Cerulean Star

Chapter 34: Stood Up

The coolness of the air around me was refreshing. The calming effect by the river lapping the bank was almost immediate, who needed Jasper? I closed my eyes on the boulder that was shaped like a chaise, but unfortunately my thinking time was cut short. I smelled him.

"Edward, I—"

"Bella, let me speak first." Edward interrupted me. He held up his hands to tell me to wait. It suddenly occurred to me that he wasn't sure if I'd run away or attack him, and the way I was feeling I couldn't be sure either.

"Bella, I know why you did it. And from the bottom of my heart I want to thank you for everything you did for my family. The sacrifice was great and I know that you would have died for us if it came to that. But for the life of me, I can't believe for a second that you had absolutely no intention of contacting us. We loved and mourned for you and then all of a sudden you turn up with other vampires with the intent to kill us."

"If you knew me at all you would know that wasn't my intent. Just be still." I flexed my hand, but then clamped it back shut. With way too much concentration, I found that I was able to project actual past thoughts that seemed to project as visions in others. It didn't always work while I was practicing with Santiago, but I was praying that it would now. I stepped closer to Edward and placed both of my hands on either side of his face. I took a relaxing breath and started with the only thing that I could think of.

Though the memory was a bit faded, it was the first moment I saw him, how I knew what it was. And then I moved to the moments I knew I was in love with him, meeting his family. I skipped over the parts that I knew would cause him pain, him leaving me, discovering me in Volterra, Felix. The next thing I showed him was the look of passion that he had when he first saw me after my change, but before I told him I chose Felix.

I showed him my thoughts of having never told him that I truly loved him before my execution. My conversations with Marcus after I was supposedly dead, all of my training and the various missions I was sent on. My final orders from my uncles, including my conversation with Marcus in the SUV to the house; I showed him all of it.

"I figured out a long time ago why my uncles sent me to Fork, it was only just a matter of convenience that my father actually lived there. I'm sure he would have found some other way to get me to Forks.

Aro has always wanted what Carlisle managed to do without fear: power. He'd probably heard of the family Carlisle had and used me to get the information. And you walked right into his hand when you wanted him to kill you. He saw the love you had for each and every one of them, but most importantly he saw which ones were valuable to him. Then he saw their gifts in action at my party. It took me 'til only now to realize that he never planned to kill me."

"But I left to protect you. I thought I was protecting you." Edward was pinching his nose again. And there was never any doubt in my mind that he thought he was doing what was right at the time. But what I couldn't understand was why he thought what I did was any different from when he left.

"I know Edward. But remember how you left me, how you took everyone that I connected with, your family, away from me? I simply did the same thing. I was protecting you, granted I think I did a much better job of it." I said with a smile, hopefully alleviating some of the tension between us.

Edward opened his mouth to retort, but quickly shut it. He did that several times, and each time I focused more and more on his perfect mouth. And yet somehow I missed the cue when he started kissing me.

Our lips ignited the electricity between us once again, fueling the need that we couldn't stop touching each other. I ran my fingers through his hair, a feeling that I never thought I would feel again. Such a simple gesture brought on a flood of emotions, that seemed would only cease when we did. Only we never wanted to end.