***********************************************************************

After another long day of questions and answers, Edward takes me to his favorite meadow again. He rests himself against a tree, with his back against the trunk and one leg straight out in front of him on the grass. His other leg is propped up in a bent position.

I'm facing Edward, sitting on the grass slightly between his straight leg and the other bent one. I have my knees to my chest, clutching them with my hands.

It's peaceful out here in the meadow. The sun is shining down on us. Of course, it's making Edward's skin sparkle like diamonds. He has his coat slightly open to allow the sun to hit his chest as well. Edward enjoys the warmth of the sun on his cold skin, and he wants to feel it as much as possible.

I notice that Edward has his eyes closed. Even his eyelids sparkle in the sunlight. I admire their beauty.

Feeling a bit playful, I pick up a random leaf from off the ground. I bring the leaf up to Edward's face and wiggle its soft tip against his nose.

Edward's full, red lips crack into a grin. He softly pushes my hand away and opens his eyes. "I thought you were tired," he teases.

"I was," I answer, "but I was just . . . curious."

Edward arches a perfect eyebrow. His lips pull into a grin. "Now what is it this time?" he asks.

I look away from him, embarrassed. "Don't make fun of me, but I wanted to know if you were ticklish." I look back at him. A sheepish grin now on my face.

Edward pulls his head back. "Awe, the classic question," he muses.

"So are you?" I press.

He doesn't answer my question. He only leans back against the trunk of the tree and closes his eyes again.

I can't believe Edward is trying to play coy with me. He should know that's not going to work. Now that I'm more intrigued than ever, I slowly bring one of my hands to Edward's exposed chest and start to wiggle my fingers against the diamond-like skin. I start slowly at first then intense the speed.

It takes a moment for Edward to react. In his usual rapid speed, he grabs my wrist and holds it safely away from his chest. His eyes flutter open in exasperation. "You just can't keep your hands to yourself, can you?" he taunts.

A wicked smirk forms on his face, and without warning, as fast as a blur, I'm pushed back to the ground with Edward now above me. He has his hands on the ground on either side of my body. I try to get back up, but he playfully pushes me back down with one hand.

"Where do you think you're going?" he laughs. "Now that you know I'm ticklish, I want to know if you're ticklish. It's only fair."

I quickly shake my head. "Of course I'm ticklish. Pretty much every human is ticklish," I state the obvious, hoping that will influence him to let me go.

"I know." Edward smirks. He starts to lift my shirt up just above my belly button, chuckling as he does so. "I've got you now, little human." He scratches his cold fingers up and down my stomach.

I giggle uncontrollably at the sensations. Edward starts to wiggle his fingers against my stomach even harder which makes my hands flail. I try to push Edward's hands away, but I can't. He's too strong.

"Okay, Okay," I laugh.

"Okay what?" Edward teases. "Is the little human girl ticklish?"

I giggle even harder at his teasing. "Stop!" I beg.

"Stop what, huh? Stop what?" Edward jokes playfully. He begins tracing his index finger around my belly button.

I burst into another fit of laughter, my back arching on the ground. "Edward! Stop!" I squeal.

Edward chuckles and finally stops. "Had enough?" he muses with a grin.

I nod my head quickly. And in almost the blink of an eye, Edward lifts me off the ground. The two of us are now sitting down. Edward has his back against the tree again. His arms are wrapped around my middle, caging me against him. My back is resting against his chest as I lean back on him.

"You must think you're some big bad vampire, huh?" I say in a teasing tone.

"Your words, not mine," Edward says. 

I scoff playfully in defeat.

"Now, I want you to get some rest," Edward orders. "Cause you are not going anywhere." He squeezes me gently with his arms in order to prove his point. Then, he pokes my stomach a few times, earning a few giggles and squirms from me.

"Fine," I sigh. "I'll need it now anyway after what you did to me." My body relaxes against Edward's hold.

I feel him nuzzle his nose into my hair, inhaling my scent to make sure that he's used to it. He follows it up with a kiss on the top of my hair.

I sigh again, feeling completely at peace and safe in Edward's arms. I hope every day I spend with Edward will be just like this.

My eyes slowly flicker open. I sigh lovingly to myself at the memory of that specific day in the meadow.

I look around me, and it takes a second for me to realize that I'm not in my room. Panicked, I scan my surroundings with more scrutiny. I immediately recognize the faces of my grandparents. They're both sitting beside my bed. If I didn't know any better based on my surroundings, I'd say that I'm in a hospital room, which would make my bed a hospital bed.

Grandma turns her head to me. "How are you feeling?" she asks calmly.

I try to move. I was expecting nothing to hurt since I felt so comfortable, but the second I move a muscle, my joints starts to throb. I quickly bring my body back to a relaxed position. "Not so great," I admit to answer her question.

Suddenly, a bucket load of thoughts starts to swamp my brain. How did I get here? Where are the Cullens? What happened to James? What happened after I passed out? What are my grandparents doing here?

I decide to figure out the answer to the last question first. "What-What happened?" I stammer.

"Do you remember anything?" Grandma asks, concern fills her voice.

I take a second to rack my brain. I remember everything right up to the point where I passed out. I couldn't be happier to have all that pain behind me, but the question still remains, what happened after I passed out? I decide to play dumb.

"I really don't remember anything," I say.

"Well," Grandpa speaks up for the first time. He moves over to the other side of the bed to be closer to me. "After you left, I got a call from Dr. Cullen a few days later. He told me that he and Edward went out looking for you. It's a good thing you told Edward where you were going, or they would have never found you. When you went to visit their hotel, you tripped and fell down two flights of stairs. Then, dear God, you went through a window. I don't know what would have happened if Edward and Dr. Cullen weren't there to take care of you."

"Then they brought me here," I finish for Grandpa.

He nods.

Grandma speaks up. "You broke your leg and lost a lot of blood," she informs.

"Will I be okay?" I ask, suddenly worried that I might have attained some permanent damages to my body.

"You'll be fine," Grandpa answers my question quickly to calm my nerves. "But it'll be a few weeks before you're back to normal. Your leg will take the longest to heal."

"Yeah, figured," I say, nodding my head to the side.

"Edward is here, you know," Grandma pipes up. She looks behind her then looks back at me. "He's back there sleeping in a chair. He hasn't left this room since you got here."

The mention of Edward makes tingles of excitement run all over my body. I know he's awake since vampires don't sleep. He's probably been listening in on our conversation this whole time.

"Can-Can I talk to him? Alone?" I stammer.

A look of seriousness comes over Grandpa's face. "Not yet, young lady, we still need to talk about that tantrum you had the other day. We're not just going to let you off the hook for that."

"You're going to be punished," Grandma assures. "We'll just wait until after you're feeling better to decide on what it's going to be."

I groan, not surprised by this at all. But what my grandparents don't know is that I will never regret what I did to them on that day. In the long run, it did keep them away from the danger.

"But until then," Grandpa begins, "your grandma and I were talking, and we have decided that if you still hate Forks just as much after you get better, then we can start to consider the possibility of moving somewhere else."

I quickly shake my head. "No, it's fine. I actually like it here in Forks."

I'm not sure how I'm going to convince my grandparents that my outburst was just a mistake, but I'll figure it out.

My grandparents contort their faces in confusion. "So what was that all about then?" Grandma asks.

"Um." I blink rapidly to myself, thinking of what to say. "I was just being ridiculous. I don't know why I did that. I was just overreacting, and something came over me, but I promise that I'll never do it again."

"Are you sure you're not just saying that to make us feel better?" Grandma asks skeptically.

"No, I really do it like it here in Forks. I've grown too attached at this point to move somewhere else and have to start all over. I don't think I could go through that again. I don't know what I was thinking."

"Are you sure?" Grandma asks.

"I'm sure."

An awkward silence fills the hospital room. I have no idea how to get my grandparents to leave the room in order for me to be able to talk to Edward alone. But after another awkward silence filled minute passes, my grandma stands to her feet.

She looks at me. "Do you want something to eat? Dr. Cullen said to give you some food if you were hungry."

I nod my head, eager to use this as an excuse to get my grandparents to leave the room, if not but for a few minutes.

"Adam, come with me," Grandma orders Grandpa. The two of them leave the room to go get me some food from down in the cafeteria.

With them now gone, I attempt to readjust my position in the hospital bed, to sit a bit more upright. It hurts pretty bad, like I haven't used my body in ages, but somehow, I manage.

Now in a more upright position, I'm able to see Edward better. He's pretending to sleep in a chair in the corner of the room. I notice that he's wearing a hoodie.

"I know you're awake," I say, breaking the silence in the room.

Edward opens his eyes. He slowly approaches me and takes a seat in the same chair that my grandma had been sitting in before she left.

"What really happened?" I ask.

"We took care of James," Edward explains, "and the woman, Victoria, she ran off. But James had bitten you, so I had to suck the venom out myself."

"You saved me," I breathe out.

His expression changes to one of remorse and deep regret. "No, you're in here because of me." He pauses. "The worst part of it was . . . that I thought I wasn't gonna be able to stop."

"Well, you did stop, and that's all that matters," I assure him.

Edward looks down at the floor. He bites his lower lip. "Rebecca, you gotta take up your grandparents' offer and move away from here . . . so I can't hurt you anymore."

"Edward, no," I retaliate immediately. "You didn't hurt me. James and Victoria did. You didn't know that they were coming, not even Alice saw them coming. It wasn't your fault."

He looks down at the floor again. "That's just it. I was supposed to protect you, but I couldn't. I can't let something like this happen again."

"Edward," I say firmly, "you can't control what happens to me, okay? And I don't want to move away again. I wasn't lying when I told my grandparents that I can't go through that again. I'm staying here, whether you like it or not."

He doesn't say anything, only a silence fills the space between us. I try to diffuse the tension.

"It would be nice to have your approval," I speak up hesitantly.

Edward's eyes meet mine. "I guess I'll just have to respect your choice, for now," he gives in. He slowly rises onto his feet and leans over me. He brings his face close to mine, and even in my unstable state, his presence doesn't fail to dazzle me. "I will always be here to watch over you," he promises before kissing my forehead, his lips lingering for a moment. He then settles his forehead gently against mine, as if to seal the promise.

I lean my forehead into his. "I love you," I whisper, and that is also a promise.

Author's Note: Don't be a silent reader! Remember to vote, comment, share, and give me your theories and thoughts! Constructive criticism and any criticism for that matter is always welcome! Know any other Twihards? Let them know about this story!