A/N: Hi All!

Shout-out to Ipsita and Pa for pre-reading. And a huge thank you to GeekChic12, who dropped everything to work her beta magic when I asked her. Also, I like to tweak, so any and ALL mistakes are mine.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything Twilight, but I do own this plot.

They spoke at the same time.

"Edward." Bella gasped.

"Bella." Edward sighed with relief.

Isabella instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him close and tight. It had been so long, too long since she'd felt his touch. That old jersey had nothing on how good it felt to be wrapped up in him.

Edward let out a deep breath, relief washing over him. She did want to see him. She was happy he was out.

Remembering herself, Isabella pulled away and stood there in shock, staring at Edward Cullen. She had known he would look for her, though she didn't think it would be so soon. The reality of it was worse than she could have ever imagined. Clearing her throat, she finally spoke. "What are you doing here?"

Her eyes travelled over his body as she waited for his reply. Time had been good to him. His jawline was more pronounced, and his black t-shirt showed that his chest and arms were more defined. And those green eyes still made her heart skip.

"What am I doing here?" he asked, astounded. "I'm here to see the only person who didn't shun me. I'm here to see my best friend." As he said the words, Edward took his best friend in. She had changed slightly. Her hips were a little wider, her face a little rounder. Somehow, she was even more beautiful than he remembered.

"I think it's best that you leave," Isabella whispered thickly as Edward's eyes grew wide. The words felt like sandpaper in her throat.

"Leave?" he forced out. It hurt to even say the word. He had spent so long thinking of this moment, foolishly believing she would be happy to see him. Isabella nodded and tried to shut the door, but Edward stopped it with his hand.

"What do you want from me, Edward?" She may not have believed it if someone told her, but her best friend still knew her, and he saw the sadness in her eyes as her lips formed the words he had hoped she would never say.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe an 'It's great to see you' or 'come in, I've missed you.'" He couldn't control the anger in his voice.

And she had missed him—more than she could ever put into words, but time had changed her. She wasn't that eighteen-year-old girl anymore.

"I have missed you. But I'm not the same person I was back then."

"You think I am?" he shouted before lowering his voice to continue. "Five years in the slammer changes a person, Bella."

Edward pushed the door open and walked inside. His eyes stayed trained on Bella. He didn't notice the large TV hanging on the wall. He didn't notice the pictures in their frames.

"The fuck?" Isabella shouted. "Get out of my house."

"No. I deserve—"

"Oh, here we go. I owe you—"

"Oh, fuck off, Bella. Get over yourself."

"Get over myself?" Isabella said as she pointed to herself. "You're the one who came storming into my house. I don't owe you shit. Now, get the fuck out of here." It almost killed her to say the words, especially when all she wanted to do was sink into his arms and melt into his body.

"You don't owe me an explanation? The fuck you don't. What the fuck happened? Where have you been the last four and a half years?" Edward ran his hands through his hair in anger. How could she be acting this way?

"Busy," she spat, adding salt to Edward's already wounded heart.

"Busy? Doing what?" he roared back.

"Living life, Edward. Meeting people, getting a job, paying bills, being a fucking adult."

"Wow, that must've been nice, living the dream and all. Wanna know how I've spent the last five years?" Isabella didn't reply. It was a stupid question and obviously rhetorical. "I mean, we all know where I've been, but want to know how I spent my time?"

Isabella had no choice but to play along. "How?"

"Well, I'd wake up thinking of you. Then I'd eat breakfast, thinking of you. I'd go to work after that and think of you. Yeah, we had assigned jobs in there. Then I'd work out, and you'd be on my mind. Somewhere in between, I'd eat lunch and wonder what you were doing. Then I'd go play some basketball with some friends and think of how we'd play and you'd trip over your own feet, trying to beat me. Then I'd eat dinner, thinking of you and wondering if you were okay. And finally, I'd lie in bed, thinking of you. Five years. Sixty months. Two hundred and sixty weeks. One thousand, eight hundred and twenty-five days thinking. Of. You. And this fucking moment. And not once in one of those one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five days did I ever picture you telling me to fuck off."

"What did you expect? Fuck, you've been gone so long, Edward. I couldn't just stop living." Isabella's determination was fading the more she looked at him, at the pain in his eyes. But she needed to do this for her. For Sam.

"Look at this." He lifted his shirt to show his tattoo while pointing at it with the other hand, and Isabella ached to touch his ripped form. "Look at it, Bella. Remember when we got them?" Edward's voice was rising with every word.

"Stop!" Isabella demanded, tears streaming down her face.

"Remember how I tried to make you change your mind? Remember how you told me you wanted that design because we would be friends forever?"

Isabella didn't want to hurt him. She never wanted to hurt Edward, ever, but he wasn't making this easy. Her heart was in agony as she pushed back all she wanted to say and forced out the only words that would send him away.

"Of course I remember. I remember every fucking time I shower, every fucking time I get changed. I can't ever fucking forget, Edward! Is that what you want to hear? Because that fucking ink forces me to think of you every fucking day, and I have to live with it every. Single. Fucking. Day."

That was the moment when it finally hit him. Isabella had never been kept away from him like he'd so desperately hoped. She'd chosen to stay away from him, and suddenly, he couldn't be around her anymore. He couldn't stand looking at the only person he would ever love, knowing he was nothing but a bad memory to her. His hopes, his dreams of a beautiful reunion were gone. His childish belief that they would just fit together once again was shattered by her words.

"Look at you. All you are is everything you used to hate." Edward shook his head as he turned and walked out the front door.

.

.

Isabella threw herself against the door, locking it and sobbing as she slid down to the floor with her back against the hardwood to give her some semblance of support. Her heart was broken. She thought Edward going to jail was hard. Nothing would ever compare to turning him away. Nothing.

As Edward walked back to Emmett and Alice, the cold wind made him realize he had started to cry. He didn't try to hide it as he yelled, "Fuck!"

Alice heard it and jumped from the car. "I'll fucking kill her," she yelled as she started to run. Thankfully, Emmett was faster.

"Wait," he said as he grabbed her arms. "Let's hear what he has to say first."

"No, let me go, Emmett!" Alice yelled as she tried to get out of his grip.

"Calm down. Edward doesn't need to deal with your shit, too," he whisper-yelled into Alice's ear as he moved his hands from her arms to wrap them around her body, hoping to stop her squirming. When she looked back at Edward, he was close enough for her to see his tears that he let fall freely, and all it did was make her angrier.

"Fucking let me go, Emmett. I swear you'll regret it if you don't."

Emmett laughed while she fought him with extra strength—strength Emmett didn't think possible from such a small being. Then suddenly, she stopped, losing all strength as she saw the look in Edward's eyes. He looked so sad. So defeated. So broken. Emmett saw it too, and his grip on Alice loosened. She took the opportunity to run to Edward and wrap her arms around him like she had earlier, but this time, Edward let her hold him as his sobs took over.

Emmett and Edward had become fast friends in prison. They'd clicked the moment they met. They had gotten to know so much of each other's lives in the cell they shared together. But as he stood there, watching his best friend, who he'd only known outside of prison for less than a day, he realized it didn't matter how much he'd told him. There were always things that couldn't ever be explained. Some things you had to see, experience for yourself to understand. And in that moment, he understood Edward more than he ever had in that cell in which they'd shared so many stories. His heart broke for his friend. Emmett now knew what that moment Edward had just had with Bella had meant to him. And even though he didn't know exactly what'd happened, he now knew how much Edward had needed that moment to go any other way than how it had.

He walked over to where Alice was still holding her brother and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Come on, bro. Let's go home."

Edward cringed at his friend's words. His home was just down the street. His home was long chocolate-colored hair. His home was deep brown eyes. His home was heart-shaped and beating in the body of the most precious being.

And he'd just been evicted.

He let his sobs calm before pulling Alice's arms from his neck. "Yeah." He cleared his throat. "Let's go to your place." Edward's choice of words was not lost on his friend and twin sister, though they said nothing.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading, I can not tell you how much it means to me.

Twific Lovah.