Okay, so this chapter was supposed to be much longer, but with both leftover storms from a hurricane and an ornery laptop to consider, I hope you’ll forgive me.

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When I woke up in the morning, I had to take a moment to fully comprehend that the warm arms wrapped around me were indeed the ones I had been yearning for. I twisted myself around to face him, to find that he was still asleep for once instead of waiting for me to wake up. I didn’t move to wake him, instead I watched as his even breathing moved his chest up and down.

My eyes drifted along his face and my heart broke a little more to see the evidence of what I had put Edward through by leaving. I had noticed only in fleeting last night as I had been too distraught to take in many details. Now though, as morning peeked through the windows, I saw his unshaven face and the dark bags that shadowed his eyes. My fingers traced the worry crease on his forehead until it loosened and when I dropped my hand, his came up suddenly to grasp it. At the same moment, his eyes flickered open to meet mine and upon seeing them, I melted back down into the bed next to him from where I had been sitting up to better observe him.

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” I apologized quietly. He didn’t say anything at first, instead he raised my hand he had hold of to his lips and kissed it softly.

“It’s okay. I couldn’t think of a much better way to be woken up,” he replied, his voice still thick and raspy from sleep. A small smile twitched on my lips at his words and I couldn’t help closing the distance between our lips to kiss him. His lips were soft against mine and I felt like I was finally home as his arms wrapped around me, pulling me as close to him as he could.

“I love you,” I murmured when we finally pulled away from each other.

“I love you too, more than you can even imagine,” he said, squeezing me against him for a moment. I buried my head in his chest and he allowed me to just lay there for some time before speaking, “We have a lot of things to sort out.”

I fought the urge to groan. I had been enjoying pretending that nothing was wrong between us, but obviously the illusion couldn’t last forever. Instead of verbally replying, I shifted myself upward and let my hand drift to cup his cheek before kissing him sweetly. When I broke the kiss, he smiled but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. I was tempted to just keep on kissing him until he had a real reason to smile, but I knew it wouldn’t help us in the long run.

Sensing my sudden shift in mood, Edward provided me an excuse to stall. Sometimes, it was as if he could read my mind.

“How about you hop in the shower and I’ll fix you some breakfast?” he offered quietly.

I nodded, still wordless, and got up without complaint. I didn’t remember until I was out of bed that I was completely and utterly naked in front of Edward. I blushed profusely as I looked back at him, but my embarrassment ceased abruptly when he laughed, a true, genuine, laugh. I bit my lip and grabbed my clothes up off the floor before throwing him a mock resentful look as I walked to the bathroom. His chuckles died out as the door clicked shut behind me, but I locked the sound away in my heart for future. I resolved to myself right then and there that it was my mission in life to make Edward laugh like that as often as possible and that anything less of me would be absolutely criminal. Feeling lighter just by making that promise to myself, I stepped into the shower and washed the last vestiges of resentment from me.

When I emerged, freshly clean and ready to face Edward again, I looked in dismay at the clothes I had picked up from the floor. Was that really what I had been wearing for the past two days? It was a weird array of day clothes and pajamas that were all rumpled from use. In the back of my mind, I remembered not wanting to change from my semi-dressed state last night, but I must not have even registered the fact that I was falling asleep still in a bra and other clothing items that any normal girl would remember to take off. Of course, my mental psyche was much clearer this morning.

I rolled my eyes at myself and wrapped myself in my towel to go out to my bedroom and find some clothes that hadn’t been wrinkled by sleep. I pulled on some clothes quickly, suddenly more eager to see Edward than I had been thirty minutes ago to put the pending conversation off.

I padded down the hallway quietly to find him setting two plates down on the table. He hadn’t noticed me yet. I felt a small rush of nerves rise in me as he ran his hand through his hair and sat down with his back to me. I cleared my throat, shaking the feeling from me and clinging to my need to see him as much as I could.

He twisted in the chair to smile at me and I marveled at the impossible attraction I felt for him in that moment because of the way his clothes looked just as rumpled and mis-matched as mine had been and his usually messy hair looked like an absolute haystack.

“Smells nice,” I commented as casually as I could and took a seat across from him. It seemed to be his turn to be quiet now. We ate in relative silence, but the air crackled with the words that were being unsaid. I felt like I was back in the days before we had resolved to try a relationship and I hated the feeling.

“Bella,” he finally said after we had both finished. I looked up at him from where I had been staring at my plate and bit my lip out of habit. “I’m sorry for being that way to you. You deserve so much better.”

“I have a lot of things to be sorry for too,” I confessed quietly. “I shouldn’t have pushed you. I should have just let it be.”

“No!” he interrupted me fiercely and surprised me by grabbing my hand across the table. “Don’t be sorry for that. It’s exactly what I deserved. A swift kick in the ass, really. Bella, if you hadn’t said what you said and left, I would have never realized how much me keeping my past to myself was hurting you. I was so blind and it took you leaving for me to realize so many things.

“First and foremost, that I love you. I love you so much and I see now that you are the reason I can smile again without effort. You make happiness possible for me, Bella.”

“Edward – ” I started, not sure what I was going to say. Then, he voiced what I couldn’t.

“I’ll tell you anything you want, Bella,” he told me quietly and squeezed my hand in his. I looked down at them and then my eyes slowly traveled back to him. When our eyes met, I just couldn’t stop myself from getting up and walking around the table to embrace him gently. He pulled me into his lap and buried his face in the crook of my neck, kissing the skin there. I shivered at the sensation and dipped my head down to meet his lips.

“Thank you,” were the only words that would come to my lips at the time.

We sat with each other for a moment, just savoring the closeness of our bodies. While we were so close, I gathered up all my thoughts and questions that had been swirling in my head for so long. I didn’t even know where to start.

Luckily, my lips seemed able to form questions without my brain’s consent. Unluckily, they seemed to be formed at random.

“Do you remember about three months ago when Rosalie came up to you at The Lost Bean and told you she had had a good time the night before? What did she mean?” I asked. As soon as the words left my mouth, I kicked myself inwardly. What kind of deep, thoughtful question about his past was that?

He laughed, obviously relieved at the question that was so opposite of what I really should have asked.

“Emmett, Rose and I had all gone to a concert I had been given tickets to the night before,” he explained simply with a small grin. “There was a bit of alcohol involved.”

“Oh,” I laughed at the answer and sighed. “You know, I agonized over that conversation for weeks. I was convinced if Rosalie was your girlfriend, you would never look twice at me.”

“Silly Bella,” he breathed softly. “How could anyone not look twice at you? Besides…I prefer brunettes.” A smirk was gracing his face now and I loved the sight.

“Do you now?” I quirked an eyebrow at him and sat up in his lap. He nodded with a smile and I rejoiced in the way his smile sparkled in his eyes.

“Yes,” he confirmed. “Now I think it’s my turn to ask a question.”

“I didn’t think that was part of the deal,” I teased.

“Oh, it is,” he assured me with a swift kiss. “Well, I always wanted to know what happened that night you were supposed to have a date with Mike Newton.”

It was my turn to giggle at the question.

“I walked out on him,” I confessed, trying to somber myself. Edward’s eyes widened in surprise and he silently urged me to continue. “He…asked to see me again and I just choked. I couldn’t do it and something inside of me just snapped. I knew I had to come see you. I just ran out and then your sister was just waiting for me outside, like she knew it would happen, and she drove me straight here.”

He exhaled heavily and then a rueful smiled tugged at his mouth.

“I never even considered the fact that you would have come on your own accord, you know?” he told me.

“I know.” I nodded sadly and took his hand in mine, intertwining our fingers.

“I just…damn it. I wasted so much time by just being stupid, didn’t I?” he asked desperately and I started shaking my head in disagreement before he could even finish.

“Edward. Stop. We are both at fault for the miscommunication and everything else. You can’t shoulder all the blame, just like I can’t. It happened, but we’re together now,” I told him a firmly as I could, but my voice still wavered with emotion.

His eyes turned sad as he took in my words and he reached up to brush my hair back from my face. As our mood turned more serious, different kinds of questions came out.

“Why won’t you play your own compositions for me?” I asked after a while.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair before replying.

“They’re not ready yet,” he said finally, sounding as if he was choosing his words carefully. I sagged in his arms at that and he hugged me a little tighter. “I promise when they are, you’ll be the first person I’ll play them for though.”

“Thank you,” I said quietly.

We spent the next two hours questioning each other about everything, trivial and serious, until the questions turned philosophical then simple then reflective again. It was a release I’d never experienced before and I was surprised to find that I had just as many secrets to share with him as I’d wanted him to share with me.

I committed to heart every detail that he revealed to me from the type of medication he was prescribed by his new psychiatrist that Alice had found him a week ago to the reason his favorite color was silver. Most of all, I was overjoyed at the newfound freedom that prevailed over our conversation. The boundaries we had built between us for so long didn’t exist anymore and it was exhilarating to be that open with another person.

Alice came home with Jasper around noon and interrupted our stream of dialogue, but while part of me wished I could be alone with Edward forever, I was still happy to see them both. As soon as Alice saw us both entwined around each other, she stated with a teasing glint in her eye that she had come home to see if we were both still alive and well. I knew by the way she was looking at us that she could probably tell everything that occurred between us without me even telling her. I also knew that it wouldn’t excuse me from a mandatory grilling session anyway.

She prattled on about the party she was going to throw tonight to officially celebrate my homecoming, but I hardly heard her. I was too busy drinking in the feeling of Edward’s arms around me to care much about any large gathering of people.

Edward, who also didn’t seem to be listening, leaned in to me and whispered in my ear, “I love you.”

I smiled lazily and cast a sidelong look at Alice and Jasper before kissing Edward surreptitiously.

“I love you, too,” I whispered back.

“Please don’t tell me you two are going to be as bad as Rosalie and Emmett about P.D.A.” Alice’s complaining whine broke the quiet moment between us and we both laughed as we turned to look at her with her hands planted firmly on hips.

“Technically, it’s not P.D.A. if we’re inside an apartment that one of us owns, Alice,” I teased my roommate in good nature.

Alice merely huffed in response while Jasper and Edward laughed along with me.

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Would you guys be interested in me posting the playlist I use for this story?

Reviews are always wonderful to get. :-)