Author's Note: Sorry to say that this is the last chapter =( But I am going to put up the epilogue really soon! Let me know what you think please!

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight

Chapter 13

Our group slowly made its way down the long and winding hallways to the library. We were all dreading the emotional scene we were about to walk in on. I had my arm wrapped around James's waist since he was still holding his right arm firmly in place with his left hand. Every once in awhile he would pause to kiss the top of my head and his eyes hadn't once strayed from my face since we left the dining room. Laurent was at my other side, keeping one hand on my shoulder as he kept pace with James and I. We stopped to listen before we opened the doors to make sure we weren't interrupting a family moment. After a moment of silence I put my hand on the doorknob but stopped when Edward's enraged voice split through the quietness of the castle.

"He was still our father Jasper! Obviously there was something wrong with him; you don't honestly believe he fooled us for all those years do you?"

"Damn it Edward! He was getting ready to rip Alice's head off! I'm sorry if I can't find it in myself to feel sorry for him!" Jasper spat back harshly.

"You of all people Jasper, I would have thought you could feel compassion for him." Edward whispered sadly. Jasper huffed indigently but didn't respond; out loud at least.

Silence once again descended and I looked around to see what the others wanted to do. They all nodded so I opened the doors and stepped into the room. Sasha was the only one to look up as we entered; giving us a slight nod and looking thoroughly relieved that we were finally there.

I unnecessarily cleared my throat. "Aro and Caius said to tell you that if you need anything to let Sasha or me know."

"Bella!" Alice came running over to me and threw her tiny arms around my neck. "I don't know how I'll ever thank you; if it weren't for you I would be dead." She sobbed.

"Shhh Alice, there's no need to thank me." I soothed her, running my hands through her uncharacteristically messy hair and rocking us slightly.

I looked around the room at the devastated faces now staring at us. Rosalie and Emmett were tucked into a corner. She was sitting in his lap holding his left arm; one hand on his forearm and the other just above his elbow, keeping it in place while it healed. Edward and Sasha were sitting on the floor in front of the cold fireplace. She was also sitting in his lap and he had his face buried in her hair. And Jasper was pacing in front of one of the floor to ceiling bookshelves all the way across the large room; never taking his eyes off Alice and exuding worry, sadness, relief and disgust. I assumed that no one besides Alice could stand to be near him right now; the emotions were hardly bearable from the doorway I couldn't imagine what they would be like standing next to him.

I finally coaxed Alice into sitting on one of the sofas with me. She curled up and put her head on my lap so I could continue stroking her hair. It seemed to calm her slightly but I didn't miss the pained look on Jasper's face. He wanted to be the one comforting her right now but he couldn't even control his own emotions much less make her feel better. I gave him a reassuring look and he went back to pacing. James sat on the floor at my feet; still refusing to leave my side while the rest of my friends took up seats throughout the room. No one spoke for the longest time.

"Can you all just think out loud? I'm tired of hearing the same things over and over in everyone's minds." Edward moaned and clutched his head. Sasha turned to look worriedly at him.

"What is there to say? Carlisle betrayed our family and caused Esme to kill herself. My entire existence has been based on a lie!" Rosalie spat, turning to glare at him.

"Rosie, that's not fair. I don't really believe that Carlisle was always like that. He couldn't have been we would have notice." Emmett said gently.

"Esme…I can't blame her. If it had been you Jazz, I would have done the same thing." Alice whispered, standing up and walking over to her husband. Neither of them said anything, they just stared into each other's eyes silently communicating.

"What will you all do now? Will you go back to the states?" Heidi asked softly. She had become very close to Alice and Rosalie and I know she hated to think about them leaving.

"No; at least I won't. I'm staying here with Sasha. There's nothing left for me there now anyways." Edward responded quickly. I could almost feel Sasha's euphoria but she tried not to let it show out of respect for the situation.

"What do you want to do Rosie?" Emmett asked.

"I think we should stay. For awhile at least maybe in a few years we go away for awhile."

Everyone turned to Alice and Jasper. They continued their silent communications. I subtly ran my hand through James's hair and placed one finger on his cheek.

'Are you alright?'

'I'm fine, are you?'

'I will be. What should we do? I feel so helpless.'

'I think just being here is all we can do now. They just need time. I love you."

'I love you too. I'm so glad you're okay.'

'I don't know what I would have done if Marcus had gotten a hold of you Tesoro, you scared me so badly tonight.'

'I'm sorry you were scared but I won't apologize for being there."

'I won't ask you to. You saved me tonight, and here I thought you were the one who needed saving.'

'Just remember that.'

His internal chuckle warmed me slightly but our moment was over when Alice started talking.

"We're going to be fine. We'll all stay here in the castle and help the guard when they need us. We'll need time to grieve for Esme and to forgive Carlisle. But we will all forgive him." She directed at Rosalie. "And I see a wedding soon." She momentarily regained some of her bubbly personality.

Everyone turned to Edward and Sasha.

"No, not them; although their time is coming." Alice corrected.

We all stared at her in confusion. Who else was there? After a moment Demetri stood up and put his arm around Victoria. I stared at them in shock. I had always thought Demetri and Heidi were having a secret relationship; I never would have thought about him and Vicky.

"D?"

"Well, I guess Felix can keep a secret. We figured you all knew by now for sure." He answered, smiling at me.

I jumped up and hugged them. "Congratulations!"

All too soon the solemn atmosphere was back and we all went to our rooms. Everyone needed time alone to try and come to terms with all that had happened tonight.

James's arm was almost completely healed and he insisted on carrying me upstairs. I made sure to support most of my weight on my arms which were wrapped around his shoulders. When he placed me on my feet just inside the door I caught my reflection in the full length mirror on the closet door. I was covered from head to toe in soot. I sighed and started peeling off my ruined clothing. I noticed James doing the same thing behind me. I threw the clothes into the tub and turned on the shower. After scrubbing my body raw I stepped out, leaving the water running for James who was stepping in before I even got the towel wrapped around me. I brushed my hair as sat on the bed lost in my thoughts. I'm not sure how long I was sitting there before James came and took the brush out of my hands and laid me back on the bed.

"Please don't ever leave me Bella." He pleaded.

"Never!"

He pulled the towel away and reverently kissed every inch of my body. I rolled us over and did the same to him, paying special attention to his right arm. All that was left of the injury was an angry red scar that was already fading. Without speaking he lifted me up and aligned my hips with his and slid into me. I closed my eyes in complete ecstasy. I was whole, I was home. We moved silently the only noise in the room was the sounds of our bodies coming together. When I finally opened my eyes and looked down and met James's eyes I thought I would drown in the love and devotion shining there. After an indeterminable amount of time determination washed over his features. He pushed me back and stood up so he could lay me down with my legs hanging off the edge of the bed. He slammed into me faster and harder with each thrust, bending over to catch one of my bouncing nipples in his mouth and biting down before releasing it again.

"Come on Bella, let me hear you moan. I want to hear my name coming from those beautiful lips." He grunted and pushed into me harder.

"James!"

It slipped through my lips before I could stop it. I didn't want to be loud, even though our room was pretty secluded vampire hearing was impeccable and it felt wrong to be experiencing so much pleasure amid all the heartbreak.

"James!!"

But it felt so right. I tried to move my hips up to meet his thrusts but he pinned me down and continued to lick and suck on my nipples before moving up to suck on his bite mark just below my right ear.

I lost it; coming completely undone I clutched him to me and cried out. He reached between us and stroked my clit, preventing my orgasm from ending as he kept pounding into me. I was begging him to stop, it was too much and I couldn't handle it anymore. But he kept going until I felt his body stiffen as he came then collapsed on top of me. After a minute he rolled over and I laid my head on his chest.

"I love you." I told him, kissing his stomach.

"I love you too, Tesoro."

We didn't speak or move for the rest of the night. We just laid there and held each other. Occasionally I would touch his cheek and share a random thought or memory and sometimes he would place my palm there and share his with me but mostly we just thought about how lucky we were.

The next morning we were summoned to the throne room. Reluctantly we got out of bed and dressed.

"What do you think they want now?" I asked, slightly annoyed."

"Who knows; Aro probably just wants to check on you." James tried to sound reassuring but I could hear the irritation in his voice as well.

"He could at least give us one day to ourselves." I huffed.

"Come on, the sooner we get down there the sooner we can come back up here." He growled in my ear; sending shivers down my back.

"Well then, let's go." I murmured.

Within moments we were standing in the throne room. Aro and Caius were dressed in their finest robes. I was confused; why the formality? Crap, was there something I was forgetting? I thought for a minute. No, I couldn't remember being told that there was something important happening today.

"You wanted to see us?" James asked, bowing.

I simply stood there waiting. I was done bowing to Caius. The man did nothing but annoy me. I think I was still harboring some hostility from the way he had acted when we returned to the castle last night. He wisely chose not to comment on my lack of propriety today.

"Yes. We wanted to crown our new Queen. And welcome my daughter as an equal in leading the vampire race." Aro smiled as if he were giving me a gift.

James dropped to his knees and bowed his head to me. I started laughing. They couldn't be serious.

"James stand up." I giggled as I tugged on his arm. "Although you having to follow my every order would make my life easier that's not what I want."

I turned to the two remaining brothers. "Have both of you lost your fucking minds? I don't want to be Queen, hell I don't even want to be Princess but I'll take it over being queen! I have no desire to 'rule the vampire race' all I want is a relatively normal life. I want to continue working with the guard, hang out with my friends and fight with my husband. What in the world made the two of you think I would want anything else?"

"Isabella, this is a great opportunity! One most vampires would kill for." Caius looked astonished.

"Exactly! Why would I want to put myself in a position where there would be even more people trying to kill me? Papa, I won't do this, I'm sorry." I said, turning to Aro and shaking my head, still laughing.

Out of everything that had happened over the past few days this was by far the most bizarre.

"Bella are you sure?" James whispered.

I looked at him like he was crazy and wondered if the humans we'd been feeding on lately had all been taking some really good drugs.

"Of course I'm sure! Now that we've got that settled you two can take off those ridiculous robes then I want to talk to you about the Cullen's." I spat. I was starting to lose sight of the humor in the situation and it was quickly being replaced by fury.

Aro and Caius stared at me for a minute before removing their robes and sitting down.

"What about them Isabella?" Aro asked. He looked slightly upset with me but strangely please at the same time.

"They're going to remain here. I wanted to ask if the team that James and I led could be the ones to train the members of the family that want to join the guard."

"You are not asking if the Cullen's can stay in the castle, you are telling us that they are?" Caius fumed.

"Yes, I'm telling you that they are staying here. If you want to do something for me so badly then let this be it." I retorted in the same tone, glaring at him icily.

"Now Isabella, there is no need to be so hostile. We have no issues with the Cullen's remaining here and as for their training; I believe that they will need some time before they are ready for that. We will discuss it at a later time. Are you sure that you do not want to be Queen?" Aro asked gently.

I sighed. "I'm positive that I do not want to be Queen. Please don't ask me again. I've not even been a vampire for two years yet!"

"Very well, you may go."

James and I stepped into the hall. He was shaking his head at me and smirking.

"What?"

"It's a good thing Caius likes you so much. Aro I've gotten used to but Caius still surprises me every time." He laughed.

"Caius hates me. What are you talking about?"

"Do you know what would have happened to me if I had gone in there and spoke to him in the tone you were using? Never mind that you were telling him to do something. I would have been nothing but a pile of ashes before I got the first sentence out."

"It's only because Aro won't let him do anything to me. I didn't mean to be disrespectful I just can't stand how condescending he is!"

"Okay maybe I did mean to be a little disrespectful." I admitted after he gave me a skeptical look.

"Whatever you say Tesoro. What do you want to do today?" James asked, kissing me sweetly.

"I thought we should see if the Cullen's wanted to plan something for Carlisle and Esme. You know like a memorial ceremony or something."

"I think Edward and Emmett might be the safest to speak with right now. Why don't we go to Sasha's room, I'm sure Edward will be there." He suggested.

Sasha's room was in the same wing of the castle as our but on the opposite side. I knocked tentatively on her door and waited. I was actually hoping that Edward wouldn't be there so I could ask Sasha what she thought about my idea before approaching Edward with it. No such luck.

"Come in." Edward called.

I opened to door to see Edward and Sasha sitting back to back in the middle of the floor each with an open book in their laps.

"Don't worry so much Bella; I could hear James screaming the idea at me from two floors down. Apparently he wanted to make sure that if I was going to be upset that I wouldn't be in the room when you got here." Edward chuckled.

I glared at James who just shrugged innocently at me.

"Well, I didn't know if that was something you guys wanted to do but I wanted to tell you that if you did to do something just let me know and I'll get whatever you need."

"Thank you Bella, not just for this but for last night as well. Like Alice said I'll eventually be able to forgive him but if he had killed her…" He just stopped talking for a moment and shook his head. "I'll talk to the others and see what they want to do."

He had composed himself slightly but I could still see the pain and betrayal on his face. I knelt next to him and kissed his cheek. "I am so sorry Edward." I whispered before standing up and following James out of the room.

Two nights later I found myself once again in the rose garden. This seemed to be where any kind of emotional scene in my life took place. If you didn't know better you would never assume that this was a memorial ceremony. Alice insisted that no one wear black. Even recovering from the trauma she'd been through Alice wouldn't allow anything that she planned to be cliché. She had asked Aro and Caius if they wanted her to include Marcus in the ceremony but they had refused and didn't give a reason why.

I was wearing a long white beach dress which made me stand out even more from all the bright colors surrounding me. Alice said this was a celebration of the lives Esme and Carlisle had led not a memorial of their deaths.

Aro spoke first; telling a few stories from the time that Carlisle had stayed with them. Then each of the Cullen's spoke. Jasper and Rosalie still couldn't bring themselves to say anything nice about Carlisle so they just focused on Esme and how much they would miss her. When everyone was done and the brothers had left Alice asked the rest of us to stay.

"I know I told you that we would stay here but we can't. Jasper and I need some time alone to heal from this. Demetri and Victoria I'm sorry that we won't be here for your wedding but it will be beautiful and perfect, just trust Heidi, she'll give you all the help you need. Edward, brother you have waited so long to find happiness. We'll come back briefly when you decide the time is right to get married. I would never miss that." Alice went over and hugged Edward and Sasha before turning back to the rest of us. "Don't worry, we're not going away forever and we'll keep in contact."

We hugged Alice and Jasper before leaving the Cullen siblings to spend the last few hours before dawn together.

"Do you think they'll be alright?" I asked James worriedly.

"I'm sure they'll be fine. I can understand how it would be hard for them to live here. This isn't the place for them right now but eventually it will be. For the time being they just need to find a place to belong."

PLEASE REVEIW!!!!