Disclaimer: As this is the last chapter, and I am chagrined, I will not beat up on you right now. I don't own it. Steph does.

Thank you! Oh thank you so much! You guys are amazing! This has been one heck of a ride, and you all made it mean so much to me… You're reviews make me laugh, cry (tears of joy), and have an ego the size of Texas. Love you all, and thanks one last time. I promised to get this out before breaking dawn, so I'll do reviewer shoutouts a bit later. Be sure to read the author's note.

His sweet breath tickled my neck several times, sending shivers up my spine.

I was ready. I could do this. No promblemo.

I mean, sure, the morphine would have been lovely, but who's to say it would've worked in the first place?

Edward exhaled again, and my eyelashes fluttered. I hated the waiting, the anxiety. Why didn't he just do it already?

"Are you prepared, Bella?"

"Yes," I sighed.

"Alright."

A few more apprehensive minutes passed.

"Edward," I said.

"Mhmm?"

"Are you really going to do it?"

"Yes."

"Positive?"

"Yes."

"Now?" I asked.

"Not a chance."

And with those irritating words, he pulled back. My head rolled forward, and I slapped my hands down on the sofa cushions.

"If I could growl at all, I would right now."

"Oh would you now?" he asked, seeming slightly bemused at my choice of response. "Like this?" he questioned. Then, a growl, low and rumbling, tumbled out of his grinning lips.

"A bit louder."

The volume increased. I had to admit it was sexy.

"Nah," I said, "That's a wimpy growl."

Self-given lessons of Edward antagonization paid off. He pinned me underneath him once more and growled ferociously. His laughing butterscotch eyes, however, significantly decreased the scare factor.

I began giggling.

"You, my preposterous wife, have the self-preservation instincts of a ficus."

I shrugged. "Seriously though, why didn't you change me."

Rolling his eyes, he laid his head on my chest, above my (unfortunately) still-pumping heart. "Because you have four whole days of glorious humanity left, and you're not going to waste a single one."

"But the Volturi will be here by then," I said.

"True, but it'll take them a day or two to locate us, remember?"

"Oh, right. Penguins."

"Actually, love," his eyes darted up to mine, thoughtful. "Realistically, I was thinking about the northern reaches of Canada."

"Mountain lions?"

He shook his head. "Polar bears."

"Aren't those endangered?"

"Well, yes, but... I've always wanted to try one."

I shook my head at him and at the morbid normalcy with which this conversation flowed between us. "Only on special occasions."

Edward chuckled. "Anniversaries and Christmas. Deal. We'll live off elk and caribou most of the time," he promised.

I nodded. "We have to be environmentally friendly vampires…"

Shaking his head and laughing, he rose from the couch and turned off the television.

I pointed to my hoodie. "Can I take this off now?"

"Please do."

I crossed my arms and grabbed the obtrusive hunk of fabric at the bottom, before pulling it up and over my head. I was still wearing two shirts though. I removed the outer one and sighed.

All the extra fabric had made me sweaty. My hair was a matted, disgusting mop hanging limply down my back and over my shoulders.

"I need a shower."

"Care for company?"

His question took my off guard.

Ever since the wedding night, not the actual wedding night mind you, something in him had come unwound. A coil had sprung open and I finally got to see Edward play.

He had tested his limits and found the line drawn quite a ways farther from where he originally thought, and since then, he'd allowed himself some measure of lightheartedness.

It disarmed me every time. It was a little akin to walking into a zoo and expecting to see the lions and tigers standing proud and fatal, kings of their territory. But then, you walk up to the fence, peep through the bars, and see the ferocious beasts lolling about on their backs, a bright red rubber ball in their paws, having fun.

It made me a smile come to my lips every time. Fun was something Edward could use heaps more of.

He was grinning now. He'd been joking.

"That's just cruel," I said.

"I was being serious."

I sighed and began to walk upstairs.

A heavily clothed, bronze-topped blur raced past me, and he arrived at the bathroom before I did.

One of my eyebrows lifted skeptically. "What about your ban?"

"Now, Bella. I'm not promising anything. Just bathing."

Edward – wet, naked, and in a very confined place with me. I sighed. Apparently, I had a whole infinity of mastering my self-control. Might as well get a jump start.

"Oh… okay," I said slowly. "Do you even take baths?"

He cocked his head to the side. "On occasion."

"Were you going to give me one, or am I…"

He cut me off. "Both if it pleases you."

"It does very much, thanks," I said, beaming.

XXX

Forty-five minutes later, we were both squeaky clean and content, spooning on the bed.

"Edward…"

"Mhmm," he murmured into my hair.

"What about Charlie?" I tried to contain myself, but I couldn't help it. My voice choked on his name.

"We don't have to talk about this right now."

"I know, but I want to."

"The funeral's tomorrow."

My hand reached up to swipe a stray tear off my cheek. The sight of his disfigured face still haunted me, and I knew that it was one thing I wouldn't forget after my change.

"What about the things I hear?" My voice was barely above a whisper.

"I'll deal with that tonight."

"How?"

"Shhh. Sleep, Bella. You can worry about all that tomorrow. But for now, you need to sleep. Trust me. You'll miss the ability."

For once, I didn't argue. I simply snuggled into his stone chest, closed my eyes, and took a lengthy cat nap. Edward so adored watching me slumber.

XXX

When I woke up, he was gone. There was no solid presence behind me, and in the west, the sun was skimming the mountain ridge. I'd slept away most of one of my last days, and Edward was nowhere to be seen.

I checked everywhere: downstairs, upstairs, the other two upstairs…

We had an indoor pool and a two-story porch protruding from the back of the house like shelves. Who knew?

I should've known though. A Cullen had bought this house.

Horror washed through me when I ripped open the door to the garage. No silver Volvo.

The same feeling that always associated his leaving assaulted my logic and molded it into irrational speculation. I began to speculate that he had left again.

I began to speculate that he was never coming back.

The wound in my chest remained even now, and it could still hurt. What survived of my reason tried to stem the tide, hold the hole together, but there was too much remembered agony there.

Even though I knew with all my heart, deep inside, past all that stuff, that Edward would never leave again, I had to check. I couldn't sit here wondering, slowly drowning in all the speculations.

There was a little plaque on the wall, next to the front door. Six hooks protruded from the brass of it. One once had the Volvo keys hung on it. The next had my Camaro ones, and as I grabbed them, there was no doubt in my mind that Edward intended to occupy the other four.

After stumbling twice on my way, I started the car, backed out the long drive, and headed toward the Cullens house, hoping I remembered how to get there.

I took the sight of the house in my rear view mirror to be a reminder of Edward's constant place at my side.

It wasn't difficult. The winding, heavily canopied roads gave way to a highway. Reflective, green street signs pointed me in Forks' general direction.

I looked away when that particular road led past the morgue, and made a mental note to find another route later. The whispers started soon enough, warning me of imminent revenge. I knew them now though. I gripped the steering wheel tightly and waited for them to disappear.

They always did.

The only real threat from them was that they stood as proof of my transparent insanity.

I drove the familiar roads up to the Cullen's, and noted, with due relief, Edward's car in front of it. The parking job was not at all like him. It looked hasty and skid marks were left on the concrete. He'd really been flying.

Before I reached the door, Edward opened up and slid out, closing it firmly behind him. From inside, I could hear a strange sort of screeching.

The look held in Edward's orbs was fierce. Nigh, enraged.

Flashbacks from the day he left played out behind my eyes, but I shut them down speedily. No need for that. No need for anymore anguished speculation.

"What's wrong?"

I noticed then, that some sort of pearly blue liquid stained the front of his shirt in blotches. I recognized it from somewhere…

Otherworldy screeching sounded from inside again.

"Nothing that isn't being made right," he answered, a raw edge to his tone. "Why did you come here? Didn't you get my note?"

He crossed his arms, but in an odd way, as if to hide the strange sky-colored stains. Where had I seen that before?

"I didn't see a note."

The most kissable lips in the world turned down into a disapproving frown. "It was on my pillow."

His pillow… I hadn't looked there.

A blush came to my face. "I didn't see."

His eyes rolled.

"I was worried about you."

He approached me then, strolling to me with a confidence and grace I could only dream about. It was then that I noticed the same blue liquid covering his hands. What was he doing? Ty-dying T-shirts?

Without touching me in any other way, he pecked my forehead. "Don't be. But you should go now, Bella."

The blue stains on his shirt were reflective, and I saw my own concerned eyes in them. Suddenly, I knew where I recognized it from – the few bits I'd seen of the war. It was fairy blood.

"You killed him, didn't you?" Another eerie cry reached my ears. I corrected my query. "You're killing him."

Edward's features contorted into a flinch. "It's easier said than done. I…" his orbs shot open, "I didn't want you to know."

I eyed him incredulously. "And did you think I'd have a problem with that?"

"Well… well, yes." He shifted his weight nervously, from one foot to the other.

"Then you're sadly mistaken."

My gaze hardened as I thought about what that twisted king had put me through, the terrible thing he had almost made me do to Edward. To be honest, I wish Edward would have woken me. I would have insisted he let me help.

"Who else is with you?" I asked.

Cautious, probably shocked that his blushing bride could be so livid, he responded slowly, dragging the names out. "Emmett, Jasper, and Rosalie."

"Rosalie?" I asked.

"She's more ferocious than she appears," he said. "And she cares about you, Bella. You're her sister now."

First off, to me, Rosalie had always seemed ferocious.

And secondly, despite Edward's words, I wasn't sure she would ever completely accept me, but…

"Will the whispers stop?" I asked.

Edward's eyes darkened a shade, and it had nothing whatsoever to do with being thirsty. "They will," he promised forebodingly. "Apparently, he can perform weak illusions across distances. Did you hear them a few minutes ago?"

I nodded. "Yeah. On the way here."

He inhaled sharply. "You won't hear them again."

We stood there in tense silence for a brief period. Then I remembered the vow Edward had made Findabhair take. He'd made him get down on his knees and swear to never attack or kill a human, vampire, or werewolf unless Carlisle commanded it. But that was all that Carlisle could make the Unseely king do. He couldn't summon him. Edward had informed me of that when he explained how I was removed from the morgue, even though I thought he was just a figment of Findabhair's wicked ruse at the time.

"How'd you find him?" I asked.

Edward laughed. "We commanded him to hit Emmett upside the head with a rolled up newspaper."

Despite the fact that a mad fairy was being executed, and, from the looks of things, tortured not twenty yards from me, I laughed. That did fall under the 'attack' category I supposed.

Some thoughts inside the house must have caught Edward's ear, for he tilted his head slightly in that direction and became very still.

Tense muscles relaxed after a few seconds. "It's over," he breathed. "The trouble with fairy kings is that they contain so much magic, their parts automatically fly back together when they're disassembled."

And oddly enough, that was not the strangest thing anyone had ever said to me.

XXX

After Edward had let me give him yet another shower, he sped me around Forks to every human activity its limited selection provided, trying to let me, as Edward had phrased it 'soak up my remaining humanity'.

By midnight, I had had three whole suppers unceremoniously forced down my throat, and was commanded to 'savor every bite'.

Now, we were bowling. Yes. B-o-w-l-i-n-g.

Even after I had reminded him of my ineptitude in all things involving hand-eye coordination and the obvious hazards provided by greased up floors, he had insisted, and dragged me to the building.

A neon sign lit up the window. Midnight Madness Bowling it said.

I couldn't agree more. Madness was truly an adequate description of the situation. Sheer madness.

Inside, oldies music was blaring from the jukebox in the corner by a trash can. A disco ball hung from the ceiling.

And, seeing as it was Forks we were in after all, no one else was here. The cashier, in fact, sat on a stool behind a countertop, schlumped over with his arms folded under his balding head, snoring like a chainsaw.

"Sir," Edward addressed him.

The man didn't stir.

Edward cleared his throat. "Sir," he called, a bit louder.

The man's head shot up. "I was just resting my eyes!"

I giggled into my hand.

The man looked at Edward. He was clearly expecting someone else, his boss probably. "Oh," he grumbled. "…sorry."

A lopsided smile adorned my husband's face. "Quite alright. One game please."

I was relieved he wasn't going for the double game special.

The man poked numbers on his cash register. "Six times two for the bowling," he mumbled. "And four for the shoes."

"Shoes won't be necessary," Edward said.

"No shoes, no bowling."

This guy was swiftly becoming my hero.

My husband scowled. "That's really not required."

"Sorry," the man said, scratching at a spot on his head. "It's policy."

Edward pulled a wallet out of his back pocket, opened up, and pulled out some green bills. Handing them to the cashier, he said again in an authoritative voice, "We really won't be needing those shoes."

The man counted the money with amazement. "No shoes then," he said. "Lane five."

As we picked out bowling balls, I laughed at him. "You just bribed a man so that you didn't have to wear bowling shoes."

Edward wrinkled his nose.

God above. He was attractive making faces at me.

"You would've done the same if you knew how repugnant they smelled."

"Fair enough."

At the end of the game, I had Edward beat by ten pins. He had tied my every score on purpose up till the last round.

"Close game," he said, juggling a fifteen pound bowling ball up in the air like it weighed next to nothing. The cashier had fallen asleep some minutes ago.

"You let me win," I sulked.

"Did not," he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me out the door. "I guess bowling isn't my forte."

I rolled my eyes. "Everything's your forte," I mumbled.

"Feeling," he said simply.

I didn't ask questions. If this made him happy, and was relatively cheap, I was game. As it turned out, my 'feeling' was to be done inside our meadow. He didn't run me there like usual. Instead, we hiked it on foot.

It was a rare night, and stars were shining through the tree limbs. Only thin shavings of clouds marred the openness. As for the Moon, she was a perfect circle tonight.

He encouraged me to touch everything, because it would all feel different soon. He'd said that it took a lot more pressure from things to truly feel them, but that pressure would usually decimate the object in question. He said that my sense of touch would be completely changed.

So, I did as he asked. As I followed him blindly through the woods, I let my hands run across the flora. I tried to feel the coarse texture of the bark under the pads of my fingers, the veins and smooth silk of leaves. I plucked one from its thorny home, knowing that soon, applying that much pressure would not only remove the leaf, but probably uproot the tree as well.

I started to get the gist of what he was trying to make me appreciate.

When we reached the meadow, I took my shoes off and stood barefoot, trying to memorize the sensation of wet grass under my feet, the wholesome smell of it. When the wind blew, I turned my face toward it and closed my eyes, letting the breeze sweep away tendrils of my dark hair.

It was pleasant to stand there, so vulnerable, and yet so content at the same time. There was beauty in vulnerability I realized. There was an elegance and purity to it that invincibility couldn't dream of touching. It was the vulnerability, and the innocent oblivion that accompanied it, that the invincible looked back upon and pined for. I knew. I watched television with the invincible. I got married to it.

It was precious and fleeting, and that was why it was so protected, why mothers fiercely guarded their young.

Even so, the deer that stays in the open for too long gets shot. I opened my eyes.

"Have I felt enough yet?"

Edward was leaning casually against a tree, one hand above his head, watching me.

"Yes," he said, and when he walked toward me to pick me up in his arms, there was sorrow in his demeanor.

Maybe he saw the beauty, too. Maybe he was mourning its impending loss. I clung to him.

Our next stop was at a gas station, where Edward bought every candy bar his perfect memory recalled I liked. He walked out of the store with a brown paper bag full of chocolate and a soda.

I was nearly about to complain about the unhealthiness of it all, when I remembered that in four days, three now, it wouldn't matter.

I ate four out of the fifteen candy bars, and finished off the soda, but I couldn't hold anymore after that. Edward acknowledged this, thank God, and drove us to our house.

It was two in the morning, and after I tripped three times just in the garage, Edward swept me up and carried me up to our room. I dimly registered him changing me into my pajamas. Even dimmer, I remembered his lullaby floating in and out of my consciousness. But, with absolute clarity, like a brief electric shock, I remembered his lips touching mine.

XXX

Kisses woke me up like tiny splashes of cold water. Forget alarm clocks. This was the only way to go.

I blinked blearily. "Morning," I said.

"Morning," he said into my neck. "Did you dream?"

"Uh huh."

"Good." He was making sure I had my 'human experiences' again.

I enfolded him in my arms and legs, ignoring the dull throbs of my bruised torso. "Real life is better, though."

Laughter like deep bells filled me with warmth I knew would still consume me even after I became a vampire.

I sighed suddenly. "The funeral's today."

Edward's lips skipped over my shoulder, before he rested his chin on it. "You don't have to worry about a thing, Bella. Alice brought you some clothes this morning, and we'll all be there."

"Thank you," I said quietly.

"I'm sorry."

"Not your fault."

And for once, he didn't argue. He just held me while I built up the mental preparation needed to bury my father.

"I love you," he whispered into my hair, and it helped exceedingly.

The outfit Alice had picked out for me was a simple black dress, nothing fancy, entirely un-Alice. I figured she did it as a favor to me though. With the dress, she provided silver earrings, an elegant bracelet, and a pair of black flats, presumably as another favor to me.

From then on, to some extent, I let the numbness take me over, putting myself on auto pilot. The coffin lid was shut. It was a terrible reminder of what he looked like underneath. I wondered how the Cullens had explained what had happened, but was too listless to ask. I was too afraid it would shatter the lovely lack of emotions.

Edward and I were on our feet during the visitation, standing near the closed casket, accepting apologies from people we barely knew.

"Sorry for your loss," they said.

I'd give them a sad smile, and send them off with a handshake.

It was a routine I gladly fell into, as a welcome distraction from the pain.

Finally, Jacob walked toward me, Vanessa at his side. There was no bitterness in his gaze now, no jealousy towards Edward.

His girlfriend said the same things the others had: I'm sorry for your loss, but Jacob didn't, although that was probably because I could have said the same thing back to him. For a little while, the hurt brought us together in understanding, and I had my best friend back. In silence, Jacob and I just looked at each other, completely understanding. He said what I needed to hear, though, and for that, I was grateful.

He moved on, and the monotony was easier to bear.

Phil and Renee approached me next. Renee launched herself at me, in a fit of tears and hysteria. I held her and let some of my own leak out.

"Oh, baby," she said. "I'm so sorry!"

"Me too, Mom." I gave her the sad smile I had down to a T. She hugged me before morosely walking away, Phil at her heels.

The preacher read Bible verses I hardly listened to.

Billy spoke about how good a man my father was.

I didn't speak. I wondered if that was another thing Edward had taken care of.

Everything I had to say about Charlie didn't need to be said in front of other people. All I could do was hope that he knew how much I loved him.

The ride to the funeral home followed. I watched the scenery fly by from my car window, but didn't really see anything. Edward held my hand the whole way. I was terrified of the funeral, scared to death that the dam I had so carefully constructed against my feelings, would burst.

The Forks graveyard was quaint, just the sort of thing that would be seen on a film. It branched out from a white, two-room chapel that had a congregation of around thirty-five people. The steeple was decrepit and in dire need of a paint job, but it was the kind of place my father would have liked. Not anything fancy, with some personality. A bit like my old truck.

Edward helped me out of the car, and soundlessly, the funeral group marched over the green grass to the burial spot. Billy, Jake, Phil, and to my surprise, Carlisle were the pallbearers. As I watched the coffin be lowered into the ground, some of my defenses were weakened. There was a leak.

The Cullens, Jacob, Billy, Angela, Ben, and a few other of Charlie's friends gathered round the grave. Some had their heads bowed in prayer.

I've never been the religious sort, but the atmosphere moved me. I lowered my head and prayed for my father. I prayed that he knew that I loved him.

The dam I'd built burst with my Amen. I tried to quell the weeping noises, but the tears cascaded down my cheeks in a torrent. Edward put his arm around me and pulled me into his side.

I peeked at other people. One of Charlie's colleagues from the police force was saying something. My chest heaved with silent sobs.

The Cullens were all looking at me with sympathy. Alice wore the countenance I recognized most from Edward's face.

She looked guilty.

She felt like it was her fault the vampires had killed my dad because she hadn't seen it in her visions. Through my tears and blurry vision, I gave her a small smile before turning back into the comfort of Edward's arms.

People would say their last words and then walk away, one by one.

Renee was falling to pieces with me the whole time, against Phil. She spoke undistinguishable words before giving me one hug and exiting, too.

Finally, finally, Edward and I were the only ones left.

I pushed out of his arms and, on shaky legs, walked towards the grave.

"I'm sorry," I moaned. "I'm so sorry, Dad. I love you. And…" I tried to wipe away the tears from my cheeks, but it was useless. They kept flowing. "I hope you're happy." I took a deep, steadying breath.

"Goodbye."

And I knew that when I said goodbye, I wasn't just saying it to Charlie. I was saying it to Renee and Phil, to Ben and Angela, to Forks. I was saying goodbye to normalcy and convention, to my heartbeat, to the mortality I had come to accept. I was bidding farewell to everything I had ever known. That one word, this instant, was my valediction to humanity. So here I stood, toeing the line between all those things and that utterly new, mysterious, and difficult world I had chosen to dive into. And a part of me wanted to linger, to remain at this juncture, directly in the middle, forever. It wanted to never move. There was an awful lot to surrender.

Edward's hand touched my shoulder.

Death suddenly showed itself to me in a new light, not as an evil, lurking creature, but as a blessed finality, a peace that I was shunning. Once again, I peered down at Charlie's coffin. The gravediggers were waiting until everyone had left until they covered it with dirt.

Death… I'd hung around Immortality for so long that I'd nearly forgotten death existed for other people, that it would go on without me after I changed. For all my efforts, I couldn't stop it. And I was about to become frozen in the middle of its interminable ebb and flow, like a concrete island in the middle of the river, ever to remain as I was. Or was that really the truth?

All things ended one way or another.

So, maybe we weren't freezing. Maybe we were just putting on the breaks.

"Bella…"

But it was a downhill journey. The breaks couldn't hold out forever.

"Are you alright?" He gave my shoulder a squeeze.

Edward had a soul. Of that, there was no doubt in my mind. And if vampires had souls, and all things ended, wouldn't we see heaven, too?

"We should go."

Edward would see his family in the very end. An inexplicable smile alit on my lips.

"We really should be leaving."

So what if it took a few millennia to get there. I glanced at Edward's troubled orbs. The wait would be incredible.

And I supposed that the in-between, the meanwhile, the twilight time between the night and the day – that was what really mattered.

Suddenly, I turned away from the grave. I chose once and for all, threw myself face first off the cliff into what, I didn't entirely know. Ironic, I thought, that my new life should begin at a funeral.

"Edward," I addressed him at last. "Could you type something for me?"

A/N: This is the last chapter. Reviewer shoutouts and an epilogue that'll make the last line sensical will be out later today. This story accomplished what I meant to do with it. I wasn't necessarily on a mission to have Bella changed, as much as I was on a mission to make Bella understand. To make her see what she's giving up, and THEN choose to do it anyway. Wow. I'm crying. I'm really going to miss this story. It's become such a big part of my life. Anyways, I remained true to my promise to hold you over right up till breaking dawn. WHICH I WILL BE AT THE MIDNIGHT PREMIER OF. Woot woot! Anyway, of course I know that you all will be busy reading that book for a while. So I don't expect reviews for a little while, but after that, erm, I worked like six hours straight on this chapter. It's 5 am. If you wouldn't mind, kindly come back to review after that. And if you would please, review like crazy. It'd mean a lot to me if you could help me go out with a bang. Well, guys, it's been a fun journey. I'll miss it.