Once again I am floored at the amount of love coming through in reviews and private messages. It's great encouragement to keep writing. I won't be one of those who threatens no more chapters until you review though. My brain won't hold still, so I'm sure I'll keep going until it or this story fizzles out.

Playing with Bella the vampire is fun. She's still figuring out who she is, and her emotions are all over the place. Plus now that the rest of the family is going to be around I can start playing with them too. I don't know them as well, so they'll probably be OOC, but I'll do my best with the glimpses that Ms. Meyer has given us so far in her books. The real books, which I don't own etc etc.

Your mood music: U2 - "Stay (Faraway, So Close)" There's just something about Bono crooning at me to stay that really makes me think of Edward sweeping Bella into his arms. Sap? Me? How did you guess?

Our fingers were laced together as we climbed the porch steps to the house in the early morning light. I felt Edward pause slightly just before a voice came out of the shadows, causing me to jump and give a small squeak of surprise.

"Boy Bella, you look a little gruesome," Alice said with a smirk.

"Alice!" I ran to hug her as she laughed delightedly. "What do you mean gruesome?" I wondered. It would be just my luck that the outrageous vampire beauty passed me over and left me looking like a hag compared to the rest of them. I stiffened a little as I realized that I had yet to look in a mirror. I had no idea what I looked like now.

"Well, you're a bit messy," she waved her hand at my general direction. "But I suppose that table manners come with practice."

"Alice," Edward hissed as I glanced down and saw the streaks and dribbles of blood on my shirt. I dropped his hand and tugged out my shirt so I could see it better, blanching a bit. I reached up to wipe at my face with my sleeve.

"I think I need a shower," I mumbled, turning to go into the house.

"Good idea," Alice was winking at me, practically leering as Jasper grinned at me over her shoulder. He'd obviously said something to her about our mood as we approached the porch. I rolled my eyes, glad for the hundredth time since my transformation that I could no longer blush as they both broke out laughing. Edward had told me about the amount of teasing he'd been subjected to leading up to our wedding. It looked like it was going to continue, especially since both of us were now at their mercy. I heard Edward growl a little as he urged me through the door with his hand in the small of my back.

"Exasperating," he was muttering under his breath as he stomped up the stairs behind me. "Like I haven't had to live with all of them thinking things at each other all this time." I had to giggle a little at that. His behavior was surely a large part of impetus to tease him. I tried to wipe the smirk off my face as he caught up to me at the top of the stairs, but I was unsuccessful and when I saw the look on his, I burst out laughing.

He caught me by my waist and spun me to the wall, pressing his hands on either side of my head and leaning in. "What's so funny Bella Cullen?" his eyes were laughing even as he growled at me.

"You, having a tantrum like a little boy," I touched his nose. "And you call me adorable."

"Oh really," he arched one eyebrow and smiled crookedly at me. "I am at your service, here for your amusement," he brought his lips to mine.

"Get a room!" Emmett's voice came up the stairs, and I snorted as Edward growled again.

Living with everyone else was going to take some getting used to.

xxxx

Edward insisted on undressing me in our room, and leading me blindfolded to the shower. "You only get to see yourself for the first time once," he explained. "You'll want to get cleaned up, so your first view is a good one." It did make sense. I really didn't want to have a mental picture of me looking all gory, so I didn't argue with him as he led me towards the hot water.

"Everything is a first experience now, you know," I said to him as the water hit my skin. He'd turned it up as high as it would go. The flow of the water was like the smoothest silk and the heat was blissful on my now cold flesh. "I didn't even feel like I was cold before I got in here, but this feels sinfully warm." I turned to rinse my hair in the steaming spray. Even the rough feel of the washcloth was delicious as he rubbed it over my body. I could almost feel my skin warming to near human temperatures under his ministrations, and I was struck with something that I simply had to ask.

"Edward?"

"Hmmm?" he had discarded the cloth and his hands were running up and down my back with the water, making it hard for me to concentrate on getting my question out. I turned my face and pressed my cheek to his chest.

"I'm not warm anymore," I whispered. "Do you miss it?" I wanted to hear the answer but I didn't, and I was afraid of how he would respond.

His eyes were sad and soft as he brought one hand to my chin to tip my head so he could search mine. "Oh Bella," he sighed. "I would be lying if I said that I didn't miss the little bits of you that you left with your humanity. Your beautiful blush, your heartbeat, and the heat of your body…" I closed my eyes and he kissed them back open. "But those things are insignificant, completely unimportant, when I compare them to all of the things about you that I find to be so beautiful… so necessary to my existence that I cannot imagine living without them."

I sniffed and looked into his eyes, willing myself to believe what he was telling me. "I don't want to you be mad at me and regret everything."

"As if I could be mad at you," he pulled me back to his chest and stroked my hair, his voice rumbling against my ear. "You gave up everything for me. Any regrets I have… I'm just anxious that you will realize all you gave up and hate me for taking it all from you."

I shook my head, putting my hands on his chest and pushing him to arm's length so I could look at him properly. "You listen to me and hear me Edward Cullen," my voice was fierce as I scolded him. He had to understand. "This is everything. This is all I've ever wanted. You didn't take a thing from me, and I will never hate you for keeping me with you forever." I stood there with my hands on him, my chest heaving with the force of what I was trying to pound into his head.

"Bella," his voice was low and rough, and I suddenly remembered that we were both standing there in the shower without a stitch on. He pulled me into his arms, lifting me so I could wrap my legs around his waist as he took my lips hungrily with his own. Heat bloomed within me as he pressed my back against the tile walls, my heightened senses making every sensation radiate to the end of my being.

He began to explore me as if he'd never seen me before. His touch was still gentle, but not as careful as he ran his hands over my body. My every cell reacted as if jolted by lightening, and if it felt the same for him I could only imagine the control he must have had to touch me in this manner when I was a human. It made me love him even more, if that was possible.

I barely noticed as he abruptly shut off the water that had gone cold and shouldered open the door, his hands never still as he carried me back to our bed. My entire focus was on Edward and his body, his hands, his lips. His scent was even stronger now than it had been when I first woke from my transformation, and his breath now felt hot on my neck as he whispered into my ear.

I caught his face and brought his lips back to mine. "Now that I can kiss you properly you can't get away so easily," I murmured into his mouth, feeling his lips curve into a smile under mine.

"I'm not running anywhere without you," he caught my hands in his and laced his fingers in mine. "I could stay here forever."

xxxx

I wrapped my frame in a sheet from the bed, and steeled my nerves, trying to prepare myself to stand in front of the mirror for the first time. I couldn't explain why I was apprehensive, but I was. Maybe it was because that this was it, this was going to be what I looked like for all time, and if I didn't like it I was stuck with it anyway. I had seen some of the alterations in my body already, and my clothing had definitely fit differently when I'd dressed to hunt, but I had yet to see my face. Edward kissed my forehead. "Wrapped up like that, you look like a piece of art ready to be unveiled," he smiled as he pulled on a pair of jeans.

"I'm hardly a piece of art," I said dryly.

"I beg to differ."

I rolled my eyes at him and opened the door. I crossed quickly to the mirror and dropped the sheet before I could lose my nerve. Edward came to stand behind me as I perused my new body. My breasts had not been large to start with, but they were a bit larger now, giving me a more voluptuous figure. My curves were certainly more pronounced than they had been, and though I'd never been athletic I could see that my muscles looked toned and firm. My alabaster skin lay smoothly over them, and as I turned I could find no flaws.

I leaned in to examine my face carefully. If someone just glanced at me quickly, they might think that I looked the same as always. However, as I studied my reflection, I saw that all the little imperfections that had bothered my through my life had been erased. All of my scars had disappeared. My lips were pouty, a little fuller than they'd been before. My eyes were a little bigger, with thick lashes that never need to fear Alice and her mascara brush again. They were also no longer the deep chocolate brown that they had been, but were instead a bright scarlet. Even though I knew that they would be red, and would stay so for about a year after my change, my face still crumpled upon the sight. Edward's arms snaked around my waist as he pulled me to him.

"What's the matter, love?" he was apprehensive as he watched me through the mirror, his eyes wide as he tried to comprehend what I'd seen to upset me.

I turned to him, hiding my face in his arm as I sniffed uselessly at nothing. My emotions were out of control. I felt whipped around as I bounced from happy to embarrassed to devastated to fearful in the space of seconds. My voice quivered as I said, "My eyes are red… like them." Not just like them though, they also reminded me of the girl from the clearing after the battle. Bree. Of how she struggled and wailed trying to get to me, to feed on me, a human. Of what I might do if I were around any humans now, even someone I loved. Even Charlie.

"Oh Bella," he sighed into my hair, soothing me.

"I know," I muttered. "It's dumb. It's absurd to be upset about something as trivial as what color my eyes are, but I am. It just makes me think of them and how cruel they are. I don't want to look like that." I couldn't suppress a shudder at the memory of our trip to Italy. "And it makes me think of how I might mess up and kill a human… like Charlie." His arms pulled me closer.

I stooped and pulled the sheet back around me as I heard footsteps in the hall and then a tapping at the door.

"Come in Alice," Edward had forgotten his earlier pique in the face of trying to sooth me through my outburst.

Alice moved fluidly through the door, and pressed something into my hand while kissing my cheek. "The fact that you're so upset over the color of your eyes shows how much our way of life means to you," she said seriously. "I wouldn't call it trivial at all."

"Thanks Alice," I looked down at my hand to find a small contact lens case. "Oh!" I hadn't even thought about disguising my eyes, thinking I would have to live with them for the year before they'd turn the beautiful golden topaz color of the rest of my family. It wasn't like I was going to be around humans who would see them. If I was that close to a human, my eye color would be the least of their concerns. I smiled, rocketing through emotions again as I realized that Alice had gotten them simply for me, for my comfort. "But how do I get these in?" I'd managed to make my way through the day without any serious bouts of klutziness, but leave it to me to be the first vampire to poke her own eye out trying to put in contact lenses.

"I'll show you how," she said brightly. "Come on," she cocked her head at my sheet. "It looks like you could use a little help with your wardrobe too." Alice tugged me out of the room while Edward's laugh rang out behind me.

xxxx

I sat on the stool in front of Alice's vanity practicing putting the contacts in and taking them out again. I didn't know if I would need to know how to take them out, and Alice couldn't really tell me either. She had worn them before for fun, but not for any long term amount of time. Contacts hadn't been an option when any of my family had been newborn vampires.

Once they were in place, I felt much better. My eyes were once again the dark brown that I was accustomed to, and I knew that Edward would appreciate the little reminder of my humanity.

Alice had hauled out half her closet, attempting to force me into several different outfits while Rosalie offered her critique from the safety of the bed. She also had gone to Charlie's to pick up the bags of clothes I'd packed before the wedding, since Charlie believed that she would be bringing them to me as I started school in Alaska.

I sighed as the pile of clothing that used to fit well and no longer did grew larger, knowing that Alice was hatching some grand shopping scheme to replace everything and add to my wardrobe as well. Alice was muttering something about on the way to Alaska.

"What was that?" I hadn't been paying attention.

"We'll have to pick up some more suitable clothing for you on the way to Alaska," she replied calmly, ticking things off on her fingers. "You won't be able to go of course, so Rosalie and I will do it for you."

"We're still going to Alaska?"

"Yes. It's time for us to leave here," she explained. "Carlisle is already pushing the limits of believability at the hospital, and we can't risk you running into anyone you know. Well at this point running into anyone really. We need to get you somewhere remote for a while, and since Charlie already believes that you're going to Alaska it's easy to go with. And there's the fact that all of us have finished with high school here, so if we stay in the area we're all pretty much stuck in the house all of the time," she made a face at the idea.

I hadn't even considered leaving yet, but it made sense. Already I was starting to feel the need to hunt again, and it hadn't even been 24 hours since I'd gone. If we stayed here where there was a chance of running into humans if I went in the wrong direction, the consequences could be disastrous. Not to mention I would probably single handedly decimate the deer population in the park at the rate I as going, and I wanted to be too far from Charlie to cause him any harm. Relief washed over me as I brightened at the idea. I would miss Forks, miss this house I'd come to think of as home, but staying here was much too dangerous for everyone.

"When are we leaving?" I asked as Edward showed up in the doorway.

"Carlisle wants to see all of us to talk about that very thing," he said.