Here's chapter 17.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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"Will you marry me?"

BPOV

"YES!" I shouted and latched onto Edward, locking my lips with his while he stood up and twirled us around in my room. I laughed exuberantly once he set me back on my feet and hugged him around the waist, burying my face in his stomach.

Suddenly my body exploded in burst of fiery pain, my back feeling like it was getting ripped open, the pain similar to my transformation. I let out a scream and crumpled to the floor Edward yelling at me, asking what was wrong before, he too, thumped to the floor and started writhing in agony.

I crawled over to Edward whimpering and sobbing and grabbed his hands as wave after wave of pain hit my back. Edward started muttering about his back around his screams of agony and I tried my best to not scream but I couldn't, this was worse than my change.

So we laid there, dying. It might have been a few moments or eternity, the only thing I knew right then and there was that Edward was next to me in the same torture as me. Sometime in this torture Edward somehow managed to wrap his arms around me so that our stomachs were touching while we endured this pain. If I were to die then I would die happy, because I would die the arms of the person I love more than anything.

And that's when it happened, we died. I knew it because once the pain stopped and when I opened my tightly clenched eyes Edward and I had a pair of humongous white wings on our backs and we were in the most beautiful meadow I had ever seen. The meadow Edward and I first met in. The flowers were exactly the same as they were, 600 years ago and the sky was a perfect blue, not a cloud in sight.

I walked over to the clear blue pond that was at the edge of the round meadow and peered into it gasping at the reflection I saw. It was me! I was better looking than I was even after my transformation, every detail was sharper, fuller, and just plain prettier.

My lips were a dream, full, pink, and poutier than before and they went well with my rod-straight nose, straighter than anytime before. My hair, which was in an intricate bun on the back of my hair, was shiny and a milkier chocolate than before. My breast were a full cup size bigger and my waist seemed to be even thinner along with the rest of my body. I used to wear a double zero but now I think I wouldn't even be able to fit into that size. Good thing I'm dead.

I was wearing a flowing white dress that was tight at the bodice then flowed freely to the ground, no one but me could ever fit into it since I got so much tinier. The straps that held the dress up on my thin and bony shoulders were about two inches wide and felt like they were made of silk, they were that soft and smooth.

And the weird thing was, I didn't look disgusting with this extreme thinness. Not like those supermodels that never eat and puke all the time do. I looked… healthy and glowing. Guess that was a perk of being an angel.

"Edward," I called softly, once I finished looking at myself, to the figure that lay upon the grass, face down like he was sleeping, perhaps he was, I mean we were dead. Maybe in the afterlife we did nothing but love each other and sleep, that would be my definition of heaven, spending every single moment with Edward.

Edward stirred at my voice and then slowly began rising, his back to me the entire time as he stretched and stood to face me. I gasped once I saw him. He was, if possible, even more stunning than he ever has been with his snowy angel wings and loose white pants and a tight white t-shirt showing me every inch of his muscles. His face was different too, happier, warmer and healthier but still as beautiful.

He gasped when he saw me too and quickly closed the distance between us, capturing my lips in a fervent manner. I moaned as he slipped his tongue into my mouth and we stood there in our own little world of Isabella and Edward. He tasted so sweet and fresh and I just couldn't get enough so I didn't break it, neither did he. Then my wings fluttered of their own accord, lifting me a few inches off the ground so I could easily wrap my legs around his waist and my arms around my neck.

Edward cupped my bottom with his hands, supporting me easily, both because of his vampire strength and the fact that I weighed no more than 85 pounds before all this happened and now I was probably 75. I didn't care, all I cared about was feeding my addiction, my addiction to Edward.

We never consummated while we were human and I had never been with another man and Edward told me he also never was with a different woman as he never got over me so we are both virgins. That thought comforted me as we were about to give the most precious thing we hold to the other.

The moment was perfect, nothing could ruin it. That thought was running through my mind as Edward set me on the soft grass, not breaking from the kiss as he slowly ran his hands over my body. I unhooked my hands from behind his neck and began rubbing them along his back, stroking the feathers of his wings and feeling the tight musculature twitch and quiver under my touch.

Edward broke away with a shuddering intake of breath and smiled down at me, "That felt good." he whispered. I giggled, my laughter more musical and fluent than before.

"Did it?" I whispered seductively in his ear, "What about this?" I traced his abdominal muscles, making him nod and his breath quicken. "What about this?" I asked, going lower, just above his pant line. He was now gasping for air as my hand snaked up the front of his shirt, shredding it open exposing his glorious chest to me.

"Yes, yes Bella." he groaned out. Edwards' hands went for the straps of my dress but suddenly stopped, his head flying up to look at the sky, like he was hearing something.

"Do you hear that?" he whispered, his lips barely moved and I had trouble hearing him. I shook my head and he pressed one long pale finger to his lips and then pointed to his ear, telling me to listen. I put my ears on alert, listening to nothing but the sound of Edwards and my own quick breathing.

Then I heard it, the sound of my name being called along with the name of my love. The mystery person was screaming urgently and soon Edward's name was being screamed by another nameless person. I turned to face Edward, shock coloring both of our faces, were we not dead? Perhaps we were just hallucinating.

"Bella, Edward, please wake up!" there it was again only this time it was louder and more insistent. I felt pressure on both of my shoulders and they began jerking back and forth making my head flop around like somebody was shaking my shoulders trying get my attention. I looked to Edward only to see him in the same state as me, head flopping uncontrollably.

Then everything started fading, the trees, the grass, the flowers, even Edward. I scrambled to try and hold onto Edward but I couldn't move my limbs from my position on the ground so I began sobbing. All noises except for my cries faded and I was soon left alone in darkness with nothing.

Life

Love

Meaning

Over.

Forever

"BELLA! You wake up right now!" I felt myself slowly resurfacing, gaining some of my senses as that voice, so familiar, yelled at me. First, I heard the cries of Edward, sobbing for me to wake up. Then I could smell the sweet scent coming from him. After that I could taste the air around me, literally thick with tension and fear. Then I could feel the grasp of my reason for existing, holding me close and rocking me back and forth. Then, finally I could see, see the glorious man above me.

I gasped wildly when my eyes flew open, shooting up from the floor to sit up straight and look around for the terrifying darkness that imprisoned me. Once I saw that there was nothing that was going to take me I flung myself into Edward's arms and inhaled deeply, taking in the smell of him.

"I thought I lost you." I whispered into his neck.

"I thought I lost you." he whispered back, rubbing my shoulders and slowly prying me off of him so he could look at my face. "You are so beautiful." he murmured, stroking my cheek. I smiled and my eyes strayed past his face landing on the gigantic snowy white wings growing from his back.

"It really happened!" I gasped turning around to look at my back, seeing identical wings spurting from my back. I felt around for one for one of the feathers and then marveling at the super soft texture in between my thumb and forefinger.

"Yes it did, that was the best dream I have ever had." Edward laughed. It was only a dream, that meadow. So we almost had imaginary sex?! That sucks. Wait, so how did we almost lose each other?

"Edward how come we almost died?" I asked.

"Well, the 'alteration' nearly killed us, I mean did you feel that pain?" he asked.

"Oh yeah, I felt it. So why were you screaming for me to wake up?"

"Well, I have been awake for almost 3 days and you were just lying there, not breathing, not moving, I've spent all this time trying to get you to wake up." Edward explained, wincing at the memories.

"I was out for 3 days? So when I was in that darkness doing nothing, all my senses cut off, I was just lying there like a corpse?" Edward nodded at my question but then hesitated.

"Well Mike and Jacob said they found us screaming with bloody white stumps growing from our backs… 3 weeks ago. We were screaming in agony for about 2 of those weeks they said and the last one we just laid there, with these wings coming from our backs. I woke up similar to how you did but I didn't go through this 'darkness of not existing' as you did. By the way, care to explain that?" he finished and I proceeded to tell him everything that I went through in the nothingness.

"That's terrible, I'm so sorry." Edward said once I finished and I nodded wordlessly. It's crazy that we had the same dream, like it was real, like our minds had been transported to that meadow while our bodies completed the change. I decided to tell Edward what I had been thinking.

"That's what I thought, and you know that's probably what happened." Edward said when I finished.

We were just sitting there when a sudden thought occurred to me, making me start violently. "What is today?" I demanded

"March 20th, 2008. We went out February 26th, 24 days ago." he told me morosely.

"What does the school think happened to us?"

"My parents told the school that we were in a car accident and we weren't going back to the school until we were perfectly healthy." I breathed a sigh of relief that no one thought we mysteriously disappeared.

I hopped up onto my feet, the white dress from my dream obviously now a reality since it swished around the floor and my feet. Edward grinned at me and stood up also, taking my hand and leading me from my room, down the hallway, and to the stairs where we slowly made our way down to the main floor.

Once we were on the main staircase I heard voices talking quietly and my interest peaked and I quickened my step, eager to get to the living room. We stepped off the last step and turned to walk to the room where the voices came from.

My family was sitting on the white couches while Carlisle and Esme sat together on the love seat, all had an expression of pure angst on their faces.

"Hey everyone." Edward and I said at the same time, unprepared for what happened next.

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There's your chapter, review.