Cursed With Beauty

X13

If there are any mistakes, please, let me know.  It's 3:35 AM and I'm exhausted but I wanted to post something for you so...don't be a Douche about it, be nice. I love you all.
~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~

The drive home is quiet. Edward nor Annalise really spoke, only the sound of Annalise's heart beating fills the car.

"So," Edward decides to break the silence. "...do you really not see the two of us in your future?"

He turns his head slightly to the right to look at her. She's staring at him with guarded eyes, her fists are clenched on her lap and her lips were in a thin line. She looks as if she is trying to control herself, or control what was about to come out of her mouth.

"Look, I understand that you're worried about causing any amount of trouble for my family but you have to know that we are capable of taking care of ourselves," his voice is pleading. "You wouldn't have to worry about us."

Annalise turns her head to look at him. His eyes are pleading, and she's tempted to lean over and kiss him, but she doesn't give in. Instead, she decides to give him one thing.

The truth.

"I like you, Edward. I like you more than I should, more than I should have allowed myself too, and there isn't anything I can do about that now," her voice is low but he is still able to hear her. "I do, in fact, see a future with you but if I allow myself to act on those feelings..." she trails off while shaking her head.

"What are you so afraid of? What about your past has you so afraid for your future?" He questions.

She turns her attention back to the road. "I've done a lot of things in my past that I'm not particularly proud of, Edward," she says.

"Haven't we all?"

She shakes her head. "Things that could have been avoided had I grown up faster than I did."

"Talk to me, Annalise, please." His voice is pleading.

He watches her take a deep breath, closing her eyes in the process, before letting it out through her flared nostrils.

"A long time ago, I met this beautiful young human girl. We'd met at a hospital where she'd been a patient for a while due to a sickness many thought she had," Her voice is calm as she thinks back to when she first met Alice. "We'd become really good friends. Everyday I would visit her and we would talk about any and everything from our favorite colors to where we saw ourselves in the future."

Annalise opens her eyes and stares forward. "Everything was perfect, running smoothly, until one day I decided to attend a gathering with an old friend of mine," she turns her head to look at Edward who is now looking at her. "She'd asked me to come see her that night, told me she had a bad feeling, but I didn't listen. I'd told her everything would be alright and that I'd be by later."

"I take it she was right." Edward says.

Annalise nods. "After I left the gathering, I headed to the hospital. It was around midnight when I was told that she'd been attacked and killed by some strange man," Her voice broke at the end as she remembered hallow feeling she had when they told her Alice had been killed.

"Annalise I'm - I'm so sorry."

"You can imagine my shock when only weeks later I find out she'd been turned by the same man who'd attacked her," She says, turning away from Edwards shocked stare. "She was so scared and confused. She didn't know what was going on or what had happened to her."

After taking a moment to let what she'd just told him sink in, Edward looks at her. "What did you do?"

"I stayed. I explained to her what had happened and that she would not be able to surround herself with humans u til she had her thirst under control," Annalise says, her gaze still on the road. "So, for the next thirty years I stayed with her, helping her to control her thirst, strength, speed and reminding her what its like to be human."

"You were a good friend to her," Edward says.

Annalise shakes her head. "No. A good friend would have gone to see her that night. A good friend would not have let her be forced into a life she never asked for." She takes a deep breath. "I failed my friend. The only good thing I did was erase any and all traces of me from her memory."

"Why would you erase yourself from her life?" He asked, his expression one of bewilderment. He didn't understand why she would remove herself from her friends life. It made no sense to him. It rattled his brain.

"I guess you could say I was being a coward. I couldn't stand looking at her knowing I was to blame for what had happened to her," She replies. "So, I reached all traces of me from her memory, that way she didn't see what a familiar I was whenever she looked at me."

Edward smoothly turned into her drive way, and killed the engine, before turning  in his seat to look at her.

"I may not know your friend but what I do know is that you're not a failure, Annalise. You stayed with her, you helped her in her time of need, and showed her that being a vampire didn't make her a monster. You continued to remind her that she was human in every way possible," He reaches over and takes her hand. "That is what you call a friend,  a true, friend. And I am positive that, if she were hear with us, she would agree with me."

Annalise stares down at his hand. His hand is cool, but also warm,  to the touch. She couldn't help herself and slowly ran her thumb over his smooth skin.

"I wish I could say the same," She says.

Edward leans over the arm rest and cups the name of her neck,  lifting her head so that he could look into her eyes.

"You are a good person, Annalise Cullen. You are the best person that I know and I'm not the only one who thinks so."

She looks up to meet his stare. His eyes are topaz but they seem a little darker than usual which meant he would need to hunt soon. Which also meant that she probably wouldn't see him for a few days and that,  for some reason, made her stomach flip. Not in a good way.

"Your eyes are - "

"Emmett, Jasper, Carlisle and I are going hunting when I make it back to the house." He says, interrupting her.

She nods. "Oh, okay."

"I'll be back later tonight."

That statement made her happy. She wouldn't have to go without seeing him for too long. Maybe several hours but not a day or two.

"Can I ask you a favor?"

"Anything."

"Will you come see me tonight?" She questions.

He is shocked by her request but still manages to smile. "Of course, but are you sure? I wouldn't want to wake you."

She nods. "I'm sure. If I've fallen asleep just wake me." She says. "I can't explain why but I would really like to see you again."

Edward nods. "Alright. I will see you tonight."

Annalise smiles and goes to get out of his car but stops mid-turn. She looks over her shoulder at him for a moment before turning around d, leaning over the arm rest and placing a warm kiss on his cheek.

Edward went stiff at the sudden action but soon relaxed when her lips lingered on his cold,  hard cheek. He felt his entire body catch fire at her touch and he never wanted that feeling to go away but he knew it would.

She slowly draws back and meets his stare. "Have fun with the men, tonight. Catch a Mountain Lion for me, will you?"

He smiles. "Yes ma'am."

She chuckles. "Good. I'll see you later tonight."

"Yes,  you will."

"I'll be up waiting," she says softly.

"I won't keep you waiting for too long."

She kisses his cheek again but this time her lips touched the corner of his mouth. A sharp intake of breath can be heard through the car as her lips linger.

She slowly draws back, again. "I'll be waiting."