I am beyond excited to start sharing this story! Thank you all for your patience, hopefully, it will be well worth it. We are switching from Edward's POV over to Bella's, though Edward's POV may pop up. This fic will begin immediately after Solar Eclipse, though most of the fic will take place five years later. I think I summarized what happened in Solar Eclipse fairly well in this first chapter (it felt like I was writing a book report on it), but if you can't remember anything or have any questions, feel free to ask for a refresher!

Without further ado, please enjoy See the Stars.

Edward pulled the shiny, silver Volvo up to the curb in front of my house. It was the closest he could get since the truck and the cruiser took up all the space in the driveway. His hand rested on my leg, squeezing and releasing my thigh intermittently like he'd been doing for the rest of the drive. He never enjoyed the idea of forcing me to walk through the rain, and he was especially agitated because I had already gotten wet once that day.

Actually, twice, I smiled to myself. I was glad Edward couldn't hear the joke through my thoughts. He wouldn't have appreciated it.

Emmett would have.

After Edward said he'd change me, he brought me to the meadow to seal the vow. It was a perfect surprise. For weeks, I had urged Edward in the direction of physical intimacy, only to be rejected again and again. Even with Edward's reassurances of love, his rejection stung more than I would have liked to admit. So, I was understandably thrilled when Edward proposed we take the next step.

His cool, marble body pressed against my soft, scorching skin. Every touch burned with pure pleasure. The way his body was perfectly attuned to mine, even though it was our first try.

He was perfect.

We were perfect. Together.

I had been so lost in Edward, that I hadn't noticed the dark clouds until the thunder crashed. Without so much as a warning drop, the rain poured down in a sheet. Edward tried to shield me with his body, but the damage had already been done. I was soaked to the bone. I rolled out from under him, sprawling out in the soft grass in the rain. I ran my arms and legs through the grass and wildflowers like I was making a snow angel.

It was so unlike me. For someone who never enjoyed cold, wet things, I had the time of my life. I stood, lifting my face and arms up to the sky, allowing nature's shower to rinse the mud and bracken from my skin.

"Kiss me!" I sang, twirling in the rain.

"Bella, please." Anxious for my well-being was Edward's natural state of being. "We need to get you out of the rain. You're getting cold." In Edward's mind, the very next step after I got slightly too cold was to catch pneumonia and die.

"You weren't worried about the temperature when you offered to treat me to a popsicle."

Edward pinched his lips. If he could blush, he would be bright red. I grinned. The second-best thing about beginning my sex life with Edward was going to be teasing him about it. That was already apparent.

"All the reason to get you warm and dry, now."

"Then you better kiss me quick. Because I won't go back without one."

Edward slumped and closed his eyes, defeated.

He had already redressed at vampire speed, but if I was being honest, the hard lines of his body through a see-through white button-down was just as alluring as he had been fully naked.

If not more.

I struggled to keep my breath steady as he slowly walked across the meadow. I remembered standing just outside the surrounding woods, wondering how this glorious creature could be meant for me. Now, I knew it didn't matter how, only that he did. As deeply and irrevocably as I loved him. When Edward reached for me, I clung to him like the wet fabric of his clothing clung to his skin.

Though Edward was not a supporter of this kiss, he kissed me passionately. Without words, his lips told me I was the only thing he would ever want. In return, I held him as if I would never let him go. We remained in the rain longer than he would have liked. Proof that his love for me meant more than his worries and his fears.

I had been wrong.

I adored cold, wet things.

"Are you ready?"

Edward's voice pulled me back into the car. He looked at me with the same anxious eyes he always did when he did not know where my thoughts were.

I nodded.

He pushed back the wet hair that stuck to his forehead, so dark it looked brown. My own wet hair had been pulled up into a knot at the top of my head. "There's a lot of preparation for me to do, so I don't know when I'll return tonight, if at all."

A week ago, those words would have crushed me. The uncertainty of Edward's return would have seeped into my thoughts like a parasite, until all I could think about. But we were in a better place. Now, I could nod my head evenly and stroke the promise ring on my finger, confident that he could never leave me again.

He continued, "My brothers and I are going to find a boat to sink, in case someone chooses to search for the remains. It'll be difficult because we won't want to steal from anyone. We're hoping to find one at an impound lot. Then, we'll have to plant cadavers, obviously."

The plan for my public death was that Edward and I were inspired by our boat trip with his family to run off and elope. Alice would be the only member of the Cullen family who would be in on our little secret and confess when Charlie realized I was missing. Later, it would be discovered that Edward and I had died on our voyage. The tale of our tragic love would carry on with the tale of our death. It was sad, but I needed everyone in my life to know that I had chosen Edward. In the real and the non-supernatural version of my story, my life would always end in eternal love with Edward.

His hand squeezed and released. "Carlisle and Esme are up in Alaska, making sure the house is human-friendly." I received the first smile since we had been in the meadow, "I gave them shopping lists."

"I'm sure you did." I was also sure those lists were lengthy and mostly unnecessary.

"They'll be back sometime in the morning. And they'll stick around for Charlie, to help him through his grief."

Another squeeze. Another level breath.

"Alice and Rosalie will remain at the house. Alice is watching for any changes; Rosalie is standing guard."

Edward's hand slowed and moved down my thigh to take my hand that rested on my knee. "With all that said, you are still my first priority Bella. If you wish, I could return at midnight without question. It would take us off course of Carlisle's schedule, but that would be okay."

"Get everything done," I decided, telling my whining heart that we were going to keep Edward forever, and we could both survive the night without him. "We know the Volturi is coming, there's no need to put anything off."

Alec and Jane had been sent by Aro to deal with the newborn problem in Seattle—months after it became a threat, but that was neither here nor there. They found Edward where he fought Victoria, giving her a chance to escape once again. To keep me safe, Edward lied to Aro's deadly twins about my location and my status as an immortal being.

It was stupid and reckless.

Almost as stupid and reckless as my decision to leave the security of Edward's house and throw myself between Edward and his torturers. Outing myself and securing my place at the top of Aro's hit list with Edward.

Aro had released us from his deadly lair in Italy because of Alice's assurance that I would be an immortal. He wouldn't be pleased to discover I hadn't been turned, mistaking Edward's reluctance as disobedience. Now, it was a race to get me to a secure location to turn me before Aro could pay us a visit and kill us both for insubordination. Which meant my final summer as a human with Charlie was cut short. While the Cullens were running around to stage my death, I would spend one, final night with my father.

"I'll set an alarm on my phone for midnight anyway and give you a call."

I blushed, embarrassed that I had desperately needed the assurance of his voice. For the past month, Edward's calls were my lifeline.

"Thank you."

"Have a lovely night with your father."

Unsure of what to say, I nodded woodenly.

Edward studied my face, looking for any signs of fear or hesitation. But, I knew he wouldn't find any. I wasn't afraid. Stepping into his life was all I wanted, from the moment he expressed his feelings during our first trip to that meadow.

"This is the right decision for me." I reminded him.

Edward's perfect lower lip trembled once, but he nodded. He leaned across the center console to press a kiss on my forehead. The chaste kiss was just as passionate as the hungry kisses we shared in the meadow during the storm. His hand cupped my cheek, and I wrapped my hand around his wrist, keeping him there for a moment longer.

"I love you," we murmured in tandem. I felt him smile against my skin. He always enjoyed it when we shared thoughts.

It would never be easy to leave Edward's side, I would always long for his presence, but it was no longer painful to step out of the Volvo and shut the door behind me. I felt Edward's gaze on my back as I ran up the front yard to the door. He would be back. And when he returned, our new life together would begin.

Once inside, I shook off the rain. I heard Charlie in the kitchen, muttering angrily to himself. It could either mean two things: he threw away the microwave instructions for his meal without reading them first or realized he forgot to buy another case of beer.

When I peeked inside, it appeared to be neither. He leaned over the sink, his hands bracing the edge of the counter, looking like he was about to be sick.

"Dad?"

He immediately straightened up. "Oh, Bells. I didn't hear you come in."

That struck me as odd. Usually, Charlie watched my interactions with Edward like a hawk. He would count the seconds between the moment Edward pulled up to when I walked through that door, and judge Edward heavily based on that count. Looking out the window over the sink, I understood how he hadn't been expecting me. The fog was heavy, the rain thunderous. A derailed train could be coming towards the house and Charlie and I wouldn't notice until it crashed through the window.

I shook the thought before Edward's sixth—possibly seventh—sense could itch. Edward didn't need to add derailed train to his ever-growing list of worries and concerns.

"Everything alright?"

"Everything's fine. I just got wind of some news I hope isn't real."

I swallowed, suspecting I already knew what Charlie heard.

A group of newborn vampires had ravaged the greater Seattle area for a better part of a month. They got close enough to become a threat to the wolfpack, and they were after the Cullen family for destroying four of their members. Of course, we figured out later that the whole thing had been carefully orchestrated by Victoria as a distraction to get me alone and take the life of Edward's love. But no matter how they got there, the Cullens and the wolf pack still needed to destroy the coven of vampires to keep the area safe.

Jacob had hoped to use the battle as a cover to escape his supernatural responsibilities. He begged me to come along with him. Though I knew for a long time how unhappy Jacob was with his double life, I couldn't bring myself to go with him. My savor in every way, Edward stepped in, and offered Jacob a safe, secure future away from the supernatural. Using Edward's fake identity, Jacob would attend Dartmouth and live in the apartment Edward had procured for us. Jacob was free from the pack and would eventually stop phasing, but he needed to leave Billy and his life in La Push behind. Billy, or another La Push resident, must have told Charlie about Jacob's disappearance.

"What happened?"

Charlie shook his head, "It doesn't matter. It can't be true. How was the boat?"

"It was good. Too much," I added honestly. I understood the reason that the Cullens needed private vacation spots in order to truly relax and be themselves, but did they always have to be so extravagant with everything? I decided a long time ago once I joined the family, I was going to be the voice of reason.

"Catch anything good?" Naturally, Charlie would assume I fished. In his mind, there was nothing to do with a body of water besides casting a line in it.

"Not much fishing, Dad."

"Then what did you do out there?"

I struggled to think of a story appropriate enough for Charlie. All the best moments on the boat were either too intimate or too… supernatural to share with my human father. "Edward made me Grandma Swan's spaghetti one night."

He hummed. "His mother asked me for that recipe."

I squeezed his forearm. "Thank you for passing it along. I loved it."

Charlie smiled, pleased with my pleasure. "How'd he do?"

"Terribly," I laughed. Even under my tutelage, Edward managed to work the meatballs too much so they were dry and added too much salt to the sauce. "Edward does not belong in a kitchen. Speaking of, what did you want to do for dinner?"

I moved over to the fridge and found it empty. I turned to look at my father, wondering how he could have eaten a week's worth of groceries in three days.

"We can order in tonight," Charlie offered.

"That sounds nice."

There were no delivery boys in Forks, and I couldn't rely on the lightning speed of vampires with Charlie around, so we had to drive into town to pick up our Chinese food. I secretly appreciated the time alone with Charlie the car ride gave us because when we got back home, the TV switched on and we ate our meal to the sound of ESPN News. When we were finished eating, Charlie offered to wash the dishes. It was only two forks and a water cup, but the gesture was appreciated. To repay the debt, I offered to play a game of cards with him.

"High school graduate," Charlie said, randomly in the middle of our game of Rummy.

Not entirely sure what to make of Charlie's random observation, I nodded my head and said, "I sure am."

"Was that a graduation present from Edward?" I looked up and followed Charlie's gaze down to my hand, where the gems on my promise ring glinted in the dim lighting.

I fought the urge to twist the ring around and hide the gems against my palm. "It was. It was his great-grandmother's."

"It's a big step to give your girlfriend a family heirloom."

"You know Edward has always been serious about us."

There was a long pause. Charlie finished his turn. I drew and took my turn, wrongly thinking that marked the end of the conversation, because instead of picking up another card, Charlie said, "He didn't seem all that serious last September."

I tucked my lower lip between my teeth. "He was scared."

Charlie did not look up from his cards. "And you believe that?"

One night on the boat, Edward told me about his conversation with Charlie, and how close to the truth he was able to get. In his tale, poor Edward had been abandoned by his parents, leaving him feeling like a monster, undeserving of love. He used the story to explain to Charlie he left because he did not think himself as worthy of my love. He bared his newfound soul during his apology, all to make things right between himself and my father. If there was one of us underserving of the other's love, it certainly wasn't Edward.

"I do. He's still scared." I swallowed, nervous to be this transparent with Charlie. He deserved transparency in these final moments with his daughter. "I also know that his love for me outweighs the fear."

To my surprise, Charlie nodded in understanding.

"You and I are cut from the same cloth, in many ways." I knew that. Charlie and I were both stubborn, hardheaded, and enjoyed solitude too much for our own good. "I forgave your mother for a lot of things I shouldn't have, sooner than she deserved."

I put my cards down, mind reeling at where this conversation could be headed.

Charlie's gaze dropped to my ring as he spoke, "And like me, I'm pretty sure what path you're heading towards next. "Charlie and Renee had married young after a whirlwind romance, not dissimilar to the whirlwind romance between Edward and me. Without the supernatural elements, of course. "You're confident he's not going to leave again?"

My answer was as sure as the sky itself. "Yes, I am."

The conversation lapsed back into silence, which I took as acceptance. Charlie was not going to be surprised to learn that Edward and I eloped.

We played well into the night. At one point, Charlie brought out a bottle of wine and poured me a small glass. Too soon, Charlie stretched and yawned, declaring he had enough. "Goodnight, Bella. Thanks for spending the evening with your old man."

I was too choked up to speak, so I merely nodded my head.

We would have breakfast tomorrow, then that would be it.

I would die.

I remained in the kitchen, listening to the familiar sounds of the house. The creak of the sixth step. The squeak of the door to the linen closet. The sound of the shower as the powerful spray lost pressure over time. When I was sure Charlie was in bed, I followed. I took my time completing my nightly routine, savoring each step. Upstairs, I was too anxious to sleep, so I decided to pack. Carlisle said I could bring a few items if I wished, but nothing my parents would notice. We didn't want anyone to suspect I had run away, he explained.

Glumly, I sat in front of my small bookshelf. I pulled out my ratty paperbacks, flipping through the pages and reading my old annotations. It hurt to leave them behind, but these would be the first things my parents would reach for to find comfort. And they would need all the comfort they could get.

Clothes would be the safest to take. Charlie had no concept of the clothing I owned, and Renee wouldn't remember the wardrobe we pulled together well enough to notice missing pieces. I was positive there would be a magical Cullen wardrobe with all my favorite essentials waiting for me up in Alaska, but having a few of my own things would be nice. After all, my favorite jeans could not be rivaled, no matter how many designer labels were on them.

Using my own duffle bag would be too suspicious, so I snuck back downstairs to grab a trash bag. I threw my jeans into the bag, followed by the sweater Alice bought me at the airport in Italy on our way home from rescuing Edward. Then, the button-down I wore on my first day at Forks High School, the first time I saw Edward.

As I dug through the drawers, I found myself unable to part with anything. It felt like everything I owned held something special to me. The jacket I wore when I first went to Jacob with the motorcycles. The socks Edward ran to get me when I stepped in a deep puddle in the school parking lot.

The trash bag filled; my eyes filled with tears. I wiped them away to keep packing.

The ratty T-shirt I wore when Edward first spent the night. The slacks Charlie bought me for my first day of work at Newton's because neither of us knew if jeans would be appropriate. The navy blouse Edward loved so much. The thick socks I wore to work in Jacob's garage, to keep my toes warm.

I looked at the suspiciously empty drawers. I needed to put things back. I dumped the clothes out of the bag and onto the bed to start over. But again, the bag filled as I could not find a single thing I was willing to part with. I emptied the bag onto the bed once again to try again. Only, instead of packing, I crawled into bed, using the pile of clothes as a nest.

The tears continued, sharp and stinging, my roller coaster of emotions so damn hard to pin down. I had cried so much these past few days. Jacob's confession reduced me to nothing. Edward once again broke my heart. My long, emotional conversation with Esme. Edward's perfect apology and the proposal that went with it. Jacob's abrupt—yet necessary—departure.

This time, I didn't know if I was crying out of sadness or stress or just plain relief. As much as I hated it, it felt good to know there was only one hurdle left to jump until I finally got my happily ever after with Edward. I curled up, clutching clothes and covers, holding back sobs to keep them as quiet as possible.

As horrible as the idea of my parents facing my death was, I had to remind myself that the alternatives were something I truly could not bear. I couldn't fill their lives with lies, one after the other as they begged me to visit after my marriage to Edward. Killing everything that was ever right between us. Holidays, birthdays, the long weekends they wouldn't understand my avoidance of. The endless weaving of lies and illusions I would have to spin. In the end, it would never be enough in the end to keep them from being devastated by my absences. The uncertainty of what they did wrong to cause my cold dismissals growing over time would eventually eat them alive.

And I could never ask them to carry the burden of the truth. To learn the world was nothing like what they thought, to take away their innocence. And at the very least, for the consequence of knowing could very well be their death if the wrong people found out.

I had to die. For the safety—both mental and physical—of my parents.

It wasn't supposed to be this difficult.

I went through life sticking with my decisions, no matter the results. Choosing to put my home life over a social life in Pheonix. Sentencing myself to Forks. Deciding to follow my feeling for Edward, despite not knowing what he was. All decisions I had made and followed through without too many tears. Following Edward into his world was supposed to be the easiest choice of all of them.

Yet, here I was. Crying into the tan sweater I wore when Edward took me to the meadow. Because no matter what I did, I would bring pain into the lives of the people I loved most.

The teeniest creek sounded from my window. Usually, the sound brought relief because it meant Edward was sneaking into my room. Now, the sound filled me with dread. I knew I could not be caught grieving the life I swore I was happy to give up. I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself for the affirmations I was going to have to give.

When I opened my eyes, they were met with the warm, golden pair of a vampire.