A/N: YO guys! So, I've got even more hits yesterday than the day before... You guys are spoiling me! I'm so glad you've liked this story... Stay tuned for more Edward/Bella in the future - there will be some, don't worry, I love them so much, I can't help myself!
For now, I'll be completing my HSM story that is based on my disability and life coping with it... I promised I would go back to that when I've finished this and I will! (Once my exams are mostly over...)
So, yeah, here's the Epilogue of GBTBR... Again, I love you guys for this... THANK YOU FOR THE HITS. Review if you like it?

MWAH!

PEACE & LOVE,
x x x STARSWalkBACKWARD x x x

God Bless The Broken Road

"I set out on a narrow way many years ago,
Hoping I would find true love along the broken road.
But I got lost a time or two,
Wiped my brow and kept pushing through.
I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you.

I think about the years I spent,just passing through.
I'd like to have the time I lost, and give it back to you.
But you just smile and take my hand.
You've been there; you understand.
It's all part of a grander plan, that is coming true.

Every long lost dream, led me to where you are.
Others who broke my heart; they were like Northern stars,
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms.
This much I know is true;
That God blessed the broken road,
That led me straight to you."

––'God Bless The Broken Road' - Rascal Flatts.

––– Epilogue –––

"Please, please, stop, STOP!"

There was beautiful quiet in the meadow, until my dreams––nightmares––interrupted it. One minute I had been staring up at my 'Best of Shakespeare' collection, and the next I found myself suddenly lying back in the flowers and the long grass, waking violently from a nightmare. The sky is, rather miraculously, cloudless and blue, and as I blink and open my eyes, I am amazed to see the sky was still clear. I feel icy lips on my cheek then, and I jump, before I turn and see the sparkling-skinned Edward Cullen frowning at me with a concerned expression as the sun shone above him. His skin like hundreds of thousands of tiny sparkling clear-cut diamonds. Ever since the day he first showed me the reason his kind cannot go out in direct sunlight, it has dazzled me. Gosh, he is still just as beautiful as ever, even with that frown.

I stare blankly up at the sky, terror from the nightmare causing me to shake. It had been about the torture again, only this time, in this dream, the torturers made Edward watch... The whole concept is choking me. I can only guess how pale I have become.

"Bella... Hush," he crooned, curling me into his arms. "It's okay, love. I'm here now. It was just a dream. You're safe," he murmured as he rocked me, his voice as sweet as honey and caramel as his lips dusted me brow, temple and hair.

I reached up to touch his hair, before sitting up and nuzzling it with my nose. I close my eyes blissfully. "I know," I say, though I'm shaking.

He murmurs a soft sound as he frowns at me. "I thought you said the nightmares had stopped."

I shake my head a little. "They've subsided, but I don't think they'll ever go away completely..."

He smiles in his usual crooked grin type manner, shaking his head a little, he frowns again. "You should have told me," he said, his tone like almost like a worried over-protective mother-hen.

I shrug, helpless, but touched by his concern, knowing he means well. "Being with you usually makes it all better."

"Oh Bella... I thank the heavens every day that you didn't bleed out on that metal slab... You're everything."

I reach up and grasp him, stopping him, not wanting to relive it.

Slowly, his face meets mine and our lips collide in a sweet union. His hands move freely into my hair and then one cups the back of my neck. My fingers go to touch his square, angular jaw, and suddenly one of his hands meets mine there. His hands cups my wrist at his jaw––another trademark gesture––and I tug with free, flexing fingers at his beautiful golden bronze tousled locks. He murmurs a content sound and as I smile into our kiss, I start thinking about how much we'd been through over the last few months.

Our first meeting in Biology; Edward saving me from the van; our first date in Argentina; then our first kiss up the mountain. Followed soon my feverish illness; and then my near death by torture, from which I was saved my Edward and his family.

Now, laying in 'Edward's meadow'––as I secretly like to call it––with my last semester of Junior year is over and done, my mind still boggles as to how quickly things can change. My scars are still very much clear markings on my breasts, inner thighs, and down there, but luckily nothing was permanently damaged, and all markings are well hidden from view of anyone. Well, except the scars from the burns on my fingers, which, though caused by the same torture as the others, happen to fit perfectly with my 'thrown across the room by mains electrics' alibi. There may be a scar on my head from my hairline fracture for a long time, but I couldn't find the strength to care.

Soon, if I get my way, scars would be a thing of the past.

Soon, if I get my way, which I will, I will be like Edward, a vampire. It is my destiny now to join him in his world, I know it more than I know the back of my hand, and no one can stand in the way of that; no one, not even the ever charming and ever stubborn Edward Cullen.

As it turns out, though I did not expose to the world what happened to me in Argentina, others did, as well as the FBI and the CIA, who received an anonymous tip about the tortures very soon after I was saved. When Edward told me, and when, a day later, the news broke throughout the world, I was, quite obviously, curious as to who tipped the intelligence agencies off, and how and how much they knew. Edward smirked at me, giving some cryptic few lines about Carlisle and Eleazar's connections, before stating "Don't ask." It was then I remembered Eleazar's words to Edward as they were saving my life.

"...We cannot kill them all or there will be no torturers for the investigative services to find! They cannot be found dead, or they will be mistaken for victims..."

I gave Edward a smirk of my own, suddenly understanding that it had been them , the Cullens, who had tipped of the authorities. Ha, he thought he was so smart. He would never know...

"What are you thinking about?" Edward asks, bringing me out of my thoughts, stroking my hair and curling a piece behind my ear.

"Our short but eventful life together so far," I breathe, suddenly needing more oxygen as he kisses the corner of my mouth, obviously trying to distract me from the book I had been blindly staring at.

"Yes, and there's much more of it to come," he husked, kissing the other corner slowly. "Hopefully minus the danger, though––if I have my way."

I smirk, letting him kiss my cheekbone. "I like danger," I challenge. Suddenly, I decide to push him backwards into the grass, only for me to climb on top of his body, my left leg straddling his stomach. I lowered my lips so there is merely a hair's breadth between us, and I bask the feeling of closeness with him as he cupped the back of my knee and thigh, pulling me nearer.

"Well, you're certainly playing with fire now, Miss Swan," he grins crookedly, and it is so adorable that a grin I have to kiss it.

"No," I correct, between kisses as I made a point of pressing my hot hand to his icy face. "Playing with ice."

I smirk at my pun and he laughs loudly, tipping back his head, before kissing me again, slender fingers brushing my sides. "It's not so dangerous playing with ice," I add lazily.

He shakes his head. "That's what they'd have you believe."

I pull up his left hand from my waist and check his watch. Damn.

"I have to get home," I say, with a slight pout. Though I know I do indeed have to leave, I kiss him again. He deepens the kiss, before kissing the entire expanse of my face. Damn.

"No, Edward," I say breathlessly, though I make no attempt to halt his affections. "I really have to go. Charlie will be waiting."

He reluctantly pulls away, almost acting his apparent human age for once. I smile apologetically at him, before rising to my feet. As I gather my things from the grass, he sits, just watching me.

"What?" I ask, slightly self-conscious all over a sudden.

"I have something for you," he says, his voice soft and kind. He gets to his feet and stands at his full height in front of me. "Give me your hand," he commands, and I do so eagerly. He takes it with his cold fingers, and places something cool and small in my palm. I withdraw my hand from his slowly, and then, slowly, I look down to regard the object in my hand. I gasp, disbelieving, at what I see: a beautifully crafted circular locket, made of gold, with a beautifully light gold chain. It fitted perfectly into my palm, around one inch in diameter give or take as far as I could tell. A stunning, intricate design covered the front, with what appeared to either be a sun or a flower caved delicately in the centre, surrounded by tiny, detailed swirls and dots around the edge. It was all so beautiful, down to every last detail, and thousands of hours had obviously been spent creating it. I look up at Edward, eyes wetting with tears, to thank him, but no words came out, so instead, I used words he had once said to me.

"Words cannot express much, can they?" I breathe.

He smiled, touching my face. "Do you like it?"

I want to kiss away the concern and anxiety on his face, so I do. My lips touch his cheek as I try to reach his lips. "Like it? Edward, it's exquisite!" I find myself breathless. 'Thank you so so much!" I hug him to me tightly, and he hugs back like any man would. His arms wind all the way around my rib cage, high up my back. His kisses me and our bodies are closely pressed together; fire and ice. His sweet cool breath spreads across my face, and for a moment, I am lost. "Where did you find it?"

"It was my mother's," he says in a soft murmur. My heart melts. Oh wow. His whole expression and tone seem to warm at the very mention of her, but at the same time that warmth seems to be tainted with a slight sense of melancholy.

"You miss her," I state, sad for him. He nods, but doesn't seem too sad as he looks up at me. He kisses my forehead once, then looks back into my eyes, his hands clasped together around me, at the small of my back.

"Turn it over," he suggested, and when as I do, I really do want to cry. There, curved around the plain underside of the locket in a beautiful curved script, is a quote, I, as a lover of classics, know well. I read it aloud, trying not to choke up.

"Come what sorrow can, It cannot countervail the exchange of joy , That one short minute gives me in her sight. Then love-devouring death do what he dare -it is enough I may but call her mine."

I look up at Edward, awestruck. How did he know?

"These violent delights have violent ends," I say softly, continuing the quote, which is taken from a classic scene from Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet.' "And in their triumph die, like fire and powder. Which, as they kiss, consume."

He smiled, proudly. "You know it," he grins, pulling me closer so his nose touches my forehead. "I knew you would," he whispers, crossing his wrists against the small of my back. "I had the quote added, just for you... You never let me down, Bella, yet I never seem to give you what you deserve––I'm always underestimating you."

"Hush, you. Enough of that," I scold playfully, placing both hands on either side of his face.

"May I?" he asks of the locket. I smile, and hand him it delicately, turning so he can fasten it around my neck. It comes to rest on my sternum, and I know in that moment I will never again be able to be without it. His lips touched my forehead again as he turns me around and hugs me to him. He begins to hum. "What is that?" I ask of the tune he has hummed before.

"A composition of mine," he says, suddenly bashful. I smirk and laugh a little at his self-consciousness. It feels strange to see him this way. "I like to play the piano. I wrote it for you, after the first night I watched you sleep."

I'm stunned. "You write music?"

"There's so much you don't know," he coos, smiling.

"Will I ever know everything?"

"I intend to make sure of it," he states, smoothing my dark hair, kissing me once to confirm his words.

"I should go," I say, remembering my over-protective Chief-of-Police father again.

"Alright. Back down the mountain we go then," he smiles.

"Are we walking back?" I question jokily. "I mean, I don't mind, it's just that that broken, rocky track is a recipe for disaster for a un-coordinated klutz like yours truely."

"We don't have to walk," he says, his smile light, his eyes giving a much deeper message. "Although, it seems you can cope with broken roads. You've been through so much already..."

At his words, a line from somewhere, someplace, I still don't know where to this day, comes to me; no words have ever seemed to fit as well as these. Looking into his ocher eyes, I know deep in my heart and soul that I am safe now, and that he is finally safe too.

As we make our way through the meadow, destined for home, I smile to myself, pausing before I speak to him. Though the traumas in my life may never completely go away, I didn't have to worry anymore, because neither, I knew, would Edward.

"Well then..." I take his hand as he sparkles like a hundred thousand diamonds under the sun. "You know what? I've always felt like I've been falling...literally tumbling through my life. But now... I'm beginning to learn to thank the lord for this twisted, awkward road I've had to travel on, because it ultimately lead me here, to you..."

He raises his beautifully dark eyebrows, smiling as though I'd just awarded him so sort of prize, and pulls me under his arm as it lays over my shoulder. I smile shyly up at him as he turns and lifts me like a feather onto his back. He looks over his shoulder at me as we make our way to a clearing, where the entire expanse of Forks and beyond is visible. It's a stunning sight to behold, but with Edward, my eyes are already preoccupied. Next to him, the sight was nothing.

"You're right," he states, his voice like honey. Then, he smiles again, and opens his mouth, speaking words I know I have heard somewhere before. Silently, look up to the sky as I hug his neck tighter. Thank you, lord.

"I say, God bless the broken road," he says as he peeks at me, "that led me straight to you."

–––ℬ&ℰ–––

I think about the years I spent, just passing through.
I'd like to have the time I lost, and give it back to you.
But you just smile and take my hand.
You've been there; you understand.
It's all part of a grander plan, that is coming true...

This much I know is true;
That God blessed the broken road,
That led me straight to you."

–––ℬ&ℰ–––