Edward's point of view

Bella was fast asleep. I held her tightly to my chest. She was curled up in a fetal position and I was hugging her back to me. This was not the normal way I lay with her. She would have had her head on my chest and would some times even put her leg over mine in her sleep and cuddle me tighter.

She had changed a lot during my absence her body taking a more womanly shape. But she was thinner and paler looking than before. Her face looked very hollow like she had suffered from some kind of illness and was still recovering from it. The dark circles around her eyes were deep and prominent. Her hair had lost its shine. I should get her to eat better. But she always seemed so healthy even with her clumsiness. I remembered her suffering from flu once but even then she didn't look this frail. Even her lips looked thinner.

Oh! her lips how I longed to kiss her, really kiss her with all the passion I felt for her.I remembered all the erotic dreams she used to have with me near her. I remembered how she used rub against me. I could always smell her arousal. I used to wear baggy pants to disguise my prominent need when we kissed passionately. I could now love her and show her my desire for her making her mine in every sense of the word. I will first ask her to marry me.

She would look so lovely in a wedding gown, walking besides her father. That reminded me about how Charlie had greeted me and I winced. His thoughts were hostile and were on the verge of panic with thoughts of actually shooting me with his gun running through his mind several times. I couldn't understand what provoked such strong and confused feelings. I had only broken up with his daughter after all. I'm sure Bella would have been heart broken for sometime but she was a normal human girl. She would have recovered after some time.

I wasn't worried about Bella forgiving me. I knew she would take me back. In Volterra the moment she saw me she had run into my arms. I would propose to her the very first opportunity I got. I will have to make it special. I thought of my mothers ring waiting in my closet. I was so lost in my thoughts that at first I didn't realize that Bella was awake. Her very loud,

"What are you doing here?" had me jumping out of the bed.

From the shock on her face I realized that she had not expected me to be in her room with her. I smiled and told her that I would never leave her again. Her reaction to that was something that totally confused me. I couldn't understand it. She just kept staring at me. It was not the kind of loving and adoring stare that I was used to receiving from her. Her face was just blank. Not giving out any emotion. Her beautiful brown eyes which were the windows to her soul in which I relied on to understand her feelings when her mind was closed to me were no longer expressive. They too had lost their shine and their depth. I was so shocked that I felt myself freeze.

We must have been staring at each other for a long time because she didn't make one move during that time. No fidgeting, nothing just simply breathing in a steady rhythm. Normally her heart rate would accelerate when she was excited or even in the same room with me. But none of those reactions were there. I had to blink several times to even make sure that I was there with Bella.

"Bella are you alright?"

She answered me immediately "yes."

"You look like you are still in shock can I get you something to drink?"

"No thank you." She still answered in her monotone voice. No emotion at all.

"Then what would you like me to do?" I smiled and asked her.

Her next words shocked me into freezing yet again. She uttered them very clearly and very precisely. "Edward I would like you to leave."

It took me a moment to recover from my surprise. May be she wanted a human moment to herself.

"Ok. When should I come back?"

"I don't want you to come back."

This sent me into panic. Did she find someone else while I was away? But Alice had not said anything about anyone else. Except about that dog who had saved her from drowning. She would have told me if Bella had found someone else. She would have definitely not let me kiss and hold her on our way back from Volterra if she had someone waiting for her here. No it couldn't be. She must still want me. After all she said I dazzled her.

I tried my best dazzling smile on her. "Bella you don't know what you are saying. You are still confused."

"I know exactly what I am saying and what I want. I want you to leave Edward."

This was a living nightmare. I had to explain. My words came out in a jumble.

"Please Bella, listen to me. I lied when I told you I didn't love you anymore. I had to leave to keep you safe and I knew if I didn't tell you I didn't love you, you would have never let me go. I love you Bella… I never stopped loving you…I will never stop loving you…Please Bella you have to take me back. Please please forgive me. I only left so that you can have a normal happy human life….so that you can be protected from our kind."

"It broke my heart to leave you Bella. I thought of coming back so many times over the past couple of months. I had finally decided to come when I received that horrible phone call from Rosalie."

She still sat there simply staring at me. I didn't know what else to say to her.

I was on my knees beside the bed now. I would beg if I had to. I just couldn't imagine a world without her. I couldn't understand how she could completely believe the lie I told her. As a last resort I went over to the lose floor board in her room and brought out the CD and the photos we had taken with her camera.

"Bella I never left you in my heart you were always there. I couldn't even take these things away from you. I had to leave them with you."

I tried to hand them over to her but she refused to take them.

"I don't need them anymore. I don't listen to music." Her response was both terrifying and heart wrenching. It was as if I was trying to reason with a living statue. I had to get some kind of a human response from her.

"Bella, why did you jump off the cliff?"

The only response I got to this was also in a monotone.

"You lied to me Edward. You promised me it would be as if you never existed. You didn't keep your promise to me. So I didn't keep mine to you."

I felt my jaw fall open at this in my surprise. What was she talking about. It took me a moment to realize that I had indeed promised her that when I left it would be as if I never existed. I couldn't understand how I could have broken that promise. This was getting very confusing to me. I had made sure to hide everything that reminded her of me. Yes she had broken her promise to me she had done something reckless gone cliff diving. Now I was getting scared. Had she actually tried to kill her self? No, Bella wouldn't do that. But still the person I was talking with now only just looked like Bella. There was nothing I knew of Bella in her. She was just responding to whatever I asked her. I was in two minds about whether to stay or leave giving her time to recover when Bella suddenly made the decision for me.

"You should leave Edward."

Please review and let me know what you think :). This is my first fan fiction so your reviews will tell me whether I'm going in the right direction. Thanks.