#rewrote this work because it seemed to fit the AU prompt I had for Stacy and Edward.

[iseltwalds]

I Almost Do

A Stacy/Edward Oneshot

— Stacy and Edward meet again after fifteen years, or so Stacy thought.

Set in an alternate universe where Edward is sent to The US undercover for university and ends up falling in love with Stacy before the events in the movies occur.

—

Her meeting ended precisely at 5 PM.

Thank heavens it did, because she was dying to go home, actually no, scratch that. She was dying to go somewhere else, somewhere far from home, down some alcohol, and forget about every memory in her mind that had any regard or connection to the man she once loved.

Running off right away from the function hall, Stacy was able to catch the departing empty elevator right before it closed.

Since she was rushing her way through, she thought it was empty. It was departing from the floor where the hotel’s multiple function halls were anyway. If there were any people she would expect to be in it, it would be her assistant, her team, or the hotel staff.

So to her shock, it wasn’t actually empty.

There was a man, dressed in a black three-piece suit, standing in front of the control buttons of the elevator, smiling at her like it was the easiest thing to do.

Worse, it was the man he had been avoiding since he stepped out of her breakfast meeting earlier that morning.

“Hey.” He called out softly, still smiling, but Stacy refused to look at him and give him any attention.

She didn’t care about his outfit, she didn’t care if he was there, but what bugged her was how easy it was for him to smile at her like she was someone he had just met.

In a way, that could be true. It was the first time they saw each other after he left days before their college graduation.

And that was fifteen years ago.

Was she expecting for him to be mad at her?

Maybe. She didn’t know.

But for her, all she wanted was a little bit of peace, a little clarity as to why he had left her.

Seeing that Stacy had ignored him, the man remains silent, patiently waiting for the elevator to move — but it doesn’t. He takes a peek at the buttons and sees that none of them are lit up, indicating that no destination has been selected.

He turns to Stacy slowly, his eyes meeting hers, then he asks “What floor?”

“Basement, Your Majesty.” She returned so coldly that her voice sent shivers down her spine.

Edward nods and presses the button and soon enough, the elevator makes its way down

But that doesn’t last long.

About halfway through, the elevator stalls and the lights close out, leaving them stuck in the dark, cold, tiny metal room.

Neither of them grasp the situation right away — it is Stacy who does first, and she immediately screams and her mind goes overdrive, panicking as darkness envelopes the place. She feels tears forming in her eyes so she fans her eyes. The last thing she wants to happen is for the man beside her to see her in a crying mess.

When she doesn’t move or do anything, Edward takes the matter into his hands and pulls Stacy away from the control panel so he could see the buttons. In an instance, he finds the ring button and presses it to inform that the elevator has completely stopped. Then he searches for his phone, grabs it and dials a number.

Miraculously, the call goes through and he is able to get in touch with Frank. When he got off the phone, there was nothing else Edward could hear but Stacy heaving loud sighs as she tried to calm herself down.

“Hey…” Edward sits beside her, taking her cold hands into his in an attempt to help her. “You’re fine, we’ll be fine.” He knew about her history and he knew that she couldn’t last in small spaces. “Frank says they’ll get this fixed in no time. We’ll be out of here soon, I promise.”

His words instantly turn her into a crying mess, “Thank you Edward” She is able to breathe out in between sighs.

They stay silent. Not until Stacy musters up some courage in him to speak.

“Why did you leave, Edward?” It takes almost her entire being to let those words out of her mouth. It scares her that it might scare him, it scares her that it might hurt him but this was for her peace of mind too. She needed to do this.

Edward laughs — one that she isn’t sure if she was amused or offended. “You know, now that you’re the one asking me that question, I also don’t know why I did.”

She frowns. “What do you mean? So you’re saying it had nothing to do with me?”

“You were my saving grace, Stacy.” He shared, voice so tender that it made her heart swell. “The reason I chose to study in The States was because I wanted to get away from the pressure of royalty. It was doing no good to my mental health and I know that if I stayed in Belgravia, I would go on to believe that I was not capable of serving my people with my own abilities.”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with my question.” She returns, bitterly laughing for a second.

“I’m saying I also don’t know why I left you, Stacy. Back then, you were the only person who accepted me for who I was, with or without my shortcomings.”

They weren’t looking at each other — and even if they were, neither of them would even see; but Edward could feel her gaze on him, and he knew that she could feel him looking at her as well.

“Okay.” She simply says, but underneath the thick darkness where Edward couldn’t see her, tears cloud her vision as she slowly and silently sobbed.

It takes moments for either of them to speak, and it is Edward who breaks the awful silence reigning inside the cold metal room.

“I’m sorry, Stacy. I know it’s long overdue and I know it won’t take away the pain in your heart, but I’m sorry. I really am.” He says, voice shaking as tears start to fall down her cheeks. Edward quickly wipes them off and fans her face in hopes that it would stop the tears from falling down.

Stacy doesn’t respond, but in the next seconds, she feels the royal beside her move closer, finding her body and pulling her closer to him. No words. Just their bodies pressed beside each other. No more, no less.

They stay like that for a while. Stacy takes in his hands, slowly massaging them just like how she used to. She does it so delicately that it makes Edward’s heart warm and he doesn’t want her to stop, but when she reaches his right hand, she abruptly stops when she notices there is a thick band wrapping around his ring finger — a simple gold band that seemed like a wedding ring.

Stacy stops for a moment before removing her hands from his, “I don’t know how long it’s been, but congratulations on your marriage.” She says slowly, careful enough so that he wouldn’t notice the tears that were uncontrollably falling down.

Edward lets out a bitter laugh but thanks him nonetheless.

And silence reigns. Yet again.

This time, it lasts longer. It lasts until the lights turn back on, and they find each other with red eyes, wet cheeks, and forced smiles on their faces.

Despite the worry that overcomes both of them, no words are spoken, no words come out of their lips, just their eyes stuck to one another like it were their eyes who were conversing.

His eyes were saying “Sorry.”

Her eyes were saying “Congratulations, I’m happy for you.”

Whatever their eyes were saying, they didn’t dare to say out loud.

Silence continues to reign until the doors of the elevator open and Stacy steps out of the metal room but before he leaves, she spins to him and a smile appears on her lips.

“Congratulations again, Your Highness.” She says so easily like she hadn’t been crying over it minutes ago. “Have a blissful marriage. I’ll see you when I see you.”

And in the next second, she’s out of his sight.

With tears in his eyes, Edward leans on the cold wall of the elevator as the doors close, gently rubbing the gold band on his ring finger — the same one she touched earlier, and whispers.

“Bold of me to think she’s remembered. She’s really forgotten about us.”