Chapter 9 - BPOV

"So, what are you plans for Christmas break?" Lauren asks as she stands in the doorway of my dorm room.

"I don't really know."

"No family to visit?"

"Nope."

The sad puppy-dog eyes she's giving me make me laugh. "Stop it. I'll be fine."

"No one should be alone at Christmas. You should come home with me. Besides, if you don't, they'll make you move temporarily over to Cate Hall. No one wants to live there. They don't even have elevators."

"Actually, I was wondering if you could take me to the bus station."

"Sure. Why?"

"I'm going to Dallas."

Lauren's eyebrows shoot up her forehead. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah," I say, nodding my head.

"Would this have anything to do with a certain person who's been taking a break?"

"Yeah, break's over." Edward doesn't know this yet, but I'm ready; it's time. We've exchanged some text messages since the day James showed up. Edward apologized for not staying a step ahead of him. I could tell that it was killing him that I could've been in danger, but I assured him that I was fine. He's had someone following James and Jessica ever since, making sure they're nowhere near here. I think James might've actually been telling the truth for once in his pathetic life. He seems to have taken up residence in Vegas. I'm sure it will only be a matter of time before he's back behind bars.

Lauren laughs as she walks closer to high-five me. "That's what I'm talkin' about. Go get your man."

"Don't start celebrating just yet." I shake my head at her enthusiasm. "I have no idea what he's going to say. I don't even know what I'm going to say." Even though Edward and I have been communicating, our conversations are usually short. I feel like he's giving me space and time, but I don't want it.

"Tell him how you feel."

"I plan on it."

"Don't take no for an answer," she advises.

I nod, pulling my knees up to my chest. "What if he's moved on?"

"Then don't waste another minute on him. You call me, and I'll come get you or put your ass on another bus."

"Thanks, Lauren." I pull myself up on my knees and give her a hug. She's a friend I never expected to make, but she came along at the perfect time. I'm not sure how I would've managed the last month without her.

~C22~

I wave out the back of the bus window and can't help but think of the last time I was looking out the back of a bus. Edward was in the rearview, and I wondered if I'd ever see him again. He changed my life that night and stole my heart in the process. Somehow, I'm going to make him see that I'm not going to live without him.

I know it may be too late. He may have moved on, but I'm done waiting. Something about coming face to face with James put things in perspective for me. I'm not living in fear anymore, and I'm not letting anyone decide my future besides me. I want Edward. If he doesn't want me, he'll have to tell me to my face. I'm going after him. This time, it's me running after something I want, instead of running from something I don't.

Three hours later, the bus is pulling up to the station in Dallas—the same one Edward followed me to almost three years ago. I don't take long to reminisce. Instead, I quickly walk to the curb and take the first taxi that comes along, anxious to find Edward and force him to listen to me.

"Where to?" the taxi driver asks.

I give him the address to Edward's office. It's not quite noon. He might be out to lunch, but if he's keeping the same schedule as he was before our break, then today would be an office day, so I'm taking my chances. If he's not here, I'll try the apartment… and if he's not there, I'll go to his house. But somehow, some way, I'm going to talk to him today. I'm going to tell him that it's not that I can't live without him. It's that I don't want to. I don't want to spend a single day without him in my life. If that means moving back to Dallas and going to school, then so be it, but what I want more than independence or freedom is him.

"That'll be $10.35," the driver says, turning around to look at me over the seat. I look out the window and see that we are in fact sitting outside of Edward's office building. The nerves of steel I had a few hours ago have turned to mush, and all the fears and insecurities come flooding back.

What if he really meant a permanent break?

What if he's seeing someone else?

What if she's up there right now?

"Miss," the driver says, still turned around looking at me.

"Oh, sorry," I say, digging in my bag and handing him some money. "Thanks." I grab my backpack and step out onto the curb. Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, I walk through the doors and head for the elevators.

When the doors open on the seventeenth floor, I take another deep breath and look around, trying to see if I can spot Edward or some indication as to who's here. The floor is virtually quiet. Edward only shares this floor with his sister, and she's often out of the office at meetings. There's a faint ring of a phone off in the distance, but other than that, nothing. I walk closer to Edward's office and see the receptionist at her desk. She has her nose in a book, so she doesn't see me coming.

"Oh, Lord," she gasps, clutching her chest. "You scared the bejeezus outta me."

"I'm sorry."

"Bella, honey, it's good to see you."

"Hey, yeah. It's good to see you too."

I can tell by the way she's looking at me that she's wondering why I'm here. The confused expression only furthers my inner fears, telling me this was a bad idea. I shouldn't have come here. I should've called first.

"I—I'm, uh, here to see E… Mr. Cullen. Is he here… today?" I ask, stumbling over my words.

The look of confusion grows on her face. "You're here to see Mr. Cullen?"

"Yes." I try to sound confident, but it wavers, and my response comes out more like a question.

"Well, honey, he left for the airport about twenty minutes ago."

"Oh, right. Of course. I should've called first… I just thought that maybe with the holidays being close, he'd be…"

"Do you want me to see if he's left yet?" she asks, picking up the phone before I can even answer.

I nod, but inside I just want to run back to the bus station and forget this whole thing.

"Yes, this is Jane. Has Mr. Cullen's flight left yet?" she asks into the phone. "Good. That's good. Thank you."

She presses the receiver to end the call but immediately pushes another line. "Marcus, I'm going to need the car brought around front," she instructs, but I have no idea what's going on. "Yes, back to the airport. Ms. Swan is here." The smile on her face is infectious, and I find myself returning it, but I don't know why.

"Why am I going to the airport?" I ask, feeling completely out of the loop.

"You'll see. Hurry. Marcus will be downstairs waiting."

"Oh, okay…" I turn toward the elevators but then back to her. "Um, thank you."

"Go. Hurry. And don't be a stranger."

I turn back one last time and smile. Those words give me the confidence to run to the elevator and then out the front doors, getting into the car with Marcus.

"Ms. Bella," Marcus says as I shut the door behind me. "It's good to see you."

"Hello, Marcus."

"We'll be at the airport in about fifteen minutes, unless we run into traffic."

"Okay," I say, nodding at him as he glances back through the rearview mirror.

"You okay, Ms. Bella?"

"I think so. I just have no idea what I'm doing," I confess, the last part coming out under my breath. And I mean it in more ways than one. Why am I here? Why am I in this car? Why am I going to the airport? Edward is probably going to be pissed when he sees me.

Marcus wasn't lying. Exactly fifteen minutes later, we're pulling up to an area of the airport reserved for private flights. I've been here once with Edward. When we pull up beside the sleek white plane with the initials E. C. on the side, I take another deep breath.

"Here we are," Marcus says, putting the car in park and hopping out to open my door. When he looks down at me, I almost refuse to get out, considering begging him to take me back to the office… or the bus station.

What the hell am I doing?

Then, I see him. Edward. He's standing at the top of the steps of the plane. He's dressed casually, jeans and a t-shirt. So wherever he's getting ready to go, it's obviously not for business.

Shit.

When he sees me step out of the car, he double-times it down the steps. "Bella?"

"Hey."

He steps closer and takes off his sunglasses, giving me the full Edward. Those eyes are what do me in, always. They're like a passage to his soul. Everything I ever want to know is right there in those eyes.

"Where are you going?" I ask, feeling the desperation rising. I just got here. I've missed him so much, and seeing him like this has me needing him so badly. He can't get on that plane and leave.

A smirk forms on his lips as he reaches out and wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me to him. "Coming for you," he whispers against my hair, placing a kiss on the top of my head. "I couldn't stand being away from you for another second, and there was no way in hell I was letting you spend the holidays alone."

I can't hold back the sob that escapes. It's probably a combination of a lot of things, but actually hearing him say that he missed me… that he was coming for me… It's everything and it gives me hope. "So, you're not leaving?" I ask, my voice shaky with tears.

"No," he says, chuckling. "Now that you're here, I'm right where I want to be."

"No more breaks," I demand, grasping onto the back of his shirt, not wanting to ever let him go again.

"Breaks suck," he says, tilting my chin up so that our eyes meet. "I love you so much."

When our lips meet, there's need and want and apologies. More than a thousand words are expressed with one kiss. "Marry me," I whisper against his lips, putting all my cards out on the table. I know it's crazy, but I need him to know how serious I am about this...about us.

"I think I'm the one who's supposed to be doing the asking."

"That's overdone. Besides, you take too long, and I'm tired of waiting. I know what I want, and that's you. Everything else is inconsequential."

"Well, I guess this might come in handy then," he says, digging into the pocket of his jeans and pulling out a box. With one hand, he pries it open, and the sparkling diamond looking back at me brings fresh tears to my eyes.

"You mean it?" I ask, my heart racing as I look up to meet his gaze.

"Would I have this if I didn't? You didn't think I was coming to see you empty-handed, did you?"

I do something between a laugh and a cry, my emotions caught in my throat. "Really?"

"I thought I'd have to work a lot harder to get you back," he admits, looking down at me with a sad smile.

"You didn't have to ask me to marry you to get me back," I tell him with sincerity. "And you especially didn't have to buy me a ring like this." I point down to the diamond shining up at me. Don't get me wrong. I love the ring, but it could've been from a Cracker Jack box, for all I care.

"I want to. I want you for the rest of my life. I want you every day, every minute, every second. I don't want to spend another moment without you. You came into my life in the most unexpected way. I didn't even know what I was looking for until I found you. You make me want to be better. You make me want to love harder and more openly. I want you forever and a day, Isabella Swan. Marry me," he says, bending down on one knee.

"I asked you first." The tears are flowing down my cheeks, but I don't care. He doesn't know what he just did for my heart. I love him so much, and the fact that he loves me like I love him makes me so damn happy.

"I say yes. What do you say?" he asks, squinting up at me, the ring sitting in the palm of his hand now.

"I say yes."

He slips the ring on the third finger of my left hand and kisses it sweetly.

I feel like my entire life I've been damned if I do and damned if I don't, always stuck between a rock and a hard place. But not anymore. I no longer feel damned. I feel like there's hope and a future. Edward did that for me. He gave me a choice, and I choose him.

A/N:

As always, a big THANK YOU to our beta, GeekChic12! And to Rachel (J Ray Fanfiction) and Pamela (DrivingEdward) for their awesome pre-reading skills! This chapter was tweaked a little after Geeky had her hands on it, so I take complete responsibility for any mistakes.

Epilogue will be posted tomorrow.