A/N:

I'm sorry for not updating the story before, I had an accident and I haven't been feeling good.

Thank you for your reviews/favorites I appreciate each one of them; I always reply unless they are anonyms... I can't reply to those.

I also want to thank Chase Corin for being my beta reader and my friend.

Chapter 11

Edward is at my front door, he looks tormented and frail; Charlie is still yelling at him. For what I can hear Edward wants to see me and Charlie is not happy about it. Renée settles next to my dad, she's trying to reason with him. Edward says that he can come another day, but Charlie is not having it either. They continue discussing in a more civilized manner. Finally Renée says the decision should be mine. She starts walking towards the stairs, I duck and hurry to my room.

Renée knocks on my door and I go and open it. I act surprised when she tells me the news of my unexpected visitor. She makes it clear that Edward is an eye-candy and that I should talk to him if I want to. My heart speaks for me and I agree to go downstairs. As we approach the front door I see Edward take a deep breath, Charlie leads him to the living room and Renée and I follow them. Both Edward and I look bewildered as it's obvious that Renée and Charlie don't plan to leave us alone. Edward is sitting in the armchair and I'm trapped between my parents. The tension in the room is palpable, no one says a word until Edward greets me and tells me that I look great; at that Charlie stifles and Renée looks beyond herself. I just thank him for his remarks, there're many things I wish to ask him, but I'm not able to say them in front of my parents. Edward seems to be struggling with what to say. He finally says that Señor Molina has given more information about the project; apparently he sent an e-mail during the week, which makes me realize that I have to catch up with all the homework. Edward seems to have read my mind and he offers to give me notes from all the classes I missed, Charlie and Renée consent with that and schedule for Edward to come during the weekend to my house, if his parents agree with that. He tells my parents that it shouldn't be a problem.

My parents thank him for his help, they shake hands and say good-bye and Edward has no other choice but to do the same with me, since Charlie is right beside me and not willing to move. I feel an electric shock when we shook hands, we both react to it and smile. We all walk Edward to the door and he nods as a farewell.

Edward arrives to my house the next morning; he's all business. We start working as soon as he gets, he just greets me warmly with a big smile on his face; I don't know what I was expecting but I feel disappointed. A part of me wants to hold him tight and never let him go, but another part wants to yell at him.

The day passes quickly, Edward and I haven't had time to talk about things other than school because either Charlie or Renée remain nearby. After some hours they seem to be at ease and decide to leave us alone to visit my dad's best friend Billy Black. We continue studying for some minutes, the tension in the room is palpable.

We both start talking at the same time, Edward lets me start but I'm too emotional to talk and I start crying. Edward wipes my tears away with his fingers, they feel like feathers against my wet skin; he hugs me tight and we stay like this for what it seems eternity. We are made for each other. I can feel his heartbeat, its steadiness calms me, his breathe warms every part of me; even though I know this is perfection and that I couldn't ask for anything else, I still need to know who was the girl that was with Edward at the mall and most importantly are they romantically involved? I don't know how to ask this, but I have to know the truth. I turn away from Edward and begin with the inquisition.

"Edward, there's something I need to ask you and I need you to be honest with me."

"Sure, what do you want to know?" He's so at ease and I'm a bundle of nerves.

"Why did you disappear after we went to the movies? Where were you?" Edward takes a long time to answer, he's pensive.

"I've forgotten about that. I'm sorry for disappearing without notice, it's was unexpected." I can tell he's gloomy. Now I remember he wasn't the only one leaving the town, his family was missing too.

"You don't need to apologize. I was just worried for you, what happened?" Edward starts to sob and his eyes are filling with tears. What have I done? I didn't imagine it was too serious, now I feel bad for starting this. I try to soothe him, but he signals for me to stop.

"My grandma died. We had to arrange everything for her funeral, there was not time to spare. We just had time to pack and gather a few things. We left early morning to Chicago and met with the rest of our family; I hadn't seen them in a while. It seems you only see your relatives in funerals or weddings. Two opposite emotions are at play, and both of them end with people hugging each other and crying." Edward has managed to arrange himself, he's not longer sobbing and the tears that threatened to fall off his eyes have left his lower lashes wet and bright. I have no words to say, I am terrible at comforting people. I just rub his back as a signal of support. I can relate to what he's feeling, losing a loved one can be devastating. I know I felt that way when my grandparents died, it happened years ago but I still miss them so much.

"Edward, I'm really sorry. I wish I had known." That's all I manage to say.

"It's fine Bella, I'm the one who's sorry for disappearing like that. We left in such a hurry that I forgot to pack my laptop and my cell phone's charger. I had no way to contact you. And then we came back along with my cousins and I had no time to call you. And when I did call you, your mom answered the phone and told me what had happened to you. My whole world came to an end; I thought I had lost you. My biggest regret was not telling you how I felt for you, how much I loved you" At that point Edward and I are crying, he was trying so hard not to cry while saying those words. We are now embracing. I can feel and taste the salty water from our tears while we kiss with such passion. This is what we needed, the outlet for our pain. After some minutes we both gasp for air but we're still hugging and breathing hastily.

"You said you loved me. Do you still feel that way after all that happened with me?"

"Not really" I literally feel the world shaking as he says those words. "That didn't sound right. Let me rephrase it. What I meant is that I love you more now. Thinking that I had lost you made me realize how deeply in love I am with you Bella. I know it sounds crazy to have such strong feelings for a person you've only know for a few days, but it's true, I'm deeply in love with you."

I take a deep breath and gather what is left of my guts to say what I'm about to say. He loves me, he really loves me. "That does sound crazy. But if love makes us say and do crazy things, sign me up to the madhouse right now; because I'm deeply in love with you too." We start kissing more passionate than before. My whole body is on fire, it's like I have a fever or something and I like it. If I'm sick, I want a full dose of Edward to get better. Edward's hands are hesitant while they explore my body. My body reacts to his touch and I'm trembling, I feel like passing out. I need to catch a breath. We both seem to need a break to breathe. I've never kissed someone like that, in fact, I've only make out with Edward.

Kissing can be exhausting but the exhaustion is fleeting. We are now in the kitchen grabbing something to eat and drink. Luckily for us, there are leftovers from last night's dinner, chicken parmesan. I'm an expert in cooking leftovers and we are eating in a couple of minutes. I decide to break the awkward post-making out silence. "Are your cousins in town or have they left already?"

"No, they left a couple of days ago. I think you would have liked them, especially Tanya."

"I would have liked to meet them. Did they have a good time in Forks?"

"I believe so. We didn't have a lot of time together. They spent most of their time with Alice shopping and gossiping about the boys they like."

"So you didn't take them anywhere?"

"What kind of host do you think I am? It wouldn't have been nice to ignore them. After all, I don't see them often."

"You haven't answered my question; did you go out with them?"

"Yes and no. I mean, I went out with Tanya to the mall. She said she wanted to talk to me alone, but I believe she was just looking for an excuse to avoid Alice's shopping spree."

It's all starting to make sense. It never occurred to me that the beautiful blond girl could be related to Edward. "I can understand that, your sister is a little whirlwind, isn't she?" I can't help but giggle, Alice is really something to watch out. Edward giggles too and comments "I wouldn't say little, I would say she's a tornado coming at full speed; but once you known her, she's really something special. I hope she didn't scare you when you met her."

"No, she didn't. I think she's really a great person and she really cares for you."

"Now that we've discussed my disappearance, would you tell me what really happened to you?"

I guess I owe him an explanation after all. "Well, I was taking a bath and apparently I felt asleep and I would have drawn if my parents hadn't arrived in time" I'm trying to be as honest as I can, besides the shrink I haven't talked to anyone about what happened that day; I'm not even sure of what occurred. Edward seems to be pondering what I've just said. "What did you think had happened Edward?"

"There have been some rumors about that day. Some say you tried to kill yourself, others say that it was an accident. People have really strong opinions about you."

"What did you believe?" I knew there was going to be controversy about me and that dreadful day, but I never thought what Edward may think about me. His opinion is important to me.

"I believed in believing nothing as they say until I heard directly from you. You're the only one I could trust."

"That means a lot to me. I can't imagine how things will be tomorrow in school. I am terrified about how people at school are going to react."

"There's nothing to fear Bella, I will be standing next to you. I won't let anything bad happen to you. In fact, I want to be your official drive to school if that's ok with you."

"I… I… I think I'll have to check with my parents." There, that should be an acceptable answer. I was just caught by surprise, I wasn't expecting that offer.

"Sure, check with them. I guess I should go now. It's getting dark and my parents are probably wondering why I'm not home yet."

That wasn't what I wanted to hear, but I deserved it. I want to spend every moment of my life with him, but I am really not sure about how my parents would react if Edward comes tomorrow to pick me up for school.

"I get it. I appreciate your help; I don't know what I would have done without it." Edward starts packing his belongings and I want to stop him and ask him to stay longer, but I know he's right. I don't want his parents to worry about him. I don't even want to imagine if something bad were to happen to him because he was driving at a late hour.

"I guess I've got everything now."

We head to the door and I'm about to say good-bye when he suddenly holds me against him and kiss me on the lips. This time our kiss ends too quickly to my dismay. It seems that I'm not the only one that's having a hard time saying good-bye.

"I'm glad you liked the earrings. I knew they would look great on you." I forgot I was wearing them.

"I'm sorry for not thanking you before; I didn't know who had given them to me. I really like them."

"Really? I guess I forgot to include my name. They belonged to my grandmother."

"Edward, that's a nice gesture. But wouldn't your grandmother like them to stay in your family. Maybe Alice or your mom would like to have them." I start to remove the earrings but Edward stops me and says "Bella, my grandmother left lots of nice souvenirs for Alice and my mom. She wanted me to give them to someone special. You are more than special to me. They belong to you now as well as my heart. I know you may think I'm being silly for doing this, but it's the truth. You own my heart Bella, I've never thought I'd love someone as deeply as I love you. I've known that since the moment I first saw you. I thought my heart was long gone, but you've brought it to life again Bella." I'm speechless; I didn't know I had that effect on him. "Edward, I don't think you're silly. That's the most beautiful thing someone has said to me." I'm crying now but for the first time, I'm crying tears of joy. The moment is broken as Charlie gets to the porch and punches Edward in his face.

Final Notes:

I'm currently working in Chapter 12 hope to be updating the story next week.

Please don't hesitate to comment/PM me if you have any questions about the story, I'll be glad to answer them.

If you're a mother I wish you a Happy Mother's Day! If you're not a mother yet, I hope you have a lovely time with your mom and family. If you don't have your mother with you anymore hope you remember the lovely times you enjoyed with her.