I stretched as he spoke. I was so stiff.

"Charlie?" I asked.

Edward frowned. "Sleeping. You should probably know that I'm breaking the rules right now. Well, not technically, since he said I was never to walk through his door again, and I came in the window… But, still, the intent was clear."

"Aw, I wish we could have heard that," Emmett pouted. "Eddy's reaction would have been so good."

"Charlie banned you from the house?" I asked, disbelief quickly melting into fury.

His eyes were sad. "Did you expect anything else?"

My eyes were mad. I was going to have a few words with my father – perhaps it would be a good time to remind him that I was over the legal age of adulthood. It didn't matter so much, of course, except in principle. All too soon there would be no reason for the prohibition. I turned my thoughts to less painful avenues.

"What's the story?" I asked, genuinely curious, but also trying desperately to keep the conversation casual, to keep a firm grip on myself, so I wouldn't scare him away with the frantic, gnawing craving that was raging inside me.

"What do you mean?"

"What am I telling Charlie? What's my excuse for disappearing for…how long was I gone, anyway?" I tried to count the hours in my head.

"That's a good question," Jasper said.

"A bastardization of the truth would probably be best," Alice shrugged. "You know, saying that she had to help Edward from doing something stupid or something to that effect."

"Just three days." His eyes tightened, but he smiled more naturally this time. "Actually, I was hoping you might have a good explanation. I've got nothing."

I groaned. "Fabulous."

"Well, maybe Alice will come up with something," he offered, trying to comfort me.

"Alright, shorty, you're on!" Emmett laughed and Alice rolled her eyes at him.

And I was comforted. Who cared what I had to deal with later? Every second that he was here – so close, his flawless face glowing in the dim light from the numbers on my alarm clock – was precious and not to be wasted.

"So," I began, picking the least important – though still vitally interesting – question to start with. I was safely delivered home, and he might decide to leave at any moment. I had to keep him talking. Besides, this temporary heaven wasn't entirely complete without the sound of his voice. "What have you been doing, up until three days ago?"

His face turned wary in an instant. "Nothing terribly exciting."

"Argh...why are you so guarded?" Alice groaned. "Just tell her how miserable you were without her and be done with it."

"Oh..." Esme said looking like she really wouldn't want to hear that at all.

"Of course not," I mumbled.

"Why are you making that face?"

"Well…" I pursed my lips, considering. "If you were, after all, just a dream, that's exactly the kind of thing you would say. My imagination must be used up."

"Told you," Alice laughed along with Emmett, but Edward shook his head as he smiled.

He sighed. "If I tell you, will you finally believe that you're not having a nightmare?"

"Ow," Edward said because Alice had smacked him in the back of the head.

"Will you stop calling this a nightmare," Alice hissed, glaring at him.

"Nightmare!" I repeated scornfully. He waited for my answer. "Maybe," I said after a second of thought. "If you tell me."

"I was… hunting."

"Is that the best you can do?" I criticized. "That definitely doesn't prove I'm awake."

"She does have a point there," Jasper smiled.

"Yeah, but Eddy might not have done anything. He might have just sat around and moped all the time," Emmett chuckled.

He hesitated, and then spoke slowly, choosing his words with care. "I wasn't hunting for food… I was actually trying my hand at…tracking. I'm not very good at it."

"Tracking...why would you start tracking?" Jasper asked.

Edward on the other hand got it right away and was frowning, looking quite angry. He only said one word: "Victoria."

"Oh," Jasper said, and that made perfect sense to them all.

"You're right...you weren't very good," Emmett said.

"What were you tracking?" I asked, intrigued.

"Nothing of consequence." His words didn't match his expression; he looked upset, uncomfortable.

"Why aren't you telling her?" Alice hissed.

"How should I know?" Edward said looking like he was totally confused by what his book self was doing.

"I don't understand."

He hesitated; his face, shining with an odd green cast from the light of the clock, was torn.

"I –" He took a deep breath. "I owe you an apology. No, of course I owe you much, much more than that. But you have to know,"– the words began to flow so fast, the way I remembered he spoke sometimes when he was agitated, that I really had to concentrate to catch them all –"that I had no idea. I didn't realize the mess I was leaving behind. I thought it was safe for you here. So safe. I had no idea that Victoria,"– his lips curled back when he said the name –"would come back. I'll admit, when I saw her that one time, I was paying much more attention to James' thoughts. But I just didn't see that she had this kind of response in her. That she even had such a tie to him. I think I realize why now – she was so sure of him, the thought of him failing never occurred to her. It was her overconfidence that clouded her feelings about him – that kept me from seeing the depth of them, the bond there.

"Not that there's any excuse for what I left you to face. When I heard what you told Alice –what she saw herself – when I realized that you had to put your life in the hands of werewolves, immature, volatile, the worst thing out there besides Victoria herself

"Okay, so I sense there's going to be a werewolf conflict between us," Edward sighed. "I really have no idea what she went through and how helpful the pup was."

– he shuddered and the gush of words halted for a short second. "Please know that I had no idea of any of this. I feel sick, sick to my core, even now, when I can see and feel you safe in my arms. I am the most miserable excuse for –"

"Stop," I interrupted him. He stared at me with agonized eyes, and I tried to find the right words – the words that would free him from this imagined obligation that caused him so much pain. They were very hard words to say. I didn't know if I could get them out without breaking down. But I had to try to do it right. I didn't want to be a source of guilt and anguish in his life. He should be happy, no matter what it cost me.

"Aw, Eddy, it looks like she's going to let you go," Emmett chuckled.

"I don't want that," Edward looked a little nervous.

"But she loves you, she has to let you go," Emmett shrugged, still smirking.

"But I don't want that," Edward repeated.