Surprise! I figured since I've been MIA lately that I would update as soon as I finished this chapter instead of waiting until next week.

Thank you all so much for your reviews 3 they always make my day.

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. That belongs to Stephenie Meyer. Also, I do not own any references to movies, songs, or other media.

BPOV

To say that things between Edward and I had been awkward since our impromptu love making session would be an understatement. I began to wonder if he hadn't been asleep when I told him I loved him but figured that he would have said something about it. It had been 2 weeks since that night and he had been really distant. I had only been over to dinner once and he barely spoke to me. The only good thing that came out of that dinner was that I was able to talk to Mya about Julliard. We came up with a plan; well it wasn't really a plan. It was more just her sitting down with Edward and telling him straight out. I figured that would be the best course of action considering his personality. Mya seemed to agree and I told her to call me if something happened and she needed a place to escape to afterward. Granted I knew that I shouldn't enable her running away but I figured it was better than her wandering the streets of Seattle late at night.

One night I was at home reading Pride and Prejudice when I got a call from Mya at 11 o'clock at night. I sighed and already knew what I was about to hear but when I answered the phone I was not prepared for the screaming and hysterical sobbing that I heard on the other line.

"Please come pick me up! Please!" I could barely hear Mya's frantic plea over her crying and Edward's screaming. From what I could make out it seemed like Edward was telling Mya that she couldn't go and how dare she disrespect him by going behind his back and how disappointed her mother would be. That struck a nerve. I could understand his being upset about Mya applying behind his back but playing the dead mother card was seriously a low blow. Now I was pissed.

"Mya it'll take me at least 20 minutes to get there. Is there someplace you can go until then?"

She sniffled and let out a shaky breath and said "Yea I'll take a bus to the transit station in Bellevue Square. Is it okay if you pick me up there?"

"Yea that's fine. I'll see you in a few minutes. If you want to stay the night you can. I'll drive you back to your dad's house in the morning".

"Thank you Bella"

"You're welcome sweetie. I'll be there as soon as I can"

"Okay" and with that I hung up the phone, grabbed my purse, threw on my jacket and shoes and raced out to my car. Considering it was so late there was no traffic so it only took me around 15 minutes to get to the transit station. I kept my eyes open for Mya and when I saw her my heart broke. She looked so small and her eyes were red and there were tears still streaming down her cheeks. I honked my horn to let her know where I was and she immediately ran over to my car. As soon as she got it I saw that she and Edward had gotten into it pretty bad. As I drove back to Seattle she told me about how she brought the letter to him after Tony, Jaden and Gretchen had all gone to bed. I let out a sigh of relief at that information. Her siblings didn't need to see their dad so angry with Mya, although I'm sure they all heard it. She went on to explain how he read the letter and threw a fit about it, which we both knew was going to happen. Apparently he ripped the letter and half and slammed it down on the table then proceeded to scream about how Mya wasn't going and that she couldn't make anything out of herself if she got a music degree. Of course, Mya retaliated by saying that she wasn't looking for Edward's approval and that it was her life and she was allowed to do what she wanted with it. That sent Edward over the edge, which caused him to start screaming about how disappointed Irina would be and how she disrespected not only him but her mother as well. She brought me up to the point where she called me and since I had heard him screaming I didn't need her to go over that part. I asked her what happened after she called me and she said that Edward had slammed the door to his office and locked himself in. Mya took that opportunity to pack her bag and get to the bus station.

"Wait, Mya did you tell your dad that you were leaving? Or that I was coming to pick you up?" we were back at my apartment by this time and I was making Mya a cup of tea while she sat on the couch spacing out.

"No. Please don't tell him where I am. I'll go home tomorrow I promise but I can't face him again tonight. Please Bella. Please don't tell him" If she hadn't looked to desperate and broken I would have told her to call her father. But I figured that they both needed some time to cool down so I agreed to take her home tomorrow before I went to work. I handed her the tea and she sipped it slowly. I turned on the TV and let her watch whatever she wanted while I cleaned up my room a bit for her. When I came back out I saw that she was asleep on the couch with her arms wrapped around herself. I didn't have the heart to wake her and tell her she could sleep in my room so I just laid a blanket over her and went back to my bedroom. I changed and got into bed; leaving the door open so that I would hear her if she needed something. It took me several minutes to get my mind to process what had happened between Edward and Mya. I could understand his anger to an extent but the extreme he took it to was completely unnecessary. Add that to the fact that he'd basically been ignoring me for the past couple of weeks and you got a very pissed off Bella.

When my alarm went off the next morning I was extremely reluctant to get up. I knew what was coming and I wanted to prolong the inevitable. I woke Mya up and told her to get ready to go home and that she could shower if she wanted to. She took my up on my offer and while I made coffee. I was due for a trip to the grocery store so I didn't have much besides cereal and bread. Mya helped herself to some toast while I was in the shower and getting ready for work. Once we left my apartment Mya immediately began to fidget. I knew she was nervous, hell I was nervous. We were essentially walking into the lion den.

As soon as Mya opened the door I knew something wasn't right. It was dead silent, you could hear a pin drop on the perfect marble steps. I looked at Mya and she had a questioning expression on her face.

"Ummm why don't you go put your stuff in your room and see if your siblings are home. I'm going to see if anyone is out back." She nodded and headed up the stairs. I wandered around through the living room, the dining room, the kitchen, nothing. Even Edward's office was empty. I glanced at my watch and saw that it was 7:30, surely someone had to be here. I was walking back into the foyer when the front door opened and in walked a very tired looking Edward. He gave me a small smile as I made my way over to him. We hugged briefly before Edward pulled away.

"Bella what are you doing here? Don't you have work?"

"Uhh…yea umm I was just leaving. I came here to drop off Mya." I dared a glance at him and saw that Edward's tired expression was replaced by an extremely pissed one.

"WHAT? SHE'S BEEN WITH YOU THIS WHOLE TIME AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO FUCKING CALL ME?" Shit. I was in deep shit. I knew it before Mya and I got here but the fantasy was better than the reality. Of course Mya heard the yelling and I saw her run down the stairs. She looked absolutely petrified. Edward followed my eyes and when his eyes landed on Mya they softened for a moment, relieved that his little girl was safe.

"You should be at school already. Go." Mya gave him a questioning look and glanced my way briefly. She was asking me with her eyes if it was okay if she left Edward and I alone. I gave her a small smile and a nod. Mya ran back upstairs to grab her backpack and was out the door a minute later.

"Edward I know you're pissed but she needed a place to cool off and regroup. I let her stay at my place so she wasn't wandering around at night with nowhere to go."

Edward let out an irritated breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know you had good intentions Bella but what you did was totally irresponsible. I was worried sick about MY child and you didn't have the decency to tell me that she was okay? That she was safe and dead in a ditch somewhere?"

That pissed me off. The way he was talking to me made me seem like someone completely incapable of taking care of a child. I work in a daycare, I was HIS nanny for godsake. ""I'm not and idiot Edward, I know how to take care of a child. Mya asked me not to call you because she was afraid you'd be even more pissed at her because she left. I respect her enough to honor her wishes. I'm sorry you don't agree with that but that's the way it went. You talk all the time about how she needs to respect you and YOUR wishes but do you extend that same respect to HER? I understand that you're angry with her over the Julliard thing but imagine being in her shoes. You're the only parent she has and she's looking for your approval. She tried so hard to get it but you shoved it back in her face when you told her that she couldn't make a life out of music!" Edward's nostrils flared at my last sentence and I knew I was in for it. Fuck.

When he spoke his tone was lethal. "How dare you criticize me and my parenting skills Bella. You don't know the first thing about raising a child, hell you still act like a child yourself! You want to preach about respect? Why don't you respect me enough to know what is right for MY child huh? You're not a parent. You don't know what it's like staying up all night sick to your stomach with worry about where they are. Mya is my daughter and I will do what's best for her. And Julliard is sure as hell not what's best for her."

"Do you know your child at all? Mya's dream has been to go to Julliard ever since she was a little girl. How the hell do you know what's best for her if you didn't know that! If you don't let her go you'll lose a daughter. I guarantee it."

"Really? You guarantee it? We'll see about that. And how would you know if her dream was to go to Julliard or not? Mya never talked to you when you were working for me."

Shit. I hadn't thought about that. Mya and I never really talked until after Edward and I started dating. "We started talking after you and I got together. I figured she'd have to talk to me eventually."

"So she just poured out her heart of you one day? Just like that?" He spat out. His tone told me that he was not amused. Edward was fucking pissed. I thought about back tracking or making something up but if I was already going to hell I might as well lay everything out on the table.

"No Edward she didn't randomly just come up to me and tell me her life dreams. I was over for dinner one night and I knocked on her door to tell her that she needed to come down to eat and I saw the acceptance letter in her hand. She told me about it and about how she knew you would be pissed and not let her go. We talked for a bit and that's when she told me that she had always wanted to go there."

"Jesus Bella you hid that from me too? Was I the last to know? How can you be in relationship with someone and not trust them?"

I arched my eyebrow at him. Oh he wanted to talk about relationships now? "You're one to talk about being in a relationship. You've basically ignored me for the past two weeks. Ever since we had sex you've barely spoken to me. Last time I checked communication was a key aspect of a relationship."

"Last time I checked you're not supposed to confess your love to someone while they're sleeping. If you really love the person and respect them you'll say it to their face when they're awake."

"I didn't think we were ready to 'say I love you' to each other. It slipped out as I was leaving."

"You're right, we aren't but that doesn't mean you get to make the executive decisions on the relationship" It didn't escape me that he was talking in present tense. "Bella I care about you, I really do. But I don't know if I will ever love you the way you want me to. My heart belongs to someone who no longer exists, I can't change that, and I don't know if I want to. I'm sorry."

"For your sake I hope you're wrong Edward. You deserve better than that, and so do I."

Walking away from Edward was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I felt like I was leaving a part of myself on that pristine marble floor. But I deserved better than someone who basically told me that they would never love me, and that they didn't want to. When he said those words my heart shattered. I knew I had to walk away, even if my heart was screaming at me to stay.