Disclaimer: all recognisable characters are the property of Stephanie Meyer. NOTE: This disclaimer applies to the entire story so will not be written at the beginning of each chapter.

IMPORTANT: italics at the beginning of a section (marked by ~) are to let you know which character's POV the section is written from. For a few chapters it will either be Bella or Edward, then after that it'll continuously be Bella.

A/N: so I've had this idea brewing probably ever since I read the book, but at the time I was busy with other stories so this is the first chance I've had to actually write it. Be kind – it's my first Twilight fic and I'll try to do it justice, so constructive comments (ie: not flames) will be gratefully considered.

~Bella

My eyes locked with Jake's like those of a startled deer. I couldn't do this, couldn't make this choice. But I couldn't turn away either. With burning hands tightly holding my face, I watched in undecided horror as his head tilted slowly towards mine.

Then the phone rang.

The shrill sound caught my attention and allowed me to break free of the spell that had kept me still. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief, twisted free of Jake's hands and lifted the receiver to my ear, "Swan residence."

Nothing. I frowned: "Hello?"

As I was holding the phone to my ear, the slightest noise from the other end registered in my brain. When I had spoken, the person had taken a sharp breath but hadn't breathed since...an impossible idea bloomed and I tried to clamp it down before it had the chance to rip through my chest, but almost without my noticing a single word broke through my silence: "Edward?"

As soon as I said his name the phone was ripped from my hand. I turned in disbelief to face Jacob who had just slammed the receiver so hard into place that the plastic had cracked. His hand remained on it, his dark skin contrasting sharply with the light coloured casing. "What did you do?" I yelled.

"How can you want to talk to him after..." his sentence faltered as he struggled to control himself.

"That decision is entirely up to me Jacob Black! And I don't even know if it was him - they didn't say anything! And now I'll never know thanks to you!" My anger faded as quickly as it had flared and the faultline in my chest rippled as I realised, though I didn't know how, I had been so close to hearing him...that for some reason he had called - did he want to talk to me? Why?

"Bella? Bella! Listen to me!" Jake shook me, forcing me to focus on him. "Listen! Don't distance yourself again - it wasn't him. It wasn't."

"How do you know?" I protested. "It's just as likely to be him than-"

"He left, Bells," he spoke softly but the words cut deep into me. I started to recoil but Jacob's hands kept me in place. "He left. Why would he call now? I know I don't know the bl-guy, but wouldn't he just show up at your door if he wanted to talk to you?" He paused to let that sink in, watching as despair started to cloud my face.

My mind was racing in circles, spiralling down into the abyss that I had fallen into before. I had many questions – too many to notice, too many to acknowledge their existence, too many to focus on anything else – all of which I didn't have an answer for and most of which started with why? I was so absorbed that I didn't notice Jake pull away and stare at me for a second with that sad, longing look that I loathed and for once completely missed, before he turned and headed to the door. It was his footsteps that caught my attention and I jerked back into the world with a questioning: "Jake?"

He paused but didn't look back. I thought I could see his hand trembling on the doorknob. "You're not coming to the funeral?"

I shook my head, "I-I can't. Alice is here. She-"

"I get it, Bells." He paused again and then turned slightly to look at me over his shoulder, face perfectly composed. "Bye, Bella."

He opened the door. As he walked out, I called after him with a sense of dread pooling in my stomach: "See you later, Jake?" I didn't mean it to sound like a question but it didn't matter. He didn't answer me.

As soon as the door clicked shut Alice was beside me, concern gracing her perfect features. I turned to her and the concern flickered into alarm at my glazed expression. I was desperately trying to hold back tears that I had no reason for as I answered her unspoken yet obvious question. "Edward called."

~Edward

I stared at the tiny phone in my hand, wondering how something so small could be such a will-destroying device. My mind was racing faster than I could run, going around in circles as I stood frozen in the shade of an inconsequential forest somewhere in Rio. My thoughts were chasing each other around the confines of my mind but they all related to one thing.

Bella.

I needed her. I'd gone away when I'd thought it was best, left her alone so that I wouldn't put her in any more danger – which I knew I did, no matter what she said. It had only been a few months of separation but those few months had been pure torture. I had become unable to go a day without immersing myself in memories of her – an hour without imagining her voice – a minute without picturing her delicate features. Hearing her voice on the phone, proving that the information Rosalie had given me about her was false, it'd filled me with more emotion than I had felt since I'd left the small town of Forks. My chest no longer felt empty, I no longer felt empty. And it was all because of one very simple reason.

I love her.

I've never tried to deny it. In the forest, before I had left...it pained me to remember it. But didn't I deserve that pain? I had hurt her, the emotion had been clear to see in her wide eyes. It had been the ultimate betrayal to my very being the second I told Bella I didn't love her – as if that could ever be possible! Yet she'd accepted it so readily, believed the lie so quickly...I was unable to hold back a flinch at the memory of her expression and this one movement propelled the rest of me into motion and I started to pace back and forth, back and forth in the shade of the trees.

I can't go back.

Going back would put her in danger that I myself would be the cause of, or if not me specifically then my family or our connections. Going back would mean giving in – something that I didn't take lightly and an idea that in this case was ridiculously easy to entertain. Going back would mean getting to rid myself of these torturous feelings. It would mean I would be able to see my family again. I would see Bella.

Bella.

I was already running by the time my mind had caught up with my actions. Though, if I was honest with myself, I had never had a real choice in the first place. I had already decided the moment I heard her voice over the phone, the moment her breath hitched and she had whispered my name, calling me back to her.

And so I went as fast as I could.

Readers are needed. Reviewers are wanted.
TBC