AN: I'm posting this chapter with no pre-reading/beta reading. So I apologize ahead of time for any mistakes. :p

Chapter Twenty Five

BPOV

I took a deep breath and smiled to myself. I could smell cookies baking. The wonderful aroma filled the room and made me think of Christmas time, when my dad would help me bake cookies and tell me stories about how my mom couldn't bake anything without burning it to a crisp. I inhaled again. Yum…they smelled delicious, like they were just turning that golden brown color and were ready to be pulled out of the oven.

The bed I was lying on was the softest bed ever and even the thought of leaving it made me sad. I never wanted to get up. I would just stay right here. I snuggled down into the pillow, but sunlight was shining through my window and reluctantly I opened my eyes.

The room I was sleeping in was painted a soft lavender color with white trim. The familiarity of it hit me hard. I sat up slowly and looked around. There was a small child's dresser in the corner with Care Bears sitting close together on top. I stood and walked across the room slowly. Cheer Bear and Grumpy Bear were sitting right where I had left them, eight years ago. I picked up the little pink Cheer Bear and hugged it tightly.

I turned slowly and took in the rest of my childhood bedroom. It was exactly as I remembered it. There was a small rocking chair in the corner by the window, a toy box that was filled with hot wheels and star wars toys, and a bookcase that held every Nancy Drew book I had ever read.

What the hell was going on?

I laid the Care Bear on the little purple bed. God, I hadn't thought about this place for so long. I wondered idly if anyone lived here now. If another little girl slept in this bedroom and depended on her Daddy to be right down the hall to protect her from all of the big badness of the world.

I could hear movement downstairs so I opened the bedroom door slowly and stepped onto the landing. Memories flooded back from so long ago. I ran my fingers over the banister as I slowly descended the staircase. I smiled to myself as I remembered my nightly race with my Dad. He would chase me up the stairs pretending to be a zombie that would eat my brains if I didn't get in bed before he reached me. I would laugh and run as fast as my little feet would carry me, and somehow I always managed to get to bed before Zombie Daddy ate my brains for dessert.

The television was on downstairs, just like it always was. I knew if I looked my dad would be sitting there watching the ball game. The room was just like I remembered it. The couch and recliner were set to face the television with a small coffee table in front of them that was covered with hunting and fishing magazines. The fireplace mantel was filled with pictures from my childhood, and my school pictures from kindergarten through fourth grade were proudly displayed on the wall.

As predicted, my dad was sitting on the couch watching a ball game. His dark brown hair look mussed and his blue eyes looked sad as he watched me.

"Dad?" I asked tentatively.

"Bells," he grunted in that I'll-pretend-like-I-don't-care voice of his. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon."

I sat down on the recliner. My legs wouldn't hold me up anymore. This wasn't possible. None of this was possible.

"So soon?" I asked. "It's been eight years!"

"Isabella!" I snapped my head towards the kitchen as a woman I didn't recognize called my name. She was taller than me, but shorter than my dad, and she didn't look to be any older than early to mid twenties. Her hair was lighter brown than mine, with red highlights, but her eyes were the same dark brown as my own. She smiled at me.

"It's Bella," I muttered automatically. "Who are you?"

As soon as I asked I regretted it. Her face fell and she looked so sad. A cold chill spread through my body. I knew who she was, who she had to be.

"Mom?" I whispered.

Her eyes twinkled and she pulled me into her arms and embraced me the way only a mother could.

"Oh, Bella! Do you know how long I've wanted to hold you in my arms?"

"I knew you were here." I smiled to myself. "Dad, remember I told you she was here all along?" I let her lead me into the kitchen where I sat at the table and watched her pull a pan of cookies out of the oven. The kitchen was just like I remembered it to be. Small, with bright yellow cabinets and hideous blue linoleum.

Dad followed me in to the kitchen and sat across from me at the table, just like he always had. My mom sat down next to him and I felt my heart warm just knowing that they were together again.

"So how'd you get here Bells?" My dad always got right to the point.

I tried to remember, but it was all just a blur.

"I don't really remember," I told them slowly.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Mom asked. "Sometimes that's the easiest place to start." She patted my hand softly and I found myself wondering how my life would have been different if she hadn't been taken from me.

"Bella? Can you hear me?"

"Edward?" I spun around in my chair and searched for him. His voice had been so close, like he was whispering in my ear. But of course he wasn't there. Why would Edward be in my parent's house? I shook my head slowly and turned back around.

"Edward?" My dad was glaring at me.

"Is that your boyfriend?" My mom was smiling.

I laughed, just imagining what my teenage years would have been like. Dad chasing away every boy that looked at me wrong and Mom wanting to gossip like school girls about it.

"Fiancé, actually," I told them both, holding my left hand out for them to see the beautiful ring that he had given me. "We're getting married tomorrow."

"Married! You're only eighteen years old!" Dad stood from the table and started pacing in the small kitchen. I guess that's where I got the habit from.

"It's young love, Charlie." My mom rolled her eyes and scooted her chair closer to mine. "I think it's wonderful that you've found someone to spend the rest of your life with. Tell me all about him. I want to know everything."

I wanted to tell them everything. I wanted them to know how much Edward meant to me. But somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that none of this was real. It couldn't be. I wasn't really sitting in the kitchen of my childhood home with my dad and my mom, both of whom were long dead. Unless, of course, I was dead too.

"Is this Heaven?" I asked quietly.

They shared a long look before turning back to me. My heart sank.

"It was a car accident." I don't know what made me say it, but suddenly I remembered riding in the car with Edward and Emmett. "An animal or something ran right into the side of the car. That's all I remember."

Her eyes looked sad as she reached across the table and squeezed my hand.

"It wasn't your time to be here, sweetie."

"It doesn't really matter," I said sadly. "My time was almost up anyway."

"Stay with me Bella!"

His voice was in my ear again and I could have sworn I felt his cool fingertips pushing my hair back from my face.

"I have to get out of here," I practically jumped out of the chair and ran to the front door. I yanked it open and stepped through, right into my bedroom. Upstairs.

"Fuck!" I yelled.

"Bella!" my Dad's voice boomed throughout the house. "Watch your language!"

It was a nightmare. I couldn't be trapped here with my parents for the rest of forever. I ran back downstairs and started pacing. Back and forth. Back and forth. There had to be a way out of here. Maybe I wasn't really dead. On my last turn I realized that my parents were both standing in the living room doorway watching me. Dad was almost amused. Mom was shocked.

"I'm sorry, guys. I love you both and I've missed you so much. But I don't belong here. I need to be with Edward. He's the other half of my soul. And he needs me. I have to get out of here."

I could feel the panic welling up in my chest. It pressed down on me and made it difficult to breath.

"EDWARD!" I yelled as loud as I could. "Can you hear me?" Please hear me. Please hear me. Please hear me.

"Bella!" The relief in his voice swept through me. "Thank God!" I smelled his sweet breath against my face. My lips tingled and I knew he had just kissed me.

"I'm not dead!" I sank down on the couch in relief.

"Of course not, Bells. We could have told you that." Dad rolled his eyes, opened his beer and sat back down on the couch. Mom chuckled and went back to her cookies.

"Even so, you can come visit us any time you'd like, you know?"

I looked back and forth from one to the other. Okay, my subconscious was truly fucked up to give me this scenario as Heaven. But then I smiled to myself and made sure to give my parents each a big hug before I woke up from whatever crazy hallucination this was.

I sat back down at the kitchen table and ate burnt cookies with my mom. And I filled my parents in on my fucked up life. I was only moderately surprised to find out that my dad had left custody of me, along with my entire inheritance, to Billy Black. He, on the other hand, was shocked to find out that I grew up in foster care and had never seen a dime of his pension or savings. He swore to find a way to hunt down Billy Black and haunt him for the rest of his days. I thought that was a great plan.

I refused to tell them about my experiences in foster care, though. It was over and done with and I knew they would only feel guilty if they were to find out. There wasn't any reason for that. So I glossed over the details as much as I could. Of course, I forgot that my dad had been chief of police and knew when someone was lying. He watched me with narrowed eyes and finally stopped me when I was describing my junior prom (which I was completely making up. I never went to prom.)

"Isabella Marie Swan," he began. "You need to tell me the truth right now. The people you lived with hurt you." It wasn't a question. He knew.

I pulled my knees into my chest and squeezed them tightly. I stared hard at the floor, following the paisley design in the linoleum and trying to avoid his gaze.

"Yes," I whispered finally.

"Dammit!" he yelled, throwing his beer can across the room. It hit the kitchen window and glass exploded out into the yard.

"They weren't good people, but that part of my life is over. He's dead and she's in jail and I'm with Edward now." I crossed the kitchen and put my arms around his waist. He held me tightly and whispered in my ear how sorry he was.

"Don't be sorry. If it wasn't for all that shit happening to me, I never would have met Edward. It's what led me to him." I knew how true the words were as I said them and a feeling of peace washed over me. I smiled to myself because I knew. I had finally come to terms with my past.

I continued on with my story, telling them how I met Edward and how we had fallen in love. I didn't even edit out the part about him being a vampire. Hell, none of this was real anyway, right? What difference did it make if my parents that existed only in my imagination knew that Edward was a vampire? Or that I intended to become one myself? They took the news surprisingly well.

My mom made me swear to bring Edward by the house so she could see him. I wasn't sure how I would pull that off, but I suppose it would be worth a shot. Dad wanted to size him up and make sure he was good enough for me. I rolled my eyes at that. Like he had any say in it anyway. But I guess as my father he would like to think he did have a say in it, so I let it slide.

Eventually the conversation slowed and I felt like they knew everything they needed to know about me. I excused myself and made my way back up to my bedroom, still trying to imagine what could have been.

I lay down on the little purple bed and held my Cheer Bear close to me.

"I'm so sorry, Love. Please forgive me…" Edward's voice whispered in my ear. I closed my eyes and imagined his beautiful face leaning over me and kissing me gently.

EPOV

"Emmett, you alive back there?" I kicked the door off the Volvo and listened to it crash down twenty yards away.

"Not technically," he chuckled and I heard him pop his neck back in place. "And your girl is making me hungry. Let me out of this death box." He shoved past me into the night, trying to get a breath of air that wasn't filled with the intoxicating scent of eu de Bella.

"Bella?" I shook her gently in her seat but got no response. She was out cold. I pulled her out of the car gently. The car had come to a rest against a stand of evergreens. Their branches bent low to the ground and created a shelter of sorts. The ice and snow had not permeated the thick layer of branches and the ground was dry and covered with soft moss. I carried her under the shelter of these trees and lay her gently on the ground. Her body was completely limp. I could barely hear her heartbeat.

"Bella? Can you hear me?" I leaned down and talked into her ear, but I got no response from her. Blood was still trickling out of the gash on her right temple. I took off my jacket and tore a piece off the bottom. Folding it into a square, I pressed it gently to the head wound.

"What the fuck hit us?" I asked Emmett. He had entered the shelter of the tree and knelt down next to me.

"She doesn't look so good," he said. He reached down and picked up her hand, squeezing it gently. Emmett had connected to Bella almost as quickly as I had. She was like a little sister to him and I knew that he was just as worried about her as I was at that point.

"I need to get her to Carlisle," I mumbled.

The night around us was perfectly quiet. Enough snow had fallen now to cover the ice on the trees, so even the wind above us made little to no noise. In our little shelter it was even quieter. The outside world was muffled. The only noise was Bella's faint heartbeat.

So when that heartbeat stuttered we both heard it plain as day.

"Bella! Stay with me Bella!" I leaned down and put my forehead against hers.

We stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity. Her heartbeat was steady again, but still faint. And finally she showed signs of life when she whispered "Edward? Can you hear me?"

"Bella! Thank God," I kissed her and listened for her to say something else. Anything else. But she didn't.

"You don't have time to go to Carlisle, Edward." Emmett told me, pulling me out of my trance. "You need to change her now. I'll make sure you stop."

I watched her for a few moments longer. How long had we been sitting here already? I had completely lost track of time. I knew Emmett was right, though. She had lost so much blood in the accident, and her body wasn't producing blood the way it should. She may have already lost too many white blood cells for the venom to take effect, and she would never get them back, even if she did recover from the head injury. It was now or never.

I leaned in close and I whispered in her ear.

"I'm so sorry, Love. Please forgive me."

I kissed her gently, and then I pushed the hair away from her neck gently. I looked back at Emmett to make sure he had my back before I leaned forward and sank my teeth into her neck.

I let my venom flow into her veins as the taste of her blood exploded through my body. I refused to drink. This wasn't about survival. I released her and moved my attentions to her other shoulder. I bit down again, my teeth slicing through her skin with ease. I licked the wound to close and seal it and I waited for any kind of reaction.

Emmett stood by my side. Hours passed as we watched over Bella. There was no change in her condition. No screams of agony or writhing in pain as fire consumed her from the inside out. Her heart rate sped up every now and then and her breathing was shallower than before. But no indication that she was transforming into a vampire.

Eventually the waiting became too much and I stood, pacing in the small area under the tree and wishing there was something else, anything else I could do for her.

"Edward, man, go get some fresh air. Go kill something. I'll wait here with her. She isn't going anywhere." Emmett was right. I needed to get out of here. I kissed her gently on the forehead and told her that I loved her one more time before leaving the shelter of the trees.

I didn't go far. There was a herd of deer not far off and that would do for now. I had just taken one down when I heard it. Laughter. It echoed through the forest around me. High pitched. Maniacal. It could only be Tanya.

I turned to face the noise and there she was, leaning against a tree with her arms crossed and her strawberry-blonde hair blowing in the wind. She wasn't alone. There was a shorter vampire standing next to her with long blonde hair and bright red eyes.

"Eddie, Eddie, Eddie. Is that what you're living on these days? No wonder you look like shit." Yep. Same old Tanya.

"Really?" I asked her. "Then what's your excuse?"

Her eyes narrowed and she strode towards me, stopping ten yards away.

"My excuse is that I just found out that the love of my life is marrying some worthless human," she spat the word as if it were poison. "You don't marry your food, Edward. You can toy around with it for a bit, but marriage? Really?" She flipped her hair back over her shoulder.

"Why don't you just mind your own business, Tanya?"

She growled at me and motioned to her companion to join her. I watched with weary eyes as the smaller vampire crossed the expanse and stood in between Tanya and me. Her eyes swept my body down and back up again. Then she smiled and held out her hand.

"I don't believe we've had the pleasure," she said pleasantly. "I'm Kate."

I kept an eye on Tanya as I stepped forward to take the new girl's hand, that didn't keep me from seeing the sadistic smile that projected off of Kate's face as her hand closed around mine. I heard that cold laugh echoing off the trees one last time as the ground fell out from under me and my vision went black.

AN: Okay, sorry for another cliffie. Don't hate me! The next chapter is ready, willing, I will post on Friday.

So what do you guys think?