1. Bella never convinced Edward to change her after her prom

"You're ready now?" Edward asked, his lips brushing my neck.

"Yes," I whispered.

Edward pulled his face away from mine and placed his cool hands on my cheeks. I met his gaze, and tried not to let my breath catch in my throat. Suddenly we were off the bench and quickly moving across the school grounds. Edward wrapped his arm around my waist and lifted, and my feet hardly touched the earth as we moved.

When we reached his car, Edward abruptly stopped and placed me back on the ground, ever mindful of my injured leg. His face was calm and composed, but his eyes were full of pain and sadness.

Edward turned me very gently to face the school, and he pressed up against my back, his arms wrapped around my waist and his cheek against mine. When his voice came, it was soft in my ear.

"Bella, are you really ready for this? You want to say goodbye to your life as a human?"

I looked across the parking lot to the school, where the strains of music and laughter could be heard, and then I very deliberately turned my back on the prom and faced the only future that mattered to me.

"Edward, I cannot bear the thought of growing old and dying when there's an option to spend eternity with you."

That seemed to be enough because Edward lowered his face to mine and pressed a soft kiss to my lips before silently opening the car door for me.

Edward did not speak as he drove. I studied his face, but his expression was inscrutable, and for once his eyes never left the road, so I could only guess what he was thinking. Without a word, he parked in the garage, pulled me inside, and led me to his bedroom.

Very carefully, Edward laid me on the black leather couch and knelt beside me. He hesitated, and I could see the indecision on his face.

"Bella… I – I'm afraid of hurting you. What if I can't stop?"

"You did stop, remember? You know you can do this, Edward." I grabbed his hand and brought it to my face. "It will be okay."

Edward stared into my eyes for a long time, undoubtedly looking for any sign that I wasn't absolutely sure that I wanted this, but there was no hesitation in my mind. I was ready. After several moments, his questioning expression hardened, and his eyes glinted with steely determination.

Very gently, Edward lowered his head, placing his ear to my chest. He let out a soft, wistful sigh as he listened to my heart.

My pulse pounded in my ears, not in fear but in anticipation as Edward inched his face toward mine. His mouth traced my collarbone and he continued up my neck before coming to rest at the hollow beneath my ear. I held very still and listened as Edward breathed in deeply.

When his voice came it was so low I could hardly make out the words: "Forgive me."

In all of our time together, Edward kept his razor sharp teeth away from my skin, but now I felt his lips pull back and his teeth press against my neck. It was over in a flash and then Edward's lips were back on me again as if he was kissing me, and it wasn't until I heard him swallow that I realized that his teeth had pierced my skin.

There was no pain, just a white-hot heat where Edward's lips met my throat. He was rigid against me, but when I brought my arms up and wrapped them around him, his body finally moved.

With an agonized groan, Edward pulled his face away from my neck and gazed down at me with wild eyes, a single drop of blood glistening on his lip. His face was full of fear and love and desire, and in that moment, he had never looked more beautiful.

And then I began to scream.

2. Bella never stayed in Phoenix

"I'm really sorry about this."

I glanced at Charlie as we drove.

I had only just arrived in Forks with all of my belongings, ready to stay indefinitely, when Renee had called. Phil had left her suddenly and unexpectedly, and she was alone and quite hysterical.

Even though I knew it would hurt Charlie, I had to go back to Phoenix. Renee had a hard time taking care of herself under the best of circumstances, and now that she was an emotional wreck, I couldn't leave her there alone, so before my things were all the way unpacked, Charlie and I were headed back to the airport.

It was awkward between us, so Charlie left for the airport hours before we needed to be there, and with so much time to kill, he stopped at the high school to un-enroll me. I almost waited in the car, but I was curious, so I went with him inside.

I waited while Charlie spoke to the woman behind the desk in the office, feeling a pang of sadness for him as he explained that I would not be attending after all. As relieved as I was not to be living in Forks, I didn't relish the thought of hurting him.

As Charlie signed some forms, I turned and watched the students pass by on the other side of the glass wall. Their faces were unfamiliar and indistinct – the faces of my might-have-been friends. Just then, I noticed someone in the crowd. He was tall, devastatingly beautiful, and he moved with a fluid grace that seemed almost impossible. As he passed the office, our eyes met. He wore a look of boredom, but as he glanced at me, his expression became confused, and his pace slowed fractionally. His stunningly perfect face captivated me, but then his expression changed back to one of indifference and he turned away and continued down the hall.

3. Bella never went to Dartmouth

Edward listens as Bella's footsteps approach outside, the noise muffled by the thick blanket of new snow. A moment later, the door slams behind her, bringing in an icy blast of winter air.

The end of their first semester together at Dartmouth is coming to a close and it is better than Edward could have imagined. Bella is excited by her classes, impressed with her professors, and even the snow doesn't seem to bother her.

Her face is pink from the cold, and she chatters happily away about her newfound love for Whitman until Edward whisks her to the bedroom, unable to resist her cheerful mood.

Later, when they are tangled together in the sheets, Bella's head resting on Edward's chest, he mentions the spring semester.

"I was wondering what classes you want to take next semester. I brought home the catalog." Edward gestures to the bedside table.

Bella smiles and shakes her head. "Why do I think you're going to try to convince me to stay here until I graduate?"

"One more semester," Edward pleads.

"No more semesters, Edward. I'm happy that we came here, but it's time. I'm ready."

Edward sighs, but he can't be too disappointed. Bella is his wife, she is here at Dartmouth, and now she wants to spend forever with him. It is more than enough.

4. Bella never died

Bella dies on a sunny day.

Edward hears Alice scream and his brain takes only a fraction of a second to hear what she sees and then he is running. The sunlight shines like diamonds on his skin but he doesn't care who sees him – doesn't care if the whole world knows what he is.

After all of the supernatural dangers that Bella has faced, it is ultimately a freak accident that does it – a car moving too fast around a bend while Bella was crossing the street.

When he sees her, the sound that rips from his throat is not remotely human. He doesn't even notice how the crowd gasps and backs away from him in fear – the shimmering, terrifying monster.

He cradles her broken body on the pavement and knows that he is too late. No amount of vampire venom will make her immortal. He will get no second chance this time. Bella will not come to him like an angel from beyond and save him at the very last moment. Bella will not come to him ever again.

Her blood soaks his shirt and spreads out away from her body in thin jagged streams following the contours of the asphalt. There is nothing left. There is only this.

5. Bella and Edward never made love in Edward's bed

Later when Edward looks back, he will realize that this was inevitable, really. Ever since Bella walked away from their first encounter at school alive, she has been making her own rules that often clash with his carefully controlled world.

He tries to say no – tries to make her wait, but she slowly chips away his carefully arranged armor, deftly finding all the weak spots.

"Please, Edward. Please?" She is all warm skin and soft kisses, and how is he supposed to resist this?

Maybe he should never have gotten a bed, and he certainly should never have climbed in beside Bella. They had spent many nights together in her bed, but somehow kissing with Charlie snoring in the next room is not the same as the charged energy that fills the tiny spaces between them when Bella starts pleading with him.

He thought he was prepared to stick by his rules, but when Bella removes first his and then her own shirt and he feels the heat of her breasts and stomach against him, he forgets about a wedding, forgets about saving her soul, forgets about everything except how he wants to taste all of this new skin.

Her hands glide up and down his back, and when she slides one below the waistband of his pants, Edward gasps as her fingers burn his skin. There is suddenly too much fabric between them, and Edward ignores the tear of cotton and denim as he wrenches them both free of their remaining clothing.

He suddenly feels clumsy and awkward, which is very disconcerting to him. Edward understands the basics – he's read thousands of books and seen countless movies – but when he slides his hand down Bella's side, past her hip, to her thigh and watches her tremble beneath him, he doesn't know if he has the control that he needs to do this without hurting her.

Only when Bella looks up at him imploringly and begs, "Please Edward, you have to move," does he realize that he is frozen in place.

He can see the desire in her face – it's the same look she has every time he disentangles himself from their frantic kisses, but this time he doesn't force her away – he can't.

Bella gasps and her fingers clutch at his shoulders as he pushes into her, and he tries to move gently – so gently – but there is too much of her and it is all so hot. He feels the burn of her skin from his neck to his toes, and when she moans, the heat flashes brightly behind his eyelids.

Bella cries out, but it doesn't sound like she's in pain, and Edward has the presence of mind to move his hand, which is gripping her ribcage, to the bed frame, and when he hears the snap of metal, he is very glad that he did.

Bella wraps one leg around the back of his thigh and pulls him closer and as his hips move against hers, he can feel the soft heat of her entire body, and it occurs to him that she is so very fragile.

A wave of terror washes over him, mixing with desire and making him dizzy, but he is too far gone to stop, and he can only lower his face to breathe in the smell of her throat and squeeze his eyes shut as the world explodes around him.

Later, Bella lays very still while he traces his fingers all over her body, checking for damage. His hands linger on the tender skin over her ribs where he gripped too hard, and he dips his face to kiss her gently there. She giggles in response and he finally releases some of the tension he's been holding.

"Edward, I'm okay. Really." Her smile is radiant, and there is no hint of deception in her eyes.

"That was – that was…" he struggles to find the right words.

Bella curls around him and sighs contently. "It was perfect."

Edward doesn't answer, and Bella pulls away from him and examines his face.

"Are you mad?"

"Why would I be mad?"

"Because you wanted to wait, and I – well, I kind of ignored you."

"Bella, I agree that it was amazing, and no, I'm not mad. If I really wanted to stop you, I could have." Edward's voice rings with a confidence he doesn't feel on the inside.

"I don't think you could." Bella grins at him with a devilish glint in her eyes. "I think you are powerless to resist me."

Edward laughs and pulls her in for a kiss, which is a lot more pleasant than admitting that she's right.