Disc: I don't own Twilight

Eternal

Chapter 1: The Case for Vegas

"Bella!" Alice stamped her dainty foot. Inside the dressing room Bella sighed. A lot of their trips to the mall seemed to find Bella inside a fitting room in something Alice picked out for her and Alice on the other side of the door demanding to see it. Bridal shops were no different and they had been to at least 5 so far. She stood and gathered the dress up so that she could walk out of the dressing room. "Hmm." Alice pulled Bella up on the platform in front of the mirror and began to circle her, inspecting the dress from top to bottom. "Not quite." Bella sighed again. "Oh come on Bella. This is fun."

"It is, it just takes a long time." She looked at herself in the mirror. It was a beautiful dress, but Alice was right. It wasn't quite it. Her eyes combed over the store again and stopped on a beautiful dress. "Alice, that's it." She came down off the platform and made her way over to the dress. She gasped. It looked even better up close. The skirt was A-line and full. The strapless bodice was covered in delicate antique beading. Bella could see herself walking down the aisle and into Edward's waiting arms in this dress. She ran her hands down the bodice until she came to the price tag. "Holy, crow! 5000 dollars!" Alice came up behind her.

"But it's a really great dress."

"Alice I can't afford a 5000 dollar dress."

"Bella, that's why Edward gave us this." Alice held up Edward's credit card. "Go try it on at least." The saleswoman helped Bella get the dress down and she took it into the dressing room. Bella slid the dress over her head. Already she loved the way it felt more than any of the others. She slowly came out of the dressing room and stood up on the platform. Alice looked her over. "Amazing. Bella, this is it. The saleswoman said that she could sell you this one for 2500 because it's the display."

"I don't know," Bella said as she looked at herself in the mirror. She couldn't help, but smile. It was perfect. She felt tears spring to her eyes. It was the only perfect thing that had happened regarding this wedding so far. The rest of it had been shopping, planning seating charts, fighting Alice over the number of guests, agonizing over the menu, and dealing with…

"Bella!!" Oh, no. "Oh Bella it's beautiful!" Bella turned and forced a smile onto her mouth as she faced her high school "friend", Jessica Stanley. She had called her father back in Forks to tell him that she was engaged, which was another stress in itself, and Jessica had found out by way of small town gossip. She had since invited herself to be a bridesmaid, and Bella was sure that friend or not, if Rosalie didn't kill Jessica, she might. Angela came up next to Jessica.

"It really is beautiful, Bella," she said quietly.

"Thank you," Bella answered. "I think I will buy this." The saleswoman was quick to ring the dress up and take the credit card.

"Thank you." Alice took the dress and went back to where Bella was having a conversation with Jessica.

"I know that Alice is really excited about planning this and I understand that she's your maid of honor, but Ange and I are bridesmaids too and we should get some kind of say." Bella stared at Jessica. Did self-invited bridesmaids get a say.

"I think that things are fine with the wedding."

"Well, it mostly is, but the flowers…" Alice joined them.

"What's wrong with the flowers. Bella said she liked the flowers." Bella nodded.

"I do like them." Jessica wrinkled her nose.

"But roses?"

"I like roses," Bella said softly. This was going to turn into another day with Jessica. All of them had been like this since Jessica had come into Seattle. Jessica shrugged.

"They're so plain." A low growl escaped Alice's throat.

"Let's go look at cakes!" Bella shouted, ushering them towards the door. With a flip of her hair Jessica turned and exited the store. Angela came up beside Bella and a still fuming Alice.

"I think roses are pretty." Bella smiled at her.

"Thanks, Ange. Alice, I'm sorry."

"Doesn't matter, as long as you like the flowers." Alice seemed lost in her own world. Bella sighed. Great. Her phone rang. Smiling slightly she pulled it out of her purse and answered.

"Hey sweetheart."

"Hey Bella, how is your day going?" Suddenly Bella felt like crying, though she wasn't quite sure why.

"It's going okay. I found a dress and we got flowers." Alice spun around.

"Is that Edward? Don't tell him a thing about the dress."

"Do I get to see your dress?" he asked, smiling. Bella smiled a little.

"Of course you do, on our wedding day."

"Fine. Then you don't get to see the tux I picked out. You think that it would be okay if I kidnapped you for lunch?" Bella glanced at Alice.

"I think that would be okay. We're going to look at cakes now, but lunch after that would be perfect."

"Great, give me a call when you get done. I'm going to be here all day working on this boring paper."

"Okay, I love you."

"I love you too. Have fun."

"Yeah, loads." She hung up. They had stopped in front of the cake shop. Jessica scowled.

"In here?" Alice stopped with her hand on the door.

"Yeah, what's wrong with it? Too plain?"

"I know the perfect place just a few blocks over. They made the cake for my 16th birthday."

"How nice for them. These people made my wedding cake and they did a wonderful and professional job."

"Maybe Bella should pick," Jessica snarled back. She spun and glared at Bella. Bella shook her head.

"This place is good. I like this place." Jessica stomped up to her.

"Do we get any say in this at all? You know Bella, I'm starting to think you don't want us in this wedding." Angela held up her hands and shook her head to exclude herself. Alice growled and went into the bakery. "Call me when you want help," Jessica said as she turned on her heels and stalked off. Bella sat down on the steps and put her head in her hands. She felt a hand on her should and looked up into Angela's sympathetic face.

"Ange, can you tell Alice that I'll call her later? And whatever cake she picks is fine." Angela nodded and entered the bakery. Bella pulled her phone out of her pocket and pressed one. Edward picked up quickly.

"Hey."

"Edward, I'm done."

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By the time Edward pulled up in front of the dress shop Bella was almost in hysterics. She climbed into the car. "I can't tell you how happy I am to see you!" She threw her arms around Edward and began sobbing.

"Bella, baby, what's wrong?" He kissed the top of her head.

"I've just had a bad day. It's better now that you're here."

"You want to tell me about it?" She nodded and tried to start, but found that she couldn't get any words out.

"Can I tell you when we get to wherever we're going?" He nodded and pulled away from the curb. Moments later they were in front of their apartment. "No lunch?"

"I made lunch."

"How's your paper going?"

"I had that thing done weeks ago." He came around and got her out of the car. She had more or less calmed down, but her nerves still felt frayed. "Should I carry you?"

"That would be wonderful." Smiling, he scooped her up and carried her up to their apartment. He put her down on the couch and kissed her before going to get their lunch. He came and handed her a plate then sat down next to her with his own.

"So, what happened."

"Oh, Edward. All this planning has just been really stressful. It just seems like there's so much to do and every time I think that we're getting close to done, something else comes up. And now with Jessica here… It's like she looks for ways to pick fights." Bella was sobbing again. Edward set his plate on the coffee table and wrapped his arms around her. She cried into his shoulder. "I just can't wait for this to be over. It's not that I don't want to be Mrs. Cullen, I just can't take all the fuss anymore. They almost started a war over what kind of flowers I was going to have at my wedding."

"Do you want to be more involved in the planning? I know that Alice can be a little intense and she likes to micromanage, but I'm sure if we talked to her…"

"Edward, I don't care about that. I don't want any of that. I don't mind her making the decisions, I just wish she wouldn't go so overboard with it."

"Bella, this is your wedding. What do you want?"

"I- I want to be married to you."

"Well, there is always Vegas. We could get on a plane and be there in a few hours. No fuss, no millions of guests…" A part of Bella's mind seriously considered it, but then she remembered Alice.

"I couldn't do that to her." Edward nodded.

"We'd never hear the end of it."

"I want Alice to be happy just as long as I get to be your wife at the end of it all." He stroked her hair.

"I'll talk to Alice and ask her to back off. As for Jessica, if you don't want her to be in the wedding, tell her. She doesn't have to be in it. If I get a say in any of it, I don't particularly want her there either." Bella nodded.

"I'll talk to her. Thank you, Edward. You're so sweet. And this lunch is wonderful."

"Thanks. When does Alice need you back?" Bella shrugged.

"Not before I've had my way with you." He chuckled softly. "Oh, I do have to call her first. I kind of ran out on her. I hope she's not too mad."

"She'll be okay." Bella finished her lunch then go the phone and dialed Alice.

"Hello?"

"Alice, it's Bella. I'm sorry that I just left you like that. I was feeling a little overwhelmed and I just needed to talk to Edward."

"Bella, it's okay. I understand. Can we talk about Jessica?"

"I'm going to talk to her Alice. I'm sorry. Did you find a cake?"

"I found one, but I didn't want to make any decisions without you."

"Okay. We can go look at it tomorrow. I really am sorry I just left like that."

"It's alright. I'm glad that we found a dress."

"Me too. Did you want to do anything else today?" There was silence for a moment on the other end.

"I'm going to spend some time with Jasper, but we can hit it tomorrow. Maybe just the two of us?"

"That would be fun. I'll see you tomorrow then." Alice sounded more upbeat when she answered.

"Great. Bella, don't tell Edward anything about your dress. He has a habit of prying where he shouldn't and he's very persuasive."

"I won't tell him anything. See you Alice." They hung up. Bella felt better than she had all day. Alice wasn't mad at her, she got out of wedding planning for the rest of the day, and she got to spend the rest of the day with Edward. She turned towards him with a hungry look in her eyes. She stalked towards him and straddled his lap. "Alice said you could have me for the rest of the day."

"That was nice of her." He kissed her deeply and picked her up. He began moving towards the bedroom.

"What about the dishes?" she panted.

"They're not going anywhere." He kissed her neck as he entered their bedroom and laid her down on the bed.

A/N: Here's the first part of the sequel. I have to say that I never did like Jessica in the books. Enjoy.