A/N: Ok, so here is a new chapter for you lovely readers. I want to thank everyone for the reviews and the adds. This story is starting to wind down. We have 20 chapters in all, so it is almost over. Standard disclaimer applies, any errors are mine, and you know the drill. Off you go!

It must be your skin, I'm sinking in. Must be for real cause now I can feel. I didn't mind, it's not my kind, it's not my time to wonder why…I won't fret fear when you're with me. Glycerine. Don't let the days go by- Glycerine by Bush

"I guess what I'm saying is, will you marry me?" He opened the jewelry box and I gasped.

I didn't care what was in the box. I only had eyes for him. My throat suddenly felt dry. I nodded my head.

"Yes," I said, finally finding the words. With tears spilling down my cheeks, I pulled him to his feet. I kissed him and hugged him. He gently pulled away to take the ring out of the box. I held my hand out for him as he slid the ring on my finger.

"I hope you like it." His eyes were glowing. I finally looked at the ring and gasped. It was beautiful. It looked antique and had a princess cut diamond that was turned so it made an actual diamond shape. And it had several small diamonds curving around the main one. The band was thin and had an intricate design engraved on it. "It was my great grandma's, who passed it down to my grandma, who then passed it to my mom. Hopefully, someday we'll pass it to one of our own children."

I smiled at him again. "It's beautiful, Edward. I love it." I cupped his cheek. "I love you. This is so unreal. I keep thinking I'm gonna wake up and it'll all be a wonderful dream. I don't wanna wake up."

He grabbed my waist and held me tight. "It isn't a dream, love. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. We're getting married," he said positively glowing.

We stood there for a while, looking at the moon and just holding each other before heading back to the main road and taking a cab back to the hotel. When we got back to our room I decided to take a bath. We had been on a plane for eight hours and outside on a salty beach. In short, I felt pretty gross. While I waited for the tub to fill, I noticed a cupboard in the bathroom. Fluffy robes and towels were hidden behind a dark wooden door, and I took one of each, setting them on the toilet seat so I could wear the robe after my bath.

As I got into the bath and soaked my body, I started replaying the events of tonight in my mind. Edward's proposal was so unexpected. I was excited but couldn't stop the black thoughts from creeping in as I washed and scrubbed myself. It's too early to get engaged to Edward. I immediately pushed that thought down with a resounding: But we've known each other for twenty years.

The one thing I couldn't stop thinking about was school. I had two more years after this, and Edward had three. But then he had a residency left too. From what Esme told me, that was the hardest part for most medical students to get through. It was long hours and hard work since most new doctors got dumped with all the stuff the senior ones didn't want to do.

Edward planned on doing his residency at the same hospital where his dad worked. This left me asking: Do I want to move to Forks? It would be easier to get a job as a nurse there, especially with the last name of Cullen. I groaned and sank under the water, trying to drown out the unwanted thoughts. I was on vacation and this was not the time. They would come back, probably with a vengeance, but for now, all I wanted was to finish my bath, make love to my fiancée, and fall asleep in his arms. Tomorrow, I'd meet my soon to be grandparents. I got out of the bath after washing my hair and put on the fluffy bathrobe.

I walked into the main room and saw Edward sitting on the couch, watching TV. I crept up behind him and kissed his neck. He jumped a little, then relaxed.

"Hey, love." He held my hand as I came around the couch and sat on his lap. Edward put his arms around my waist and pushed a strand of damp hair away from my face. He started kissing me slowly and tenderly, but soon it turned more urgent and raw. "Ready to go to bed?"

I smiled. "Definitely ready to go to bed, but not ready to sleep at all."

He returned my smile and swept me off my feet to carry me to the bed bridal style.

It was around noon the next day and I had been up for four hours—so much for sleeping in. Edward and I had room service breakfast, which was really good. After that, we took a taxi to the rental car company, and then we got lost trying to get back to the hotel. I was laughing almost to the point of passing out by the time we found our way back. Edward had thrown a mini tantrum when we got lost and told me I didn't make it better by laughing. Then he blamed it all on me because I was supposed to be the navigator. When I finally did my newly named "duty", I pulled out my phone and used the GPS. Now Edward was pouting because I had saved us from driving around aimlessly for even longer. We were supposed to meet Edward's grandparents in an hour. I had already entered their address and showed it to him so he would know where to go.

Right now, we were just hanging out; we were both dressed and ready to go. We had wandered down to the hotel gift shop, just to look around. All our friends expected little goodies from Hawaii, so we were just getting ideas. I was going to get stuff for my dad and Sue, Ali, and Rose. Edward was responsible for his parents, Em, and Jazz. We found a couple of cute little things to buy and by the time we were done, it was time to head to his grandparents.

After going to their house, we were then going out to lunch, followed by some other event I had not been informed of yet. The closer we got to Edward's grandparents' house, the more nervous I grew. Once we arrived, I knew there was absolutely no reason for me to be nervous. Carmen answered the door, and she looked like an older version of Esme. She invited us in warmly and welcomed me with a huge hug, just like Esme always did.

"Bella, we've heard so much about you. When Eddy and Em visited us as kids, all they talked about was you." Edward blushed when his grandmother called him by his childhood nickname. And Carmen smiled at him warmly. "Esme talks about you all the time as well."

I knew Esme adored me, but it was quite flattering to hear so from someone other than Edward. "Thanks," I said graciously, not knowing what else to say. Eleazar came into the living room where we were all gathered. Esme definitely got her smile from him, just like Em and Edward. I always referred to it as their panty-dropping smile, but seeing the source made me embarrassed about that. Eleazar gave me a kind hand-shake. We all sat around and caught up a bit before we headed to lunch.

We ate at a cozy little restaurant, and it made me feel better that it wasn't spendy. Through our meal we talked about school; they thought it was ironic and amusing that Edward was going to be a doctor and I was studying to be a nurse. They got to know more about me, and what they had missed in Edward's life. I could tell that Edward was very close to his grandparents, even with the miles in distance between their homes. It was weird, my family was not whole because it was just me and my dad. Both my grandparents had died in my early teens, and my mom was off in Florida with her second husband. Edward's family was not only whole but very loving and extremely close. The fact that they instantly adored me was further proof that I belonged with him. Before Edward could tell them about our engagement, Carmen noticed the ring on my finger and let out an excited gasp.

"Edward," she said. "Have you proposed to this beautiful woman?"

The happiness in her voice made me smile. Edward grabbed my hand and grinned, looking radiant like the angel he was. "Yes, Grandma, I did, and she obviously accepted."

"Oh, Eddy. I'm so happy for you two. You're obviously in love. So, when is the date?"

"We haven't set one yet. I figure that we'll be engaged for a little bit. We just got engaged last night, so we haven't talked about it yet." We smiled at each other.

"Well, we need to go to celebrate. Our plans for this afternoon are to go scuba diving. We go through this great company that goes over everything you need to know, and then a guide takes you through some of the best places."

We agreed to go with them. I was a little weary of the bulky gear but was optimistic that I was less clumsy in the water. People told me I was so clumsy because I was a fish in a human's body, because I was graceful in the water, mostly because there was nothing to run into. The scuba diving went well though, and it was something I was not likely to ever forget. The beauty under the sea was breathtaking, and there were no words for it. We spent most of the afternoon exploring the ocean, and by the time we got back to land and dressed it was dinner time. Edward's grandparents wanted to take us to dinner, but we told them we were going to hang out at the hotel. Edward wanted to take me to a luau tomorrow and invited them to join us and they immediately agreed. Hugs were shared all around, and I heard Carmen tell Edward, "I like her, Eddy. You be good to her." And he replied, "I know, Grandma. I love her."

We then headed back to our hotel. When we got back to our room, we ordered more room service because Edward convinced me it was cheaper than going out. We were eating dinner when I asked a question that had been nagging at me.

"What are you doing after college, Edward? Like, what are your plans?"

"Well, I had previously planned on moving to Forks to do my residency, but now I have you to consider too. I knew you had reasons for moving away from Forks, and I'd hate to force you back there. I'm not going to lie, Bella, it's going to be hard on both of us. I will essentially be working 60 hours a week for a few years. But if I move to Forks and work at my dad's hospital, I will be able to finish my residency sooner. I don't want you to be unhappy."

"Well, we've already dealt with hard, but I was thinking maybe I could get a job there too. It would be easier in Forks than in Seattle. I don't mind Forks, I just moved because of college. I wanted to go to a good school, and we wouldn't have to stay there forever."

"No, we could move wherever you want after that."

"What kind of doctor do you wanna be?"

"A pediatrician or an ER doctor. I love kids. I don't know if I could deal with seeing some of them that are really sick, but my dad said that I'm still helping them, so I don't know."

Our night continued much the same way. We talked about all the things we hadn't discussed in the last few months, which wasn't a huge list. We decided we were going to be engaged for 9 or so months before we got married. I knew Esme, Alice, and Rose would want to help, so we'd have to wait at least until Rose and Em got married and were settled. We agreed that we would move in together when they got married since Em was moving out.

It was about eight o'clock at night, eleven Seattle time, when Alice called me. She was irritated that I hadn't called her yet. I apologized profusely and gave her the good news. Her happy squeal was so loud and surprising that I dropped the phone. I quickly picked it up, and Alice's mouth was going ninety miles a minute. Edward was on the phone with his parents, and there was a lot of smiling from him. I could tell he was talking to his mom because he had a misty look in his eyes. Alice was talking about how I had to let her help plan everything. After talking about wedding stuff with her, I had to tell her I was tired and needed to go to bed.

Once I got off the phone with her, I looked at Edward with weary eyes. "I feel torture coming on from her. She will make me try on every wedding dress in the Seattle area, and I will have to look at bridesmaid dresses until I want to scream. I'll have nightmares about taffeta forever."

He smiled at me. "Good trade-off for the current ones."

I shrugged and nodded.

"My mom wants to help too." He continued. "She almost cried when I told her we were waiting for a while, but she'll get enough notice to help out."

I walked over to him on the couch and sat in his lap. "Our lives are about to change, Eddy."

He chuckled and kissed me. "Yes, they are."

Edward POV

The week we spent in Hawaii was the best of my life so far, hands down. Better than when I got into med school, better than when Bella walked up to me that night in the club, better than anything. I was engaged to Bella, my other half, my soul mate. She was my life, and every time I threw a new piece of my life at her, she fit in perfectly just like a missing puzzle piece. My grandparents instantly loved her from the moment they met her, and after a week of spending time with her, they adored her, just as I knew they would. Bella and I had also grown closer in our week there as well. Somehow, with it just being her and I, we were able to talk about everything. This morning we had breakfast with my grandparents and had a tearful goodbye with the parting suggestion from my grandma that we have the wedding in Hawaii. We made no promises except to visit again as soon as we could.

I dreaded going back home and having to deal with real-life again. I knew Bella felt the same, but something else was off with her. She had already snapped at me four times, and by the time we got to the airport, I refused to talk to her, in fear of losing my head. When we got through security and onto the airplane, she looked at me sincerely and sighed.

"I'm sorry for being a bitch, I just don't want to go back home. I'm scared because Alice told me something—something I haven't told you."

I was instantly worried. Bella rarely looked this scared, even when Riley was prowling outside her house; she had always looked more pissed off than scared. "What did she tell you?"

"You know how she gets those feelings?"

I nodded.

"She got a feeling Riley is going to do something bad to me when I get back, like physically."

"Hasn't he already physically hurt you?' I was trying to sound unimpressed because Alice had basically told me the same thing, but Bella didn't know that.

"Well, I think she meant something a little more violent or worse than what he's been doing. I don't think he's gonna slink in the shadows forever, Edward. He said he'd make me leave with him next time!" she said.

I knew from the look of horror on her face she hadn't meant to say that. It was something she had been keeping from me. "Rewind." It was the only thing I could manage to say without yelling.

She sighed, and the look of fear was back on her face. "That night at the club— he said that next time I was coming with him, whether I wanted to or not."

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, a habit I had when I was mad. "Please tell me you told someone else about this."

"I told Ali and Em, who told Rose and Jazz."

I clenched whatever was in my hand. "Everyone knew but me?"

She fluttered her hands and shushed me. "This is why Edward. Look at how you react."

"I'm reacting to being lied to. We agreed on honesty, Bella."

She raised her eyebrows. "Then explain to me why you have been crushing that soda can without noticing it."

I looked at my hand and I was doing exactly what she said.

"You have a bad temper."

I glared at her. "What would you prefer, Bella? Next time you tell me that someone plans on kidnapping you, I just say "Oh, well. Guess he got us?"

Bella looked at me and the sadness in her eyes almost killed me. She looked down and whispered her next words. "I'm scared, Edward."

When she looked up again, tears ran down her cheeks. I pulled her into my side as best I could in our tiny seats, and I whispered soothing words to her until she fell asleep. I didn't let go of her the entire ride home. She'd been in and out of consciousness while mumbling and fidgeting in her sleep the entire flight. By the time it was over, she still didn't awaken. I waited until almost all the passengers were off the plane and then I gently shook her awake. She jerked awake and immediately gave me a strong right hook. I was so taken off guard that it knocked me on my ass. Damn, Em had taught her good. The left side of my face throbbed.

"Oh my God, Edward! Are you okay?" she asked, giving me a hand and helping me up. "Why are you on the floor?"

"Because you just knocked me on it, Bella."

"Really?" She looked kind of proud for a second, but it was replaced by an apologetic look.

"Sorry."

"No, it's okay. You should be proud; you've been working hard on it. Maybe you'll give Riley a run for his money," I said, and she smiled, blushing.

We made our way through the airport and found Alice and Jazz waiting for us at the baggage claim. There were hugs all around, and much rapid-fire talking from Alice. She was so excited to see her best friend that she was literally bouncing. Jazz and I found it funny. We waited for our luggage and then made our way to Alice's car. The minute we got home, Bella went upstairs to unpack, and I stayed downstairs so Ali could go talk to Bella. Alice came back down half an hour later.

"Well, I got her to agree to karaoke this weekend, but something is wrong. Why'd you break my friend, Edward?" Alice accused. She was staring down at me with an exasperated look on her face, her hands firmly on her hips.

I chuckled. "I didn't break her, Ali, you did. She's completely freaked out and scared about the Riley thing you told her."

Ali's eyes went wide in realization and her mouth gaped open. "I tried to forget about that."

"Well, Bella obviously didn't."

"Shit! I don't know what to do. It's not like we can keep him from her. We already tried that."

"I know. There isn't anything we can do, and I think he knows it. We can't go to the cops. We can't involve anyone else. We are helpless."

Jazz watched us with a confused expression. "Okay. Y'all gotta come clean. I talked to Rose and we seem to be the only ones who don't know the whole story of what's up with this Riley guy, cause it seems he's one dude y'all are scared of. Even Em is wary of him."

"Jazz, I don't think—" I started.

"No, he deserves to know. He and Rose are our friends and we never told them because they weren't here, but I can't do it. Someone else needs to tell the story because I can't." Bella said. I hadn't noticed she had come downstairs but she was standing behind the couch, staring at us.

The transformation of Bella now and Bella in Hawaii was like night and day. She had her arms around herself like she was trying to hold herself together, and had tears running down her face; the hopeless look was back in her eyes. It killed me to see her like that. I reached for her. "Bella."

She flinched away from me. "Please, just don't. Not right now."

Yeah, the old Bella was back, and I sighed, running my hand through my hair.

"Call Rose and Em. Get them here," she told Ali.

Alice nodded and grabbed her cell phone. I noticed Jazz looking at Bella with a painful look on his face, but Bella didn't see it. He got up and went outside to the porch. I followed him.

"What's up, Jazz?" I asked.

"What did he do to her, Edward?"

I shook my head. "It's not my story to tell."

"I don't care whose story it is! All I know is I went to Texas for the summer when she was dating that douche, and I come back with the news that he's in jail and Bella is a shell. That isn't Bella in there! She hasn't been Bella in a year and a half. She was getting close, and now she's back to this again! I'm tired of the lies and the secrets. That is the closest thing I have to a sister in there, and I can't just sit here and watch her fade away again," Jazz said with passion. He looked ready to cry and I'd only seen him this way with Bella and Alice. He always protected women, but he safeguarded them the most. When we were younger, he made it his mission to help me protect Bella. I know he deserved to know, but I really couldn't tell him. I was about to tell him as much when Alice poked her head out the door.

"Em and Rose are on their way over. Em has agreed to fill in all of the holes. Bella wants you to know what happened, but she doesn't want your pity or anger, okay?" She looked pointedly right at Jazz and he just nodded. "You might want to look less pissed off, and stop yelling then."

She gave him a peck on the cheek and a huge smile. He scoffed and followed her inside. I followed him. Bella was not downstairs when we got to the living room. I looked at Ali and she nodded in the direction of upstairs. I went to head upstairs.

"Edward…" I turned around and looked at her. "Let me, I don't think now is the time to push."

"Yes, it is." I turned and went up the stairs to her room. I hesitated, then knocked.

"It's open," she said.

I opened the door, and she was sitting on her bed. She looked really upset. "So, Jazz finally gets it, when are you, Edward? When is Riley gonna get what he wants, and I'm left with nothing and no one?"

"No, I won't ever give up on you. You also have four other people that never will. Jazz is worried about you, not giving up on you. It'll never happen."

I know she believed me because when she looked at me, I saw the Bella I had come to know. "I don't like to be scared. I shouldn't be, but I am."

"That's okay. It's okay to be scared, Bells." I gave her a big hug and she let me hold her. We heard Emmett's jeep pull up. "You ready?"

"As much as I ever will be." I helped her up and we went downstairs. Ali and Jazz were waiting quietly. Jazz seemed too detached to realize that Alice looked asleep.

"Is Ali okay?"

"Yeah, she fell asleep a bit ago. She hasn't been sleeping well, so I decided to let her rest a bit."

There was a knock on the door. I offered to get it and Jazz woke Ali up. Em and Rose came inside. Rose looked worried. I went to sit down with Bella and they followed us to the couches. Rose decided to break the silence.

"Why do I get the feeling that whatever Em has to tell us is bad and I am the only person that wasn't aware of it?"

Jasper spoke up. "I'm not in on it either. All I know is it's about Riley."

I knew Bella was uncomfortable with her friends being mad at her, but she told me she should have told them sooner and I agreed with her. "You guys were gone when it happened; by the time you all came back, it was not something I was willing to talk about, even with the people who were here through it all. I know you guys deserve to know, and I'm sorry I kept it from you for so long. I'm sorry you have to do this Em, I just can't." She wouldn't look at him and my heart went out to her. As always the way he reacted to her surprised me. He was kneeling in front of her and talking softly to her. I couldn't even hear what he said.

When he got up, she was nodding and trying to smile. Em stood in front of our group and started talking. I didn't really listen. I knew the story already, and I didn't really need to hear it again. I mostly watched Bella and saw the silent tears running down her face. I grabbed her hand and intertwined our fingers. I knew they were at the bad part because Rose gasped and then her eyes narrowed. When she was in high school, she had the same thing happen to her by a jealous ex. Rose had tears running down her face and I prayed it wouldn't upset Bella. When Em was done he sat next to Rose. No one really said anything. We all just looked at each other. Bella was staring at her lap, and I knew she was scared and ashamed. Rose got up and walked over to Bella.

"Bella, Hun, get up. I need to talk to you alone."

Bella looked up at her, a little confused. But she got up and followed Rose outside. They went out to the back patio for more privacy. I hoped Bella would be okay out there, and the understanding look on Rose's face reassured me.

A/N: What do you think Rose has to say. Ah, scared Bella has returned. I'm not an angsty person, so it won't last long. Please review and let me know what you are thinking! Love you all!