Author's Note: And so begins Part III. I originally planned on only having two parts, but I felt that this deserved its own part. I hope you enjoy it. This was a fun chapter to plan and write.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight!

Part III, Chapter One: "Bite" Edward's POV

We had done it.

As soon as Jacob left and was gone for good, Alice could see everything. The venom would be successful in waking her up and converting her into an immortal. That was our only choice. Nothing else would work. Time would not treat us kindly; she was never going to wake up by herself.

So our problem changed from Jacob to Charlie.

Obviously we had to get her out of the hospital, out of Washington. Jasper went on the Internet and found a cancer center in Alaska for Carlisle to wave at Charlie. Jazz even went to a phone company in Alaska and created a new line so Charlie could have a phone number for "Bella's room" in the "center". It would actually just go to our house in Alaska, but Charlie of course didn't know that.

And then transportation was a problem. Obviously in normal circumstances, Bella would be transported to the center by helicopter. But since we weren't actually going to the center, we had to find a creative solution to get Bella to our secluded house in Alaska.

"That's easy," Emmett had shrugged. "I'll just buy a helicopter."

And so he did. I don't know how he found one so fast, but Rosalie landed it with amazing skill on top of the hospital. Since we could hear Bella's heartbeats without a monitor, we stole an oxygen tank and a portable bed and loaded her up on it.

A clan of vampires kidnapping a human from a hospital on a helicopter. It sounded like a bad comic book.

But it worked. I didn't even know Rosalie had a pilot's license. I was even more surprised that she would help us.

Anyway, we landed at a private airport in Alaska and put her into a stolen ambulance and drove her to our house. Esme had already furnished a room for Bella with a huge hospital bed and equipment that Carlisle had managed to get his hands on. So I simply carried her into our new home, and the process began.

I ran tests on her--oxygen levels, blood count, all the usual things. Everything was the same. Alice gave us our answers, that Bella would be fine, while she hung our engagement pictures in the room. She was way too excited about having her almost-sister back and planning the wedding.

Finally, my other family members seemed to sense that it was time to give us some privacy. Esme kissed my forehead, Carlisle's lips, and Bella's forehead before leaving. I was alone with my father and my comatose fiancée.

"Son, are you okay?" Carlisle asked me.

I nodded. "Yes. Just worried."

He smiled kindly. "I'm very practiced."

"I know. I trust you."

I watched nervously as he gently tipped her chin up, exposing her lovely neck. He looked back at me. "Do you want to do this?"

I shook my head. "No."

"The blood wouldn't tempt you. She reeks of cancer cells."

"I know. I still don't want to take a chance."

He nodded and turned back to Bella. I watched as his butterscotch eyes closed, and he started murmuring to himself. Praying.

It felt like a sacred moment, so I didn't interrupt. Finally, he uttered an "Amen" and turned back to her.

My breath grew ragged as I watched him. His fingers traced her ivory neck, feeling her pulse first, and then went along the veins. After what seemed like hours, he stopped at her jugular.

"You're sure, son?"

I stared at him questioningly. "Yes…?"

"It's a very intimate bond," he murmured. "It's what Bella would have wanted."

I swallowed hard.

"I'm very glad I was the one to turn Esme," he mused. "It makes me feel like I provided for her, in a sense."

"It's what Bella would have wanted?" I verified.

He nodded solemnly. "Yes. I have discussed this with her before."

I stared at my beautiful fiancée, so serene and quiet. Will she know it's me when the pain sets in?

I didn't want to disappoint her.

Slowly, I walked to her bedside. "Carlisle, you will intervene if I do something wrong."

"Of course," he replied.

I nodded and bent to her warm flesh, her blood flowing under her skin as my nose skimmed her neck. The smell was unappealing enough that I felt comfortable. I softly kissed her neck, and then her lips, and then her neck again. Carlisle was gracious, and maybe romantic enough that he didn't say anything. He let me have my moment with the girl I loved.

Finally, I squeezed my father's hand, and went back to her neck. I bared my teeth, and sank them into her skin, and then into her jugular vein. It was like biting through butter. My teeth slipped through her easily and threateningly.

"Edward, careful," Carlisle warned as blood flowed onto my lips. But I wasn't bothered. This blood did not taste like my Bella. I was safe. She was safe.

I removed my mouth from her, and looked back at him.

"Very good," he murmured. "I think you should inject a lot more venom, though. This venom is going to have to repair a lot--it's going to have to make her conscious again."

"Right," I nodded.

"Just bite her at the points with good blood flow--wrists, ankles, the neck, you know the parts I mean."

I nodded and nipped at her neck again. It was kind of sexy, being able to finally neck with her. And the biting sort of fulfilled my animalistic nature. But I was happy to just be saving her. In my immortal life, I had never felt so…vulnerable. I felt like I could break from the happiness, but at the same time, I felt like I could break if this attempt was unsuccessful. I was perfectly certain that that would be the worst pain I could feel.

After I had covered her neck, I moved on to other territory--her wrists, stopping to kiss her hands with my blood-smeared lips; the crooks of her elbows, her ankles, and the backs of her knees.

"Well done, son," Carlisle whispered. "I can hear and smell the venom flowing."

"I can, too," I said before biting up and down her arms.

"I think that's enough," he said.

I pulled away, and wiped the blood on my sweater sleeve. Alice was going to kill me over that one, but I didn't care.

"What now?" I asked him quietly.

"We wait."

And so the waiting began. Hour by hour, the minutes seemed to grow longer. The only response we were getting from Bella was the sound of her heart as it pumped the venom through her veins. I could smell my venom racing through her and saturating new parts of her body. Carlisle sat with me, and I noticed he was praying again, praying through the whole thing.

At one point, I did ask him, "Did you pray when you changed me?"

He nodded. "Yes. I was praying I wouldn't be damned for that."

"Things worked out pretty nicely, though. You found Esme."

My mother, who had been sitting with us, smiled and rubbed Carlisle's knee. He kissed her temple before turning back to me. "Yes. And as a result, you found Bella."

I couldn't help but smile at that one. It was so true. Somehow, this had turned out so perfectly.

I just hoped things would continue to turn out perfectly.

Seventy-one hours after the last bite, Carlisle took my hand, jarring me out of my trance. "Edward…do you hear that?"

I strained my ears. Yes, of course I heard it. Her heart picking up speed.

"It's happening," he breathed.

Alice danced into the room. "Things are going to turn out perfectly."

Emmett and Jasper followed her. "Damn, she's gorgeous," Emmett remarked.

I nudged his ribs. "You're just now noticing that?"

He shrugged. "Sorry, bro, but you know the humans don't do it for me. But if I were a single man…well, you might have the new and improved vampire Bella off your hands."

"Not a chance," I growled.

I stared at my extraordinarily beautiful love as she laid silently on the bed, her eyes still closed. I was growing panicky, knowing that this was the part where fate would decide if her heart could carry her into the next life, or into an immortal life here on Earth. Alice kept playing out her vision in my head to remind me of the very certain future. Bella, walking and talking. Bella, her hard lips and deadly teeth kissing my mouth.

I was a little comforted by my dear sister, but I was still sort of losing it.

Jasper sensed this, and I felt a strange, dull peace flowing through the air. Relieved, I now focused on Bella's beauty. Her shoulder-length hair looked glossy and full. Her skin was perfectly white, without even a hint of a blemish. All of her already-beautiful features were heightened. She even looked curvier and healthier.

My fingers brushed her hair as her heart kept beating faster and faster, trying to comfort her if she was freaking out.

"Dear God," I could hear Carlisle whisper. "Please wake her up, like you've already told Alice you would…"

I found myself praying the same prayer over and over.

Twenty-thousand years later…

Bella opened her eyes.

And as I stared into her bright-red irises, I realized it had only been minutes.

Minutes of the rest of eternity that now belonged to us.