A/N: Wheee! Shattered Sunrise has been nominated for a fanfiction award! Thank you, thank you, thank you! happydances Go check it out…voting starts August 2nd, if you're not all busy reading breaking Dawn!

www.twilightfanfictionawards.tk/

I'd post an extra chapter out of happiness but I don't HAVE one yet.

Anyway…thanks for all of the reviews I've been getting! You've been amazing and – I was going to say patient but then I remembered all the reviews I've had saying 'update update update update…' and decided to scrap that – encouraging. It's been so much fun writing this; although I started this just for me (before I'd even heard of – my friend introduced me to it afterwards, without even knowing I was writing this) I've kind of started writing it for you too. Sounds cheesy? I know. But true nonetheless :)

Without you guys, I'd have probably given up long ago. So this one's for all of you reading this! Hope you enjoy it, and drop me a review to let me know… xxx :)

Chapter 29

A primal screech rent the air, like a hunting cry; a war cry.

"Bella!"

I was flying through the air, but it was as if the same air I had so long breathed was suddenly the consistency of tar and I couldn't catch my breath, lungs aching. But the ache in my lungs was nothing compared to the ache in my heart. I couldn't breathe, couldn't speak; couldn't even scream as I waited, bewildered, for the burning to begin.

Distantly, I heard Aro's voice scream, "Cover me!" and I realized that he no longer held me; that I was, in fact soaring unsupported through the air. The flying was quite nice, actually, because it took all the pressure off my throbbing ribs and wrist, and there was no immediate danger, and I couldn't smell the putrefying stink of Aro's cold flesh anymore.

It was only when I hit something hard that a scream ripped itself from my throat, and everything went black.

xox

"She's gone into shock."

"Is she okay?"

"What do you think, Jacob?"

"Leave him alone, Edward. I think she's waking up…"

"I'll go get Carlisle."

A mess of unrecognisable voices, distant and unfamiliar and somehow alien. When I tried to open my eyes, I met a jumble of blurred shapes and colours that made my head swim until I had to close my eyes again or face the risk of being sick.

"Bella? Bella?" And then that voice intruded on my consciousness, sounding so concerned and frightened that I simply had to answer. I blinked my eyes open again, and this time found my vision filled with an anguished topaz stare that was as familiar to me as my own heartbeat. "Bella. Thank God, thank God –"

I started to reply, but then shut my mouth hastily again. Speaking probably wasn't such a good idea get.

"Bella!" I felt somebody warm squeeze the fingers of one hand – not my sore one, I noted with relief – and looked up to see Callie's tearstained face leaning over me. "You're okay. Thank God you're okay. I'm so, so sorry –"

"Callie," Jacob's voice told her firmly, "Hush. It wasn't your fault. Feeling all right, Bells?" My eyesight was clearing now, and I was capable of shooting him an irritated glare which only seemed to amuse him. "I'll take that as a hint you're feeling better."

"Leave her alone, Jacob." My angel's beautiful face filled my vision again and my lips twitched involuntarily into a smile that turned immediately to a grimace as the entire side of my face throbbed. "Thank God…Bella, my love, how are you feeling?"

"I think I threw up in my mouth," I admitted weakly. "Don't kiss me, I probably taste horrible."

His lips twisted into a smile. "You couldn't possibly," he told me. "Are you all right? Your face, your wrist…"

I almost winced – then thought better of it – as I considered how I must look. "They're okay," I lied. "No blood, is there?"

"Luckily, no," he murmured. "If there had been…"

"I guess that's one thing we can thank the sleep-leech for," Jacob sniggered.

"You stop that!" Callie scolded him furiously. "It's not funny, Jake…let's go over there and leave them alone. Besides, I need to talk to you about recklessness. What the hell where you trying to do when you jumped at that vampire earlier, trying to kill yourself? It's not funny, Jacob –" Her voice died off as they moved further away, a fact which I was fairly grateful for as my head was pounding. It felt like Emmett was busy knocking holes in walls somewhere in there.

"They'll be okay." Edward breathed out deeply, bathing my face in his sweet scent as he leant forward to lay his blessedly cool forehead against mine. "You're all right. You're okay."

"So people keep telling me," I replied. I closed my eyes, tried to sort out the muddled thoughts that raged through my head. Unbidden, an image leapt to mind; Edward leaping towards me with teeth bared – I was tempted to call them fangs – and agonized fury in his eyes, copper hair blurring behind him like flames. An avenging angel; my angel.

"What…what exactly happened?" I asked tentatively. "I was almost certain Aro had bitten me…" I stopped. Was I even sure he hadn't? Had I somehow slept through the three days of change and only woken up now, as a vampire?

"You were lucky," Edward told me. "So, so lucky…I don't know if he would have bitten you or if he was just bluffing. He was considering it, but then he was also considered just ripping you –" He stopped, swallowed hard, and without thinking I lifted my hand to his cheek.

"I'm okay, Edward," I told him softly. "We're okay."

"I thought I'd lost you," he told me shakily. "I thought I wasn't going to be able to save you. That you were going to die in front of my eyes. And when I was paralyzed, and he had you –"

I craned my neck upwards, ignoring the way my cheek twinged painfully, and pressed my lips urgently against his to stop the flow of his words. His mouth met mine with a burning need, drawing my breath into him as if he had to reassure himself that I was alive; as if the air had somehow been changed by being inhaled by my body.

"I thought I'd lost you," he whispered again as he released my mouth, leaving me gasping for breath as my heart thundered at a mile a minute. "You're everything, Bella. My everything."

"You're…" Words failed me as I stared up into his earnest golden eyes. "I love you."

"My love." Cupping my face between his hands, Edward rested his forehead on mine once more, eyes closed. "My beautiful Bella."

"I probably look horrific." A short, hysterical laugh bubbled up from deep within my chest.

"Did my heart love till now? For I never saw true beauty till this night," Edward quoted softly.

"Don't." I shook my head slightly. "Don't be Romeo."

His startled eyes opened, fixed on mine.

"They die," I explained quietly. "Never was a story of more woe…not us, Edward. Don't be Romeo."

"Are you Elizabeth Bennett to my Darcy, then?" His smile – my crooked smile – had my heart flipping.

"How about you being Edward to her Bella?" Carlisle's voice interrupted, but I could hear the smile. "If somebody wrote a book with you two as the main characters, you'd be quoted as one of the greatest loves of the twenty-first century."

"Except for all the teenage girls who wanted Edward for themselves," I laughed. Laughing hurt, so I stopped quickly.

"Maybe." Carlisle's cool hand took mine. "How are you feeling, Bella?"

"I'm –" But the angle of his eyebrow warned me not to edit. "My head hurts. And my wrist. My face is aching, and it hurts to breathe. But I'm okay."

I'm okay. We're okay.

"Do you mind if I just check you over, Bella?" I shook my head, moving it as little as possible, and felt Carlisle's cold hand brush over my cheek, probe my ribs delicately. "Good news first; it's just bruising on your ribs. That'll heal fine. Bad news? You're wrist is broken, and I think – we'll have to take you to the hospital to be certain – you've got a hairline crack across your cheek." His eyes met mine. "It could have been worse. It could have been a lot worse." Edward's father leant down and, to my surprise, brushed a light, cool kiss to my forehead. "Thank God, Bella."

"Thank you." I blinked up at him, saw his smile and the utter relief in his eyes.

"It's nothing. You're ours now." His long fingers tightened briefly on mine. "I need to go and help start the fires. Don't move," he warned me before disappearing from my line of sight.

"Fires…what happened?" I demanded of Edward again. "I don't remember anything beyond you leaping through the air when Aro was about to bite me…" I saw again the vision of that avenging angel flying towards me, heard the absolute agony in his cry.

"Aro threw you up into the air," Edward told me softly. His hand held my fingers once more, his body curving along the length of mine as he lay beside me. "He knew that I would catch you, whatever the cost. And he ran. Screamed for Jane and Felix to cover him, and ran."

I remembered the sensation of flying. I remembered hitting something cold and hard.

"You caught me," I whispered.

"I'll always catch you," he replied simply.

We lay like that in silence for a while as I contemplated just how extraordinarily lucky I was. I was alive; I had Edward. That was what was important; that was everything. I could hear the wind, the soft murmur of voices, the crackle of fires. Fires that must hold at least the body of Demetriano, and I caught myself hoping it held more. Thankfully Edward's scent was enough to cover that sickening stench of burning flesh, and I half-turned my face to breathe in his scent more deeply as I buried my nose in his neck.

"Jane and Felix realized that Aro was abandoning them to us," Edward broke the quiet at last. "They weren't about to wait and be slaughtered, so they ran as well. Most of the wolves took off after them, and most of our family too."

"You stayed?"

"I had you," he replied. "I wasn't going to leave you. I'm not letting go of you again, Bella," my fiancé told me firmly. "I love you so much."

He cradled me like that for a while, as the sky gradually lightened and the fires died down. Nobody disturbed us, for which I was very grateful as I lay in my Edward cocoon, his scent filling my lungs and the chill of him seeping through me in delicious shivers.

"Bella, you're cold," he broke the blissful silence at last, making as if to draw away but I clung to him.

"I'm not," I argued. "And I'm not letting go of you."

Edward didn't look entirely convinced, but I guess he wanted to keep hold of me enough that he'd let it pass for the moment. "Carlisle and Esme are just going to run back to the house to do a sweep and pick up some food," he told me. "Do want them to pick anything else up for you? A sweater, blanket…?"

I hesitated. Admitting that I wanted a blanket would be tantamount to admitting that I was cold, which meant Edward would let go of me…a chuckle vibrated in his chest. "I said I wasn't letting go of you and I meant it, love. But I don't want you getting cold."

"A blanket might be nice," I confessed. "If they can carry it."

"Zayba and Tegan are coming with us," Esme's soft voice came from somewhere to my left, but turning my head would mean leaving the safety of Edward. "We can carry plenty."

"Thank you," I mumbled into Edward's chest.

"If you need us, Bella, ask Jacob. I'm sure he'll be able to get a message through to us via one of the girls." I felt a feather-light touch stroke over my hair. "Aro's going to pay for every bump, every bruise he gave you." Now I did twist around to look up, shocked by the uncharacteristic fierceness in Esme's tone, but she had already gone.

"Mama Bear always protects her young," Edward's voice laughed softly in my ear. "And you are one of Esme's children now, my love."

I didn't say anything, instead held on tightly to my fiancé. I knew that if I opened my mouth I'd start to cry, fear and relief all welling up until I was one big mess of sobs. "Cry if you want to, Bella," Edward urged me gently. "It's all right. Nobody's here except me; Callie and Jake are way over on the other side of the clearing, Desari and Belladonna are tending the fires, and everyone else is away. You can cry, Bella."

"I was so scared," I admitted shakily. "And when I thought that vampire was going to kill you…I forgot what Aro said. I didn't realize she would actually wake you up, I thought…"

"Belladonna," Edward breathed. "If I thought any one of the Denali coven was going to side with us, I wouldn't have thought of her. She has secrets, Bella, that I only caught a glimpse of. She saved our lives. She saved your life." He pressed a kiss to my hair. "He was going to kill you, Bella."

"But he didn't."

"No. God, the sooner you're a vampire the better…"

"Did I just hear that right? Did Edward Cullen actually say that?"

"Stop that." Edward hushed me, but he was smiling. "I'm going to spend forever with you, Bella Swan. And God help anyone who tries to stop me."

A/N: My computer chose this morning to break. Well, the 'mouse' – it's a laptop, so basically the clicky thing – has decided to stop working. I can use the moving touch pad, but I can't click. So I've had to work out all of the keyboard shortcuts for stuff, which really isn't incredibly successful as I keep pressing the wrong button and accidentally quitting/deleting things (or, in one case, making the font go blue and sparkly. WTF? I have no idea how that happened). I spent ages struggling at this, getting more and more frustrated, until my Dad goes – "Why don't you use one of the plug-in mice?"

Oh. A plug-in mouse. Thanks, Dad, for letting me know before.

Please review! xxx :)