Hi guys,

Sorry it has been a while since I updated. I had some issues with logging in to my account but it (fingers crossed)is all sorted now.

I apologise in advance to anyone who has a knowledge of the place that I have Edward and Bella visit in this chapter. I have never visited it personally or the U.S for that matter, so I am basing what I wrote on internet searches. Forgive me if it sounds a little off on details.

I want to say a quick Happy Birthday to my DD. It was on Friday, but I couldn't log on to wish her a happy birthday then,lol. This story has been written for her and I will present it to her as a belated birthday present.

Chapter 21

Love & the Lake

BPOV

Following Edward's concise instructions I turned Carlisle's Mercedes southward, still none the wiser as to where we were speeding at such an early hour of the morning.

"So are you going to tell me where we're going?" I shot Edward a sidelong look full of open curiosity.

"Eventually." He flashed a grin at me, "No forcing it out of me either. Deal?"

"Fine." I huffed, directing my eyes back to the road in front of me.

"It's somewhere almost as beautiful as you." He smiled, before chuckling and adding, "And just as untamed."

"Smooth talker." I couldn't help but smile back.

When Edward told me it was going to take a few hours to get where we were going I re-focused on the drive rather than the final destination, enjoying the scenery and his company.

Every now and then we whizzed by a car sharing the highway with us. Most were only occupied by one or two passengers, beginning their long trek to work at a guess. It was a little thrilling and nerve wracking all at the same time overtaking those cars and the people they housed. I hadn't been out in public since I had disappeared from that Seattle diner with Alice. I hadn't seen a human since I had been changed. It felt good to be outside, mingling somewhat with the real world again. Watching the faces of commuters as they bopped to a tune on their radio or spoke into their cell phones- it made me feel just like the Bella of old, albeit a little more indestructible now and a much faster driver.

I didn't feel any overwhelming desire to hunt or to find some way to drink the blood of the nearby humans. I could barely smell anything from my spot behind the wheel, allowing me to enjoy the moment and not be distracted by my instincts.

I was more than a little nervous though that Edward's planned destination may include a close up encounter with humans and I was not sure I was ready for that.

"Edward?" I said quietly as we passed another car, this one with a female driver who I could hear singing nursery rhymes to her small and very upset child in the back seat.

"Mm?" he answered distractedly, as he fiddled with the radio dials on Carlisle's stereo trying to find a station he was happy to listen to.

"There aren't going to be any 'people' where we are going are there?"

"No love, no humans." He smiled. "I've taken care of that. Where we are going will be human free by the time we get there."

"Um…do I want to even ask how you managed that?" I asked; a little more relaxed now that I knew today was not going to test my strength in resisting eating someone.

"Probably not" he laughed in response.

"How did you even manage to organize anything at all?" I was perplexed. We had barely been away from one another since I had been changed.

"Ahhh you forget that some of us fellow vampires also have talents Bella." He tapped at his temple. "I simply sent Alice a few messages via her visions and she organized the rest." He laughed smugly at how his little plans had taken shape right under my nose.

"So that's what all the staring and mental conversing was about this morning?" I had noticed that little exchange and now it was beginning to make sense.

"Yes. Alice was just passing along the message that everything was under control and good to go. Now…no more questions, let's just enjoy the drive, with the way you speed now it won't take long until we get there.

"I do like driving fast." I admitted with a sheepish grin. "It's fun and not so terrifying when you know that you aren't going to end up a mangled mess if you crash."

"You are coping so well with all of this…I almost forget that you are still a newborn." Edward beamed. I could hear the pride and praise ringing in Edward's voice when he spoke of how well he thought I was adjusting to my new life.

"I told you…" I reached out and squeezed his hand, "That this is where I was always meant to be. I think I was born to become a vampire."

"Well vampire girl. Now that you are one….what are you thinking of doing for the next several hundred years or millennia?" Edward asked teasingly.

"Hmmm...big question. I've never been one for making long term goals." I laughed at the truth of my words; I usually had trouble planning ahead a month, let alone for a few thousand years time. "I have given it a little thought." I admitted, emphasizing the little part. "I was thinking though that maybe once I am ready to be around people…that you could finally graduate high school and then we might be able to go to college together. Apart from that…my only plan is to be with you for every day of forever."

"I like the sound of that idea." Edward answered quietly, taking my hand from his and pressing a kiss into the top of it.

"Good, because you're stuck with me whether you like it or not." I flashed him a broad smile.

"I guess I'll just have to live with that and make the most of it." He flashed me a dazzling smile, as we continued to talk so casually about my change.

It was wonderful to talk to Edward about my becoming a vampire without seeing the lingering doubt and worry behind his eyes. I could feel the change that our conversation this morning had had on him.

We spent the next few hours of our journey alternating between conversation and silence, listening to music, taking in the scenery and just enjoying being together. Discussing our future plans filled my heart with a joy I had never known before. Planning for our future together was still like a dream come to life.

"Are you going to tell me where we're going now Edward? I asked, now that home lay two hundred miles behind us; my curiosity finally getting the better of me.

"Impatient Isabella," Edward laughed softly, "Another thing that hasn't changed." He grinned. "We're going to Crater Lake" Edward answered, putting me out of my misery finally.

"Thank you Edward for telling me finally, you know I don't like surprises." I playfully slapped his arm. "I've always wanted to visit Crater Lake" I thought aloud, "it always looked so beautiful in the photographs I remember seeing."

"Well thanks to your driving and the speed Carlisle's car is capable of…we are almost there." he quipped.

"What? Scared of my speeding now Edward?" I shot him a mock incredulous look. "When I was human I drove too slow…now I drive too fast. Won't you ever be happy?"

"I'm happier now than I have ever been." Edward's voice rang with sincerity. No further teasing about my driving, no stabs at the old red truck that used to irk him with its snail pace speed; just a heartfelt admission of being the happiest he had felt in over one hundred years, and that I was the reason. It was quite the compliment.

"Ditto" I smiled at my soul mate as he that sat beside me holding my hand. "I know exactly what you mean."

Almost floating with feelings of happiness and love, I followed the signage the final few miles, to Crater Lake. Pulling into the top parking lot, I noticed that it was not completely deserted; a red sports car was also parked there. I knew that car, it was Rose's. That explained why she wasn't at the house earlier to witness Emmett wearing his little red dress.

Jasper appeared from the trees at the same time Rose emerged from her car. "So you have two accomplices Edward." I stated.

"Three, if you count Alice." He smiled. "Don't be mad at them, this surprise is something I asked them to help me with.

"I'm not mad." I smiled stepping out of the car and dashing to his side to once again take his hand. "Happy, remember."

Edward smiled and kissed me gently on the lips. "Ditto" he whispered, borrowing the line I used earlier.

"Welcome to Crater Lake." Jasper drawled as he joined us.

"Thanks Jazz." I smiled.

"Hi, you two love birds." Rose chimed as she strode over to join us." Jasper and I have chased off all the pesky humans for you, but we'll stay here and make sure that any more visitors that turn, up will leave and not disturb your plans." She said turning to Edward.

"Thanks Rose." He smiled at his sister.

It was nice to see them getting along. I had still been worried about how their relationship might have changed with everything that happened. If anything it seemed to have somehow strangely improved- the two of them softening toward each other, dropping the snarling pretenses altogether.

"Yep if Rose can't convince them that the park is closed…then I am just going to confuse the hell out of them with their own emotions and send them packing." Jasper laughed. It sounded like he was enjoying the prospect of messing with some human feelings.

"So I see that judging by the car you two arrived in…my husband is now wearing one of my dresses." Rose laughed softly." I bet he's wishing he didn't muddy up his Jeep last night now."

"He was washing it in a little red dress when we left." I giggled remembering how Emmett had looked as we pulled away from the house.

"Having fun with your new talent?" Rose asked; surprising me with her knowledge of my vampire abilities.

"You know?" I asked a little nervously. I had after all tricked her husband into making a bet he had no hope of ever winning.

"Alice does too." Rose answered nonchalantly, "She told me last night at the party, she saw a vision of your little conversation with Tanya and her little suicide attempt." She laughed. "Don't worry Bella, I'm not going to 'out' you to Emmett. It might teach him a lesson about gambling."

"Doubt it"" Edward and Jasper both said at the same time.

"Rose. Jasper." Edward inclined his head in their direction as he spoke. "If you'll excuse us…Bella and I have a date." He grinned.

"Have fun you two." Jasper smiled before unleashing some lust on us and then laughing loudly before he ran off.

"Like they need that Jazz" Rose said dryly before wrapping her arms around me in a hug and whispering, "Have a wonderful day today Bella."

"Thanks Rose." I hugged her back. It was nice to feel the closeness that we had developed.

Moving onto Edward she wrapped her arms around her brother and he returned her embrace. I heard no whispered conversation but I knew that Rose was saying something to Edward mentally because he broke away from her embrace with a broad smile. "Thanks Rose."

"Would you care to take a walk with me?" Edward asked, extending his hand for me to take it.

"I'd love to." I answered, taking his hand and entwining my fingers in his. "Bye guys." I called as we headed off on a track towards the lake.

Crater Lake was breath taking in its beauty. I breathed in the surrounding countryside, the thick scent of pine needles that laced the air, the rich aroma of the earth that crunched loudly beneath my shoes, the smell of the water that wafted in the breeze.

It was like a sensory overload of wonderful proportions.

The Lake itself was picturesque, its beauty astounding; the water a rich blue, in stark contrast with the bare earth and grey rock that encompassed it. The varying shades of green from the surrounding pine growth forest fringed the lake, a rich green ring of wilderness. I imagined in my mind how on a clear day, with the water reflecting the blue of the sky, it must be even more striking; the Lake would no doubt look like a large blue sapphire nestled deep in the Earth's mantle.

Every color seemed intensified, more vibrant, more alive. I wondered whether it had to do with the natural beauty of the area or my enriched vampire sight…perhaps a mixture of the two.

"It's so beautiful here" I murmured, feeling like my words were not enough to describe the scene I found myself standing amongst.

"Isn't it..." Edward agreed nodding. "For something with such a violent volcanic past it is now so peaceful and tranquil…so breathtakingly perfect." He mused, pausing to give me a sideways glance, and I wondered if Edward was drawing comparisons with the formation of the lake and with the development of our relationship and our love; both had been formed from some unexpected and potentially deadly event to begin with- the Lake with the Explosion of the Mount Mazama –and our relationship, with our meeting in high school, where Edward had fought the urge to kill me. Both resulted in something equally beautiful.

Making our way down to the water's edge I kicked my shoes off and dipped my toe in the water, it was cool on my skin, but warmer than I expected it to be. "How deep is the water? Do you know?" I asked looking over my shoulder where Edward followed behind me.

"It's one thousand, nine hundred forty-three feet deep from what I've read, making it the deepest lake in the United States" Edward answered like a walking encyclopedia.

I thought he would know facts about the lake, and he didn't disappoint.

"Bella" Edward whispered, stepping closer to me and turning me away from the lake to look into his eyes. "Bella" he repeated in a soft barely audible whisper, unleashing his intoxicating breath into my face. "I bought you here because there's something I wanted to say" Moving a small step away from my arms. I watched Edward sink down to the ground, resting on one bended knee, and looking up at me with the most love filled look I had ever seen on his face; more tender than the moments we shared last night and just as intense in emotion. "There's something I wanted to ask you…"

Reaching into his pocket Edward pulled out a ring that surpassed even the lake in beauty. The antique looking ring was topped with a large, slightly domed oval, of matching yellow gold, inlaid with several dozen diamonds. It was exquisite. Even in the overcast light of day, it sparkled brightly. I briefly thought about how it would throw rainbows of shattered light brighter than our vampire skin if it was exposed to a cloudless sunny day.

Tearing my eyes from the ring, I stared back into Edward's eyes to watch and listen as he proposed to me, another of my dreams about to finally come true.

"Bella…" he breathed, "I love you more than I ever believed it possible to love someone. The moment you came into my life, you turned it upside down. My life was changed irrevocably the moment our eyes met. At the time I didn't know just how much you would come to mean to me, how you would capture my heart and make it yours. I could never have guessed how deeply I would fall in love with you. I had been alone for so long, never finding the feelings of love that my family spoke of… the love like you see in romantic movies. And then….there you were, beautiful and mysterious and stubborn…" he smiled at the stubborn bit and so did I. "You accepted me unconditionally, you trusted me with your love and with your life. I love you forever. You are the keeper of my heart. The only one who will ever know my love…"

Edward's thumb began caressing the top of my hand, rubbing down to the space on my finger where the ring in his hand belonged. "Bella, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

Looking down on Edward, as he proposed to me, with such beautiful words, I couldn't help but radiate the love I was feeling back at him. I wished that I could still cry tears of happiness so that he would know how moved I was by his words. I flashed him my most brilliant smile, and nodded my head softly and slightly, before answering aloud. "Yes." I whispered. I watched the crooked grin I loved so much break across his face at my answer.

"Yes" I repeated a little louder. "I cannot wait to be your wife Edward. I can't wait to walk down the aisle, to see your smiling face waiting to greet me. I can't wait to have everyone know that you are mine and I am yours. I love you!" I exclaimed as he slipped the ring onto my finger where it would remain for all of eternity.

Rising from his position on the ground, Edward drew me into his arms. "I love you so much Bella…" he whispered into my mouth, before kissing me softly on my lips at first, then more intensely as his emotions bubbled over.

The sound of Edward's cell phone ringing caught us both by surprise, as it played Wagner's Bridal March.

"Alice!" we both said at the same time, before breaking into laughter.

Quickly taking the call and putting it on speakerphone, Edward and I were bombarded by our over excited sister as she screamed in excitement down the phone in congratulations. Once we had placated her by confirming that she could help plan our wedding, we said our goodbyes, promising to talk more once we got back home.

We made our way back to the rim of the crater that housed the lake and strolled hand in hand along the path back towards the car. My engagement ring nestled between our intertwined fingers, a symbol that proclaimed publicly our commitment to each other; but no amount of diamonds or gold would ever adequately display the depth of our love to any passing stranger…our love was as deep as the lake we walked beside, and just as permanent.

ooOoo

Arriving back at the parking lot, Edward and I were enveloped in Rose and Jasper's congratulatory hugs and kisses before we all piled into our respective cars and headed home to continue celebrating our engagement.

I was so elated I didn't even mind when Edward asked to drive, I just handed over the keys and slid into the passenger seat, a wide smile plastered on my face.

"You do know that Alice is going to be worse than any Bridezilla there has even been."Edward chuckled. "She loves planning weddings more than parties."

"Oh but you forget my dear fiancé." I loved the way that word fiancé sounded. "I can stop Alice's hyperactive tendencies with a mere whisper."

"That may come in handy." Edward laughed.

We drove the rest of the way home in our own little perfect world, holding hands and sharing smiles and stealing quick kisses whenever possible. To anyone watching we would have looked just like any other young couple, in love and newly engaged.

When we pulled into the garage, we were greeted by our family.

Carlisle first, pausing to give his car a welcome home pat on the hood- before congratulating us on our news. Wrapping his arms around me he said, "Congratulations Bella." Before adding in a whisper, "Please don't ever ask to borrow my car again."

"Thank you Carlisle. I promise I won't ask to drive your car again." I chuckled. This earned me another squeeze of thanks.

Esme wrapped me up in a fierce embrace for someone so gentle looking. "You are going to be the most beautiful bride." She beamed, her eyes twinkling with joy. "My son is a very lucky man." She added.

"I think I would argue about who is the lucky one." I whispered back.

Alice snatched me from Esme's arms, her eyes looking nothing short of feverish with excitement. "We have so much to do!" she exclaimed.

"Calm down Alice." I laughed a little nervously at how jittery she was as she embraced me.

"Yeah, yeah." She waved her hand at me dismissively, as she produced a large scrapbook from what seemed like thin air. "I fortunately have been preparing for such an occasion for a while now." she shook the scrapbook at me and I noticed it was titled "Edward and Bella's Wedding.

"Alice! When…" I trailed off looking at the thick scrapbook full of wedding ideas.

"Told you..." Edward smiled, before kissing me on the forehead. 'Nightmare' he mouthed over the top of Alice's head, earning him a sharp poke in the ribs from her elbow.

"Since not long after you and Edward met." She said with a smug smile, "You two just took longer than me to work out that you were meant to be together.

Emmett's hug was the last I felt, and the strongest. I was thankful that I was a vampire and not a human, or I'd have a couple of broken ribs. "Congrats, little sister." He boomed, still clad in the red dress from our bet.

"Thanks Emmett" I hugged him back. "By the way I'm in such a good mood that I've changed my mind about our bet" I stated letting him off the hook, "You can ditch the dress if you like." I offered.

"A bet's a bet." He said laughing and ruffling my hair as he put me down.

"Even if I... cheated?" I asked nervously.

"Cheated?"He asked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well…I kind of have this little gift for making people do what I want…" I said carefully, watching intently for Emmett's reaction.

"Huh!" he exclaimed. "She really is your perfect match Edward." He laughed. "Don't worry Bella, I'm not upset but I will take you up on that offer to change." With that he dashed off to the house.

"Let's all go inside." Carlisle suggested.

"Let the fun begin!" Alice squealed, dragging me up to her room and away from Edward's arms. I could have stopped her, but I didn't even want to.

Not yet anyway….

Another update to follow, sooner rather than later...hopefully.