A/N : Hey guys, it's Alison! So this story is basically a collection of Twilight discussions I'm doing with my friend Jenn. Her username on here is jennrich2830. They might be based on a quote like this one, or maybe another chapter could be on the tradition "which team are you?" discussion. Each week we'll switch off with whose writing goes first. This time mine is first and just as a reminder before each person's writing you'll see whose it is. Enjoy and please review!

You Are My Life Now

Chapter 1: So the Lion Fell in Love With the Lamb

Alison:

"And so the lion fell in love with the lamb. "

"What a stupid lamb."

"What a sick masochistic lion. "

This famous quote from Twilight is what makes me love Edward and Bella. I think it's amazing how they have this intense passion for each other, even though they haven't known each other very long. Usually it takes much, much longer for two people to feel this way, and it's extremely rare to share the type of unconditional love that Edward and Bella have.

Edward compares himself to a lion. He is obviously thousands of times stronger than a lion, but the metaphor is still clear. As a vampire he is "the world's best predator" if you want to quote the book and "the world's most dangerous predator" if you want to quote the movie. And a lion is basically the king of animals. Lions are tremendously powerful and strong, and could easily kill a smaller animal, like a lamb. I find it a little ironic, that Edward compares himself to a lion when he actually hunts mountain lions. But then again, his family does say that he is like a mountain lion when he hunts.

Bella's response to Edward's statement is "What a stupid lamb." She says this because she does realize the risk that comes with Edward. That he could kill her in an instant. Perhaps, he would be trying just to touch her face and he ends up crushing her skull. Or maybe his vampiric instincts would dominate, and he would give in to his thirst. So even though Bella is fragile like a lamb when a lion is outstandingly powerful…that is only physically. Imagine knowing the person you love with all your heart and soul is capable of murderously killing you like that. You would have to be a mentally strong person, like Bella. So maybe Bella is physically a lamb, she is mentally a lion.

Edward replies to Bella's statement with "What a sick masochistic lion." In some ways you could view Edward as the type of person (or vampire) that does inflict pain on himself because Bella's blood is so tempting to him. But think about Bella's pain in New Moon, when he leaves. She is in the deepest depths of depression. And Edward has made it apparent in Twilight that because he is a vampire and the fact that he has been alive for so long make his feelings much stronger for Bella. Therefore, if he would've just let Bella live her life in Twilight then he would have been even more masochistic than just having a relationship with her. So…Edward has it tough both ways. He chooses the one option that will cause him a small sum of pain. The pain is worth it, because he gets his other half.

This is really a meaningful quote. I have only begun to decipher it. I do know that I fell in with Twilight from this quote. Okay, maybe I fell in love with it after Edward was described. But I did finally start to grasp what a brilliant writer Stephenie Meyer is with this quote. With this quote I was also able to understand the immense love between Edward and Bella. They put aside their differences, and if they hadn't there would be no Edward and Bella. Edward's life would have gone on being utterly lonely. And Bella would have going on not fitting in. They each fell in love with the person that completes them in every single way possible.

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Jenn:

Those heady feelings of first love—so intense, so wondrous, so…scary!

Now imagine if those feelings were intertwined with the very real possibility that your first love could very easily kill you without intending to. And still yet, it's his very nature to want to kill you. And even worse, something about the scent of your blood makes it a zillion times harder for him to resist. And he does want to resist. Because for the first time in a century, he also feels those pangs of first love. And finally, he has a chance to grasp onto the happiness he's seen with the rest of the couples in his family.

Just one little problem.

She's a human. And he's a vampire. And so we are introduced to Bella and Edward and their budding romance in Twilight. And in the most pivotal scene in the novel, Stephenie Meyer gives us a seemingly simple and yet appropriate analogy for this dangerous new love—the lion and the lamb.

What is it about the Twilight Saga that has taken hold of so many like never before? Well, too much to enumerate here. But certainly one of the many reasons is this idea of the intensity of first love where you often feel you will just die if you are not with that person to the reality of Bella and Edward's relationship where death is a very real possibility. Most people can relate to those intense feelings so it's easy to put themselves in Bella's or Edward's shoes.

Or to put themselves right there in the middle of the meadow. That all too important scene where Bella and Edward are finally free to declare themselves to each other and while heady with those feelings of first love, they also recognize the reality of their situation. After this discussion, Edward almost seemingly innocuously murmurs "So the lion fell in love with the lamb." Bella returns, "What a stupid lamb." And he comes back with "What a sick masochistic lion." In the book, this line while heavy in its implication, both Bella and Edward say it with a certain amount of self-deprecating humor.

There is the obvious analogy—the lion, one of the world's most dangerous predators; the lamb, that most innocent of prey—Edward even discusses the predatory prowess of vampires. But can lions and lambs co-exist? Well, sure, if the lamb is stupid enough to trust the lion and the lion is sick enough to be tortured by being so close to his prey. Of course, Edward and Bella see the irony in their situation and can approach it somewhat humorously.

That is because the alternative is one that neither can exist with either—to stay away from each other. In fact, it is impossible. They are drawn together as if by a gravitational pull. It is that inexplicable connection that true abiding deep love brings. The risks (and there are many!) are worth the price of being together although they are two different types of beings. And this willingness to be together despite all of the odds against them, to reach out and grab for that first love, make that soul mate connection, to risk it all, even death, even the possible loss of one's soul—well, that makes us love them all the more too! And that's what gives the reader that connection to this lion and his lamb. Because they would make that ultimate sacrifice to be together and wouldn't we all like someone to feel that way about us or the other way around? Absolutely. That is what true love and devotion is all about.