School had ended and Katnis was offered a ride home from Edward and she gladly accepted.
"So, Cullen, tell me about you and your family." she says,"You don't feed off the blood of humans but animals. Why is that?"
"My family, yes, we're different from others of our kind. We've learned to control our thirst. We only hunt animals because we don't want to be the monsters people believe us to be."
Katnis looks at him,"You're not monsters."
"Your scent is like no other we've ever encountered." he says,"It's hard for me to be around you."
She offers a small smile,"Practice makes perfect." she says before her gaze drifted out the window.
"You have to tell me what you're thinking." he says after a few moments of silence.
Katnis turns her head to look at him,"The truth?"
He nods,"Please."
"I'm afraid."
He glances over at her before turning his attention back to the road,"Good."
"I'm not afraid of you, Cullen." she says,"I'm afraid of being the reason you don't trust yourself."
"You shouldn't stress yourself with worrying about me." he says softly.
"If I don't...I'm afraid you'll disappear on me." she states honestly.
They come to a red light and Edward turns his head to look at her. Her eyes showed nothing but truth to her words and that alone caused Edwards heart to ache for her,"You don't know how long I've waited for you."
She smiles before reaching over and placing her hand on his cool cheek,"I'm glad you don't have to wait anymore."
He smiles,"So am I."
_______Skip To Swans Home_______
Edward pulls into their driveway and parks his car,"Hey, Cullen?"
"Yes, Katnis?"
"Would you like to come up to my room with me?" she turns to meet his gaze,"We could talk a little more and get ahead on homework.
"What about Charlie?"
"What about him?"
"Won't he mind that a male is in your room?"
"You're not just some random guy he's never met." she says,"You're the one guy who saved his daughters life. I'm sure he'll make an exception. " she says before getting out of the car.
Edward climbed out of the car and appeared at her side,"Cullen?"
"Yes?"
"I have neighbors. Could you at least ACT human?" she chuckled.
He smiles,"I can do that."
"Thank you." she says as she stopped at the front door,"One more thing."
"What is it?"
"How long can you hold your breath?"
He raised a brow at her,"As long as I need to. Why?"
"Did you forget what happened the last time you stepped foot in my house?" she asked,"Imagine what my room smells like."
He visibly stiffened,"Right."
Shaking her head, Katnis removed the cotton scarf that she had wrapped around her neck,"Here. This should help you get use to how I smell." she wraps it around his neck,"I'll also give you one of my sweaters to wear also."
"I don't believe I will be able to fit your clothes, Katnis."
"It's a large, black cotton men's sweater my mother gave me for my birthday." she turns to unlock the front door,"You'll be able to fit it. Are you ready?"
"No."
Taking a deep breath, Katnis pushed open the door and turned to look at Edward. He was stiff and not breathing,"Will you be able to speak and not breath? Usually when one talks one has to let the air out of their lungs before taking in another breath to continue speaking." she states,"Will you be alright?"
He nods.
She smiles at him before taking his hand and leading him into the house, him closing g the door behind him, and into the living room.
"Dad?"
Charlie tares his gaze from the television and towards Edward and Katnis,"Katnis, you're home. And you've brought...company."
"Cullen and I were going to get ahead on some homework. Is that alright?"
Charlie looks at Edward,"Homework?"
"Yes, dad, homework." Katnis says.
"Alright, fine. Just...don't close that door all the way."
Katnis shakes her head and moves to kiss his forehead,"Alright. Thanks dad." she says as she walks over the Edward, grabs his hand and leads him towards the stairs.
"Your father is wondering if we're together and just keeping it from him." Edward says.
"Of course he is." she chuckles,"My father doesn't think Isabella and I should ever date."
"You're both beautiful." Edward states,"I can see why he never wants you to date."
Katnis looks back at him,"What about you? Do you think Bella and I should ever date?"
He holds her gaze,"Bella, yes, she's mature enough."
"And myself?"
"I don't ever want you to." he says as she enters her room.
"Why not?"
"Because I don't ever want to think of you being with anyone else."
She turns around to face him. He's standing in the door way of her room, staring at her,"Anyone else but you."
They stare at each other for what seemed like hours. Neither knew what to say after that. Katnis and Edward knew that she knew how he felt about her but neither expected her to speak on it.
Edward decided to break the silence,"I would be telling a lie if I were to say that I didn't want you for myself." he says softly,"But I want you to be happy and if that means you'll be with someone else then I will accept that."
Katnis moves toward him until she is standing directly in front of him,"You mean that." she says as if she was finding it hard to believe.
He nods,"Yes. I love you." he confessed.
Katnis eyes are wide as his words hit her like a ton of bricks,"You - you love me?"
He nods," Yes, I do."
"I love you,too, Cullen."
He nods,"Just not the way that I love you." he points out.
"Cullen -"
"Katnis, it's okay. I don't expect you to feel for me what I feel for you." he states.
"You don't?"
"No. I don't."
"Why?"
"It's hard to explain but I do love you. I love you enough let go." he says," As hard as it would be I would walk away."
"Who said anything about walking away?" she says in a panic.
Her feelings for him may not be as string as his are for her but that didn't mean she wanted him to leave. She'd finally started to open up to him, to her family, about some things and that was all because of him. She couldn't lose him...not now.
"Katnis, do you honestly think I could stay and watch you be with someone else?"
She knew he was right. As much as she wanted him - needed him - to stay she knew she couldn't ask him to.How could she when seeing her with someone else will only cause him nothing but pain?
She shakes her head,"No." she says softly, looking down,"but I'm selfish enough that I'd ask you to stay." she meets his gaze once more.
He chuckles darkly,"I'm being selfish wanting you in my life when I know that every second you're with me, your life is in danger."
He looks at the floor.
"Hey, look at me." she steps closer to him once he lifts his gaze from the floor,"You warned me before about how dangerous your life, your world, could be if I were to be in it. I made the conscious decision to stay and not walk away."
He shakes his head,"I should have tried harder."
"Harder?"
"I'm dangerous for you Katnis and I chose to ignore that." he growled,"And now that I've admitted the way I feel, it makes this all to real, it makes this much harder to walk away from."
She swallowed the lump in her throat and took a step back,"You want to walk away from me?" her voice cracked as she felt her face heat up with mixed and intense emotions.
Edward finally takes a step into her room, moving so that he was hovering above her, gazing down into her tear stained eyes,"No, of course not. That is the last thing that I want but I believe that the day may come."
She shakes her head,"No! No. Why would you - " she takes steps away from him,"Why? Why are you saying these things to me?"
"Katnis, I don't want to hurt you." he says.
"Then why?"
"When that day comes, when you've found that guy who makes you as happy as you make me," he takes her face in his hands,"I need to know that I'll have the strength to walk away, to let you live a long and happy life with him and start a family of your own."
She shakes her head as more tears fall,"Cullen -"
"It would be selfish of me to stay and want you like I do. If I stayed I would only cause you pain and I don't want that." he drops his hands to his side.
She wipes at her tears before taking a step forward and taking his face in her own hands,"I'm not scared of what could happen, Cullen, if you and I continued this, what we have, together." her eyes frantically searching his for understanding,"I know the dangers and risks of being with you, in your world with you, and I trust you. With my life. I'm not going anywhere and neither are you."
She drops her hands and wraps her arms around his middle, pressing herself into him, her body molding in to his,"Katnis -"
"We're in this together. Through thick and thin. Forever."
Edward, knowing she meant every word shed said, wrapped his arms around her, kissed her hair before resting his chin on top of her head,"I love you." he whispers.
She tightened her hold around him,"I love you, too."