Chapter 1 - A Change of Plans

"Bella!"

The voice was quiet, yet exasperated to the point of a shout. Alice was starting to lose her patience with me. I was in the middle of my final fitting for the wedding dress which Alice had custom created for me. It was beautiful, yet I fidgeted as she adjusted the hem of the dress and sighed exasperatedly at how long this was taking.

"Hold still or I'll have Edward come in and restrain you. I cannot accomplish anything when you move like a leaf in the breeze!"

I continued to fidget and glowered at her. "I thought Edward wasn't allowed to look at me in the dress until tomorrow…" My voice dripped with mirthful sarcasm. Not that I minded the idea of him entering the room. The reason for my fidgeting was indeed caused by my yearning to be with Edward. Alice has been keeping me captive for three hours now, making numerous adjustments to my dress. Now she retorted with exasperated amusement,

"If you hold still well be done in two minutes," I groaned inwardly, yet stood as still as I could. She snorted a sound which from her sounded melodious. True to her word, Alice finished within two minutes with a flourish and stepped back gracefully to admire her handy work. No longer surprised by the abilities of my Vampire family, I appreciated, yet was not shocked by seeing the perfect dress looking even more spectacular.

"Thank you, Alice" I breathed. "Its beautiful," It reminded me painfully of the fact that I looked so plain in the dress – more so than ever – and I cringed at how, even in the dress which was more stunning than any I had ever seen, I would still look terribly out of place next my beloved Edward, who resembled some forgotten God of beauty.

Alice seemed to guess what my expression implied and places a gentle hand on my arm. She smiled warmly and simply said "He loves you and that is enough to make anyone realize he thinks you're the most beautiful girl in his eyes,"

I smiled back at her in the mirror and whispered, "Thanks," Alice unfastened the dress and pulled me off the stool I had occupied for the last three hours. She pulled another dress from her closet. This dress was for the rehearsal dinner – couture (what else from Alice?) – and I slipped into it. I had insisted on stylish flats instead of heals – I was still a clumsy mortal who required less than a pair of treacherous heals to break my neck.

"Are you ready?" asked Alice, after I stepped into my delicate shoes. "Yes. As ready as I'll ever be," I replied and we exited the room together. Edward was waiting, standing nonchalantly against the frame of the door to Alice's room, a look of sheer happiness and love spreading through his features at the sight of me. He pulled me towards him, his hands at the small of my back and his head buried in my curled tresses. He inhaled deeply and whispered, for none but me to hear, "You are so beautiful, Bella."

I all but melted at his touch, pressing myself to his chilled torso and he moved his head to kiss me. There was no chance for Edward's expected pull out of the kiss as Alice cleared her throat politely and remarked "You're smudging Bella's make up, Edward. And, unless you want to be late to the rehearsal dinner, I think the kissing should cease, no matter how heart warming the display of affection may be," Edward scowled at his sister, yet moved away from me, keeping his right arm closely wrapped around my waist.

We moved down the stairs and stepped into the living room where the rest of the Cullen family was assembled, conversing quietly. Esme was the first to notice our arrival and her heartwarming smile towards Edward and myself made me happier than ever to join Edward and his loving family. The others turned their gazes toward us, smiles on all their faces, even Rosalie, who had come to love me as a sister in the weeks leading up to the wedding. She has accepted my decision, and refused to further pretend to dislike me simply because I decided for a life which she would not have chosen.

"So, the bride and groom to be seem ready for the rehearsal dinner. We should get going," said Carlisle. As a collective whole we moved towards the door, all of us going towards the Mercedes and the Volvo. Edward opened the passenger door for me, closed it softly, and walked swiftly towards the driver's side. Alice and Jasper slid gracefully into the back seat and the engine came to soft purr. We drove down the three mile lane towards the main road behind Carlisle's Mercedes and within five minutes arrived at the Pavilion where both the rehearsal dinner and the wedding were being held.

Before we entered the Pavilion, Edward pulled me aside and looked into my face, a look of slight apprehension on his face. "I want to warn you Bella. I sent an invitation to Jacob. I felt obligated to thank him and give him the opportunity to see you get married. I know I would have wanted to be there if you had chosen him instead of me. Truly Bella, I hope you understand."

I was silent for a moment, taking in this information and then I turned my face slightly to look Edward into the eyes. "I'm glad you did it, Edward. I half expected you to do it in any case. It's in your nature, and it's such a large part of why I love you so much." Edward simply smiled heartwarmingly at me and we turned in unison to step into the Pavilion. Alice and Jasper walked up beside us. Bubbling with excitement, Alice turned to look at me and said, "I am so happy Edward found you Bella. You've made our family whole, and you've made my brother a whole man again. You truly are like my sister and ---"

Alice's eyes went blank and she slumped back. Jasper caught her in his strong arms and simultaneously called for Carlisle, who turned on the spot and sprinted towards where we stood, flanked by Rosalie, Emmett, and Esme, all of whom had identical, worried expressions plastered on their flawless faces. They stopped next to Carlisle just as Alice reverted back to alertness, a look of horror spreading across her visage. She began to shake her head minutely, eyes wide and pleading, looking at me.

"Alice, what the hell is going on?" demanded Edward, an urgency in his voice. She turned to look at him and simply breathed "They're coming." Edward glanced at me, and then at Carlisle, who looked just as shocked as the rest of the family. "The Volturi," was all I managed to say, and Alice nodded. "When?" "Tomorrow, during the wedding. They're coming to check on the situation. The wedding will turn to…bloodshed because you're still human. They will not restrain themselves from killing the ten other humans in the room."

For a slight moment I felt panic commencing its assault on my system, yet a cool feeling of calm suddenly, irrationally, ran down my spine.

"Well, we'll just have to pull the rug out from under them and have the wedding tonight. It won't be that different, we can give everyone a surprise, and Alice can just go get my dress quickly. We still have twenty minutes until the rehearsal starts so if we start now we can pull it off. That way, when the Volturi show up, there won't be any humans, no one has to die, and Edward can bite me while they're there."

Every member of the Cullen's stared at me. I simply shrugged and said "It's a reasonable solution. Please, I know this is my fault and I just want to have the best outcome. This way we all win, and my parents will have something to remember,"

The silence dragged on for what seemed like forever, and then Carlisle cleared his throat. "I think Bella is completely right. This is the best solution for all and if we left it to fate it would end in a fight…I cannot have that happen." Everyone nodded, even Edward who had pulled me tightly towards him, and Alice took the keys to the Volvo from Edward. I was surprised that my proposal was met with no opposition. It puzzled me that my strangely rational thinking had truly been such an appropriate solution that no one, not even Edward, usually so hot headed and irrational when it came to my own safety, had nothing to remark other than agreement. Again, Alice's sharpened perception of my facial expressions made it seem as if I had wondered all this aloud as she said,

"I'll be back in five with all the dresses and tuxedos. Bella, you're beginning to think like a Cullen more and more. Such a cool, collected answer. I am truly happy you're joining our family," She smiled and stepped into the car, speeding off into the gathering dark. Her calm, in the face of my own surprised me for one reason or another. It was such a strange situation to have an answer ready. Not to break out into hysterics or a shaky sweat...it made the calm, collected (yet alert) demeanors of my family bizzare to my eyes.

"Well, danger certainly finds all possible ways to manifest itself in your presence, love," said Edward. He sighed and kissed me. "Let's get ready to surprise everyone. There are dressing rooms at the entrance and we can get ready there." Edward pulled me by my hand and we walked towards the entrance of the Pavilion. We walked through the door and sat on a couch in the fore room of the dressing rooms. I sat on Edward's lap and leaned my head against his chest. "I love you, Edward. Getting married to you…I know it isn't what I wanted in the beginning, but now with danger once again starring me in the face, I truly realize I want to be married to you as much as I want to spend a literal eternity with you," I moved my head to look him deeply into his ocher eyes.

I had tears in my eyes, tears of love, and looking at him I saw a look in his dazzling eyes, which, if I didn't know any better, was the equivalent of crying to a Vampire. He moved his hands to my face and stroked his cold, marble fingers gently across my cheeks. He kissed me deeply, one hand cupping my face, the other pulling me closer to him. I moved my own hands to the back of his head, threading my fingers through his hair and pulling his lips deeper to mine. He pulled out of the kiss, a look of love and longing on his face and he whispered "Ready to get married?" as Alice knocked on the door, entering with my dress and Edward's tuxedo on her arms. "Yes. You can't imagine how ready I am to become Mrs. Edward Anthony Masen Cullen."

Next chapter may take a while. I'm a busy, busy IB student and therefore have a lot to do. Also, I have family coming for Thanksgiving. But I'll try to keep this story updated. It's my first story on here, and I'm pretty excited to see general reception of my writing style, so reviews are very welcome :) I'm thinking of having about eight to ten chapters for this story, but I'm open to more if it goes well. Also, if it goes well I'm already prepared with a topic for a sequel. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Thank you to everyone that reviews for my story. AsthmaticVampire Out.