Creatures Of Habit

The next day we sat in the front of the plane, the private one, just the two of us. Emmett and Jasper had Gianna restrained in the back and we were flying to Italy to end this situation once and for all. She didn't put up much of a fight—at least not after Jasper did his mind-meldy thing on her.

I was nestled into Edward's side, my cheek on the soft cotton of his shirt, listening to the hum of the plane. I was thinking about the last several weeks. They had been violent and terrifying. I almost lost my family. Many others did lose theirs. Sam and the other wolf. The men and women in Chicago. I thought about how we made such an effort, the entire Cullen coven, to do the right thing, all the time, and the Volturi was able to manipulate this so quickly for their own means.

Edward's lips pressed against my temple, slow and soft. "What I would give to crawl in that mind of yours," he said.

I smiled. I loved that he was locked out and that my mind was my own. "I know." I replied, always happy that he couldn't. "You can always ask though."

He tilted his head back and flashed his gold eyes. "Tell me. What are you ruminating about?"

"Just all of this. The death and power. The struggle between good and bad. It's a fine line."

He nodded. I suspected he had been thinking about it as well.

I laced my fingers through his. "I think I know what I want to do."

He frowned. "Do?"

I nodded and tightened my grip on his hand. "Yeah, you know the stuff we were talking about before we came out here. About what I want to do with my life."

He sat up straighter. "Really?"

"This may sound crazy but, I think we should spend some time in Italy."

The crease between his eyes appeared. "Italy?" He guessed. "With the Volturi?"

"Yes." I shifted in my seat, pulling my legs up on the cushion and facing him fully. "I think what you and I do is important. Really important. We fight the bad parts of our world. Helping those who can't fight vampires because they don't know we even exist. I think maybe we should try to convince the Volturi to let us keep doing this our own way. But maybe not on the outside—maybe from the inside."

"You want to work with the Volturi."

"Maybe? Yes? I don't exactly know. I just don't want this to ever happen again. I don't want to fight them again."

"We won't," he said. "It's worth a try I suppose. We have to get in and get out of there alive first. We may as well lay it all out there while we do it, but I like the idea. A lot."

We sat in silence for a moment, the only sound the whirring of the plane. Alice wanted me to find something of my own, but my place would always be with Edward. We balanced one another—even when we fought. I had a feeling, if this could work, it may be the compromise we both needed.

"Thank you." I ran my fingers through his hair and touched my lips to the side of his face.

"You're welcome." He said, pulling me closer. "For what?"

"For supporting me and trusting me and loving me."

He laughed and buried his face in my neck. "Always. Thank you for putting up with my stubbornness and my opinions and my belief that I'm always right."

"You usually are."

He looked up and smirked that delicious smirk that made my stomach drop, and my phantom heart pound and my fingers crave to touch him. "I know."

"Shut up." I laughed because he made me laugh and I was lucky to have eternity with a man who led me on adventures but protected me whole-heartedly. We weren't perfect, but together we made a whole and together we would push each other and the boundaries of our eternal existence.

I apologize for taking forever to put this up. there is no excuse except blah blah blah, but really? meh. no excuse.

Thank you for reading and thank you all for supporting me and FGB and all the awesome things that go on in the fandom. I really treasure all of your kind words and reviews and interactions on twitter, etc.

Thanks to all the girls who read this for me and who support me in all my endeavors. I suspect this is the end of the line for these characters (in this universe that is) but I will never say never because well...that just comes back to get you in the ass. ~angel