A/N: Sorry for the delay. I have plenty of excuses but I won't bore you. Thank you for all the reviews and feedback. I'm a horrible, horrible, HORRIBLE person for not responding to all of them. Just know that I cherish each review. More boring A/N at the end. :-)

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.

Epilogue Part I

Six months later…

"Damn! What do you have in this one, Bells? Bricks?" Charlie asked as he carried one of my boxes of books from the moving van to the house.

"Yes, I packed bricks," I deadpanned.

He rolled his eyes and grunted dramatically as he carried the box up the steps of the front porch. I smiled at his retreating form, happy that he barely had a limp thanks to the surgery he'd gotten for his hip. Plus, he had been diligent about going to physical therapy.

Edward strolled out of the house, wearing loose denim jeans and white t-shirt. There was a smear of dirt across his three day old beard and his hair was waving hello to the entire neighborhood.

"Hey," he said, and then craned his neck to look into the back of the truck. "Shit, we're only halfway there."

I followed his gaze and frowned. "Too bad Emmett isn't here. He'd have the thing unloaded in an hour."

Wrinkles formed on Edward's brow as he scrunched his face in disagreement. "Are you saying that Emmett is stronger than I am?"

"No, I'm just saying that…uh…Emmett is really good at carrying boxes."

He didn't buy it. "I'm pretty fucking good at carrying boxes, too. Watch this, soon-to-be-Mrs.-Edward-Masen."

He climbed into the back with his chest puffed out and his boots stomping on the bed of the truck. His gaze shifted over the boxes and his eyes stopped on the biggest one.

"Edward, those are the rest of my books. You should let me help you with that one," I said.

To make a show of it, he turned to face me and flexed his biceps, all the while emitting a growl that sounded similar to sick dog.

"I'm serious," I said, jumping up into the truck. "It's really-"

Too late.

In his defense, he did everything right. He bent at the knees, kept his back nice and straight, wrapped his strong arms around the box and lifted with his legs. Muscling his way through it was what I was expecting—not the high pitched yelp that echoed off the steel of the vehicle we were standing in.

"Edward!" I called as his mouth formed an "O". He stood stock still with his arms encircling the box.

"I…think…I…did…somethingtomyback."

I rushed to him and helped him release his hands from the around the box. He was trying hard to keep the grunts of pain to a minimum but I still heard them. Unfortunately, any kind of grunts that came from Edward's mouth made my thighs tingle. Briefly, a vision of him naked on top of me flashed through my head.

"Are you okay?" I asked, my voice cracking. "What do you need?"

He was on his hands and knees, practically kissing the ground. I wasn't sure if he could answer me so I asked again.

"Bella! Are you alright?" Charlie asked as he hopped up into the truck. "I heard you scream."

I could practically feel Edward's ego crumbling at my feet. When you scream like a girl in front of your future father in-law, it does something to a man.

"Uh, I got scared because Edward hurt his back…so I screamed. It was more like a yelp," I clarified.

Charlie straightened and looked between the two of us. "Where's the keys to your car so I can pull it around. We should take you to the hospital."

Edward grimaced and shook his head. "I'm fine. I just need…to sit down for a minute."

I pressed my lips together and quirked an eyebrow. Glancing at me, he groaned and rolled his eyes.

"All right," he conceded. "The keys should be in the kitchen on the counter."

The trip to the ER was long and bumpy even though my Dad did his best to avoid pot holes while listening to Edward groaning out directions. I sat in the back seat with him as he tried to breath through his pain in a crumpled posture. I wanted to ask him annoying questions about our proximity or his pain level but I thought maybe it would throw him over the edge. There was sweat bubbling on his upper lip and a line formed between his brows. If he passed out, we'd never get there.

Finally, we reached the emergency room and thanks to Edward's groans—which were fairly manly considering the yelp I'd heard from him earlier—he got his own curtained off room in just under an hour. The doctor came in, asked some questions and gave the okay for an injection of strong pain medication and a muscle relaxant.

Ten minutes later, Edward was in full out confession mode.

"Have I told you just how beautiful you are?" His speech was slightly slurred and his eyes peeking at me through the cracks of his eyelids. "You are like an angel."

I grinned down at him and ran my fingers through his hair. Charlie cleared his throat and announced his sudden need for coffee. After he was gone, Edward continued his drunken ramblings.

"The moment I first saw you, Bella, I knew…I just knew that I was going to marry you," he said, grinning. His head rolled from side to side on the pillow a little as he talked. "You were in those tight little jeans and that blue sweater v-neck sweater that just about drove me mad. I sat three rows up from you on that first day, watching you twirl your hair around your finger and hunker down into the chair so that you wouldn't be noticed."

"I doubt anyone did notice me." I admit that I was egging him on—hoping to get some more of this deep seeded memory out of him before he let the drugs fully take him under.

"Oh, Bella," he sighed. A sense of concern mixed in with the sluggishness of his voice. "Not noticing you would be like unawareness to the sun after a lifetime of rain or ignoring a spring in the middle of the Sahara."

I bent down, tears filling my eyes, and brushed my lips over his cheek. How had I gotten so fucking lucky?

"When did you become such a poet?" I asked against his skin.

He responded with a soft snore. Sighing, I rose up and watched him sleep: His dark brows pulled together slightly as if he were considering something important, the scruff on his chin that he loved to rub against my neck in ticklish torture, the peaceful deep breaths that filled his chest and escaped through his nose.

I had made the right decision in Boston. If I hadn't been sure of it then, I was now. Money changes people—whether it's for the good or the bad, that's up to the person. Sometimes, though, it's difficult to realize that the change is disfiguring you until it's already happened. I could tell myself that it wouldn't happen to us but it could and I couldn't risk it. My life was pretty damn perfect just the way it was. Sure, we'd struggle and there would be heaps of things that we'd never get to do because we'd be too damn broke to do it but that's life.

The only thing that I regretted about turning down the deal was the fact that I could have used it to communicate with other people who were born with differences; other self-proclaimed freaks that have gone through the same crappy childhood that I had. The big question was what did I have to offer them if I found them? I didn't have extraordinary knowledge on the subject—hell, I was still trying to find the answer to my own special problem. I guess the only thing I could offer them is a sense of belonging, something to let them know that they aren't alone in their weirdness. In the end, it wasn't worth it to me.

My future was too unpredictable as it was but throw in a group of Scientists trying to expose me to the world and it would be life-changing. I wasn't interested in changing my life because it was as perfect as it could possibly get. And that was pretty damn perfect.

"The horse…get the horse…" Edward mumbled.

I bit my lip to keep from giggling. He rarely talked in his sleep so I allowed myself the pleasure of listening to him.

"Damn—he's out cold." Charlie said from behind me, tilting his head to look at Edward. "He's sort of precious, isn't he?"

I laughed as he thrust out a paper cup filled with coffee toward me and I thanked him. He sat down beside me and we watched Edward mumble some more in his sleep.

"You sure about this, Bella?" Charlie asked. "We can load things back up and I can take you back to Seattle."

I cut my eyes to him and grinned. "I've never been so sure about something, Dad."

"Alice is going to miss you like crazy," he added.

"I'm going to miss her, too but we can visit and Skype," I replied.

"What's Skype?" I opened my mouth to answer but he waved me off. "Never mind."

"Do you think you'll find a teaching job here?" he asked.

I shrugged and answered, "Hopefully."

He grunted in reply but didn't say anything else for a few minutes. The cluster of voices in the hallway and Edward's soft snores were the only noises disturbing the sipping of our coffee.

"Why is it that he can't move to Seattle again?" he asked. It was funny that he asked me this since he had practically bought us a house here.

"You know why, Dad," I said with annoyance. "Why are you so against me moving out here, anyway?"

"I'm not against it," he replied, "but that doesn't mean I'm happy about it."

My brows pulled together as I chewed on his words for a few moments. "What do you have against Chicago?"

"Nothing except for the fact that it's about two thousand miles away from Seattle," he replied. He reached up and ran a finger through his moustache, his eyes finding the linoleum extremely interesting. "I feel like I just got you back."

We weren't the type to share such things with each other and by the way he shifted in his seat and gulped down the remainder of his coffee, I knew it had been hard for him to say. Crying wasn't something I was comfortable with, especially in front of my dad. It made me feel vulnerable and weak and emotionally dependable but I couldn't help it. Before I knew it, my eyes were brimming and my cheeks were wet because what he had just said broke my heart a hundred times over.

"You'll always be my dad," I told him. "Just because we don't live close, it doesn't mean that we won't be in each other's lives."

He cleared his throat. "I just…I don't want…"

"I promise you that I won't," I told him. "You're stuck with me, Charlie."

With a sigh, he pretended to have an itch in both eyes. When the itch had subsided, he gave Edward another long look. Edward grumbled something else then emitted a weak little laugh that would have turned him ten shades of pink if he knew that Charlie was watching him.

"You're sure he has what it takes?" Charlie asked with his eyes still on Edward, a faint grin forming under his moustache.

"I've never been surer about anything in my life."

"Well," he said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees, "looks like I'm going to have to get me a White Sox hat before I head home."

I had lived in the City of Chicago for two months and nothing about the place excited me anymore. Walks in Grant Park with Edward turned into stressful views of the city in which I couldn't find employment. The schools in the area had already filled their vacancies as of the spring when most school districts signed contracts. Edward worked his ass off so that I could make phone call after phone call to get rejected and turned down with an apologetic "Sorry, we're not looking for anyone but we'll take your information in case something comes open." Yeah, right—I'm sure they would.

Edward told me to take my time and that we would be fine. He made more than enough to cover our bills so he didn't seem concerned. However, I felt worthless and guilty because I knew that the overtime he often worked on Saturday afternoons wasn't always mandatory. So, after a few weeks of searching, I temporarily abandoned my hunt for a teaching position and applied for an office job at a construction company. Three days later, I was hired and I was ecstatic.

Edward was not.

When I asked him what his problem was with the job, he told me that his law firm had handled a lawsuit of sexual harassment involving a woman working at a construction office. I assured him that I'm sure it would be fine and nothing like that would happen. Plus, I needed a job; not just for the money but for my self-esteem.

Unfortunately, Edward had been correct in his assumption. I worked in a trailer on a site on the East side, writing reports to the city and balancing the check book. It was a small company but it paid well so the first time one of the guys came bounding into the office and gave me a once over, I rolled my eyes and continued with my work. Most of the guys ignored me but the couple who didn't thought that sexual innuendos were the funniest thing on God's green earth.

Ignoring them had worked until I could no longer stand it. The straw that broke the camel's back was a stocky man who looked a little like an English Bulldog. His name was Brad and while my hands were busy pouring water into the coffee pot, his had found my rear. Before he could mutter any sort of compliment about my fanny, I flung the tiny bowl of sugar into his face and hoped that he didn't close his eyes fast enough. Just as the sugar hit his face, my stapler flew at the window and smashed through it. Luckily, it had been just the two of us so the stapler that my infuriated brain has tossed out the window was only heard as the glass shattered on the carpeted floor of the trailer. I realized then that my unemployment stress was far better than this.

As Brad whined about the sugar scratching away at his corneas, I grabbed my purse and walked proudly out of the trailer. Faintly, I could hear the foreman, my boss, asking me what in tarnation had happened but I just kept on walking until I got to my car. Then I turned the engine over, hunched myself over the steering wheel and cried.

My keys hit the counter with a loud crash and my purse followed behind. The house was empty. For the first time since moving to Chicago, I hoped that Edward worked late because I needed some time to clean myself up before he got home. Unfortunately, I was still in the shower, basking in the steam, when he walked into the bathroom, practically whispering.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

My eyes widened as the hot water battered down on my scalp. "Yeah, why?"

"It's just strange for you to take a shower in the evening."

I cleared my throat, trying to clear itself from the hoarseness that my crying had brought about. "I'm fine. Just wanted to…uh…"—my eyes found my bottle of shampoo sitting on the ledge of the shower—"try out this new shampoo that I bought."

A man never questioned a woman's beauty routine. I allowed myself a satisfied smile before he popped his head in and looked at me. His eyes took in my toes, my ankles, my knees, my thighs, my belly, my left breast, my right breast, my left breast again, my neck and then narrowed on my eyes. The small smirk that had developed somewhere around my belly had vanished.

"You've been crying," he pointed out.

I chewed on the inside of my cheek. "I quit my job."

His eyes narrowed further into tiny little slits of anger. "What happened?"

"Nothing. I just didn't like it," I lied. "Can we talk about this when I'm dressed?"

He removed his head from view and I sighed in relief. I'd have to tell him but I felt too vulnerable as it was. Nudity only made me feel worse.

With no warning, Edward popped into my view again but this time it was more of him and his clothing had disappeared. I couldn't help but take in his body the same way he had just done mine and for a moment, I completely forgot why my eyes were raw and the reason my chest ached.

"What happened?" he repeated.

I wrapped my arms around his torso and pressed my cheek against his chest. Finally, I felt better. It wasn't the shower or the crying or anything else that I had needed. Just Edward.

"Those guys are just assholes," I murmured.

His body tensed and I felt his fingers digging into the skin of my back.

"What did they do, Bella?"

I sighed and tightened my grip. "Just words, Edward, but I was fed up with it."

"How long has this been going on?"

"Pretty much since I started but-"

"Why didn't you say anything?" His tone was laced with anger and hurt.

"Because I really needed this job," I told his chest hair. "I can't stand all this…this failure!"

He was quiet for a few minutes but his body didn't release its hold on mine. The tips of his finger still dug into my flesh and his arms cocooned me like a steep trap.

"What are you thinking?" I finally asked.

He was quiet for a moment before he replied, "Where I would hide the bodies if I murdered some people."

I pushed away from him, his hands reluctantly letting me go. His eyes were full of fire and he had that angry hot thing going on that I loved about him. The feeling was inappropriate but I got the familiar urge to hump his leg like I typically do when angry-hot-Edward makes an appearance.

"You look tired," he said with a sigh. It wasn't good that my seduction face looked similar to my exhausted face. I'd have to practice that one in the mirror. "Plus, you're getting all pruney."

I let my forehead fall against his chest and realized that I was exhausted.

"How about you go take a short nap and I'll make dinner," he suggested.

With my fingertips I pinched his side and he let out a manly yelp.

"Just making sure that you were real," I told him.

He planted a quick kiss on my lips. "You're supposed to pinch yourself when you think you're dreaming."

"That's not nearly as fun."

I lay down in bed, naked as a jaybird, and closed my eyes. What seemed like seconds later, I was being summoned by the gentle lull of Edward's voice.

"Bella, are you hungry or do you want to keep sleeping?" he asked.

Blinking my eyes, I tried to adjust my eyes to the grey light of dusk. "No, I'm getting up."

He ran a hand up the back of my thigh and cupped my left buttock. "I have something special for you."

My thoughts immediately went into seventeen-year-old-boy mode and the "something special" became the muscle of pleasure packed tight behind the zipper of his jeans. By the way he was pleasantly squeezing my bum, there was no room for asexual thoughts. I imagined him naked and under me, his hands all over my body.

"You look like you're still tired," he finally said, breaking me from my trance.

I really needed to work on my sexy look.

After I dressed in comfortable sweatpants and a tank top, I sauntered downstairs and into the kitchen. Shock washed over my features as I discovered the kitchen table bare of food.

Edward grinned and rubbed his palms together. "Tonight, we dine outside."

I raised my brows. "Outside?"

"Yes," he said, sticking his elbow out for me and I slid my hand through the groove. "How do you feel about Pepperoni and mushroom pizza?"

My stomach answered with a loud, obnoxious growl.

He guided me to the back patio and out into the grass where he had set up our dinner. My heart melted as I took in the scene: Citronella candles that had been plugged into the ground, a thick blanket to sit on with the pizza placed in the middle, a radio that was playing sickeningly sweet loves songs, and a single yellow daisy in a tiny little vase.

"Edward, this is so sweet," I said weakly.

He shrugged. "You looked like you needed to be cheered up."

We sat down and dug into the pizza, moans escaping from each of us on our first bite. Grease dripped down my chin and I caught it with a napkin.

"You didn't kill anyone while I was sleeping, did you?" I asked.

He grunted then said, "No, but it wasn't because it slipped my mind. I figured the last thing you needed was to bail me out of jail tonight. You could sue them, you know."

"I know," I sighed, "and it may come off as being cowardly, but I just want to forget about it. The thing that upsets me the most is that I put up with it for so long."

A tense silence fell between us and I knew I needed to change the subject before I ruined this sweet thing that he had done for me. The expression on Edward's face told me he was calculating bloody revenge crimes in his head: Dark eyes, furrowed brows and the aggressive movement of his jaw as he chewed his food. The look I wanted was the safe look of soft eyes and his signature smirk.

"What's with the sleeping bags?" I asked, pointing to the rolls of blankets on the ground in front of us.

The soft look I loved was fighting for dominance with the tension when he answered, "Your number four." When I shot him a confused glance, he added, "Your bucket list, Bella."

After a few moments of digging through my memory of that day on the beach when we had discussed the bucket lists, a light bulb went off over my head. "Sleeping under the stars."

He smiled and most of the tension in his face vanished—just like that. "Our second attempt, if I'm not mistaken."

"That's right, the first got rained out," I said with a smile, hoping against all hope that I wouldn't blush at the memory of Edward touching me for the first time. Instead of the heat of embarrassment, a completely different feeling took over me and I found myself scoping out the yard. Could our neighbors see over that fence?

When the pizza was all gone—except for that corner piece that we never wanted—we lay down on the blankets and pulled the sleeping bags over top of us. I snuggled into Edward's side, using his arm as a pillow.

"It's nice out tonight," I murmured. "Do you really plan on keeping me out here all night?"

He scoffed and raised his head up to meet my eyes. "How can we scratch it off your list if we don't?"

"Good point," I told him. "This would be the last of my top five."

As he chewed that around in his head, I thought about his top five.

"You didn't get to any of yours," I said, "or have you been reading up on your Shakespeare?"

He smiled and said, "I can't get through Hamlet—it's too depressing."

"You should be able to change your bucket list around," I pointed out.

"Yeah, you know what? I only put that Shakespeare thing on there because I thought it would impress you. Honestly, I think Shakespeare was overrated."

I gasped and turned on to my side, using my elbow to hold myself up. "How can you say that? Shakespeare was a genius!"

He laughed. "I knew that would get you all riled up."

I lay back down in a huff but couldn't manage a grudge. I couldn't argue that Hamlet wasn't depressing. Perhaps, I should incorporate Shakespeare into the bedroom. He could be Romeo and I would be his Juliet—romantic until we have to kill ourselves. Or he could be Hamlet and I could be Ophelia—but then I'd end up drowning. Edward would have looked hot in one of those toga things so maybe Julius Caesar was the way to go. How the fuck would we make that sexual, though? Probably, we should just drop the whole Shakespeare idea and put Edward in a toga. An easy-to-remove toga—perhaps one that is made with cheap fabric that he could tear off his body as he…

"You okay?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"I lost you there for a moment. Where did you go?"

"I was picturing you in a toga." His eyebrows jerked upward. "Then I imagined you tearing the toga off."

The expression on his face was a mixture of amusement and curiosity. "And then what?" he asked.

"Then you interrupted," I told him. "I was just getting to the good part."

His arm jerked me back down to his side and he squeezed me to him. The press of his lips on my head made me sigh with happiness. This was all I needed to get through rough patches: His arms around my shoulders and his warm breath in my hair. Comfort and serenity seemed to pass like electricity from his body into mine and I wanted to bathe in it forever.

"Let's get married this fall," I blurted.

"I thought you wanted to wait until-"

I interrupted because I knew what I had said but it was a load of bullshit. "I know what I said but I change my mind. Life is too short to wait around for things to happen when we can have it right now. Let's do it in October so the leaves will be changing colors."

There was no reason to wait since we didn't want anything big or fancy. The explanation of why I felt the urgency to be his wife was lost on me. All I knew was that I wanted to make promises to him and hear his in return. I wanted to be Mrs. Edward Masen.

"October is good," he said.

"Are you sure? I don't want to rush anything but I just want to start our lives together and I feel like everything is at a stand-still until we say our vows," I pointed out.

"We have started our lives together, Bella," he replied. "And to answer your question, I don't care if we do it tomorrow. October is perfect. Alice won't like it that she only has a few months to arrange things, though."

He stroked my arm as I chewed on the whole Alice situation. "Maybe, we can just elope."

"Oh no, you're not getting out of it that easy. I want to see your face as you walk down the aisle toward me and I want to watch Charlie give you away. If we did it without him, it would crush him."

I sat up on my elbow, his palm melted down to my ribcage. His thumb inadvertently brushed the underside of my breast and I could feel my nipples harden. They were like little soldiers for his hands; standing to attention at the slightest notion that his fingertips would venture near them. If they could talk, they'd be pleading for consideration.

"Do you think your Mom will be able to come? I mean, we can't do it if she can't come because I want her there," I told him. "October might be-"

He put his finger on my lips to cut me off. "We'll make it work, sweetheart. My mom will be there—I promise."

I sighed and settled back down next to him. The adjustment made his hand wrap around to my chest and his hand cupped my breast. My right nipple sighed of relief as his warm palm covered me through my shirt, his thumb going back and forth over the happy protrusion.

"You know," he said huskily, "I could make a toga real quick out of a bed sheet."

I thought about it for a few beats and squeezed my thighs together in response. "How about we just skip ahead to the naked part. I can pretend that the toga has been torn off already."

"If I'm not mistaken, I think you may have something to add to your bucket list," he teased.

I ran my hand over his stomach, past his zipper and into his jeans. He groaned as I found him, ready for me, and I moved my palm over him gently.

"I think I need separate bucket lists," I said. "One that is perverted and one that is…well, not perverted."

His hand snaked under my shirt and moaned when his fingers found my bare nipple, saluting his fingers. With his fingertips, he rubbed over my hardened tip and I found myself hooking my leg through his. I was practically humping him but I didn't care. At that point, I had no shame.

"I want you, Edward," I moaned into his neck. "Please…"

With quick grace, he pulled his hand from my shirt and removed mine from his pants. I almost protested as he stood up and pulled me up with him. He bent down, wrapped his strong arm around the backs of my knees and picked me up. I squeaked as my arms flung around his neck to steady myself.

"What about sleeping outside," I said, giggling.

He kissed me on the lips then said, "We've got all kinds of time to sleep under the stars."

The weather was perfect. The guests were perfect. I was willing to be that Edward looked perfect. What wasn't perfect was the fact that my dress that I had tried on two weeks ago, seemed to have shrunk. That's when I started to cry.

"What…did…you…eat?" Rose asked between grunts and gritted teeth. "I thought you said this thing fit like a glove two weeks ago. Did you have it zipped up?"

My hands turned into fists. "Of course I had it zipped up," I snapped. "Do you think that I'm an idiot?"

"Suck it in," Alice suggested.

I whimpered and did as she told me even though I wasn't sure that I could suck it in anymore. With one more grunt, Rose gave up and the fabric around my abdomen relaxed. If I hadn't felt like a whale before, I did now.

The tears flowed like a river.

Alice laid a hand on my shoulder. "Bella, calm down. You're starting to scare me."

My eyes snapped to hers and I felt a snot bubble rising and descending on my right nostril. It tickled. She glanced at it and tried really hard not to grimace but I saw the slight curve of her mouth and the twitch of her eyebrows.

"How is it that I'm the one who can't fit into her wedding dress,"—I peeked at the clock on the wall—"thirty minutes before I'm supposed to waltz down the aisle and you're the one who's scared? I guess I could get married in the jeans I wore here, right? I could just throw 'em on and say fuck it! Who cares? Bella doesn't care, right? Bella is all who-gives-a-shit about wedding dresses and flowers and shit, right? So, sue me—apparently, I do give a shit."

Two pairs of eyes stared at me: Shocked and a little frightened.

"Oh my God…now, I'm cussing in a church! I'm going to hell!"

I sobbed harder. They wrapped their arms around me and cooed sweet reassurances in my ear.

"Edward deserves so much better than this," I cried. "He needs a strong, amazing girl who doesn't let a bloated gut make her cry." I flopped down on a chair and wiped my eyes. "I'm a mess."

After a few seconds of silence, Alice mumbled that she was going to get Esme. With help from a thousand tissues and Rose—who thankfully wiped my nose free of snot bubbles—I managed to pull myself together. That was, until Esme walked in and I felt my bottom lips start to tremble.

"What is wrong with me? I can't stop crying!"

Esme tilted her head and looked at me from head to toe. "You look stunning, Bella."

"I feel sick," I replied.

"It's not that bad, I promise," she said, gently. "Stand up and we'll get this dress to—"

I stood up. "No…I'm really going to be sick!"

Just in time, they grabbed a small trash can and shoved it in front of my mouth. I vomited up my miniscule breakfast and plenty of stomach acid. To their credit, no one made any "yuck" noises or comments.

"Well," Rose chimed in, "maybe the dress will fit you now."

When I was sure the vomiting was over, Esme had me stand up and lift my arms into the air. She told me to suck it in and with some tugging and some name calling—in reference to the zipper—she pulled it past my gut and between my shoulders.

I cried from relief.

"Why can't I stop crying?" I asked through a smile.

Alice grinned back. "Because you're getting married, silly!"

"Man!" Rose exclaimed. "You're pre-wedding jitters are like pregnancy symptoms. You're all bloated and teary and puking and…" she trailed off when she noticed us all looking at her with wide eyes.

Then the wide eyes turned to me.

"Bella, you're not…"

"No! Of course not! I'm on birth control," I said.

Esme cleared her throat. "Have you…are you…late?"

"No, I'm due next week which explains all the emotional crap. I'm just going through a hell of a PMS." I sniffed. I was almost positive that my period was due next week. Fairly certain. Pretty sure. Hopefully. "Besides, I'm better now that I got my dress zipped up."

They kept staring at me, considering the conversation.

"Are you going to do my hair or just stand there and gawk?" I snapped.

My hair was curled underneath a white sheer veil and Alice did wonders with makeup. I looked like I hadn't cried at all which I knew would change the second I saw Edward, waiting for me at the altar.

"You're beautiful, Bella," Esme said with glittering eyes.

I pointed a finger at her. "Don't make me cry again, Esme."

She hugged me, in spite of my grumpy demeanor and sauntered back into the hall. Rose and Alice each grabbed a hand and we grinned at each other like idiots.

"You sure you're not pregnant?" Rose asked. "You've got this glowing thing going on."

I rolled my eyes. "Shut it, Rose."

As I followed them down the hallway and toward the sanctuary of the small non-denominational church, my body tensed. I wasn't scared or even nervous; I was excited. An hour from now, I'd be Edward's wife.

When we reached the double doors, I peeked inside and surveyed our guests: Some of Edward's co-workers hugged the rear of the room and our close family sat close to the altar. Each row of seats was accented with a bundle of red roses and white lilies which Bree had helped me decide on. It looked amazing.

Bree and her parents sat between the two groups. She looked amazing and I smiled when I saw her looking over her shoulder, watching for me. We still e-mailed and kept in touch, and I hoped that we always would. She was taking summer classes in an effort to catch up and I admired her tenacity and determination. In a few months, she would be out of the danger zone as far as the marrow transplant went. I doubted she would ever realize how strong she is but hoped that one day she did. Renee looked uncomfortable which made my smile grow. If she had to be here, at least it wouldn't be pleasant for her. When she insisted on accompanying Bree, I wasn't going to fight it because having Bree here was more important.

Carlisle and Esme sat beside Mary. They were having a conversation on God knows what but they looked like they were getting along well. Three amazing people who I was honored to know.

Carlise and I had grown closer since my move to Chicago. He had ordered every sort of test on me imaginable in the past few months. He came up with nothing. Everything was normal, including the MRI. It didn't matter. In fact, there were days that I even forgot my ability existed within me which was saying a lot about my life with Edward. He was my peace.

Jasper stood in front, shifting nervously from foot to foot. Alice didn't talk about her future because I thought that it was too hard for her. I didn't push her; she would talk when she was ready and if she had a breakdown, I'd be on a plane to Seattle to help her through it. Jasper was holding back because he wanted a perfect life for her. Little did he know that sometimes imperfection is what made two lives fit together.

Emmett was grinning, knowing that I was watching him. He winked at Rose as she started walking slowly down the aisle toward him. I wasn't sure but I think she blushed.

Then my eyes caught Edward and I couldn't help the lump that formed in my throat. I blinked away tears and swallowed but it only made it worse. He was wearing a charcoal gray suit, a burgundy tie and a white lily clung to his lapel. I had always loved his hair and it was obvious that he'd tried to flatten it but I was glad that he hadn't succeeded. The look on his face was anticipation, as if he were peeking through the oven door at his favorite cake baking in the oven.

The lump in my throat unwittingly turned into something else and I flattened my palm over my mouth. Alice, who was two seconds from walking down the aisle, glanced at me and stiffened.

"What's wrong?" Charlie asked with his hand on my elbow.

Alice frantically looked around for something…anything and came up with a plastic bag that had carried some of the decorations into the church. I heaved into it, just as we were out of earshot of the guests. Then I dry heaved some more until tears rolled down my cheeks and my breath grew heavy.

"Are you okay?" Alice asked.

I looked up. Charlie was pale and his expression was full of panic.

With a groan, I nodded and that's when I realized the same verse of music was repeating on the organ.

"You have to go, Alice," I whispered. "I'll be fine."

She made a face and hissed, "You have vomit breath! You can't get married with vomit breath!"

I stuck out my tongue and realized that she was right. "What should I do?"

With shaking hands, she reached inside her bra and pulled out a stick of gum. I made a face.

"Oh, come on! It's not like I'm growing mold down there. Just eat it. Chew it around real good and get all the vomit off your teeth." Then she did a high-heel hop to start her slow walk down the aisle.

It was good advice however it made my stomach churn. I did as she told me and looked for a place to spit out the gum. Charlie held his hand out. I smiled gratefully and spit it into his palm.

"Thanks, Dad," I said.

He shrugged. "Feel better?"

I nodded. He stuffed the chewed up gum into his pocket and held his elbow out for me. The purge had actually made me feel better. I threaded my arm through Charlie's and gave him a squeeze.

"I love you, Bells," he said.

My heart swelled and I took a deep breath. I feared for the zipper on my dress as I told him that I loved him, too.

The walk down the aisle was like a dream. Details didn't sink in. I couldn't have told you who I made eye contact with or how I reached Edward. All I knew was that a pair of green eyes watered up as they watched me approach. Charlie gave me away, Edward squeezed my hand and it was just the two of us. Repeating vows. Holding hands. Making promises.

After the ceremony, Edward pulled me into an empty room that was dressed up in kids' drawings; presumably, the preschool that was held at the church. He kissed me long and hard, his tongue tangling with my own. His hands found my bottom as he pushed me against the wall.

I broke away from him, our chests meeting with each breath we took. "We're in a church, Edward."

He nipped at my neck. "God doesn't care…we're not fornicating, anymore."

I giggled and pushed his mouth away from my neck. "We have guests that are expecting some kind of reception back at the house."

His hand squeezed my bottom. "Let 'em wait."

After a few more long kisses and some groping through layers of clothes, we piled into Edward's car and headed home. People greeted us with birdseed as we got out of our car and walked into the house.

The meal was casual: Sandwich platters, fruit and veggie trays, and a beautiful cake that Rose and Emmett had bought for us as a wedding gift. Halfway through my meal, I was hit with another wave of nausea and I headed for the bathroom. Nothing came up but I waited; saliva gathered in my mouth as I tried to tell my insides to just keep the shit in, already. My stomach was already sore from the wedding-jitter-puking so…

Wedding jitter puking…the wedding was over and I was still getting sick. I had to be coming down with something. That was just my luck—get sick on your stay-at-home-honeymoon. There was no way that it was anything else but a flu. I eased my mind by thinking back on the day that I'd gotten my last shot in Seattle. It was just after New Year's; I remember because Edward had…

I interrupted my own thoughts as I calculated the months since my last Depo shot. Just after New Year's…

With my stomach doing flips and my head spinning, I gaped at myself in the bathroom mirror. "Oh, no."

A/N: Part two will be posted when it's released from 4LLS. I hope you enjoyed it. It's both sad and exciting to mark AMS as complete. As my first fanfic., I can't help but feel that I've grown as an author and I couldn't have done it without all your support.

Softragoo-thank you from the bottom of my heart. I adore you and your bubbles. Your friendship is priceless. :-)

I know a lot of you hoped to find a cure/explanation for Bella's gift but sometimes, life doesn't give you all the answers. You make what you can of it and you hope to God that you find your way through it to happiness. That's where I wanted Bella and Edward to end up. They didn't have to solve each other's problems-just find peace in each other to get through it. I hope you enjoyed! Part two will be posted shortly!

I'm working on an angsty plot and a very OOC/AU vampward plot. Which one would you like to read?