Title: Ever thine, ever mine, ever ours......

Characters: Edward, Bella, Cullen's, humans

Prologue:

I could not believe my eyes. It was her- my Isabel-after all these years. I had found her soul in many incarnations during the last ninety years, but this girl, this clumsy, shy, beautiful human girl, was the first one that actually looked like my Isabel. Right down to her flowing chestnut hair and eyes the color of the richest chocolate.

I had seen her in the minds of others all day- the new girl, Isabella Swan. Bella, she told them. The police chief's daughter, come home at last. It wasn't until I looked in her eyes myself that I realized who she really was. Even across the crowded cafeteria I could see my long lost love in those eyes. Did she recognize me as well? Could I dare to hope?

I knew I must speak to her, get to know her, but I was afraid of frightening her. I could not afford to scare her away. I had done that too many times in the past, missing so many years of being with her, loving her. How would she ever believe me? How could I ever make her understand?

Chapter 1: It begins again….

Edward's POV

It was the fall of 1917 when we first met. Before the Spanish Influenza ravaged my city and took my family away from me forever- before I was changed into the monster I would become. Her family had recently moved into the house next door to my own- cliché, I know, that I would fall in love with the girl next door. And fall, I did. It happened quickly for both of us. I walked her to school every day, and showed her all of the wonders the city of Chicago held for me. She told me of her former home, on the coast of Washington, where most of her family still lived. I listened to the sadness in her voice as she would describe how she missed the lush, green forests of home, and I longed to hold her and take all of that sadness away.

By Christmas, we were courting. I, ever the gentleman, had asked her father's permission first. He had agreed, and Isabel became my Isabel. She was simply the most beautiful creature I had ever seen, inside and out. Her hair was the color of roasting chestnuts, and her eyes were the richest chocolate you could possibly imagine. Through those eyes, you could see the depth of her soul, and the purity of her heart. She had become my life, my reason for living. Gone were my notions of wanting to join the war effort. Although, when I would turn eighteen I would surely be drafted, if given the choice, I would no longer choose to go. I needed her in my life, couldn't breathe without her in it.

By springtime I had asked her parents for her hand, and they had consented. I had a plan in place to surprise Isabel with a proposal on her seventeenth birthday, but as they say, the best laid plans......

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Bella POV

The dream began much the same way it had every night since I had moved to Forks two weeks ago. I was walking down a city street in the springtime- early springtime, as it was very cold in the dream. It was not a city I recognized, which didn't mean much, as I had never really been anywhere in my seventeen years. But the beautiful boy walking with me in the dream, him, I recognized. For the first time I realized who he was, or maybe my mind finally put a face where there had never been one before. Edward Cullen. Dr. and Mrs. Cullen's adopted teenaged son. In my dream he was guiding me down a busy sidewalk, and I remember looking into his beautiful green eyes- a green that reminded me vividly of the wilderness around my new home. The only problem with this was that I knew that Edward Cullen's eyes were not green. I had seen him in my biology class- we were lab partners- and I remember clearly thinking that his eyes were the most unique color of gold I had ever seen.

As my dream unfolded, I continued to walk with the young man who had Edward's face. But, his face wasn't quite Edward's. It was softer, somehow, more youthful- innocent, almost. He guided me through the city park, to a bench beside the water fountain. He was rambling nervously about our relationship, and how precious I was to him. I couldn't help but notice the sheen of sweat, beading on his face as he spoke, and the shadows under his beautiful eyes. The shadows (that was something that my dream Edward had in common with my lab partner), those bruise-like shadows under his eyes. His speech was starting to falter, and I felt a pang of anxiety, wondering if there was something seriously wrong with this beautiful boy. Should I call his parents? Should I ask a passerby for help? And then, suddenly, he was falling.......

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EPOV

Fate had other ideas for me. Or maybe it was just really bad luck. But in the spring of 1918, two months before I was to turn eighteen, I fell ill with the influenza. My whole family became ill, and before we were able to check into the local hospital, my father had already succumbed to the wretched disease. My mother held out much longer. She tried her best to take care of me, and when she could no longer, she asked our Doctor to do what she could not. That was when I first met Carlisle, the man, who for so many years now, has been a father to me. But back then, he was a physician treating patients who were quarantined with the illness that had become an epidemic in the city of Chicago. I didn't know then what he really was, but I would soon find out.

I found out during this time that Isabel had taken ill, as well. I was so sick, at that point, that they wouldn't even let her see me. I overheard the nurse tell someone that I probably wouldn't make it through the day, much less the rest of the week. I prayed to heaven above that there would be a miracle for me, and that Isabel and I could be together again, as we were meant to be. I didn't realize that I had been begging for my life out loud, but Carlisle had heard the whisper of my voice, so soft that another human would never have been able to hear. That was when he decided to save me. He had been considering creating a companion for years, but could never bring himself to do it. He told me later that hearing my prayers that day turned the tide for him. He hoped that maybe he could provide my miracle- the only chance at survival I would get, because I was dying right before his eyes.

The change was excruciating. The fire ripped through my body for what felt like an eternity. When I awoke, he told me everything, and I opened my eyes to my new life, and hoped I could live as Carlisle had chosen. He insisted that I avoid humans until I could control my thirst, but I longed to see Isabel. I pushed my limits everyday- feeding on animals until I couldn't possible drink anymore, and then walking among them, hiding in the shadows, trying to build a tolerance for the heavenly aroma of their blood. It had been three weeks, and I hadn't slipped, not even once. I had awoken with the ability to see into the minds of those around me, and I found this helped quell my thirst for human blood. I found it was easier when I felt like I knew them- their families, friends. I knew Carlisle wasn't ready to trust my control, but I needed to see her.

Again, fate intervened. Or so I told myself at the time. She had succumbed to the disease very quickly. Perhaps the news of my "death" had caused her to give up. I would never know. She was gone. My Isabel was gone, and I felt like a burning man- burning for eternity in the fires of Hades.

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BPOV

I found myself riddled with anxiety as I entered the cafeteria, my dream from the night before still burning in my brain. I hadn't seen his car in the parking lot that morning, and I was curious if he was in school today. I desperately wanted to compare him with the Edward in my dream, now that I knew he was the one I was dreaming of. I must be crazy, to have been dreaming of someone I had just met yesterday- someone who had barely said two words to me. He had spent the whole class period the day before staring at me from the corner of his eye, daring me to look, but never saying a word. I couldn't understand his behavior at all. Maybe that was all this was about- his behavior had thrown me, and now I was overcome with curiosity about him. And then I looked up, and saw the most beautiful pair of golden eyes staring back at me, calling to me, like a beacon in the fog, calling a ship home.