Chapter 2

A/N: "I want Bella back with Edward…"

"I want her to stay with Jasper…"

I love my reviewers, I really do. You guys crack me up with the reviews, and even though I know how this will end, I love how everyone debates over what will happen. Thanks to my beta, Cereuleanblue who always does a great job and to all my readers, you make this crazy thing called fandom go round! 3 y'all hardcore!

Jasper

A couple of days passed before Bella spoke another word.

I would be lying if I said it wasn't difficult to deal with. She would barely look at me, and each time I'd try to converse with her about my daily dealings, she would tune me out, staring off into space instead. I suggested dinner out one night, and she shook her head before going back up stairs to Charlie's bedroom.

She wouldn't leave the house.

Before Charlie died, she was practically living with me in Port Angeles, and now, she wouldn't leave his house. I didn't mind staying with her here, but she tossed and turned at night, never resting as much as she should. I suggested something to make her sleep, but she refused. Then the vomiting started each morning and night. I figured it was because she was crying so hard during the day, and it would make her sick to her stomach.

After a couple of days of Bella not being herself, I was about to throw my hands in the air and suggest that she see someone. Before I could say anything, I came home one afternoon to Bella not only dressed up but with dinner cooked and on the table, surprising me with a bottle of champagne.

"Um, hi?" I asked as I walked in the door.

"Hey baby," she said wrapping her tiny arms around my neck. She practically jumped into my embrace.

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

She nodded. "I feel great. It's been an awesome day. Alice came over. We went shopping and had a great time together."

I looked at her with an odd expression on my face. Just eight hours before, I'd left Bella curled into a lump on the couch, like I had done every day for the previous week.

"Well, I'm glad you're feeling better," I said, hugging her tight.

"I made dinner for you. There's fried chicken, corn on the cob and sweet peas."

I smiled down at her. She was as beautiful as I remembered her being before her father passed away. Her color had returned and her eyes that had begun to lose their brightness had found the light again. It was as if I were staring at a reborn Bella Swan. My light had returned.

"It smells delicious, let's go eat," I said, grabbing her hand.

She piled my plate high with food and put more on her plate than I'd seen her eat in a week. She sat next to me at the table, almost giddy. She looked as though she had something important to tell me.

"So how was your day?" she asked, stuffing her mouth full of sweet peas.

"It was okay. We got a ton of work done at the house." I was working on a house that belonged to a friend of Harry Clearwater. It was starting to take a toll on me physically, but Emmett came on board for a bit to help. He was given a week of paid vacation from the firm for excellent sales that month, and he spent it with me. It was a huge help, and Rosalie didn't mind. She figured he needed a break from being a dad, a husband and everything else in between.

"Well I can't wait to see the finished product," she said, smiling. I put my fork down on my plate, sat back, and said. "Okay, spill it. You're hiding something from me. You know I hate it when you do this."

She smiled and said, "I know I haven't been the easiest person to deal with the past couple of days, and I'm sorry. I wanted to surprise you with something that I think we both need."

She pushed away from the table, headed into the living room, and came back with an envelope. I looked at it, and she said, "Go ahead, open it."

I peeled the flap back slowly. Sitting inside were two tickets to Los Angeles.

"I figured a small vacation would do us good. We could go sight-seeing during the day time, find the stars' houses using one of those crappy maps and just enjoy ourselves. It would get us away from Forks for a while so we could enjoy ourselves."

I stared down at the tickets and smiled. "We could use it as our honeymoon tickets," I said.

She frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm just not ready to plan the rest of the wedding yet, with all that's gone on," she said, nearly in tears. "I just don't think I can do it right now."

I nodded and pulled her close to me. "Then a vacation it is then. When do we leave?"

"After you finish the house you're working on. They are tentative tickets, and we can use them whenever we want."

"Great, I can't wait," I said. She ate the rest of her dinner in silence.

Bella

Jasper said his goodbye to me just like he had done every morning since my father died. He left me to my tears, my blanket, and my mindless early morning television programming. It had become a routine I was growing accustomed to. I didn't care if showered, ate, or even slept till two in the afternoon. Nothing seemed to matter to me anymore. I felt bad that I couldn't show some sort of life to Jasper. After all, he had done so much for me the past week. I owed it to him to be normal, but I just couldn't do it.

As Drew Carrey was laughing at a woman who fell on her ass while spinning the big wheel, I heard a knock at the door. Alice would normally come over during the day to sit with me for a while. She would bring food or something for me to read.

I yelled, "It's open," expecting Alice to walk through the door, but it wasn't her.

"Hi." Edward was standing in my living room. He hadn't been inside this house since the day we moved to Seattle. Every time we would visit with my dad, we would meet away from the house or over at the Cullen Estate.

"Hello," I said, dropping my head. He was the last person I would have expected to walk through that door.

"I came to check on you. Alice said you haven't left the house in over a week. I really think you need to get out of this place."

"Who are you to come in here and tell me what I need to do?"

"Someone who cares about your well being. Now get up, go shower and get dressed. You're going with me."

"I'm not going anywhere with you, Edward Cullen. I'm sitting my ass right here, watching crappy soap operas, and being glad that my life doesn't suck that much."

He laughed. "Babe, unless you've forgotten, our lives are like those crappy soap operas. Now, get your ass up, get dressed and let's go."

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"We're going to lunch first, and then shopping for some new shoes."

"I don't need new shoes," I said, putting my sliders on.

"They aren't for you; they're for me. I need a new pair for work, and I value and trust your opinion. Now, get up."

I sat on the couch for a moment longer before I finally stood up. I was wearing the rattiest PJs I owned, my hair was in knots because I hadn't brushed or washed it today, and my breath probably reeked. I grabbed my robe, trotting upstairs to climb in the shower and wash away all the dirt, grime, snot, tears and frustration I've felt over the past week. As I stood to rinse my hair, I tried to figure out why I felt so obliged to Edward for getting me off the couch, when for the whole week, Jasper wouldn't.

I rinsed my hair and finally got dressed in actual clothes for the first time in days.

Edward was waiting for me patiently downstairs when I made my way down.

"Now that's much, much better," he said. "Get your bag, and let's go."

We drove into Port Angeles to grab lunch at a small bistro that I liked. I couldn't believe how easy the conversation flowed between Edward and me. He was so easy to talk to. I actually was able to talk about my dad with him without tearing up once, and we talked about his parents and the things he'd gone through when they died.

When lunch was over, we went shopping for a new pair of dress shoes for him. It didn't take long, but we continued shopping around for a while. I bought some new shirts, even though I hardly ever shop for myself. Since I'd left Edward, I was really careful about my money, because I didn't make much at the school. It felt odd splurging on something like this. Edward convinced me that it was just money, and I could always make more.

By the time the afternoon wound up, I almost hated going home, but I hit my hand on the door to his car, remembering Jasper and the engagement ring.

"Edward, I think I need to go home. Jasper will be home shortly, and I would hate it if he knew I'd been out with you all day."

Edward's face grew somber. "I understand." He finished opening the door for me, and we drove in silence to the house. As he pulled into the driveway, I looked over at him. "Please, don't tell anyone I was with you today."

"Too late, Alice already knows."

"Okay, but no one else please. Jasper wouldn't like it too much. You know how he is."

Edward nodded. "Yeah, a little overbearing if you ask me."

I gave Edward an eat-shit-and-die look. "Like you have room to talk, Edward." His face turned to stone.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"You're what?" I wasn't sure I heard him correctly.

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry for all those times I was overbearing and wouldn't let you be you. I'm sorry for the way I treated you, and I'm sorry I never made you feel like you were smart, beautiful, wonderful person, because you are."

I was speechless. Edward had never admitted to being wrong that quickly.

"I feel the need to accept your apology," I said, choosing my words carefully, "but forgiving is a whole other thing. You've done so much damage to my self-confidence; it's taken almost a year for me to get it back. Honestly, I thank Jasper for that."

His face grew red, like he was about to go off on one of his Edward tirades, but he didn't which shocked me even more.

"Bella, just tell me that Jasper is the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. If he is, then I'll back off, but something tells me, somewhere deep in that mind and heart of yours, you want me back. You may not realize it now, but soon you will."

I stood up and slammed the door to his car with bags in tow. I didn't even look back at him when he sped off down the street. Then guilt began to overcome me, and I called Alice in a panic.

"I can't believe I was so stupid," I said, biting my nails.

"Well, you know I'll keep my mouth shut," she said. "I'll cover for you, but you've seriously got to make up your mind if you want Edward in or out of your life."

"I know, I know. I love Jasper, I really do, but Edward is familiar to me. Edward was all I knew before I met Jasper again."

She yawned, "Well, I'll put it to you like this. Next time, if Edward comes busting through your door again, hit him over the head with a baseball bat and do us all a favor. He woke me up at five this morning, wondering what he should do. I told him to do whatever. I was tired of him bugging me."

"So, you basically told him to do it," I huffed.

"I didn't mean to, really. I was aggravated with being woken up that early in the morning. I was out till three doing a showing with Aro."

"Fine, but from now on, I have to stay away from him or else this could be bad. I don't trust myself around him."

"Good idea," she yawned again. "I'm going to go take a nap. Good luck."

I paced back and forth, feeling more and more guilt building up inside of me. Then, I got it.

Edward couldn't bug me if I was far away from him. I instantly got online to book two tentative tickets to Los Angeles for Jasper and I. Then, I got dressed and fixed dinner for him to show my appreciation for all that he'd done for me.

One way or another, I had to keep Edward away.

If not, this could get really ugly, fast.