Well, it's May 10th... Is this what you think it is? Oh yes, it is! The sequel to "Healing Her Wounds"!

If you have not read "Healing Her Wounds," I suggest that you read that story before beginning this one. I have been told that it is a good read, so go enjoy it if you haven't and then come back here!

Anyway! To all my lovely reviewers that have stuck with me all the way into the sequel... here it is! I'm not going to go into any detail on the plot behind it because what fun would that be? So, I'll let you enjoy the reading!

So, here it is! Chapter 1!

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Bella

I stared at the golden ring that encircled my finger, unable to keep the smile from my lips. Through all the pain and suffering that I had endured, I had finally found happiness... interestingly enough in the same place where I had once lost it. There was no fear left in my body. I was immortal now and there was no reason for Edward to leave out of fear for my safety. We could finally be together, be alive in our own eternity.

I was exploring my future because I was now lost to my past. I remember very little of the times between Edward's disappearance from my life to the time when he returned to me. I knew only what little information was provided to me. Edward did not want me to remember Mike, he had made that much clear. Certainly, with my ability I would be able to search his memories and discover the terrors my mind had covered up... but I couldn't bring myself to do that to Edward.

My power could be as evasive as it was subtle. I could extract any memory I wanted from anyone, human or vampire. I could implement any memory I chose... and I was happy for that fact. I had always been such a trouble as a human, even if my family would never admit it. Now there was no need to hide from anything. I could cause everyone in the area of Forks to forget the Cullens ever existed.

Just the same, I could make everyone believe that we had always been here, with the correct paper trail in place. The power did not seem like much to me at first, but it had certainly grown over time. I could trap people in memories, created or real, which proved to be a fantastic defense... even though I had never come across a reason to use it.

Yet, regardless of all my powers, I was unable to unravel my own past. I only knew of Mike's name and the pain he had inflicted on me, both physically and mentally. He was the reason why I could never see my darling daughter Allie ever again. He was the cause of all the pain I had once felt in my life and yet... I wanted to remember him.

I wanted so desperately to see Mike's face. I wanted to remember all the things that Mike had done to me, as horrible as they might have been. I couldn't ever achieve the closure that I needed in my life if I could never shut the door to my past. Although the majority of my past had been all but erased from my mind, the door still hung open. Open to a dark, endless hallway.

I wanted to turn the light on.

I wanted to see.

"No, Bella," Edward's velvet voice filled the room, his chin coming to rest upon my left shoulder. He pressed his lips softly against my neck and I could feel him breathing in the scent of me. A momentary smile touched my lips.

"Hmm?" I murmured, not bothering to hide the fact that I had been pulled from my thoughts. He had been watching me, his eyes intense gold.

How I wanted golden eyes.

"You're thinking about him again." It was almost an accusation, but I knew better than to think that of Edward.

"How can I truly think about someone whom I know nothing about?" I whispered, my gaze drifting down to my hand, back to my ring. "I can't even remember his face."

"I doubt you'd want to," Edward chuckled, his hand sliding slowly down the length of my back. A shiver ran down my spine in reaction to his touch. "He was a very ugly boy, inside and out. I'm still trying to get him out of my head."

"I bet..." the words were soft and full of doubt. He had no idea what it was like to completely forget a person forever. To have incessant memories with huge gaps built in the middle.

"You could..." he began, his lips tracing a trail from my neck down to my shoulder. He decorated my skin with feathered kisses, his lips moving in whispers as he spoke, "Help me forget him."

I turned to face him, his head lifting instantly from my shoulder. I stared into his golden eyes, filled with concern. Even now, even after I had hardly a clue of what had happened, he was still cautious. He was always worried he would say the wrong thing.

To be honest, I wouldn't know what the wrong thing was.

"If I help you forget," I began, my words slow and measured, "Then everyone else will want to forget him. I can't refuse them if I don't refuse you, too. When everyone forgets, then no one can ever help me remember."

He watched me as I spoke, his topaz eyes filling with an ancient sadness that I was only just beginning to understand. "Bella," he breathed. His breath still dazed me, even as a vampire. "No closure will come from remembering Mike."

"You don't know that," I countered.

"I know that you think remembering him and what that..." Edward's expression twisted for a fleeting moment before he gained control. His eyes still reflected his rage. "What he did... will help you. It won't. You'll get upset just as you had before. You'll beg to forget him again and you will."

"I want to know what happened to her..." I whispered, my eyes dropping to the sheets of our bed. Golden, like his eyes.

His hand, once cold, was now warm as it cupped my chin, tilting my head up so he could gaze into my eyes. "Remember Allie. Remember her as the happy girl that she was. You don't need to see the things that happened to her. No good will come from it."

"Will you never compromise?" I sighed, trying to move my chin out of his hand.

"Compromise?" Confusion entered his tone and he stared at me with wondering eyes. "What do you have to compromise, Bella?"

"I'll erase everything about Mike from your thoughts... from your family's thoughts, if they wish... if you'll just allow me to remember before I do."

"Not a chance."

I frowned, "Why?"

"Bella," his thumb brushed along my cheek, soothing, "I would never give you these horrible memories and then leave you to sort through them on your own. I would not allow you to take my memories and lose them myself."

"Allow..." a soft laugh parted my lips.

"Yes, allow," he continued, "I'm fully aware of the fact that you're able to take any memory of mine that you so desire. I know that you can remove my memories and give me new ones. I also know that you wouldn't do that to me, Bella."

Darn. He knows me too well.

"Yes, I do."

I perked a brow, watching him with curious eyes, "I thought you couldn't read my thoughts."

"Oh, I can't," a crooked grin touched his lips, "But I can read your expressions as clear as day. I've had a lot of practice."

"So there is no halfway point?" I continued in our discussion, begging with my eyes for him to give in to me.

"None whatsoever."

I sighed. He leaned forward, his lips tickling mine as he spoke swiftly, "Bella, I love you. If I thought I were causing you any harm in keeping this from you, then I wouldn't do it. It will only hurt you to see everything that he did."

His lips pressed against mine, parting invitingly, in a way that we had never explored when I was still a human. My hands automatically twisted into his hair – my reactions still a bit unexpected to the both of us. He responded, his arms wrapping around my waist and crushing me to him. It was unlike anything else to be held by him with his full strength. To be able to kiss without need for air.

Slowly, he pulled away. A soft moan of protest escaped my lips and he chuckled in response, "I will never do anything to cause you harm ever again, Bella."

"No matter how much I beg?"

"Beg away. I could listen to you forever," He whispered, pulling me back against him as he settled back onto the pillow.

"Well, apparently you're going to have to."

"Let's hope so," he laid kisses into my hair, his laughter still present.

That's how it always was. I would make my point and beg for him to reconsider and he would predictably abstain. I had never made any hedge way in my attempts to convince him that revealing my past to me was the right thing to do. He was convinced that he was protecting me from things that could only harm me. In the end, I always submitted. There was no arguing with Edward when it came to anything that may harm me, save for changing me.

The rest of the Cullens were, of course, forbidden by Edward to let me peer into their memories to see the damage that Mike had caused in my life. I had long since given up hope in trying to pry the information out of Alice. I could blame any of them... Edward's wrath was a rather fearful prospect, although I had never been on the receiving end of it.

"Do you have any wedding plans for today?" Edward's voice was soft and even.

"No, today is one of my very, very, very, very," I took a deep breath for emphasis, "Very rare vacation days."

Edward chuckled and pulled me closer to him, if that were even possible. I sighed happily into his comforting form. "Good, because I had no plans on giving you up today. I must admit, I am rather disappointed... I was prepared to fight Alice for you."

"Well, that would have been something to see," I mused.

"You could challenge Emmett to another arm-wrestling match if you're disappointed, too," he continued, his voice teasing.

Emmett had challenged me to numerous arm wrestling tournaments for the past week and had only won on one occasion when I purposefully allowed him to. Still, he continued to believe in the fact that he was stronger than me, the newborn.

"I think Emmett needs a break so that he can build up his strength," I laughed, "Otherwise it really isn't going to be a challenge... I'm going to get bored with this eventually, you know."

"The strength?"

"The arm wrestling," I corrected, "The only reason I continue it now is for Emmett's reactions."

"Those are worth it," he mused.

"Anyway, tomorrow Alice and I are-" Edward's body stiffened next to mine and I paused instantly in my sentence, watching him with wide eyes.

"Edward?"

"All of our futures just disappeared," he muttered, his eyes flitting to the window before turning back to me. His expression was pained when he saw the terror that reigned prevalent in my eyes.

Had something happened that would destroy us all? Had we violated some unspoken law of the vampires? Were we going to die, here and now? Was this the end of us? Of our eternity?

"What does that mean?" the words rolled off my lips in a terrified whisper.

He growled, the noise rumbling deep in his chest.

"Wolves."

--

Well, that was a little cliffhanger. Nothing big. Yes, Jacob will appear in the story. Obviously... because the wolves are coming. Remember, Bella does not know that Jacob is a werewolf... in fact, Bella does not know that werewolves exist.

Anyway... get ready. Get set. COOKIE TIME! GO!