IMPORTANT A/N: Hello again. Hello again... yeah, that's what this was supposed to be. A hello again, and a last. But here's the thing, and why it took me so long to say it… I don't want to say it for a last time. And that decision, though NOT EVER planned, has been making me crazy for months. I've been back and forth a thousand times over what to do, my head and my heart at odds with each other, my head telling my heart to stick with the plan and let go… and my heart screaming NO after NO after NO…

So, here's what I've decided. I can't let go. I don't want to. I started this story as a healing process for myself, a 'I'll give myself the closure that my abandoner didn't let me have' process. And I did that. Mostly. I'm still human, of course, so…

But that spineless son of a bitch doesn't get any more airtime from me, (and no, I didn't kill him, only Bella got to live out that fantasy)whether I'm healed or not. And this Bella and Edward… I think they deserve some more. I think they deserve a lot. They gave me something and I want to give something back to them. Something of their own.

So, what this will be is a final goodbye. On this chapter of their lives. And that last hello I promised? Will be a first instead. On others. Because it's what my heart, and most importantly their hearts, want me to do.

And as for what I do down below... it is what it is. And how I want to end this.

…

…

Chapter Twenty Eight: Goodbye

"Edward?"

No matter how much faith I have in the man who has done so much for me, and proves to me every day that he'd do more–do anything–the cool feel of the sheets next to me where warmth is supposed to be still sends my heart into a panic. And my feet with it.

I know he'd never leave me...

Never just let me find him gone…

On my very life I know it…

And trust in his promises…

But my greatest comfort comes from seeing them with my own eyes.

Seeing him. And his Everything will be okay smile.

That I don't see now on his face. And didn't hear in his voice when I came in just in time for his goodbye. "Edward? What's wrong? Who were you talking to? Who was on the phone?"

His eyes don't answer any of my questions as they meet mine.

They simply warm. Because that's all he ever lets them give me, in one way or another. Warmth.

And his mouth–that's the kind of warm that dreams are made of–doesn't answer them, either.

After he closes the few feet of distance between us and brushes them softly against mine. "Hello again. And good morning."

"Good morning," I return, just like every. "And hello again to you, too." Because it's the way we start every new day.

But since I started this one seeing something not good on his face…

And hearing him say goodbye to someone with no warmth at all… "Now, tell me, please."

He looks as though he's about to deny my request, but then his voice comes out in a low murmur. "That was Jasper. Alice had the baby. There were complications."

"What kind of complications? Are they alright?"

"The baby was stillborn."

And just like that, I'm cold. "That's… " awful… terrible… sad… heartbr–

"Dangerous."

"For–"

"You."

Maybe someday… but... "I'm sure I'm the last thing on her mind right now, Edward. She must be grieving… "

"And when she stops?"

"I don't think I'd ever stop if it were me. If I lost a part of you that–"

"You'll never lose any part of me, Bella. You'll never lose anything ever again… not while I'm alive."

I believe him. He means it too much for me to not. Loves me too much.

Like someone else does. Someone who set aside his grief, and that of the other woman he loves, not to call me–who would have offered him condolences and comforting words–but to call the man who uprooted his entire life to protect me. To let him know not of his tragedy, but of how it could lead to another.

"Can I call him?" I ask him, my eyes flitting to his phone. The only one that rang this morning.

"Not right now, Bella."

"Okay," I say. Because I know it's the right decision. And, even though hard, the easiest one for all of us to live with.

And because, if it wasn't for Edward and his decisions…

Decisions made for me…

In every possible way...

I might not be living at all.

.

The End.

Until the beginning, which I'm going to guess (based on prior abandonment) most of you won't join me for (by all means feel free to make me eat my words), but will be titled Hello Again for those of you who will.

Now, as for when this will happen, I'm not at this time going to make any promises or predictions. They automatically result in failure (MINE) every time I do, so…

See you when I see you I guess. And thanks to those of you who stuck around to at least see this.