Hey guys! I wasn't planning on updating tonight...but my babysitting job ended earlier than I thought :D. And well, I've got a little while before Chuck and Heroes starts up.

I think tonight's the season finale of Heroes, so whoever else will be watching with me tonight. OH MY GOSH.

Anyways, all you Twilight people probably don't care about geeky stuff like Heroes, but whatever. I thought this chapter was cute when I was writing it.

Anyways...I AM OFFICIALLY WORKING ON EDWARD'S SUICIDE NOTE!!! It's actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be...wow I didn't know that I was so sadistic, but whatever, it's not like I ENJOY the fact that someone is dying, but I mean what better way to get into a character's mind than writing a suicide note correct? Gee- Rob was onto something!

Anyways, I'll let you guys know when I post the suicide note, enjoy this chapter for now.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE: Brother's Love

EPOV

Bella dropped me off and I gave her one last goodnight kiss that lasted a little longer than either one of us expected to. My face was still a little red, and it was vulnerable, more so than usual. But there was no more blood, and the cuts I got were minor, I didn't think that the family would mind that much.

But I knew for a fact that Alice would have seen the cake. And then she would tell Jasper, and then Jasper would tell Emmett and then Emmett would tell Rosa- well somehow Esme and Carlisle would know, and I would never live it down.

I sighed as I opened the door to our "mansion", as Bella liked to call it. Jasper was in the corner of the living room sitting with Alice in his lap. I could tell he was trying his hardest not to breathe, not to be tempted to do anything that he would regret later.

Carlisle was at the hospital, as he always was at night time. Esme was sitting in her chair reading one of her novels that she immersed herself in while Carlisle was out. I looked around…no Emmett. Maybe he was out hunting?

But soon I felt a cold hand caressing my cheek. I looked up to find Emmett laughing down at me, "It's as soft as a baby's bottom!"

I pushed away from Emmett and tried to hide my face, not wanting to draw too much attention to myself. I saw Jasper laughing lightly in the corner with Alice smirking slightly. Then I heard Alice say, "Did you enjoy that cake Edward?"

I tried to get up the stairs, but Emmett stopped me, "Really Edward, I am so proud of you. Our little Eddie is a man." He sniffed and wiped away a "tear" from his cheek, "They just grow up so fast!"

I rolled my eyes, he was such a drama queen, always making the situation bigger than it was. I heard Esme scowl, "Let him go to bed, he needs to wake up early for school tomorrow."

I smirked at Emmett, no more teasing for tonight. He rolled his eyes and gave me a look saying, 'it's not over'. As I walked up the stairs I smiled, Emmett was taking this a lot better than I thought he would. I knew what it was like being away from the one true person that you love. I know what it's like to hurt, to feel like you want to die. But you keep on going just for that one person. You're willing to wait.

But Emmett was strong, he has always been strong, will always be strong. His love for Rosalie is deep, and I really honor and respect him for that. He deals with everything that goes on in her head. And what she did was wrong, and hurtful, but he let her go, something that must have been hard for him.

I made my way to my room quickly and jumped in the shower right away. I washed away all the dirt on my body and changed into a simple pair of sweats and a t-shirt. I brushed my teeth and got ready for bed. But I had to look towards my closet first. It was my other one with items that I've accumulated over the years.

I haven't been in there for a while, only when I first kissed Bella and didn't kill her, back when I was immortal, a monster. It seemed like centuries ago, but that didn't matter now. I slowly walked towards the closet and opened the door.

It was a big closet, almost as big as Alice's clothes closet, which was saying something. I made my way through the old photo albums, the old articles of clothing, the random objects that we thought would have some sort of value. And I finally found one of the many boxes that I had found from my human life.

It was slightly dusty. But I guessed that, it was old and I barely ever looked in the closet, it hurt too much. I sneezed a little bit at all the dust, water was starting to form in my eyes from the dust particles. Maybe I should have taken a shower after going through this closet, but it was too late now.

I opened the box carefully to find all of my most important materials that I have ever owned in my life. I was first met with a sketch of my mother, she was beautiful, truly she was. I closed my eyes, trying to remember anything I could of her. She would always hug me whenever I was down, she did everything she could for my survival.

I felt a few tears brim around my eyes but I wiped them away before they fell, I didn't want to ruin the picture of her. Instead I smiled, if she hadn't told Carlisle to save me, I would never have met Bella, and my humanity would not have been given back to me.

And she would have liked Bella, she would have loved Bella. I remembered that she loved cooking, just as Bella. They would have gotten together so well, they might have even become close friends. And everything would have been….perfect. No Victoria, no Volturi, no vampires, as far as we were aware of. But I had to push those wistful thoughts aside, they wouldn't help me.

I looked through the box to find a lot more of her jewelry. I sighed, I wanted all of these on Bella's wrists, neck, fingers, but she wouldn't like that. She didn't like presents, and I didn't want to force anything upon her.

On the bottom of the box was what I was looking for.

My mother's engagement ring.

I smiled at how beautiful it was. My father had good taste, that was for sure. It was old, but I knew that it would look nice on Bella's finger. It might have been a little small on her, my mother had small fingers…I think.

She told me that when I met the girl I was ready to marry, that she would give me the ring. But when she died, I got all of her belongings, including this ring. I never thought that I would have any use for it. I almost gave it to Esme, not to ask for her hand in marriage of course, but because she would have taken good care of it.

But it was one of the only things I had left of my mother, and I wanted to keep it with me. I wanted her to stay in my heart. And now Bella is my heart. And this ring no longer belongs to me, but to her.

That day, after I first kissed her in the meadow…that day was simple perfection, and I would give anything to just live in that moment forever. But that night, I held the ring in my hands as I watched Bella sleep in her bed…I remember that night almost perfectly.

Bella rolled over and curled into my chest. How she was able to find such comfort while I was rock solid ceased to amaze me. But the slight smile on her lips showed me that she was comfortable.

She kept mumbling words under her breath. Occasionally she would whisper my name. Or say "I love you." Those three simple words made my heart soar. She loved me, she honestly loved me. And I loved her, more than the world.

I wrapped an arm around her, running a finger up and down her spine, trying to relax her further. She sighed and wrapped an arm around my chest and snuggled further into me.

I used my free hand to take the ring out of my pockets and looked at it. I put it on my chest next to where Bella's hand was lying. I smiled at how the stones matched her skin color perfectly, it was almost as if the ring was meant for her.

I leaned down and kissed her gently on the top of her head, "One day this ring will be on your finger, and we will be married, I promise you my sweet Bella."

Bella's lips formed into a little more of a smile as she slept peacefully for the rest of the night.

I remembered that night so clearly, and I knew that I wanted to marry her, I needed to marry her. And now…what would she say now? We're barely 18, still in high school. I wanted to ask her, but what if she said no? I couldn't handle that, I couldn't handle that at all. But I wanted this ring on her finger. I wanted the world to know that she was mine. And I was hers. What better way to do that than to get married?

I spent a few more minutes in the closet before I heard some rustling, someone was in here with me.

"Dude…you might want to tell Bella that you're still in the closet. Sooner better than later."

I rolled my eyes, leave it to Emmett to say something stupid like that.

"But seriously, what are you doing in your closet?"

I turned around to look at him, "I think the better question is what are you doing in my closet?"

He sat down next to me and shrugged his shoulders, "Esme told me to apologize before you went to sleep."

"It's okay. I don't really mind."

He nodded his head, "So what are you doing in the closet?"

I looked down at the ring and sighed. The ring caught his attention and he nodded his head in understanding. I shook my head, "I don't know what to do. I can't just ask her, we're both so young. But I've waited over 100 years, and I want her to be my wife, or fiancé at the least."

"Do you want some advice?" I nodded my head, yes, Emmett would be a baby sometimes, but he did give good advice when it was needed.

"Don't ask her until you get out of high school. Maybe not even until you two get out of college." I widened my eyes in shock, that was over five years!

He continued, "I know…it's a while. But she's young, you have to remember that. And to outsiders, you both are young. People are going to think that she's pregnant, or that she's only marrying you for your money, which of course isn't true. But Bella doesn't like that kind of attention. You guys have the rest of your lives to spend with each other, you're in no rush. One day you will ask her to marry you, and one day she will say yes, and you two will get married. But not now, and not soon."

He sighed, "I hate to bring this up, but…you just came back. And this is your senior year, you need to worry about college, we need to worry about Victoria, and whether or not the rest of the family is going to change, and when, and if Daisy is up to that. A wedding is adding too much to this. There's no need to rush this."

I nodded my head as I looked down at the ring, back in my day people did marry at this age, but that was then, this is now. And Emmett was right, I didn't want to stress Bella out too much. I turned to Emmett, "Thanks, I guess I'm just a little stressed out is all."

I put the ring back in the box and closed the lid. I stood up and Emmett followed, wrapping his arm around my shoulders, "Don't worry little bro, I've got your back."

I rolled my eyes and smiled as we walked out of the dusty closet.

You know what song I have recently become addicted to? I Will Follow You Into The Dark by Death Cab For Cutie. My friend introduced it to me and I have been listening to it non-stop. Woo. Sorry, anyways.

I hope that this chapter was at least a little enjoyable. The next chapter....dun...dun...ACTION. But the next chapter does have a cliffe. So...sorry about that.

Anyways, reviews are...reviews make me smile. Now...off to my suicide note (for Edward)!

You know...I remember when Twilight fanfiction only had 18,000 stories...now it's over 75,000. So...either I'm getting old, or this fanbase is seriously growing. I think it might just be a tad bit of both...