefly at the doors that connected our rooms and wondered if I was quick enough. The intruder was only eight or nine feet away. If only I could get to the door and unlock it, Edward could come in through that way. My chest seized and my stomach clenched with every breath that I took.

Why was he just sitting there, watching me?

Then I made my move, I lunged for the door and shakily unbolted the lock; my breath coming in whimpers and quiet curses as I anticipated the cold, hard hands that would, no doubt, overpower me. Nothing. But that didn't stop me from banging on the door and shouting Edward's name. It flew open and I collapsed into him, his strong hands wrapping around my body.

"What? What is it?"

I blabbered something as my chest heaved for breath and he flipped on the lamp. The only decipherable words that came from my mouth were "man", "room", and "help" so you can imagine the shock on my face when Edward set me down gently on his bed and went into my room. I wanted to tell him not to go, not to risk his own life, but this was Edward and we'd been down that road before. I closed my eyes and waited to hear the impending struggle; pictures crashing from walls, muffled shouts as the fists would start flying.

Nothing.

"Bella," Edward whispered as he knelt in front of me, "I didn't see anyone in your room."

"He was there…by the door in the corner. He must have left when I went for your door, got scared or something. I saw him!" Momentarily, I ignored the twinge of insanity in my tone, focusing first on just being safe.

Edward looked me over, his thumbs gently swiping the tears from my cheeks. "Maybe you had a bad dream."

I nodded but then frantically shook my head. "Well, I did but I saw him when I woke up. He was there!"

He licked his lips. Twice. "Can you show me where you saw him?"

Following a deep breath, I stood up and shaky legs. Edward wrapped his arm around my waist to keep me steady and he guided me back into my room. Immediately, my eyes went to the corner to where the man had been. I clutched onto Edward's shirt as the muscles in my thighs trembled under my weight.

The man was still there in the form of my hooded sweatshirt that I'd hung up on the corner of one of the picture frames. In my defense, it was creepy and I kicked myself for not removing it before falling asleep.

"I'm crazy," I whispered. "I'm going crazy."

"Was...was it your sweatshirt? Is that what you saw?" Edward wasn't annoyed but hopeful that the problem had been solved. Only the problem now in question ran far deeper than the position of a creepy pullover.

A/N: So, I have some bad news... my time is stretched pretty thin right now in RL. It's part of the reason why I didn't get a chance to respond to reviews. I'm writing chapter 27 and typically I get time to write at night after I get home from work but my three year old-who already has a sleep disorder-has been waking up several times during the night. We are trying to break him of his pacifier and I swear to GOD, it's like watching a heroin addict go through withdrawal symptoms. Every time he starts crying and writhing around on the ground, I get a visual of Ewan McGregor in Trainspotting when he starts getting the cold sweats. SO, until I can get caught up and a few more chapters ahead, I'm going to post once a week instead of twice. I just don't want that pressure of having to write out a chapter and get it up. KWIM? Plus, I enjoy responding to reviews and it sucks when I don't get a chance to do it.

Okay, now that THAT is out of the way...

Any thoughts on Edward's grandma? Any new opinions of Jasper? We find out a lot more about Jazz in the next chapter and the reason why he does some of the things that he does. PLUS, we get to meet Edward's dad. Do you think he will be forgiving or want to place blame on Edward just one more time before he dies? I really did write this before Whitney Houston passed away so I hope no one thinks that I'm making fun of her passing when mentioning her. Oh, and I srsly have Hero and Golddigger on my Ipod. J/S.

Thanks for reading! Sorry I'm such a chatty bitch today! I hope you all have a fantastic weekend and I'll see you next Tuesday!