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For days I made sure that no one pushed her to talk or asked anything of her. I wanted to keep everything light for her. I wanted this house kept in a state of calm.

Whenever Rosalie and Alice visited, they didn't mention Jacob or anything else that could possibly upset her.

She was coming undone all on her own now. I could see it. So, I wanted this space to be sheltered from anything that would disrupt it or make it any more difficult. I wanted her to feel guarded.

I sat on the bed, looking at the screen of the laptop. Reading the email I'd received from Jason Jenks. I'd been so focused on it, that I hadn't noticed much of what Bella had been doing.

All day she'd kept herself busy, moving around the house. Putting things in their place and completing the simple array of tasks that were needed to keep everything tidy.

It wasn't until I noticed her standing by the dresser that I realised what she had in her hands.

She unwrapped the tissue paper and held the ring carefully between her thumb and finger. Inspecting it closely.

Feeling my attention shift to her.

"Did you clean the blood from it." She questioned, her voice flat and void of any emotion.

I nodded.

"At the hospital" I explained softly. Watching her eyes and how they starred at the diamonds on the ring.

We'd been in this room, in our bed, the night she said she'd marry me.

The memory was almost like a dream. There was something surreal about it, like I'd imagined it.

Lost in a soft stillness with her, tangled up with her. Faces inches apart. A simple and delicate whisper, she'd voiced in the dead of night. She'd been so certain of her decision.

I'd given her the ring the next morning and her eyes had lit up.

I had often saw her looking at it on her hand, admiring it with a peaceful expression on her face.

That was gone now. I feared it would never return. That ring would always be a reminder.

"When it happened. After he-."

She stopped. Sucking back a harsh breath. A deep crease formed in her brow.

I froze. Hoping my silence was enough to encourage her to voice anything she wanted to tell me.

She kept her gaze on the ring, her eyes filling with tears. Unfocused and distant. Her chest rising and falling in rapid succession.

She looked so alone in that moment.

"I felt like I was in pieces. Like he'd cut me in half." She choked out, the fear still fresh in her voice, as though it only happened moments ago.

The tears spilled as her lower lip trembled, as she recalled the memories that haunted her.

I wanted to go to her. Comfort her. Wrap my arms around her and save her from this. But I couldn't fight it for her. It was to late for that. All I could do now was listen as she revealed those broken piece to me.

"When I woke up in the hospital I could feel where they'd sown me together." She struggled to breathe. Struggled to speak. Her words barely audible, as though she was caught under water.

She was right, she was drowning in it.

"I felt like if someone just took a pair of scissors and snipped one thread, I'd fall apart again." Her voice broke more and more, with every word. Stuttering and stammering.

One of the puzzle pieces dropped then. Falling into place.

"That's why you don't want to have the surgeries?" I realised.

The crease in her brow deepened and the pained look on her face intensified.

And still, she looked at that ring.

"The thought of waking up in that hospital again-." She lifted her free hand and lightly placed her palm against the scars on her face. "Of having them cut into me and-."

She didn't add anymore than that. And she didn't have to.

My gut twisted as she spoke. As everything began clicking into place.

"You don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with." I assured her.

The laugh she released was hollow and cold. "What's the alternative? Looking like this forever." She asked incredulously.

Her eyes glancing at the small mirror that sat on her dresser.

"Would that really be the worst thing?" I questioned.

She gently placed the ring on the dresser. Tracing the edges of it once more before she dropped her hand to her side. "Nothing would be worse than loosing you" she whispered softly.

My jaw flexed. I closed the laptop and stood up from the bed. She kept her eyes cast down, caught on the shimmering stones.

"When you said you'd marry me. That you wanted us to be together forever." I reminded her as I made my way across the room, to stand in front of her.

"Did you forget to tell me about the conditions of that, love?" I asked sternly.

She looked up at me. Firmly. Sharply. Matching my own gaze.

I could almost forget I was talking to her. It felt like I was speaking to that voice in her head. That dark thing that whispered in her ear all day. Trying to burn her down.

"This is forever" I paused, shrugging sarcastically, my upper lip curling. "Unless I leave you because you've got scars, or because you're not well, because you're too old or because it's all too much for me." I told her coldly.

Having all of those reasons piled up was hard to hear. I hoped that she could see how unfair it was to create these limitations on my behalf. Deciding who I loved and why. That belonged to me.

"Yet if I were to ask you, as I've done before, what you would do if the tables were turned, I'd already know the answer." I told her simply. Soaked in a silent frustration.

Her eyes lowered slightly, and expression suddenly shifted. Falling apart in front of me. Slowly.

I moved closer to her, dropping my head to meet her eyes with mine. Holding her gaze for a long moment. Gliding my fingers down her arm to her hand. My fingers catching hers.

"What I feel for you is unconditional, Bella. There isn't a single thing that could change it. I love you more than I ever have." I promised, softening my voice and relaxing all the tension in my shoulders, seeing that I was beginning to break through that wall. Finally.

I took her face in my hands, leaning forward to gently kiss her scars. Moving over them until my mouth was by her ear.

"I want you more than I ever have." I whispered to her.

She pulled back quickly, her eyes searching mine.

She must have found the sincerity she had been looking for.

Her mouth roughly found mine. Her hands on my neck holding onto me. Kissing me with a force that I would never have dared to use myself.

In the same second that she pulled her lips from mine, she tightly wrapped her arms over my shoulders, burying her face into the crook of my neck.

She'd said it herself. She'd always known I'd love her through anything. But wanting her? That was what she needed to be assured of.

I knew it wasn't going to be this easy. I'd have to convince her of it a hundred more times. Because that voice in her head didn't rest.

But neither did I.