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Present

"Cullen," I gasped, "Dr Cullen. He was...and you...how did I not see it before?" I cried, feeling absolutely foolish. I had all but forgotten about the doctor who could not cure my sweet boy, but as it turns out, he was able to save him. Perhaps if I had made the connection earlier I could have looked for him and been with my Edward sooner.

"Yes, my love. He changed me," Edward's face was so similar, yet different. I missed the green of his eyes dearly, yet I would not change the topaz ones looking back at me for anything. It meant he was still here, "When I awoke I asked about you. Carlise said you had died. It was all over the papers, that you had ran into the woods and were murdered. I wanted to kill right then and there."

The anguish on his face broke my non beating heart all over again and I reached a hand up to caress his cheek, "I am here now, my Edward, forever." His arms wrapped around me, holding tightly as if to never let go; a concept I was perfectly fine with. We could have been locked in that embrace for seconds or years but we were broken away far too soon when I had a tap to the shoulder. Edward growled, low in his throat and I looked over to see the face of Mike Newton. He seemed to swallow and step back lightly, obviously afraid of the reaction my bronze haired boy gave.

"You two know each other?" the child seemed to have gained his confidence back and asked the question that was obviously on the minds of everyone in the room.

Edward shifted slightly, still keeping his arm around me, tucking me into his side. I was grateful, fearing I would lose him if he let go and I was not going to lose him twice. I cured into his side and grabbed his hand, lacing our fingers together and giving him a content smile. His answering smile was just as glorious as I remembered, if not more so and I was sure if my heart was still beating it would be loud enough for everyone in Forks to hear it.

"Yes, we do," Edward leaned down to plant a kiss on my forehead and I allowed my eyes to shut, feeling whole for the first time since I lost the boy next to me, "You still have it?" he asked me quietly as he twisted the engagement ring around my finger.

"I have not taken it off since the day you gave it to me, my love. It was a reminder of a day that was supposed to be the happiest of my life, before you were taken away from me," tears that would never shed filled my eyes and my sweet, green eyed boy brushed his hand across my cheek.

"I have dreamed about that day for my entire existence Isabella Marie Swan, but now we do not have to dream any longer. It will happen and I will make you my wife," his voice was quiet, too low for any human to hear, but the gasps from the rest of the Cullen's filled my ears. I paid them no mind as I leaned forward and kissed him once more.

"So...did you guys used to go to the same school or something?" a new, yet equally annoying voice interrupted us and the only thing keeping me from ripping Jessica Stanley's throat out was the soothing circles Edward was making on the palm of my hand. I took a moment to look around and noticed the eyes of students and teachers alike watching us. Surprise and confusing evident on their faces. I took a look at the Cullen table and observed.

Alice was smiling ear to ear and looked as if the only thing stopping her from jumping up and down with excitement was the blonde haired boy with his arm wrapped around her tiny waist: that must be Jasper. He seemed to have a mixture of emotions on his face ranging from confused and happy to angry and sad. The beautiful blonde girl on the other side of the table held an indifferent expression as she inspected her nails, seemingly not paying attention and the curly haired boy next to her, that looked the size of a bear, had an expression similar to Alice, except his smile was a bit more mischievous.

"We were courting, before Edward was taken away," I replied simply, before realizing my mistake.

"Courting?" Came another voice, disbelief coloring their tone.

"Bella enjoys a lot of classic literature," Edward's smooth voice cut in, "she likes to pick up the vocabulary." I gave him a grateful smile and nodded my head subtly to the door. We took our leave from the cafeteria. We ditched the rest of our classes, choosing to spend our time together simply enjoying the day. We knew there would be questions from his family and each other, but we wanted to take the time to relish in one another's presence. As the sky darkened, we decided to make our way to the Cullen household to properly meet his family.

It was not until we climbed into the shiny silver volvo of his that I realized my engagement ring was not on my finger. As Edward was twisting it around and looking at it earlier, it must have loosened enough to slip off and in my Edward induced haze I had not realized it had gone missing. I knew I could find it easily, that I was not worried about. What worried me was the engraving on it. Through the years I had made sure that it was still in good condition and legible.

If the humans go a hold of it, they could find out our secret.