A/N: This is the first short story in a fanfic story-arc that I'm working on, dealing with Bella and her new life, the interactions of the other characters with her and a kind of reflecting on herself.

This story is for all of the Twilight fans out there, who along with myself, wished that Bella could've been more 'post-Nessie'-badass, without the Nessie. Make sense? Awesome. :)

Disclaimer: I own the socks on my feet & the bag of pretzels that I'm eating. I do not however, own anything related to the Twilight Saga. All of that belongs to Stephenie Meyer.

Changes In The After

Part I: Woman Unfurled

I walk the streets alone at night sometimes. I no longer have to be afraid of the scary monsters that used to haunt my dreams when I was just a kid. Mainly because now I can protect myself from them (the ones that are really real like rapists and muggers and serial killers), but also because I'm a monster. Kind of....

The slick pavement is noiseless beneath my feet, always surprising me after all these years. I make no noise when moving around, unless I want to. Which of course is never, because I still don't like being noticed so much, when I can help it. In late of night- that's my favorite time to just be me, by myself. No one is there to gawk at my unnerving appearance; no one is there to get me to talk to them in their oh-so-perfect voice...no one is there to laugh at my still-humanly ways. I don't have to constantly think about how I've caused heartache after heartache. I don't really have to think of anything...if I choose so.

To say that I've changed over the past nineteen years, is somewhat of an understatement. Like a 'William Shakespeare was just a poet'-kinda understatement. I mean sure, I've changed from a human to vampire in the matter of three days...and yes that's a very prominent easy-to-assess change...but I've changed in so many other ways as well.

Nowadays, you can see me doing an assortment of things that in my human days, I'd never even thought of doing . Like the walking around at night, taking sky-diving lessons, writing my own novels and spending entire days just swimming at the beach.... Literally, I dive underwater not bothering to come up for air, sometimes for hours on end. I guess I've gotten over the initial uncomfortable feeling of my lungs not contracting and expanding. Even now, after learning to become an excellent swimmer, I still imagine what it was like when I almost drowned in my previous life. I can still remember the thick density of the water, feeling myself being tumbled upon with each wave. Seeing Edward begging me to live.

Not the greatest of memories to take with me, I know.

But a very powerful one, indeed.

Also, now I tend to be more easily-irritated, often finding myself walking out of a room when I get in a heated debate over the simplest thing with another person.

Tenacity is a newly-developed trait of mine; one that Edward both loves and hates. I've always been stubborn, just not to the level that I am now.

Something about me that I seem to have inherited from the rest of my new family, is my love for fast cars. In our house that Edward and I had built almost six years ago, we have a whole separate lot just for our cars. Edward likes the smooth precision and handling of the European brands, while I'm more into old American muscle-cars. An obsession that was probably handed over years ago, from Jake.

I still get things done and it still takes me a ridiculously long time to make a decision, (good thing I have all the time in the world). We made it so that Charlie still sees me every now and then, just without all the supernatural crap involved.

Still not sure how we managed to pull that one off...All he knows is that there are things that neither Billy, myself or Sue can explain to him. He just accepts it and moves along. Then again, my Dad was always an open-minded person...

One thing that hasn't changed? I'm still a voracious reader- having a library of my own, comprised of over 26,000 books...all of which I've read.

Jacob still comes by every few months to check in on me, when he's not out running with Seth & Embry. They usually come to see me here, at our own place. It's safer, considering we don't really know how long it needs to take for vampires being around La Push, to create more werewolves. It's better this way- no more children having their lives and loves stripped from them.

But I do miss First Beach and Jake's old garage.

Not that he needs it now- now that the man owns his own auto-repair shop, twenty miles or so east of Seattle. He's still the same old Jacob, just a little older and wiser (not in appearance, though).

Leah & Embry just moved around there too, maybe a year ago. She chose to stop phasing before that, just long enough to see if she was finally able to get pregnant. She's due by the end of the fall. This makes me think of her and Embry as a small miracle in comparison to all the chaos that used to surround us years ago.

Seth and his wife, Nora, are also expecting their third child, sometime in November or December. They already have a ten year-old son, Harry, as well as Edie- kindly named after Seth's favorite vampire; my husband.

To this, I laughed and told them that if they had another son, they would need to name him Belthazar or something to that extent.

Quil isn't much for talking these days. He hasn't been his old self, since before the crash.

He was escorting Claire to her senior prom, when a drunk-driver hit them while running a red light. Quil of course, healed within a few days of the accident. Claire on the other hand, was comatose with extensive brain damage for the next two months.

After much serious debate, her parents made the painful decision to take her off of life-support. The moment they pulled the plug on Claire, someone pulled a plug on Quil's life support, too.

He was so scarred by the senseless tragedy, that he only just recently realized that the imprint on her was gone. It only lasted while they were both alive.

He never phased after that, too scared of the possibilities of everything that came with it. Would he imprint on someone else? Did he want to place those sick, twisted feelings on the rest of his pack? He was tired of never aging, tired of being sixteen forever. He was just tired.

The night that Jacob came to me to tell me about the accident, I sobbed tearlessly next to him, on our front porch.

You see, the thing about being once human and now not...was that you had to endure those you love who still are human and their frail, limited bodies and ignorant minds.

We know what it's like to go from feeling awkward, clumsy and weak to feeling invincible, powerful & strong. Everything about your way of life changes. The way you smile, the way you listen, the way you observe others...you become more aware of everything around you.

I stand here, at an old stony bridge built over the small creek. I reflect on time and the non-existence of it in my new life. A sudden realization hits me when I look down at my unnecessary, just-for-looks watch.

The date today is September 13th and I smile. Today is my birthday.

I have been nineteen for exactly nineteen years now. I'm double my 'vampire' age, while only looking half of my 'human' age. If that makes sense...

I should really be thirty-eight. But I am still nineteen.

I suppose I shouldn't even be counting anymore. I guess it doesn't matter.

I know Edward is probably waiting for me to come back home. I told him I wouldn't be long, which for me, means I'll be back before sunrise. In my beginning days as a vampire, I couldn't fathom being away from him. Everything was so fresh and so new, I wanted to document everything from the way this new color in the rainbow looked, to the way I could leap over a great distance without any effort.

Now I'm not as enlightened by everything as I was, but I still very much enjoy my time spent with my family & Edward....

t.b.c.

Look for Part II, soon!