(A/N:) Well, thank ya'll for those who reviewed and/or favorited. Means a lot, guys! Here's stab two at Undying Love. Hope you like it! Here's where everything takes off!

Last Chapter:

"Isabella Swan, my Bella, my angel…will you marry me?"

My heart leapt with joy, and all I could do was respond with a half whispered, half squealed, "Yes!" He chuckled, slipping it on my finger.

"Forever," he said quietly, and leaned down to kiss my forehead.

I drifted off to sleep in my vampire fiancée's arms.

Chapter 2

That's What You Get

(E POV)

My Bella…my fiancée…soon to be my wife.

Alice had blackmailed her yesterday into going to the mall with her. Eventually, she relented, on the condition that Alice would not force her into Victoria's Secret. Alice was disappointed, as was I, but still managed to buy half the mall.

Tonight, Bella wore a plain pink t-shirt on top of black and pink polka-dot pajama shorts. I'd have to compliment her on those - they showed off quite a bit more leg than the gym uniform did. She was so beautiful…so absurdly beautiful…and she loved me. That was what astonished me. That somebody so wonderful, so kind, so loving, so…so Bella. And she loved me.

I stared at her beloved face as she visited, once more, the world of dreams. A world where there was peace and happiness. Anything could happen in this world of dreams.

In a few weeks, she would never dream again.

I had agreed to take away her humanity, in return for an eternity with me. I had spent all of last night pondering whether or not I had made the right decision, taking away all that she held dear.

But a little voice in the back of my head chose that moment to speak up. She loves you. You love her. Shouldn't that be enough?

Yes, I agreed, twisting my fingers through my Bella's hair. It is enough. But I'm taking away her friends, her family.

Would you let yourself be taken away from your family if it meant being with Bella for eternity? the voice prodded.

Of course, I knew the answer. I always had. My Bella loved me, and I loved her. We were destined to be together forever. It felt good. It felt right. It had been so long since anything in my life had felt right. That is, until Bella came along.

I shifted my body closer to hers, carefully, so as not to disturb her. She sensed the movement, however, and woke, eyes bleary with sleep.

"My Bella," I greeted her with a chuckle, for her hair was more mussed than usual, due to me playing with it during the night.

She glared at me when I laughed, and I grinned repentantly. "Sorry, love. You're just so cute…no, cute doesn't cut it. Adorable, beautiful, gorgeous, angelic…" I paused dramatically for breath. "But right now you're just plain adorable."

Bella looked at me, faking hurt, one eyebrow raised. "How am I adorable now, but not gorgeous or angelic?" she questioned me teasingly.

I hastened to explain. "Bella, you're always adorable, gorgeous, and angelic. Just, you're pouting right now. So adorable is more prominent." She rolled her eyes.

"Well, I'm going to go take my human minute." She stood up to gather her things and head to the bathroom that she shared with Charlie.

Leave me without a kiss?

Not on my watch.

"No, you don't," I informed her, grabbing her by her slim waist and pulling her back. She landed back on the bed, causing the springs to send me a few inches into the air. I fought the urge to laugh at her awkward positioning on the bed, but decided that I wanted to be on her good side today. I sat up, repositioning her so that she sat on my lap, the back of her head leaning against my chest. She turned her face so that she could see mine.

"And why ever not, Edward?" she asked haughtily, narrowing her eyes in mock severity.

I took that moment to close the distance between our faces. Just before our lips touched, I said, "We didn't say good morning properly." I took a little longer with this kiss than strictly necessary, pulling back as I noticed that I was pushing the limit. "You're my fiancée, Bella. There's no way I'm letting you go anywhere in the morning without a kiss first."

"So that wasn't a dream!" she squealed happily, twisting on my lap and throwing her arms around me. Her sudden movement was startling, even to me. But I decided that I best not comment. I loved it when she spontaneously showed her affection for me.

"No, my love," I murmured into her hair. "It wasn't a dream." Realizing our conversation was turning too serious for so early in the morning, I made an attempt to lighten it up. "If it was a dream, my dear Bella, I would not have experienced it, for I cannot dream. But I know that I did experience it, however dreamlike it may be. So, therefore, last night was real. We're engaged."

Bella's face was blank, trying to process what I had just said. It was a little complex, and a little fast, for human ears. Then her smile grew to a grin, and she squealed once more, "I knew it wasn't a dream! Oh, dear Lord, Edward, we're gonna be married!"

I winced exaggeratedly, cringing against the wooden headboard. "God, Bella, you're acting like Alice." I groaned, as if to prove how horrible that was.

"Oh…I'm sorry, I…" She was flustered. I shouldn't have said anything. But she was so gosh darn cute…beautiful…

"Oh!" she cried, and I scanned the room quickly, wondering what had startled her. "Crap," she said under her breath. "Edward, get in the closet."

"Um, Bella? Charlie left for work about, oh, three hours ago." Bella flushed at this, and buried her face in my chest.

"Bella?" I asked gently, bringing her face up to meet my gaze. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about, honey." She looked gratefully at me. Oh, God. There was moisture in her eyes. "It's not your fault that you're incredibly unobservant." She glared at me, but (thank God) her eyes had cleared of tears.

"I believe you've told me that before, Edward Anthony Mason Cullen."

There was a momentary silence. "Now can I take my human minute?" Bella whined pitifully. "I feel dirty."

I snickered. "And what if I say no?" I questioned with a wry grin.

She pouted. God, she was beautiful when she did that! More beautiful than normal, that is. Scratch that. She's always beautiful…

"Very well, Bella. You may take a human moment," I said, feigning reluctance. All right, all right, I admit it. I didn't have to feign anything. I wanted her to stay with me.

She stood up, and gathered her toiletries. "And you'll be here when I finish in the shower?" she asked, a warm blush rising on her cheeks.

I stood up from the bed, taking her briefly in my arms, just enough to kiss her lightly on the lips. "Always, my love, my angel." She pulled back, into the bathroom, and with one last smile, shut the dark wooden door behind her.

Then I smelled it. Wolves.

(B POV)

The water was turned on cold. I hated cold water. Despised it. Until I came to Forks. Rather, until I met one Edward Cullen. The cold water, I was embarrassed to say, reminded me of him. It was relaxing, and it helped me to think.

I was his fiancée. I would become a vampire – I would marry Edward and be able to be with him forever.

Subconsciously turning the showerhead so that it more directly hit my hair, I thought of him.

My Edward…my handsome, strong, angelic, god-like…too many words described him, yet not enough could truly encompass him.

In fact, only one did.

'Edward'.

I turned off the water. Stepping out of the shower onto the cool tiles, I noticed strange noises coming from downstairs.

First, growling…teeth gnashing together…a horrible crunching noise…and then a remarkably deafening silence. I was sure I was deathly pale as I threw on my purple bathrobe. Flinging open the door, I took one glance into my room. The bed was empty, the window closed. The tacky lemon yellow lamp from Renée wasn't on. After this quick assessment, I realized that Edward wasn't in there.

Which meant he was downstairs.

Possibly being ripped apart.

Oh God, Edward, be all right, please be all right…Oh, God… I rushed to the staircase. I would never forget the terrifying image that I saw there, if I lived for an eternity or not.

Jacob, Paul, Jared, Embry, and Sam stood in Charlie's kitchen in a circular formation, surrounding something that I couldn't see. Embry and Jared were on either side of Paul, gripping his arms harder than I ever wanted to imagine. Paul himself had his teeth bared. He was shaking uncontrollably, and his eyes were wild.

Jacob was staring, eyes wide, towards the center of the circle.

And Sam…I don't think I've ever seen him so disoriented, so out of control. His mouth hung open, but his eyes were full of sorrow.

I knew, then, what had happened.

I knew, then, what was in the center of the circle.

Uttering a gasp of pain, I sank to the floor, clutching frantically but unsuccessfully at the stair's pine railing.

All five heads snapped up to me, but the werewolves weren't what I cared about at that moment. There movement let me see in between Sam and Jared to the center of the circle.

I had time only for a shrill cry before I tumbled down to the wooden stairs in my haste to reach him.

Him. Edward. MyEdward.

He lay on the yellowed, peeling linoleum floor, motionless.

I half-ran, half-stumbled into the kitchen, my hip banging into one of the three kitchen chairs. My hand, as I scrambled around the corner, hit the wall with a resounding crack. Neither of these pains was what caused the tears obscuring my vision. No; I cried from a wound much deeper than any injury that could physically be inflicted upon me.

I fell to Edward's side. "No, no," I sobbed. "Edward, please, oh Edward…" I leaned forward, pressing my lips to his hair, his face, his lips. Wildly, I grabbed his beautiful bronze hair, coated thick with perspiration. "No, no, Edward…"

A pale, trembling hand reached out to stroke my cheek. "Bella," Edward croaked, his velvety voice marred by what I assumed to be intense pain. "Bella…I love you." He took my face in his hands, which were warm, even feverish, and pressed his lips to mine. "Thank you," he murmured, as I repositioned his upper body so that his head lay on my lap.

"Bella," he said once more, his eyes opening a little wider than they had before. They were a color I had never seen in his eyes before – a murky gray. The gray of a dying rose, of cold wax long since melted from the candle.

A foreboding color.

This color meant that death was on its way.

The kitchen had gone silent. The yellow cabinets, mismatched chairs, and peeling flooring seemed so out of place, when all that I loved was crumbling in front of my eyes. Paul's angry growling had subsided, and each and every werewolf's eyes were on me and my Edward.

"Bella…" he groaned. "My Bella…Bella, listen to me…" His voice grew abnormally frantic, with worry that shouldn't have been there. "Bella, my Bella, hold me. Hold me, Bella…I need you. God knows, Bella, I need you." His hands flailed weakly about, searching for, I supposed, me.

I comforted him, smoothing his sweat-dampened hair back from his face. "Hush now, Edward, hush," I cooed. "It'll be okay, Edward, you won't die, I won't let you die, oh, Edward, don't you worry…"

His arms had ceased their flailing. His eyes were calmer. In them swam so many emotions.

First and foremost, love. A love that was so strong, so pure, that I knew it would continue on through death itself.

It was the love that Edward and I had shared, that we still do. That love, that undying love…it would turn to a curse if ever we were separated again. It would still be there, certainly, and stronger than ever, perhaps, but it would rip out the heart of each until they were back in the other's embrace.

Death was, and continues to be, the only thing that could separate the two of us. We had been fighting the battle against death for nearly two years, and now we were to lose.

Then there was hate. I knew it was not directed at me, but at death. At death for taking him away from me, when we were so close to our own fairy tale ending, our happily ever after…

And then, the emotion I was loathe to see.

Acceptance.

He couldn't. He wouldn't…just give up…just leave me…The world can't be so cruel, can it?

Of course, we all know the answer.

It most definitely can be cruel.

"Edward!" I screamed. "EDWARD!" And into the crook of his neck I cried.

The werewolves stood there, staring, mouths agape.

I didn't care.

I was in my bathrobe, which was beginning to slip past my shoulders, in front of my vampire boyfriend and five others.

I didn't care.

All I cared about now was Edward. My Edward. His breath was slipping away, oh so slowly, and I wished then that I was stronger. I wished that I could hold my head high as he left this world, so he could be proud of the girl that he loved.

Instead, I cried.

But death had not taken him from me yet; no, my Edward was strong. He would fight death until he was ready to go. He still had something more to say.

"Bella…promise me something," he whispered. I shook my head fiercely in response.

"No…no. You'll just trick me again, Edward, and I won't, I won't live without you. I won't…you can't make me…." Snot dribbled down my chin, mixing with my salty tears.

He smiled sadly. "Bella…" he sighed. It was a struggle for him to speak. I tried to stop him, but he silenced me with a cool finger to my lips.

"You're quite right. I can't…can't…make you do anything. I am a dying man…vampire…thing." A twisted smile appeared on his angelic, deathly pale face. "Bella, my light, my angel…I ask this of you as I die. Won't you listen to my dying wish, Bella? I need this…please…it will let me leave this world, and all that I hold dear…" To my surprise, he paused there, and my favorite crooked grin spread weakly across his perfect face. "Meaning you, Bella, for you are all I could ever need….or want…Will you please, Bella, promise me?" His gray eyes bore into mine, and although they were not the color that I was used to, they still held all the power of the liquid gold. I could refuse nothing for those eyes.

"Anything," I whispered.

He smiled, closing his eyes. "Then move on."

Those words shocked me to my very core. Move on? What kind of joke does he think he's pulling?! He knows I won't be able to forget him…

My Edward seemed to know what I was thinking, for his eyes snapped open, growing wider and wider, and his hands tightened their grip on my hair and shoulder.

"No, no…" he said. "I didn't mean…" He was interrupted by a fit of coughing.

Since when did vampires cough?

"Bella…you don't have to forget me. In fact, I would prefer it if you did not. But…go on with your life. Meet new friends, get a boyfriend, marry him, have kids…indulge in pleasures that I myself could never give you…" He winked. I tried to pretend that I didn't know what he was talking about, but I don't think I could have avoided the blush that rose in my cheeks even if I didn't know what he was talking about.

"Ah, how I'll miss that," he murmured, pulling my face down so he could kiss me lightly, once on each cheek.

"Edward…I'll never forget you, don't worry about that…" It was hard for me to say this, but I grew stronger with each word. "You being the most handsome, loving, caring, stupid, masochistic, brilliant man…vampire…thing…I have ever met." My lips met his briefly, but pulled away.

"What is this?" he chuckled feebly. "My Bella called me stupid and brilliant in the same sentence? What is the world coming to?" He pulled me closer. "Bella…one more thing."

I froze, wary of what he might say. Was he thinking to make me lead a normal human life? To ban me from the mythical creatures that lived in Forks, Washington? I certainly hoped not.

Because, if he asked me to, I would leave the Cullens. I would go as far away from them as possible, if it made my Edward happy.

He clasped my hands in his large but frail ones. "Bella. Keep in contact with my family, okay?" His face moved closer to mine, his breath hitting me as hard as ever. "I don't think they could stand to lose to children in one go." His eyes met, and held, mine. "Promise me."

I nodded, this time willingly. "I love you, Edward," I sniveled.

Edward grinned, more strongly this time, and raised a corner of his shirt to my face, wiping goo from under my nose. "There, there, Bella. Do you need a Kleenex?"

I suppressed the urge to stick out my tongue at him. I winced, for this reminded me of that day in Biology…when we first spoke. How he had used his eyes to coerce me into telling him my life story…how he had charmed my heart right out of me. How I had fallen, so willingly, in love.

We had come so far from the glare he sent me that first day in Biology.

And now it was all ending.

I threw my arms around him, howling, bawling like the little weakling I was. He briefly held me tight, and I could practically hear my ribs cracking, before he spoke again.

"And Bella?" I looked up at his face, his gorgeous angel's face, tears falling from my eyes like a waterfall. "If you and Carlisle are right…I'll be watching from…from up there. And I'll be waiting."

Edward Cullen smiled his infamous crooked grin one last time, and fell limply into my lap.

A moment of shocked silence elapsed. Then…

"NO!" I shrieked, devastation sweeping in on me. "EDWARD! COME BACK! NO! NO, EDWARD!" I screamed and screamed and screamed, till all the willpower that seemed to be in me was gone.

Then I heard a voice from behind me.

"That's what you get." I turned slowly, to meet the eyes of one Embry Call. He stared back defiantly.

"What do you mean?" My voice was barely a whisper, and alarmingly hoarse.

He did not waste a minute before replying harshly, "That's what you get…for loving a filthy bloodsucker."

I stared at him, as did his fellow werewolves. As his words began to sink in, pure rage filled me.

"You shut the hell up, Embry Call, you hear me? Shut the hell up!" I yelled, my voice cracking with anger. "Get outta here, Embry, get out!" I was livid. How dare he? He insulted my Edward…

I was so preoccupied in my blind hate that I failed to notice Paul starting to shake hard…then harder…

I snapped back into reality when I heard Sam and Jacob shout in unison, "NO, PAUL!"

But it was too late. Paul had transformed, one clawed paw knocking the little oak table onto its side, another crashing through a window. Before Paul could throw himself at me, Jacob took a leap and transformed himself, faster than I would ever have thought possible. He growled, teeth snapping together ferociously, and chased Paul out of Charlie's now-ruined house.

Jared took one look at Sam's irate face and followed the two younger boys with a small explosion of fabric.

Now it was me, Sam, and Embry. And Edward's body.

As I realized this, I crouched defensively over it. They weren't going to set one finger on him.

But Sam wasn't paying attention to me.

"You're wrong," he said, addressing Embry. "Nobody deserves this." Embry opened his mouth in protest, but Sam plowed on. "No one, Embry. No one deserves to have their loved one torn away from them."

The alpha's eyes penetrated Embry's own. Embry hesitated, then nodded. "Yes, Sam." He shuffled out of the kitchen, and once out, ran to the woods.

Sam turned his gaze on me. He knelt down, and I cowered in fear close to Edward's side. He took my small, shaking hands in his abnormally big, ones. "Isabella, I…I find that I know, somewhat, what you are feeling." Upon noticing my refusal to respond, he said uncomfortably, "I…I am sorry for your loss, Isabella Swan. Truly sorry." He left. I did not notice as the door closed behind him.

I turned once more to my Edward. I clutched his body to me, sobbing brokenly into his chest. For a few minutes, all that could be heard was my sobbing.

But then, as my tears ran thin, and my cries diminished, I could hear something that rang out in the overpoweringly silent room.

Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump.

A…heartbeat?

A/N Well, ya'll, don't kill me. I had to. A dream told me so. Blame it on the dream! Blame it all on the dream! I thought this turned out okay. If you've got any questions, feel free to review.

Actually, review even if you don't have questions. I REALLY appreciate the odd comment here and there, and it keeps me going, ya know?

Your reviews are like my energy drinks! Energy drinks? I've never had an energy drink. OO REVIEW!

P.S. Don't kill me! Kill the dream!