Author's note: hello everyone. Thanks for all the lovely comments on the last chapter . I'm glad you liked it. Sorry this one took so long, it was difficult to do. I suggest at this point, you go back a few chapters and reacquaint yourself with the storyline in case you have forgotten.

Someone asked why didn't esme get rid of the rid of the ring a long time ago if it reminded her of her past. Well, ill be honest, that stumped me. It's a good, very valid point.

Thank you to madian for this explanation. –Religion. She and Charles were joined in the eyes of ring was something sacred and as much as she hated it, she could not bring herself to get rid of something Holy. And yes, I do think Esme believes in God, its in sync with her character, I think. Feel free to disagree.

Please enjoy.

Chapter 25

Buen Viaje ( Bon Voyage)

Emmett and I were to leave first; I wanted to get to our destination as fast as possible so that we could get back as fast as possible. On the front porch where Emmett and I stood dressed like hikers, Esme came to us. With a simple kiss on my cheek she bestowed so much more on me; a sense of calm, acceptance and security. The word grateful could not cover what I felt for her.

Alice and Rosalie came out next. Alice stretched up on her toes and I leaned down a little. She wrapped her skinny arms around my neck and held me tight. I held her waist securely too, hugging her even tighter to me. The feel of her little body pressed up against mine radiating love filled me with renewed strength to carry out this job. This parting was such sweet sorrow as Romeo said, and I agreed. Leaving her for two days was a small price to pay for making her my wife for all eternity.

When we released each other, there was no need for words. Rosalie caught my arm as I turned to leave. "Aren't you going to say goodbye to me, brother?" She kissed my cheek and whispered, "Don't worry, we'll keep her busy."

"Thank you, Rosalie,"

She flashed me a brilliant smile and said, "You can call me Rose."

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"So soldier, do you think you could beat me in a wrestling match?" asked Emmett in an amused voice but I could feel the real burn of curiosity inside him as we ran.

I chuckled softly. He was only a small fraction of my age and coupled with the fact that I was an experienced fighter made it obvious who would win. Emmett was a competitive person. That was clear.

"Well, we'll have to see." I answered diplomatically but he took it as a challenge. The poor boy had no idea exactly how much more I knew than he did. Ah, but as much as I knew more about fighting than he did, there was something important that he knew more about than me.

Our little banter brought to the front of my mind, a worry that had been bothering me for a while. What were Alice and I waiting on? She made it clear that she wanted to wait, but on what? I came up with two conclusions.

Firstly, maybe she thought is was too early. Maybe she wasn't sure of my commitment to her. Maybe she was waiting to see if I would stay. This was a good argument; it might have won over anyone else, but not me. Thanks to my quirk, I knew how much Alice trusted me. She trusted me implicitly and I, her. This is why reason number two was more plausible in my book.

Maybe she was waiting on something, an event- an event that I was currently assembling. Maybe she was waiting for us to get married. Now, I knew that she was oblivious to my plans; Edward had assured me of that, but maybe she was waiting until it happened anyway. Maybe she thought it was an inevitable step, that I would do it sometime or the other.

This is where it got complicated. In my day, when I was human, it was a sin to sleep with someone before you were married. When I was changed, well, I became a prolific sinner, so what was the point? Not that I had retained much of my human morals; Maria had made me a different person altogether. Alice, now, was from a different era. Did that chastity rule still stand? And if it did, do vampires adhere to it too?

"Emmett, do you think I'm proposing too early?" I asked. He thought for a minute then answered surely, "No, I don't think so, she loves you."

"So you asked Rosalie to marry you a few weeks after she found you?" I inquired. He hesitated, and then he became uncharacteristically sad.

"Things with me and Rose were…different." He looked up quickly and amended, "I wanted to ask her, hell, I wanted to ask her the moment I saw her but she wasn't ready."

That situation did not sound too different from mine. For all I knew, maybe Alice didn't think she was ready either.

"I don't understand." I said. He took a deep breath and explained, "See, in the beginning, Rose had a hard time…being with me." He was fumbling for words which threw him even more out of character. He could see that I was confused still.

"When Rose was human, she was…attacked by some men," I was caught off-guard by the sudden surge of wrath emanating from the burly vampire beside me. His fists were clenched tight and he was struggling for composure. "They hurt her in ways that nobody should ever be hurt," his emotion quickly turned to pain then after being absorbed in an excruciating memory, he grinned, "But she took care of them. Nobody gets away with hurting my Rose. But how I wish I could have been the one to destroy them."

This news had a strange effect on me; I found myself feeling a cornucopia of new emotions many of which I could not describe. I felt pain for what had been done to my sister, and then I felt surprise at feeling pain for someone else's pain. I had an epiphany then, it hit me with such force, I had to stop. I loved Alice, I loved Esme and now, I loved Rosalie. So many different ways to love yet all so fulfilling.

Emmett turned and jogged back to where I stood lost in my thoughts. "I'm sorry," I said looking him in the eye. And truly, I was sorry for his and Rosalie's pain. He nodded.

"But after you got married everything was fine?" I asked, not wanting to pry yet wanting to know that everything turned out alright.

"Pshh, yea. Rose..hah…she is very traditional. See, she insisted that, even after we were engaged, we waited to get married before she let me touch her. Lemme tell you, it was not easy. But what Rose wants, Rose gets. We did wait and then," he laughed, "We had a hell of a time."

We were swimming now. Emmett had given me a lot to think about. So people of this age were still traditional and apparently, we followed those rules too. Sigh. But this was not the right time to think about such things. Now was the time to let numbness invade my mind and try not to notice things that were forever etched into my mind. We were in Mexico.

I pointed out the way to Emmett and was careful to always follow him. When we arrived at the cave entrance, it was obvious that the area was relatively unpopular. The crevice was still well concealed but inside, it was clear that someone had been doing some digging. The scent was long gone but the evidence was blatant. The pit was deeper and more jagged than I remembered. I set to work at once and Emmett followed suit. I tried not to think, not to remember but that was impossible when surrounded by such a familiar environment. I felt like a loaded gun. I was vigilant, ready, ready for attack.

It was not hard, finding what I came for. Emmett picked up a couple trinkets too. I could not leave that place fast enough. The memories were threatening to break through my carefully constructed walls and I could not have that.

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"I'll have them set immediately," Esme said, "Is there any special way you want it done?"

I handed the little rocks to her and answered, "Yes…let me show you."

Author's note: now I know what u are going to ask, "Why didn't we hear more about the caves?" well, you see , I would have loved to do a big descriptive section all about the awesome caves but jazz doesn't really take it in. he is trying not to see. He doesn't want to see the details which is why I couldn't write them. He wanted to leave really quick.

The bit about Emmett and Rosalie, I always wondered about them. I think maybe if I have time later this year , ill do a fic about them. Remember that rose is all about traditions and such, I hope you agree about this. Do you u think rose is OOC?? Was that conversation weird?

Please tell me your thoughts.

Okay now for the suggestions,

Im a little scared to suggest this one cuz u might like it more than mine. Its called "I felt hope" it was really good. Its in my fave stories. Happy reading. Please suggest to me any fic that you think was good.

Love

taz