*EPOV*

I watched Bella even more intently than I usually did as she slept that night. I stared at what was left of the fading yellow bruises as if they were inkblots from a Rorschach test, almost daring them to darken in color. To my extreme relief, they never did.

She slept more soundly that night than she had since we arrived on the island if the talking was any indication.

"Edward," a breathy sigh. "More...Edward. I love you."

I hugged her tighter to my chest and kissed her hair, a smile twisting at the corners of my mouth. I'd never tire of that. Emmett razzed me mercilessly about how "lame" it must be to spend 30% of my day watching someone sleep, especially someone whose mind I couldn't read.

What Emmett couldn't possibly understand was that Bella's mind was like a puzzle to me. I was always looking for the jagged little pieces that helped me form the full picture. Hearing her unconscious mind speak out loud was like...finding an edge piece. That first time she said she loved me? A corner piece. I would dearly miss her nocturnal mumblings when she would no longer sleep.

I laid there with my wife soft and warm in my arms and allowed myself to dream about all the ways we would fill those extra hours when she was immortal, unbreakable, and never tired.

Even better than I could have hoped for, this newfound ability to satisfy her without hurting her might stall her transformation, at least for a little while. I was suddenly filled with hope.

That exultant feeling was dampened by another thought. College boys, I grimaced. And I'd only just gotten rid of Jacob Black, I thought sourly.

That Bella was a married woman would be something of a deterrent, I hoped. However, knowing the minds of fraternity-rushing, alcohol-abusing, STD-spreading college-aged males as well as I did...I doubted it.

I wondered if Bella would want me to attend courses with her, or if she would prefer her college experience to be free of distractions.

I grappled with the idea that it could be much harder to keep a protective eye on her on a campus the size of Dartmouth's if we were studying in different departments.

Way to put the cart before the horse, there, Cullen. Regrettably, I never agreed to her deal before she, er, persuaded me with her tear-filled pleas.

Bella began to stir then. Without waking, she pulled the quilt all the way up to her ears. She must be getting cold, I thought with concern.

I quietly slipped out from underneath her, carefully sliding a pillow under her head. Bella's brow furrowed and she made the cutest little pout as if protesting my absence even in unconsciousness.

With the lightest of touches, I smoothed the worried creases from her forehead and hummed a few bars of her lullaby. Her expression relaxed almost immediately. Minutes later, Bella's breathing had evened back out and her eyelids twitched in the conclusion of another REM-cycle.

As the sun began to rise, I wasn't overly surprised when Bella didn't wake at her normal hour. She did have a late night, after all. But as I watched the hands of the clock tick past 9 am, then 10, I began to worry.

By eleven, I was irrationally wondering if it were possible to have inadvertently started her transformation by means of our earlier exchange of fluids. However, I reasoned that if that were true, she'd be the only vampire in history to sleep through the agonizing change. Oh, if only it could be that easy for her!

Finally, Bella began to rouse. I stared up at the ceiling, wondering what she would have to say for herself after last night's emotional blitzkrieg.

"How much trouble am I in?" Bella's voice was small, apprehensive.

"Heaps," I said wryly but flashed her a half-smile.

I wasn't angry with her. Perhaps I should've been, but it was hard to be angry with her when she had been right all along. With a little practice...she'd said.

"I am sorry," Bella said sincerely. "I didn't mean...Well, I don't know exactly what that was last night." She shook her head in wide-eyed incomprehension.

"You never did tell me what your dream was about," I mused.

Bella blushed and alluded to it being a sex dream.

"Oh." Of course! It seemed all too obvious now. Nothing else would have explained what she wanted with such acute desperation, except for the one thing I was obstinately refusing to budge on. "Interesting," I blinked.

It had only taken the tears of a girl who weighed 110-pounds soaking wet to not only budge an immovable, supernaturally strong vampire...but to bend me completely to her will.

And then I berated myself for looking forward to the day when Bella's tears would never fall. I couldn't help it; I never wanted to feel that helpless again.

She moved to sit up, wobbled unsteadily, and then fell back into the pillows. Bella was not a spectacularly coordinated person, but she didn't usually have this much trouble. I hoped she wasn't ill.

I wrapped my arms around her, noting that her skin didn't feel feverish, just warm from sleep.

"You slept for a long time. Twelve hours." I didn't think it was necessary to tell her about my mini-panic attack about changing her with my fluids. Though I devised a plan to purchase a box (or 5) of condoms when I went to the mainland to hunt after Bella went to sleep tonight.

"Twelve?" She balked. Bella surreptitiously inspected her body for damage, letting out a relieved gust of air when she found none.

"Is the inventory complete?" I asked with a teasing smile. Bella nodded ruefully, noting the intact condition of the pillows. I gave her a rundown of the other casualties after she asked, the bedframe and her evil temptress costume.

I bit back a laugh as she surveyed the damaged headboard as if she hadn't borne witness to it.

"You'd think I would have heard that," she said with a dumbfounded expression.

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

I remembered with crystal clarity just how unobservant Bella had been, her head thrown back and her eyes screwed shut as she rode my hips to oblivion. The splintering headboard had done nothing to break her concentration as she chased her pleasure.

"I was a bit absorbed," she admitted, blushing all the way up to her hairline.

I sighed wistfully, brushing the apple of her cheek, red as its namesake. "I'm really going to miss that."

Bella looked at me then, somewhat warily. "How are you feeling?"

I laughed at her guilty expression. "You look so guilty-like you've committed a crime."

"I feel guilty," she admitted anxiously.

"So you seduced your all-too-willing husband. That's not a capital offense."

Bella grimaced. "The word seduced implies a certain amount of premeditation," she muttered.

To be honest, I was surprised that seduced was the word she took issue with. Up until the barrage of her tears, "all-too-willing" was not a phrase I would have used to describe myself.

"Maybe that was the wrong word," I acknowledged.

"You're not angry?" She asked with a puzzled expression.

"I'm not angry." At you, I mentally qualified. I was furious with myself that not only had she come to expect my anger but that I'd obviously made her afraid of it.

I went on to explain that I couldn't be angry with her when she had been right. Much like cracking eggs- learning my limits, and controlling the excesses were all a matter of practice.

She didn't bother to hide her boastful smile when she said "I told you so."

Stomach growling, she then set out to make herself some breakfast. Eggs again? I pointed out the irregularity of how many cartons she'd polished off in the last week.

"Weird," Bella agreed. "This place is messing with my appetite."

As well as her sleep patterns, her balance, and wild fluctuations in her mood, I mentally ticked off the subtle changes. If I didn't know any better, I'd think...and then I shook off the thought. That would be impossible for her as long as she was with a soulless, lifeless creature such as myself I thought miserably.

"We'll probably have to leave soon, though, won't we, to make it to Dartmouth in time?" Bella asked, dunking a piece of toast into the runny egg yolk and ravenously shoving it into her mouth.

I sighed, sitting down next to her. "You can give up the college pretense now-you've gotten what you wanted. And we didn't agree to a deal, so there are no strings attached."

Bella snorted and teasingly informed me that unlike myself, she didn't spend all her time plotting. I laughed in earnest when she impersonated me, overscheduling her activities so that she would be too tired for anything else by the time we returned by nightfall. Guilty as charged.

"I really do want a little more time being human." Wandering fingers traced down my chest. "I haven't had enough."

I thought I'd tried everything, offered everything to interest her in staying human. College, traveling the world, having more time with her parents and friends...

"For this?" I asked in disbelief, catching her hand and twining my fingers in between hers.

"You are so human," I said with a teasing smile, rolling my eyes with put-on exasperation.

After a beat, I asked, "We're going to Dartmouth? Really?" I tried to contain the excitement in my voice.

"You're going to love college," I promised after she expressed concerns about failing out.

Honestly, it never made sense to me why such a brilliant girl who loved to read and learn as much as Bella did would have such strong reservations about going to university. I suspected it had more to do with me and her irrational fears of getting older rather than any true reflection of her feelings about attending a school of higher learning.

We chatted about the logistics of moving to New Hampshire. Bella worried out loud about finding a place to live in such a short timeframe. It was then that I admitted that we already had a house there, just in case, I amended. She arched a suspicious eyebrow at me but said nothing. This pleased me to no end.

Months ago, this news would have engendered an almighty fit from her. She would have kicked and screamed, figuratively speaking, and insisted on paying her share of the rent. A sidelong glance was a far cry from that; I'd take it and be glad.

When I mentioned the possibility of seeing Charlie before we left for New Hampshire, and spending Christmas with Renee, her face turned contemplative. I badly wanted to ask what she was thinking about, but I left her to her thoughts.

"So I was thinking..." she began. I smiled; it seemed Bella was reading my mind. "You know what I was saying about practice before?"

I chuckled, surprised by the turn our conversation had taken. "Can you hold that thought?" I interrupted, holding up one finger. "I hear a boat. The cleaning crew must be here. Let me explain the mess in the room to Gustavo."

Bella went to go relax on the couch while I went to answer the door. Christ, how was I going to explain the destruction to Gustavo?

I opened the door with a warm smile and gestured for them to come inside.

Gustavo's wife, Kaure, took one look at me and blanched.

Libishomen! Her thoughts screamed, and she cowered slightly behind Gustavo. Her thoughts were even more frantic when, not wanting to appear rude, I introduced Bella as my wife. Kaure looked back and forth between me and Bella and thought of what sounded like a prayer in the tongue of her native Ticuna.

I quickly led them through the house, pointing out the kitchen, bathroom, and finally the master bedroom. They were at least polite enough not to say anything out loud about the devastated room covered in a thin layer of snowy white feathers.

As I explained to them about the, ah, vandalism that had occurred when someone had "broken in and robbed us," Gustavo nodded brusquely and asked no further questions. I excused myself, and let them get to it.

Missing nothing, Bella furtively asked about Kaure's fearful countenance. I explained to her about Kaure's native heritage and her suspicions.

"She looked terrified," Bella observed.

"She is-but mostly she's worried about you. She's afraid of why I have you here, all alone," I smirked, answering the questioning look on Bella's face.

I was suggesting she pick out a movie for us to watch when Bella reached her arms up around my neck and pulled me down for a kiss. I wrapped my arms around her and straightened up leaving her bare feet dangling above the pale balsa wood floors.

"Movie, schmovie," she breathed, curling her fingers into my hair and scratching her fingernails deliciously along my scalp as I loved my way down her carotid artery, savoring the floral scent of her sweet blood within.

I heard quiet footsteps approaching, but I couldn't find it within me to care when I had Bella in my arms that way. Kaure's horrorstruck gasp cut through the quiet like a knife. I muttered a low oath and set Bella down on her feet. Kaure stuttered out an apology, though I assured her there was no need. She nodded stiffly and continued down the hall with the sack of feathers thrown over her shoulder.

Bella handed me a DVD case, the musical, Oklahoma! I smiled in approval and went to put it in the player while she cozied up on the couch.

Taking my place next to her, I pulled her into my arms.

"Will we move back into the white room now?" Bella asked curiously. I made a joke about Esme letting us come back if we limited the destruction to one area of the house.

Bella's eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas Day. "So there will be more destruction?"

I cupped the side of her face, losing myself in the liquid umber of her eyes, shining with excitement. "I think it might be safer if it's premeditated, rather than if I wait for you to assault me again," I said, an amused chuckle rumbling from my chest.

Bella nodded. "It would only be a matter of time," she agreed offhandedly.

Gustavo and Kaure worked quietly and methodically throughout the house as we pretended to watch the singing and dancing on the widescreen TV.

Bella fidgeted impatiently as my fingers touched her in every possible way that was polite for company. I traced patterns along the bare skin of her arms, massaged the tension from her hands and shoulders. Then, hooking my hands over her shoulders, I slid the palms of my hands over the defined bones of her clavicle, cooling the flushed skin of her chest. She sighed contentedly at the contact.

I loved how responsive she was to my touch. Every small touch or caress elicited some small reaction. Goosebumps, a skipped heartbeat, a sharp inhale. Her body couldn't hide the fact that she loved my touch almost as much as I loved to touch her, and the knowledge of that elicited a strong reaction of my own.

Sitting between my legs and leaning against my front, Bella strained against me, feeling my arousal. It was a fortunate position to be in when Gustavo's heavier footsteps entered the room.

Bella startled at his entrance and looked hilariously unnatural, her skin flaming red and looking anywhere but at Gustavo. I bit back a smile as Gustavo informed me, using minimal eye contact, that they had finished. I thanked him profusely and directed him to take the substantial envelope I'd left out on the table in the foyer. With a slight nod of his head, he let himself out. The poor, petrified Kaure was already halfway to the boat.

"So that would mean we're alone now?" Bella asked seconds after the door clicked shut.

The heat of the moment somewhat abated and hearing the telltale signs of her stomach growling too quietly for her to hear, I asked if she'd like to eat lunch first. I could be patient. She was going to need her strength for what I had in mind.

She seemed to mull it over, then bit her lip abashedly.

"How would you like your eggs?" I teased, leading her to the kitchen.

Cleaning the plate of her bacon and cheese omelet, Bella groaned and leaned back in her chair, a hand resting on her stomach. "This is getting out of hand."

I smiled widely, tickled that she enjoyed my cooking so much. And under her watchful gaze, I didn't even waste any eggs this time.

When she was finished, I asked if she'd like to go for a swim with the dolphins to burn off calories-not that I thought she needed to.

"Maybe later. I had another idea for burning calories." She bit her lip and looked up at me through her dark lashes.

"And what was that?" I could guess, but I wanted to hear her say it.

"Well there's an awful lot of headboard left-" That'll do. I swooped her up into my arms and cut her off with a kiss before she could get the rest of her sentence out. I carried her to the blue room somewhere approaching the speed of sound.

**BPOV**

I laid breathlessly under Edward as he divested me of my clothes. I was going to have to give him a hard time about how many outfits he'd torn off me, but I couldn't think about that now when he was…

"Ohhh," I breathed, as Edwards icy tongue dipped into the hollow of my collar bone.

I grasped at his polo shirt, and he momentarily pulled away from me so I could pull it over his head. Edward's eyes blazed black as midnight, and his hair was a little mussed by the passing of his collar. I reached my arms around his neck and pulled myself up to him.

He kissed me feverishly. My lips, my throat, the shell of my ear all tingled with the lingering feel of his lips on my skin.

"Wait...wait!" I gasped, trying and struggling to keep a clear head.

"What for?" His voice was gravelly with his need. The sound of it made my blood race in my veins.

Edward had been an amazingly attentive lover, and I wanted the chance to reciprocate in any way he'd let me. I put my hands on his shoulders and gave him a light shove. Like I knew he would, he gracefully rolled off of me and landed on his back at my side with a small frown.

"Did I do something wrong?" Edward's brow creased.

"No, no..it's just..if you kept doing that, I'd lose the presence of mind to ask you if I could do something…" I trailed off shyly.

His eyebrows shot up, a question in his eyes.

I trailed a hand slowly down his muscled abdomen. No surprises, I silently reminded myself as I fingered the brushed metal of his belt buckle. He tensed but didn't move to stop me. With shaking fingers, I unfastened his belt, then his pants. Edward raised his hips and slipped the khakis and boxers off in one lightning-fast motion. Then he was back to his original position, flat on his back and still as a statue.

His erection had literally sprung out of his pants and was straining proudly against his chiseled stomach.

I poised my hand above him, warning him first with my eyes.

"Bella, love, you don't have to do this," he said gently.

"Yes. Yes I do," I said, my voice matching the intensity he'd used when he'd said that to me on our wedding night.

Remembering that he liked the addition of lubricant, I leaned over his body and reached for the tube in the nightstand, letting my nipples brush across his chest. He inhaled sharply and groaned as my warm skin dragged across his. Grabbing the tube, I squeezed a small dollop into my hand, and slowly wrapped my hand around his girth.

Edward's breath hissed through his teeth as my hand made a few experimental strokes over his rock-hard length. Edward panted a little, his hands fisted in the sheets. The quiet sounds of his pleasure made me feel more powerful than anything ever had.

I tightened my fist around the base, and with slow, even pressure, I squeezed all the way to the tip, swirling the palm of my hand around his glans. Edward whined at this. He honest-to-god whined.

"Do you like that?" I asked in a husky voice. I could guess, but I wanted to hear him say it.

"Yessss," he hissed through clenched teeth. I continued to stroke him while I brought my other hand over to cup the rougher, slightly ribbed skin of his scrotum. I was rewarded with a throaty growl.

"I can't wait until I'm like you so that I can taste you, Edward," I whispered close enough to where my hands worked over him so that he undoubtedly felt my breath wash over his straining manhood. He inhaled sharply and I could feel him pulsing excitedly in the palm of my hand.

Edward was long enough that I could take him into both of my hands and still have room to move. I twisted my palms around him in opposite directions, one hand moving clockwise, the other moving counterclockwise while simultaneously pumping up and down. Edward watched me now, his breathing growing increasingly jagged, and his fists twisted the silk sheets into shreds.

"Bellaaa," Edward groaned. "God, that's amazing. So warm," he gasped.

I doubled my speed now, stroking him purposefully. My arms were starting to burn a little, but I didn't care. I wanted to bring him the same pleasure he'd brought me time and time again. The sped-up tempo seemed to do the trick.

"Ohh," he moaned. "Bella, love, pleeease," he pleaded, His entire body was tense and desperate for release.

With one last stroke, his hips flexed up off the bed and the glacier-cold evidence of his climax dribbled down my hand and onto the sheets below.

His body collapsed heavily back down onto the bed, the springs of the mattress squeaking in shrill protest, but his erection never faltered.

Still breathing heavily, Edward reached for his discarded shirt and used it to wipe my hands clean, then himself. He then pulled me into the granite embrace of his arms, burying his face in my hair.

"Jesus, Bella," he panted. "Holding out on me much?" I could hear the smile in his voice.

*EPOV*

I could feel her shaking with laughter in my arms. She pulled away from me slightly so she could look at me. "The pleasure was all mine," she beamed, leaning down to kiss me.

"I seriously doubt that," I muttered. I tightened my arms around her, and in a blur of movement, rolled us over so that I was hovering over her now.

Very slowly, letting her anticipation build, I kissed in a straight line from lips, to the dimple in her chin, down her throat and sternum, and into the valley between her breasts. Bella's back bowed, jutting her chest out enticingly in search of more contact. A ghost of a chuckle rumbled out of my chest.

With the tips of my fingers, I plucked delicately at the taut, rosy peaks, loving the way the curve of her back arched even farther, straining for my touch. I took one of her stiffened nipples carefully in my mouth and slid a hand down to the juncture of her thighs, cupping her.

Bella's chin was thrown back, her full lips parted into a perfect o-shape, and she was blushing from her cheeks down to her chest. "Edward!" It came out as a breathy sigh.

As I rubbed her in the way I knew she liked best, her breaths came faster and heavier. It was such a sublime pleasure to be with her this way; to feel her heated skin between my lips and her slick folds quivering with need under my fingertips. I hummed in pleasure, vibrating the soft curve of her breast.

"That's it, Bella. You're getting so close. I can feel it," I purred, gently inserting a finger into her wet heat.

Bella's hips thrust searchingly into the palm of my hand.

"More, Edward! Pleeease!" she begged.

"How much more, Bella?" My voice was deep, seductive.

"I want you, Edward. Please!" She begged again. My goddess needn't ever beg…

I crawled between her creamy thighs and lined myself up with her core. Taking a steadying breath, I made sure my hands were clear of her body and my thirst and strength were well in-check before slowly penetrating her. I watched her face for any signs of discomfort and found only elation as the boundaries of our bodies began to blend.

The pleasure was all-consuming as I slid deeper inside of her. She was so hot, and wet, and tight. "I love you so much, Bella. You feel like heaven. Are you alright?"

Bella nodded and smiled, rocking her hips into mine, taking me impossibly deeper. I groaned low in my throat at the sensation of being fully-sheathed within her.

She looked like something out of a dream lying there beneath me. Her brow was beaded with sweat and her deep brown eyes glittered with love and tenderness. Full rose-tinted lips were parted and her fingernails tried to find purchase in my forearms that formed a granite cage around her.

"Touch yourself for me, Bella. Make yourself come for me," my voice was rough to my own ears. Her eyes widened at my instruction, but I felt her small hand feel its way down her body to her soft mound. She tentatively began to swirl her fingers around her swollen nerve center as I slowly resumed my building pace, careful not to crush her hand between our bodies.

It didn't take long before I felt the telltale tightening of her muscles gripping me like a fist. I made sure to time my pace to the small circular movements of her fingers, maximizing her pleasure.

She let out one long, drawn-out moan, went utterly silent for a devastatingly long minute, and then screamed in pleasure, riding out her shattering climax, with me following right behind.

I rolled off of her, landing next to her in a panting heap. Bella's bicep pressed against mine, slick with perspiration. She was equally as speechless, breathing hard with a beatific smile on her face.

We rolled on our sides, facing each other. I took her chin between my thumb and forefinger and kissed her lips, soft and sweet. When she pulled away, she left her forehead pressed against mine.

"So tell me about these dolphins," she said, her warm breath fanning my face.

I excitedly told her about the pod of pink Amazon river dolphins that lived in a freshwater river basin on the southwestern side of the island.

"Take me to them, but on one condition," Bella's voice turned stern.

I pursed my lips, trying to contain the smile that threatened to spill over. "What's that?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.

"We're running this time! I'm tired of hiking," she demanded with a slight frown.

I laughed in earnest now, smoothing the damp hair away from her face. "Yes, dear," I smiled crookedly.

*A/N* Hi all! Thank you all so much for sticking with me on this fic! I'm so thrilled to have gotten so many encouraging reviews up to this point! Each and every one has put a huge smile on my face, so I thank you!

I also wanted to remind you to sign in before you review, otherwise, I can't answer your questions. Someone asked about the omission of Victoria/ the newborn army. TBH, I chickened out of writing that part, and now I regret it, so I might go back and write about that as an outtake at a later date. But I'm definitely more focused on moving forward rather than backward. I hope you'll drop me a line, I really look forward to hearing what you think! Until next time, my lovelies!