Author's Note:

This story is for theenvylover, and is not my idea.

Okay, I wanted to clarify that before I started this story, and is response to the oneshot "Bella Nelluc" made by theenvylover, another author on this site that I'm sure many of you may be familiar with. She proposed that any author may take her short story and continue it, with certain requirements. So, here is my take on what would happen if that were a broader idea and a chaptered story.

So thank you, theenvylover, and I hope it's great for you! And now, on with "Not for All the Diamonds in the World".

My world was over.

Existence? Over.

Meaning, love, life, happiness? All over. Finished.

And this was all brought on by myself-my revolting, masochistic monstrosity of a being. It was unjust to let me taint the air I breathed, that others breathed.

That my Bella breathed.

Of course, she wasn't my Bella any longer. She had moved on, probably to enjoy another life-a better one, perhaps, without me. No, I decided, not perhaps. Any life for her without me in it would be better for her. She would be happier, and would get to live her life to its fullest. She would have a human family, where no one could hurt her, and a human child. The fact that she would be able to have a child suggested a much more idealistic lifestyle than the kind I had once presented her with. And a human husband-she would have that, too. One who could hold her and give her warmth and grow old with her, and breath with her and kiss her soft lips without worrying of crushing her or puncturing her beautiful, translucent, pale, luscious skin...

I winced, the mere thought of her in another man's arms paining me. But what could I do? She wasn't mine any more. I couldn't keep her safe or cherish her as my own, or love her or stay with her or watch her sleep. I couldn't be with her, and yet I kept on wanting what was not mine to take.

I thought of the story of Adam and Eve, in the garden of Eden. How they both had everything a being could desire. They had the luscious fruits and they beautiful green trees. They had the silky-coated animals that roamed peacefully and the warm sun that shined upon them, giving them warmth and overall happiness. But they threw it all away, choosing to go against the rules that were so carefully laid and they took that fruit that was forbidden to them. It was inconceivable to me, why they had done that, to risk such a wonderful life they had been guaranteed for eternity.

But then, you could call me the biggest hypocrite that ever existed.

I had done just that. I had no rights whatsoever in wanting Bella. She was so...alive, with her rose red lips and amazing blush, her pale and tiny, fragile figure and her inviting smile. She was beautiful in ways that no one else could achieve, neither human nor vampire alike.

And I took my forbidden fruit.

But now, even as I had made the right decision, had forced myself away from her to protect her from the dangers that my being with her presented, I felt miserable. The only thing that kept me from just giving up completely was the mere thought of her being, in the slightest, happy. She deserved a whole life of happiness, and I would be damned if she didn't get it.

"Why, hello Edward. Fancy seeing you here. On the couch. Mourning." Rosalie said sarcastically as she appeared and sat down next to me, pretending to be chum-like and friendly. "Long time no see."

"Shut up, Rosalie." I grumbled, glaring at the wall.

She dropped the smile and rolled her eyes, picking up the TV remote. She flipped it on and began to flip through the channels, various sounds and voices starting as she got to them, before being cut off as she went to the next channel. Let's see, she thought. Crap. Crap. MAJOR crap. Crap. Cr-wait a minute...is that...Oh my God Suddenly, she slammed her finger down on the power button, shutting the television off and breaking the remote in the process, wires flying out of the big hole she had created in her haste.

I turned to look at her curiously, the first time in weeks I had looked at anything but the wall. "What was that?"

"Nothing...just nothing." She said, her tone struggling to keep an even speed. Twinkle, twinkle, little star...How I wonder what you are...Up above the sky so high...Like a diamond in the sky...Twinkle, twinkle...

I narrowed my eyes; she was hiding something from me. "I'm surprised, Rosalie. Usually your most popular choice is the ABCs, or Mary Had a Little Lamb." I said, eying her carefully.

She gave a nervous laugh, revealing her tension. "What? Can't I sing child songs without being investigated? God, Edward, really."

I got up suddenly, walking to the television. She was hiding something, and that provoked something in me to find out what it was. It had been the first spark of actual feeling in the months since we had left Forks. I hadn't even realized that I was doing it-I just walked up to the set and pushed the POWER button. Sure enough, it was on the channel that Rosalie had so quickly went out of her way to hide from me. What I had been expecting, I couldn't say.

But what I saw was much more than I could have ever been able to dream up, even if it were possible for me to do so.

On the screen, it showed two women, one in their late thirties, and one of eighteen, it looked. The woman wore an overly enthusiastic smile and a brown business suit, her whitened teeth framed by bright cherry red lipstick. Her bleached blonde hair was pulled up high on her head in an elaborate twist, held up by about two and a half bottles of hair spray and gel. She was grinning like a fool and waiting silently while the other talked. The whole time she was nodding her head, or sometimes throwing in a "Yes, of course," or "Oh, terrible." She was, I concluded, just like any other TV show host, interviewing stars to get the ratings higher.

The other girl, however, was talking quietly, every now and then using her hands to go along with the story. She was smiling politely, but not really. It was fake, and didn't touch her eyes, which were beautiful and deep and doe-like. They were like dark, warm pools of...coffee, perhaps. Her long locks of mahogany hair were just pulled back from her face, and cascaded in gentle waves down her back. She wore a deep red dress, which ruffled slightly whenever she shifted positions.

And then I realized who she was.

Bella smiled. "Yes, and that's pretty much my life story up until now."

The woman on the TV laughed and let it trail off slowly "Yes...so, Bella, tell America: how is it, do you think, that you got so big as an actress in just six months? We know how you did it, but what do you think was your biggest inspiration? How you got so...talented?"

Bella's face dropped slightly, before she recomposed it again. "Well, suppose I got my talent from...an old friend of mine. We were...very close, I had believed, until one day, he just...left." She frowned. "I guess I was so upset that when Frank came to me and asked if I "wanted to be big", I wasn't thinking properly. So I said yes, and it pretty much went on from there."

Then, she looked at the screen. But it didn't feel like she was looking at the camera, or looking at America watching from their homes and couches. It felt like she was looking at me, watching me watch her intently, confused about everything that was going on. Her warm brown eyes threw daggers into me, as if daring me to come and get her, like I so wanted to.

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Oh...so it was that kind of friend. Can you tell us his name?"

Bella hesitated. "Well, I don't know, Shannon..."

"Come now, I'm sure he won't mind. After all, you're the most famous eighteen year old in the country, and you're going to get him on television, in front of all America! He'll probably want to call and thank you, for all that!"

"Umm..." Bella said, her voice wavering under the pressure. "His name was...his name was..."

"His name was? What was his name?"

"His name was Edward." Her voice broke on my name, her eyes starting to go glassy. I wanted to snap the woman's neck who made her want to cry, and I'm sure Rosalie could hear the low growl that was building in my chest as my temper rose.

The woman, Shannon as Bella had called her, was now grinning in obvious pleasure at her accomplishment. As she was shifting her legs, she said, "Oh...that is a very unconventional name. As if he was born during the eighteen hundreds!" She laughed, a hyena-like laugh that was overly excited and enthusiastic, so that it was obvious she was faking it.

Bella shook her head and murmured, "You have no idea."

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

Shannon looked at her curiously, and seemed as if she would protest or something of the sort and try to pry some more information out of Bella, before a tiny beep sounded, small and slightly annoying. "Oh! Well, I suppose that's all the time we have for now! And thank you so much, Bella, for coming, and we hope to see you very soon in another movie. What was that? Oh, you do have one, Under Pressure, it's called? Well, we very much wish that you will join us once again on "Q and A with the Stars", here in the very state Bella grew up in: Washington! So tune in next week, when we will be interviewing our very own Robby Nockwell, the oldest man at sixty-seven years old to be vault jumping!"

Bella smiled politely. "You're very welcome. I had a pleasant time coming on the show."

I shut the TV off in a daze, wondering what I had just witnessed. Was it true? Had my Bella-the shy, beautiful girl who couldn't lie for her life truly be an...actor? I cocked an eyebrow, a mix of shock and amusement taking over me, before I realized that the love of my entire existence had just been on that screen, aproximately four inches from my face.

"Did you...know about this, Rosalie?" For the first time in a long time, my voice wavered, was unsure.

She looked at me with a cold glare, a pained look in her eyes. "God, Edward. She became the most famous actress in the country in just sixth months-how could you expect me, of all people, not to know? You were just so caught up in your own little indulgences and gloomy, depressed self that you didn't even take the time to think for once."

"Think?" I said, my voice rising angrily. "What do you think I've been doing for the past seven months? There's nothing that I've done besides think! And Alice...I bet she knew too, didn't she?"

Rosalie narrowed her eyes. "You didn't think about the important things, Edward. You thought about yourself, and that little human you wasted all of your time on. You needed to think about your family! You needed to think about us, instead of your own stupid...fling!" She paused, letting her biting words sink in. "And besides, Alice and I are the only ones who actually pay attention to that human crap. The rest of you couldn't care in the least!"

"Why...why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you?" She cried, standing up. "Tell you? Edward, we've all tried to tell you something! We try to tell you something every day...every hour...every minute! But you don't listen-you don't care!" She stopped, glaring at me. "And so we stopped trying to tell you. We gave up, Edward. "

I didn't say anything. I just stood up and straightened the couch, fixing my clothes. I ran a hand through my hair and turned to my room, down the hallway from the living room. As I started walking, I could hear Rosalie's frantic thoughts, asking me where I thought I was going.

I stopped and turned to her, smiling dully. "I'm going to take a shower," I said. "And then I'm going to Washington."