A/n: Hello, good readers who for the most part don't review! Do you understand what I'm getting at? REVIEW! I know how many of you have altered this story. Give me some appreciation, people! *pout* Please?

Anyway, this chapter is mostly fluff but you'll find out something important about Edward. *gasp* Oh and FYI, I used Google Maps to figure out the supposed distance and time between Dartmouth College and Forks, WA. It may be wrong but I'm going by their numbers... deal with it. ENJOY!!!!!!!!

~Golden Fruit

Chapter 22

"For the brave are free
and lovers soar
Come ride with me
to the distance shore."

Life Is A Highway

Bella POV

If you asked me why we had decided to drive to New Hampshire, over two thousand miles away from Forks, I would have told you that it was a ridiculous reason. If you asked Edward, however, he would have made it sound like it was a no-brainer as to why we were driving.

Edward didn't want to leave his car behind.

As far as I was concerned, it was just a car. A silly, worthless car. But no, to Edward, it was his baby. He worshipped that car and hated any other form of transportation. So now, instead of a five hour flight, I was spending two days in a car.

"Oh come Bella," Edward said lightly, grabbing my hand in his across the console, "I'm taking the fastest route possible, it won't be that long."

"Edward, I'm already afraid of your driving every time we get in the car. Two days of going one-thirty down every highway? I'll have a heart attack!"

He chuckled, kissing the back of my hand. I sighed, enjoying the familiar rush of electricity. "Just don't think about it. Besides," he added cheekily, pressing on the gas as we pulled onto a highway, "if I'm driving like this, we'll get there in half the time!" I groaned.

Edward POV

I couldn't help but laugh at Bella's hate for speed. She hated flying, but she hated driving fast more, even if I was the one driving. In my family, including Emmett in this case, loved driving fast; even Carlisle and Esme. That's why you would never find one of us caught with a car that doesn't go faster than one hundred. Rosalie, of course, had wired our cars to go faster than normal but still, we all refused to drive cars that did not suffice our driving habits. What's life without a little thrill, anyway?

"Are you saying you don't trust me?" I teased, slightly worried that she didn't. I wanted her to trust me with anything.

She sighed, yet again. I thought it was cute how much she sighed, like she was so exasperated with the world. She probably was, though. So far, all it had done was wronged her. But I wasn't going to be apart of that world, I vowed. I would be her escape from the world, to love her forever. "No, of course not, I trust you with my life. It's the rest of the world I don't trust."

I squeezed her hand in comfort. Unfortunately, she caught a glimpse of my speed. One-twenty. She gripped my hand tightly, closing her eyes and sliding down in her seat. "Want me to distract you?"

"Please do," she squeaked.

"Ask me something."

"What?"

"You said to distract you, I'm distracting you. We'll play twenty questions. So ask me something."

"Okay, um, what's the fastest you've ever driven?"

"Bella," I said sternly. "That's not gonna make you feel any better."

"I'm sorry! That's all I can concentrate on right now... but you've gotten me interested, how fast?"

I glanced at her, afraid to say. "You really want to know?" She nodded. "Just pushing two-hundred."

"WHAT?!" she shrieked, jumping in her seat, looking at me with wide eyes. "Are you crazy?!"

"You wanted to know," I mumbled, already regretting I said anything,

"Two hundred, Edward? Seriously?! You could have been killed!"

"It was a race, Bella. My family decided to race home from Port Angeles. The highway was completely empty; it was two in the morning," I explained, trying to calm her.

"So Emmett was in on this too? How fast was he going?!"

"I don't know, Bella, but he didn't win."

"I think I'm going to be sick."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I didn't win either." Bella's face, already extremely pallid, drained of more color. In fact, she looked rather green. She rested her head against the window, taking deep breaths. I squeezed her hand tightly. "Carlisle was even there, sweetheart. He wouldn't have let us race unless he knew we would be completely safe."

"Accidents happen," she whispered. I knew she wasn't referring to us. She was referring to her parents.

After Jacob had left, she explained his situation the night of the accident. I still hated Jacob for ever hurting her but I was happy Bella had him back in her life. She needed a friend like him; he had helped her through a tough four years of her life. She was right, mistakes occurred and you couldn't stop them or fix them. Jacob had made a mistake. And I could have too the night of the race.

I pulled the car off to the side. As I did, I saw Bella was crying softly. I should never brought it up; this was my fault. As I stopped the car, I took Bella into my arms over the console. She accepted the embrace immediately, holding on to me tightly. "I don't want to think about what happened to my parents happening to you."

"It's not going to, Bella," I whispered, pressing my face into her soft hair.

"You can't promise that."

I sighed. "Maybe not, but I can try more than my hardest to prevent it."

Bella was silent for a moment or two. Finally, she said, so low I could barely hear it, "I'm scared."

I removed my face from her hair so I could see her eyes. They were closed but a tear fell from them and trickled down her beautiful face. "Of what?" I asked, wiping the tear from her jaw.

"Of losing you... of losing Emmett... of losing all of your family..." She opened her eyes and I could see actual fear in them. They showed her vulnerability towards death; and it broke my heart. "I have nightmares about it all the time. You, Emmett, your family; it doesn't matter who, it's always the same. You're sitting in a car and one minute everything's fine and the next the car is up in flames. And it's awful because I'm standing to the side and I can yell and yell and yell but I can do nothing about it; I can't change it. I-" she broke off into sobs.

I kissed her forehead and hair repeatedly. "Shhh," I soothed. "I'm not going to leave you, Bella. You're not going to lose me. You have to trust me on that." She cried silently, her small body no longer shaking. Inside, my heart hurt for her. I hated to see her so scared. But I hated even more to think about not being with her forever. "Please, Bella, trust me."

I can't tell you how happy I was to finally hear her murmur softly, "I trust you, Edward."

After a while, I started the car again. We were silent for a long time. I held her hand the whole way, even when she fell asleep. I rubbed small circles on the back of her palm. Then, when she had only been asleep for moments, she started talking.

"Edward," she mumbled. She sighed, smiling slightly. There was a pause and I wondered if she was going to say anything more. But she did say one last thing. "I love you."

At first I thought I had imagined. But no, my imagination couldn't imitate the ring of her voice that well. She had said it. She loved me, whether she knew it or not was different but her dreams knew. Her soul and mind knew. And that was enough for me. I grinned, probably like an idiot, brought her hand to my mouth and kissed it, whispering against the skin, "I love you too, my Bella."

Bella POV

I couldn't tell you how long I slept but it felt nice to sleep for once without nightmares. I had to guess that my peaceful sleep had to do with my confrontation with Edward. It helped to finally release all those bottled up feelings; especially to Edward. I knew now that I could trust him with anything.

When I woke up Edward was out of the car getting gas. He caught a glimpse and smiled, walking over to my side and opening my car door. "Afternoon, sleepy head." He kissed me lovingly. "Sleep alright?"

He seemed strangely cheerful but I didn't mind; I liked seeing him happy. I grinned. "Wonderfully, thank you." His smirk grew and the car made the sound signaling the tank was full. He kissed me quickly once again before shutting the door, putting the pump back. paying and getting back in the car, starting it. I yawned, stretching my back. "How long was I asleep?"

"About two hours," he answered, pulling out of the gas station.

"Really? It felt a lot longer." Edward chuckled, grabbing my hand.

"Well, unfortunately, we still have a long way to go."

I sighed, a habit I had picked up. I decided to occupy myself by tracing Edward's hand. It was so smooth, like marble.

That was when I first noticed the scar on his thumb.

I rubbed my thumb over it and he tensed, almost as if he was wincing. His hand tightened around mine and the scar turned white. My eyebrows scrunched together, confused. "Where did you get this?"

He smiled crookedly, but it was almost a dark smirk. His eyes turned a darker shade of green. "You're not the only one with secrets, Bella."

"What? Edward, tell me."

Edward slowed down the car. I watched him carefully until, at last, he spoke. "I got that scar when my parents died."

Unknown POV

Bella visibly stiffened beside Edward. Her hand froze on the small cut. "Wh-what?"

Edward took a deep breath to help tell the story. He had never told anyone this before. Bella would be the first to know, besides Carlisle and that's how he wanted it.

"When I was two, my parents got shot in the parking lot of the grocery store. The bullets went through the windshield of the car and the glass got everywhere. A few pieces got into the back and on my car seat. My thumb accidently scrapped across it and I started crying, that's how the police knew I was in there." Bella's hand grasped his hand tightly, in a death grip. "The killer was a guy who was obsessed with my mother in high school. He never got over her so he just... killed her."

Tears sprouted for the third time that day in her eyes. She felt awful, never realizing that Edward had problems in his life too. But he looked like he was completely content with it all. Like he had come to terms with it all. "Edward, I'm sorry, I never thought..."

"Don't worry about me, Bella," he said, looking at her. "Carlisle and Esme are my true parents and I've accepted that. They were my parents best friend's. I feel like I know my parents through them."

"Do Alice, Jasper, Rose or Emmett know this?"

"No." Bella gave him a confused look. "Alice was four when I was adopted and my parents convinced her I was her brother. She accepted me with open arms. It wasn't until we were teenagers that Rose and Jasper came to live with us and Emmett was even later. No one knows but you, Carlisle and Esme. And if Alice does know, she hasn't said anything about it to anyone."

"That's... awful. Edward, I'm so sorry! I've been complaining about my life this whole time-"

"Please Bella, don't be sorry. Your case is much worse than mine. I didn't know my parents and I have the best family in the world. You lost people who were very close to you."

"I know but that doesn't mean you haven't suffered too." Bella pointed out. Edward couldn't argue.

"That's true, Bella. But now I have a positive side to my story and that makes up for it all."

"And what's that?"

Edward looked at her with all the love he could portray in his eyes. He wanted her to see the truth in his next words. And she could see it and she counteracted it as best as she good, even though it was so much stronger in her heart. "I have you now."

Bella smiled and felt her heart swell. "I could say the same." Edward grinned back at her, happy to hear that she needed him just as much as he needed her.

"Well since I need you to be happy," he said, glad to let everything off his chest. Glad to know that she understood.

"And since I need you to be happy," she continued, grinning at him. She felt so joyful to have him, for forever if it was possible.

"I guess that means we're stuck together," Edward finished. Bella couldn't help but laugh in the midst of their miserable lives. But sometimes the people who have the most unfortunate experiences turn out to be the luckiest when it comes to finding the person who understands you. Bella and Edward were those people.

Because in-between the secrets they were keeping from their families and the few differences in opinion, they were the perfect match for each other. Sometimes you only need a person who will listen. One who can say "I know how you feel" without it being just empty words.

I considered them blessed to have each other. Without them, we wouldn't have this story. For them, life is a highway; twisting and turning, almost never-ending. And probably the closest thing you can get to perfect.