I do not own Twilight or any recognizable characters or situations, I simply want to share my imagination as to alternate plot-lines that could have been built around the Twilight universe. Let this disclaimer stand for all future chapters. In this story Edward never left Bella.

Prequel

Bella

His cool breath was lightly blowing on my skin as he placed one more kiss on the juncture of my neck and shoulder which caused goosebumps to erupt across my entire body. His marble body was solid against mine, I was pinned beneath him, and although he was cold and the chill of Washington air blew in through the open window, I felt like my body was on fire. I wanted him. I know that this would soon end though, as it always did with him, in a pit of rejection that I felt not only in between my legs, but in my heart too. I just wanted to be close to him.

"Bella, we have to stop this." Edward spoke softly. His copper hair was slightly disheveled from my hands gripping him closer.

"Why though?" I asked. "We don't have to stop, I want this, and we love each other, right?"

Edward sighed before he continued to let me down, politely of course. "We absolutely love each other Isabella, but we have to do things the proper way. I know you are better than this, we should wait."

I detached for a moment as I always do, I know that I can't win any arguments with Edward, or any vampire for that matter. I pushed him off of me, and he allowed me to do it. I muttered something about human needs and made my way to the bathroom. I felt rejected and frustrated, but I was determined not to cry, he would hear me and it was bound to cause a debacle should he find out how I was truly feeling.

He told me that I am better than that… but I don't think I am. I want sex, and I don't care about marriage. In fact, I hate the thought of marriage, it was just a piece of paper and a legal agreement to stick around… Edward and I had a real love, why would a piece of paper like that be needed? I just want to feel the rush of being with him, and as an eighteen year old woman, I think that is normal and healthy.

I washed my hands in the sink and splashed some of the cool water onto my face and looked into the mirror one last time before walking back to my bedroom where Edward was waiting. When I made it through the door Edward was sitting at the edge of the bed.

When he saw me walk in, he turned towards me, gave me a warm smile and said, "I have an idea, hear me out."

I automatically smiled back, happy that he wasn't sulking. This encouraged him to continue, but I didn't realize what was coming when he got off the mattress and got down on one knee.

"Bella, you are the sweetest, most pure, intelligent woman, human, that I have ever known. I've lived many years and have never found someone who compliments me so well and I want to call you my wife and spend my existence with you. Will you marry me?" He asked as he looked up at me.

I froze. He looked so confident and sure that I was going to say yes. It bothered me because he knows how I feel about the concept of marriage, and why is he asking me now? Is it because he needs that before we can have sex?

"Bella?" He brought me back to the moment, when I looked back to him I could tell that my silence had taken away some of his confidence.

"I'm sorry Edward, but I need to think about this." I decided to be direct. It was not how I usually am with him, but I wasn't sure how else I should answer him. I could feel it in my gut that marriage is not what I wanted, but I also did not want to lose him. He is the love of my life, possibly existence if I am changed.

If I am changed… since when was I not sure about becoming a vampire? Of course I will change. I am meant to be with Edward and I could be with him properly if I was not changed to be like him and the rest of the Cullens. Edward cleared his throat, for the sole purpose of getting my attention since it was not necessary for vampires to do such things. It made me realize how long I had been lost in thought, nearly panicking at the thought of getting married.

"You cannot be serious my love." I was though. I really needed to think this through. It was not like me to be so direct, but it was even less like me to make a big decision without taking my time to think things through from every angle. "I want to marry you, I want you to be with me always." He continued.

I started to feel dizzy with the pressure to say anything. I almost wanted to say yes just so that we could stop talking about this. But as I continued to think about that outcome all I could see was a giant rock weighing my hand and my heart down as everyone of the Cullen house hold tried to get me to make decisions about flowers or try to make me wear high heels. All I could imagine were the people at school and in town asking me questions about the wedding and about why we would be getting married at such a young age. The wedding and the marriage would infect my entire life and I couldn't handle that.

I sat down before I could fall down and Edward put his icy hand on mine. His eyes still looked earnest and I know that he couldn't read my thoughts through mind-reading but he also couldn't read them through the horrified expression I had to be wearing.

"Let me put a ring on your finger. We can tell the whole world that we will be together forever and then you can have all the things that you want. I can give you anything Bella." He spoke once more.

"Edward…" I said in a shaky voice and swallowed the lump in my throat, "I can't. I can't give you the answer you want right now. I don't want fancy things. I just want to be with you, but I can't get married right now."

"I see." Edward replied, standing up. His face looked stone cold and I knew that he had closed himself off from me. "I will give you your space to think. Let me know when you are able to look past yourself and make a compromise for this relationship."

And before I knew it, he was gone.

My alarm buzzed bright and early the next morning, it let me know that it was time to get ready for school, so I brushed the sleep from my eyes, grabbed my toiletries, and made my way to the bathroom. I turned on the shower and gave it a moment for the water to warm up and as soon as I deemed it right temperature I shed my pajamas and stepped in. As I stood under the soothing droplets I let my mind drift to yesterday afternoon.

The first night without Edward watching me sleep, I felt relief. I don't like marriage because I don't think that it lasts with anyone, and I just don't see the point anyway, but I also knew in my gut that I didn't want to marry Edward.

That was a scary thought because while I have never liked the concept of marriage, I have always loved Edward, and I have never imagined being away from him. I wasn't sure about how he acted yesterday though. He wasn't interested in anything that I had to say and he never picked up on the fact that I was completely uncomfortable. It also seemed like his proposal was just a solution to a problem.

I also couldn't see how it was a problem… I wanted to have sex, I have a healthy sex drive, and I am only human, we have dirty minds sometimes. He said that I am "better than that" but I'm not and I know it. I wanted to feel him, I still want to feel him. He is stuck in another time and I am not a part of that time.

When the water started to run cold, so it was time to get out. When I glanced at the electric clock by the counter I realized just how long I was in the shower.

"Oh no, I am going to be so late." I said to myself, and threw on my clothes. I brushed my hair as quickly as possible and grabbed a granola bar. Before I knew it I had brought my truck to life and made my way to school.

I was surprised when Edward was not there waiting for me. Maybe he went to class and had respected my wish for time alone. That seemed off though since Edward never really left my side at school.

When I got to my first class though, after first bell had already rung, Edward was not there. It was not a sunny day, so the only other explanation for his absence was our sort-of argument. I thought it was childish for him to avoid school all together, but he was the one over a hundred years old, so what did I really know about maturity compared to him.

The final bell rang and it was finally time to go home. The day had felt like it drug on forever without Edward there. I never really realized how he always seemed to be there. It was almost smothering, I never got a chance to be alone these days. If it wasn't Edward with me, it was Alice, and it wasn't just Edward who was missing today.

The time away from the Cullens hadn't been totally wasted though, it had given me a chance to see my normal, human friends. I sat with Angela and Jessica today at lunch and even Lauren was bearable. Mike had made some wisecrack about my being too cool for them when Edward is here, but I ignored it because today was overall a pretty good day.

I hopped in my rusty old truck and turned the ignition. I let my mind continue to wonder as I drove through town to get home and before I knew it I was turning into my driveway.

I genuinely believed that Edward would be here when I got home, but my truck sat alone in the driveway and when I made it up the stairs to my room, it was empty with the window still shut from when I left this morning. I dropped my bag and fired up my old computer. It took it's time to load so I grabbed my weathered copy of Wuthering Heights while I waited.

When the computer had come on and fully loaded I checked my emails, and responded to the several that Renee had sent me in the last few days, and left the rest to sit in my inbox. Most of them were colleges trying their best to appeal to me. The truth is, I have no idea what I want to do after high school. With that thought my mind went back to Edward and his proposal once more. It seemed to be all I could think about, which was entirely bothersome. I really didn't want to sit here and continue to think about my current situation, so I thought I would continue today's momentum and made my way out to La Push to visit Jacob Black.

Jake was my best friend, Edward didn't like me to spend much time with him, as he told me that it was inappropriate for me to spend so much time with another male, but it wasn't like that. I knew that Jake had feelings for me, but it wasn't something I ever entertained, and I always shut it down anytime it came up. I love Jacob, so much, but it will only ever be as a friend, and regardless of his lingering feelings, I knew that he accepted that.

In my excitement, I pushed my old Ford as fast as she could go, and though she grumbled, I made it to Jake's little red house in only twenty minutes. I slammed my door on the way out and made my way to the small porch. Just as I was about to knock, Jacob opened the door.

"What are you doing here?" He asked me. I was thrown for a moment. Jake and I hadn't talked for about a month and we'd had fun. We went and saw some sort of action slasher film. He did go home burning up that night and came down with mono. I guess I should have called before making the trip out here now that I think about it, because in the last month I had called several times to check on him and had only been turned away by his dad, Billy.

"Um..I.. um well I just came to hang out. I haven't seen you in so long." I stuttered. Now that I had taken a moment to really look at him, Jake was standing more than a foot taller than me. I'm only five-two so he's always been taller than me, but he'd grown an enormous amount in what seemed like overnight.

His height was not the only thing about his appearance that had changed. His beautiful, long hair had also been chopped off, and since he was shirtless I could tell that he was ripped. Like really ripped. When did that happen? And when did he get a tattoo? My mind was spinning with all of this new information.

I hadn't realized I'd been staring until Jacob smirked and said, "Like what you see?" I couldn't do anything but mutter incoherently as I was so confused as to his sudden change and when I didn't say anything he scoffed and sounded disgusted when he said, "Of course not, you prefer the pretty boys."

"What? No. Jake, you just look really different, what happened?" I asked.

Jacob just looked at me with an expression that was impossible to read. There was a second there though that I thought I saw disappointment flash through his eyes.

"Look Bella… You have no business here anymore, you should go home." He told me, his voice even and cold.

"Wait. What?" I'm sure I sounded brilliant but I couldn't understand what he'd said. He's my best friend, wasn't that business enough to be here?

"I know that this is hard for you to understand, but you're not my friend, I don't like you and I don't want to hang out anymore. You don't have any business being here."

I felt my heart break. No one ever makes a big deal out of the heartbreak that comes from the end of friendships, but Jake was always there for me, and we shared so many memories and secrets from when we were younger. How could he not want to be around me anymore? What had I done wrong?

I must have been staring because Jacob spoke, and again there was no warmth or comfort in his tone. "Bella… go home. We're done here."

I couldn't even manage to fight back or say anything at all, I just spun on my heel and ran to my truck. I thought that I had made it here in good time, but it didn't even compare to how quickly I made it home. As soon as my truck was stopped the tears that had been threatening to fall spilled over. I sobbed into my hands until the sky got dark. Once my tears had dried I sat staring straight ahead at the steering wheel until Charlie's headlights blinded me as he turned to park behind me.

I took that as a sign to get out of the truck and make my way in. I held the door open for Charlie and he took off his gun and belt before he plopped himself down on the couch. He let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes. It must have been a long day for him too.

"So where were you just getting back from?" My dad asked me. '

"Billy and Jake's house." I responded, but I didn't bother to mention that I had gotten home nearly two hours ago and just hadn't made it inside yet.

"I spent my day in La Push too." He told me. This is a dangerous conversation, I didn't want to start crying again, and more than that I didn't want to talk about why with my father. "Do you know Paul Lahote?" He asked. When I shook my head no, he continued, "The kid is volatile. He's had a rough go, and I bet he deserved it, but he beat his own dad nearly to death."

I was shocked, I couldn't imagine being so angry at anyone... maybe James and his clan. "Why do you think he would deserve it?" I asked, although I'm not sure why, I don't think I want to know why Paul would do what he did.

"Paul's just a kid really, only a few years older than you, but his dad beat on him all the time when he was little. I'd be there to defuse the situation and take his dad in. But it never lasted, his mom, sweet a woman as she was, always bailed the fucker, uh sorry… the man out." Charlie and I both blushed, he never cursed in front of me and I had just assumed that he never did. "Well anyways, Paul's dad left about ten years ago, and his mom's been sick. He had to take care of her, it was an awful lot of responsibility for a teen. Mrs. Lahote died nearly a year ago. Paul has been on his own since then, he was always quiet, but since his mom's been gone, he's become completely reclusive. Then today, out of nowhere his scum of a father just shows up out of the blue." Charlie shook his head, clearly frustrated.

"Wow… I don't know what to say." And I didn't. Poor Paul was all I could think of.

"Well kid, what do you think? Should we order some pizza?" He asked me. I just nodded and spent the rest of my night on the couch and pretended to watch whatever game Charlie had turned on.

I didn't hear from Edward all night. I did my best not to think about him, our argument, or Jacob and my heartbreak.

Author's note:

I hope you enjoy the story! There are going to be a few chapters that are just build-up, but I promise that this is not a vampire-centric story, I am all about the wolves!

Reviews are appreciated, especially if you have constructive criticism to give or ideas to share, they keep me motivated! :)