I have to be honest with you guys, it took me so long to post this chapter because I was sort of afraid to. The Cullens and the wolves do argue, and they do insult each other. I tried to be really careful with the insults thrown around so nothing can be taken as an attack against the very real tribe SM decided to include in her story. The wolfpack isn't referred to as mutts or dogs or any harmful verbiage like that, but they are insulted for being werewolves. If any of the insults are offensive in a way that was not apparent to me, please tell me. Thank you.
Eclipse and the entire Twilight saga belong to Stephanie Meyer.
There was nothing to do but wait for the wolfpack to arrive. With Carlisle's permission, I lifted a sleeping Bella off the makeshift hospital bed and brought her upstairs to our real bed where she could be more comfortable. Once she was settled, I removed her shoes and jacket and replaced her button-down and jeans with one of my own long-sleeved shirts. It was far too large for her, falling past her thighs, and I had to roll up the sleeves to free her hands. The two braids I wove into her hair earlier were a disaster from the jet ski, the rush to safety, the werewolf incident, and now surgery, but I didn't take them out. The small tufts of hair sticking out around her head were cute, and she was cute, and I found myself more smitten with her from these little details every day.
I laid in the bed beside her, arranging the two of us so my body could serve as an ice pack for her stitches. The drugs put Bella in a sleep too deep for the sleep talking I loved so much, but I still marveled at her small movements as she slept. The occasional pucker of her brow, a lick of her lips. And, of course, the way her body adjusted itself to be as close to me as possible.
Down in Carlisle's study, I heard him instruct Rosalie to keep to herself while the wolfpack was in the house. He thought it would be best to only have Esme and himself visible, so they wouldn't feel threatened. Rosalie happily complied, not wanting to do anything to do with the wolfpack, anyway. She was already dreaming of the scalding shower that would rid herself of the stench Jacob left on her while she reset and wrapped his hand.
Jacob himself was still downstairs with Esme, both suppressing their instinctual hatred for the other species in order to have a civil conversation. Esme asked after the other members of the pack, hoping every member was sized somewhere between Carlisle, Emmet, Jasper, and I so she could provide whatever clothing would make them comfortable. Jacob informed her that the boys would carry pants with them to change into, but Esme explained that she was more worried about the chill and still wanted to gather sweaters for them. Jacob wasn't too sure how to react to this. I imagined "doting mother figure" wasn't covered in their werewolf introduction and guide to vampires. But, he reluctantly caved and told Esme the sizes of the few pack members he knew were on their way. Then, the politeness his father ingrained in him since he was a child prevented Jacob from doing anything but hold the bundles of borrowed sweaters for Esme as they waited for the pack in the living room.
I heard them in my mind before even Jacob sensed his pack. There were only three of them. One must have been the alpha—Sam, from what I've heard through the grapevine—and the two others were the ones who were injured during the fight. They were restless and watchful, but their thoughts were also in the pack mentality. Cohesive and thinking in terms of one and not as individuals, it made it almost impossible to separate them into distinct voices or to fully discern their motives. They seemed focused on their surroundings and the images they could see and smell. They were deep within instinct, more animal than human. I sensed that they were hiding something but could not pick up on any one thing that stood or gave them away. Other than the directive to maintain peace during their brief encounter with my family, there were no other thoughts clear enough to read.
Their thoughts divided one by one as they shifted back into their human forms right outside of our house. They each donned a pair of sweatpants that they had carried in the jaw on the quick jaunt over from the Reservation. Once again, Esme stood by the door at the ready. This time, she held eight men's sweaters to offer the boys as they entered the house. They each looked to Jacob for guidance, to which he only shrugged and shook his head. Each boy donned a sweater.
Bella shifted in her sleep, as is she could sense the threatening arrival of the wolfpack. My love had recently revealed to me that she had always feared me just as any other human would, but it was love that overcame that fear. I wondered if she also feared the wolves more than she led on.
"Hello Sam," Carlisle greeted as he descended the stairs, worrying if there was a culturally appropriate greeting that he was missing.
Sam regarded Carlisle with a practiced apathy. He was rattled to be in the home of vampires, but he refused to show it. "Thank you for offering to do this."
"It's no trouble at all. And who are our patients today?" Carlisle smiled, pleased with his light teasing.
The wolves were less than amused, and their alpha introduced them without enthusiasm. "Paul and Quill."
Carlisle gestured for one to come forward. The two wolves look at each other, then at Jacob, and finally at Sam. The one named Paul stepped up first and told Carlisle what a newborn had done to his foot. As Carlisle deemed Paul's leg and foot perfectly healed with no need for adjustment, Alice's thoughts flew into my range, buzzing frantically like a bee.
"No!" Alice shrieked, almost shattering the glass door with her forceful entrance. She began shoving Quill out the door. "Out! All of you! Out!"
"Alice!" Esme scolded. Her hands flew to her hips just like any mother. "What on Earth do you think you're doing? These are our guests." She kindly invited the boy Alice tried to push out the door to sit on the couch. He stayed where he was, reminding himself that he was not in a threatening situation in an effort to stop his hands from shaking.
By the time I switched back to Alice's thoughts from Quill's, she had gotten up onto the table behind the couch, trying to give herself height amongst the tall members of the pack. Her hands were also on her hips, and she fought back. "I can't see anything while they're here!
Esme pursed her lips. "You can be without visions for the time being."
"Oh! Sure! Let's keep me blind! That way Victoria can make a crucial decision and get the jump on Bella," Alice challenged. Even the concept of the threat to Bella caused a growl the erupt from my throat. I quickly checked that Bella was still asleep, pressed a small kiss to her eyelid when I saw that she was, and hopped back down into Alice's head. "Or better yet! So, the vampires in Seattle can come and attack the town!"
Esme looked at Carlisle for backup. "I need five minutes Alice. Bella and the town will be safe for the next five minutes."
Alice grunted in disbelief; I couldn't say I disagreed. With Bella's bad luck, Victoria or the newborn army would decide to attack in these next few minutes and we would only have the time their thoughts entered my range to prepare. I planted another kiss on Bella's brow, silently vowing to keep her safe no matter what.
Giving his vocal daughter a warning stare, Carlisle silently beckoned the second wolf—Quill—over to him. The tension in the room was palpable, but from what I could tell from their thoughts, all four wolves were in complete control over their forms. As uncomfortable as they were, they refused to be the cause of a violent outbreak in an otherwise peaceful situation—they had decided to leave that to the vampires. Quill stepped up for his check-up, answering Carlisle's quiet questions with a single word or shake of the head, if possible.
When Quill recalled that it had actually been his right arm, not his left, Alice outwardly moaned, "Oh, come on."
With that final push, Paul snapped, "Do you think we want to be here?"
Frustrated at her blindness and the situation itself, Alice grew uncharacteristically hostile. "Yeah. You want to stink up my home and leave my family defenseless. A few less vampires for you to worry about if we're dying and throwing up."
"Alice," Esme warned but was ultimately ignored.
Paul straightened his stance, which perked Jasper up as well. "We're only here because your friends decided to pay us a visit. Or are you mad that we kicked their asses, and you couldn't partake in their feast?"
"Oh please. I don't drink human blood any more than you sniff each other's butts," Alice retorted childishly. "Oh wait, or do you?"
"Wolves don't do that," Paul proudly crossed his arms over his chest.
"Yeah, they do! Why do you think dogs do it? God, read a book and maybe you can keep up with my insults," she snapped her fingers as she spoke.
"Oh, okay," Quill said to himself, the strangest tone of relief in his voice. All heads turned in his direction.
Before anyone had the time to unpack that, Emmett burst through the back door. "Yikes," he muttered, managing to capture the chaos of the room into a single syllable.
"Forgive my wife," with the interference from the wolves and the distraction of Emmet's arrival, Jasper was able to lift Alice off the table by the armpits like a child. "She panics when she's blind."
"Oh, sorry!" Alice stretched the word out into five syllables. "It's not like someone made the decision to have a newborn army attack my family, only to have everything immediately disappear or anything!"
"Newborn army?" Quill picked out, immediately picturing an army of babies.
"It's a term we use for newly turned vampires," Carlisle explained, patiently. Then, furrowed his brow, "What do you mean, Alice?"
Alice waited for the attention of everyone in the room to be on her before she spoke. "I saw someone announce to those newborns that they will attack our house tomorrow at three A.M. And when I checked to see the outcome of this decision, it went completely black, along with all of you."
The room stilled as everyone took in the new information. Esme suddenly felt terrible for scolding her daughter.
"You can't see things when we're involved, right?" Sam asked, glancing over at Jacob, who had been the one who had given him the information.
Because Alice couldn't peek ahead to see where this conversation was going, she grew warier than she was before. "…yes."
"Then you can't see what happens with those vampires because my pack is going to take care of them."
"Sam!" Carlisle objected. "It is none of your concern; we will rectify the situation."
"It's already our concern!" Sam's careful patience had just about run dry, and Emmett's looming presence made him uneasy, for the wolves were officially outnumbered. The fear brought out a tone of formality that Sam wasn't used to. It made him sound like one of the elders, and he knew he would be teased mercilessly by his pack for it later. "Your bloodsuckers already invaded our land and threatened the safety of our families. It's an honor and our right to eliminate that threat."
"We sincerely apologize for that. If we had known about the attack on your land, we would have prevented it. But, as you clearly know, my daughter can't see things when your kind is involved. Now that we know how great of a threat these newborns are, we will take care of them."
"Why? So, you can let your friends live? Or better yet, force our hands into signing another treaty with them so we can't kill them, either?" Like our ancestors should have killed you?
Quill and Paul ooh'ed and slapped each other's shoulders in agreement with their alpha.
Things were beginning to heat up, so I decided it might be best to head downstairs. If a wolf were to phase or a vampire were to snap, I might be able to prevent any real damage. Bella would be furious that she missed this, but the tension in the living room was too high and it was too dangerous for her to be mixed up in that.
"Stay here," I whispered, kissing Bella's temple. "Stay safe." And I ghosted down the two flights of steps.
Back downstairs, Carlisle didn't like the implication behind Sam's words. "If these creatures are as hostile as Jasper believes we are, we will destroy them."
Sam decided that he was through being polite and bluntly stated, "We don't trust you to destroy them."
Jasper took that as a direct insult against him and his ability to keep his wife safe. He stepped up to Sam, who automatically clocked my brother as the biggest threat in the room and straightened into a threatening stance.
"I can't say that I trust you to take care of it either," Jasper used his own ability to keep his voice smooth. "If my wife could see the outcome of your attempt to fight these newborns, there is no doubt that she would see us fighting a larger army next week after you enviably fail and the newborns turn the members of your tribe into one of us."
It was absolutely the wrong thing to say. Sam had to clench his fists to cut his shaking. "We defeated them once."
"Technically, they retreated," Jacob added, earning a stone-cold glare from his alpha.
Jasper gave Jacob a solid nod, "Exactly. Leave it to the ones who know what they're doing."
"If it's so simple for you to defeat them, how was someone able to create an army of them in the first place?" Sam challenged, stepping closer to Jasper as he, along with Sam, fought back the urge to release his inner monster. I switched between their two minds, ready to stop whoever snapped first.
"You can work together," a small voice sounded from the top of the staircase.
"Bella!" I exclaimed.
Gripping the railing, Bella took a single, shaky step to the next stair. Her foot missed the tread, and she began to topple forward. I reached her just in time, scooping her up into the safety of my arms. I felt the presence of a werewolf too close to us for comfort, and turned, only to see Jacob a few paces behind me, for he instinctively raced to catch Bella as well. He bared his teeth; I bared mine. Eventually, he turned and stalked back down the staircase and into the huddle of the pack.
I pressed my lips to Bella's ear, "You are supposed to be sleeping," I reminded her, punctuating the sentence with a kiss.
"You promised."
I grimaced at Carlisle, who heard her toothless—yet valid—accusation, as well. We had promised her we wouldn't discuss anything important while she was asleep, and she caught us doing just that.
Carlisle glanced at the clock on the wall. It was close to one in the morning, and although they were supernatural, the group of young men in front of him were still human. He addressed the room, "Why don't we reconvene in the morning? Quill and Paul are both perfectly healed, but I imagine everyone needs their rest this evening—immortal or not." He hoped for a few, quiet hours in his study.
Sam liked the idea of being able to consult with the Elders before making an agreement with a group of vampires. "We can do that," Then, to his pack, "Let's go."
Jacob was the last out of the house, giving the semi-conscious Bella in my arms a longing stare. His thoughts stood out from the pack, for he was the only one not excited to kill newborns or fulfill his ancient duty bestowed on him by his ancestors.
He wanted Bella to be safe.
Soon, he turned and made his way out into the woods, as well. Their separate, human minds melded into their pack mind with their transformations and eventually faded out of my range.
I looked around at my family members scattered around our living room, each focusing on calming down after an encounter with their natural enemy. Jasper layered a few blankets of calm over the room, speeding up the process. Eventually, Esme felt relaxed enough to perch on the edge of her favorite loveseat, and Carlisle followed suit, draping his arm over her shoulder. As the rest of my family gathered and sat to discuss what had occurred, I stayed where I stood near the top of the stairs, ready to take Bella back up to our room. She had fallen asleep again almost immediately. I shook my head, wondering why she bothered to get out of bed at all.
Carlisle raised an eyebrow at Alice. "Newborn vampire army?" Each word grew more incredulous than the last.
Jasper traced comforting circles onto Alice's back as she spoke. "When Edward, Jasper, and I killed those four newborn vampires in their hideout, Edward heard Victoria's mental voice. Immediately after, I got a ton of new visions—visions of our family being attacked by a swarm of newborns. The visions were all blurry and incomplete, like someone was forming a plan. They kept coming while Jasper and I were tracking Victoria. When we found that she hotwired a car and escaped, we were about to turn back to tell Edward we lost her." She glanced up at me, offering a sheepish grin, "Sorry, Edward."
I was more than aware of how evasive Victoria could be. How many times had I lost her at my pathetic attempt at tracking? Four? I gave my sister a nonchalant nod of forgiveness before she continued.
"And then, someone made a very crucial decision, and the chaos stopped. I watched some random, blonde vampire give those newborns directions to our house and instruct them all to meet up tomorrow at three in the morning. When I searched for the outcome, all of it disappeared, including you."
"Can you see anything now that the wolves are gone?" Esme asked.
Alice thought long and hard. She saw Bella and me in a snowy cabin… Victoria in a non-descript location near a mountainside…herself and Jasper shopping for new sneakers ever since she caught sight of the ones he was wearing… Carlisle and Esme packing up the house… Empty blackness sprinkled into her search, indicating where the wolves would be involved.
She sighed heavily and threw her arms against her sides, "It's no use! The wolves are too tangled up in this now."
"Can't we all decide to refuse their help?" Emmett asked. "Then, they can't be involved in our decisions."
With no other ideas, we all awkwardly glanced around the room, unsure of how to do this. Emmett held up five fingers and began counting down. When his final finger closed into his fist, I was blasted with loud, internal declarations of intent.
Alice checked the future again, and tomorrow morning was nothing but blackness. Jasper immediately felt her irritation and pumped calm into her before she announced, "Nope! Nothing."
"What could be the problem?" Esme asked.
"Yeah." Emmett agreed. "They don't want to work with us; we don't want to work with them. They shouldn't be anywhere near our future."
"Well, someone must not want to kick them to the curb," Alice said, trying very hard not to look accusingly at Carlisle.
"Um, I think I know who." I pointed to Bella with my chin. Somewhere in her dreaming mind, she was dead set on us working with the wolves.
"Come on, Bella!" Alice groaned, "Now is not the time for a truce with the wolves!"
"Well, why not?" Emmett asked. "I still don't get why we don't want the wolves to help. Especially since we're just gonna show 'em up on the battlefield."
Because they stink. Because they ruin my sight. Because they're only boys, all chimed at once in the thoughts around me, but no one had a real, genuine reason to speak out loud.
Emmett nodded. That's what I thought. "We should let them help. Can we even take all these guys on? How many newborns can we manage?" he asked Jasper.
"I could take two. Em, you could take two given the perfect circumstances, but the rest," he shook his head, wishing he could take Esme and Alice out of the count, but sticking them in there anyway. "At best, we could manage nine. And that's the best-case scenario."
"And how many are there?"
"We counted eighteen and killed four, so there would still be fourteen out there."
I chimed in, "From what I caught in Jacob Balck's memories, the wolves took care of two, as well."
"So, twelve," Jasper adjusted his calculations. "And, of course, that doesn't include anyone they turn between now and then."
"And whether it's this pack of newborns Alice even sees," Esme added.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, these Newborns have been in Seattle for months. Why decide to attack us now?"
"Because Edward, Alice, and I killed members of their coven," Jasper stated as a fact, not an opinion.
"Oh," the word hung in the air for an extra beat.
"So, we gonna let them help?" Emmett asked, bluntly, growing tired of math and strategy.
"We can't do it on our own," Esme concluded for the family. "Seven against twelve is impossible and would leave Bella absolutely defenseless somewhere." I sucked in a sharp breath at Esme's mental image of my Bella alone and vulnerable. "When the wolves return tomorrow, we will act kindly towards them," she regarded Alice, specifically, "and we will work with them to come up with a plan. Carlisle and I will write up an amendment to the treaty to present, just in case."
Jasper ran his fingers through Alice's hair, "I'm afraid you'll have to sit out if they choose to help." He feigned sympathy, even though the words could not make him happier.
"With seven wolves and only five of us, that's plenty," Carlisle said. No one fought him on the number of Cullens he included. All of us wanted Esme out of harm's way. "Of course, only if the wolves agree to join."
I thought of how anxious Paul, Sam, and Quill were to fight, "Oh, they'll be willing to fight. The hard part is going to be convincing them to let us help."
"The numbers are convincing enough," Carlisle was confident. No one argued with him.
"I shouldn't inflict Bella's ire more than I already have," I said with a sigh. "I'm taking her up to bed. We'll talk more with the wolves tomorrow." The members of my family muttered their goodbyes to both Bella and me as they split up for the remainder of their sleepless night.
The next morning, I made sure that Bella woke up to a large green smoothie, buttered toast, a glass of water, and two Tylenols. She smiled at the tray awaiting her on the bedside table. "I'm always coddled when I stay here."
"You're loved when you're here," I corrected.
I helped her sit up in bed and arranged the two of us so her stitches were against my ice-cold skin. She reached for the pills first, then the smoothie. Then, glared at me when I attempted to hold the smoothie for her as she drank.
"Coddled," she repeated. I laughed.
We enjoyed our quiet morning for a single piece of toast, and then Bella decided it was time to speak her mind. "So, how many decisions did you make without my input after knocking me unconscious last night?"
It looked like we were skipping straight to the main event.
"Bella, love, you needed to sleep."
She said nothing, but it still felt like a disagreement.
"As for the wolves, Esme had invited the others who were injured to the house to be looked at by Carlisle. Alice came home because the wolves made the family disappear and ruffled their fur. I went down as a precaution to stop anyone from attacking anyone else. What did you want me to do? Ask everyone to hold off on their argument until you woke up?"
"I expected you to wake me up to go down when you went."
I exhaled sharply. "You needed—,"
"To rest!" she concluded for me, bitterly. "I know! I get it! How bad would it have been to make the effort to include me? To pretend that it's important to you for me to be in these conversations? Most likely I would have sat there on the couch in your lap and fallen back asleep anyway! Would that have been so bad?"
"I'm sorry, Bella. Your opinion is important to me, and I do want you involved in family matters…"
"Only when you want my opinion and when you think the family matter is appropriate for me," she corrected. "That's not good enough, Edward. We're a team!"
I glared at her and finished the sentence she interrupted, "But that room was filled with werewolves struggling not to turn and vampires fighting against instinct. Do you honestly think I would ever bring you into a situation like that, even if you were only to fall asleep in my lap? It's an accident begging to happen, Bella."
"Fine. Then, you should have woken me up, let me know what you were doing, and let me decide what I wanted to do with the information."
There would be no getting through to her this morning. "Okay. You know what? You're right. I'm sorry I didn't wake you from your drug-induced slumber so you could risk your life to listen to a petty argument."
"Try again."
I untangled myself from her and knelt beside the bed. Taking her hand in mine, I gazed deeply into her eyes and said, "I'm sorry you're insane."
"Edward!"
"I'm sorry. Bella. I truly am. The moment I slipped out of bed, I knew I was in the wrong. That should have been my clue to stop what I was doing, but I didn't, and that was wrong of me. In the future, I will take the extra effort to consider your feelings when making decisions, and never make them on your behalf."
She searched my face for a long while before deciding my apology was good enough. "Thank you."
"It seems like you're well enough to fight," I noted.
Her cheeks flushed; she knew she was about to face my wrath.
I stood from where I was kneeling and loomed over her. "What on Earth were you thinking? How could you be so stupid?!"
"I'm sorry, Edward," she squeaked. "I didn't know."
"You didn't know?" I repeated, incredulously. "I told you about the danger. I warned you that could get hurt by the wolves! But you swore it was safe! You promised me you would be safe with them!"
"Jacob doesn't like shifting," Bella said in a quiet voice, "He says that it scares him. I've been able to calm him enough to keep him from turning in the past with a small touch or the sound of my voice."
The fact that she had approached him while he was in danger of phasing brought my hands up to my hair. Every, single time I left her in Jacob's care, she had been playing with fire. I was shocked that it took her this long to get burned.
"It didn't work this time," she grumbled. I knew her well enough to know that the irritation in her tone was only there because she couldn't help Jacob with his shifting and had nothing to do with the fact that she had been injured.
Jacob's memory gave me the answer as to why her ridiculous method didn't work this time. "It was because there were vampires near, and Sam was calling him. He wouldn't be able to resist a direct call from Sam like that."
"I didn't know," she repeated. It looked like it was going to be her mantra for the day.
"Which is why you should never approach him while he's phasing. Ever. I don't know why you would ever try, especially after the warnings I know we both had given you."
Bella squeezed the comforter in her fist. If I wasn't a vampire, I wouldn't have been able to hear her say, "I didn't think Jacob would be able to hurt me."
The confession hit far too close to home. She had always said the very same thing about me. And even though I knew I would never in all of my life try to hurt her, I always knew I could.
"Well, now you have the scars on both arms to remind you that we can."
Her face dropped as I emphasized my inclusion in the statement. Almost as quickly, she composed her features into something a bit more inscrutable as she shoved the blanket into a messy pile at the end of the bed, clumsily climbed down, and walked right past me.
I figured I was about to hear the slam of my bedroom door as she searched for space away from me but was surprised to hear a click from my stereo followed by the first few notes of one of my favorite albums. I had once told Bella that was the album I played when I was in a bad mood and wanted to feel better. I was shocked she remembered—she had peppered me with dozens of questions the day we went through my music collection together.
When I turned around to look at her, she was walking towards me, swaying her hips and arms to the music a quarter-beat off. She was too damn adorable for her own good—I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face. When her swaying walk got to me, she wrapped her good arm around my waist.
"You're in a bad mood."
Gee, I wonder why that could be? I wanted to say but snorted instead.
"What's the matter?" she asked.
I nestled my face into her hair. "I hate it when you're hurt."
"Shh," her hand made large, sweeping circles on my back, "I know. But that's not everything."
"I'm struggling to remember why it was the right thing for me to come back."
I felt her ribs expand as she took a deep breath. For a long moment, she stayed silent. I feared that I had triggered something and immediately kicked myself for speaking the truth. But instead of hyperventilating or breaking down in tears, Bella pressed her cheek against my chest and grabbed a fistful of my shirt. "You came back because you love me, and because we were meant to be together."
I squeezed my eyes shut. The saddest, loneliest part of my heart spoke up, "If that were true the universe would let us be together in peace."
"Because our relationship with worth the fight. It'll be alright."
"It isn't. You've already been hurt by your best friend. The creatures who want to hurt you haven't even arrived yet." On top of this impending newborn army, both Victoria and the Volturi were out there planning and scheming.
She brought her hands up to force me to look at her, wincing as she did. I took the injured arm and cradled protectively in mine. Her free hand cupped my cheek. "I need you to hear me, Edward. Think of the amount of pain you are willing to endure to keep me safe." She paused for a moment so I could do as she asked. "That is how much pain I am willing to endure to stay by your side."
I sucked in a breath. I never wanted her to endure such pain. I barely scraped through it.
"Bella…" I started, but she stopped me.
"I'm going to do whatever it takes to stay with you. Nothing will be able to take me from you."
The fierce candor melted into her chocolate eyes silenced any other argument. The extreme lengths I would go through to keep her safe were the very same ones she would go through to keep me. I never dreamt of such a love. Throughout our relationship, I always figured her human heart couldn't love me as much as I loved her. Turned out, she loved me much, much more.
The songs switched into something soft and tender. I took her up into my arms—always careful of her stitches—and began dancing to the music. As I swayed around the room, occasionally dipping her on the appropriate beats, her only contribution to the dance was taping her fingers—off-beat—on the back of my neck. We danced contently for two more songs. The third slowed significantly, and I used my chin to tuck her face into my neck.
"Fight for me," she whispered, nuzzling her face even closer.
"Keep yourself safe," I countered.
I felt her lips stretch into a smile against my skin. "We're going to need more rings for all of these promises. I'm going to run out of fingers."
I could think of one ring for her that would stand for all the vows we made to one other for all of eternity. A wedding band.