I keep being surprised by how much Bella has to say! I planned out a few plot points I wanted to hit before switch POV back to Edward and I still have a few more to go! So I hope you're all enjoying getting to know Bella a bit more.

BPOV

The car was incredibly quiet as I was lost in thought, running over not just my conversation with Edward before he abruptly left, but the rest of the meeting also. I was trying to figure out what I could have done to result in him fleeing. Angela kept throwing me apprehensive looks as she drove, trying, I'm sure, to prompt me to talk to her.

After ten minutes she'd obviously had enough of my avoidance. "What's going on, Bella?" she asked when we pulled up to a stoplight. "You've been quiet all evening, and now I'm getting concerned."

"Nothing's going on," I deflected. Angela saw through me though.

"That's bull," she said. "I'm not going to push you, but you can talk to me about anything."

I was still in a little shock from Edward turning up in the first place, and the confusion I felt now was only making me more turned around. Sighing, I turned from watching the darkened streets out to face Angela.

"Do you remember me telling you about the dreams I've been having?" I asked. "About the man I saw at the hospital a couple months ago."

She didn't take her eyes from the road, but I could see Angelas eyebrows knit together. "Yes," she said, though it sounded more like a question. She was obviously bewildered by the direction of the conversation.

I quickly took a deep breath to center myself. "That was Edward."

"WHAT?" Angela shrieked, her eyes darting between me and the road.

"The man at the hospital was Edward," I repeated. "I thought I was hallucinating when he showed up tonight. I honestly couldn't believe it." The whole situation still made me feel a little disorientated.

"Wow," breathed Angela, shaking her head. "That's… not what I expected. That's crazy."

"I know! I feel even more nuts than I did before." Even I could hear the exasperation in my voice. "And now I've done something to scare him off, so I'll probably never see him again anyway!" I was experiencing so many emotions it was hard to pinpoint exactly what I was feeling. Mostly I just felt overwhelmed. A lump had begun to form in my throat and I turned back to the window to hide the tears forming in the corners of my eyes from Angela.

"What do you mean, you scared him off?"

"We were talking after I saved him from Tanyas advances, but he suddenly went completely stiff and ran from the room. I've been wracking my brain to think what I could have done to make him run away like that, but I have no idea." I shook my head, running through the whole interaction for the umpteenth time.

"I'm sure it wasn't you."

I gasped as it struck me. "Oh God," I moaned, burying my face in my hands.

"What is it?" Angela asked worriedly.

"He must have thought I was hitting on him," I groaned into my hands. "He was so put off by Tanya, and then there I go telling him I remember him after seeing him for, like, ten seconds,two months ago! He must think I'm absolutely crazy!"

Of course he thought I was coming on to him! I practically spent the whole meeting staring at him whenever I got the opportunity. He had been looking at me also, and just like me, whenever I looked back he turned away. At the time it had felt more like a dance, both of us trying to steal glances at the other. When in reality he was probably just trying to avoid me.

And when I had rescued him from Tanya, he had been grateful. It had been a nice moment. Awkward, but innocent. He was probably relieved that I had turned out to be friendly, and not a weirdo. Then I had to go and stick my foot in it! As soon as I mentioned the hospital, he freaked out. He probably thinks I'm going to go all Fatal Attraction on him. Why would he ever go back to a place where two women shamelessly threw themselves at him when he was emotionally vulnerable?

"Oh, Bella," Angela said sympathetically, as we pulled up outside my building. Turning off the car, she faced me and patted my leg as I stared down at my lap. "It probably had nothing to do with you and everything to do with his own issues. You can always talk to him next week and find out."

I tried to give her a smile, but it was too tight to seem genuine. I felt humiliated.

"Yeah, you're right," I murmured, not that I really believed that. "Thanks, Ange." I leaned over and gave my oldest friend a hug. Angela had always been there for me. In good times, bad times, and even in the worst times of my life. I was eternally grateful to her.

That night I once again dreamt of Edward. He was walking towards me across a large lawn, a beautiful, grand house in the background. He was looking directly at me, and even in sleep I could feel my whole body warming. In my previous dreams he never reached me, or if he did he never said anything. He would just stop and stare into my eyes until all there was was a sea of emerald green, and then I'd wake up. But tonight, he finally came to halt before me and he lent down, our eyes level. I could see the sadness the real Edward carried with him, though a small smile graced his lips.

"Beautiful," he said, his voice rich and smooth. His eyes danced over my face as he leaned further in. At first I thought he was going to kiss me, but he never touched me. Instead he moved his lips to my ear. "You have taken my heart with you," he purred.

I woke suddenly, my face flushed and my body covered in goosebumps. It was like I could still feel him beside me.

~oOo~

The rest of the week dragged on. We had only been back at school a few weeks, and students were still settling into their routines. I had gotten a little used to the way Evergreen Academy structures their programs, with students having control over their own timetables, when I took over my position at the end of last year but it was quite a bit different at the start of the year. Students needed a lot more help to set up their timetables, deciding which classes to take when, and I spent a good portion of each day solving problems for students. When I got home at the end of the day I was exhausted, hungry, and craving a glass of wine.

Even though I was worn out, I still spent almost every spare moment thinking about how I could apologize to Edward. It was like I was drawing up a battle plan. How I could start another conversation with him without making him wary. What I would say to him if he responded in this way, or in that. How I would have to make sure to come off friendly, and not overly interested.

In an effort to not come off seeming like a psycho, I was acting like a psycho.

I was determined to repair whatever offence I had made towards Edward because, at the end of the day, I wanted to know him. I had never felt a connection so strong or insistent towards another person before in my life. I had been in love, of course. I had loved Jake dearly, but my attraction to him had been a slow burn. It had been built over time, on a foundation of family and friendship. We had grown up together in more ways than one. The pull I felt towards Edward was completely different. It was like a rush of air wrenching me towards an explosion as it sucked in oxygen. A tide tugging on my body, on my soul.

My nocturnal thoughts were full of Edward, too. My imagination wove the pieces of his life he revealed during the meeting into the story I had fabricated when I had known nothing about him, and my dreams played those thoughts like movies of deepest desires.

Before, I had pictured him as a doctor just getting off a long and taxing shift, where fates were changed and lives were saved. I was so convinced that this could be a real possibility that, after a month of dreaming about him each and every night, I had asked Rose if she had ever seen him around the hospital before. She had teased me mercifully about my attraction to the 'Hospital Hottie', though I could tell she was a little happy I was finally interested in someone. After she had made my face good and red, Rose finally told me that she hadn't seen him before, or since. I had been so embarrassed that I had quickly changed the subject, and made sure to deflect any time she brought up the Hospital Hottie again. But secretly, I had already begun to lace this new information into the narrative of my dream stranger. He must have been visiting Harborview to consult on a patient, I had surmised.

Now that picture has become more elaborate. After his wife's death he had thrown himself into his work. Being a doctor meant long, grueling hours, and with no one to come home to and look after him, he had fallen into a dark period. His family convinced him to move home, so he went to the hospital to interview for a position. After handing in his notice and uprooting his life, he was starting to rebuild his life here in Seattle. My dreams had practically become an episode of Grey's Anatomy!

When the weekend rolled around I made my excuses to Emmett and Rose, getting out of our usually weekly group dinner. Not only was I still drained from the long week, but I'd already been dodging questions from Jasper about my distracted mood. The one downside of being in a close friendship group made up of siblings is that there were very few secrets kept amongst us. Jasper had undoubtedly told Rose or Emmett about my persistent preoccupation, and I didn't feel like walking into an interrogation.

I told them that I had a mountain of work to catch up on and would probably be heading to bed early each night, neither of which was really a lie. Usually I was a great time manager, part of being a practical and pedantic Virgo, but even I had my moments of disarray. Rose sounded sceptical over the phone, but didn't push the issue. She had spent enough years listening to Jasper complain about the transition back to school to know that it was a stressful time.

I did honestly spend the weekend catching up on planning, doing some marking, and cleaning my apartment. I even went to bed early most nights, but more because of the dreams I knew awaited me than actually being sleepy. I'd hoped that getting through all the jobs and chores put off during the week would mean that on Monday I would be composed enough to not panic over the meeting and the impending conversation with Edward.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. I felt jittery the entire day. Students in my senior literature studies class made comments about how I couldn't sit still, and even had to repeat parts of our discussion because I was having a hard time focusing. By the time my mixed years journalism class was setting up in the period after lunch, I had a pounding headache from anxiously clenching my teeth so tightly.

It was always eerily quiet once the students left for the day, so I had stayed locked up in the English staff room to get some marking completed. I had a stash of painkillers in my desk which had been my first port of call after I dumped my crate full of student's work. Putting my head down, I got lost in the seemingly endless monotony that was grading and writing feedback.

By the time I left the school a few hours later, it was raining heavily. Sighing and pulling my hood over my head, I made the short trip to the bus stop down the road. The rain pelted against my umbrella and soaked the bottoms of my pants. The bus was just pulling up as I made it to my usual stop, so I thankfully didn't have to wait around. At least I wouldn't be looking like a downed cat when I faced Edward again.

It was around five-thirty when the bus started getting close to the University. I was still feeling on edge, so I decided not to go to L(art)te. The last thing I needed was caffeine pumping through my system. I'd probably end up shaking so hard I'd start vibrating on a separate frequency. I sent Angela a message letting her know that I was heading to the library instead. Hopefully I'd find a free seating area where I could collect myself in the quiet before heading to the meeting and facing the music that was Edward. She responded as I was getting off the bus to let me know that she had been held up with work, so she would just see me at the meeting later.

Luck was on my side, and one of the library's more comfortable seating areas was free. Someone had even conveniently left a trashy gossip magazine behind, so I spent the next hour absorbed in the triviality that is the lives of celebrities. The familiar drama of who's dating who, who's pregnant, and who's cheating on their wife was soothing after a full week of emotional and mental turmoil.

Making my way to the meeting rooms attached to the library at six-thirty, I wondered if Edward might already be there. Maybe I'd get a chance to clear the air sooner rather than later. Angela was the only one already there, however. She was pottering around, getting the room set up like usual.

"Hi," I greeted as I came in and put my bag down by hers. I moved to the stack of chairs to grab one and help her.

She smiled, turning towards me. "Hi." Seeing my reserved demeanor, her smile slipped slightly. "Hey, what's up? Are you ok?" she asked worriedly.

It annoyed me how much of an open book I was. Everyone could always tell how I was feeling, so it was impossible to hide or lie about it. Growing up with a single dad and older brother meant that I'd often had feelings I'd wanted to hide, but I'd never been able to sullenly say nothing was wrong as I skulked off to my bedroom. It wasn't helped by the fact that my father was in the police force, so was naturally inquisitive, and Emmett took after him. Over time I'd learnt to live with it, but that didn't mean it didn't still annoy me. I found the best way to get around it was to tell the part of the truth I was willing to share.

"I'm fine," I hedged. "Just tired. It's been a long day and I've had a headache for most of the afternoon."

"That's awful," Angela commiserated. "Do you need some Tylenol?"

"No, that's ok. I took some after school." I moved to the place where I always sat, dropping into the seat heavily.

"Ok then. Let me know if you change your mind. I have some in my bag," she said as rubbed my shoulder. "I'm just going to run to the bathroom before the others arrive."

Sitting alone in the room without anyone to put on a front for, I began to anxiously bite at my nails. My eyes were trained on the door as I ran through all the possible conversations with Edward again. Without knowing why he actually ran off last week, what he thought, or how he might react to me this week, I had come up with a few different approaches. I only hoped one of my plans was enough to make up for whatever my transgression was.

Edward hadn't arrived by the time Angela returned from the bathroom. She came in happily chatting with Judy and Frank, who both smiled and waved at me as they came and sat in their places. Mitch arrived after them, quietly taking his seat. Mitch wasn't the most social person, preferring to keep to himself. His girlfriend was the one who encouraged him to come to group counselling, hoping that having somewhere safe to open up about his emotions would help him. He usually came in right before we would start, kept to himself, and left shortly after the meeting ended. Occasionally he would stay, but Tanya usually saw that as an opportunity to make a move on him. I don't really blame him for not wanting to stick around and get to know anyone else.

Angela got the meeting started, talking about dealing with our memories. I found it hard to concentrate on the conversation as it moved from one person to the next. Angela must have attributed my disengagement to the headache, because she very rarely directed questions towards me.

About fifteen minutes after the meeting started the door opened. Anticipation shot through me. I sat up quickly, ram rod in my seat. But it was only Tanya that came through the door. She was drenched, her coat dripping from where it hung over her arm. Her hair, usually flawlessly styled, hung wet and limp, and her eyes were smudged with mascara. She made a big deal about a car that splashed road water all over her as she was walking from the carpark. She'd been in the bathroom for the last ten minutes trying to dry off as much as possible under the hand dryer.

I slumped back in my seat as Tanya took hers. Angela got the discussion back on track, despite the interruption. As the meeting went on my hopes diminished. By the time the meeting had come to an end, I surmised one thing - I had truly run Edward off and he was probably never coming back.

We'll be sticking with Bella for the next chapter as well.

I love to hear what you all think of my story, so please drop me a review of you have the time! I also love seeing people's theories, and try to slip clues into the next chapter to answer what I can ;)