Killerlashes said something about snot-sobbing in the corner after reading this. IDK what that means...

Seven Days – Saturday

Leah

"Stop that!" I squealed, and pushed Edward's hands away.

"I just wanted to see something," he said with a quiet sigh. "I miss being human sometimes."

I snorted. "You miss being ticklish? Freak."

"Takes one to know one." An evil glint in his eye was my only warning before he launched into a full-scale tickle attack. Shrieking, I wriggled and writhed until he threw a leg over me and pinned me to the couch.

"Enough, Edward," I panted, giggly and breathless, "I give, I give!"

"Ha." Edward grinned and settled himself over me more fully. "I win." We were still fully clothed and squeezed together on the couch.

"When I was a boy, I was ticklish right here," he said and ran a finger down the side of my neck (I shivered, but not from being tickled). "My father would come home from work and chase me around the house until he caught me. Then he would throw me into the air and blow raspberries on my skin."

I smiled and touched his face gently. He'd been remembering things all night. How his mother would sing him to sleep, the smell of his father's cologne. He spoke about his human life with a sad reverence and it made my heart ache for him. From what little he remembered, it was obvious that if he hadn't gotten sick, Edward could have been anyone, done anything he wanted.

Looking at him in the faint light of the living room, he seemed so human. He was just a boy, really, and yet, he'd already lived a hundred years beyond boyhood.

A hundred years of sadness and anger.

A hundred years of searching for revenge.

A hundred years of loneliness.

If I lived for a hundred years, I'd never forget him.

"Do you think they'll kill you?" I asked, feeling morbid.

Edward pressed his lips to my neck, and then sat up and pulled me with him.

"If I go willingly, I don't believe so," he mused quietly with his eyes focused on something out the window.

"Do you plan on going quietly?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

He chuckled and laced our fingers together. "I have no intention of putting up a fight, if that's what you're worried about."

"I may have been," I told him without meeting his eyes.

"I have to make sure they won't hurt my family." Edward closed his eyes, almost as if he were tired, and leaned his head back against the couch. "I can't let anything happen to them."

"I know how that feels," I muttered. Edward squeezed my hand and gave me a sad smile.

"It's strange to me, to feel this way," he said as he pulled me into his lap.

"What way?" I asked as I ran my hands through the hair at the back of his neck.

He shrugged. "Happy."

I kissed him then. It was slow and building. He let me control it, let me take my time. I wanted to suspend us here forever in this moment when it felt like there was nothing else in the world but us. The past week had felt like a dream, like something out of someone else's life. But us there together just then, just that moment, felt so very real.

There were so many things I wanted to say to him, but didn't. I knew that it would all sound crazy. But then again, the look in his eyes made me think that maybe it wouldn't have been so crazy at all.

"One last time?" he asked quietly. His voice was low and his eyes were pleading. I couldn't have said no, even if I'd tried.

"Until our very last minute," I replied as I pulled myself closer. He nodded with his eyes on my lips and then kissed me again, not so slow this time. Our time was limited, and maybe we should have spent the time talking, but maybe talking would let us get to know each other more. And getting to know each other more would only hurt in the long run.

So we didn't talk.

We breathed and touched.

We sighed and laughed.

We let our bodies say what words couldn't, over and over, until the sun started to filter in through the big open windows.

His skin shone in the light of the early morning and I smiled.

He really was beautiful.

We were curled up on the floor in the living room. Neither one of us could find it in ourselves to move to a bedroom, but it didn't really matter.

I touched his cheek softly and his eyelids fluttered like he was sleeping. His chest moved as he breathed, though I knew he didn't need it.

"Am I sparkling again?" he muttered.

I chuckled. "A little."

"Laugh now. You'll miss it."

"You have no idea," I murmured.

"I do," he returned.

Of course he did. I'd let him in. Let him see everything.

"I want to come with you."

"You can't, Leah. They'd kill you on sight-"

"Not to Italy, you idiot!" I cried, sitting up and staring incredulously down at him.

He laughed and gave me a half-smile. "Sorry, wishful thinking. Come with me where, then?"

"To the airport. Can I take you?"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea…" he trailed off and avoided my gaze.

"Okay." I shrugged.

"Do you really want to?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know. Part of me wants to see you off, to make sure you really are going to where you say you are."

"You don't trust me?" His eyes turned on me. Gold and wary.

"I don't trust myself."

"What does that mean?" he asked as he brushed my hair from my face.

"Maybe that…saying goodbye will help me make sure you're real. That's all."

"Leah, I can promise you, I am very, very real," he said, his lips to my ear, and nipped at my earlobe. "And so is everything that's happened between us. Never doubt that."

I swallowed against the lump of the sorrow lodged in my throat and pressed my cheek to his, almost desperate for as much physical contact with him as I could get. "Then let me prove it. Please?"

"Fine," he sighed, smiling crookedly. "I haven't been able to say no to you yet. No point in starting now."

I stood up and stretched, enjoying the way his eyes raked over my body as I did.

"I'll be back soon," I said before yanking my clothes up off the floor and heading out the back door. I felt his eyes on me, but I didn't turn.

I didn't need another reason to make myself stay.

xXx

Edward

She left and the house immediately felt darker, colder. Sighing, I heaved myself off the floor and made my way around the room, gathering my clothes and slipping them back on.

They smelled like her. I hoped they'd always smell like her.

My phone buzzed from the pocket of my jeans and I slipped it out, thinking about the rest of the world for the first time in hours.

I scrolled through my missed calls: all from Alice.

"Edward." Alice picked up after the first ring. Her voice was quiet and sad.

"I'm sorry," I managed to choke out before I sank to my haunches, clenching my hand around the iron bannister. I knew I'd leave it bent out of shape. I didn't care.

"I understand," she replied.

"I have to go, Alice. If I don't…"

"I know, Edward. I've seen it. I've seen every way it could possibly go. No matter what you chose, every decision you made, you ended up here every time. You're right."

"You'll be safe. It's the only way."

"I know. I don't know what we'll do without you, but I know we'll survive."

"I'll miss you, you know," I told her.

"Of course you will," she answered.

"What about –"

"I don't know, Edward. I can't see her."

"Good. I mean, it's probably better that way."

"You care about her," she stated simply. I didn't argue, it was true.

"Tell the others, will you? Tell them I'm sorry."

"They know, Edward."

"Don't try to find me. Please."

"I won't," she sighed.

"You're lying." I fought my own smile.

"You know me well." Alice laughed softly.

"I love you, Mary Alice. Always have," I whispered.

"I love you too, Edward. Always will."

And then she was gone. I stared at the phone for a long moment and then I crushed it. It crumbled in my hand and littered the hardwood floor with little pieces of metal.

After that I smashed the computer, covering my tracks, but also needing to destroy any temptation to communicate with them. There was a strange aching in my chest after I did it. I knew Alice would always be watching, monitoring the twisting tendrils of possibilities for any change in my future, and part of me was grateful that I had someone looking out for me. The other part of me was guilty that she would always be waiting for me to die. Or to come back.

I didn't waste any more time thinking. I quickly gathered a few of my things and put them in a small bag with a couple items of clothing: my father's watch, my mother's earrings, and a handful of photos, including the ones I'd kept of Katherine for so long. I shoved the watch and earrings in my pocket, not wanting them to be lost in the shuffle of things.

The door slammed downstairs and I could hear Leah's frantic thoughts the minute she entered the house. I quickly ran downstairs and was assaulted by her worry.

"I thought you'd left without me!" She threw her arms around me.

"I told you I wouldn't," I whispered.

She sighed and pulled away. "I'm sorry. I was just so…"

"I know." I nodded.

We didn't talk as I led her to the car. It was silent as I drove. Her thoughts were loud enough, however.

"You want me to change my mind," I said quietly.

She sighed and reached over the center console to take my hand. "No."

"Your thoughts are telling me otherwise," I replied.

She scowled. "Get out of my head."

I laughed. "You know I can't help it."

"You're going to find something you don't want in there eventually."

"No. You're all I want."

She gave a little gasp and looked away, blinking hard and fast. "Then stay," she said softly.

"If only," I breathed.

We drifted into silence again while my mind went into overdrive. I could stay. We could run. We could run forever.

We would have to.

I shook the thoughts from my head and kissed her hand, just as we arrived at the airport. I hadn't told her that we would be arriving just in time for me to get on a plane and leave her. There wouldn't be time for goodbyes and for that I knew we would both be grateful. I didn't need any more temptations to take my mind.

It had only been a few days, but they had been the most incredible of my existence. Leah was a warrior, and she was scarred and angry and broken. But she was also beautiful, and sexy, and stubborn… perfect.

I'd never meet anyone like her, not for as long as I lived.

And I'd probably live for eternity.

"What are you thinking?" she asked, taking my hand as we walked through the crowd.

"Nothing." I smiled. "We're here." I gestured to the security gate in front of us.

"Already?" she asked quietly.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"No, I understand." She nodded and blinked furiously.

I quickly wrapped my arms around her and let her bury her face in my shirt.

Not fair.

"I know," I whispered into her hair.

"I keep thinking about what would have happened if we'd been different. If we'd met some other time, or place, or life…"

"What fun would that have been?" I asked, and she laughed quietly.

"Hardly any at all," she replied. "You'll take care of yourself, right?"

"I'll do my best."

"Don't let them change you, Edward."

I searched her face. Those dark eyes that met mine, that seemed to believe that there was good in me.

"I won't," I vowed.

She nodded and took a deep breath.

"You should go."

I cupped her face between my hands and kissed her as gently as I could. She threw her arms around my neck and I took that moment to slip my hand from my pocket to hers, hoping she'd find what I slipped into it before it was too late.

"You'll always be a part of me, Leah." I kissed her forehead and pulled away. Her eyes were sad but dry, her mind a closed room again.

"I'd say keep in touch, but…"

"It'll be better if we don't," I told her.

"It's real, right?" she whispered.

"Yes," I answered.

"That's all I needed to know." She took a step back and wrapped her arms around herself, like she was holding herself together. Leah was strong, I knew that. But I still wanted to protect her, to keep her from being sad.

"Thank you for helping me. For everything."

"I didn't do anything," she muttered and turned away.

I turned her to me and touched her cheek. "You have no idea what you've done for me."

She smiled. "I have a small inkling."

"Good." I grinned.

"Go. Before I do something drastic, like cry."

"I'll always be grateful that I met you," I said before kissing her one last time. "Always." I turned away before she could say anything else and found myself in line with the other passengers.

Edward, she thought, loud and clear.

I turned and met her eyes through the crowd.

Me too.

Then she was gone.

The epilogue will be up in a bit. :)