"I put it in my pocket," Edward tells me quietly. "I uh- "He takes a deep breath before continuing, "I found everything in your room and when I put everything together in my head, everything seemed to click and when I shouted for mom, I shoved the note in my pocket… I held onto it. Mom gathered everything up and never asked me if there was anything else, so I kept it to myself, I didn't want mom or dad to see what I had done to you. I never should have said that to you, love. I'm sorry for ever saying that. I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you like I promised," Edwards voice seems get strung up by knots in his throat.

"It's not your fault," I tell him, grabbing onto his hand and squeezing it. "It never was," I sigh closing my eyes for a few moments. "When I wrote that… I knew that you would know what it meant, and I knew that it would hurt you a bit and I think that's what I wanted… I wanted the words to cut through you much like they had with me when you said them to me. I wanted you to feel a little hopeless," Tears stream down my face and I squeeze my eyes closed. "I'm sorry that I even wanted that for you because nothing that happened, happened because of you. It happened because of me and it- "I get cut off my Edward covering my mouth with his hand.

"You didn't ask for any of this to happen, Isabella Marie Swan. You didn't tell that sick fuck," Edward hisses those two words, "to do what he did. You didn't do anything wrong except for maybe not telling anyone," His forehead is resting against mine as he finishes up his statement. "I'm sorry, I never should've broken that promise and I will forever find ways to make that up to you," He whispers.

Emmett pops his head out from the front door, "Ma says lunch is ready," He tells us giving me a smile as I look at him.

I nod and make a move to stand up, pulling Edward with me and walking inside right behind Emmett. As we eat our lunch, Alice fills me in on some stuff I missed out on and Rosalie tells me all about college. We all laugh as Rosalie tells the story of Emmett going all macho on some guy that was chatting up Rose at some type of under twenty-one club. The poor guy just wanted to know if Emmett was single and if he was if he could get his number. I don't think I had laughed so hard in such a long time, I had tears running down my cheeks by time Emmett tried to defend himself.

I've missed my family and as I sit here nibbling on my pasta salad, I'm glad that I didn't die that day when I flung myself off that cliff. Not only would I have missed the chance to get better and come home in a stitched up one piece, but I would've also missed the way Edward seems to be looking at me when he thinks I don't notice. As everyone shares a story or two, I shift in my seat and grab onto Edwards hand, tracing patterns on his palm like I used to do when we were younger. Looking over, I notice something coming out of his pocket and I frown slightly.

"Can we have a bon fire?" I ask abruptly, cutting off Jasper and I quickly give him an apologetic look for interrupting him; Jasper gives me a smile, letting me know it's okay.

"Sure, just need to get some wood from the store," Carlisle says looking over at me with a quizzical expression.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

After lunch was over, I grabbed the letters I wrote everyone and handed them back to each person. I told them to read it on their own time. Alice and Jasper made a mad dash to their room to open them up, Emmett and Rosalie took their time in following suit, and Edward stood there looking at me until I offered to sit with him. He took the bait and grabbed my hand, leading me into his bedroom and onto his bed. I sit quietly as he reads each letter, I rub his hand when he has to stop and catch his breath from holding it in. As he finishes up reading the letters, I pull my legs up to my chest and play with the throw blanket on his bed. Edward places the letters in his bedside table before sitting up against his headboard.

I don't say anything, I wait until he is ready to speak. Much to my surprise, it doesn't take long before I feel his hand on my ankle, tugging gently and as I look at him, he motions to come closer. Within seconds, I am sitting in between his legs and he hugs me to him from behind. I concentrate on the rhythm of his breathing as Edward takes my arm and gently traces my scars.

"How were you even able to hide this?" Edward asks quietly laying hid head in the crook of my neck.

"Makeup in the very beginning," I tell him softly. "I would cover it in foundation and hope for the best. It started out as some cat scratches and when they became more like a bear got a hold of me, a lot of long-sleeved shirts. It was a lot easier when it was cold out, when it got warmer out is when it became a bit harder because I had to find thin shirts to wear," I shrug. "It was easy for the most part, especially since I only really hung out with the family. Pretending I loved long-sleeved shirts were hard, cutting was easy. As long as I put on a good poker face, I found nobody questioned the way I dressed," I shift a bit so I could look at him. "Why did you and Jessica break up?" I ask.

"The night before you decided it would have been better for you not to inhabit this earth," Edward tells me and lays his head back against his headboard. "Jessica started to get even more difficult to be around after the truth or dare party. She'd say little things at first, snide remarks as normal. The day after the party- when she stormed out of my bedroom- she went off because I whispered your name in my sleep. Not like I can control what my dreams are or what I say in my sleep," He shakes his head. "After that she completely lost it. When I went to meet up with her the morning after we broke up, she told me she knew why I was so protective of you against her. I went looking for you after ditching her in the café and when I seen that your door was open…"

"I'm sorry," I whisper. "Not that you broke up with the wench, but because you found everything," I tell him honestly.

"I'm glad I did."

We are broken out of our bubble by a knock at the door and both Jasper and Alice come in and climb onto the bed. Alice gets comfortable, laying her head on my lap as Jasper climbs in behind her, holding my hand and relaxing against some pillows. Before long, Emmett and Rosalie come walking in, not even bothering to knock, and make themselves comfortable where they can on the bed. Rose finds her a spot on my torso as Emmett snuggles behind her somehow managing not to fall off the bed and places a hand on my arm. Nothing is said between any of us and I guess we must have all been all kinds of tired because when I open my eyes again, Esme is taking pictures of us.

"Would you like to help with dinner?" Esme asks with a smile.

I nod and try to move but everybody is on top of me which makes it next to impossible. We laugh a bit as she helps untangle me from my family and finally, we make our way down to the kitchen. Right before dinner gets done, Carlisle walks in with the wood for the bon fire.

"Can I have everything?" I ask quietly and wait for the response.

"Do you think you can handle it?" Carlisle questions standing beside me and kissing my head.

"There are a few things I would like to get rid of," I explain.

"Are you sure sweetheart?" Esme says coming to stand on the other side of me, grabbing my hand gently in hers.

I nod. "I need to. Please?"

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After we got done eating dinner, Carlisle went out to start the fire with Emmett right behind him, so I make my way up to my bedroom where I put everything. Quickly I change into some sweatpants and a light jacket and as I am putting everything in a box to take down, there is a knock on my door.

"Come in," I say loud enough for the person to hear.

I don't bother turning around to see who it is, I already know without even looking just by his presence. Once I have everything I need in the box, I get down on the floor and reach under my bed.

"What are you doing?" Edward asks softly as he comes to kneel next to me, trying to see what I am doing.

"Getting," I say with my voice slightly strained with stretching, "this." I sigh as I grab the bag and pull it out.

His eyebrows pull together forming a questioning look, but I don't dare elaborate anything as I stand back up, putting said bag on top of the box. Going to the bathroom, I grab my old best friend that, while should've colored silver, turned red when used. I can feel Edwards eyes on me as I walk throughout the bedroom and bathroom, but I try not to pay attention in fear what I might see in his eyes when I look at him. When I am satisfied that I have everything I want to get rid of, I stand there just looking at it for a few minutes before I am wrapped up in Edwards arms. I wrap my arms around his torso and hold on for dear life as he squeezes me to him. I realize I had started crying but didn't notice until I smothered my face in his chest.

"Sorry," I mumble against his now damp shirt taking a deep breath and pull away from his embrace sniffling.

"Come on, love, I'm sure the fire is ready by now," Edward kisses my head and offers to take the box, but I shake my head so while on the way down he makes sure I don't trip over a dust particle and fall.

There is music playing lowly in the background as we make our way out and I sit the box down, ignoring everyone's stares as I do so. Carlisle hands out the metal rod thing magigs to roast marshmallows on. As we always did when we were kids, Edward and I share one because they had always been down one. We take our seats, mine close to Edwards and Alice on my other side. Light conversation rolls around each of us and I can't help the feeling of sorrow that build in my chest as I look at everybody. I can't believe I thought that they would've been better off without me.

"Bella, did you hear anything I just said?" Alice asks raising an eyebrow at me as Jasper chuckles.

"Uh… shopping?" I question seeing as this is Alice, I am sure that is what she was just talking about.

"Yes, next weekend. All of us are going shopping," She says almost surprised that I guessed correctly.

The rest of the night goes on quietly and Carlisle and Esme take their leave, giving me a kiss on the head. Slowly everybody else goes in, leaving only Edward and I outside. We sit in silence for a while before I stand up from my chair and grab the box behind me. I pull everything out. Edward watches me closely as I start tearing up some pages and tossing them in the fire. I'm not sure how much time passes, but I realize I am down to the bag of clothing and my silver paint brush of comfort. It is at this point, that I pause, trying to push the memories away. I feel Edwards hand get placed on my shoulder gently as he pulls me to his chest.

"You can do it," He tells me softly in my ear before releasing me.

And just like that, I toss both items in the firepit without a second thought. I turn to look at Edward, noticing his eyes are watching me closely. I don't think he is monitoring me; it is almost as if he wants to say something maybe but doesn't.

"Your turn," I tell him.

"What?" He asks quietly.

"Your pocket. It is your turn," I repeat to him.

A few seconds pass before he digs into his front pocket and pulls out the piece of paper he has held onto. He opens the note and reads it once more before looking at me with sad eyes.

"You can do it," I tell him and kiss his cheek.

"With me?" He asks softly taking my hand.

"Okay," I reply and we both put the paper into the fire, watching it as it turns to ash in the flame.

After a bit, Edward looks at the time and stands up from his chair and holds out his hand for me to take. Without question, I let him pull me up and he takes my arms, putting them around his neck before placing his hands on my hips. We sway slowly to the music that is still playing in the background. When the song ends, Edward pulls away just a bit to look down at me and I look back up at him. His eyes trail down to my lips as I do the same to him. Does he want to kiss me? I sure as hell have always wanted to kiss him, but I never thought he would want to do that with me. Before I can dwell on that for too long, his mouth presses against mine and my whole body seems to light up with a tingling warm feeling.

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EPOV (Edward)

I keep replaying our kiss over and over in my head, I can't help the smile that plays on my face. Looking at my bedside clock, I notice it reads three in the morning just as I hear her small scream. Shooting up out of my bed, I open up my door just as both Alice and Jasper poke their heads out of their room

"I got it," I tell them.

"About time you realize it," Jasper says with a smile before they retreat back inside their bedroom.

I don't bother knocking on her door, I just let myself in and see that the blankets are all twisted around her ankles, so I fix them and wake her up gently. Bella wakes up after a few minutes of coaxing and tries to hold herself together as I crawl over her and lay next to her pulling her close to my chest.

"Its okay Bella, I'll protect you," I repeat the exact words I told her the first night she stayed over when we were younger. "I promise," I kiss her head.

This time I won't be letting anybody, or anything come between us. One day I will make up for all the wrong doings I have done, both to my family, but especially to Bella. As she relaxes into my side, I hear my name being mumbled and I look down to see she has fallen back to sleep. Leaning down I kiss her temple and move the stray hairs that matted themselves to her forehead away. It is about that moment that I know in my heart I will marry this beautiful girl beside me, I will marry my best friend.

"I love you, Isabella Marie Swan," I murmur in her ear before allowing sleep to take over my own body.

A/N: Soo, that happened as you can see. Pretty sure I want this to be the last chapter, but I think I will ponder with that for a bit before deciding. How did you guys like it? Let me know and review but until next time folks!

-bellacullen166