A/N: This is mid-Eclipse through the end of Breaking Dawn from Edward's perspective. Thanks for reading!

These characters are not mine and all belong to Stephenie Meyer.


Thank you to my encouraging reviewers!

jaanavihairani, pineapple9, Mhuffma2, Leh Stewart, Amanda Pall, BruSwan, myspunkette, BrownEyedGirl815, Tex317, Guiltypleasure82, ReeceK, Saba Qayum, MorganKFreeman, and my guest reviewers.


A/N: This is one of the longest chapters in my fic because I sensed your impatience in the reviews and I didn't want to leave you all hanging. If I was writing this in a void, this chapter would have cut off with Bella unlocking the door to the cottage, but I'm not writing this in a void and it's so much better sharing it with all of you. :)


The Cottage (Breaking Dawn)

It was pretty rotten that I was happy when poor Seth was sitting on the other end of the couch trying not to think about the pain he was in. He'd had my back more times than I could count.

And I did feel bad for him... it was just that, more than that, I felt relief.

The iron-clad thread linking Bella to Jacob had truly been severed. Well, moved, but I didn't want to think about that.

Petty, I thought instead about all the times Jacob had thrown pitiful eyes at Bella, intentionally trying to garner her sympathy. All the times Bella had doted on him.

I thought of him walking out on me, on her, in Carlisle's office. I thought of my daughter. His intention to kill her followed quickly by his like-it-or-not intention to join my family.

Despite all that I fought a smile because Bella tried to rip Jacob's throat out today. Bella. Bella Cullen did that. Bella Cullen tried to kill Jacob Black.

My goddess. My queen. I needed her alone, acts of worship in mind -

Edward. Jasper stood behind the newel post at the foot of the stairs, subtly monitoring Bella. Give it a rest.

I rolled my eyes at him. He wasn't really giving me a choice.

Carlisle straightened out Seth's arm.

Ugh! That didn't feel great. I'm just being a baby, though. It hardly -

"I'm so sorry, Seth," I apologized again. "I should have been closer."

The worried 'v' between Bella's eyebrows deepened. "Seth I - "

Seth and I cut her off immediately. "Don't worry about it, Bella, I'm totally fine," he said at the same time I reminded her, "Bella, love, no one is judging you. You're doing so well."

Well. My lip twitched at the understatement. I found it absolutely delightful that the agitating ass was the one exception to her perfect control.

Seth winced as Carlisle secured another piece of the brace to his arm.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Bella whimpered hurriedly before anyone could interject.

I rubbed her arm reassuringly as Seth patted her knee.

Despite the earlier incident, Seth was even more comfortable around us now. To him, seeing Bella this way had taken off the last little edge of foreignness about us. He was happy to see her strong and indestructible.

"Don't freak, Bella," Seth insisted again. "I'll be back to normal in half an hour. Anyone would have done the same, what with Jake and Ness - " the nickname got stuck in his throat as Bella's nostrils flared " - I mean at least you didn't bite me or anything. That would've sucked."

Bella dropped her face into her hands and shuddered. "I'm a bad person."

"Of course you aren't," I said, my tone torn between comforting and exasperated. "I should have - "

"Stop that," she sighed.

I pursed my lips to keep from carrying on as I wanted to.

Seth cocked his head thoughtfully. "Lucky thing Ness- Renesmee's not venomous 'cause she bites Jake all the time."

Bella dropped her hands and looked at with him with a look so hopeful it was all I could do to keep from laughing. "She does?" Bella asked frailly.

Seth, pleased he had cheered her, declared, "Sure. Whenever he and Rose don't get dinner in her mouth fast enough. Rose thinks it's pretty hilarious."

I found Bella's newfound pleasure at violence refreshing.

Carlisle straightened up. "Well, Seth, I think that's as much as I can do. Try not to move for, oh, a few hours, I guess." He chuckled. "I wish treating humans were this instantaneously gratifying." Carlisle patted Seth's head fondly. "Stay still," he ordered.

Carlisle couldn't get upstairs fast enough, eager to run more tests on the preserved placental tissue from Nessie's birth. He was hopeful we would find answers there, but so far nothing in the specimen had given us peace of mind. But I tried not to think about that now.

"I can probably manage sitting still for a while," Seth agreed sleepily. He yawned and seconds later he was out.

Bella frowned, perhaps dissatisfied she could not offer him further apology now, and glided to the back windows.

I followed, taking her hand. It still felt something like a miracle to hold her hand like this, to feel the firm responding pressure of hers. These had all the power of first touches.

Leah stalked menacingly along the river, shooting glares at the reflective glass of the back windows. I'd so nearly had my excuse to chuck her across the river...

"You fed her lunch!" Jacob said quietly through his teeth where he sat with Rosalie and Nessie on the front steps.

"Yes, because you were too anxious about Bella waking up to do it yourself. You surrendered your turn."

Nessie sighed impatiently and placed a hand on each of their cheeks. She had an easy solution: Momma should feed her.

They watched her imagined scene of Bella cradling her and felt regret that this was not something they could give her. It was a little excessive how desperately they tried to comfort her then - she was annoyed, not hurt - and I started to consider the consequences of this kind of attention. We didn't want a little Renée on our hands.

Besides, it was absurd that they felt so staunchly about keeping Nessie from Bella. It was Jacob's fault things had gone the way they did, not Bella's. He should have let me tell her.

Though, I had to give the mutt a little credit. He didn't once consider mentioning that it was my own sarcastic remark that had spawned the nickname. But, then again, I was keeping a much bigger secret for him, wasn't I?

Bella was quiet as she gazed out the window. I followed her emotions through Jasper again. A negative emotion would begin to swell like a balloon when suddenly - and intentionally, Jasper was sure - the feeling would fade and morph into something else.

I was a little startled when more neutral emotions gave way to grief, anxiety. She'd given no physical indication of the shift and I found myself envious of Jasper's gift. I wondered if, given the chance, I would give up my gift entirely in exchange for just knowing what she was feeling.

"What's the matter, Bella?" Jasper asked softly. "No one is angry with you ore even surprised, really. Well, I suppose we are surprised," he admitted. "Surprised that you were able to snap out of it so quickly. You did well. Better than anyone expects of you.

The room grew calm as he spoke, easing some of my frustration over her silent thoughts and inscrutable expression.

"I was thinking about Charlie, actually."

Charlie. He'd already called three times today. Things would get dicey if we didn't move on soon. Alice could see that.

"Ah." Jasper remembered Bella's pain earlier when Carlisle, fixing up Seth's arm, had suggested the next thing to do would be to deliver the news to Charlie that his daughter hadn't made it.

"We really have to leave, don't we?" she whispered, her face finally betraying her emotions. "For a while, at the very least. Pretend we're in Atlanta or something."

"Yes. It's the only way to protect your father."

"I'm going to miss him so much," she said after a long moment. "I'll miss everyone here."

I felt a sense of dread - the kind I had lived in since the night my family overruled me and agreed to change her - wondering if this would be the seed of her regret over choosing this life.

Maybe it was irrational, though, as nothing was more important to her than Nessie. Not Charlie. Not me. I couldn't imagine her longing for a world where Nessie did not exist. I found comfort in that - that Bella had not given up her humanity for me, but for our precious daughter. While I could have never paid Bella's humanity for anything, I would always be grateful for her sacrifice. It brought us our Nessie.

A wave of my own grief washed over me as I empathized with Charlie in a way I never could have before. If I were in Charlie's shoes... if it was Nessie who vanished... Against my will I was seeing Nessie ageing all too fast. Middle-aged in seven years or so. An old woman by fifteen. By sixteen or seventeen or eighteen...

No. I would figure this out. I wouldn't fail my daughter.

Bella snorted, disrupting my somber mood.

I raised one eyebrow questioningly and she just shook her head, smiling a little to herself.

Jasper smirked feeling my agitation. It's good for you, he commented without pity.

Was I pathetic enough to plead with her in front of Jasper?

I didn't have time to decide. Carlisle, Rosalie, and Jacob were convening in the living room for Nessie's measurements.

"Must be six," I said.

"So?" Bella asked, her eyes locked on Rosalie and Jacob's wary expressions.

"Time to measure Ness - er, Renesmee," Carlisle explained.

"Oh. You do this every day?" she asked.

"Four times a day," Carlisle answered as he gestured for Rosalie to place Nessie on the couch beside a snoring Seth.

Nessie sighed, staring longingly at her mother. She found the measurements tedious.

"Four times? Every day? Why?" Bella's pitch jumped higher with each question.

"She's still growing quickly," I murmured quietly into Bella's ear. I was surprised to find some relief in sharing this with her. The burden felt somehow more bearable. Though I couldn't deny Jacob, standing with his arms tightly crossed on the other side of the room, was just as upset by the problem as I, he wasn't her parent. It wasn't the same. It didn't matter in this moment that I couldn't read Bella's thoughts - I knew she would be thinking exactly as I was. There was peace in that.

I squeezed Bella's hand and wrapped my other arm securely around her waist, holding her to me tightly. We would figure this out together. We wouldn't fail our daughter.

"What do we do?" Bella whispered, horrified.

"I don't know," I answered honestly.

"It's slowing," Jacob said tensely through his teeth.

"We'll need several more days of measurements to track the trend, Jacob," Carlisle gently cautioned. "I can't make any promises."

"Yesterday she grew two inches. Today it's less," Jacob said almost belligerently.

"By a thirty-second of an inch, if my measurements are perfect," Carlisle said neutrally.

"Be perfect, Doc," Jacob ordered rudely.

Rosalie stiffened and we shared a quick glance. He's such an asshole...

I widened my eyes in exasperated agreement.

Carlisle wasn't the least bit ruffled, of course. "You know I'll do my best."

Jacob sighed loudly. "Guess that's all I can ask."

It was beyond irritating to have him go on about how we were all family now only to have him act like this. It was evident in his thoughts that he believed no one but him took this seriously enough. No one but him felt sufficient anguish or urgency.

So, of course, I felt a little smug when Nessie touched Rosalie's face and asked for Bella.

Rosalie sighed. I appreciated that her hesitation to comply was purely out of concern for Nessie's safety and not due in any part to resentment towards Bella. Rosalie wanted to Bella to be strong enough.

"What does she want?" Jacob demanded.

"Bella, of course," she answered him dismissively. Her tone was warmer when she looked up at Bella. "How are you?"

"Worried," Bella confessed.

I squeezed her tighter, the act almost automatic now. I'd been guarded for so long around her. It would take some time to fully deconstruct all of my alarms and tripwires.

"We all are," Rosalie said. "But that's not what I meant."

"I'm in control," Bella assured her.

Jacob bit his lip in anxiety. It's what Nessie wants, he told himself. Bella doesn't want to hurt her. Crazed newborn doesn't want to hurt her. It's fine. Perfectly fine. Perfectly peachy...

His eyes were always on Jasper whose judgement he valued more than anyone else's.

Jasper and I hovered as Rosalie, tense, passed Nessie to Bella.

Nessie's face lit up with a brilliant smile as she settled into Bella's arms.

A serenity so familiar it startled me worked its way through Nessie's mind. It was as if my love for Bella had written itself into my genetic code and found its way into this little one's as well.

Bella, radiant, smiled back at Nessie who extended her little hand. Again Bella gasped as the memories began to flow.

I felt my earlier envy turn to gratitude. In these small moments when Nessie shared her thoughts, I knew what was going on in Bella's head.

Bella was the star of this memory. Nessie did not see her as a crazed newborn as Jacob did, rather she saw her as something of a formidable assassin. If I was her protector, then Bella was a force of nature, the hand of God, the day of reckoning.

But Nessie did not fear her. Not for herself - they were connected, she could feel that - but she did have some concerns for anyone who irritated her.

Specifically Jacob.

I chuckled at the replay of the events on the front lawn only to grimace a moment later at the crack of Seth's bones.

Nessie's memory eyes focused on Jacob, worriedly following him through the aftermath. Him bursting into a giant wolf - that had been a first - to get between me and Leah, him disappearing and returning human in a different shirt, one she liked less than the original.

Though he'd been in danger, the memory wasn't a bad one, but a happy one since Seth had distracted the beautiful deity that was her mother long enough to help her see reason. To see that Jacob was nothing but a harmless teddy bear.

She was an optimist. Her huge smile reflected that.

What disturbed me, though, was the flavor of the memory - this one and others. It was undeniably possessive. Jacob was hers.

"Oh, wonderful," Bella groaned. "Perfect."

Yes, Nessie's access to Bella's mind was truly a gift. How comforting it was to not have to bear this burden alone.

"It's just because he tastes better than the rest of us," I said, my tone stiff with annoyance as I tried to reassure both her and myself.

It was hard not to see exactly where Nessie's feelings would lead her someday if life gave her long enough to live it. But I wasn't giving up hope yet. Perhaps she'd choose to join a convent. Or prefer women.

"I told you she likes me, too," Jacob teased halfheartedly from where he sat across the room, on edge.

Bella fixed him with a cold stare.

Nessie, in defense of both Jacob and her time with her mother, sought to quickly distract Bella. She patted Bella's face impatiently, easily regaining Bella's attention.

She shared memories of Rosalie brushing through her curls, the tedium of Carlisle's measurements.

"It looks like she's going to give you a rundown of everything you missed," I commented in Bella's ear.

The small smile around Bella's lips vanished as she grimaced.

Jasper felt my abrupt panic and had Bella's arms behind her back a fraction of a second after I'd lifted Nessie out of them.

Nessie was irritated with me. When I didn't immediately acknowledge her frustration she touched my neck as if this might amplify her thoughts. She'd clearly been overindulged. We needed to work on that.

But those concerns and the vibrating mess of anxiety that was Jacob behind me hardly registered.

"What did I do?" Bella asked, startled.

Jasper had the same question. He'd registered some discomfort on her part, but nothing that had sent up alarm bells.

I looked back at Bella, frowning as I did. "But she was remembering being thirsty. She was remembering the taste of human blood."

Jasper tightened his hold on Bella, understanding now.

His reaction didn't help Jacob's anxiety. He was fighting the urge to stand between Bella and Nessie where I held her. He guessed correctly that I wouldn't take that well.

"Yes, and?" Bella asked, impatience leaking into her tone.

Remembered thirst, remembered taste - it wasn't the same as experiencing it first-hand, but that didn't mean it was benign. Fixating on those sensations and reactions, imagining the act and the bliss, had the potential of matches thrown into a vat of gasoline.

In my first few years, Carlisle fed more often seeing what it did to me to overhear his thirst. My above average control eventually made these precautions unnecessary. It wasn't until decades later when Bella came into my life that it became a problem again. It was humbling to see her control, especially given what had occurred in this very room exactly one year prior.

I laughed once at the irony. "And nothing at all, it seems. The overreaction is mine this time. Jazz, let her go."

Jacob shuddered as I returned Nessie to Bella's arms.

"I can't understand," Jasper said abruptly.

Though I tried to focus on something else - my annoyance with Jacob, my adoration for my wife - feelings didn't work like thoughts and Jasper was plenty aware of how smug I was in that moment.

"I can't bear this." He looked at Bella once more, confounded, then strode out the door. He'd find Alice eventually but it seemed he'd do some self-reflection first.

Nessie shared the scene with her mom, confused.

"He'll be back," I assured her. "He just needs a moment alone to readjust his perspective on life." To find some other means to bolster his self-esteem that wasn't my wife's failure. I fought a smile.

"Is he mad at me?" Bella asked quietly.

"No," I said, confused. "Why would he be?"

"What's the matter with him then?" she asked doubtfully.

"He's upset with himself, not you, Bella. He's worrying about... self-fulfilling prophecy, I suppose you could say."

"How so?" Carlisle asked curiously.

"He's wondering if the newborn madness is really as difficult as we've always thought, or if, with the right focus and attitude, anyone could do as well as Bella. Even now - perhaps he only has such difficulty because he believes it's natural and unavoidable. Maybe if he expected more of himself, he would rise to those expectations. You're making him question a lot of deep-rooted assumptions, Bella." I didn't feel inclined to protect his privacy on this matter. The bet had been cruel.

"But that's unfair," Carlisle challenged, disapproving of my gloating. "Everyone is different; everyone has their own challenges. Perhaps what Bella is doing goes beyond the natural. Maybe this is her gift, so to speak."

Bella froze.

Nessie examined her mother curiously. Our language had been a bit too complex for her to follow, especially lacking context as any three-day-old would. She touched Bella's face, replaying the last second, the tenor wondering.

"That's an interesting theory, and quite plausible," I allowed.

Before I could even scrape together an explanation that would make sense to Nessie, she became distracted playing with her mother's hair again. She liked the deep red of it and the near invisible prisms that seemed to dance along each strand.

To my surprise, Jacob found some comfort in Jasper's departure. He didn't believe Jasper, the only objective one among us in his book, would have left if Bella was a threat. Seeing that Nessie was in no hurry to separate from her mother, he retreated, sinking into the couch cushion beside Seth. Surely sleep would find him quickly; he hadn't slept once since Nessie's birth - the longest he'd ever gone without sleep apparently.

Bella unfroze with a mysterious, wistful sigh.

"Have you ever seen an equivalent to self-control as a talent?" I asked Carlisle. "Do you really think that's a gift or just a product of all her preparation?"

I wasn't entirely sold on his theory. Not because self-control wasn't a gift worth having, but because it didn't fit right. Gifts were reflective of the individual who possessed them and self-control hadn't exactly been Bella's strong suit. Not until now.

On the other hand, she'd essentially decided to join this life as soon as she'd understood there was a way to do it. She'd been observant. A diligent student of our world long before she joined it. And she never wanted to be a burden. It seemed more likely to me that her commitment to this life - to being an asset - had primed her.

He shrugged. "It's slightly similar to what Siobhan has always been able to do, though she wouldn't call it a gift."

Rosalie looked up from Nessie, already busy sharing her thoughts with Bella again, surprised. "Siobhan, your friend in that Irish coven? I wasn't aware that she did anything special. I thought it was Maggie who was talented in that bunch."

I was again impressed with Rosalie. Her self-control was a point of pride, but it didn't bother her that Bella's bested her own. They were on the same team still.

"Yes," Carlisle confirmed. "Siobhan thinks the same. But she has this way of deciding her goals and then almost... willing them into reality. She considers it good planning, but I've always wondered if it was something more. When she included Maggie, for instance. Liam was very territorial, but Siobhan wanted it to work out, and so it did."

Rosalie glanced back at Bella and Nessie, mother and daughter engrossed in one another, and subtly gestured for Carlisle and I to follow her. We settled into armchairs continuing our discussion as we gave Bella much deserved time with her daughter. Though I participated actively in conversation, my attention was split.

More interesting was Nessie, sharing every significant event her mother had missed. Though I'd been present for many of these memories or heard them second-hand, I attended to them almost as if they were brand new, knowing that Bella and I watched them together now. The same images passing through our heads at precisely the same moment. The closest I would ever get to seeing inside her head.

I imagined what she thought of each one as I watched her shifting expressions through Nessie's eyes. This was the most animated I'd seen Bella since she'd risen.

Bella's smile was huge as she listened to me sing to Nessie that first morning. Thrilled by her mother's reaction, Nessie played the memory twice.

From time to time I stole a glance of my own.

Nessie and Bella. Each a part of me and somehow better for it. My daughter and my awe-inspiring creation...

Yes, my creation. But I was a fool if I didn't believe so much of me was of Bella's creation. Carlisle had laid the foundation, shaping me into something better than I ever could have been on my own. But Bella, through her kindness and patience and forgiveness helped me reclaim my humanity...

Or, more accurately, my soul. It was surely a tattered-looking thing, but still, I could feel it now.

It was as if I'd been living as an echo, a ghost, sure that I'd lost my dimly remembered essence in transformation. I'd been so sure I was a void. A blackhole slowly drawing her, all the warmth of the universe, into my meaningless depths. Hades, dragging Persephone into his underworld.

Clearly, I'd been wrong.

Transformation had only made Bella more vivid. Spring blossomed into summer as she willed it.

Jasper was not the only victim of self-fulfilling prophecy. I'd lost myself. Surrendered myself to an eternal winter believing it natural and unavoidable. But through Bella, through Nessie, I could see myself and there was so much more than wickedness.

I could see myself and I was finally whole.

So long as I had Bella and Nessie, I would want for nothing.

Almost nothing.

Alice might not agree, but Bella standing there in her torn silk dress and my white button up shirt... Put simply, I was grateful for Jasper's absence, free to weave fantasies undetected...

Rosalie snorted.

I tore my eyes from Bella. Carlisle was looking at me, fighting a smile. I'd missed his question.

You're practically drooling, Rosalie commented, somewhere between affection and disgust.

After nearly an hour of sharing her most pressing thoughts, Nessie drifted to sleep. Bella pulled Nessie's palm to her face and appeared no less fascinated by the child's dreams than she had her conscious thoughts. Bella's eyes were closed, too, a small smile on her lips.

If Bella hadn't been so fully consumed by Nessie, if Alice hadn't warned me she'd be watching me like a hawk, I would have excused Bella and I. Nessie would be in good hands. And really, the woods were much sturdier than the little cottage the rest of my family finished up at a snail's pace...

"Renesmee's talent reminds me of Zafrina's," Rosalie mused.

"Yes," Carlisle agreed. "Though Zafrina's gift takes over the target's visual reality entirely, while Ness- Renesmee's thoughts don't dominate."

"Zafrina's gift is closest to Alec's," I said. "Renesmee's actually reminds me of - " I cut off abruptly, hearing Alice's loud disapproval. "Finally," I exhaled.

I caught you considering sneaking off, you know. Between that and what you let happen to her dress, I really should disown you...

I turned to gaze out the window as Alice leapt over the river, Esme, Emmett, and Jasper in her wake.

House's is all ready for breaking in, Emmett reported, his tone waggish. You might consider using protection this time...

I rolled my eyes. The phrase 'too soon' had never been more appropriate.

See, that attitude is what got you guys into this situation in the first place. Which is why I have kindly left all of my health class souvenirs in your nightstand...

I guess if Alice sees him making it through this intact, it'd be nice for them to get it out of their systems, Jasper thought to himself. Still seems insane, though, if you value your appendages at all...

Esme and Carlisle shared none of Jasper's pessimism or Emmett's crudeness. They were only happy for us.

Bella was suddenly aware of her audience. She glanced at each smiling face, bewildered. Her eyebrows rose slightly when she met my own expectant grin.

Alice skipped into the room, a brass key adorned with a large pink satin bow held out in front of her. Bella adjusted Renesmee so she could hold out her left hand and Alice dropped the key.

"Happy Birthday!" Alice squealed.

Bella rolled her eyes. "No one starts counting on the actual day of birth," she complained. "Your first birthday is at the year mark, Alice."

Oh, this was going to be good. She had no idea.

Alice grinned superiorly. "We're not celebrating your vampire birthday. Yet. It's September thirteenth, Bella. Happy nineteenth birthday."

The horror was obvious on Bella's face. "No. No way!" She shook her head back and forth fiercely before shooting a glance at me.

My smile was arrogant. I had promised her that her eighteenth birthday wouldn't be her last, hadn't I? And look where we were.

She frowned. "No, this doesn't count. I stopped aging three days ago. I am eighteen forever."

Hardly. She was more than a few hours past completion of her nineteenth year when her heart stopped.

"Whatever," Alice said dismissively, shrugging, as she saw I was about to argue. "We're celebrating anyway, so suck it up."

Bella sighed in defeat, pleasing Alice.

"Are you ready to open your present?" Alice sang.

"Presents," I corrected, pulling out the key to her Ferrari. Alice had tied a bow to my key as well, though it was stringy and unimpressive beside hers.

Bella's face was blank, seemingly carefully so, as she examined it.

"Mine first," Alice insisted, stealing the words she saw me about to utter. She stuck her tongue out, responding to my revised argument before it left my mouth.

"Mine is closer."

"But look at how she's dressed," Alice moaned. "It's been killing me all day. That is clearly the priority." She'll get blood and dirt on the seats. Plus look how hot she looks driving the Ferrari in this. What she showed me - Bella in an absurdly formal dress behind the wheel - was not a vision. It was just wishful thinking.

I rolled my eyes. Alice could wait the twenty minutes it would probably take for me to exhaust Bella's interest in her new car. Well, twenty minutes was probably optimistic...

"I know!" Alice chirped. "I'll play you for it. Rock, paper, scissors."

Jasper chuckled.

I sighed. "Why don't you just tell me who wins?" I asked wryly, folding.

Alice's face lit up. "I do. Excellent."

"It's probably better that I wait for morning, anyway." I beamed at Bella and nodded towards a snoring Jacob. "I think it might be more fun if Jacob was awake for the big reveal, don't you agree? So that someone there is able to express the right level of enthusiasm?"

Her answering smile was too lovely.

Here we go again, Rosalie griped, watching my face go blank.

"Yay," Alice cheered, reclaiming our attention. "Bella, give Ness- Renesmee to Rosalie."

Bella looked down at Nessie wistfully. "Where does she usually sleep?"

Alice shrugged impatiently. "In Rose's arms. Or Jacob's. Or Esme's. You get the picture. She has never been set down in her entire life. She's going to be the most spoiled half-vampire in existence."

I laughed as Rosalie took Nessie gently from Bella's arms.

"She is also the most unspoiled half-vampire in existence," Rosalie argued. "The beauty of being one of a kind." She smiled affectionately at Bella and I didn't need Jasper to know how touched Bella was by the warm expression.

Alice bounced impatiently on her toes. Yes, we all love Nessie. Nessie's perfect. "Let's go, let's go," she trilled.

"Is it outside?" Bella asked.

"Sort of," Alice hedged.

Rosalie shook her head at Alice - You'd think she built the thing herself - before turning back to Bella. "Enjoy your gift. It's from all of us. Esme especially."

"Aren't you coming?" Bella asked.

Emmett grinned. Think we all saw plenty of that show earlier.

Nope, Jasper thought. He looked up at me. And, for the love of god, do not hurry back.

The others, embarrassed and amused, seemed to share Jasper's sentiment. It was hard to keep from laughing at their discomfort at having me in their heads at that moment.

"We'll give you a chance to appreciate it alone," Rosalie answered after an awkward beat. "You can tell us about it... later."

Emmett guffawed. In essay form, please. With references.

Bella's smile widened after a moment as something unknown distracted her from her bemusement.

Alice pulled Bella by her elbow through the back door. "There's the enthusiasm I'm looking for," she said approvingly.

Nessie will be safe and looked after, Esme assured me. There's absolutely nothing here you need to be concerned about.

She leaned her head on Carlisle's shoulder and the two were sentimental as they watched their favorite son leave the nest. Carlisle suspected it would always be this way now. That I would grow fond of the quiet of my little family and not be eager to give up my little island of peace, even as appetites became more manageable.

I suspected he was right.

"C'mon, Bella," Alice called from the other side of the river.

We followed after her, headed due north. The purple night was peaceful. No breeze, just the gentle hum of life.

Like water slowly brought to boil, the anticipation rose up inside of me. It was guiltless. Devoid of anxiety.

She was mine and now her heart belonged to me alone. Her body was strong and her scent did not scald me. Our responsibilities were carefully tucked away for the night...

Left was a blank canvas, hours and hours of night, and the depths of my passion, waiting to be unfettered.

The cottage was just on the other side of a thick grove of trees when Alice whirled and darted back to Bella where she'd paused.

"Don't attack me," Alice ordered, springing at Bella. She scrambled up Bella's back, wrapping her hands around Bella's face to block her sight.

"What are you doing?" Bella's question was strained with irritation.

"Making sure you can't see."

"I could take care of that without the theatrics," I said.

"You might let her cheat," Alice explained. "Take her hand and lead her forward."

Bella started to grumble. "Alice I - "

"Don't bother, Bella. We're doing this my way."

I took her hand and led her forward. "Just a few seconds more, Bella. Then she'll go annoy someone else."

Alice looked at me sharply from her perch. "You might be a little more appreciative. This is as much for you as it is for her."

"True. Thank you again, Alice."

"Yeah, yeah. Okay," she said. Sorry. I know it's no forest floor. Not nearly as romantic as that...

The cottage came into view then. Though I'd seen it in their heads, I could feel the magic of it now. It was something out of a fairytale. Sad that we'd have so little time to enjoy it before we had to move on and settle elsewhere.

"Stop there," Alice ordered, her voice high and ringing in her excitement. "Turn her just a little to the right. Yes, like that. Okay. Are you ready?"

"I'm ready." Bella didn't sound resigned as I'd expected her, too. She leaned forward, inhaling the mosaic of pleasant scents that made up our new home.

Alice dropped from Bella's back, then stared with comical intensity at the side of Bella's face as she awaited her reaction, present or future.

Bella was a statue as she stared at the lavender gray structure, the climbing honeysuckle along the front wall, the roses under the deep windows.

"What do you think?" Alice asked softly.

Bella opened her mouth but said nothing.

I supposed this was a lot as far as gifts went. But it was homemade as she liked.

"Esme thought we might like a place of our own for a while, but she didn't want us too far away," I explained, hoping to quell her unease. "And she loves any excuse to renovate. This little place has been crumbling away out here for at least a hundred years."

Bella remained unmoving, as if I hadn't spoken at all.

"Don't you like it?" Alice pouted. "I mean, I'm sure we could fix it up differently, if you want. Emmett was all for adding a few thousand square feet, a second story, columns, and a tower, but Esme thought you would like it best the way it was meant to look." Her voice started to jump in pitch, to go faster. "If she was wrong, we can get back to work. It wont take long to - "

"Shh!" Bella stood still for another long moment.

Alice and I shared an uneasy glance as we waited.

"You're giving me a house for my birthday?" Bella finally asked.

"Us," I corrected quickly. "And it's no more than a cottage. I think the word house implies more legroom."

And then Alice was soothed anticipating her sister's response.

"No knocking my house," Bella whispered.

Alice's grinned. "You like it."

Bella shook her head.

"Love it?"

Bella nodded.

"I can't wait to tell Esme!"

"Why didn't she come?" Bella asked.

Oh, Bella. Come on, woman. But Alice played it smoothly. "Oh you know... they all remember how you are about presents. They didn't want to put you under too much pressure to like it."

Bella's eyes widened in surprise. "But of course I love it. How could I not?"

"They'll like that." Alice patted her arm. So innocent. "Anyhoo, your closet is stocked. Use it wisely. And..." Avoid the bed tonight, Edward. You guys aren't ready for it. The mattress is custom made and it would take weeks to get a replacement...

I closed my eyes in silent exasperation. It was really time she learned some boundaries.

"I guess that's everything," Alice sighed.

"Aren't you going to come inside?" Bella looked almost offended as Alice strolled casually backward.

I shook my head at Alice, amused at her awkwardness now. She'd just had to tag along.

"Edward knows his way around," Alice reassured her. "I'll stop by... later. Call me if you can't match your clothes right." She gave Bella a doubtful look and then smiled. "Jazz wants to hunt. See you."

And finally, finally, Alice was gone.

"That was weird," Bella muttered. "Am I really that bad? They didn't have to stay away. Now I feel guilty. I didn't even thank her right. We should go back, tell Esme - "

"Bella, don't be silly. No one thinks you're that unreasonable."

"Then what - "

"Alone time is their other gift. Alice was trying to be subtle about it."

"Oh."

Her brilliant eyes trapped mine for a long moment and it was only her. I couldn't hear the buzz of the insects, see the the trees' soft glow under the starlight.

Her fearless gaze moved hungrily over my lips, down my neck, along the buttons of my shirt...

The electricity rioted under my skin.

And then I remembered Alice. A pest even absent as she was now. She would know and surely tattle if we made it no further than the stone path.

Besides, there had been so much love poured into this gift. It deserved its moment. I owed Esme that much. And Bella.

"Let me show you what they've done," I said, pulling her by the hand.

Impatience flickered across her face so quickly I almost missed it, but she walked forward without complaint.

She laughed once to herself.

My annoyance at being left out of her mysterious amusement earlier flared.

"Do I get to hear the joke?"

The corners of her mouth turned up. "It's not a very good one. I was just thinking - today is the first and last day of forever. It's kind of hard to wrap my head around it. Even with all this extra room for wrapping." She laughed again.

I laughed with her.

We reached the little rounded door then and I gestured for her to do the honors.

She twisted the key in the lock and it unlatched with a click.

"You're such a natural at this, Bella; I forget how very strange this all must be for you. I wish I could hear it."

Abruptly I pulled her up into my arms, not allowing her a chance to argue.

"Hey!" she exclaimed.

Her weight was satisfying in my arms. No longer spun glass.

"Thresholds are part of my description," I reminded her. "But I'm curious. Tell me what you're thinking about right now."

I twisted the knob and carried her into the little stone living room.

One of her hands curled lightly around the collar of my shirt as she took everything in.

"Everything," she murmured. "All at the same time, you know. Good things and things to worry about and things that are new. How I keep using to many superlatives in my head. Right now, I'm thinking that Esme is an artist. It's so perfect."

The space was warm, cozy. A magnificent arrangement of stone and wood and fabric that, without Esme's brilliant mind, wouldn't have ever gone together. It was artfully busy in a way that reminded me of the comforting clutter of Bella's old room.

The design was not sleek and modern and controlled. It embraced chaos unapologetically, elevating it.

Esme had captured Bella so well in this place.

My eyes lingered on the little beehive fireplace, aglow with blue-green flames, recognizing it.

"We're lucky Esme thought to add an extra room," I said. "No one was planning for Ness - Renesmee."

Bella glared at me and I grew nervous. The last thing I wanted to do was spoil this night.

"Not you, too," she complained. But her expression relaxed and I could see I would be forgiven.

"Sorry, love. I hear it in their thoughts all the time, you know. It's rubbing off on me."

Bella sighed.

"I'm sure you're dying to see the closet," I said, trying to distract her. "Or, at least I'll tell Alice that you were, to make her feel good."

"Should I be afraid?" she asked, resigned.

"Terrified." The closet was nearly as large as all the other rooms combined.

I carried her down the hallway. My head cleared the tiny arches along the ceiling by only a few inches.

"That will be Renesmee's room." I stopped at the first door off the hall to reveal the empty room. "They didn't have time to do much with it, what with angry werewolves..."

She laughed quietly.

"Here's our room. Esme tried to bring some of her island back here for us. She guessed that we would get attached."

The bed was identical to the one from the island. Huge and white, with waves of gossamer floating down from the canopy to the floor. The white-blue walls evoked memories of tranquil days spent under the sun. The pale wood floor was precisely the color of the fine sand. Double French doors reflected back our faces, serious as we took it all in.

On the other side of the glass was a hidden garden. A small round pond.

I could feel the gentle, calming spray of the sea on my face. The fiery heat of her body flush with mine in moonlit waters and silken sheets. Soft feathers brushing my back, innocence surrendered. Everything we thought we knew, surrendered.

"Oh," she said, almost inaudibly.

"I know," I whispered.

It had been utter insanity, that night. In retrospect, I wasn't entirely sure how I'd allowed it to happen. But... I was so very glad I did.

Our Nessie. Absolute proof that we belonged together and always had.

And my Bella.

I would never forget the give of her body. The rosy flush that spread from the tops of her breasts to the apples of her cheeks. The salty gleam along her shoulders when my cool skin was not enough. Every emotion apparent on her face as we discovered and learned and loved. When she was a just a girl and I was just a boy and it was blasphemy to keep our hands to ourselves. Our innocence crumbled away into the sea.

And here we were. Just the most beautiful woman to ever walk the earth and the luckiest man in the universe. A fairy tale cottage all to ourselves...

Of course, I remembered Alice then. The reckoning I would face if I'd managed to show Bella every square foot of the house except for Alice's contribution.

I laughed. "The closet is through those double doors. I should warn you - it's bigger than this room."

Bella didn't even glance at the doors. Her hungry cherry gaze ensnared me and I was dazzled.

"We're going to tell Alice that I ran right to the clothes," she whispered, twisting her fingers into my hair and pulling my face within an inch of hers.

I tasted her sweet breath and the electrical current ratcheted up painfully. A tightness gripped my stomach as I waited to be freed from my prison of pretense and restraint.

"We're going to tell her I spent hours in there playing dress-up." Bella's eyes sparkled mischievously. "We're going to lie."

I pulled her face to mine fiercely and moaned into her mouth.

She clawed my shirt from my body as I ripped the white one off of her. Her toes found the floor and I drew her close again, crushing her breasts to my bare chest.

I slipped my free hand up along her thigh and groaned as my fingertips grazed the soaked lace nestled between her thighs. I ripped the the remaining lace and silk from her body in a single tug.

She destroyed my jeans and moaned as she felt me swollen and ready against her stomach.

"Whoa." I braced myself just in time to keep us from stumbling backwards through the wall as Bella threw herself onto me, her legs wrapping snugly around my torso.

She giggled and held my face between her palms, staring down into my eyes unapologetically.

I smiled up at her, euphoric.

Her smile vanished immediately, replaced by a look of acute need. Her right hand grabbed my chin, pulling my lips impatiently back to her urgent mouth.

I sank to my knees and, with her still clinging securely to my front, walked my palms forward along the floor until we were horizontal.

She broke from my lips. "Take me, Edward," she cried. "Take me now!"

I shuddered, my body aching to quell her desperation.

My hand wrapped firmly around her hip and pulled her up to meet the force of my thrust as I pushed into her tight little body.

"Oh, Edward," she wailed.

I wasn't thinking. Not really. So I didn't pause to wonder at the mechanics of our new union. I didn't worry I hurt her when she parted around me with the most pleasurable resistance, so different than before.

"I... I...," she panted. "Oh," she sighed.

I wasn't sure what words she struggled to say. And for once, I didn't care. My tongue was already between her lips tangling with hers, my hand at the back of her head allowing her no escape.

She thrilled me. A silky waterlily, blooming and closing rhythmically around me. The deep pressure was nothing I'd ever known. A throbbing aching pleasure that radiated out from our union and lapped at every cell of my body.

The sound of my name tied up in her pleasure sent me into ecstasy. I let go, rocking into her without reserve as every unfulfilled carnal impulse she'd ever inspired swelled and flowed out of my body now, leaving behind it the sweetest relief.

Just like the scent of her blood could no longer burn me, these simmering, once forbidden desires could no longer torment me.

It was not an easy thing to separate myself from her snug warmth - due both to my will and her legs clamped around me - but I had responsibilities. Burden. To pleasure her into an oblivion so as to erase every memory of the last month's pain.

Her breasts were full and round and white as snow. Delicate pink buds that no longer reacted to the cold rose effortlessly as I took them, one at a time, into my mouth and painted them with my greedy tongue.

The steep curve of her breast rounded into the graceful arc of her ribs which flowed into the smooth expanse of her stomach. Her hips, wider now, sloped into subtle hollows that drew the eye downward...

She gasped, eyes flashing open, as my hands wrapped firmly around each of her thighs and spread them, pinning them flat to the floor.

I hovered over her, my tongue and lips working commandingly at the feminine wonders between her legs.

Bella writhed, her hands working against the muscles in my shoulders to the point of pain as she convulsed. But the pain was pleasure and when she periodically released her grip and flexed her hands, suddenly remembering her strength, I grieved the loss.

She'd lost herself five times this way when, pulsing and shuddering with need, I moved into her once again.

Her demands were moans. "Harder..."

There was wide-eyed wonder in her face as I complied and she felt me erect and forceful, gliding past the sensitive nerves of her silky hold.

My motions jolted our bodies, moving us together as a single, flawless creature gracefully ascending to nirvana.

Bella pulled my head down, tucking it beneath her jaw, and combed her fingers hungrily through my hair. I sustained a long, low, involuntary growl where my face bowed into her neck as she spasmed forcefully around me heightening the friction between our needy, scorching skin.

She all but sobbed, her enchanting voice carrying like a song as she climaxed under my insistent body and I was carried away with her.

Every facet of my mind was trained on consuming her. I was a man and she was a woman and there was nothing more important than owning her. Asserting my claim again and again and again.

Her screams and whimpers, my name ringing in the bells of her voice... the dew that flowed, our scents mingled into a single divine fragrance, dripping from our thighs onto the pale floor...

It was a heady, animal thing, loving her in this way. Bella had always been an uncontainable force. She'd drawn me in, sparked my impulse to understand what could not be understood, to control what could not be controlled. It was an impulse that had so often led me astray.

But here on the floor, my body moving powerfully over hers, I was sure I'd found a place for this most feral drive.

Once, I might have felt guilt over these impulses. Coarse. Ungentlemanly.

But I understood Bella better now. I understood what it felt like to be held in the embrace of the one you loved when that embrace could break you. There was something powerful in trusting that they would not. And something even more powerful, arousing, in imagining that they might.

And so I loved her in this frenzied way, possessing and dominating her, knowing that she wanted to be ravaged just as I wanted to ravage her.

And so the hours passed...

Until Bella decided otherwise.

She hadn't been docile throughout our entanglement. Her hands had groped at my ass, pulling me in deeper. Beneath me her body had stretched and quivered and undulated like the warm ocean, steady until stirred up by an unexpected breeze.

No, not docile. But distractible. Her hands, busy one second, would fall limp the next as the sensations tantalizing her new skin overwhelmed her. She liked the way I manipulated her body. Melting in it, savoring it.

I remembered that first time - how hard it was to hold on to reality when her body was heaven - and I understood.

I understood because tonight was even better and, at times, I was distractible, too.

"Bella..."

I was still murmuring her name as I came down from my high.

"Bella..."

"Yes?" she chimed.

I opened my eyes and frowned.

"What?" she asked.

I ran my hand through my hair. "I don't remember... you getting on top of me."

Her wild hair draped over her right shoulder, falling onto my chest. She wore a small, peaceful smile on her lips as she traced my nose with her fingertip.

"You seem to be extraordinarily unobservant when your attention is otherwise involved, Mr. Cullen."

I smiled ruefully. "I was a bit absorbed..."

My thumb stroked the bottom of her ass where it met the back of her thigh.

"I thought so," she said, the slightest quiver in her voice.

I rolled us over without warning and she giggled as I licked the tip of her nose. "But I'm afraid I wasn't finished with you yet, Mrs. Cullen."

"Oh, no?"

"Never," I growled into her ear.

"Well," she whispered, "that's just too bad for you, isn't it?"

My arms were pinned to floor over my head, her hands inescapable restraints as she straddled my ribs. Her eyes were sharp on my face.

There it was again. Danger, real danger, freezing me, twisting in my stomach. Anticipation. Conviction that to die by her body, would be a noble, honorable death.

At her mercy, I was certain now that she had never been Persephone.

It was Aphrodite who released my arms and slithered down my body to lay between my legs.

Aphrodite who ordered me to look at her. I did, propping myself up on my elbows, my face serious as I managed the anticipation bottled up inside me.

"I'm considering..." her whisper brushed my most sensitive skin and I shuddered, "keeping my promise."

My eyes, just a little too wide, were glued to her face.

She raised an eyebrow when I said nothing.

I cleared my throat. "I really, really hope you do," I said, the desperation in my voice only thinly veiled.

She smiled widely, pleased by my response. "I'll go easy on you since it's your first time and you don't know what to expect," she said innocently.

I chuckled breathlessly. "Please. Never go easy on me."

The corner of her lips turned up mischievously.

Her eyelids slid closed and the sigh that escaped her parted lips was a gentle caress that tensed every muscle in my body. My hands were in fists as I stared down at her peaceful expression. The suspense was so painful...

Excruciating. Because just when I thought... she ducked her head and brushed her lips back and forth along the inside of my left thigh.

"Bella?" My voice was low and rough.

She ignored me tracing the ridges of my muscles with her tongue. A lock of her mahogany hair fell from behind her ear, brushing against me, smooth as satin.

"Bella," I panted.

"Mmm... you taste so good, Edward."

My head fell backward and I exhaled heavily. I couldn't watch. It was all I could do to not just pull her under me again to soothe the violent, thrumming energy.

Her tongue sketched loops along my right thigh.

"Please."

"Says the world's greatest tease." There was a smile in her voice and so much satisfaction.

The wet of her tongue left my leg and I hoped...

A long moment passed and I made the mistake of looking at her again.

She was leaning forward on her elbows studying me. Visible were her pert breasts, begging to be touched.

Impulsively, I grabbed the backs of her arms and pulled her on top of me, bringing her breast into my mouth.

My grip around her arms was easily broken. One of her hands held my wrists, crossed, over my head. Her other hand held her up where she lingered in my mouth, lapped at by my tongue. She indulged herself for a few seconds more before pulling away. She pushed my shoulder down forcefully when I tried to follow.

Her cheek skimmed my jaw. "Behave," she ordered.

...thirteen, fourteen, fifteen...

I counted the kisses she left down my sternum, down the center of my abdomen. I propped myself up on my elbows again, and was grateful she allowed it.

Sixteen...

At my navel. And below it.

Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen...

Her eyes looked up into mine and -

"Oh," I choked out.

I wasn't prepared for twenty. Such a lovely number.

Twenty was plump, cranberry lips parting to accommodate me. Twenty was watching myself disappear inside her mouth. Twenty was the massage of her tongue, the hum at the back of her throat, the slip of her venom.

I wrapped her hair around my hand and held it gently at the back of her head as she gave me so much more than I deserved.

Her ministrations were slow at first. Adoring. At odds with the violent shudders that rocked through my body. I was fighting to keep myself together, only wanting to prolong the attention she gave me.

But I could not contain the groans that escaped with the movements of her head. The growls that rumbled and built as she grew more excited, eager, as if nothing pleased her more than to gratify me with her mouth.

"Bella," I managed to get out through my teeth. "I - "

There was a twinkle in her red eyes as they flashed up to mine. Expectation. And I knew I had nothing to apologize for when I couldn't fully articulate my message.

Unsteadily balancing on the edge of the precipice, I released her hair and my back hit the floor with a thud. My shoulders rolled backwards and my neck, fully exposed, arched sending my head into the floor, surely leaving a divot.

She steadied my hips when they bucked of their own accord and held me in that rich almost-place where heaven is a taste on the tongue, but not yet fully realized. Where little pulses of orgasm spiral through dry brush but tease and don't fully catch.

And then her delicate warmth was gone.

I groaned.

"Edward?" Her whisper was pain against my crackling nerves.

"What?" I nearly snapped, everything inside of me taut.

Her velvet voice was low and threatening, sending a shiver down my spine. "I thought I told you to look at me."

I did, immediately, fearing her temper. In time to see her pale tongue brush across me, around me.

And I was on the edge again, lines and circles searing my skin as she learned me with only the tip of her tongue.

I could have let go then, but she'd ignited my competitiveness. Wielded her power over me so cruelly. So I held on, wanting to inspire doubt in her authority over my body.

But her eyes, wicked with amusement, took in my rising and falling chest, my clenched fists, my severe expression and she wasn't fooled.

Her thick lashes came to rest on the faint circles beneath her eyes and, once again, she wrapped me deeply in her dark pout. As if brought to orgasm by the weight of me on her tongue alone, she emitted a sultry, savage moan that sent chaotic vibrations shooting through every nerve in my body.

I cursed, entirely wrecked.

The hot surge of electricity was a strong uninterrupted current that lit up my nervous system, searing it white.

But I didn't dare look away from her face.

She exuded serenity, the evidence of my ecstasy on her tongue seeming to satiate her in a way the cat's blood had not.

Eventually the intensity began to wane, the pleasure softening, transforming. My grip on her arms fell away as every muscle in my body relaxed. I stared blankly up at the ceiling in a state of zen.

Her mouth freed me and she curled against the side of my body.

I turned towards her and held her hand to my cheek.

Bella didn't take advantage of my semi-comatose state. Instead, she examined my face. Something in it inspired gentle surprise. Perhaps even wonder.

"You're like a different person," she said after a long moment, her eyes narrowed slightly.

My anxiety was muted, duller where I still rested among the clouds, but still it was there. I'd loved more selfishly tonight. Took great care to fulfill my own needs.

My question was a whisper. "Is that a bad thing?"

She shook her head, smiling. "No. It's just... you were holding back so much of yourself," she murmured. Her finger stroked along my jaw, over my Adam's apple. "I had no idea how much I'd been missing."

I smiled widely, both relieved and flattered.

Her quiet, contemplative mood was forgotten in an instant and she pounced, ushering in our next act.


A/N: Up next... Charlie pays a visit and Emmett talks 'football.'

Whoa - did Netflix just reignite the Twilight Renaissance?! Loving all the new Twilight TikTok content. And all the new readers hitting up this story! Please share my fic with anyone you think would enjoy it :)