Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns Twilight.
Warning: Rated M for eventual lemons. Please turn back if you are not 18.
A/N: This story picks up a few months after the events in 'The Day Before Forever' so if you haven't read that, some things may not make sense. Thank you to my Beta, Stitchcat, and to HammerHips for pre-reading for me. Both have given me the confidence to post this and have put up with my endless questions and revisions. Thank you ladies!
Summary: After the events in 'A Day Before Forever', Bella is looking forward to the future. Little does she know, fate has other plans in store for her before she gets her happily ever after.
The pain seemed unbearable and endless. The fire came in waves, lessening for what seemed like a fraction of a second, only to come slamming back through her body worse than before. She could feel her brow perspiring, the sweat running down her forehead and face; one drop occasionally making its way to the corner of her eye, causing her corneas to burn. She was finding it hard to breathe; becoming breathless was too easy. She attempted to focus her breaths, to even them out, finding a small release for the burn in her aching body.
Where was she? What was happening? She attempted to focus her thoughts away from the burning, trying to find reasoning for her current state. She was changing! She struggled to open her eyes but it was futile. It was as if the fire had singed her eyelids together. She was able to determine that a bright white light hovered over her, making her body even hotter. She heard voices, distinctly familiar, buzzing around her. Then she felt a squeeze of her hand. His cold hand in hers; a hand she'd held so many times the last few months, and come to know so well. The atrocities he had suffered at the hands of Maria and her army of newborns had marked Jasper's hands with scars, exactly like the scars that littered the majority of his body. She loved the feel of his hands; when he cradled her cheek, held her hand, touched her lips, or held her tight in a way that only a lover could. She turned her head in an attempt to seek him out. She could picture his beautiful face, his topaz eyes a storming sea of concern for her. She hated that he had to see her like this, also knowing that he could feel every wave of pain as if it were his own. She could feel the cool cloth he used to wipe her forehead, and the gentle touch of his hand as he brushed back the whispers of dark hair that had fallen into her eyes.
"It'll be over soon, Darlin', then we'll have eternity together." Jasper's voice cut through the pain that was ringing in her head. "Focus on your memories. Think of everythin' you want to remember and bring with you into this life. Remember our family; Carlisle and Esme, Rose and Emmett, Alice, even Edward. Remember Renee and Phil, Jacob and the Pack. Remember Charlie…"
His voice seemed to slowly fade out, or was it the pain increasing? She couldn't tell. But Jasper was right, she could do this. She had done it before. She had to stay focused and remember her life, the good along with the bad. 'I have to focus on something,' Bella thought. 'Focus on my childhood, Renee, coming to Forks, meeting the Cullens, Edward…Jake….Charlie… Focus on Jasper, on his love, all that I fought for the past few months, our plans for the future.' Her mind began to shift, to refocus itself, away from the constant state of pain. She shut it away in the deepest recesses of her mind, and started going through her memories.