Disclaimer: I own nothing.

EPOV

I had been spending extra time with Charlie, partly so he could get to know me, to see how much I truly loved Bella, and to get him to approve of me. So far, very few of his thoughts held any real opinion of me, he just liked seeing Bella happy. It made me happy that I made her so happy that other people could see the difference. Bella had been spending extra time with Charlie so he didn't worry and so he could have some of her limited time with him.

Another portion of the thoughts of his that I could hear were about Bella's lack of time. The feeling of desperation was clear in his thoughts.

By the time I dropped off a reluctant Bella back to my house in the morning, I was getting nervous. It didn't help that I didn't have my normal telepathic advantages, I could usually only get a general sense of what Charlie was thinking.

"Does it really take this long to get ready?" Bella complained. I tried to stifle a laugh.

"Of course it doesn't, but we wanted to spend some time with you, it'll still take a few hours though," Alice explained.

"Speak for yourself," Rosalie mumbled so Bella couldn't hear it.

"Back off, Rose," I snapped back still too quietly for Bella to hear.

"I'll be back in a little," I cupped Bella's face, and kissed her gently. There was a light pink blush already forming on her face.

"Wait, where are you going?" Bella wondered, still holding my hand.

"Just have to run some errands. I'll be back soon," I promised. I hoped Bella hadn't seen through the lie. She just nodded her head. I kissed her gently once more.

"Okay, I'll see you soon."

I dropped her hand and went to my car. Without Bella's worrying about my speed or her ancient truck that couldn't top 60 miles per hour, I got to her house quickly. I took a deep breath.

All Charlie cared about was Bella's happiness, and I wanted to show him that I would do anything to make her happy. It was like Bella revealed a whole new side of me, I had never felt so many emotions or felt so deeply as I had in Bella's presence.

I walked up to her door and knocked twice.

I could hear Charlie getting up from his recliner and walking to the door. Charlie opened the door after a second. I could see the surprise on his face.

"Edward? Is everything-is Bella okay?" He asked frantically.

"Yes, she's fine," I assured him quickly. "I actually wanted to talk to you. If that's okay?"

He eyed me suspiciously, but nodded and let me in.

BPOV

It didn't take long for Alice to start getting me ready for prom. I'd allowed her to take care of everything, but more than that, she wanted to. I was aware that she was probably strong enough to carry me upstairs too, but I insisted it was fine.

"Really, Bella. Let me help you. Edward will kill me if you pass out or fall or something," Alice insisted.

"It's fine, Alice. I can handle a flight of stairs." I took a deep breath, and lifted up my backpack so it didn't damage the stairs or anything. I looked up at the flight, I was pretty sure it was just my imagination, but it felt like it got longer. Everyone was off doing their own thing, and I was glad I didn't have an audience, in case I fell or something.

I started making my way up the stairs, I tried to keep my breathing as even as possible, even though I couldn't see them, I knew they could hear me. It took me an embarrassing amount of effort and time, but I made it to the top.

"See, I told you I could do it," I said completely breathless, putting my backpack down.

"Edward was right, you are so stubborn," Alice declared.

"You guys convinced me to go to prom, didn't you?" I retorted.

"Let's go."

Alice led me to what I assumed was her room. She sat me down in front of her vanity. I was grateful because I needed to catch my breath. She started with my hair and makeup. When she was done, I looked more human than I had in weeks, it was very subtle and understated, but still looked pretty good. My hair was in waves down my back with some braids in the front of my head pinned back. I had a winged liner and a toned down red lip.

"Wow, thank you, Alice," I complemented.

"Now, for the dress," Alice squealed.

"Alice, you kept it simple, right?" I cringed.

"Don't worry, it's perfect for you."

She pulled out a garment bag. She unzipped it to reveal a navy blue dress.

"It's just above floor length, so it doesn't get trampled by your bag." She scrunched her nose at my backpack.

"Sorry, Alice. Where I go, the backpack goes."

"I know, sorry, but I wish I could upgrade it, that's all," Alice sighed.

I shrugged, "You learn to ignore it after a while."

"Come on, I'll help you."

Very quickly, Alice and I were dressed. She handed me a pair of shoes that matched the dress perfectly, but looked impossible for me to walk in. She put them on me and I knew there was no way this was going to work.

"Alice, I'm not going to be able to walk in these," I complained.

"Hush, you'll have Edward to keep you upright," Alice scolded playfully.

"You're missing something," Alice said thoughtfully.

"There's nothing you can do about the bag, Alice."

"No, that's not it," Alice continued thinking. "Oh, I know. Edward!" She called.

He appeared in the blink of an eye. He was already dressed in a tux with a tie that matched my dress.

"Wow," he gazed at me appraisingly. I could feel the blush forming on my face.

"Wow, yourself," I smiled back at him.

"There, now you're perfect," Alice declared.

"Wait, Edward was what I was missing?" It was funny that she talked about Edward like an accessory rather than a person, especially considering he was her brother.

Alice nodded. It was then Edward's phone started ringing. It was Charlie.

"Hello?" He responded warily. After a minute, Edward started laughing.

"Are you serious?" He chuckled. "Let me talk to him."

I looked at Edward questioningly. He looked at me as he spoke again. "Hi, Tyler. Bella has plans for tonight, and every night, from now on. Sorry about the mix-up." And he hung up the phone.

"Tyler?" I questioned.

"He showed up at your house to take you to prom," he snickered.

"Where did he get that idea? I haven't spoken to him in weeks," I said slightly bewildered.

"Well, I told him, you're mine," he whispered in my ear, I laughed.

"So possessive, Edward," I rolled my eyes playfully. He leaned down to kiss me before Alice stopped him.

"No smudging," she warned. "At least wait until after we get a few pictures."

I laughed and Edward shook his head. After way too many pictures, we were pulling up to prom in Edward's car.

He, once again, helped me out of the car, placing my backpack on the ground. I clung to him for fear of losing balance. We started walking up to the entrance.

"I feel like a Make-A-Wish kid," I mumbled.

"You look amazing," Edward offered. "And I don't think Make-A-Wish offers a prom night with a vampire."

"You never know," I laughed.

When we walked in the gym was already full, I saw people start to see us out of the corner of their eye. I had almost forgot that Edward and I had technically dropped out.

It didn't look like Edward was paying them any attention, he was just watching me. The music changed from the up-beat song I didn't recognize to a slow song. Edward didn't even give me a chance to protest before pulling me to the dance floor. I wasn't sure how we were going to dance, with my bag dragging behind me.

"Having fun?" Edward whispered in my ear.

I smiled, "With you? Always."

"I'm only perverse to the attention and the crowds. Although, I'm sure we look strange to everyone else," I admitted. He shrugged. He took one of the straps of my bag and slung it across his shoulder.

"I'm tethered to you now." Nudging my head toward the cannula that was connecting us.

"I'd have it no other way."

My face was getting warm. Edward made the dancing easy for me, we were just swaying back and forth in a circle.

"See you're dancing," he laughed.

"At prom," I affirmed.

"There's someone here to see you," Edward snarled lightly, his light expression dropping. I saw Jake making his way toward us.

"Behave!" I hissed.

"Mind if I cut in?" Jacob said looking at me.

"Jacob, are you crashing the prom or something?" It looked like he had grown almost another foot, he also looked like he had taken up bodybuilding.

"Or something," he scowled at Edward. He turned back to me. "You look really pretty, Bella." His hostility almost completely vanished when talking to me.

"Are you going to be okay, Bella?" Edward said, ignoring Jake's vitriol.

"Yeah," I nodded softly. Edward placed the bag on the floor and extended the handle for me.

"What's with the hostility, Jake?" I questioned gently. Did he start believing in the same legends that Billy did?

"Nothing, just don't like filthy bloodsuckers," he said harshly. I felt myself stiffen.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I figured playing dumb was the best response.

"Please, you know exactly what I'm talking about. He must have his hooks in you so deep, doesn't he? He must, if you're willing to lie for him."

"Jake…," I had no clue what to say to him. Edward was quickly at my side again.

"Leave, Jacob," Edward growled his name with such disdain. "Let her have this," he said more gently. Jake looked back and forth between the two of us, and then turned on his heels without another word. I could have sworn I felt the anger radiating off of Jake. To make matters even worse, we had attracted the attention of a small crowd of people.

"Do you want to get out of here?" He asked, holding out his arm for me. I nodded and laced my arm through his. He led me through the gym, and to the greenhouse, it was covered in twinkling lights.

"What just happened with Jacob?"

"You know, only you could attract humans, vampires, and werewolves all in this small town."

"Wait, werewolves?" My head shot up to look at him.

"And besides that, he called you pretty. The way you look, that is practically an insult. You look much more than beautiful tonight."

"You're a bit biased, don't you think?" My face was warming. "And let's not glaze over the whole werewolf thing either." I was incredibly glad no one else was around.

Edward laughed, "Well, I suppose, he told you about us, so we should tell you about him just to be fair?"

"So you're saying Jake's a werewolf, like he turns into a wolf?"

"Yes, something like that," Edward said cryptically. All of the walking was leaving me breathless again.

"There's a bench just ahead," Edward nodded his head to the bench we were approaching. The bench was inside the greenhouse, which looked breathtaking with the lighting. We sat down on the bench, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I laid my head on Edward's shoulder. "It looks so beautiful in here."

"You know what that is?" He said pointing to a plant growing up on the wall.

"What?"

"It's ivy," he smiled down at me.

I groaned, "Keep it up and I'll ban you from any further viewing of the journal."

"You wouldn't," he dared, playfully narrowing his eyes.

"Oh, but I would," I laughed. Suddenly, Edward was pulling me on his lap, my bag was by his side in an instant.

"I could always make you lift any ban." I felt Edward's cool breath on my collarbone. I was at a loss for words. He started kissing my jawline down my neck. He stopped and looked at me. I was still in a daze. Then he kissed my lips, he pulled away at the first sign of breathlessness. To my surprise, there was no lipstick on his face.

He cleared his throat and sighed, "We should get going."

"Yeah," my voice sounded more breathy than normal.

After prom, I returned to Charlie's, he hugged me tightly, which was a bit unusual for him.

I took extra 'human minutes', undoing everything Alice had done this morning. Edward was back in his normal clothes, once I returned to my bedroom.

"Alright, I'm back to plain Bella," I declared playfully.

"There's nothing plain about you," Edward insisted and I scoffed. I was exhausted from the day, so I fell asleep very quickly.

The next 2 weeks went by in a monotonous routine, but Edward made every day feel different. Half of the time we were at Edward's house, the other half at mine. Some days, we went to our meadow. We read books, I wrote, and sometimes we just sat and talked the day away.

Most nights, Edward helped me cook dinner, a few times Charlie insisted on going to the local diner, when we went to the diner Edward wouldn't join us because it was more difficult to hide his lack of eating.

I did have to get scans done, but Carlisle kept it quick. He noted growth in the mets in my lungs. He had said it wasn't growing rapidly, but it wasn't slow either. I always hated the ambiguity that doctors offered. I did note the hypocrisy of that sentiment. I selfishly didn't want to know how much time I had, but in a way I did.

I tried to enjoy all the time I had with Edward and Charlie. Sometimes I felt the urge to know how much time I had left, but there were no guarantees of time either way and I didn't want that somber countdown lurking in the back of my head.

One day, Edward suggested we go to our meadow, he looked a little nervous.

"Is everything okay?"

His expression made me anxious, had he tired of the monotony of our time together, had he tired of me? I pushed the thought away, Edward had insisted that the he enjoyed our routine, and I tried to trust him enough to believe that he would tell me if he felt otherwise. But there was always that pessimistic voice in my head that told me he wouldn't, because he pitied me.

"Yes, everything's fine. I promise."

His voice was sincere, but I could see the anxiety in his eyes.

"Okay," I nodded dubiously.

"Here, so you don't get cold." Edward removed his hoodie and handed it to me. I had never seen him in a hoodie or sweatshirt until about a month ago. He never wore them for long, but I had started to garner a collection of his sweaters, I usually rotated them out once they lost his scent, but Edward never took them back.

"They look much better on you anyway," he said leaning down to kiss me, he hadn't eased up on his displays of affection either. We were driving in silence, Edward was holding my hand, rubbing circles on the back of it.

"You know, I have quite the collection of your sweaters now," I humorously admitted, breaking the silence.

"I do know, I've noticed that you stop wearing them after a while." So he had noticed. My face started turning bright red. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just- never mind I don't want to sound like a psychopath or something."

"Come on, tell me," he cajoled.

"I stop wearing them," I paused, clearing my throat. "Now, don't laugh, but I stop wearing them when they stop smelling like you," I admitted shyly.

"The mystery is solved," he nodded and smiled at me. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Wait, you don't think that's strange?" I asked baffled by his nonchalance.

"No, I happen to like the way you smell too," he admitted. "There's nothing quite like it."

I hadn't noticed we were already at the trail, or non-trail leading to our meadow. Edward helped me out of the car, and with one hand holding my backpack, he placed me on his back and in a matter of seconds we were in the middle of the meadow. We sat down across from each other. I started picking at one of the wildflowers in front of me, but I kept watching Edward's expression.