Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

AN: Okay, so in the spirit of the holidays, here's my present from me to you guys - this chapter is it! I promised I'd put you all back together by the end of this, and I definitely hope I did. Thanks so much for coming on this short little journey with me. I adore you all more than you know.

An epilogue will be posted just after this. Don't miss it. :)

Suggested Listening: "And If You Go (I'm Coming Along)" by Fossil Collective

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When Bella opened her eyes the next morning, the first thing she registered was the blazing arm wrapped around her body.

The second was the smile that spread slowly across her mouth as bits and pieces of the night before came back to her. As she remembered the reason that heat was there, pressed firmly against her back.

As she remembered who it was.

Blinking, Bella cleared the last of the sleep from her eyes before she stirred. Before she shifted her hand from its home on the disheveled bed sheets, lifting her fingers and letting them trail along the length of the arm holding her in place. Taking a moment and savoring the peace she felt, dragging out the movements, until there was movement behind her. Until she heard a muted groan released into the pillow, just before the arm loosened its grip on her enough for her to move.

"What time is it?" Quil's hoarse voice grumbled from behind her.

Bella shifted, pushing strands of hair back from her face as she rolled onto her back. As she looked in time to see Quil rubbing groggy eyes with the back of his hands.

Lowering his hands, his eyes met hers, and Bella was pretty sure the smile on his face matched her own.

"Early," Bella finally replied, her fingers tracing patterns on his arm, which still rested across her midsection.

Quil made an unintelligible noise in his throat, squeezing his eyes shut as he pulled Bella closer. "I suppose that's okay, if you're the first thing I get to see at the crack of dawn," he murmured. "If it was my face in a mirror, I might be telling an entirely different story."

Bella chuckled, turning toward Quil slightly. Pulling in a deep breath, she reached up, brushing her fingers along his cheek before she leaned in.

Even though Quil cut off her attempt at a kiss, his eyes bulging and a startled cry leaving his throat.

As his hand shot up between them, covering his mouth.

"Morning breath, Bella!"

Bella gaped, an amused grin still resting on her mouth. "Mine or yours?"

"Mine!" Quil exclaimed from behind his hand.

"Are you kidding me?" Bella asked flatly, narrowing her eyes.

Quil shook his head vigorously. "I don't kid...not about this. I've been told it's like dragon fire. Pretty sure it could wilt flowers if I hit them at just the right angle."

Bella rolled her eyes playfully just before she reached up, her hand curling around Quil's, pulling on it until he lowered it, his lips pressed together in a thin line. "There's a spare toothbrush in the drawer under the sink," she comforted, leaning forward again and refusing to let go of his hand. "But until then...I don't care."

When she kissed him, she was pretty sure Quil was smiling anyway.

"You musta really meant what you said last night," Quil murmured, sinking back against the pillow. Bella stayed where she was, propped up against her elbow. She could tell he was trying to tease her, but she couldn't ignore there was a hint of something else beneath the words. A trace of question.

Almost like he was trying to make sure that in the morning after - removed from the everything they allowed to overtake them the night before - Bella still remembered what she said. That she meant it.

"Hey," Bella whispered, "about last night..."

Quil shook his head, letting it roll toward her. "Bella, it's okay, you don't need to explain anything to me."

"No, I want to," Bella pushed on, meeting his eyes the moment she did. "Because just in case there's any part of you wondering… when I told you I was ready, I didn't just mean last night. When I told you I wanted this...I meant all the time."

Releasing a breath, Quil's gaze slipped back toward the ceiling before falling toward her. Before he rolled over to face Bella, his other hand reaching for her, fingers pushing through her hair as a smile played on his lips.

"You mean it?"

Bella nodded, unable to contain her own grin. "I mean it."

Quil's face screwed up as he chewed on that for a moment. Before his eyes caught hers again. "It's because of my mad cooking skills, isn't it? I knew it. If I woulda known that, I woulda cooked you Italian food we'd never get to eat a long time ago…"

Bella made a noise in her throat, reaching between them and pressing a finger against his lips. "Yes, mad cooking skills are one of the reasons...but it's not the only reason." She didn't pull her finger away until Quil's lips were pressed firmly together, despite the smile still resting on them.

Bella took a deep breath.

"Because you're important to me. Because you've been here, Quil...you showed me and showed Maddie that it was okay to still be happy and that we didn't have to be sad forever. And that left its mark on both of us. It left its mark on me," she murmured, offering him another tiny smile. "But I never thought you'd become such a huge part of both of our lives...that you would mean this much to me, but you do. You're a part of this family and...I want to know what a life with you would be like. I want you here...next to me. All the time."

Grinning, Quil held her sincere gaze for a moment, savoring it before he reached across the small distance separating them, one large hand gripping the back of Bella's head just before he kissed her. Giving her the only response she needed. She returned the kiss, happily and wholeheartedly, losing herself in him all over again when he shifted. When she relaxed against the pillow, welcoming Quil's weight as his body fluidly moved over hers…

"Mommy!"

Quil jerked away with a start, throwing a wide-eyed glance over his shoulder. He looked back to her, the disgruntled look on his face enough to draw a laugh from Bella's mouth. Still, her chuckles were enough to pull the disappointment from his face. For him to shake his head with a groan just before he smiled in return.

Propping herself up on her elbows, Bella left a swift kiss on Quil's lips, one hand rubbing aimless circles on the back of his neck.

"Better get used to it," she teased.

Quil rolled his eyes playfully. "Hey," he replied without missing a beat, "I knew what I was signing up for." Leaning down, he stole one last kiss before rocking back on his knees. "I'll get her."

Once Quil was dressed and disappeared down the hallway, Bella climbed out of bed, finding her robe hanging on the back of the bedroom door where she always left it. Cinching it tightly around the waist, Bella walked quietly to the bathroom, paying no mind to the soft voices she could hear coming from her daughter's room.

When she was done and on her way back to the bedroom to dress, a series of high-pitched chuckles made her pause. It drew her back down the hallway until she reached Maddie's door, lingering just outside it as she peered into the room.

"So no playing outside today, but the best part is you get to hang out in bed all day and watch all the princess movies you can handle…"

Quil was kneeling beside Maddie's bed, straightening the blankets around her as she watched him raptly. Bella let her eyes linger on her daughter for a moment, noticing how parts of her face were still swollen and pink from the bee stings. Bella made a mental note to pick up a new bottle of calamine lotion when she went to the pharmacy after breakfast.

Her gaze shifted to Quil, who was done tucking her back in, reaching up and pushing Maddie's hair back from her face instead.

"All the princess movies?" Maddie asked with wide eyes. "Ariel, too?"

"Every last one on them, honey. And I bet there's even some ice cream that comes with all those movies, too."

"For breakfast?"

"Well...maybe after breakfast, but definitely ice cream."

Bella held her breath as Maddie grinned. As she watched Quil with the same adoration she always held when she did. As one little hand reached up, tugging on Quil's t-shirt sleeve until he got the message. Until he leaned down so she could tell him something that was clearly only meant to be between him and Maddie.

As Bella lost whatever air she had left in her body when Maddie finally spoke, the words a hushed, barely audible whisper.

"I love you..."

Bella smiled, the same delirious warmth pushing through her veins, the same it always did.

"Awww," Quil replied softly. "I love you, too, honey...more than anything else in this world." He leaned forward that time, like it was his turn to tell her a secret. "Maybe even more than your mommy, but don't tell her that though, okay? That one's between you and me."

"A secret," Maddie agreed with a grin.

As Quil stood up, leaning over and leaving a kiss on Maddie's forehead, Bella pulled her lower lip between her teeth to contain her smile as she pushed back from the door. As she hurried back to the bedroom before he could catch her eavesdropping from her place in the hallway.

Once she closed the door behind her, Bella walked to her dresser, the entire conversation from moments earlier playing over in her head. Hearing Quil say those words again and knowing what they meant - knowing how much he meant them and how just a day earlier, Bella wasn't sure she could say them back.

She wasn't sure she could because she knew what it would mean if she did. She knew what she would be letting go.

She knew what it would mean…

And she was ready.

Holding her breath, Bella stared at her reflection in the mirror. Outwardly, she looked exactly the same as she had eighteen months earlier. But inside, she felt like a different person. A stronger person, alive and awake in ways she didn't know were possible.

And she knew why - why she was stronger. Why she felt different.

Releasing the air from her lungs, Bella's gaze lowered, watching as she reached across her body with her right hand.

Slowly, arduously, she pulled the emerald ring from the finger on her left hand.

Glancing down, she stared at it for several long moments, the piece of jewelry clasped firmly between two fingers. Remembering everything it symbolized. Everything it meant to Bella.

She still loved Embry. She always would, and Bella knew that. The time they had together was entirely too short, and even though he'd left her the best gift he could have possibly given her, it was time to let go.

It was time to move on.

She held her breath, even though it didn't hurt nearly as much as she thought it would when she lifted the lid to her small jewelry box, placing the ring just inside. Allowing herself only one last moment of hesitation before she closed it, putting the ring away for safekeeping.

Allowing herself to start over. To start living.

Completely.

Once she was dressed, Bella walked from her bedroom, hearing the noises of someone moving around in the kitchen. One glance through Maddie's door revealed her daughter quietly enraptured by the first of what Bella knew would be many Disney movies that day. Smiling, she kept moving, making her way toward the kitchen.

Quil's back was to her when she walked into the room, pulling two bowls from cupboard next to the sink. There were already a few boxes of cereal lined up on the counter. He reached for one, releasing a small chuckle as he opened the box.

"You're not very sneaky, Bella," he murmured teasingly, throwing a quick glance over his shoulder. "Not now...and definitely not when you came out of the bathroom earlier."

Still, Bella ignored him. She smiled, but she trembled, despite the certainty coursing through her veins. Despite how it fueled her, watching the muscles in Quil's back shift as he moved to the refrigerator to retrieve the milk and back again. As she told her feet to move, silently crossing the distance between them. Stopping just behind Quil, knowing he could hear her even though he didn't speak another word.

Even if she still wasn't close enough.

She took another step - the last one she needed to reach him, bringing her hands up. Pressing them against his back, taking a single moment to explore the curves and lines of it. To realize how truly strong it was, and to understand how he had always been able to carry so much.

How he had been the foundation beneath her family's feet the moment Bella thought they had nothing left to stand on.

Closing her eyes, she let her arms find a home around his waist. Holding on, she heard Quil's breath catch in his chest the moment she pressed her mouth to his back, leaving a single, muted kiss in its wake. Her lips brushing against thin cotton the moment she felt his hand cover hers.

Her lips moving just before he turned, speaking the only thing she wanted to say to him. Something her daughter had said to him moments earlier. Something she never wanted the little girl to stop saying.

Something the person Bella was that day - the one she started becoming long before that moment, and the one she would be every day after - had waited entirely too long to say.

"I love you, too."

:-)

Thoughts?