I'm sure you don't want the excuses- writers' block and finishing high school- so I'll just let you read. Sorry if this didn't turn out well- I really really tried, which is another reason it took so long.

Chapter 36 Grasping

Bella's POV

The park we were in was beautiful; the rare Forks sunlight lit it up, making it look alive and happy, while the white and purple wild flowers were in full bloom around me. But what really completed the picture was Edward standing by the swings- a little way from me- with a huge smile on his face as he held the little girl. She had her father's bronze hair and musical laugh. Our child. It must have been- nothing else could explain the giant wave of love that hit me when I looked at her. A giant grin spread over my face, and as I took a step towards them, to be with my family, everything suddenly changed.

I watched, frozen and helpless, as Jacob jumped from the bushes with a machine gun in hand. I watched as the sun and flowers disappeared and the rain and thunder started around me. I watched the smiles disappear from both the toddler, and her fathers faces'.

And then I watched as Jacob Black killed them- way to easily.

Both of my reasons for living. Gone.

Everything was silent for a long moment, the world seemed as if it was frozen…..and then I screamed, screamed so loudly, the people two states over must have heard me…

"Bella!"

The voice should have been familiar, but I was concentrating too hard on the limp figures in front of me to really care.

It wasn't until I felt some one shaking me that my eyes flew open and the dreadful scene disappeared to become my bedroom, and a very concerned Edward leaning over me.

But he was alive.

And it had all been a terrible dream, I realised with a sob of relief.

"Shh, love. You're okay." Warm arms wrapped around me and I turned my head, crying freely into my husband's chest, feeling the love and comfort that he radiated.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Edward asked softly when I'd calmed down.

I breathed a shaky breath, "You and our child were killed." I whispered, shuddering.

Edward immediately clasped me tighter, "I'm right here, love. And our baby is fine." He murmured, stroking my hair.

I relaxed into his arms, reality coming back to my brain, "I'm sorry for waking you." I told him.

"Don't be silly Bella." He said before pulling back and studying me for a long moment, "Are you okay? I'm still waiting for you to go into shock from earlier." He grinned, though it didn't quite reach his eyes in his concern for me, "Most normal people would be."

I pulled a tongue at him, "You've known for a long time that I'm not normal."

He shrugged in admission and his grin widened before he sobered again, still waiting for an answer.

I sighed, "I'll be okay." I told him sincerely, shyly, "I feel safe with you, like nothing in the world can touch me. It's always been like that."

His face softened and he nodded, "It makes me so happy to hear that, Bella, because it's true- I want nothing more than to have you feel safe with me." He tilted my chin up so that my eyes were locked with his, and then his hand gently slid down my cheek, down my throat, to rest on my chest- just above my heart.

We stayed like that for a long moment, our gaze never breaking until Edward dipped his head further so that his mouth touched mine lovingly. My lips parted against his and the kiss deepened, me totally losing myself in him, until his lips brushed a trail up to my ear and he whispered, "Happy Birthday, by the way."

My eyes flew open and darted quickly to the clock behind him and I groaned, flopping back down on the bed as I saw it was just after one in the morning. The morning of my birthday.

"Moment ruined." I muttered, throwing my arm over my face.

I heard Edward chuckle a moment before I felt him tugging gently on my arm, "Bella." He murmured seductively, "Don't hide from me love."

"Well then don't mention my birthday." I grumbled, moving my arm away to glare at him.

His grin only widened, "The pregnancy hormones are only going to make you grumpier this year." He mused.

I kept silent before sighing and opening my arms for him, "How about you shut up and give me a happy birthday kiss?" I suggested, trying to hide my smile.

He leaned down and quickly pecked my lips before pulling away again. I pouted, making him chuckle. "Later." He said with a voice fill of promise, "But seeing as we're awake, I thought you might want your gift."

I started to frown before I realised what that meant.

The Port Angeles mystery would finally be solved.

Edward grinned as he saw the realisation and excitement fill my eyes. "Come on, love." He stood and held a hand out to me so that he could lead me to the lounge, where he made me sit on the sofa while he retrieved my gift.

The small wrapped package he handed me was flat and square and I eagerly tore open the brightly wrapped paper, ignoring Edward's chuckles and comment about it being the first time he's seen me actually excited about a gift. I stared at the object in my hands for a moment as I traced my fingers over the plastic casing. It was a CD- that much was obvious, but what I didn't understand is why the album was named 'My Bella' and why Edward's name and middle name appeared as the composers name at the bottom.

"You were the inspiration for most of the songs on here." Edward said quietly from next to me, "It was only fair that I named the album after you."

Then I understood.

"You recorded a CD?" I gasped, my eyes flying up to meet his.

He nodded with an almost shy smile, "I was contacted by a record label in Port Angeles that had heard some of my stuff and wanted to know if I would like to compose an album."

I gaped at him for a moment before it all sunk in and I threw my arms around his neck, "I'm so proud of you!" I exclaimed, kissing him soundly.

He chuckled and squeezed my waist before letting go, "Do you want to listen to it?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes and bolted out of my seat to the living room stereo and putting the CD in the slot.

While I waited for it to read the disc, I took a moment to study the cover art of the jewel case; a single black grand piano rested in the middle of the dark background and the top was covered in red roses.

"How come you only used your first and middle name?" I asked him curiously as my mind finally registered that fact.

Edward came up behind me, "Well now that my name is a bit more out there, I wanted to keep a bit more anonymity, so I just used Edward Anthony without Cullen." He smiled and motioned for me to press play.

I did.

I sat there listening to every single song on the CD- I was silent and every time Edward made a move to speak, I held up my hand to tell him to keep quiet. Every song, whether it was fast or slow, had an amazing undertone of love to it- love for his music, love for his work, love for me… it was all there and when the player hit the last track of the CD, the happy tears that I was already dangerously close to, overflowed down my cheeks. Because Edward was singing the most beautiful love song I'd ever heard- I'd thought that his singing had made my knees weak before, but it was nothing compared to now, as I vaguely recognised the tune that I'd heard him practising that one late night. It was amazing and brilliant and I didn't think I'd ever comprehend how much I loved this man.

When the room became silent again, I threw myself into my husband's arms again, and just let the happy tears take control.

"That was amazing. You're amazing. Thank you." I whispered, pulling his face down to mine so that I could kiss him passionately.

Edward pulled away slightly and gazed into my eyes- a moment of love and happiness passing between us, "Happy Birthday, my love." He murmured, and then kissed me again.

*****

I let out a loud sigh of relief as soon as we pulled out of the police station parking lot that afternoon.

"Ready to head home, I take it?" Edward grinned and reached over to squeeze my hand.

I rested my head back against the headrest, "You have no idea. It's been a busy day."

Indeed it had. We'd woken up again this morning and immediately headed over to the hospital to see if everything was okay with me and the baby and that no complications had arisen during the night. I had been so relieved when there was nothing wrong, it had almost been painful- there's no way I could handle losing another child, especially after knowing how excited Edward was.

After that, we'd headed over to the police station so I could give my statement. I'd then found out things that had nearly made my jaw drop wide open: Victoria had been responsible for the chain of murders from Seattle. Apparently her boyfriend had died a few months ago, and instead of seeking professional help after a breakdown, she'd turned to killing people that she found to be 'too happy with life'.

The worst news, however, had to have been about Jacob. They'd tested him and had found that he'd been on drugs, and then on further inspection- the police had found a crystal meth lab in his old garage at home. He'd been on the drugs since just before we'd broken up. It explained his erratic behaviour the night before, heck, it explained everything! Why he'd become so cruel and erratic at the end of our relationship, why the change in his personality had been so drastic. I felt guilty- I'd cared about him. I should have known.

I saw Edward glance at me a few times as he drove, and I hoped that he wouldn't guess what I was thinking or even ask me- the last thing I wanted was for him to doubt my love for him now that we knew what we knew about Jake.

"Talk to me, Bella." He eventually said in concern, "You've had some big news- don't shut me out."

I sighed- he was going to make me talk to him eventually, so… "I feel guilty." I said softly, staring straight ahead out of the windscreen.

The next thing I knew, the car was veering off gently to the side as Edward pulled over onto the shoulder, and his hand was on my upper arm, urging me to look at him.

"What on earth do you have to feel guilty about in all this?" he asked in disbelief.

I finally looked at him, "I should have known." I said, "I was his girlfriend, before that, his friend! I should've realised…" I trailed off and to my horror; I felt tears well up in my eyes, one falling down my cheek.

"Bella…" Edward said gently. Much to my relief, he didn't sound hurt or angry, "You couldn't have known, love. He was hurting you even then and it was the only time I've seen you have a little self preservation." He grimaced, "I'm glad you didn't stick around, as unpredictable as he is now…" Edward cringed and pulled me to him so that he was resting his forehead on mine, "Please don't feel guilty, my love. He doesn't deserve it, put him in our past."

I sighed and nodded, he was right- after he tried to take my baby away, he didn't deserve it.

Edward kissed me briefly, lovingly and then started the car again.

"I can't believe you've been working with a murderer all these months." Edward said, his jaw tense as he stared ahead at the road, "It scares the living daylights out of me to think you were that close…" he closed his eyes briefly, not being able to complete the thought out loud.

In truth, the thought did freak me out a bit, but she would be locked up for a good, long while so I knew I had nothing to worry about, "But I'm fine." I said gently, "Thank goodness Jasper had those panic buttons installed on our phones."

Edward didn't relax, "But last night shouldn't have even happened! If I'd been there, or not taken the job in Port Angeles then you wouldn't have been all alone."

He was doing the exact thing that I was doing- blaming himself, only his was completely unwarranted.

"Please, Edward. Don't." I pleaded, "It wasn't your fault at all, you couldn't have known- I didn't. Besides, I love that you took the job in Port Angeles now that I know why." I beamed, still ridiculously proud of my composer husband.

He relaxed slightly and shot me a smile, "For the record, I hated keeping it from you for so long. I love you, Bella."

I smiled and finally allowed my thoughts to relax and be happy, "I love you too."

But as we pulled into our driveway and I saw the familiar cars parked around, I tensed, groaned and turned to Edward, "What did you do?"

"Blame Alice." He smiled too innocently- which led me to believe that Alice definitely wasn't the only one I was blaming, "It's your twenty first- at first Alice wanted something bigger, but I convinced her to keep it just her and Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett."

Okay, so maybe I'd let him off the hook.

"Happy Birthday, Bella! I brought the alcohol!" was the first thing I heard when I walked through our front door and spotted our friends all camped out in the living room already, "So let's celebrate!" Emmett, of course.

Alice turned to him, hands on her hips, "Emmett Cullen, did you ever consider that Bella and I can't drink? And Jasper and Edward better stay sober with us, or so help them…"

We all laughed at Alice's rant, except for Emmett who looked a little frightened.

"Want if I want to drink?" Edward teased me- I knew he was only teasing because number 1, he didn't drink and number 2, I think mine and Alice's combined pregnancy hormones scared him.

I narrowed my eyes at him and was about to respond, when Rosalie beat me to it, "Careful Edward, or there'll be no birthday sex for you- even if it is her birthday."

I blushed, making Edward chuckle and kiss me quickly

"Alright Alright!" Emmett decided to intervene with a roll of his eyes, "I did actually bring pregnancy friendly drinks too, which I would've told you about if you hadn't interrupted me." He gave Alice a pointed look and a wink, "So you guys owe me, preferably your first born sons!"

We all smirked at him, definitely highly amused.

"As long as you're looking after them." Rosalie said with a snort.

Emmett pulled a face, "Okay, scratch that, never ending gratitude will do- now everyone shut up and let us drink to the birthday girl!"

It was happy times like these that made me really not mind my birthday. I loved my crazy family and wouldn't give them up for the world.

*****

Edward approached me from across the living room after letting our friends out for the night.

His eyes were smouldering and his smile teasing as he said, "How about some of that birthday sex?" his grin widened, "I never got any on my birthday, after all."

I rolled my eyes and tried to hide my grin, "You've got to be the least sexually deprived man alive." I scoffed, taking a step towards him and wrapping my arms around his neck.

He raised an eyebrow and leaned in to kiss me softly, making me shiver, "Is that so?" he murmured against my lips, "Care to prove that?"

Edward kissed me very deeply then- not waiting for an answer- his teeth teasingly nibbling my bottom lip. My breathing hitched and I moaned softly.

"Happy Birthday, Bella." He whispered, picking me up to carry me to our room, "I love you my best friend. Forever." Words were no longer needed then- it was the same for me and I showed him.

This is the last chapter guys! Only an epilogue to come- I know I'm going to get some hate mail for that :-) Lol! So how did you guys find New Moon? I thought it was better directed than Twilight and more like the book. I lost all my friends to Team Jacob though, unfortunately!!!! :-)

I just want to use this boring AN to thank my reviewers, especially the regulars, you guys are all awesome and have given me more support for this story than I ever dreamed- I aimed at getting 1000 reviews and I'm over 2000! :-)

Randomgirl18 is hosting a Twilight one shot competition that ends on the 5 Dec, if you're interested- link is on my profile, as well as the story I wrote for it, called 'Haunted Miracles.'

Ok I'm done waffling now :-)

Please review?