BELLA SWAN

We had left the meadow. We were in Edward's bedroom, Clair de Lune quietly filling up the space around us as we lay on his bed. His arms were wrapped around me. I fell into the embrace with willing arms, body, spirit, heart, mind.

As his nose nuzzled against my hair, however, something almost forgotten struck me.

His and Carlisle's meeting with Sam and Jacob. Surely he hadn't forgotten about it.

I asked him about this, my voice quiet and meek. I couldn't find it within myself to be annoyed, not on this day.

He sighed before answering. "I rescheduled."

I frowned up at him. "Why? Is it really something to postpone? I was under the impression that speaking to Sam and Jacob was of utmost importance."

He smiled at me. "You are of utmost importance. That's why, when Alice said she'd do anything to get you down the aisle safely, I realized that it was pertinent for me to marry you, so that nothing would happen to prevent such a thing. And so that I could call you my own officially." He grimaced then. "Well, not quite officially. There's still a small matter of a license." I gaped at him. "But that's why we're still having a ceremony, love. For now, we know that we are bound together by our vows, and that will suffice until the ceremony."

I pushed myself up off his chest slightly. "Does that mean that the post-wedding agreement we came to… is that, um," I hesitated. "Is that part of the pertinence, as well?"

Edward grinned at me, before rolling me underneath of him. His arms positioned themselves on either side of my head, supporting him.

His breath fanned across my face. "Not yet."

With a chuckle he rolled onto his side. I glared at the ceiling above me, right where Edward's face had been, fuming. "Fine."

He laughed again, before seizing my hand and placing a layer of kisses on the inside of my wrist. "Now, back to Sam and Jacob."

I pushed myself onto my elbow to face him. "When are you going?"

"Tonight." He twirled a piece of my hair between his fingers. Suddenly my worry-free day had flipped; I was now stressing about this meeting. It seemed it would decide all our fates. No, not seemed. Would.

"Can I go?"

He glared at me. "Certainly not."

I rolled my eyes. "I went when you were training… that had to be ten times more dangerous than tonight's meeting."

He shook his head vehemently. "Last time, the wolves were on our side. Now they'll be searching for any reason to attack."

He was not soothing my nerves. "So let me go. Maybe I can be the olive branch. You know, the peace offering."

He snarled quietly. "You are not a peace offering, Bella. And that's the worst idea I've ever heard, no offense," he added, when he saw my expression. "Look, Jacob's still angry. And bringing you along when you are the reason this whole feud has erupted—again, no offense—would only add fuel to the inferno."

I watched his expression closely, picking up a few hints here and there. "Sam doesn't like me all that much anymore, does he?"

Edward grimaced. "He's not your biggest fan, no."

I groaned before throwing myself on my back. "Great. I'm sure my chances of winning Jacob back are slim to none now, what with the pack telling him how bad of a person I am every waking moment."

Edward leaned over me. "Bella, has it ever occurred to you that, perhaps, someone who will hate you because of a choice you make, isn't someone you should be friends with?"

I glared at him. "We are not discussing if I should or shouldn't be friends with anyone. I'm sure that the general census on you would conclude that a vampire isn't the ideal choice for a husband."

He grinned at me. "I like that word coming from you. Husband."

His smile was infectious. "It is kind of nice, isn't it?"

He nodded before capturing my lips in a kiss. I locked my arms around his neck; if I'd had my way, he'd never had gotten free. When he pulled away a few moments later, I expected him to give me the reproving look he usually gave. But it never came.

Instead his lips moved to my collarbone, barely peaking out from the collar of my button-down blouse. My chin tilted upwards, my neck arching, to give him access; his tongue darted across my skin once, twice, before his lips closed and he dusted my collarbone with feather-light kisses. My eyes slid shut, and a quiet moan slipped past my lips.

Upon hearing my moan, Edward emitted one of his own; the sound was feral and passionate. To allow himself better access to my neck and shoulders, he tugged on the top button of my shirt, which popped off, breaking the thread. Despite the wonders he was working on my neck, I wanted desperately to feel his lips on my own again; I wrapped my fingers around his messy curls and tugged upwards slightly. But he didn't respond.

Instead, a row of sharp, smooth, cold teeth grazed against the skin of my neck.

I froze; my fingers remained entwined in his hair, no longer pulling; My eyes flew open, staring at the ceiling above me. I was afraid to breathe, dearing that any inch I moved would put me in even closer proximity to his dangerous teeth.

He'd stopped moving, too, as if my reaction had alerted him. He was absolutely silent. He wasn't breathing.

My fingers slowly unlocked and released his head; they slid to the mattress with a quiet thump. The rest of my body remained stock still, while my eyes slid shut and then opened again three times. No one could be silent like Edward.

"Edward?" My voice was a faint whisper; I knew he'd hear. My breathing hitched in my throat, and as if that movement—my chest bucking ever so slightly, the muscles of my neck contracting—acted as a trigger, he was off of me and standing in the corner of the room.

I sat up slowly and watched as he glared at me. "Please say something."

His eyes slid shut. "I'm sorry."

I huffed. "Don't be," I coaxed, trying too sooth him.

His eyes flew open, his brow furrowing as he stared at me. A ray of stray sunshine—errant and lost, the only ray to appear all day—floated through the wide glass wall, slanting across the bed, sending a warm light across my legs. "I almost lost control, Bella."

I rolled my eyes. "But you didn't."

"That doesn't mean anything."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "It does in my book."

He snorted before glaring out the window.

I sighed. "Edward, what you did isn't wrong. It's normal. And the fact that you had restraint enough to be that close to biting me and refraining proves to me that you're stronger than you give yourself credit for."

He still didn't look at me. I was starting to get annoyed.

"Look, you big, sparkling idiot, get over here before I divorce you."

He grinned out the window despite himself. Almost as quickly as the smile had erupted he doused it, but turned and began to take slow steps back towards the bed.

"If you're going to threaten me," he said, "at least use a threat that I can believe."

I smiled, watching as he avoided walking through the sunlight, even in the confines of his own bedroom. He was near enough that that I reached out and seized his hand; as I tugged back, the sunlight crawled across his hand, up his arm, across the fabric of his shirt. Finally he knelt on the bed in front of me, the sunlight glancing off his neck, his straight nose, his defined cheekbone. Prisms danced across the walls. I leaned forward, crawling up onto my knees so that I was almost even with him.

His eyes moved down to my neck, which was exposed by the collar of my shirt. Pain flitted across his features momentarily, and then he lifted his hand to brush his fingers gently against my skin there.

"Does it hurt?" he asked quietly. I frowned.

"What?"

"This…" His fingers were brushing a circular shape, at the base of my neck. My brow furrowed, I lifted my own fingers to the area he was tracing to feel for any damage. I found none, but could sense what Edward was seeing. Probably a dark, bruise-like shape taking place. I chuckled once, before shaking my head.

"It's nothing, it doesn't hurt at all." Then I laughed again. "Though it may hurt when Alice kills you if this hickey doesn't go away before the other wedding."

He laughed, and then fell silent. He moved backwards slightly, so that he was out of the sunlight. The rainbows he'd been casting disappeared. I frowned at him, and then wrapped my fingers around his shirt.

"Stop hiding," I whispered, before yanking him forward again and kissing him gently, slowly. He returned the kiss as if he were taking great caution, redefining the boundaries he'd determined in the early stages of our relationship. I didn't push those fine lines; I didn't, for fear they'd break, and either one of us would do something we might regret.

A handful of moments later, once Edward had pulled away, I sighed.

"And you're absolutely sure I can't come tonight?"

He nodded once. "Absolutely, positively, certainly, unquivocally, and all other synonyms."

I rolled my eyes at his obstinacy before settling against his chest. His fingers stroked my hair, and peace washed over me.

Married. I turned my head to the left an inch or two and kissed his cool chest through his crisp shirt. I could get used to matrimony.

We laid like that for several hours, while the sun sank below the clouds and the sharp sliver of a moon—unobscured, for once, by the thick, dark clouds—slipped in playfully among the night's rippling skirt of stars. The light on the bedside table had never been turned on, so the night sky was perfectly visible to us outside his window, moonlight filtering through in the sun's place.

Edward glowed.

It was not the sparkling, dazzling effect the sun had on him. It was as if the sun were within his very skin, instead of just glancing off of it. He held a faint luminescence, a subtle radiance that was even more beautiful than in the daylight. I snuggled closer to him, relishing the feel of his body between my arms—mine, to hold, to complete—before relinquishing my grip.

"You should go," I whispered. He nodded once, before his lips brushed my forehead and he had risen from the bed.

"You should go home, for Charlie's sake. Alice will drive you," he said quietly, moving across the room and towards the door. "Just let her know when you're ready."

"Be careful," I warned. He smiled.

"For you, always," he said, before slipping out of the room. I watched the closed door for five minutes before I pushed myself up and went off in search of Alice.

I found her in the dining room, pouring over her checklist. That was the thing about Alice; the world could be crumbling around her and I was sure she'd still be checking, rechecking, and solidifying every detail about the upcoming ceremony.

As soon as I entered the room, she looked up.

"Are you ready to go home?" She swiftly recapped her pen and straightened up the disorganized table, stacking papers, lining up writing utensils.

I nodded. "But, Alice, can I ask you something?"

She looked up at me with a knowing smile. "I can't see them, Bella."

I nodded again. "I know."

She placed a comforting hand on my shoulder for a fer moments before standing up. "Come on, I'll take you back to Charlie."

I followed suit and followed her to the garage, where she located the Volvo's keys and started it's engine. Once the engine's rumbling start faded into a quieter purr, I turned to her, brow furrowed.

"Alice, are we all going to be okay?"

She looked at me, her eyes weary and lips tighter than normal. "They're affecting that outcome, too."

I frowned at her. "What does that mean? Edward said—"

Alice's eyes slid shut, and she sighed, leaning against the headrest. "Edward says a lot of things for your benefit, Bella. Sometimes that means he simply stretches the truth so that it covers whatever he's hiding nicely. Others, he lies." She looked at me then. "If he knows it'll hurt you, or make you worry, he edits."

I stared at her. "But you won't, Alice. You won't edit." My lips threatened to tremble if I merely sat in silence. "Right?"

She frowned at the garage wall beyond the windshield, her brow dipping low in contemplation or worry.

"I won't, Bella, no," she finally said. And then she turned to me. "But I still can't tell you the truth."

I glared at her. My hand was clenching the armrest painfully hard. "Why not?"

She threw the car into reverse and backed out of the garage. "Because even I don't know it yet."

I thought about this as she drove us down the long, dark lane. Alice's visions had only been impaired a select few times. I hadn't realized how heavily I'd relied on her to protect us, or to prepare us, whichever came first, in this upcoming battle that I still vowed to somehow prevent. I hadn't realized how much I needed her to tell me good news, until I'd been faced with the fact that she couldn't, nor would she always.

I felt hopeless, and the feeling only deepened the closer I got to home, and the farther we drove from Edward.

-- -- --

Disclaimer.
Disclaimer? I know not the meaning of this strange, vile-sounding word.

Author's Note.
And you thought I forgot about their meeting... ha! We'll hear from Edward in the next update. Jacob's got a bone to pick.. .. .. Thanks for reading!