Stockholm Syndrome BPOV Epilogue
Being a vampire was like nothing else I could have ever imagined. I was suddenly capable of walking, running, and any other thing I had wanted to do but had been unable. It was a blessing in disguise. And, being equal with Edward was just amazing. The undying love, devotion, and the sex, oh my god the sex, was more unbelievable than I could have ever imagined it being. However, there were still things unresolved, such as closure for my parents.
It ate at me inside, the guilt of leaving them unknowing. I had to do something. I tried to push it to the back of my mind; I gave myself, mind, body, and soul to Edward, but still, it was there, gnawing away at me. Finally, after three years of it, I went to Edward about it, asking him if there was some way we could give them closure.
Carlisle and Edward started the wheels in motion and, before I knew it, Edward and I were in my truck, heading to northern rural Washington with Alice and Carlisle, and some unknown female body, in tow. The plan was to make it look like I had been heading back home and wrecked, killing myself accidently. Well, that plan was all fine and dandy until Edward and Carlisle began to demolish my truck. I couldn't handle it. I flipped out. That truck was the last piece of Charlie I had…he had bought it for me. And here we were destroying it.
Seeing my distress, Edward immediately abandoned the task and tended to me, the sweet man he was. Alice took over and she and Carlisle finished things up, depositing the body and setting fire to the whole thing. It really did look real, but it was too much for my emotions to handle, even if it would bring some form of closure to my parents. I became lost in my thoughts after the truck staging incident, but finally got my shit together and got back to living my eternal life with Edward.
Edward…my Edward. He was my new reason for existing, and my sole purpose in life. He pulled me from my self-imposed darkness, showed me the light of life, and gave me more than I could have ever imagined.
With Edward by my side, and the rest of the Cullen's, I made it through everything. I finally gave in to Edward's persistence on marriage, but made him ask about ninety-seven times before I said yes. Jasper performed the ceremony and Carlisle gave me away. He really was like a father to me, in the absence of my own that is. But he never treated me any less than the others, even though I was the newest to the family. My honeymoon with Edward consisted of a few weeks spent naked in the forest, making love and hunting together. It was pure bliss.
A few years after we married, we began to move from city to city, staying in each for a few years before moving on to the next. I saw places I had never imagined I would have ever seen. Edward took me to the top of the Eiffel Tower at night, we strolled past Buckingham Palace under the stars, I got to see Vatican City on a particularly cloudy day, and even chased kangaroos in Australia, for fun of course. They were too cute to eat in my eyes.
Edward even took me on vacation to an island that Carlisle had given to Esme many years ago. That was the best six months ever. I don't think I wore a stitch of clothes the entire time. And let me tell you, sex underwater, with Edward…it can't compare to anything else. There was total sensory deprivation under there so all we could do was feel, and feel we did.
Even though my vampiric life was perfect, I still held onto the human things about me, mainly my parents. I wanted, no needed to see them. So, after careful planning, I began to take trips back to the US. Renee and Phil were my first visit, and it was my last to them. My mother, as much as I loved her, needed to be taken care of, and Phil was doing that. She wasn't hurting for anything and I knew that she'd be ok with him. But Charlie was another story entirely. He had just gotten me back and I had been snatched away. Charlie was hurting and it was somewhat my fault. Even with the closure we had given him, he still grieved for me, just going through the motions of life and work until he came home and broke down. I had broken Charlie's heart and I felt horrible for it.
To try and help him, and help myself too, I began to make semi regular trips to see him, without telling Edward. Sometimes I would just sit outside of his house, hidden in the trees, and listen and watch him. Other times I would sneak in while he was at work and tend to the house, little things to take care of him and hopefully show him that I was looking out for him. However, as the years waned on, his health began to fail, and I knew that his time was drawing to an end.
That last trip I made to see him, I brought Edward along with me. He was shocked at first, but understood finally. Especially after I took off into the woods in a panic. He caught up to me and held me as I broke down telling him about Charlie's health and impending death. But Edward, the wonderful man that he was, figured out a way for me to tell him goodbye and to see him one last time.
The following morning, just as dawn broke on an unusually cloudless day in Forks, I entered Charlie's house and went to his room. I sat carefully on the side of his bed, next to his sleeping form as the monitors counted out his heart beats. I began to talk to him, to tell him what really happened to me.
"Hey Daddy. I came home, finally. I know you've been worried about me but I wanted to let you know I'm doing well. Edward Cullen has been taking care of me and Daddy, I married him. I know you would love him if you got a chance to meet him. He is so good to me.
"I'm sorry I made your life harder. I was looking forward to spending time with you, but that was cut short. I've been watching over you. I made sure to always know how you were doing and I did everything in my power to take care of you.
"I want you to know that I love you and I couldn't imagine a better father out there. You were so good to me."
As I sat there and talked to him, his monitors began to beep louder and faster, then, just as a stray ray of sun pierced through his window, landing on my skin and illuminating it, Charlie's eyes opened and he gasped.
"Bella?" he said in a frail voice.
"Yes Daddy, it's me. I've come home to you. I'm here to make it all better." If I could have cried, I would have as Charlie reached one hand out to grasp weakly onto mine.
"Bella, my Bella," Charlie said as his eyes scanned my face, watching the sun dance across my diamond skin, causing small bursts of light to explode around the room. "Are you an angel?"
I swallowed down the sorrow and pain before answering him, striving to be strong for him.
"Yes, I'm an angel, your angel. I'm here to make you better, to take your pain away. I love you, Daddy."
"I love you too, my Bella," Charlie said as he closed his eyes and took a ragged breath, the machines beeping louder.
I knew it was the end for him, I could sense it in the atmosphere. Leaning over him, I pressed one cold kiss to his forehead and the machines went wild as he gently squeezed my hand. Suddenly, though, he let go and there was only the sound of a solid beep from the machines.
My father was gone.
Hearing Sue, who had been tending to him, get up from my old bedroom, I kissed Charlie's forehead one last time and slipped quietly out of the window.
Edward was waiting for me in the woods, his arms open and inviting to soothe me. We stayed as long as we could, watching the coroner remove his body before Edward took me back to the Cullen house. The next few days were a blur as we awaited his funeral. I promised Edward that we would stay hidden in the safety of the forest until it was safe to say our goodbyes.
Finally, I walked forward and knelt in between his grave and mine as I told him one more time how much I loved him. Edward appeared by my side and apologized to Charlie, telling him how sorry that he was for taking me from him. Edward sounded guilty, but I think that what happened was meant to be.
We flew back home that night. I had wanted to see my mother while we were there, since she had relocated to Seattle after Phil retired, but her and Phil were on a cruise. So, we went back to the small island we had been living on in Micronesia and tried to get back to normal life. Edward and I swam, hunted, and made love, passing the time in luxurious ways, but I still had the nagging feeling to see my mom.
Edward even talked to me about going to see Renee, and I agreed to him accompanying me. But, before we could plan a trip, the worst news came. Alice burst into our bedroom one day and told us that Phil and Renee had been in a car crash. All I could think of was that it was too soon, that I couldn't bear to lose them so soon after Charlie.
I didn't register anything occurring around me, not the fact that Edward booked us flights or that we were in the air on the way to Seattle. All I could think of was my mom and hoping I could make it in time to say goodbye and tell her I loved her. When the plane touched down in Seattle, and Edward and I stood up to exit the plane, his phone rang and I feared who was on the other end of the call.
As he answered, Alice's voice broke through and the news almost dropped me to the floor. Renee and Phil hadn't made it, they had passed from their injuries in the accident. I was almost lifeless as Edward helped me off the plane and to the car. He booked us a hotel room and I was vaguely aware of him tending to me, making sure I bathed and hunted, but other than that, I was a shell. My entire human family was gone and the Swan line had ended when I was changed.
Edward said something to me about getting ready to go to Forks, and I snapped out of it long enough to find out that Renee had insisted on being buried in the town she had hated all those years before, just because I was there. Phil was being buried with her, and that would complete the four plot section that had been set aside for us.
Riding along in a daze I tried to remember my mother in detail, but found the finer points of my life with her fuzzy and unmemorable. I knew that we had done many memorable things together, but I couldn't recall them other than blurry snippets. I felt like a failure of a daughter.
Pulling up at the Cullen house, Edward and I got out of the car and headed through the woods to the cemetery, staying, once again, hidden inside of the trees so we wouldn't be seen. The ceremony was small consisting of a few people that I didn't know. As I waited for the service to conclude, I thought about what this would be like if I had been human. Charlie might still be alive, his heart not having the strain of my loss, and Renee and Phil might not have been in Seattle to get into the accident. I would have been thirty eight years old and both of my parents would have been alive. I would have probably been married with children. But, I couldn't dwell on what could have been because it would have kept me from Edward, who was my everything. And he was standing with me, his arms embracing my body as we waited for everyone to clear out after the service and dusk to set in.
Once it was clear to do so, I emerged from the trees, alone, and knelt between Renee and Phil's graves. I reached forward and touched the fresh earth covering my mother and silently sobbed, the dry tears wanting to come forth but unable to do so.
"Mom, I'm sorry I wasn't there for you, there to save you. I...I...god I miss you so much. I'm horrible for not seeing you more, but Phil was making you so happy and Charlie needed me. I hope it didn't hurt, and that you didn't suffer. I couldn't bear to know you suffered more than you already have. I love you, Mom, so, so much. I'll always love you. And, Phil, take care of her up there. She needs some looking after and I know you can do it. I love you too and couldn't imagine a better man for her."
As I finished up, my shoulders sagged with the weight of the goodbyes. Edward appeared suddenly at my side and scooped me up, carrying me back to the house in Forks.
For a solid month he spent time directly beside me. He helped me through the pain and loss and guilt that I felt, and I fell even more in love with him, if that was possible. He helped me to see that I was strong enough to endure anything, as long as I had him by my side. Slowly, more and more each day, I became my old self. And, by the time the month was up, I was back to the vampire I had been for thirty years.
But, as the time drew closer to us returning to our family, I found myself not really wanting to go. It wasn't that I didn't want to see Rose and Alice, who were like sisters to me, or Emmett and Jasper, who were the best brothers imaginable, or even Carlisle and Esme, who had become surrogate parents when I needed them. I just wanted time alone with Edward, for more than a few months. So, with that in mind, I informed Edward that I wanted to live separately from the rest of the family for a little while.
Edward seemed excited about having me all to himself and set the plans in motion. As we packed our bags and said goodbye to Forks, I kept trying to get it out of Edward where we were going, but he was tight lipped about it. Boarding the plane, I saw we were going to Chicago, and I crossed my fingers hoping that he was taking me to his house, the house that had been his parents' home. And my hopes came true as he pulled up that evening to the house he had grown up in.
As he took me through the house, I could picture a little him running through the rooms as his parents looked on lovingly. But, when he took me upstairs and made slow love to me into the early morning light, I could only see him, now, wrapped in my arms.
We stayed in our perfectly wrapped bubble, occasionally visited by the different couples of the family, but after ten years, I yearned to be with them again. I missed my brothers and sisters, and I longed for the warmth Carlisle and Esme showered us in. We moved back with them, and have been with them for the last ten years, travelling and enjoying life together, the perfect family. And, with Edward by my side, I knew the next fifty years would be even more perfect. With him, I could endure anything and I loved him for loving me and being mine.