AN: SM owns Twilight – I own nothing.
Thank you all so much for reading & reviewing!
**Lots of very dark violence in this chapter! Please be very forewarned!**
Are you ready?...
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"What do you think, Mom?" Bree asked, watching my reaction intently.
"Bree...this is...amazing! Sweetie, you are truly talented," I breathed in awe at her house designs. They were spectacular.
"I told you," Esme said, ever the proud Grandma.
"You really like it?" Bree asked skeptically.
"I absolutely love it! God, this house is gorgeous," I told her, eyeing the designs wistfully. It was almost like a dream home come to life.
Bree beamed up at me at my approval. "Do you think Dad will like it too?"
"Oh, your Dad will love this," I stated, eyeing the designs speculatively. I wonder...
"You know... Carlisle and Edward are amazing at construction," Esme hinted. I looked over to her, with one eyebrow raised.
"You think..."
"I think it would be amazing."
"They really would be able to?"
"Want me to ask them for you?"
Bree was looking back and forth between us with her tiny brows furrowed in confusion.
"Only if Bree gets to supervise – it's her vision."
"I'll talk to them later," Esme told me eagerly.
"If it's possible – would you decorate it for us?" I asked her, hopeful.
"Yes!...I mean, of course," she replied, looking so very excited at the prospect.
"Bella, you ready to go?" Rose asked, popping her head into the room.
"Yeah, just give me one minute," I told her. She nodded and said they would wait for me in the great room.
Her and Emmett would be escorting me over to Jasper's house. Peter, Char, and Jasper have been setting up some kind of surprise for me. I don't know exactly what it is – but I have an idea. Jasper didn't want me running there alone...actually he doesn't want me to go anywhere alone. I didn't argue with him on it – I understand why he feels that way. Rose and Em would drop me off before they go hunting so it wasn't a problem.
"You leaving now?" Bree asked, frowning.
"Yes, but you won't even miss me with Nana and Grandpa here to entertain you," I told her, winking at Esme.
"How long will you be gone?" she asked concerned. She has been more clingy since the incident with the Volturi and almost losing me to them. Both my mate and my daughter have separation anxiety issues at the moment. It didn't help matters when Edward informed us all that Aro wouldn't give up trying to recruit me into his guard. He let me go this time, but Edward believes he will try again someday; his thoughts bordering on the the obsessive where I'm concerned. Just what we don't fucking need. There was no use dwelling on it though, we would handle it, if and when the time comes. Until then, I was simply enjoying being a family.
"I don't know, sweetie. You have your phone?" I asked her. Jasper had gone to town and bought both of us our own phone, so that we could always keep in contact. It seemed to help both of them to be able to hear my voice at a moments notice.
"Yes," she replied, pulling her tiny pink cell phone from her pocket.
"Okay, if you need me – you just call me. For any reason, alright?" I told her.
She nodded sadly and wrapped her small arms around me in a tight hug, whispering her 'I love you' into me.
"I love you, too," I said pulling away from her death grip, and it was killing me to do it. "Take care of Nana and Grandpa for us...you know how wild they can get," I said grinning widely, before turning and making my way out of the room - Esme's laughter following behind. I needed to go...if I stayed much longer looking at her sad face, I'd bow out of their surprise and I know they are all looking forward to it. If it's what I think it is – then so am I.
Emmett and Rose escorted me to Jasper's house without incident. They said a quick goodbye and left immediately, not wanting to intrude on my surprise.
Upon arrival, I noticed a couch placed a ways from the house in a small cleared area of the forest. In the center of the small clearing was a tall pole and off to the side lay stacks of sticks and wood. A little ways from that laid Victoria's head and limbs lined up in a neat even spaced row.
Char and Peter came skipping out of the house with their hands piled with goodies. They dashed over to the couch and plopped down onto it and set their supplies in front of them at their feet.
"Come on, Bella! The games are about to start!" Peter yelled, motioning me over excitedly. He was bouncing up and down and I looked over to Char, only to see her doing the very same thing.
I made my over and they patted the seat between them. I had just barely sat down when Peter burst...
"Look at what we got!" he gushed, picking up the items from the ground in front of them to show me...
- Marshmellows – all different sizes.
- Graham crackers.
- Hershey's chocolate bars.
- Butter lover's popcorn...already made and in a big bowl with extra butter.
- Sticks for the marshmellows – all different sizes.
- Confetti in a bowl – stars, hearts, and random shapes.
- A huge spool of...Fuse?
"What's that for?" I asked him, pointing to the huge spool.
"You'll see!" he exclaimed, still bouncing.
Jasper came out of the house then with his cell phone to his ear. "Yes, she's here and she's fine, sweetheart, I promise," he said into the phone.
"Tell her I miss her?" Bree's shaky voice said.
"I will. I love you, Bree. Now go have fun and stop worrying, honey," he told her, while holding my gaze.
It broke my heart to hear her so upset. Maybe I should just go back and be with her...
He hung up and eyed me for a moment. "She's fine, darlin'."
"You sure? Maybe I should go back?" I asked him worriedly.
He walked over to the couch and bent down to capture my mouth with his for a small kiss. "She's fine," he stated firmly.
"And are you...fine?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I am now that you are here," he replied, completely unashamed of that fact. I pulled him down for another kiss and Peter sighed in impatience next to me. "Come on darlin'...let's have some fun!" With that he went over and picked up Victoria's head and mounted it to the tall pole in the center of the clearing. She moaned in pain as her eyes fluttered open and took in her surroundings.
Peter began cutting off very long, even sized pieces of fuse and handed them over to Char.
"What are we doing?" I asked Jasper.
"We are going to play some games...since Victoria likes them so much, I figured she'd really fucking like this," he said, smirking at her. Her eyes widened fearfully, and I jumped up in sheer excitement.
"How can I help?" I asked him eagerly.
"Help me remove her fingers," he told me, bringing both of her arms over to us.
We removed her fingers one satisfying pop at a time. Peter and Char tied the long fuses to each one...including the thumbs.
"Okay...we are going to have a bit of a race. We will all light our fuses at the same time...the person whose finger burns first – wins!" Peter exclaimed.
Peter took the fingers a little ways from the couch and pushed them into the ground fingernail first, so that they were standing up in a line with the long fuses straight out in front of them. He handed each of us a lighter and set a timer for one minute before handing us each our own end of fuse attached to a finger.
Jasper sat down beside me and we waited for the timer to sound. As soon as it dinged we set our fuses in unison and watched them burn. My Vicky finger burnt first, Char was second, Jasper third, and Peter came in last place. Which he whined over...stating his finger was defective – whatever – I totally owned them all!
We continued that way with the rest of her fingers and toes...leaving the big toes and thumbs off to the side for now. Jasper won the first toe race and Char won the second finger race. I won the second toe race. By this point Peter was pouting hugely – calling us all cheaters.
So I challenged him... to a thumb race! Setting our thumbs up in the ground we waited for Jasper to give the signal to light our fuses.
"Go!" Jasper called.
I lit mine quickly, and my fuse was burning good until it seemed to reach a section of fuse that looked...frayed? What the hell? Peter was cheering his fuse on, glancing smugly over to my pitifully stalled fuse. Why that fucking cheater!
"I won!" Peter yelled jumping up and down. "I won, I won, I wwwwoooonnnnnn!"
"You cheated!" I accused.
"Pfft, woman...you know I'm the thumb king – say it. Say 'Your the Thumb King'," he flaunted.
"Thumbkin?" I asked, grinning at his look of horror.
"Ohhh, I like that new nickname," Char said sweetly, causing him to glare at her coldly.
Peter demanded we race again using Vicky's big toes this time. I won that round, since Jasper checked my fuse beforehand - so Peter couldn't cheat again.
"Everyone knows thumbs are better than toes, anyway," Peter scoffed.
"Whatever, Thumbkin," I said, causing Jasper and Char to double over in hysterical laughter as Peter threw popcorn at me while pouting.
Jasper tore Victoria's feet and hands from her legs and arms and threw them in a pile off to the side. Bringing one of her legs over, he set it in front of Peter. It was her leg from ankle to thigh.
Peter faced off with Jasper this time. They drew a line at what they deemed the middle of the leg...the person whose fire reached the line first, won. I counted them down and they set fire to their end, Jasper was at the thigh and Peter at the ankle.
Char and I cheered our men on by throwing confetti and popcorn at them. Char told Peter to open his mouth – and stupidly – he did so. With a throw of expert precision, she got a nice buttery piece of popcorn straight into his wide open mouth. It went right down his throat, causing him to hack and gag like a cat coughing up a hair ball. It was absolutely disgusting watching him cough that piece of popcorn up. Sure I could sit here and burn Victoria piece by piece – but watching him cough that up – just ewww.
Jasper won, which Peter blamed on the popcorn, of course. Then it was Char and my turn with Vicky's arms. The guys cheered us on the same way we had – with confetti and popcorn. Both of us wisely kept our mouths clamped shut...that is until...Jasper deliberately shot a piece of popcorn right down my tank top.
"Now you have to get it," I told him.
Jasper smiled widely and stalked over to me, pulling me up from the ground to stand in front of him. He smirked as he reached his hand forward, but I stopped him...
"Nuh uh...with your mouth," I demanded.
He moaned and leaned down, looking up at me through his lashes as he did so. His tongue snaked out and flicked at my breast before his teeth grabbed the piece of popcorn nestled between them. He stood up victoriously with the popcorn piece and winked at me.
"Now, swallow it," I told him deviously.
He pulled it from his teeth and shook his head furiously. "No way am I going to swallow this, Bella."
"But...Peter did it for Char... Don't you love me, Jasper?" I mock pouted. Big eyes, pouting lip, fluttery eyelashes...he was so done for.
"Don't...that's not playing fair, darlin'," he groaned, his resolve breaking.
"Please – if you really love me – you'll do it," I said, looking down at the ground sadly.
"Fine," he huffed, bringing the piece up to his mouth very slowly. He shuddered in disgust, and just as he was about to place it into his mouth...I snatched it from his hand and threw it away from us.
"I just wanted to see if you would do it, baby," I said quickly, before running away. He chased me for a good ten minutes before he threw a piece of popcorn at my head and called it even.
All that remained was her head, feet, hands, and torso. Peter and Jasper built a nice bonfire with the sticks and wood while Char and I got the marshmellows ready to roast.
Once done Jasper threw her feet and hands into the fire to get it really going, leaving her torso for me.
It was so fucking therapeutic picking up her torso and tossing it into those flames. Jasper wrapped his arms around me from behind as we watched her burn together. I closed my eyes and sighed in relief...never again would she hurt anyone. She cried out in horror and agony as she watched the last of her body burn from her perch on top of the pole. What a beautiful fucking sound.
We roasted marshmellows and had a s'more making contest over her pyre. Peter's s'more was an abomination...somehow, he ended up covered in more chocolate than his damn s'more was. It was so cute when Char told him it was the best damn s'more she had ever seen. He beamed proudly at her and I agreed with her – naming him the s'more making champion. He deserved it, I couldn't ask for a better brother; he's helped me in so many ways through everything...it was the very least I could do to make him happy. I would need to figure out some way to thank them both for their truly amazing support – god, I love them so much.
Once done with that, Jasper pulled an envelope from his back pocket and handed it to me. I looked up at him questioningly before opening the envelope...to reveal... pictures of a large yacht?
"What...what is this?" I asked him confused.
"It's for our trip," he told me simply.
"Trip?"
"I contacted Alice and she spoke with Aro...he approved one final request for us," he told me cryptically.
"What is it?" I asked.
"You'll see...we leave tomorrow," he said, kissing my forehead.
"But Bree?" I asked worriedly.
"She knows, and she will be fine. You need to do this, darlin' – trust me," he said, hugging me to him tightly.
"I do trust you, Jasper – always and forever," I replied, snuggling into him and breathing him in.
~V~V~V~V~V~V~
The following day we began our trip, just as he had said. Peter and Char went with us as well, neither would let me in on the big secret, however. The yacht was even larger than it looked in the picture. Jasper's argument for needing one so large was that we, "needed to do it in style". Whatever 'it' was...though he did bring Victoria's head with us inside a burlap sack. I asked him about that, wondering why we didn't burn her the other day but he wouldn't comment on it...just told me to wait and see.
It took us two days to reach our final destination... somewhere in the middle of the ocean. Jasper stopped the yacht and we all gathered out on deck. He brought Victoria's head out with him and took her out of the bag.
"Aro granted us permission to sentence her to the bottom of the ocean for the next 25 years," he told me, watching my reaction.
Sobs broke free – happy fucking sobs. It was absolutely perfect! Jasper tied some weights to her hair and head – it wasn't necessary because the natural weight of our skin would be enough to sink her head to the bottom, but he wanted to make damn sure she wouldn't go floating away.
He motioned for me to do the honors after Peter dove into the ocean to make sure she sank into a spot they would be happy with. I drew my arm back and victoriously threw her head out into the ocean...Char and Jasper wrapping me in their arms as her head made a resounding splash. Peter smirked as he dove underneath the water. He came up a few minutes later and declared it wasn't going anywhere for a very long time. After 25 years we would be expected to retrieve her head and dispose of her for good...and I was perfectly fine with that.
We stayed there for the night, Peter and Char went inside while Jasper and I stayed out on deck. We laid together in a lounge chair looking up at the stars in the clear night sky.
"I want to marry you, darlin'...soon," he whispered into my ear.
"I'd like that," I told him, sitting up and straddling his lap.
"When we get back?" he asked, looking up at me so very hopeful.
"Sounds perfect to me," I replied, leaning down to kiss my mate, my soul, my lover... my life.
That kiss led to us making love there under the stars that night, both of us declaring our love with our bodies and talking about our hopes and dreams for the future. And I truly believe...it was the way it was always meant to be.
Eternity...continual, endless, everlasting, incessant, interminable, perpetual, unending...undying.
I use to think I knew what eternity meant. I had believed in love and fairytale endings...believed in hope...
And as it turns out...I wasn't so naïve after all. Because this...
.
My love,
You are the center of my life,
the dearest friend and lover there could be.
When all the world is crazy and confusing,
you are my calm and my security...
I look into your eyes and find my soul mate
I hear your voice and never feel alone
Beside you, I believe in love unending,
and feel the deepest joy I've ever known.
.
This is my eternity.
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AN:
*Sniffle* The epilogue is all that is left folks. I hope you liked it!
The poem is actually from a hallmark card I bought for my husband - author unknown.
Like it? Love it? Hate it? Please take a moment to review and let me know what you thought – your feedback matters to me and keeps me writing! ;)