EPILOGUE

Edward and Isabella stood side by side under a cloudless sky and watched as their friend's collapsed one by one. Alice went first, as was to be expected. Her high-pitched cries were muffled into Jasper's shoulder as he bent down to join her on the porch steps and to hold her while they grieved. Tanya sank more slowly, gathering her skirts under her trembling legs. She held onto the railing for support as the strength left her body and the sobbing overtook her. The rest of the boys, they scattered. Fists to their teeth, eyes to the sky, they kicked and swore and blotted at their red eyes with the backs of their wrists. Isabella had wanted to be the one to break the news, to say the awful words, but Edward insisted that it come from him. He knew she wanted to protect him; to be the one to face the brunt of their wrath once the crying subsided and they had time to fully process what happened.

"It's my fault he's gone. Let me tell them, Edward. Let me take responsibility for what I have done."

But of course he wouldn't listen. As far as he was concerned she had been through enough pain to last ten lifetimes. She had traded her happiness for his safety on numerous occasions. He had followed her when she told him to stay away and Alex had forced his hand and refused to let him give up his fight for her. For them.

Here they stood, together hand in hand. They had won. Alex's death hadn't been for naught. In Edward's eyes and heart, Isabella's penance had ended.

And after all, there wasn't much that needed be said. The wobbly screen door of the house he once called home creaked open at the sight of their arrival on the lawn. The household shuffled onto the porch with stunned expressions of elation at the sight of the weary travelers who had been gone so long, only to be confronted with drawn faces still wearing traces of grief, forcing them to acknowledge that one member of the group was missing.

There was only one question that hung in the air half-asked.

"Where's – ?"

On the outside the house looked the same: peeled paint, cock-eyed shutters, bent foundation. But once they stepped foot indoors Edward sensed the dramatic transformation that had taken place in his absence. It wasn't immediately obvious to the untrained eye, the eye that hadn't spent day and night within its walls. It was in the texture of the air; in the nature of the dust particles that swirled in errant directions.

"Things have changed," he muttered to no one in particular.

"You noticed," Tanya replied, heading for the cabinet and a familiar teacup. "We had to."

"Why?"

"Men came for money. Money we didn't have." Because you left and took two salaries with you. "So we had to give them what we did have."

Edward looked through the doorframe of the kitchen into the living room and scanned the inventory. It was a massive room now, without...

"The radio." We used to dance around it.

And…

"The piano. Shit, Tanya you let them take the piano?"

"Let them? Jesus, Edward, it was stolen anyway. And who was going to play it with you gone? Jacob?" she laughed. She put the kettle on and lit the flame. Edward paced in a daze through the room where he had spent so many –

"Oh god the turntable. They took the records as well? What have you been doing to pass the time?"

"I read. Alice knits. The boys...well, they're gone a lot. Working odd jobs."

Edward sat at the kitchen table now, his head in his hands, his fingers raking through his long, unruly hair in need of a washing. His thoughts grew dark. He'd left them. His friends, his family. He'd left them without a thought as to how they would survive, how they would carry on without him. He was a monster.

"I'm so sorry, Tanya. I never thought…I didn't think about how our absence would effect…"

Tanya's touch brought him back.

"No. None of this maudlin behavior, my dear. You've come back to us. You're safe. Don't think we ever forgot how you've always been there. How every morning you would get up and go to work, whether it was light or dark, raining or snowing, whether you were sick or tired, and how every night you came back and put your wages on the table without a word." She gripped his hand and stared into his eyes with meaning. "You saved us every day. It was time for us to learn what it would be like without you. And learn we did, that's for certain."

Isabella's heart ached at the scene playing out in front of her. She squeezed herself more into the corner between the cabinet and the stove so they wouldn't realize she was there watching and listening to their mutual confessions.

"It was Alex, too. When he wasn't sick he worked harder than us all."

"He was dying, Edward."

"We're all dying," Edward snorted rudely.

"He was dying faster than us all."

"What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly. The one time we got him to go to the hospital and the other time when the doctor visited here. …Consumption, Edward. Tuberculosis?"

"Why did no one tell me for sure?"

"Why do you think?"

"Did he know?"

She nodded.

Alice glided into the room with Jasper in tow. She looked like she'd just seen a ghost.

"There's a boy outside. Standing in the drive. He looks lost."

Isabella twirled around to look out the window. Her eyes widened and her heart raced at the sight of the disheveled dark-haired boy with the faded rucksack on his shoulder.

"He's here. He's come," she said to herself, her fingers gripping the counter. Then louder, with joy. "He's here! Edward, he's come after all!"

Edward launched from his chair and joined her at the window. He nosed into her hair, making her giggle, and kissed her warm temple. She was right. He'd come.

"Who, Edward? Who is it?" Alice insisted.

He turned to her with Isabella's hand in his own, bringing her knuckles to his lips and kissing them before answering.

"Garrett."

"I wasn't going to come. I never thought I'd make it. It's so different here. The language and…" He attempted to bring the mug to his lips without spilling it all over the table with shaking hands. "I followed you most of the way, from a distance. I didn't want you to know I was there, in case I wanted to bail out and go back. Which I did. Twice. But I never made it to the border before turning back. There's nothing in London for me now. Nothing without him. Everything reminds me."

"Wait a tic. Is he talking about Alex?" Tanya asked without a speck of sarcasm, which only served to make the table erupt in the first sounds of laughter since they'd arrived.

"Yes he's talking about Alex, Tan," Edward clarified once he'd caught his breath. Isabella was practically sitting in his lap, her arms around his neck, her head resting on his strong shoulder.

"Our Ally had quite the effect on him. I daresay it was love at first sight for them both." Edward whispered the rest of his thought in Isabella's ear. "Something I'm all too familiar with, my eternal love."

Isabella hummed and sighed in his perfect ear, "Same."

"They were in love?" Alice asked from her spot at the table next to Jasper.

"I was," Garrett answered without pause. "There was nothing about him that I didn't love. Nothing that would have kept me away from his side for a moment."

What was there to say in response to a sentiment like that? Would it be rude to join in? Ruder to remain quiet? Edward tightened his grip around Isabella's waist. Held her closer, ever closer, never close enough. Jasper leaned in and kissed the shell of Alice's ear.

Tanya finally spoke. "You can stay for as long as you like. Forever. You have his room."

"Pardon? …Alex's room? Where he…slept?"

"Among other things," she winked.

"Are you sure it's…I mean, he was your…I wouldn't want…"

"We're sure," Alice interrupted. "It would be a shame for it to lay empty."

"None of us could ever take it," Tanya added, with a sideways glance in Edward's direction.

"Thank you," Garrett answered with tears in his eyes.

...

It was dark in the house. A familiar quiet lay all around her. She was in Edward's room again. In his bed with his sleeping body next to hers lightly snoring. She counted each of his ribs as they stretched and shortened under his perfect pale skin. Being with him, naked with him, free - it was bliss just like she remembered. He still slept on his back with one arm slung over his head. The other draped over his chest. Her place was curled up against his side, their legs tangled, the steady breath from his nostrils in her hair. It was all so fucking beautiful and perfect. She would never leave him again. They would never be apart. This exquisite man was hers and he loved her with all this heart.

Tears trickled down her cheek and she wiped them quickly away, unsure where they'd come from. She sat up and hugged her knees to her chest; the overwhelming urge to sob had startled her. She couldn't go back to that place where she woke up alone and afraid. It's ok, Isabella, you're safe, she told herself. He's here. He hasn't gone.

She dressed and closed the bedroom door behind her without a sound and padded down the hall towards the kitchen.

The light was on as it often was. One of the boys must have forgotten to shut it.

Usually Alex.

Tanya was at the stove in her nightgown and slippers.

"Hello, Isabella," she said without turning. "You're up."

"I can't sleep."

"Laying next to Edward I'm not surprised," she said under her breath, but Isabella caught the words and her tone. Tanya walked to the table with a single mug of tea.

"Me either," she added, blowing on the steam. "Sleep, that is." Her shockingly blond hair was pulled back from her face in a loose bun. Her face was flawless, her skin pink and clean. How was it that she remained single in a house full of men? Unless…

"Tanya," Isabella began, suddenly nervous to ask a question that had been hanging around like an elephant in the room. "You and Edward…have you two…ever…well, I suppose it's none of my…nevermind."

"Isabella, are you about to ask me what I think you're about to ask me?" She was laughing now, her hand over her mouth to mute the sound. "Sweetie, I am the last person Edward has ever had any interest in."

"But you're beautiful. More than beautiful."

"When have looks had anything to do with who Edward falls in love with? When has that been part of his criteria? You know him better than that," Tanya scolded sweetly. "And if it were, have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? You've got us all beat."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult you –"

"Darling, let me tell you a story about what the world was like before you ever knew there was a man called Edward Cullen." She pursed her lips and smirked. "Once upon a time there was Alex and Edward, and then there was everyone else. The End."

Isabella smiled meekly. Yeah, she could see that.

"When they broke up, the female species jumped for joy. Then you came along and everything changed. Edward Cullen was once again off the market and the window had closed for good. You're it, my dear. There will never be anyone else for him."

"Did you try? To be with Edward. After Alex and before me?"

"No baby, I didn't try. I'm more the suffer in silence type." Tanya kept her emotions close to the hip with even her closest friends. There was no way in hell she'd divulge to Isabella the extremely private and more than mildly embarrassing conversation with Edward where she professed her undying...whatever it was…to him before he left for London.

I don't want to lose you. I can't. I don't know what I'd do if I never saw you again.

"I see the way the boys look at you," Isabella went on. "Paul and Sam, and especially Jake."

"Nonsense."

"It's true. They adore you."

"Why are you saying this to me?"

"I, uh…I don't know. Isn't this how girls talk?"

"Is it?"

"I don't know. I've never had a real girlfriend before. Never had a friend period, before Edward."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Tanya smiled sadly. As much as she wanted to and as much as she still wished she could – she did not dislike Isabella Swan. Oh there was a time when she blamed her for everything - for having Edward in all the ways she wanted him, for putting him in danger, for taking him away. There was a moment or two when she absolutely loathed the stuck-up nymphish dancer traitor who had weaseled her way into their lives.

But now, this night, sitting in the warm kitchen that had seen more drama between its walls than Versailles, they were just two women with two separate pasts that were now forever connected.

"Please don't hate me," Isabella said softly.

"You're just a girl, Isabella. A girl who has had terrible things happen to her, and wonderful things, too. How could I hate you?"

"I told Edward it would be better if I didn't come back here. That you wouldn't understand. That you would blame me for Alex. That you should blame me. We didn't even bring his body back. We couldn't..."

"There wasn't anything you could have done to stop Alex from doing anything where Edward was concerned. Alex loved Edward so much. And Edward loves you and that's all that matters to us. It's all that mattered to Alex, too, believe it or not. We had our battles, Alex and I, and they've always been over Edward."

"Why?"

"When Edward gives his heart, he gives it fully. When he wants to be with someone, he wants to be with only that person and no one else. That's why Edward hasn't had many relationships. When he gives his heart, he takes it seriously. Just as seriously as when someone gives him theirs. It's heavy, and it's not for everyone. It definitely wasn't for Alex's wandering eyes. As deeply as he was in love with Edward, he didn't have that mechanism that allowed him to fight off temptation."

Isabella puffed out the long breath she'd been holding and shook her head in disbelief. "I can't imagine anyone or anything better than Edward."

"Well believe me, my dear, he feels the same about you. ...Isabella? You're shaking."

She hadn't noticed it. Maybe because it had lately become a part of her daily life. The shakes, shallow breaths, quick jolts of intense fear that shot her upright and sent her eyes darting to and fro.

"I'm sorry, it's still so real, so close. It's easier when Edward is next to me."

"Will you tell me what happened?" Tanya's eyes were kind and Isabella could see nothing in them that should keep her from talking. She took a deep breath and began.

London

Edward picked up a discarded copy of The Illustrated London News out of a trash bin, cringing when he saw the front page: a detailed drawing of the horror at the riverfront. Tears pricked his eyes but he willed himself not to cry in the street in broad daylight, not even as he stared down at the flames and charred remains depicted in black and white. It was a fine drawing of the Thames. Very lifelike, very real, but he had his own pictures, colorful ones complete with sound and smell whenever he closed his eyes.

He folded the newspaper under his arm and bought an apple from a street vendor. He would read the article. He would show it to Isabella. They would put it in the pile with the others they had collected over the last few days.

Edward had been released from the hospital that same night with barely a handful of stitches needed to close the wound from where Demetri's bullet grazed his temple. Garrett's arm would be in a sling for a few weeks while his shoulder healed. Isabella's split lip from Felix's boot and her swollen jaw from the same were cleaned and would heal on their own. They were all free to go by morning light.

"Are we going to be arrested?" Garrett asked as they were about to part ways. "We shouldn't have come here. Three bloody people walk into a hospital not far from where a fucking massacre just took place? I think the authorities are on their way."

"It was either that or we bled to death. There's no hiding what happened, no matter what Alex says - - said," Edward corrected.

"What did he say?" Garrett's eyes were still bloodshot from crying. To say it had been a painful few hours for the mild-mannered young man would be an understatement, but he was doing his best to be strong. After all, that's what Alex would have wanted.

"He said we should run. Go into hiding. I shot Romanoff and –"

"No one knows that," Isabella interrupted, squeezing Edward's hand in hers. "No one will ever know for sure what happened out there. And it doesn't matter. I will go to the police and the press. They will believe what I say. And I won't run. I won't hide. I won't pretend or be scared anymore. I want this to be over and I want us to go home."

"But there were witnesses. At the theater. They saw me," Garrett insisted.

"No, they saw me being kidnapped by a man. Any man. And unless I identify you, you could have been anyone. I was threatened. You and Edward saved me. That's the story and it's not a lie. You are both heroes."

...

HEROES!

Isabella giggled at the headline in her lap. "That's a new one." She turned the thin, yellowed page with a sigh.

"Well? Isn't it the truth?" the handsome man stretched out next to her asked sweetly. He pulled her petite body across his bare chest and hummed as she read.

"Mmm, it says here that you took a bullet for me." She stroked her fingers lightly through his fine chest hair.

"Also true." He pushed down the strap of her nightgown and cupped her breast. Then he kissed her shoulder once, twice. "What do you want to do today?" The sun was shining. There was no reason to stay inside.

"Mmm," she pondered, her long brown hair splayed across his chest. 'You're not going to like it."

"Tell me."

"I want to make love."

"Ah, and remind me why I'm not going to like that?" he laughed.

"It's what I want us to do after that you're not going to like."

"We're not going to lay here on sticky soiled sheets all day? Our spent bodies mingling with our shared bodily fluids?"

"Mister Cullen, you have such a way with words. Must be all that tutelage you received from a certain - " She stopped her words short of saying that name.

"It's alright," Edward assured her. "We can speak of him. He needn't be erased from memory."

She turned on her stomach, her perky nipples tracing his skin. "Can I tell you something?"

"Anything."

"I'm going to miss him."

Edward ran the tips of his fingers down her soft porcelain cheek and silently sent a word of thanks to heaven, where he knew Alex now lived. Thank you Alexander. For this moment with Isabella and for all the rest to come.

"I know," he answered finally. "Now, back to what you would like to do after we make love which, by the way, I would like to begin doing at once."

She laughed and inhaled the fresh scent of his skin. "I want to finish packing."

...

"Mr. Romanoff has many outstanding balances and many anxious debt collectors throughout Europe and beyond. If necessary, his properties will be put up for auction but once everyone is paid, the rest is yours."

"Mine? The rest?"

"You were his, ehm, companion, yes? His brother Felix, who is now deceased, was his only living relative eligible for inheritance. The government will tax their share and, as I said, the remainder will be left to you. It won't be much but you have many pretty dresses, yes? And I'd imagine many valuable jewels? You'll do well, Miss Swan. Much better than most. There are difficult times to come."

...

"You really want to return to Moscow?" Edward asked. "We could stay here in London. You made your statement to the police. Remember what they said? Demetri had many enemies. The investigation will prove that the incident on the riverbank was a business transaction gone wrong, of which you were the bait. Nothing can be traced back to us. We're free. You can dance here and I'll find a job -"

"What about Alice? And Tanya and the others? What about your brother and Rosalie and the baby? I don't want to live in this flat. It's his. It reminds me of him, of my old life, the life you saved me from."

He hovered over her, caging her inside his lean, muscular arms, pressing her deep into the satin sheets and down pillows. Slowly he ran his nose over the the warm pulse in her neck causing her to shiver and let out a moan.

"Save me again," she whispered, spreading her legs underneath him. He fell in between them, rhythmically grinding his long hard flesh along her wet slit.

"Always," he shuddered, aligning his glistening tip with her entrance. "I'll always be here."

"Anywhere?" she gasped, feeling him slowly push inside.

"Everywhere," he swore and with a rough thrust he entered her for the third time that day and she gasped and bowed her back to meet him again and it was fast and slow in all the right places. Their sweat slickened their movements. Her breasts rose as she gasped for breath and he dipped his head to lick in between her cleavage and each pink nipple he sucked and tongued and making love turned into frantic fucking. Her nails dug into his back and he loved the pain and the marks they made. He loved her tight pussy and how she moaned as he claimed it again and again with the knowledge that it was forever his. He pounded into her, rock hard and unyielding and she came violently, screaming as though she were in pain but he was nowhere near done. He slid his hands under her ass and her orgasm ripped through her a second time. She fisted his hair and kissed him and his taste was enough to tip her over the edge a third time.

"Oh god, Isabella. I felt that. I feel you coming." And he knew he was next. It had been so long since he had been with her this way. The soft texture of her skin sliding against his, her complete devotion to his power as he fucked her, the heat in her eyes as she loved every second of it. How had she gone without him for so long? How had she managed to wade through each day in a world where he lived where they were not together? Dance. It was all she had and even that hadn't been enough. It had been movement and theory but it hadn't been heart. It hadn't been trust and it hadn't been passion. Her passion was here, now, inside her, moving, throbbing, guiding, leading, filling her with his life.

...

"Bella."

"Yes?"

"Bella."

"Edward?"

"Bella."

"Edward, I'm here. Honey, you're dreaming, my love," she cooed in his warm ear. "Wake up if you want to see me." His eyes fluttered open. A grin spread across his sleepy face at the sight of Isabella hovering above him.

"Hi, sleepy head," she whispered, placing a peck on his lips. "Do you always talk in your sleep? Y'know, you've never called me Bella before."

"I do in my dreams."

"And do I answer?"

He laughed lightly and nodded. "Yes. You like it."

"I bet I do. I like anything that comes from that mouth." She pressed her index finger to his lips and sighed. "Now go back to sleep. Finish your dream. You're exhausted."

He smiled, his lids still half shut but he didn't let go. "Be mine."

"I already am, you silly boy."

"Be with me, always."

"As if there were anywhere better," she kidded, snuggling into his side, her arm around his waist.

"Forever?"

"Yes," she giggled. He could go on like this all night. Half-asleep Edward rambling on and on about nothing.

"Prove it."

"Prove what?"

"Prove to me that you'll be mine forever. Be my wife."

Moscow, the present

"He asked you to be his wife?"

"Yes."

"And then you said - ?"

"I'll be his anything."


aaaaand I'm going to end it there, folks. I could go on and on indefinitely but you've all been more than patient with me throughout this journey and I'm so thankful to you all for joining me as I purged this story from my system. if you liked this story, pls rec it to your friends and allow it to live on. xoxo.