A/N All Twilight character's belong to Stephenie Meyer

Alternate Ending #2

(replaces chapter 40)

Bella

I glanced in the mirror. Full circle, I thought, taking a deep breath and smoothing the front of the white gown I wore. There was a knock at the door. "Come in," I called.

The door opened slowly and Charlie's head appeared. "Ready sweetie?"

I nodded. "Almost dad, just give me another minute."

Charlie smiled and backed out of the room leaving me along again. I slid the drawer to my left open and pulled out a picture tucked inside. Glancing down at it I felt no guilt or shame. I loved Jake once upon a long time ago and it was alright to move on.

I called for Charlie but he didn't come. I went to the door and opening it, a blinding white light shone in my eyes. I help my hand up shielding my eyes from the glare.

"Bella?" a voice said. "Bella?"

I blinked, my eyelids fluttering as they grew accustomed to the light. The shapes of trees and a small hotel came into focus. The sound of the ocean and the pressing of a seat belt dug into my shoulder.

I blinked again, Embry's face – not the face I was used to, but a face ten years younger came into focus. "Em?" I took a deep breath. I'm dreaming, I told myself. I have to be dreaming. "What's going on? What happened?"

Embry's face was confused. "You fell asleep like four hours ago. You must have been having on hell of a dream."

"A dream?" I echoed.

"Yeah. You were muttering curses about me and a band, then something about someone named Avery and Duke, then Jake and cancer. You rambled on about coming full circle for like five minutes, then my name. What were you dreaming about?"

I unclipped the seat belt and got out of the car. Embry did the same, walking around the front of the truck. He came to my side and gripped my waist. "Are you alright?"

"Pinch me," I demanded.

"What? Why?"

"Pinch me," I repeated adamantly.

"I'm not going to pinch you Bella."

"God damn it just pinch me," I shrieked, an unnamed fear clawing its way up my throat.

"Fine," Embry muttered and reached out, grasping the fleshy part of my arm between his index finger and his thumb he squeezed it hard, the tan skin turning white before flushing red as he let go.

"Ow!" I exclaimed. "You didn't have to do it so hard." I looked down at the red mark on my arm. This couldn't be happening. I couldn't have just dreamt my whole life, I couldn't be eighteen again. I took a deep breath and leaned against the truck, trying to breath and keep calm. This was like a bad Final Destination movie. I had to be dreaming, I just had to be.

"Bella, talk to me, what's wrong?"

I glanced up at Embry's face, shock washing over me all over again. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me."

"I had a dream that you joined a band, I cheated on you with Jake, got pregnant only it wasn't his kid it was yours, but we only found that out because Jake got cancer and you got drafted by the NFL then Jake died and you and I got, well, were about to get married." I shook my head, looking around the parking lot. It was the hotel in Tybee Island. Tears filled my eyes. "I know this place," I told him. "There's going to be a storm tonight and the lightning will hit the sand and make one of those glass things like in Sweet Home Alabama. We have sex tonight."

Embry's eyes went wide. "Seriously?"

I nodded. "Tybee Island, the night of the storm. I still have the thing you found, it's on the mantle in the living room."

Embry eyed me curiously. "The mantle in the living room?"

I nodded. "In Boston. You bought your mom a house out there, it overlooks the bay. She passed shortly after you bought." I paused, kicking a rock on the ground. "Her diabetes," I said by way of explanation.

Embry ran his hand through his hair and stared skeptically. "I don't know what to say," he said, his voice displaying the uncertainty he felt.

"Me either. Try being me, armed with all this knowledge of what could happen. I thought I was done with this."

"Done with what?"

"College, drama, all of this. This has to be a dream. It just has to. You can't dream your whole life and wake up and realize you never lived it." I sank down to the ground and ran my hands through my hair.

"Well," Embry said sitting down beside me. "You could always think of it this way. You know what goes wrong. You can tell me and we can make it right this time. There won't be any pain or hurt or anything. We can just be…happy."

I glanced at him, my heart felt like it was being squeezed to death in my chest. This was too surreal.

"You're not dreaming," he said softly. "This is real."

I nodded. "I know."

We sat quietly for a minute, the whole future stretched out before us. Again.

"I know."

someday I'm really going to write a story where in the end the main character wakes up and realizes it was all a dream. I really wanted to do it with this one, but my friend Jenn said it would totally demean the story, and that all of Bella's (and mine and your's) suffering would have been in vain. so it's an alternate ending, because some people would like it and some would hate it. so, to each his own. love it or hate, either way its all good.

Thank you all who read.