All of your lovely reviews helped me finished the epilogue on time :) Idk if I want to post the next chapter on Sunday or wait until Monday, so you can let me know whether you want Chapter Eight early or not!

"We'll be switching cars now," Victoria said as she took an exit off the highway in Rosalie's BMW. "Since you've agreed that there's no need for Edward to die, if you do as I ask I'll let you sit in the passenger seat."

"Alright," Bella said, trying not to allow a quaver in her voice. She was no longer a paralyzed victim, now she was voluntarily going with Victoria. It felt like she was already making the choice she wasn't ready to make. Vampire, or death?

The question followed her as Victoria left with an order of "Don't move." It followed her as she felt Victoria do something under the car. It followed her as Victoria opened the backseat door and carried her to another car, stepping only where a fluid, probably gasoline, had leaked from the BMW onto the ground. It followed her into the passenger seat of a sleek, two-door, black sedan.

In the past few years, Bella had adapted to many things. She'd adapted to Renee dating Phil, then to Renee marrying Phil, then to Forks, then to the supernatural's abrupt entrance and departure from her life, and then her cancer diagnosis.

Part of her knew that she would, eventually, adapt to being a vampire. To constantly being reminded of what she missed out on. But another part of her wasn't sure. And even if she did adapt, she would have to convince Edward of her strength. How could she expect him to have faith in her if she couldn't have faith in herself?

Was a chance at happiness worth an even greater chance of misery?

Bella had asked herself the same question when she'd sent the letter to Alice. But then, the probability of success was greater. It only relied on one condition: that one of the Cullens visited her. She'd been weighing the Cullens' compassion with their virtually nonexistent disdain for humans. Now, the chance of success relied on multiple conditions: Edward having faith that she could be his equal and her adapting to becoming a vampire. She was weighing her strength, and Edward's belief in that strength- or at least his ability to change- against her weakness, and Edward's neurotic tendencies.

But death was hardly any better than suffering. And Bella knew that she would find brightness, in any day, as long as she was alive.

Vampirism it is, then. All for a chance at happiness.

Only after she'd finished her internal conflict did she take in her surroundings.

"There is no back seat," she said flatly. "The only place for me to sit is the passenger seat."

Victoria's laugh rang out through the car.

~O~

"Well, Rosie," Emmett said finally. "At least we found your car."

Rosalie stared at her BMW, or, more specifically, the pool of gasoline around her car, in abject horror.

Edward was more… animated. He frantically tried all the doors, only to find them locked. When he made to force them open, though, Rosalie finally spoke.

"If you touch," she began, "my fucking car, I will rip your head from your body."

"Her stuff's in there, Rose. Maybe there Victoria left evidence of where she took her," Edward growled.

Spitefully, Rosalie pulled out her key and unlocked the car. Edward glared.

"You had that the whole time?"

Rosalie didn't answer.

Emmett rolled his eyes. If only Jasper, or even Alice, had come with them to track Bella. Even Carlisle or Esme would have diffused the tension. But no, Alice was doing double duty at home- scanning the future and dealing with Charlie- and Jasper was helping her. Meanwhile, Carlisle was coordinating a search with the wolves because Edward refused to, and Esme was doing… something important, probably.

Everyone except Edward had agreed that tracking Bella's scent was a lost cause. If Victoria played her cards right, meaning keeping the windows shut and hitting the recycle air button, almost none of her scent would escape. And they'd had no idea what car Victoria had taken, or if she even took a car… until they realized Rosalie's BMW was missing from the hospital parking lot, and Victoria's scent was all over the parking spot.

Magically, Rosalie was suddenly convinced by Edward's arguments that tracking Bella's scent instead of anticipating Victoria's next move was the way to go. And Emmett was content to follow his Rose's lead, as long as it led to action.

So far, they'd all been disappointed.

"The bitch broke the fuel feed line!" Roselie cried as she circled the car, inspecting the exterior for more damage. Finding none, she turned to the interior. "And she hotwired it!"

"No trace of where they were going," Edward said darkly. "But she was definitely here. I'm going to see if they continued on foot or if they switched cars."

No shit, Sherlock, Emmett thought, and endured a subsequent glare from Edward. "Can you fix it?" He turned to Rose.

"Yes," she ground out. "Eventually."

"Is there a fix that'll take less time so we can drive it home instead of running back and forth to get parts and tools?" He knew she liked to do things right the first time, but time was not in their favor.

Rosalie glared at him. "Yes. Get me the duck tape from the trunk."

She began to get under the car. "You know, Edward, none of this would have happened if you'd just turned Bella!"

Edward ignored her. Rosalie continued. "Then no one would have gotten hurt. She would have been just fine."

Edward turned at this. "How do you know she's hurt?"

"Just look at her, Edward! Look at what Victoria did to her! My baby!"

Emmett passed Rose the duck tape as Edward sighed. "You were talking about your goddamned car." He pinched the bridge of his nose.

As Rosalie started to fix the fuel feed line, Edward finished his investigation. "Victoria probably just switched cars. I can't catch her or Bella's scent anywhere away from this car, and the gasoline is covering any other scents. Victoria probably only cut the fuel line to cover her tracks and ensure we couldn't follow."

"There are only a few places she can go in a car that we can't directly follow on foot," Emmett pointed out. "Multilane interstates, tunnels, or car-only bridges. But we would be able to find ways around those quickly enough, unless she took a really, really fast car."

Emmett's phone began to buzz. Esme, the caller ID read. He answered. "Any progress on your end?"

"Not really," Esme said. "Alice thinks that Victoria is limiting herself to spur of the moment decisions. She can't see what Victoria plans to do with Bella, but she says that the possibility of Bella's death is barely there, now. An hour ago it was fifty-fifty."

"Fifty-fifty between death and what?" Emmett asked. Even if they saved Bella, she would still die from cancer, so it wasn't like there was a chance she would survive.

"Fifty-fifty between her death and her change," Esme answered. Emmett didn't say anything. "Now Alice says she's barely seeing any futures where Bella doesn't end up as a vampire." He heard a faint voice for a moment. "Alice wants to know if you've found Rose's car yet."

"We've found it alright." Alice had been the one to tell them to check this rest stop, but it seemed like she didn't know what they would find until they found it. "It looks like Victoria switched cars. We're not sure what she's driving, though."

"Oh," Esme said faintly. "I think I can help you there."

"What is it?" Emmett asked.

"Well," she began. "Edward's Aston is missing."

Aaaand that's a wrap on Chapter Seven! I may or may not have stolen the title from Lucifer's season 5 finale, "A Chance At A Happy Ending," but as soon as I figured out the title I couldn't bear to change it. One of the reasons I loved writing this chapter (and the last one) was that I loved giving Bella some realistic internal conflict over becoming a vampire. I feel like it also helps reveal how flawed her mindset is about her death, because she's accepted it to the point that when given the chance to avoid it, a little bit of suicidal ideation creeps in. I'm really glad I got to display that, because when I was re-reading Chapters 1-4, I was hit by how Bella's acceptance of her death was lowkey messed up, and I knew I needed to say "Hey! This! This is not healthy!" in later chapters. I also liked making Bella agonize over the choice a little more, instead of just: "If I get to be a vampire I won't want to have sex for a year : (" Hopefully I didn't draw it out too much, though. What did you think? Did you also enjoy Bella's angst, or did I overdo it? Is it unrealistic that the Cullens haven't caught up to Victoria yet? Are the POV switches confusing to read in the third person? Any typos?