A/N: So, I consolidated a lot of the hospital scenes into this chapter, because (and this is just purely my opinion) the hospitals scenes are super boring, and I just don't like Renee as a character. Also, hope you liked the excuse they came up for with Beau's accident! With that, hope you enjoy!
Beau
The weeks following my release from the hospital are… tense. Charlie, who had no choice but to believe the car story, has decided to suspend my license until I can prove to him that I can be a responsible driver.
The rest of spring break is spent at home, fielding texts and FaceTime calls from my friends. The story of the accident spreads and everyone checks in with me.
Bella and Alice come over a few times to keep me company, usually when Edward has to hunt. We watch movies and I discover Bella's fondness for superhero movies, something we share. Alice… tolerates them.
We explain to her about the hunter's past with her and all three of us take to the internet, trying to find out what we can about human Alice. We tell my dad it's a history project and his approval rating of Alice and Bella soar.
I resolve to spend more time with Charlie too, to make reparations for the day and a half he spent unconscious. He writes it off as a bad head cold, thankfully, and doesn't press the issue. I keep him company on the nights he brings his work home, listening to him work on theories for what happened to the dead men the nomads left behind.
Charlie despises not being able to solve the cases, and takes the losses personally, so I try to keep his spirits up. I owe him that much at least.
My nights are spent with Edward, who's over as soon as Charlie's door closes. He was reluctant at first, strange and hesitant with me, but as I healed, he began to come back to himself. He scared me, before at the hospital, with all that talk of leaving me.
When I'd finally seen my mother, she'd told me the news about Phil, how he'd rejected Topeka and decided to sign to the Florida Suns. She told me all about the house they were looking at, the chance of magnets schools, and all her excitement in general.
I love my mother, dearly and ardently, but the idea of leaving Forks was too much to bear. Charlie needed me, and I couldn't even fathom being away from Edward. Of course, my mother being my mother, she'd sussed out immediately how in love I was, pressing me for details. I gave her enough to appease her and convince her that pulling me out of Forks was a bad call.
Then, Edward had scared me with talk of staying away from me, like that would make me feel better. I remember panicking, and the heart monitor going wild. I had only calmed when I made him swear to me that he wasn't going anywhere.
I think a lot about the conversation we had at the hospital, especially Edward's refusal to finish what James had started. To him, vampirism was a curse, something he wouldn't wish on his worst enemies, but to me, it was the only way I could sure Edward and I could stay together forever.
I think about even now, as I hurry through my nightly routine. Brushing my teeth and washing my face is easy, but showering is more of a fiasco. Charlie, thinking two steps ahead, already had a shower chair ready to go when I got home from the hospital. Granted, there had been an uncomfortable learning curve, but I had the hang of it now.
I shower quick, scrubbing my hair thoroughly. Dressing is a little harder, so I just leave it at a pair of boxers and a tee-shirt.
When I get back to my room, Edward is already there, sprawled out on the bed and waiting. The sight of him makes my throat a little dry.
"Hey," he says, opening his arms. I hurry into them, pressing myself tight against him. It's an unusually warm May night, especially for Forks, but that just gives me another excuse to hold tight.
"Hi," I mumble, pressing a kiss to his jaw. Edward's cool fingers card through my hair, loving and slow. I hum softly in pleasure.
"How was your day?" he asks. Another of Charlie's new rules was that Edward could only be over for a few hours every day. He thought Edward was a bad influence, but in reality, it was me. I couldn't help myself, desperately needing to be close to him.
"Better, now," I say, my voice much lower than usual. I straighten myself along the line of his body, grabbing his chin and tilting so I could kiss him. Edward smiles into the kiss, cupping my face and pulling me closer. His hands migrated to grab my hips and suddenly, I was thankful for the cold of his body. We kiss a little while longer before Edwards away, his thumb sweeping wide arcs over my cheekbone.
"Beau," he says softly, reverently.
"Edward," I echo.
"I want to ask you something," he says, sitting up. I stay where I am, admiring the lines his body creates.
"What?"
"Beau Swan," he starts, a devilish smile on his perfect lips. My heartbeat accelerates and my throat goes bone dry. Christ. "Will you go to prom with me?"
For a moment, I'm stunned at the question. Prom? Me, already uncoordinated as fuck, with a boot, dancing at prom? The imagine was laughable.
"Are you serious?" I ask. Maybe it'll have been a joke. Maybe Edward will laugh, stroke my face, and promise he won't ever make me do something as corny as that.
Of course, there's no such luck.
"As a judge," he says. "So, what do you say?"
"Christ, Edward," I sigh, flattening myself against the bed. "Prom?"
"A very important human rite of passage," Edward continues, unable to keep from laughing a little at the situation. "You can't miss it."
"Abject humiliation is another human rite of passage and I think I've already gotten enough of that with the boot," I say. I could barely walk the halls anymore without bumping into people or stumbling. The boot was clunky and uncomfortable.
"Do you think I would ever let anything bad happen to you again?" Edward asks, solemn now.
"Edward," I groan.
"All your friends are going. They're having a dress up party at my house, even," Edward says. In truth, I'd already been invited to the pre-prom party. Bella had promised me that no one would try and make me over, not even Alice, and that I could DJ. It was pretty tempting, without the whole prom part.
"Edward," I groan again, rolling over to hide.
"Think of me, then," he offers. "In a suit. In a Hugo Boss suit. Alice says I cut a very impressive figure in it." That, too, was tempting.
"Do I have to dance?" I ask.
"I'd like it very much if you would. Just one song. I'll be holding onto you the whole time." I glance up at him, taking in his eager face. He looks sweet, boyishly excited. It makes me want to give in.
"The whole time?"
"I promise I won't let you go," he assures me. I smile, shaking my head at myself. I can't believe I'm agreeing to this.
"So, uh," I say, sidling up to him. "Are we going to do after-prom?" I waggle my eyebrows for effect. Edward snorts, taking on a prim air.
"What sort of boy do you take me for, Beau? I am a respectable young man," he teases. I scoff, fisting his collar and yanking him down. He goes easily, molding himself to me and kissing me earnestly.
"Fine," I say, breathless, between kisses. "I'll go to prom with you."
"I can't wait," Edward says, somehow equally as breathless. We kiss and kiss until my eyelids begin to droop. Edward tucks me against his side, bundling me in the blanket. He strokes my hair until I fall asleep.
Prom. The things I do for love.
The next week is a flurry of prom-related activity. In a strange turn of events, Bella agrees to go with Eric Yorkie, which no one saw coming. I think it was just because everyone else was paired off, and Eric had taken to following Bella like an eager puppy. I'd assumed that she'd go with Jake, but when I'd tried to ask her about it, she'd refused to even talk about it.
Wisely, I'd let the topic go.
Alice had procured a multitude of suits for me, and I'd been forced to model each one so she could pick out the best complement to Edward's suit. It wouldn't matter what I wore, he would still look like a runway model next to child playing dress up.
Still, the suit we'd settled on was… nice. I didn't look horrible in, and when she saw me, Bella spent the next hour lamenting that I wasn't her date. She'd said I looked hot, and with that, my confidence rose a little. She was, after all, a woman of taste—save for the entire Eric Yorkie situation.
The night of prom, everyone gathers at the Cullen house. Emmett, Edward, and Jasper are off hunting, while Esme and Carlisle make themselves scarce. I'm the last to arrive and Alice shepherds me upstairs to where everyone's getting ready.
"Finally!" Bella exclaims, hurrying up to greet me. She, and everyone else, is dressed in pale purple silk robes. They look more like a bridal party than a prom group, but hey, I suppose it's an important night. "You can set up over there."
I follow her finger, setting my stuff by the alcove next to her bed. I plug in my speakers, playing a specifically curated playlist. It's actually pretty good shit, although it's something I would go for off the top of my head.
Alice flits around the room with Rosalie as her assistant, helping with the girls' hair and makeup. She even comes over to me, styling my plain brown mop into an artful coif. It sort of looks like Edward's, in a way.
I'm mostly already dressed, save for my suit jacket and tie, so I act as artistic director. I'd forgotten how much I liked hanging out with my friends. I feel seventeen, instead of ageless like I do with Edward. We laugh and screw around just as much as we—the girls, I mean—primp and preen.
"Okay, we have to take pictures," Lauren says, gathering everyone around her phone. "Beau, put your jacket and tie on."
I fumble with my tie until Angela takes pity on me, doing it up for me. I squeeze her shoulder in thanks and grab the phone.
"My arms are the longest," I say. Everyone crowds around me, and I dutifully click a few pictures. We take a few minutes to clean up again and make our way downstairs. Our dates are already gathered there, and my breath catches when I see Edward.
Impressive figure doesn't even begin to cut it.
He looks stunning in the extreme, so much so that I stumble down the last step. He's there in a breath, while everyone is distracted by their own dates.
"You look amazing," he murmurs to me. I can't help the hot blush that overtakes my face. "Absolutely gorgeous."
"Thanks," I mumble. "You look… god, Edward, Christ."
"Okay, okay, come on, time for pictures," Esme announces eagerly. The first few pictures were fine, but I begin to get antsy, and my smile, already forced, begins to turn into a grimace.
"Just a little more, Beau," Edward whispers to me. "For them." I sigh and try to fix my smile. I understand, obviously, that his family rarely gets occasions like this. Despite my repulsion, I want them to enjoy the night.
Finally, the pictures end, and there is the squabble about cars and drivers. Tyler and Mike end up taking charge, and as I resign myself to being squeezed in the back of somebody'd mom's minivan, Edward announces himself as driver too.
"Mike and Tyler can take two couples each," Edward says smoothly. "My car's small, so Beau and I will take it." Bella smirks at me over Eric Yorkie's shoulder.
"No detours, you two," she teases, which only serves to repaint my cheeks blotchy red. Edward rolls his eyes, not even bothering to respond.
I'm thankful for the few minutes we get to ourselves, and I try to relax.
"Nervous?" Edward asks.
"This isn't my sort of thing," I remind him.
"Thank you," Edward says, turning his attention to me. Somehow, his driving remains flawless. "Doing things like this makes me feel… more alive. So, thank you."
"Edward," I mutter, embarrassed now. The truth is, this the perfect segue for the conversation we've both been avoiding. But the look on his face was hopeful, bright, and happy. I didn't want to spoil the mood. "Slow down, we're going to get there much faster than anyone else."
"Oh, please," Edward says, but he does slow down, all the way to just ten above the speed limit. As predicted, we do get there before everyone else, and for a minute, I sit there, studying him. He's gorgeous in the parking lot lights. He's gorgeous is any light, and even in the lack thereof.
Suddenly, he sighs, sounding put upon.
"A complication," he explains, gesturing out the window. I peek out to find Jacob Black standing awkwardly at the edge of the parking lot, huddled next to his truck.
"Is he here for Bella?" I ask, watching as he scans around the parking lot nervously.
"What? No, he's here to talk to you," Edward says. "Better go see what he wants."
I nod, clambering out of the car. Edward's there in a flash, helping me straighten up. I wave him off and cross over to Jake.
"Hey, man," I call. "Crashing?"
"Uh, no, not really," he says, laughing awkwardly. "Actually, I was hoping to run into you."
"Look, Bella has a date, but I know for a fact she doesn't really think of him as anything but a friend—"
"What? No, I meant I had to talk to you—Bella brought a date?" He looks uncharacteristically pained for a moment, before he blinks, hard, clearing his expression.
"What's up?"
"Look, don't get mad," Jake starts. "I need the money, I'm trying to find a part for my car."
"Did you pimp yourself out?" I ask, amused. On the other side of the parking lot, Tyler and Mike's cars pull into the lot.
"My dad paid me to come here and tell you," Jake starts, taking a deep breath. "This is so stupid, but he wants you to break up with your boyfriend."
"What?" I knew Billy believes the legends, but I didn't think he'd do anything about it.
"Look, it's just him being… I don't even know, but seriously, just ignore it," Jake says, a light blush high on his cheeks. "Don't kill the messenger."
"I'm not mad at you, Jake," I promise. "At least this way you get to finish the car."
"There's, uh, one more thing," Jake says. He looks past me, to where Bella and the rest of our group are getting out of the car.
"Spit it out," I tell him.
"God, and this has nothing to do with me, okay? He said 'we'll be watching'," Jake mutters, looked shame-faced at his shoes. Bella's taken notice of us now, and she's watching us with wide eyes, completely ignoring Eric's attempt to refocus her attention. I couldn't help but laugh, at the situation and the words.
"Sorry you had to do that," I say.
"We're cool?" he asks.
"Definitely," I promise. "You, uh, wanna crash or what?"
"No way," Jake says. "I gotta go anyways. I'll see you around, Beau."
"Yeah, alright." I watch him get back into his car before going back to Edward, who no doubt heard the entire thing.
"What was that about?" Bella asks. Edward eyes her, weary. I wonder if he knows what happened between them.
"Nothing, just something about the truck," I lie to her, feeling horrible. For a moment, Bella looks like she might cry, and I want to sweep her into a tight hug, but she shakes her head, sending the lush curls framing her face bouncing. She plasters on a smile and clings to Eric's arm.
"Come on, let's go get our pictures done!"
"Yay," I deadpan. "More pictures."
Everyone laughs and we head inside, stopping at the entrance to take group and couple pictures. Edward lets his hands slip a little lower than normal on my side during ours, coaxing a real smile from me.
All and all, it's not bad.
True to his word, Edward only makes me dance one fast song with him, promising to save the last dance for the last slow song of the night. Instead, we sit at one of the tables, talking and people watching.
My mind wanders a little and I think about the conversation we never had. I want to bring it up, but I know it'll instantly sour Edward's mood. He looks so happy right now, even surrounded by people.
"Let's get some air," I tell him. Edward smile, helping me up and across the dance floor. We pass all my friends. Angela and Ben look like they're having the best time, doing a combo jitterbug and quasi-swing dance. I laugh at the sight of them, tiny Ben Cheney twirling Angela around. It's an impressive feat; she's nearly my height.
Bella and Jessica are dancing together, doing something with their hips that I ought to know the term for. Edward sighs at the sight of them, grimacing at Mike and Eric, who watch them rapturously. Lauren and Tyler are dancing too, the most coordinated of the bunch. For once, Lauren looks truly happy, and in turn, I'm pleased for her.
"Glad you came?" Edward asks, leading to me a gazebo set up in the quad. There's another couple there, making out heavily against it. They scram as soon as they catch sight of us.
"I guess," I sigh dramatically. "I can't believe you got me to come."
"I wanted you to go tonight because I won't want you to miss anything," Edward says, abruptly serious. I don't want my presence to take anything away from you, if I can help it. I want you to be human. I want you to continue your life as it would have if I'd died in nineteen-eighteen like I should had."
I scowl at his words, angry that he wanted me to picture life without him.
"How many times do I have to tell you that you belong in my life," I tell him sharply. "Prom was fun because I was with you. Do you think I could've gone with anyone else?"
Edward goes silent at that, offering me a hand. I take it instantly, and he wraps my arms around his neck, swaying to music I can't hear anymore.
"Edward," I say, getting his attention. "How many times do I tell you I want forever with you before you believe it?"
"Are you really so willing to give up everything human in your life?" he asks me. I can't believe he's finally bringing this up.
"I'd give anything to be with you," I tell him resolutely.
"What about Charlie and your mother?"
"My mom's made choices that work for her," I rationalize. "She'd want me to do the same. And Charlie's spent the last decade by himself. He's tough, he'll be fine."
"You'll never be able to see your friends again," he points out.
"There's text, email, FaceTime, calls," I remind him. "We live in the era of virtual connection."
"We'd have to fake your death," he says. "It would be decades before you could be around another human."
"People will mourn and get over it," I point out. At that Edward scoffs, but thankfully, keeps holding me.
"The pain?" he asks sardonically.
"I can handle it," I assure him. "I'm tough."
"So ready for this life to end," Edward sighs, whirling us around a quarter turn, away from the gym. "Ready for this to be the twilight of your life, though it's barely even started. You're ready to give up everything."
"It's not the end," I say, breathless now. "It's the beginning."
"I'm not worth it," he tells me sadly.
"I know you are, even if you choose to be obstinate." Edward turns us again, facing the woods.
"Are you ready now?" He looks at me with probing eyes, watching me carefully.
"Um," I gulp. "Yeah."
He smiles, inclining his head slowly until his cold lips brush against the skin under the corner of my jaw.
"Right now?"
"Yes," I whisper. I'd already made the decision, and I was sure. It didn't matter that my body was as rigid as a plank, my hands balled into fists, my breathing erratic…
Instead, he kisses me softly, slowly, before pulling away, a heartbroken smile on his face.
"Beau," he says, cupping my face. "Isn't it enough to live a long, happy life with me?"
"Enough for now," I tell him. He frowns at my tenacity. Neither of us would surrender tonight, it seems. He sighs, soft and somber. "Look, I love you more than anything in the world combined. Isn't that enough?"
"Yes, it is enough," he answers me, smiling. "Enough for forever." Edward ducks his head once more, pressing his cool lips in a soft kiss just against my throat.
A/N: So, there's going to be one more chapter that's not really content, but more an acknowledgement section and a few questions to finish out the saga. Let me know what you thought!