A/N: Hello, everyone!

I wrote this for the Perfect Date contest. It did well! First place judge's vote. Second place public vote. Favorite of two judges, and the relationship goals award.

I had a lot of fun. So many bunnies.

Fuck you.

Bella flung open the door of the lab with force, using every ounce of willpower not to slam it hard into the wall.

Fuck you.

She powered out of the office area into the hallway. This time, the door gave an unsatisfying twang as it collided with the door stop. A trio of students pressed themselves against the wall as she passed. Apparently, her anger took up the whole hallway. She thundered away, sensible shoes thwacking with each step. Finally, she powered out the last door to the stairwell.

"Fuck. You!"

A student a few steps below her stopped and looked back at her over his shoulder. "Fuck off, bloody numpty." He shook his head and continued down the stairs, out the door one flight down.

Bella blew out a long breath. She leaned against the banister, head bowed, blinking her stinging eyes. She was determined not to cry. Not this time.

They were just so damn frustrating. And she cried when she was frustrated. Which was frustrating.

"Fuck," she muttered under her breath, wiping angrily at her eyes. Shaking her head, she dug into her pocket, groping for her phone. She had Edward's number up on the screen before she stopped herself.

It was barely eleven in the morning, which meant it was three in the morning where he was. He'd told her so many times that if she needed him, she could call at any time. Girlfriend privileges, he said. She had the right to call no matter what.

But Edward was a doctor midway through his residency. His schedule was all over the place. If she wasn't mistaken, he'd gotten off shift at midnight—three hours ago for him. Maybe she wanted to put her fist through the wall, but it wasn't actually serious. And it wasn't new. None of this was new.

It was so cliché it killed her. She was a woman in a man's world—because science was very much a man's world. In fact, every other person who worked in the lab she worked in, completing her dissertation at Oxford University in England, was a man.

The long and short of it was they resented her. For what, she never could understand. For bringing a vagina into their midst maybe? For daring to be as smart if not smarter than them?

She was a good scientist, but they contradicted her as often as they could. And even that would have been fine—what did she care what a few insecure assholes thought about her ability to science—except that her advisor, the man who had the power to sink her ability to finish her doctoral program, was the biggest nitpicking prick of them all.

He was almost always wrong with his criticisms. It meant hours if not days of extra work only to find out at the end of it that she'd been right all along. Being disproved by his student—his female student—was a blow to his pride. And thus, the cycle started again. Pick, pick, pick, pick, pick. Same shit, different day.

Which meant she really didn't need to wake up her boyfriend—who had, she was sure, been on his feet all night—just to moan about how unfair it all was.

Besides, she already knew what he would say.

"Focus on the rue, baby. They're going to rue the day. When you collect your Nobel Prize and it could have been their name beside yours? They'll rue the day."

Bella smiled and then sighed. She missed him. She pressed a hand hard to her chest as though that could stem the ache. She just missed him so much. It had been amazing to be offered this position—a spot in this program at this ancient, prestigious place. It was an incredible first step in what promised to be a fulfilling, prestigious career. But right now, it meant she was eight time zones and thousands of miles away from her favorite person in the world.

Long, slow breaths.

This wouldn't last forever. Not the distance. Not the disrespect. None of it.

She could do this.

Six hours later, her head was pounding and her jaw ached from clenching it too hard. She rubbed the back of her neck as she started the one mile walk to her tiny apartment.

Still mired in the problems of the day—and irritated over all the added work ahead to prove to her professor she'd already come to the right conclusion—it took Bella's brain a few minutes to think about anything outside her lab.

Edward hadn't called her, she realized. He always called. She hit call on his name and put the phone to her ear, concerned.

"'lo?"

At the sound of his voice, her minor anxiety eased. "Hey, you. I was worried. This is the first time you didn't call me when you woke up."

"Well, I wasn't awake yet." His voice was low and scratchy. He chuckled. "So my record still stands."

"What?"

"You woke me up."

"Edward, do you know what time it is? You're going to be late for your shift."

"No, 'm not," he mumbled and yawned. She could hear the rustle and creak as he moved. "Tanya." He yawned again.

Bella's stomach started to churn just a twinge. "Tanya?"

"She offered to, uh…"

"Edward." Bella's already sore jaw was beginning to clench again.

"Sorry, sweetheart. I'm ah… I'm a little hung over."

Bella stopped walking. "You're hung over?" She knew they were all English words, but nothing was making sense right now. She'd been picturing him working hard at the hospital and falling into an exhausted sleep only to get up and do it all again with not enough rest.

"Tanya offered to cover my shift today. She said I was burning the candle too short. Too short?" He sounded confused.

"You were burning the candle from both ends," she supplied.

"Yeah. And so when we got off shift, me an' some of the rest—Jasper and Alice and Jessica—went over to Mike's place."

"To drink," she said, deadpan.

"Yeah, well. We were just chillaxing, you know?"

His words got under her skin. He always made fun of the way Mike said chillax. "Well, that's just great," she said, her tone acerbic.

"It was pretty great," he said, not catching the change in her mood. "It's been a long time since I could just enjoy my friends."

"Well, isn't it great you have friends to take care of you."

"They're the best." He yawned. "Hey, can you give me a couple hours? My head's so damn fuzzy. Let me snooze a minute and I'll call you back as soon as I get up."

"Whatever." Bella hit the end button. For the second time that day, her eyes stung with unshed tears. Here she'd been having a hellacious day, trying to be the considerate girlfriend so he could get some rest and he'd been partying the night away with friends?

A rumbling sound drew her attention toward the sky. Somewhere along the line, storm clouds had gathered, pregnant with rain. How fitting.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket. Edward. She connected. "Aren't you going to sleep?"

There was a pause on the other end. "Okay. What's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong."

"Clearly."

"Just go back to bed, Edward. Don't let me keep you up." She readjusted her heavy bag on her shoulder and kept walking at a furious pace.

"You're mad at me. Why are you mad at me?"

"I'm not mad."

"And now you're lying."

Bella scoffed. "Yeah. That's me. A horrible person."

"That's not what I… Dammit." He made a half growl, half sigh noise. "I've got a headache."

"I told you to go back to sleep."

"I'm not going to sleep if you're mad at me. Just tell me—"

"I'm not mad at you." Her words spiked at the end, and people walking nearby stopped to stare. Bella ducked her head and kept walking, almost home. "I had a really crappy day, but what the hell else is new? I wanted to vent, but I thought you were sleeping. You weren't then and now you are. And by the time you wake up for real, I'll be in bed. So whatever, Edward. Just go take a nap."

"You can call me any time. You could have called me even if I was sleeping."

"Yeah, sure. Except it's like you said. You're burning the candle at both ends, and I want to take care of you as much as I can when I'm an ocean away. But turns out I shouldn't have worried. Fucking Tanya has your back, right?" Bella gasped even as the words came out of her mouth.

"Whoa. Where did that come from?" Edward asked.

Hell if she knew. Bella took in a shuddering breath. Having reached her tiny flat, she readjusted her bag again and pinned the phone between her shoulder and ear. Trying to fish her key out of her pocket, her bag slipped, the phone clattered to the floor. Her tears spiked and fell. She crouched on her doorstep, one hand over her eyes, and groped for the phone.

"Bella? Bella, what happened?"

"Nothing." Bella took another steadying breath. She felt stupid and weak for crying. "I just hate everything right now. Ugh. And now I sound like a toddler."

"Sweetheart—"

"It's just a lot. Every fucking day is a battle, and I have no one." Her voice cracked again. She gritted her teeth and stood up, shaking her head hard to get a hold of herself. "I'm glad your coworkers are so great. I'm glad you can fucking chillax and grab a beer and unwind. That's the way it should be. But my coworkers are all gigantic twatwaffles. Every day is so damn hard, and I don't have time to go and make friends outside the lab because I'm too busy redoing all the work they undo."

She flung her door open, stepped inside, then slammed it behind her. Dumping her bag on the ground, she pressed her back to the door and rubbed her temple with her free hand. "It's just too much," she whispered.

"What are you saying?" Edward asked, his voice raw, pained.

"Maybe if I have to be so lonely, I'd rather be alone."

That sat between them like a lead weight. Bella's heart wrenched in her chest.

"Bella. You can't—"

"Don't listen to me," she blurted. She closed her eyes, shaking her head back and forth. "I don't know what I'm saying. I just… I need a minute. I need…" She squeezed her eyes tightly shut. "I'll call you before I go to sleep. I promise."

She hung up before he could say anything and buried her head in her hands, shaking. Her trembling legs wouldn't hold her, and she sat on the floor with a heavy thunk.

What have I done? What have I done? What have I done?

Outside, the rain began to fall. She rocked back and forth, barely able to breathe around the idea of not being Edward's girlfriend. She loved him. That all-consuming, to the moon and the furthest stars kind of love. It was the fairytale kind of love; the kind that should have been able to conquer anything. The strength of what she felt for him could move mountains.

But this last year that she'd been away, something else had taken up residence in that space that used to hold only her unshakable love for him. It was a feeling that burned hot like anger and left a bitter taste on her tongue.

She should have felt nothing but glad he had such a good support system. She wanted him to succeed, and since she couldn't be there to help him relax, she should have been nothing but glad he was surrounded by good friends; people who understood him and what he was going through. He hadn't done a damn thing wrong. There was no reason she should feel this angry that he had changed his schedule and blown off some steam.

Raising her head, she gazed out the window, watching the rivulets of rain cascade down. The lump in her throat burned, and she swallowed hard.

It wasn't anger, she realized, dread settling like a rock deep in her gut. It was resentment.

She resented him; resented that he had comfort and support while she was stuck halfway across the world. She resented that his life without her was fine. He didn't need a partner in this difficult time. He had his own clan.

A well established couple, they made all their life-changing decisions together. They had decided together this was the best choice—for her to accept her place in the doctoral program in Oxford while he went off to Flagstaff, AZ to finish his medical residency. It was a difficult choice but the right one for their unit and their combined futures.

But look what they'd become.

Their lives were unrecognizable from where they'd begin. She'd been twenty-three when they met. Fresh off a gap year to work after completing her bachelor's degree. She'd been about to start on her Master's. He was twenty-seven when they met—the lead singer of a local band. He'd been on stage—tight jeans, that voice, that hair. Their courtship was an intense whirlwind of music and magic.

That had been four years ago. Their lives were more serious now. All grown up as the saying went. They had put away childish things. She wondered if he even knew where his guitar was.

And all that was fine. People grew and changed. Things that had been important fell away. Priorities changed. As partners, they navigated the changes of their lives together. She wanted to be his partner. She wanted to be by his side, helping him achieve every goal as he helped her.

But…

Was this a partnership? Were they really together? Was there a point to adding the pain of not being able to come home to him to the struggle of her life he re on top of everything else she was dealing with?

It was hours later, just as she was dragging herself away from her work into bed, when her phone chimed again. She stared at the screen, at Edward's name and a picture of him, handsome and happy, his arms wrapped around her.

She'd have given anything to have him there, his arms around her just like that as they lay together in bed.

With a sigh, she connected the call. "Hey."

"Hey, you."

Bella closed her eyes at the sound of his gentle voice. In spite of the ache in her heart, the cloying feeling of desperation to be where he was, he was still her comfort. "Edward, I—"

"Shhh. I have something for you first."

She pulled the blankets up to her shoulders and curled up on her side. "You do?"

"Yeah. Just listen."

She did and gasped in surprised pleasure when she heard the first notes of the guitar. His guitar. A grin spread across her face. Hadn't she just been reminiscing about their beginnings, wondering if he even knew where the thing was? Apparently, he'd known all along.

He broke into the soft, sweet tones of Hey There Delilah by the Plain White T's. His voice was deeper than the original singer's and, of course, more familiar to her. She closed her eyes and let the lyrics sink to the marrow of her bones.

Hey there, Delilah

Don't you worry about the distance

I'm right there if you get lonely

Give this song another listen

Close your eyes

Listen to my voice, it's my disguise

I'm by your side

For what felt like the umpteenth time today her eyes stung. She sniffled, trying to breathe around the agony of missing him. But at the same time, his song was healing.

They were still them—the happy couple wrapped up in music and each other. And he still always knew the right song to sing.

"Thank you," she whispered when he brought the song to an end. "I hear you."

He sighed. "There's not a thing in the world I wouldn't do for you, love. If I thought it's what you wanted, I'd give it all up. My career. My friends. Everything. I'd spend my last dime to fly to you, and we'd figure it out. I'd do it in a heartbeat."

"You know that's not what I want."

"I know. I just need you to know, I love you."

"I do know that. I love you too."

"You have to get some sleep, and we have some things to talk about. But, I was wondering if you'd do me the honor of a date."

Bella quirked an eyebrow though he couldn't see her. "A date?"

"Yeah. This Saturday. Spend the day with me. I want to show you around town."

"Around town? Your town?" She laughed. "Babe, if either of us had the money to fly back and forth for a date, there probably wouldn't be an issue."

"No plane ticket needed. Just trust me. Can you be ready by nine o'clock in the morning, your time, on Saturday?"

"Ready for what?"

"Our date," he said in a teasing 'duh' voice.

She had to smile. "I'll be there, you crazy ass."

~0~

Saturday couldn't come soon enough.

As with so many things about their lives, Edward's capacity for grand gestures had gone the way of the dodo. Not that she blamed him on that account. They were well past the point in their relationship where either of them felt the need to impress the other and were both at the beginning of demanding careers. Courtship just hadn't been their priority.

But Edward was so damn good at it.

Romantic notions weren't Bella's strong suit. She was a good partner. That had probably been why the whole thing with Tanya had struck a nerve. Bella was all about helping them both achieve their separate and mutual goals. It was her job to see it if Edward was spreading himself too thin and do what she could to help. She was good at taking care of her man when she was there.

Edward was good at the soft stuff, and Bella was on tenterhooks, wondering what he had planned.

Trying to play along with the sense of occasion, Bella straightened her hair. She put on a fitted tee that hugged her curves just so and black jeans that made her ass pop.

At nine on the dot her doorbell rang. Bella's heart skipped a beat. There was no way Edward could be here. She'd talked to him barely five hours before—not enough time for international flight unless he'd found a convenient TARDIS.

Still, she held her breath as she opened the door.

No such luck. There was a delivery person there, bag in hand. "Bella Swan?" When she blinked at him, he tried holding the bag out. "You ordered delivery."

"I didn't. I…Oh." She thumped the side of her head with one palm. Boyfriend with a plan for a date, remember? "Right. Yes. I'll take it."

As she signed for the meal, her phone began to vibrate. A text, she noticed, closing the front door.

Edward: Put the food in the micro. Meet you on your laptop at the table?

Smiling, she texted back.

Bella: Be there.

As promised, she shoved the food in the microwave to keep warm and darted for her laptop. As soon as she got online a message popped up. A link. She clicked and found herself on Google Maps street view. She recognized the address as his apartment. She clicked again at the video chat request, and his face filled the screen.

"Hello, beautiful," he said. His lips quirked. "Baby, are you wearing mascara?"

Her cheeks heated, but she lifted her chin defiantly. "Are you going to give me crap for wanting to look nice for our date?"

"I mean, yeah. A little." He grinned at her. "You're always gorgeous, Bella."

She looked him up and down as much as the laptop camera would allow. He sat, like she did, at a table. His hair was shorter than she liked it but long enough to to be spiky. The man was sexy no matter what he did. What a curse. "You're not so bad yourself, stud."

"Well. Come on. We have a lot to do today, so we better get down to it. Put Google Maps full screen."

She frowned. "I want to see your face."

He smiled and winked at her. "We're just going for a drive. Humor me."

"Fine." She switched to full screen Google Maps. "What next?"

"Go down the street to the left here. Then a right at the end of the street. Quick right. Left on Butler. Take a moment to admire the wide-open spaces still left. Flagstaff is a funny town that way. Not a small town, but it's still got sprawling open spaces even here in the heart of the city. This part right here isn't too pretty, but most of it is. It's beautiful here.

"But more on that later. Take left on Lucky Lane. See the Denny's here? Can't tell you how many three a.m. burgers I've had here."

"Sounds healthy. Aren't you a doctor?"

"At three a.m. after back-to-back shifts? I'm not even human." He chuckled. "But keep going."

"Oh, my god." Bella laughed, delighted at the restaurant next in line after Denny's. "We're going to Cracker Barrel?"

"Yep. Let's pull into the parking lot."

Taking that to mean switch back to the video chat, Bella let Edward's pretty face fill the screen again. She cracked up when she realized he was now sitting in front of a life sized picture of the interior of a Cracker Barrel. "Oh, wow, Edward."

He smirked. "Go get your food. Sorry you have to be your own waiter."

"It's no problem." She got up to retrieve the food from the microwave and the styrofoam cup of coffee that had come with it.

"I apologize in advance," Edward's voice carried as she worked. "A little bird told me the English don't know how to make an American breakfast."

"Hah." Swan—She was a good little bird, he'd told her before. "So punny."

"I did some extensive research to find the best pancakes possible," he said.

Bella settled down at the kitchen table again and popped the lid. Her smile spread wider. Fruit. Scrambled eggs. Semi-decent looking pancakes. Bacon and hash browns. A glance told her he'd opted for a breakfast scramble.

English pancakes were thin and crepe-like. None of this buttermilk business. And, as Edward had mentioned, even those venues that claimed to sell an American breakfast didn't really get the desired fluffiness.

"This is actually really good," Bella said, digging in.

"Good. Now eat up, young lady. We have lots to do today."

"Going out on the town at two in the morning, huh?"

He arched an eyebrow. "Time is fluid. Work with me here."

"Just teasing ."

"Ungh." Some time later, Bella sat back in her chair, hands on her belly, and closed her eyes. "I'm so full."

"Good. I'm glad you're satisfied."

She raised her head, opening one eye a crack to leer at him. "You always leave me satisfied, baby."

His eyes darkened, and he tilted his head. "Oh, Bella." He swallowed hard, his voice gone low and husky. "I've got a busy day planned for us, but spending the day in bed with you?" His eyes darted down suggestively sending delicious tingles down her spine. "We can talk about leaving you satisfied."

So tempting. He had game when it came to phone sex. Of course he did. But then, when his voice was gone and she couldn't replicate the feel of falling asleep nestled safely in his arms, she was always left aching.

"That's not how dates work, Mr. Cullen," she said, tone light. "You don't even know if you're going to earn a goodnight kiss at this point."

He swallowed hard and nodded seriously. "We should get in the car then."

Bella groaned, all sexy feelings gone as she let her head fall back. "Can't move. Too full. You can't expect me to drive."

"That's okay. I'll drive. You just relax."

Bella opened one eye again and noticed her computer was doing things of its own volition. "What the what?"

"Relax. Remember when we were troubleshooting that problem with your computer last month? You still have the software installed."

"So you can look at what I'm doing any time you want?"

The screen flipped back to the video chat and Edward looked at her, brows furrowed. "Do you really think I would do that?"

Her lip twitched. "No. Just a panic reaction. It's just not the way I want you to find out…"

He quirked an eyebrow,

She sighed and ducked her head as though in shame. "I… I'm a furry."

His lip twitched. "And you think that's going to turn me off? Because I've been curious about those horse tail butt plugs for a long time."

She choked on a laugh. "That's not… That's not even what a furry is."

"You would know, wouldn't you?" He winked and flipped the computer screen back to Google maps. "Okay, Sea Biscuit. Settle down. Let's take a drive. Right out here...And we turn left on Historic Route 66."

"Oh. Can we get some kicks here?"

"Well, probably. You know me. I get my shoes online, but there's bound to be a shoe store somewhere."

"Har har."

"Anyway." He cleared his throat as he 'drove' them along. "As you know, Route 66 is one of America's first and arguably it's most well known highways. Also known as The Main Street of America, Route 66 begins in Chicago and cuts its way through parts of eight states before ending in Santa Monica, California."

Bella smirked. "Your tour guide voice does things for me. Just so you know."

"Don't try to tempt me, my witch. We already had this discussion, and I learn from my mistakes. Shall we continue?"

"Do go on." Bella sat back in her chair, watching the city go by in Google Streetview's blurs and lurches. Edward swung the viewpoint back and forth, and she admired the quaint view. Train tracks ran along the left. A small station stood with an old engine out front. "It's a pretty town."

"It really is. You haven't seen the best parts when it comes to scenery. We're taking a quick detour before we get to all that. Come with me down San Francisco Street. Named after the San Francisco Peaks that are visible most days, though not really from right here. Like most of the historic area, it's got an old timey feel to it. See the sign painted on the wall over there? The Babbitt name is everywhere. One of them ran for president. You can rent their house for $2,300 a night."

"Jeez. Hard pass."

"Agreed. But, in any event, the old time feel of this part of the city is, I'm guessing, the reason why they filmed a scene of Forrest Gump here."

Bella perked up, leaning forward with her elbows on the table and her face closer to the screen. "Oh?"

"Yeah. You remember that part where he's doing his running and the guy wants his help with a bumper sticker slogan?"

"Shit happens."

"That's this street."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. This sign here?" He swung the camera so she was looking at a sporting store. "It used to be a newsstand. Their logo was a penguin. You can see it pretty well. They also filmed a scene from Casa Blanca in this hotel." He panned the camera to look up to the top of a building where an old time, bigger-than-life sign read Hotel Monte Vista.

"Okay. So, since this is a one way street, we have to continue on to Birch before we can turn around," Edward said.

"Right, because road rules apply to virtual life. Clearly someone has never seen The Matrix."

"Settle down, Secretariat. You're the one who said you didn't want to drive, so we're playing by my rules."

Bella rolled her eyes. "You're such a brat."

"The pot said to the kettle." He swung the camera away from the street they were on so they faced toward a grassy area that proclaimed itself to be Wheeler Park. "This is one of my favorite places in the city."

"A park?"

"This whole area. It's just…" He sighed, and was quiet for a handful of beats. "It's peaceful."

He sighed again, and her computer screen flickered. He was back on the screen, his head tilted, propped in one hand as he stared into the camera at her. "I don't know how this separation feels to you. It's not that it doesn't hurt." He shook his head, rubbing at his chest as though to soothe an ache in his heart. "Sometimes it hurts so bad, baby. When I can't see you and I can't hold you?"

Bella swallowed hard. The too-familiar ache panged deep in her chest.

"But I can hear you. You're the voice inside my head," he said.

"Oh, God." Bella shook her head, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "You poor man."

"Places like this, I can feel you with me. When I see the other couples walking? Or when there's a little festival going on? Sometimes it's a shock to me when I turn and you're not there."

She understood what he meant. Hadn't she heard his voice, known exactly what he would say about her stupid-ass collegues? They were part of each other; wrapped up and tangled together even across the distance.

Edward took control of her screen again, bringing up a picture of the park. "That's the library in the background. It's a great library. Lots of nooks and crannies. Interesting art. When you come this summer? I want to wander the library."

"Nerd," she teased. In reality, wandering a well-stocked library with him sounded like the epitome of a perfect time.

"I think we should find the weirdest book we can, about the most off-the-wall subject anyone thought up, and lie on the grass and read it," he said.

She sighed. "You're not supposed to plan the next date while you're on this one, but I'll give you a pass because it sounds like a great one."

"So generous, love." He spun the camera so they were back on the street. "But, like I said. That's a different date. Shall we continue?"

"Lead the way."

They 'drove' their way down a tree-lined street of cute houses. Edward turned left, and Bella laughed. "Maybe your town really is magical. It was summer on Aspen Street and now, suddenly, it's winter."

The trees, verdant and bright a moment before, were now bare. Snow lined the yards and rooftops. "It's closer to this now," Edward said, panning the camera so she could see more of the little neighborhood. "There are still a few snow flurries, but the trees are starting to bud again."

It turned back to summer at the end of the street, but it didn't matter so much at that point. In a few more clicks the houses faded away, replaced by pine trees. "This is nice. Not like the forest outside of Forks," Bella said, propping her head on both hands as she watched the scenery go by. The Hoh rainforest that surrounded the tiny town she was from was oppressive and dark. This forest was spacious and pretty. The sun filtered easily through the trees onto the pine needle covered floor below.

"They're Ponderosa pines. The Coconino National Forest is the largest ponderosa pine forest in the world."

"You'd make a good tour guide if this whole doctor thing doesn't work out."

"Hey, it's always good to have something to fall back on."

The road they were on was a curvy one winding up a mountain or a hill. Bella closed her eyes and imagined they were driving—windows down, cool air on her face, and Edward's fingers twined in hers over the shifter.

"We're here," Edward said.

Bella opened her eyes and had to smile at the scene. GoogleMaps had captured the area on a bustling day. A group of school kids gathered on the pavement, their bus visible in the background. It was easy to imagine strolling up the steps with him. She could almost hear the chatter and laughter around them.

"Where are we?"

"Lowell Observatory."

"Oh, I love observatories. They discovered Pluto here, right?"

"Yep."

"I didn't realize it was so close to the city. Literally right there, isn't it?"

"Takes only a couple minutes to get here from the downtown area where we were." Edward released control of her computer, and his face came back on the video chat. "Here. We can go into the museum."

A link popped up in her chat window. Bella opened it to find a slideshow. He'd made a virtual museum of space and sun images taken from the observatory, each of them with a little blurb. Together, they perused, chatting about the infinity and wonder of what was out there. After seeing things like the Sombrero and Whirlpool Galaxies, they tried to outdo each other on bizarre things they would name the galaxies and nebulas they would discover.

"The Marble From the End of Men in Black Galaxy," Edward said, and Bella giggled.

"I mean, I guess the caveat is that these things were named after what they look like, so this is all putting the cart before the horse."

"Naw. Most galaxies bear a striking resemblance to the marble in the movie. So it fits."

"Right. Right."

Edward chuckled and then yawned. Bella frowned. "It's so late for you, Edward. You should be sleeping."

He blinked, his smile tired but happy. "I'm right where I want to be." He yawned again, pressing a fist to his mouth to cover it. "Besides, we've got to get on the road."

"Places to be?"

"And things to do." He leaned in close to the camera and was suddenly gone, taking control of her screen again. "So, here we are, heading out of Flagstaff." He panned the screen to a small mountain. "This is Mount Elden, by the way. It's a volcano. A dormant one."

"So, you might be covered in lava at any given moment?"

"This whole place could be Pompeii 2.0 some day, but such is life." As he spoke, he kept them moving down the lone highway. "There's a really great volcano just outside of town. Sunset Crater. It blew its top a long time ago—looks like there's a scoop taken out of it at the top. I haven't had a chance to explore the area, but Jasper told me it's all black because of the cinders."

He kept up a running commentary as they drove, talking about all the things to be seen around Flagstaff. There was a crater where a meteor had struck the earth. Sedona and its red rock canyons was only 45 minutes away. Just outside the city was a canyon where you could walk into the Native American ruins that were carved into the side of the cliff.

Bella leaned on her hand, listening to him as she watched the landscape go by as though they really were in the car together. Adding to the effect, the Google Maps car had clearly followed the highway for a long while the day this particular Streetview was recorded as the RV in front of them remained constant for a time, riding with them.

The ponderosa pine forest gave way, bit by bit, to scrubland. "So wide open," Bella marveled.

"Ha. This probably won't surprise you, but the couple of times I've driven out here, I find myself getting to 125 miles an hour by accident."

"By accident. Sure." Her boyfriend liked to speed.

"It's almost impossible not to. There's no one out here a lot of the time. Wide open spaces and, in some places, you can see the highway stretching on for miles? It was an accident. I swear."

"Uh huh." She sat up straighter when she caught sight of a road sign. "Hey, are we going to the Grand Canyon?"

"We are. It's only about an hour and a half to the South Rim. I took a more circuitous route because I like this place."

"What—" Bella was distracted by a knock at the door. She frowned. "Hold on."

Her irritation at being interrupted on her date was quickly replaced by pleasure when she saw another delivery person at her door. She signed and accepted another bag of food.

When she got back to her computer she gasped. They were at a railing overlooking a deep canyon. Not the Grand Canyon deep, but deep enough. "Oh, wow," she said, sitting down.

"This is the Little Colorado River Gorge." He panned down so she could see the small river winding far below. "Doesn't hold a candle to the real thing, but it's nice here. But I wanted to stop here for a bite."

He strolled them up to a cluster of shops and then pulled up the video chat. He was there at his table, now with some kind of lunch in front of him. "So, if you thought I couldn't get an American breakfast in England, I really can't get this." He tilted his meal up so she could see. It appeared to be some kind of puffy-looking bread that filled the entire plate. "So this is fry bread. It's a Native American thing. You can get it in a lot of places around here, but this is where I first tried it." He shrugged.

"That looks… Amazing."

"So good. They do it a lot of ways. Most frequently kind of like a tostada with mutton, traditionally, or other meat, lettuce, tomato, all that jazz. But I'm partial to the sweet kind—honey and powdered sugar." He pointed to the bag she'd set off to the side. "The closest I could get was whatever passes for a Mexican food tostada over there and a crepe with honey and sugar. Sorry."

"Can't say I'm not envious, but this is good too."

They ate and chatted, Edward telling her awful/intriguing stories about the deaths in the canyon—including one right near where they ate—and how, sometimes, a body couldn't be reached.

"The terrible grandeur of nature," he said, a hint of awe in his voice. "But, if you're done, we should get a move on." His hand moved, obviously clicking on something on his end, but he didn't take control of the screen again. "We can explore the village in a minute. There's something I want you to see."

Her computer chimed, and Bella clicked on another link.

"Full screen," he said simply.

She obeyed and exhaled in a gust. "Oh, wow."

The link was to a live stream. Where Edward was, it was still mostly dark, but the sun was beginning to rise. The effect at the moment was to silhouette the buttes against the sky—black rock against deep red that faded to orange.

"I don't know if the videos can do it justice," Edward said. "I saw the sunrise when I was out here for that conference a couple months ago, and I knew."

"What did you know?" Bella asked, eyes riveted to the screen, watching the canyon take shape before her like it was being carved by a master craftsman. Crags and brush and shadow.

"This is where I'm going to ask you to marry me."

Bella's breath left her in a gust.

"This place?" His voice was a quiet rumble, like the clouds rolling by above. "There's such power here, such incredible beauty. The way it feels to watch the sunrise on something so timeless? It's second only to what it feels like to be yours. This is as close as I can get to showing you what it feels like to love you."

"Edward," she whispered.

"I feel like…" He swallowed hard. "My love for you existed long before either of us was born. When this canyon was being carved out of the rock—that was when we started."

Bella was struck, her heart grown too big in her chest. On the screen, the sun crested the canyon-top and light spilled over, chasing away shadows and bathing the world in color.

"This is the hard part, baby," he said, his tone so tender. "But this is what happens. This is what's left when you go up against water and wind. You're strong, Bella. So strong, but we're stronger together. We're going to get our happily ever after. Maybe we're going to have to work a little harder for it right now, but this life… This thing we have…"

"It's worth it," Bella said. Her voice shook, threads with emotion.

She'd lost sight for a bad moment. She'd lost the sound of his voice and the memory of his presence by her side. But what she felt for him was bigger than her isolation here. She was lost—a small piece of what they would eventually be together, far away from him, the life they planned, either of their families and all their friends. But she would go home.

Home to him. To them.

She sniffed and smiled, aching for him and so in love all over again. "You're not supposed to tell a person you're going to propose ahead of time, you know."

"There I go again, getting it all wrong."

She laughed. "You gave me the stars and the sun today. And one of the wonders of the world." And hope. Strength. "You give good date, Cullen."

His lips lifted in a beautiful, tender smile. "I love you more than anything, you know."

"I do know," she promised. "I love you too."

A/N: So many thanks to Packy, Qwen, and Betsy for all their help. Congrats to everyone who wrote for the contest!

Soulmates will update this weekend.