Bella and Edward lay tangled in the cool, damp grass of the meadow peacefully watching the clouds move slowly across the sky. They had been pleasantly quiet for some time.
"Have you ever been scared of death?" Bella suddenly asked.
"No. Why?"
"Just wondering. Remembering things, that's all."
"Well... even during my human death I don't think I thought too much about it. But I think that was mainly due to the nature of the illness. You get to the point when death would be welcomed with open arms."
Bella shuddered involuntarily and Edward tightened his arm around her.
"Are you?" he whispered in return, running soothing circles with his thumb across her skin.
"Yes." She answered honestly, "there have been times when I accepted it, but I was always frightened. But for different reasons now than I might have had several years ago."
Edward turned his head to watch her, waiting for her to explain.
"If we were told it would all be over tomorrow, in a flash, wouldn't you be scared? I would." Bella shifted her weight slightly before she continued, frowning as she tried to make it all sound like sense. "I haven't lived as long as you. Maybe in a few millenniums I will think differently and be quite grateful to have had so much time and be ready to say, 'Hey, I've had enough'. But now... Am I sounding crazy?"
Edward chuckled, "not at all, actually. I've given it plenty of thought before. When you have as much time as I do the questions become almost unavoidable."
"Then again," Bella continued, "I have a sneaky feeling I'll never be able to get enough. Maybe I'm just selfish, but now I have you... one lifetime is certainly not enough, will several lifetimes feel the same?" She turned to stroke his cool cheek, held by his golden stare.
"You don't think you'll ever get tired of me?" Edward inquired, raising his eyebrows.
"Never." Her answer was resolute.
"Good. And I think you're right. Eternity is looking rather inadequate from where I'm sitting." A smile played on his lips. "You have made it worth living through, Bella. You have turned a mere Existence into a Life. But when that hideous Apocalypse comes for us, I will be content to lie in this field with you knowing that I have had the most beautiful life."
"That's a morbidly wonderful image." Bella replied after a poignant pause, frowning. Edward grinned and they once again lapsed into sweet silence.