Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, from the Twilight series are the property of their respective owners, mainly Stephanie Meyer. The original characters and plot are the property of the authors. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.

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A.N. This takes place about 4 months after the previous chapter.

Hope

Chapter 7 – Endings or Beginnings?

I was laid out with my hands underneath my head, my eyes closed, simply enjoying the sunshine. It felt like it had been forever since I'd had the chance to simply be, by myself. Not that I was complaining, I loved having my family back again but sometimes it was just nice to have some time to think things through.

Things had been so hectic in the last few weeks; it sometimes took me a while to fully understand what had happened. I was forever glad it had happened; otherwise I may never have found my way back to Edward. But it had happened, and I had to try and stop dwelling on what ifs. Everything had worked out perfectly.

My ears suddenly pricked up as I thought I heard something in the woods to the right of me. I strained to see if I could hear it again, when my hearing picked up a slight exhale of breath. I would never have been able to hear it had I still been human but my vampire senses were off the chart and I tended to be able to hear things better than the others. A smile crept onto my face though as I realised what it was that was trying to creep up on me.

"Emmett, you should know by now that you can't sneak up on me" I teased into the empty space behind me.

"Awww Bella" he moaned, which set me off laughing, "can't you at least pretend, just once..."

I laughed at him, standing up to face him as he came out from behind the trees, "But Emmett, you'd know I was only pretending and still be upset about it!"

He shrugged his shoulders, grinning at me, knowing I was right. That was Emmett though, always trying to play pranks but most of the time ending up being foiled and we failed to hear the end of it for days. He noticed that I was still laughing at him under my breath and his eyes narrowed and he started to circle me, crouched low.

"Emmett..." a warning in my guarded tone "Don't you dare"

As soon as the words left my lips however he pounced, pushing us both into one of the trees behind me and crushing it to the ground.

Emmett let out a booming laugh, and tried to help me up from my position on the ground, but as he held his hand out to help me, I pulled him down to the floor.

"Thanks Emmett" I grumbled, only slightly annoyed with him.

"Well Bella, if I can't sneak up on you I have to get you some other way" he said, laughing. "And anyway, come on, I'm supposed to fetch you back to the house, the prude is waiting".

I laughed with him, knowing that although Edward and I were together now, he would never be free of the endless ribbing from Emmett about being a virgin. We set off running together and managed to match each other's strides, me being faster but Emmett being able to put more power into his strides.

We reached to house in no time but Emmett stopped suddenly, and as I turned to face him I noticed Rosalie stood off to the edge of the opposite side of the tree line. I waved in greeting to her, and she waved back. I turned to face Emmett, a look of confusion on my face.

"Don't look at me, I only have orders to deliver you to the house, and then disappear. So me and Rose are going to play in the mud and get dirty" he laughed, wiggling his eyebrows at me. I heard Rose hiss in impatience behind me.

"Urgh, I don't want to know what you and Rose get up to in your private time! But I suggested you get going before Rose rips your head off"

They ran off together through the tree line, Rosalie muttering "I'm so happy for them" when she thought I couldn't hear them. Now I was really confused, what could Edward possibly have planned that none of his family could be here for? I was almost too nervous to step foot in the house.

I turned toward the house, taking in its beauty. I still couldn't believe that Esme had found somewhere so beautiful. It was slightly smaller than the house in Forks but every bit as spacious and luxurious. I still had a hard time believing that it was mine as well as theirs but I was slowly getting there.

During my musings I had failed to realise that I had arrived at the front door, and as I gave it a slight push the smell of freesia and strawberries hit me. Now I knew Edward had something planned as this was my scent, the scent he told me drove him wild. I rounded the corner into the living room and gasped at what I saw. Part of my brain was taking in the room, lit with hundreds of candles, my lullaby playing softly from the CD player, but the bigger part of my brain was taking in Edward. He looked breath-taking, he was dressed all in black, which he knew was my favourite colour on him and his hair was slightly messy, just the way I liked it.

"Edward, what's going on?" I breathed out softly.

He didn't answer me at first, just motioned for me to join him in the centre of the room. He grabbed hold of my hand as soon as I was close enough and pulled me into his chest. I barely had time to breathe in his scent before his lips were on mine in a sweet kiss. He pulled away after a few moments and stepped away from me slightly. I whimpered at the loss of contact with his body, but he simply smirked at me and bent down on to one knee.

My breath caught in my throat, as I tried to talk, but he held up a hand to stop me. I fell silent and watched his face intently, taken back by the amount of love his eyes seemed to be expressing.

"Bella" he whispered softly, "I know we haven't had the easiest of times this past year, but I've come out of it all, absolutely certain of two things. The first that I love you so much more than I ever felt I was capable of loving another person. You have my heart completely and absolutely, nothing will ever change that. And the second thing I've been sure of for sometime but I've tried to hang on, to give you time to adjust, to get your head round everything"

He paused here, almost as if he were scared to continue, scared to hear what my answer may be.

"Bella, I love you, will you make me the happiest vampire alive and become my wife?" he had a slight grin on his face from the vampire comment, but I was too shocked to take real notice. I was overwhelmed at the amount of hard work Edward must have put into this and the amount of consideration he must have had for me to hold off asking me for this long.

My face broke into a huge grin and I launched myself into Edward's arms, kissing any part of his face I could get to. I could feel him shaking with laughter against me when I heard him mumble into my lips "I'll take that as a yes then?"

I pulled away from him and looked him straight in the eye, trying to convey as much love as I could in that one look.

"Of course it's a yes, what else did you expect?"

He laughed at me and kissed me on the lips once more, before motioning for me to get off him. I moved off his lap and knelt on the floor next to him. He reached inside his trouser pocket, pulling out a ring box and the most gorgeous ring I had ever seen inside it.

"And before you say anything" he teased "I didn't spend a penny, it was my mother's"

I allowed him to slip it onto my ring finger while I sat admiring it for a few moments, before a groan from Edward cut my musing short. My confused look was all it took for him to tell me what was bothering him.

"Alice, she and the rest of the family are on their way back. Apparently, we're lucky we got so long to ourselves"

I grinned at Alice and her uncontrollable enthusiasm, but I didn't have long before I was tackled to the floor by a small, black haired pixie.

"Ohhh Bella, I just knew you'd say yes! That didn't stop Edward from worrying though, but you know what he's like. I can't wait to get started on planning the wedding though. You're going to look amazing, and we're going to have it here at the house, only a few guests, as you can imagine..."

"Alice" Edward laughed "Let Bella breathe"

I laughed up at him, and the pout that was now part of Alice's face. I looked around at my family and felt a comfortable feeling of contentment. Emmett would forever be a prankster, and Alice would always be full of enthusiasm, but they were family.

And then there was Edward, my perfect Edward, who was soon to be my husband. I caught his eye, and I felt I could explode from happiness in that very moment. I mouthed the word husband at Edward, and his face lit up, mouthing wife back to me. Wife. I could get used to that.

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Well, that's it for this fic. I've really enjoyed writing it and hope that people have enjoyed reading it. Thank you to those that have reviewed, you're the ones that have kept me writing when I hit writers block!

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