Weekends spent together were never long enough. There was always some material thing to attend to like school or housework that made our free time too short. Though I feared hurting Bella or taking her away from her human life too soon, I couldn't help but look forward to her change and to the beginning of our forever. I imagined weeks of just being together, no commitments or interruptions. Sure, part of it was about sex, but really, I wanted to lose myself in her and her love, not emerging into the real world because there was no need for anything but each other, and maybe the occasional hunt. That was something we would be able to enjoy together.

She slept peacefully and I woke her up a few minutes before her alarm was going to go off for school. She much preferred the quiet waking route over the shrill sounds, and I did as well. I tangled a hand in the luscious hair at the base of her scalp, using my other hand to caress her cheek until she stirred, then kissed her lips.

"Good morning, my love." She groaned, making me smile. She had never quite been a morning person. "How dare I disturb your slumber. I'm sorry. Thought you might prefer me to the alarm clock."

"I do." she mumbled. "But do we have to get out of bed?"

"Afraid so."

"But why?"

"Because both of our parents might be upset if we don't."

"Can't we just fly to some private island you guys probably already own and spend a few days in bed?" she joked, having no idea how close she really was to the truth. I slid my hands under her blankets and gently tickled her sides.

"If that's what you'd like. We'll go right now, and I'll never bring you back. How do we explain to your father?"

"Tell him we eloped."

"And spoil Alice's wedding planning fun?" I teased, knowing she wasn't entirely serious.

"Ugh. Fine. But only because we owe her a favor and I know she'd kill me if we eloped."

"I would never let her kill you. You're actually excited to get married?"

"Yeah." She smiled softly and blushed, sitting up to look in my eyes. "I want to be yours forever."

"Now how am I supposed to behave all day at school after a statement like that?" I asked, kissing her soft lips, and losing myself with her for a few precious minutes before we absolutely had to get ready to face the world.

I had often wondered why we bothered keep up with the human charade, having always hated the drudgery of repeating high school, but the alternative was hiding away from society and not enjoying the luxuries of modern living, plus severe depression for Carlisle if he couldn't use his immortality for the greater good helping others. Besides, school was where I met Bella. It couldn't all be that bad.

Emmett and Jasper were waiting for us with wicked grins when we stepped out of my car in the school parking lot. They were hiding their thoughts behind vulgar rap music, trying to not focus their mind or their eyes on one thing in particular. Their mischief was clear soon enough. Jessica and Lauren were clearly enjoying antagonizing a younger student whose outfit they didn't like, but Jasper gave the girl a burst of confidence making her tell both of them off for being so cruel and insisting they should grow up. Jessica and Lauren stood up in a huff, suddenly the backs of both of their jeans being stained bright green.

"Alice told us where they were going to sit." Emmett muttered for Bella's benefit.

"Since when do you guys get involved in human affairs?"

"Those bitches have had it coming for some time." Jasper whispered to her, his thoughts revealing that Alice saw the girls intended to bully Bella later as well. I found Alice's mind in the crowd. It appeared that vision had changed with the ruining of both of their favorite jeans, but we were going to keep a close eye on them. Bella didn't deserve to be mistreated, especially not on our watch, and neither did anyone else. They had tormented the girls of Forks enough.

"Why green?" Bella asked.

"We didn't want it to look like blood or anything too cruel. It's Kool Aid powder. They thought it was just the natural discoloration of the wood." Emmett said proudly. "That ought to teach them to look before they sit."

I escorted Bella into the building and to join Alice for their first class together, unable to resist eavesdropping on their conversation from my own classroom.

"I saw you remembered that you owe me a favor." Alice giggled.

"Nothing too crazy, I hope." Bella answered.

"I want you to come shopping with me in Seattle this weekend for wedding stuff."

"How is that a favor for you, rather than me?"

"Because I know you hate it, but I really want your opinion on some things."

"Can Edward come?"

"Girls only for this event. I'd like to look at dresses too." she said, subtly sneaking a bridal catalogue across the table while the teacher was distracted.

"You mean you would actually let me buy something from nearby, instead of insisting on importing it from Italy or somewhere fancy?"

"Don't be silly. I said we'll go look. Italy isn't out of the question. Neither is France. Spain. Brazil."

"OK, I'll go to Seattle with you."

"Yay!" she exclaimed quietly.

"Besides, I don't really want to think about Italy for a long while."

"Yeah, suppose not. Don't be sad, we have so much to plan!"

"I'm not sad. I'd just rather avoid Italy for the next century or ten. Have you ever considered a career in party planning?"

"Definitely." Alice said, and the conversation was quieted as the teacher started handing out assignments to work on, but I kept an eye on Bella through Alice. It was impossible not to check on her and make sure she was alright.

Meanwhile, I once again found myself paying almost no attention in class, my thoughts on a different planet practically. I couldn't help but imagine how she might look in her wedding dress. Perhaps she would choose something short, so that the matching shoes would snake delicate silk ribbons up her legs, ending just below her knees. I would unravel them carefully when the night was over, slowly kissing each bit of exposed skin…

Or maybe Alice would dress her in something strapless, her collarbone perfectly accenting a hint of cleavage. Maybe she would wear a corset, though she didn't need it, just so I could have the pleasure of untying her at the end of the night. She would make little sighs at the comfort of me finally removing her tight clothing, ribbon by ribbon, row by row of the corset…

I really needed to get my thoughts elsewhere. The teacher was droning on about something insignificant. I asked myself again why I didn't just steal my soon to be blushing bride away to a tropical island, away from all of the annoyances of human society.

Her happiness was the answer. She needed this time with her family and friends. She didn't have much longer left with them. That thought would have saddened me once, but now, it didn't. She was willing to give herself to me. Me.

My thoughts wouldn't stop replaying hundreds of moments spent with her in perfect clarity. Our meadow. Many dates. Runs through the forest. Nights in my bedroom. Mornings in hers.

"Mr. Cullen?" the teacher asked, clearly expecting an answer to some question. I picked the answer out of his thoughts. He huffed and continued about his lecture expecting to have caught me not paying attention but knowing nothing of my abilities. I had never needed to pay attention to anyone really. At least not until I met Bella.

The pencil I had been twirling in a hand under the table snapped at my annoyance of being pulled out of my fantasies. I hid the evidence in my pocket. Anyone who heard the snapping sound quickly looked away. No one could stand to look at us for long, except Bella. We naturally made the humans uneasy. That was a blessing.

The school day passed way too slowly, but nothing of significance happened in the next few hours. I savored every smile, every glance of hers. By lunch time, I couldn't take it anymore. I had thought myself into a nervous, needy wreck, just with the sheer pleasant possibilities of everything ahead of us.

"Ditch class with me." I whispered in her ear as I sat down with her lunch, placing it in front of her.

"The school will call Charlie."

"I can make the lady who normally makes those calls feel like she's getting sick, so she'll go home early." Jasper offered.

"You can't make random humans sick for fun, Jasper." Bella insisted.

"I won't get her sick. Just tired and worn out until she leaves campus, then all of a sudden, she'll feel better. Everyone deserves a day off. Well, half a day in this case."

"And why would you do that?" she asked.

"Because your mate over there is driving me crazy. I've nearly grabbed Alice and cut class a time or two today myself." I tried to avoid his thoughts, not wanting to see those particular details, focusing instead on Emmett's mental assessment on if different colored gummy bears would taste differently and why.

"Carlisle wouldn't care if you skipped." Bella said.

"No, but we miss enough as is when it's sunny out. We try to not raise suspicions."

"Like Edward and I missing together wouldn't be suspicious?"

"Oh, it would." he laughed. "But in the way everyone expects. Your relationship and your engagement are no secret."

"I haven't told anyone here."

"They see the ring. That's another reason why we made sure Jessica and Lauren didn't get too close to you today. Jealous doesn't even begin to cover it."

I picked out their thoughts in the crowd, and we were definitely going to have to watch them for signs of trouble. I scolded myself for being lost in fantasies today and not paying them more attention. They wanted to ask my mate a ton of uncomfortable questions and if they didn't like the answers, they intended to try to belittle her and put her down. That wasn't going to happen on our watch. Definitely not mine.

"Because they think Edward is hot." Bella said.

"Because you're wearing several large diamonds." Rosalie corrected. "His diamonds. There isn't a human girl here who isn't jealous."

"Angela isn't. And a few of them are assuming she's pregnant." Emmett and Jasper were already both plotting for more of their usual mischief. I really needed to thank them better for all they were doing for us.

Bella's heart sped up and she stopped eating, gazing around the room. "It's alright." I whispered. "No reason to be nervous. Your real friends know the truth. The rest of these people you won't see in a few years anyhow."

"I don't want my legacy to be that I got pregnant and married young because of it."

"We'll take care of that. Besides, it'll be pretty obvious when you aren't showing in a few months that it isn't the case."

"We'll spread the truth." Rosalie said.

"Which is?" Bella asked.

"That Edward is crazy in love with you and can't wait any longer to marry you so the two of you can have sex because he cares about his virtue."

"Close enough." Bella laughed, starting to eat again.

"You care about your reputation, but not mine?"

"Not really." She smiled at me.

"Besides, I'm pretty sure everyone in your morning class knows you no longer pay the least bit of attention." Jasper said. "Is that a broken pencil in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

"A broken pencil." I groaned. "But I'm always happy to see her."

"Why did you break it?" Bella asked, ignoring my innuendo for my siblings' sake.

"It snapped. I was distracted, and annoyed because the teacher asked me a question."

"That bad?"

"You have no idea."

"You always used to be so well behaved." she teased. "You would accuse me of being the bad influence. You'd push me away at the slightest mention of anything fun."

"Yeah, well, you had to go and change my mind, didn't you? To show me what I was missing."

Jasper laughed. "Please skip class. I'll cover for you. I can't handle another few hours of this."

"Bella?"

"Sounds way more fun." she agreed, her hand rubbing my thigh under the table and a sultry look in her eyes.

Emmett pretended to cough to change the subject, not because he cared to talk about sex, but because it already took most of his mental abilities to pay any attention to human school and the slightest distraction was going to throw off his entire day, just like mine. I had more in common with my brother than I had previously thought.

"Would you like to enlighten everyone on your gummy bear theory?" I asked him.

"I heard humans say all gummy bears taste the same, but I disagree. The red and the orange ones likely taste similar because they are close in color. Then, yellow and green are probably close together. The clear ones are nasty, I'm sure-"

"Why don't you just eat some and find out?" Bella asked.

"Human food tastes like dirt."

"Then they do all taste the same. They taste like dirt." she said with a smile, though unnoticed to everyone else, her hand crept a little higher up my thigh.

"Huh! I guess you're right!"

Jasper stood up to throw away his and Alice's 'lunch.' Go. I mean it. I'll make sure no one calls her father. he thought sternly, his thoughts immediately switching to his after-school plans to release some of his pent-up energy with Alice. I quickly refocused on Emmett, who was seriously debating trying human food again soon. He did this at least once a year despite knowing it would never taste good to him and that he would have to choke it back up, or at least spit it out.

"Our meadow?" I asked, knowing she wouldn't say no.

She smiled and took my hand as I led us to my car. "What if people see us leaving together?"

"Then they'll suspect what they already do. No one is watching us."

"We promised my dad we wouldn't miss any more school."

"He's already convinced that we skip once in a while. He really doesn't care as long as you still graduate."

"It's unfair of you to always be picking apart the poor guy's thoughts like that." she teased.

"It's unfair of you to be so damn tempting." I said, putting an end to any halfhearted protest she had.

"What did I do to you?"

"Exist." I grinned.

"Today in particular?"

"You and Alice were talking about shopping for your wedding dress this morning. It got my imagination going."

"Oh, is that all?"

I growled playfully at her as I started the car.

"And what if I didn't want to wear a dress?" she asked.

"If you'd prefer to go naked, you can, although I might have to behead half the men in Forks for daring look at you."

"What about jeans?"

"If you want, although my sister would never let you live that down."

"I don't want to talk about your sister." she said, resting her hand on my thigh again. We were alone in the car now. She slid her hand higher, slowly trailing her fingers towards my crotch. When she brushed against my erection, a growl escaped from my lips. She giggled. "You're insatiable."

"Just wait until you're changed. We aren't going to be very social for at least a decade."

"A decade? Sounds fun. Maybe we should make it two."

My growl increased in volume. She always knew exactly how to drive me crazy. "I'm going to make you regret saying that one day."

"Impossible." She rubbed her palm over my erection through my jeans and I floored the gas, desperate to get out of the car and my clothes. She slowly unzipped my jeans, and I used a free hand to help her with the button. She unbuckled her seatbelt.

"You should probably wear that."

"Are you going to let me get hurt?"

"Of course not."

"Exactly." She scooted closer to me, as much as she could with the small console in the way. I was thankful that it was mostly flat and not obtrusive like some of our other vehicles.

She unbuttoned the fly of my boxers with ease and my hard cock sprung out of them and easily into her hand. She immediately started to stroke me, her warm touch making a shiver run down my spine. It was difficult to keep at least some of my focus on driving. I made myself at least keep my eyes on the road, unwilling to risk her safety, but also possessing no desire to stop her.

Each pass of her hands sent a pleasant tingling sensation down my spine. My heart swelled with love. I bit my tongue a little to not cry out in pleasure just from her gentle touch. She knew how much I loved this intimacy. It was no substitute for being inside of her, but it was her loving me even in my vampiric lust. My raging hormones. My desires popping up out of seemingly nowhere, at least to her. It was her way of showing me that she loved every part of me, and God it felt so good…

She licked the head of my erection a time or two, just enough to tease me before she sat back up and put her seatbelt on. I glared at her and she giggled. "We're almost there."

"So?"

"Wouldn't want to end the fun too early. What if I were ever too sore or tired?"

"I would want you to tell me. I will respect that."

"Good thing I'm not, huh?"

"Very. I am going to get you for teasing me like that."

"How so?"

"It's no fun if I tell you." I said, parking the car out of sight from the main road, adjusting my pants, hopping out and grabbing Bella in a split second. We were a third of the way to our meadow before her eyes adjusted and settled on my face.

She smiled and caressed my cheek. "You're always so eager."

"Only for you."

"What did you do before I came around?"

"I was miserable."

"Did you feel these sorts of desires?"

"Never. Nothing ever made me respond in this way."

"And now?"

"You're practically all I think about." I purred, running as fast as I could. "You know that."

"Doesn't mean I don't like to hear it."

"I'll keep that in mind." I said, sitting on the swing with her in my lap, my lips immediately finding hers and my hands wrapping around her waist. She responded immediately, one hand on my face and the other in my hair. I should have been ashamed, encouraging her to skip class, lusting for her body as I did, but I wasn't. She was everything I needed. My mate. Truthfully, I was restraining myself rather well, at least until her change. After then, we could happily spend a decade or so wrapped up in each other, emerging only to hunt.

Her tongue traced along my lower lip and I carefully opened my mouth, minding my teeth. My hands kneaded the soft skin of her waist. Her fingers made a mess of my hair. I removed her shirt, then my own, followed by her bra. I took one of her breasts in each of my hands, circling the nipples with my thumb until they were hard. She moaned against my lips and one of her hands sought my cock, freeing it from my zipper again singlehandedly.

"You've been practicing." I panted.

She kissed down my neck as she started stroking my hardened cock in one of her soft hands again. "It's practically all we do."

"I don't hear any complaints."

"You won't. Not from me."

"I love you so damn much."

"I love you too."

"I can't wait to make you my wife."

"Is that the thought that got you all excited earlier?" she asked.

"It was. I'm tired of school. Acting normal for everyone else. I want to start our forever together." I confessed.

"Soon." she whispered in my ear, nibbling on my earlobe as she sped up her motions on my cock. I gave myself over to her, to pleasure, helping her remove her pants. She was wearing red lace underwear.

"You sure you weren't trying to tempt me yourself today?"

"Those were for later."

"Uh huh." I said, exploring her soft body with my hands, slowly trailing my way down to the edges of that tantalizing lace. She moaned loudly as I found her clit, circling it with my fingers and using the slightest bit of pressure. She was already soaking wet.

"I've wanted you since I woke up this morning."

"I'm yours, my love." I whispered in her ear, ripping away her panties in one swift motion, and re-adjusting her so that she was straddling me. I found my way inside of her easily, never wanting to emerge.


I drove her home a few hours later, after a brief stop to my room for a shower for us both and some new underwear for her.

When we entered the house, her dad was watching the evening news. Something caught my attention. "A string of killings in Seattle has local police believing a serial killer is on the loose-"

"I have to call Carlisle. I'll be back in minutes. Don't dare go outside." I whispered in her ear. She nodded and sat down with her father. We both knew this wasn't a serial killer, but a situation that would have to be dealt with before it dared risk my Bella, or my family's secrecy.

One quick call to the family assured me that it didn't seem to be related to anyone after Bella, but that we would keep an eye on it, handling it ourselves if it went on for too much longer. It was all the reassurance I needed to drive the car home before sneaking back through her window, where I found her safely at her desk, starting on homework.

"Is everything alright?" she asked.

"Just a rogue newborn vampire or two in Seattle. Nothing related to us. Still, I'd prefer it if you didn't go outside of Forks without me or a member of my family."

"Alright."

"I want you to keep your phone with you at all times. I'm on speed dial."

"I will. I don't want to go anywhere without you or Alice. It's alright. We're alright. I'm safe." she said, getting up to wrap her arms around me. "Don't start worrying too much. I know you. This isn't related to us this time."

"No family baseball games for a while."

"Good luck telling them that."

"I think they'll agree." I said, not at all concerned with how they might react. We just didn't want to do anything to risk attracting the attention of the rogue vampires.

"Hey, I'm safe. You're here. There are thousands of humans between them and here. We aren't their concern."

"I know, but it's hard not to worry."

"I know. In a few short months, you won't have to worry about these sorts of things anymore."

"Would you believe that I'm looking forward to it?"

"I would. I can give you something else to look forward to." she said, looking up into my eyes with a soft smile.

"Don't you ever tire?"

"I mean seeing my wedding dress in a few months."

"Oh."

"Yeah." she blushed. "Humans need rest sometimes you know."

"Rest while you still can." I said, caressing her flushed cheek with a grin. She always knew what to say to comfort me at least a little. Fears ran through my head, but as long as she was safe in my arms, I couldn't be sad. My world was alright. The newborn situation would have to be dealt with though, and soon, before the Volturi came checking on us sooner rather than later, though my nerves were mostly calm knowing that we had set a date, or at least a tentative one for summer.


Author's Note: Sorry to leave it on a mild cliffhanger! This is still a low-angst story, but at a certain point as an alternate ending, a few bits and pieces of other plotlines need to sneak in and resolve, otherwise it's just smut. Not that there's anything wrong with just smut. Haha. I promise no bad cliffhangers with this one.

Fans of Home, the new chapter is almost done. I'll post it tomorrow or Wednesday (it's 5-17-21).