Hello!

I am so sorry it's taking me so long to update this chapters! :( this chapter as always was made much beter by Angels of Twilight! she is the best! also its a much longer chapter. :) i think im going to make them a bit longer from now on... maybe... im still not sure. Enjoy and hopefully ill be posting again soon.

Also sorry this appeared as a new chapter but it wouldnt let me replace the chapter! my computer is acting weird :/ but enjoy the better version!

After I ate the food Esme so kindly prepared me, Carlisle did a checkup on me to see if my health was back to normal.

"I'm sorry, Bella, but I'm going to have to take a blood sample in order to finish your check up." As soon as those words left Carlisle's, mouth the room entire house went silent. None of them had ever been around my blood, and I didn't know what would happen if they were.

"Um . . . are you sure? It's not like regular human blood. Will that affect anything?" My voice sounded panicked, but I hate needles, and blood.

"That's exactly why I have to do it, darling. I want to do some tests on it and determine how similar to a human you are. Once I understand how your DNA works, I'll be able to determine if you are healthy." He was in full doctor mode now, but I could tell he was really interested in learning something new about me.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but are you sure you'll be able to handle the temptation of her blood? I know you can resist human blood, but like she said, hers is different. What will happen if her blood is appealing to you?" Avan said from the door. He and Carlisle had been talking for a while now, and Carlisle had shared some of his history with him.

"I believe so, but I wouldn't want to risk it either. That is why I'm going to require not only your help but Charlie's. As for everyone else, I'm going to have to ask them to leave until we are done." I was sad to hear that Edward had to leave, but I decided not to say anything.

"Aw, man, we always miss the fun stuff! How is that fair?" Emmett whined.

"Hush, Emmett. This is something we have to do to protect Bella. Now, let's go. Maybe we can go to the mall and you can get some new videogames," Rosalie said, pulling Emmett out the door, but not before they came to give me a hug.

"YES! Finally, shopping! Let's go, we only have a few hours until the mall closes." Alice was practically vibrating from excitement. Poor Jasper was just shaking his head while trying to contain her.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine, and we'll be back when it's all over." She gave me a hug and skipped out the door with Jasper fallowing right behind her. Esme, Emmett, and Rosalie all came to give me hugs, too. The only one that had yet to move was Edward.

"Can I stay to help, too? I promise to do everything I'm told," Edward said with a pleading look. I didn't want him to leave either, so I secretly hoped they let him stay.

"Sorry, son, but I think it might be better if you go and then come back. Look at your eyes. They are nearly black now. Go hunt and then come back. You'll be more helpful then." Carlisle left, and it was then that I noticed Charlie and Avan had also left the room. With a stern look from Carlisle to Edward and a head nod from Edward, Carlisle walked out of the room.

"I have to go set up. I'll meet you in the living room when you are done, Bella." The instant he was out the door, Edward was by my side, holding my hand.

"I really want us to talk when I come back. Would you like that, too?"

"Yes, I would love that. It feels like so much has changed without us even saying anything. I really want to talk about it, but not here." I knew we needed to talk, but Ely told me it had to be in the tree house. After all, that's what Ely said had to be done.

"Just tell me where and when, and I'll be there, I promise." And he was gone. I immediately felt the emptiness my heart that I was so accustom to. Every time I was away from him, my heart went back to those dark, lonely days when I was surrounded by people, but so very alone. Then I remembered that that was a thing of the past now. I might not have Edward by my side at the moment, but I had his amazing family that, for some crazy reason, cared about me.

I walked to the living room to see that Carlisle had set up the corner of the room like a small hospital room. It was then that I saw the needles, and I totally freaked out. I started to back out of the room when I felt someone bump into me.

"I don't think so, kiddo. This need to be done." Charlie stood behind me with a serious tone and his arms crossed on his chest.

"But . . ." I was trying to come up with a good response, but was miserably failing.

"No buts, bugs. We know you hate needles, but I have a plan," Avan said with a smug grin.

"What's the plan?" I asked in vain. All they did was smile and ignore me. Avan took my hand and sat me on the chair in the corner next to Carlisle.

"Do you have any answers for me?" I asked Carlisle as soon as I sat down.

"Yes, but they told me not to say a word," he said with an apologetic smile. He started to sanitize my arm, a bit more slowly than normal.

"So, Bells . . ." Avan started, taking a seat on the other side of me.

"So, Avan . . ." I said, mimicking his tone.

"So, what's up with you and mind freak?" he said with another smug smile.

"Who?" I was trying to act dumb, hoping he would fall for it.

"You know who I mean. He has reddish hair, a semi-muscular build, stares at you every chance he gets, had his arms wrapped around you all day long . . ."

"You know all their names Avan, why can't you just call them by their names?"

"It's more fun this way, but you still didn't answer my question."

"I don't know what you're talking about, and he has copper color hair not red." As soon as I said that, I was blushing. So much for playing dumb!

"Aha! I knew it! Spill it, Swan, what's going on?"

"I don't know, okay? Go mind your own business. I never ask you about your personal life."

"That's because I tell you everything without you asking me. I thought you would do the same."

"Well, I have nothing to tell. Maybe if I did, I would, but I don't, so let it go. When I have something to tell you, I will. Until then, you need to mind your own business! Gosh, you gossip more than an old lady!"

"Oh, my, you like him! You never get this defensive. You really like this guy. I'm so happy for you." He was practically glowing with excitement; anyone would think he was the one in love, or that he had just won the lottery.

"I . . . you . . . well . . . but . . ." I was lost for words. Do I deny? Do I admit it? I mean, I haven't even told the guy yet, and this idiot wants me to tell him?

"Okay, all done now. Great job, I can't believe that actually worked." Carlisle was already cleaning and picking up everything, and I saw four small tubes of blood already filled. My arm even had a bright pink band aid on it.

"How is that possible? I didn't feel a thing."

"Well, Avan, here, distracted you long enough for me to work." He simply smiled as if this were the most common thing in the world.

"I'll be heading out now. I should have the results ready by tomorrow morning. I'll see you then. Have a great night, Bella." He left, and I just sat there, looking after him in shock.

"I can't believe you tricked me," I told Avan when I was finally able to speak.

"I didn't trick you. I am honestly curious. I mean, you go from exchanging silent glances to one another to being completely glued to each other."

"Like I said, I don't know really. I mean, he was trying to help me, but I'm confused with everything else. I know something changed, but like I said, we haven't talked about it, so there is nothing to tell. We did come to an agreement that we had to talk when he came back, so we'll see how that goes."

After my chat with Avan, I went to take a nap. I felt like lately I've been sleeping too much, but I was constantly tired. When I woke up, I was a bit disappointed the Cullens weren't back yet.

I walked downstairs to find a note from Charlie telling me him and Avan where gone for the rest of the day. Apparently, they were helping Carlisle with some things. The house was super quiet, and I couldn't stand it anymore. I went to my room, grabbed a coat and a big bag full of pillows, and went to the willow tree. I also took a backpack full of things I might need to make the tree house a bit more comfortable, like lanterns, blankets, a small blow up mattress I found in one of the guest rooms, snacks, and, most importantly, books. The bag was a bit heavy, but I knew I had to take all of this at some point. Before I left, I sent Edward a text message, telling him to walk east of my house until he found me. He could have probably followed my scent and gotten to me just as fast, so I wasn't worried about him finding me.

It took me longer that I expected to reach my final destination with all the extra things I had on me. I was glad I put on coat because the day was getting cooler. Once inside, I put everything in its place, starting with the small bed and half the pillows on the floor. The rest of the pillows went to the library-like room, and so did the few books I had with me. It took me twenty minutes to put everything I had its right place, but I still had much to bring to make the place complete. I really wanted to replace that blow up mattress with a real bed, like the one I had seen in my dream talk with Ely. The only thing in that room was the bed frame, but I was afraid of using it with the blow up mattress.

I was anxious for Edward to get here so we could talk, but I had no clue when he was coming. I decided to wait outside on the swing for him. I took my phone and one of the blankets with me and just sat outside admiring the beauty around me.

It wasn't long before my phone went off, alerting me to a message. I eagerly opened it with a smile spreading when I saw it was a message from Edward.

On my way. Can't wait to see you. –E

Hurry! I want to show you something. I'll be waiting. –B

I should have probably mentioned the tree house to him before, but I wanted to surprise him. Besides, part of me wanted this to be a secret to everyone but us and Ely, of course.

I can't find your scent. Why is that? –E

I guess the track covers it . . . follow the small path of flowers. Otherwise, just walk in the direction I told you.—B

Oh my, what if he couldn't find me? I would have to go find him. Maybe this place could only be found by me. I was starting to panic until I heard a sound followed by my name being called. I looked up to see my own personal angel standing a few feet away from me, completely awestruck by the greatness of the willow tree.

"You found it!" I nearly screamed when I saw him. Not being able to contain it any longer, I ran to him, only to trip over my own feet. But just as quickly, two strong arms captured me in their safe embrace.

"Careful now, I don't want you to get hurt." Edward carefully placed me on my feet, but he never let go of me.

"Surprise!" I said cheerfully. "This is what I wanted to show you. Come in so you can see the inside." I pulled him with me and gave him the 'grand' tour.

"What is that other room for?" He sounded really curious; it was the only room I had left untouched.

"I don't know really. It looks like a small art room, but I can't paint or draw to save my life. I know Ely was an artist, and this was her tree house, so it's probably where she did all her paintings."

"I like it. But as much as I like it, I think we have a lot to talk about." With a knowing look, he took my hand and led me to the library.

I was suddenly very nervous. What if I was wrong and he wanted to tell me that? While my head was doing a downward spiral of questions making me doubt the end results of this moment, Edward walked me over to the corner where all the pillows were located. He slowly lowered himself, bringing me with him. We were now face to face, with only a few pillows in between us.

"Bella, stop biting your lip. I don't want you to make it bleed. Why are you so nervous all of a sudden?"

"I don't know," I lied, but the look on his face told me he didn't believe me.

"I don't believe that. You know why we're here, or at least I hope you do." His eyes never left mine, and I was too hypnotized to look away. "You have to know how I feel about you, please tell me you do. From the moment my eyes landed on you, I knew you were it for me. I've tried so hard to keep my emotions in check when all I wanted to do was scream it to the world. So please, don't ever be nervous or afraid. There is nothing you can tell me that would ever change my feelings for you."

"I'm scared. Not of you, but of everything that I feel." I took in a deep breath and let it out before continuing.

"I'm at my most vulnerable, something I've never had to be before. It just feels like it's all moving too fast, and I don't know how to act or what to do. It took me so long to even figure out what this is. But part of it was that I was always told this would never happen to me. I was reminded of it constantly; I was told that I was incapable of this emotion. And then you show up and completely change my entire world." I couldn't take the intensity of his eyes anymore, so I looked down.

"This is all so new. It just seems too good to be true. I knew there was something different about you when I saw you, but never in my wildest dreams would I have thought this was possible. What if I mess this up and I lose you as a friend, too? If I lose you, I lose everything, and I couldn't handle that."

"I've waited for you for almost a century now, and if this is too much for you, I'll back off. I'll let you get used to the idea. I can and will wait for you as long as you need me to. Tell me what you need, and it's yours." I could see that he completely meant it, too; he was determined to do it, no matter how much it pained him to wait.

"I don't want that. I never wanted you to feel like that's what I wanted. It's just that I have no experience in this, and I don't want to let you down."

"I'm new to this, too, you know. In all my time, I have never met a single person who holds my heart the way you do. I've seen it in Carlisle and Esme, then again with Rosalie and Emmet, and even Jasper and Alice. I always thought I would never get to experience that for myself, either, until I met you. But I have to know, what made you realize what your feelings were? What made all this change so drastically?"

"Well, I think I've always known. My head was just too stubborn to admit it. When I passed out from the incident with my grandmother, I had a talk with Ely. She made me realize what a fool I've been, but the thing that really made me realize it was when I woke up and saw the look on your face. I knew there and then that I couldn't deny this anymore. I can't." All this time, I was looking down at his hand that I somehow had in mine. I guess I must have grabbed it at some point.

Slowly bringing his free hand up to my chin, he lifted my head up so he could look into my eyes. "What do you mean you talked to Ely?"

So I told him everything that happened from the moment I passed out until the moment he figured out how to stop my headache. He sat there patiently, listening to everything I told him.

When I was finally done, he took my face delicately in between his hands and oh so slowly brought his face closer to mine. My heart was beating so fast I thought it was going to fly out of my chest. The anticipation was killing me, and just when I thought I was going to explode from it, I felt his breath close to my lips. Instinctually, I closed my eyes, only to feel a feather-like touch on my lips. My entire body acted on its own, pressing closer to him and my hand moving to the back of his neck. Every nerve in my body felt like it was on and alive. All too soon, it was over, and I opened my eyes only to see the warm butterscotch ones of the only person that would ever make me feel like that. His eyes were shining with love, happiness, and admiration. My face felt like it was going to split in two from the huge smile on my face.

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't wait any longer. I've wanted to do that for a long time now." Before he could say anything else, I cut him off with another kiss. I thought it was impossible, but it was even better. I felt like my entire body was melting in his arms.

"Never apologize for that," I said after we pulled apart. "I'd be lying if I said I'd never thought about doing exactly that."

Just then, his phone went off, bursting the bubble of happiness we had. He quickly looked at the screen before he answered.

"What's wrong, Carlisle?" He said in a hurry. After a few agonizing seconds of silence, he finally spoke.

"Just give me thirty more minutes, and we'll be there." He hung up the phone.

"What happened?"

"Nothing, Carlisle just found out something, and he wants to tell us. He said it wasn't a bad thing, so I asked for more time. I'm not ready to share you just yet."

"Is that right?" The smile just wouldn't fade off my or Edward's face. It was getting kind of dark, so Edward wanted to see the sunset from the swing outside. I happily obliged.

"So, what does this mean now?" I asked once we were both sitting on the swing.

"It means, Ms. Swan, that you are my life now, and that I don't have to hide it anymore."

Looking deeply into his eyes and letting my emotions truly come out, I said the words I had been dying to tell him.

"I love you, Edward Cullen." The smile he gave me was the biggest I had ever seen from him. So quickly I didn't even see it coming, he kissed me once again, this time deepening the kiss more than before, and it wasn't long before I had to come up for air, but his lips never left my skin. He continued to leave a trail of kisses from my lips to my neck to the base of my throat and one on top of my rapidly beating heart.

"I love you, Isabella Swan" he said with so much love.

Then he looked around and gasped. Confused as to what caused this reaction from him, I looked back and noticed we were surrounded by a bubble of water. Instinctually, my hand went out to touch it, but it just got bigger. I looked at Edward to see that he was just as shocked as I was. It was all so surreal. I started laughing, after a few seconds Edward started to laugh too.

It was then that a light came through the bubble, illuminating the entire thing inside. Edward had his hands wrapped securely around me, and I was holding onto his neck. The light got brighter and brighter until it came directly at me and then to Edward.

It was an odd feeling, but it felt like the light was uniting us as one. After a few seconds, the light dimmed and the bubbled popped. The only thing left were little floating drops of water. It looked like it was raining, but the water just froze in mid-air.

I wanted to touch it and make sure I wasn't making things up, but the moment I stepped away from Edward, they all came crashing down, covering us both in water from head to toe. The water wouldn't stop, so Edward took me back inside the tree house.

"That was . . . something," he said after a few awkward seconds.

"It was one of your first bonding cycles." We both turned around to see Ely standing in front of us. "I'm sorry to scare you, but I had to tell you. This is why the first one had to be done here, so I could explain. There will be more. I'm not exactly sure how many, but none will be the same. The first one had to happen after you both declared your love for one another. As for the rest, you'll know when they are happening. Just don't fight it and go with what your instinct tells you." She came close to us and stood in front of Edward.

"Hello, young man. I am Elizabeth. I'm sure you've heard a lot about me. It's nice to officially meet you. You take care of my girl, now, and I will be watching. I have to go, and so should you. There are people waiting for you both." She was gone.

"How did that just happen?" Edward was completely taken off guard.

"I don't know. I guess we'll just have to ask her some other time." With a small laugh and a shake of his head, Edward turned to look at me again.

"So this is how life is going to be from now on?"

"I guess . . ." I was suddenly scared again. What if this was too much for him?

"I can't wait," he said with a laugh "Oh, and Bella?"

"Yes, Edward?" I said in a whisper.

"I love you." I couldn't help the completely blissful laugh that came out of me.

"I love you, too." He loved me. Even after all this craziness, he still loved me!

"It's time to go now, love. We have a bunch of anxious vampires and wizards waiting to bombard us with questions."

He carried me all the way home, the smiles never leaving either of our faces.

They did it folks!

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