His gentle, warm fingers caressing my face were like nothing I had ever felt. His sweet fragrant breath on my face was indescribable. If I still had a beating heart, it would be flying.

Yet, all he was doing was casually touching me. His hand was merely streaking my cheek. He was only merely speaking the words "I love you" in a normal tone.

"Bella?" he said in his sweet voice.

"Oh, what? Sorry. What were you saying?" I was a vampire for cry out loud! I'm not supposed to lose focus so easily!

"I was asking you if you wanted to go hunting tonight while Renesmee sleeps. Just the two of us."

"Oh, yeah, sure."

He smiled his beautiful crooked smile and stared deeply into my eyes. I could tell what he was looking for so I quickly removed my shield from guarding my thoughts. After a century of practice, I finally had complete control of my shield and it was no longer a strain to remove it.

He smiled at my thoughts. I was currently thinking about why I was acting the way I was. My face would have turned bright red if it could.

"I still enjoy your reactions," he said as he leaned into me.

"I don't."

His lips touched mine dearly. The softness of him was indescribable. I felt more comfortable with him – knowing that he wanted me. But I still had those times – like the one I just had – where I am fascinated by his love for me and cannot help but be dazzled.

He quickly pulled away when Rosalie walked in the room.

Rosalie had begun to accept the fact that I had given up the most precious thing in the world – my life. But it was mostly because of Renesmee. If I had been a vampire without the excuse of dying in labor then Rosalie and I wouldn't get along too well. But did have that excuse and we were sisters now. And we loved each other.

"That's disgusting. It only took me and Emmett a decade. It's been over a century since your wedding day and you're still making out in front of us all." Yes, we still loved each other. But that doesn't been we can't use sarcasm.

"Be thankful, Rose. It could be a lot worse." There was no hint of contradiction in his voice. Yes, it could be a lot worse – for them, at least.

Rose let out a stage gag and walked up the stairs.

"It's late. I should make sure Renesmee gets into bed." I said in my beautiful, melodic voice.

"She's 17, Bella. I'm sure she can handle it." His voice was only a whisper.

He was right, of course. She was actually 108, but she looked to be about 17 years old. I still had my maternal instincts, though. And there was that small feeling inside me that just needed to make sure she was safe.

"I know, but I still need to check."

With that, we got up and headed for the back door. He held my hand tenderly in his as we ran swiftly through the green forest.

We were finally able to move back to Forks after most of my friends died. It was really tragic, but I learned to get over it. We tried living with Tanya but everything got really weird and awkward when Edward would hear Tanya's remorse for her sister and knowing it was our fault. So that only lasted a little bit. Since then we have been just here and there, waiting for Forks to be ready for our arrival. None of us really know why we favor Forks over every other place. Edward and I believe it's because this is where we met. Emmett thinks it's because this is the only place he ahs ever gotten the chance to use his full strength and it's in this town's history now. It's definitely Renesmee's favorite place because of Jacob, her 16 year old werewolf boyfriend. Jacob moved with us a few times – just to be with his love. He was really sweet about it. He basically stayed out of our way. He also said he was trying not to stink up our new home. Mostly everyone thought he was being overgenerous.

We walked up to our beautiful cottage. I remembered the day that the Cullens gave us this house. How excited and grateful I had been. Edward smiled at me and to my embarrassment my shield still wasn't protecting me at the moment. I covered myself with it as fast as I could and Edward's smile disappeared.

I sighed and walked into the little house to see my beautiful sleeping daughter snuggled up against my sleeping best friend.