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CHAPTER TWO

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A/N:- Banner by FatesLoveQueen http:/yfrog(dot)com/oed60p

I own nothing. Boydblog helped and I'll be forever thankful.

She fixed. I fiddled. Any mistakes that remain are on me.

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The harsh knocking at the door woke me.

I wasn't ready to acknowledge it, so I kept my eyes shut. I reached my hands out to stretch; the way I'd been curled on the sofa wasn't comfortable. I stretched my neck slowly from side to side, feeling the kinks loosen just a little more with each pass.

It took a few moments for the memories of what had happened before I'd drifted off to come back to me. Edward's words, the accident, the pain. Oh God, the pain!

The knocking on the door continued. I pushed myself upright. I knew I wasn't ready to face the reality of a life without Edward, but reason had sunk in. I'd left home over twelve hours ago, Charlie was sure to be worried.

The sound came again.

"I'm coming!" I shouted, hoping they'd hear me despite the distance between his room and the door.

"I'll get it shall I?"

I jumped with surprise as Edward's voice filled the space behind me.

I stood quickly, turning to see whether he was really there.

What had changed? What was different?

He walked passed me toward the door with a smile and a wink. I was in a lounge room, not his bedroom.

I held my breath for a moment in shock. I glanced around at my surroundings; we weren't in his home in Forks. We weren't at Charlie's house. I wasn't sure where we were.

"Edward?" I asked, turning quickly as he welcomed whoever was at the door.

He turned to me and I realized something was wrong. His skin was slightly tanned, his eyes a piercing green. I staggered back, knocking my arm against the wall. A sharp pain radiated from the wound. I stared at the bandage remembering that Edward had stitched me up after I'd fallen in the forest.

"Bella, are you okay?"

I pressed myself further into the wall, feeling the pressure of the wound and trying to ground myself in reality.

"I can come back later if you're not feeling well?"

I looked up as the voice spoke. It was Alice.

I'd thought I'd never see her again when Edward had left for good. I propelled myself across the room and into her arms. I ignored the warmth that was radiating from her and the grey color of her eyes.

She laughed nervously. "Well, that's certainly an interesting greeting. What happened to 'hello'?"

"I thought I'd never see you again," I murmured, as much for my own benefit. I needed to hear something that made sense.

"I just saw you a few days ago." She was frowning at me. "Are you feeling alright?"

I shook my head. "I just want to know what's going on."

I finally faced up to the one thing that had been staring me in the face since I'd woken.

"Why are you all…human?" I asked, whispering the last word.

Alice looked at me like I had lost my mind.

I backed away from her, edging back to the wall where I could feel the sharp pain in my arm as a reminder that this was all just a dream.

I'm still on a leather sofa back in Forks, pining for Edward; this is just a fantasy in my mind to counter the pain.

"I think that it might be best if you do go," Edward said under his breath to Alice. "I'll call you later."

She nodded as he kissed her cheek. She shot me one last concerned look before heading back out the door.

Edward was in front of me almost as soon as he'd shut the door. It took me a moment to realize that he hadn't moved with his usual speed, I just hadn't been paying attention to him.

He raised his hand so that it caressed my face gently. His thumb traced small circles on my cheek. "Are you still sore from the accident?" he asked quietly.

I frowned. Accident?

I realized I had spoken aloud.

"The car accident, when you hurt your arm."

I shook my head. "That was from falling in the forest."

He laughed loudly. "Forest? There isn't a forest around for miles."

"Where…where am I?"

"You're in our home, Bella…where you belong."

"Our home."

His lips turned down into a frown. "That's it. I'm taking you back to the hospital."

"No." I didn't want to go to hospital. I was certain I was just dreaming. Everything would be fine and back to normal when I woke. Although, when I woke, it would be to a world without Edward. I wasn't sure if I was ready to face that reality.

His hand still caressed my face gently and his eyes implored mine softly, bouncing from one eye to the other as if he was silently assessing my sanity.

"Okay, I won't take you yet. But at the first sign of anything else odd, I'm calling your neurologist."

I nodded. I wanted to ask why I needed a neurologist, but I was certain that would fall under Edward's definition of 'odd'.

"Do you want some lunch?"

I nodded again. His concern for me was evident and I wanted so badly to believe that this world was real. This Edward loved me. More than that, he wanted me. He smiled and gave me a quick, chaste kiss on the lips. He dropped one of his hands so that his fingers entwined with mine and led me to the kitchen.

I couldn't help but silently appraise the house as he walked me through it. It wasn't massive or as opulent as the Cullen house was back in the real world. Instead, it was homey and comfortable. It reminded me of the house I'd lived in with mom in Phoenix, but much more modern. It was very close to what I had always imagined my house would look like when I grew up and got married, which cemented the thought in my mind that this was definitely just a dream.

Edward let go of my hand after we reached the kitchen, stalking with a definite purpose toward the fridge. I climbed onto one of the stools that rested beneath the bench and watched as he moved around the kitchen with perfect ease. I was watching him so intently, I barely registered that he had started talking to me.

"Sorry, what?" I asked.

He gave me another one of those inquisitive stares for a moment. "I was talking to Mom earlier. She said Rosalie was back in town."

"That's nice."

He dropped what he was doing and stalked over to me. "Okay, Bella, the game's up. What's wrong with you today?"

"I'm fine," I lied.

He chuckled. "Now I know that you're not. You hate Rosalie."

"I don't hate her," I answered, thinking of the Rosalie I knew. "She scares me, but I don't hate her."

"You bristle every time her name is mentioned. You hate the fact that Mom and Dad are still close with her."

I wondered why I would do that, and realized again that I was completely lost in this world. The real world might have been Edward-less, but at least it made sense.

"I just don't think it's that big a deal," I bluffed. "I'm over it."

He snorted. "You're over it?"

I nodded.

"So even though we've fought about her more times than I can recall, you're over it?"

I nodded again, trying to plant a smile on my face.

"And the fact that she's my ex and my parents are dying for the day we get back together, that means nothing to you anymore?"

I sat stunned. Edward and Rosalie? I shook my head slowly, telling myself again it was all a dream. It was some weird fantasy my mind was concocting. I wondered if my sub-conscious was picking up a trashy daytime soap on TV in the real world.

"I knew it," Edward said, a sudden smile playing at his lips. "You can't fool me you know."

My heart raced at his words. Does he know this is all a dream?

"You are jealous. I can see it in your eyes." He leaned across the breakfast bar and took my face in his hands. "Baby, I love you. You know that. I can't help the fact that my parents think the daughter of a cop isn't good enough for their son."

My breath caught in my chest as his lips met mine again, only this time there was nothing chaste about the kiss. His tongue slipped into my mouth and explored eagerly. I moaned at the barrage of new sensations washing through my body.

"How about we hold off lunch for just a while longer?" His eyes darkened, like the lush green foliage deep in the forest where Edward used to take me. He kissed my lips once more before releasing me and rounding the breakfast bar. He picked me up into his arms and his lips were on mine in an instant as we headed toward the bedroom.

I moaned loudly into his mouth. I'd dreamt so often about being intimate with him, but it was always impossible. Edward and I had discussed so often how he could inadvertently hurt me; either his desire for my blood or being unable to restrain his inhuman strength.

This Edward had no such concerns. He was flesh and blood. It was a fantasy I'd indulged in often. I couldn't help the desire that built within me knowing I could experience it with the richness of my current fantasy. I knew that it would cause me insurmountable grief when I returned to my reality, but I couldn't resist.

He placed me lightly on the floor just inside the bedroom door but kept his arms wrapped around me. Before I had time to take stock, Edward took control. Lips met lips and clothes were shed eagerly. Edward's cell rang as I wrestled with the button on his jeans

"I'll ignore it," he murmured into my mouth.

His hands caressed the curves of my shoulders, as if they had been designed for that very purpose. With obviously practiced skill, he ran one hand up into the hair at the nape of my neck as the other toyed with the strap of my bra.

We had already passed all of the carefully constructed barriers that usually existed between us, or at least the 'us' that I knew. As that thought seeped into my mind, I grew self-conscious. The Edward in front of me may have been a dream and he may think he'd seen me naked a hundred times before, but I hadn't experienced it.

Edward's phone rang again and I took it as an excuse to break off the kiss.

"You should get it," I murmured. "It might be important."

Edward shot me a disappointed look, but nodded. His phone was out of his pocket and at his ear in seconds. He greeted whoever was calling, held up one finger to me to let me know he would just be a moment and then walked out of the room.

I looked around, taking in the tiny details; the pieces of evidence of a life, my life with Edward. Framed photos of the two of us covered most of the surfaces. I picked up the closest one, on a dresser near the door, and almost dropped it again immediately. I was not prepared for the image I saw surrounded by the ornate guilt frame. I wasn't sure whether to believe what my eyes saw.

Edward looked handsome—and human—in a black tuxedo as he stared lovingly at me, his smile wide and bright. My own face was turned to stare back at him, my smile matching his, and the veil secured in my hair falling delicately over my shoulders. The white dress wrapped my body tightly, figure-hugging down to my knees where it flared out delicately like a mermaid's tail.

I put the picture down slowly with shaky hands, before I looked to the fingers of my left hand. More specifically, to the thin platinum band set with many tiny diamonds that rested on my forth finger. I hadn't noticed the weight of it before, but now it felt heavy on my finger.

How can I be married to Edward and not know?

I traced the images of Edward and I in the photo and strained to remember something, anything, about the wedding.

Whatever lays ahead, good or bad, we will face it together. Distance may test us for a time, and time may try us, but if we look to each other first, we will always see a friend. Bella, look to me for all the days to come. Today I take my place as your husband.

The words came to me slowly, whispered on the breeze of memory. I closed my eyes and allowed the murmurs of recollection to overtake my mind, hoping to make some sense of the insanity into which I'd been thrust.

As if allowing the memory in had flicked some switch in my brain, my head was suddenly filled with recollections of my time with Edward. My life, my real life here in this reality with Edward, flooded back to me and I realized how foolish the fantasies of vampires had been. I leaned heavily against the dresser as the extent of my insanity raged through my thoughts. Random pieces of our history flittered through my mind.

Arms slipped around me, and a warm breath whispered across my neck. "What are you thinking about?" Edward murmured.

"Our wedding."

His arms tightened around me. "It was such a beautiful day. You were so beautiful that day."

I turned around in his arms and virtually attacked him. I needed to feel him in my arms to cement the memories invading my mind. I craved contact with him, desperate to reconnect with my own body which I now felt distanced from.

I wasn't eighteen and living in Forks. I was twenty-six and living in California, with Edward as my husband. The visions of my life with Charlie—of vampires—were imaginary. They were fantasies created in my mind while it recovered from trauma. My neurologist, Dr Laurent, had explained it all. I remembered that now.

I kissed Edward as though my life depended on it, as though his presence rooted me to reality. His practiced hands raced across my body, touching and caressing. It seemed he was acknowledging my sudden recognition, or maybe he was just responding to my obvious desperation.

We tumbled onto the bed as a mess of tangled limbs, clawing at the last of our remaining clothes urgently.

I cried out in pleasure as Edward slid into me. His eyes met mine.

"I love you," I declared.

"You too." He kissed my throat.

I was surrounded by him; by the aura of love he was radiating. I'd never felt such an overwhelming sensation before.

My hands burned deliciously as they trailed along his sides and down to his back. He moaned as I dug my fingernails into the base of his spine to pull him closer to me, and deeper into me.

"Christ, Bella!" he exclaimed, thrusting as I lifted my hips to grant him access.

He fisted the sheet beside my head, gaining more leverage. On his next drive, he pushed deeper still, eliciting another low moan from my mouth.

He pushed his body up, and I almost cried at the loss of warmth and feeling of security his weight had given me. He smirked, obviously finding amusement in the emotions printed on my face. His plan became apparent quickly as he lifted my leg, hooking my knee over his shoulder and leaning his weight down over me again.

My moans were replaced with small cries of pleasure as he found new depths and new angles. He sat up again, clasping my captured leg tenderly in his hand and kissing my calf.

My hands found the bed, fingers digging for purchase that I could no longer find on his body.

I tilted my hips as he thrust into me once more, lifting my leg over his head and hooking it over his opposite shoulder. My hips were twisted in my new position and he ran his hand lightly over my ass cheek, before digging his fingers in.

He pushed me, tilting my hips into my stomach slightly, causing a new sensation of pleasure and pain. Then he pounded into me, his hips smashing against my pelvis as I cried out repeatedly. I had my memories again, but I couldn't have ever expected this to feel so…so…heavenly. I screamed loudly as his constant rhythm brought me to the very height of ecstasy and then dropped me suddenly from the top.

As my panting slowed slightly and my sanity returned, I realised he was pulsing inside of me, having found his own relief. Edward slumped against me and kissed my breasts tenderly. He released my leg and my hips were able to find the mattress again.

"Wow, Bella," he murmured. "It hasn't been like that in so long."

I grinned. "Well, you're the one who's been too afraid that you'd hurt me after the accident."

He chuckled. "True."

We lay there in each other's arms for a few moments more before he pulled me up and into the shower.

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Edward had already left for work and I was getting ready. I had no idea what for exactly, I had no real plans. I still had four hours before I needed to get ready for my job at the diner. I decided I would give Alice a call and see if she wanted to come over. I owed her an apology for wigging out earlier.

I was on my way to find where I'd left my cell when something silver caught my eye on the dresser. I reached for it and realized it was a key. I rested it on my palm, staring and wondering what it opened. I tightened my fingers into a fist around it and closed my eyes.

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A/N:- Thank you to everyone who favourited, alerted &/or reviewed the first chapter. I'm really excited by this idea & I hope you will be too.