Chapter 17: Plans

The sun rose on the last embers of the fires. All other remains had long since been cleared away.

Edward and I had a few hours until the family meeting. Carlisle had some more findings and we had to finalise plans for the trip.

Edward took my hand so gently, "Run with me?"

I smiled and set off. He led me to our meadow. It was an explosion of colour, the wild flowers nodding in mornings first light.

"Twilight I have always thought of as the time for vampires. You have given us dawn back. I have a memory of my mother, her emerald green eyes twinkling and the sun glinting on her copper curls as she told me, 'Hope is reborn with every rising sun, dawn's dew gives each day a clean start'. I had forgotten her lesson, lost hope, then I met you. I never thought I deserved love but you gave me... you give me everything, everything I could ever want just being with me. You are more I could ever wish for and more. Will you give me the ultimate gift, the promise of tomorrow with you, will you marry me?" I could see hope and fear warring in his eyes.

Renee had always told me marriage was just an expensive piece of paper that cost even more to get rid of. The failure of my parents marriage still weighs heavily on me but the strength of my grandparents left me with hope. Even as Renee's warnings about the perils of marriage ran through my memory the one word I needed to say bubbled out of me, "Yes."

His eyes, his entire face, his entire body reacted. His eyes lit so brightly, his face broke into the biggest grin and he leapt forward, pulling me into his arms, swinging me round in circles peppering my face with kisses.

"Ahh, oh, the ring," his face got all serious again as her drew a blue velvet box from his pocket, he opened it slowly as he spoke, "It was my Mother's, if you don't like it, I'll get you..."

I put my fore finger to his lips, "It's perfect."

The sheer joy on his face was overwhelming as he slid the ring onto my finger, his voice cracked with emotion as he spoke, "I love you so much I don't even know how to tell you."

I opened up to his emotions. A tidal wave of love flowed from him. I projected my love back too him. I felt like we were floating in a bubble of euphoria lost in each others love.

There we stayed with gentle kisses and caresses. The depth of his eyes was the only thing I saw.

The shrill ring of a phone bought us back to earth with a bang in more ways than one. We were actually in the air floating. We landed in a tangle of arms and legs. Shock then giggles hit.

Edward managed to answer the phone. Alice's complaints, "You're late, where are you?" just sent us into another wave of laughter. Edward giggled out, "Five minutes, give us five minutes," then he hung up before she could say any more.

We both took unneeded breathes to control the laughter. Edward rolled his eyes, " I suppose,"

"Yeah, before we get into more trouble. At least we get to surprise her," I waggled my eyebrows as I let the sun reflect off the ring.

He pulled me into another kiss, "Come on, let's shout it to the world."

His excitement and enthusiasm put both Emmett and Alice to shame, not that I can say anything as I'm just as bad!

He scooped me up and carried me in his arms all the way back, stopping randomly to spin me in circles or kiss me.

They say vampires rarely change but when they do it is profound. On this dawn, hope is born in us both, washing away many of the unworthy feelings we each had harboured far too long.

We arrived back to the house and entered unnoticed, they were laughing at giggling Jasper skipping in and out round the furniture swinging a bemused but giggling Alice. I think our feelings may have been a bit intense and Jasper got caught up. Plus I may have been projecting just a little bit, only a little bit, honest!

We stood holding our sides in laughter at the sight in front of us. At school Jasper's facial expressions were kindly described as 'he looks like he is in pain' or 'constipated', even at home he is serious even stoic. To see a 6' 3'' man, normally so uptight, giggling as he skips gaily round the room is a sight to behold. That he can keep his normal demeanour living with Alice makes the outburst even more pronounced.

I managed to block Edward's and my emotions. As Jasper came back down from our emotional high his frustration and embarrassment built up. I quickly forced a huge amount of calm in to the room to try and get things under control again.

Edward held my left hand, grinning and winking as he grabbed it. The ring now hidden behind his fingers.

The calm had done the trick but Jasper now had an evaluating gaze. "That was you, but it was Edward too," accusation and awe, "Even Alice and Emmett combined don't affect me that much. You have all seen those two when they get excited, even a school full of kids when they are told school is out early don't emit that much joy, excitement and every other positive happy emotion."

Jasper looked me square in the eye, "What have you done to Edward to have him grinning like a loon, I have never seen him this happy before, I'd still be skipping just from his emotions if you weren't blocking me," the word skipping came out as a growl but he in general he felt happy but curious.

I glanced up at Edward. I sent him a question, "Do I tell them?" He just nodded, his thoughts were full of joy and laughter, he was trying so hard not to start bouncing like Alice does.

I giggled slightly at him. Turning back to Jasper and the rest of the room, all our vampire family stood waiting in anticipation, "I only said one word but he has been like this ever since."

"Bella," a frustrated Jasper growled.

I grinned, "I said 'Yes', when he asked me to marry him."

Poor Jasper, this time I threw an emotion blocking shield around him and me. Every female apart from Tanya was bouncing in excitement for us, she was happy for us but felt a bit disappointed that she still hadn't found that for herself. Emmett by far made up for her lack of enthusiasm. Even the men were surging forwards to give us hugs and congratulations.

Pandemonium ensued. I had to remind them a few times that my hand was still attached to the rest of my body and I would like it to remain that way as they pulled and twisted my hand to better see the ring.

Esme went to sit down, her body racked with un-shed tears. I rushed to her in worry, her smile met me, "I'm so happy, you have made me so happy. I was afraid, so afraid he would never find love. I thought he might have been changed too young then you walked into our lives. Thank you, I can never thank you enough for the gift you have given him, given us all." She broke down again with 'so happy' whispered through her sobs. Carlisle came and took over the hug I held her in, sending me back to the others.

It was the best part of an hour until everyone settled down enough for Carlisle to call for order so the family meeting could go ahead.

"We have two things on the agenda this morning, the results from the venom samples and our impending trip to Volterra," he started. "I thought you all would be interested in the venom but if most of you want to do other things as we discuss our trip, I would just ask if Eleazar would remain to advise us."

Nods and sounds of agreement washed around the room.

Carlisle began, "I tried to research and learn more about the venom many years ago but I found very little. Since then medical equipment has improved significantly. We hold many misbeliefs, I learned, in regard to venom. Each bodily fluid retains something of the human properties. Our saliva has a far more aggressive form of venom compared to other fluids.

Venom is like a highly evolved virus which reprograms its host's cells to make new viruses. There are tiny mutations that make the venom different between vampires. I can see no differences significant difference between myself, Esme, Emmett and Rosalie. Edward has tiny differences that I missed in my first evaluation. The differences between Jasper, Peter and Charlotte made me go back to Edwards, it was then I spotted the differences. I am unsure if the mind reading or the venom from scratches and bites he received may have caused the changes. The Denali sisters are very similar but they do have some minor differences, that may have to do with time and small mutations over the years. It will take years just to analyse the differences in our venoms, it's even more complex that human DNA.

An unexpected surprise is I found traces of impurities which impede the venom. Many of the compounds are used in pesticides and human additives to their food chain; this pollution is affecting us. For some reason Emmett followed by myself and Esme are the least affected by this."

I laughed, "Emmett, well that is easily explained." All eyes turned to me in question.

I explained the theory that had come to me, "We all absorb blood yet we have no natural means of expulsion for impurities. The blood even of animals is becoming more tainted by chemicals and impurities from today's lifestyle."

Nice and simple so far, "Who eats more human food than anyone?"

All eyes turned to Emmett, he was always trying a new food to find out if it tasted good for vampires or the latest dare or bet he lost. He was an ongoing joke where food is concerned.

"What do we have to do after we have eaten?" I could see light bulbs going off behind some eyes.

"We have to bring it back up, is it too much of a stretch to believe any impurities may take longer to be absorbed so are more likely to be expelled at the same time. Carlisle and Esme attended many hospital benefits so have to maintain appearances more than the rest," I didn't get to go on, I didn't need to.

Carlisle took over, "So we all need to get into the habit of expelling our stomachs occasionally or try and find cleaner food. Peter and Charlotte, you two were the most affected by this but the samples I took yesterday puts you back on a par with the rest of us."

They both laughed and Peter spoke, "We were talking, after you took the latest samples, we both feel better in ourselves apart from the burn in the throat. Animal blood must be cleaner than our less than savoury scum. Our mistake of listening to Emmett and getting roped into his dares with human food and the resulting expulsions may point towards Bella's theory being on the ball. We raced Jasper and Alice soon after we arrived, they beat us yet when we hunted last night we held our own. It's not anything we would have ever noticed otherwise but it has made a difference."

The room broke up into little groups all discussing the revelations.

Once the conversations slowed Carlisle took the floor again, "I think the eight of us should head for Volterra in the next couple of days. I think we will be better received if we arrive before Aro has chance to order us there."

Eleazar agreed, "Yes, you choosing to visit will give you more latitude but Aro will not easily allow you to leave again. Your family is now more powerful than them, Bella herself is more powerful than them all combined. He will try and control you, I fear for the safety of all you."

Alice piped in, "I can't see anything past our arrival, there are still too many decisions to be made."

I glanced across at Peter, "Did you get your teeth into Jasper in your early days?"

Peter, Jasper, Carlisle and Eleazar all snapped their heads towards me. Peter glanced at Jasper and nodded.

"I can see more than Alice and I have some feelings about the way things will go," Peter smirked as I spoke. "I can't tell you more than this as foreknowledge changes the outcome, I checked quite a few scenarios, the final outcome is best if I don't tell you any more yet."

Alice looked sadly at me, "I have faced the same dilemma more than once, it's not easy but sometimes it is the only way."

"I already feel so guilty, there are some things I can't change without causing so many more problems, I look forward to talking to you about it nearer the time, it helped. Well it will help. Arghh do you ever get used to tenses when talking about visions?" So confusing and so much weight on my shoulders that I can't share yet.

I better understand Alice now when she is planning things, she sees what is most likely to happen and gets the best results for everyone it just gets really frustrating having to tell and persuade them of what you have already seen once.

I told them of the plan I saw we would use, simply put we would be honest for the most part but I would use my memory wipe gift to ensure some things don't get exposed until Aro and Co. are in a better frame of mind to deal with it all. If they find out things in the wrong order it triggers events we don't want to occur.

The Denali's were heading home. Eleazar would continue his research and keep me in the loop. He can mentally tell me things without anyone else being aware so it is the safest option.

Peter and Charlotte wanted to travel. I had a vision about the outcome of their travels which Peter and I had a silent discussion over. Esme offered them the use of the house any time they wanted including during our absence. I added to the offer and told him they could use either house.

Most of the family spent the rest of the day packing. Edward and I headed to see Charlie and tell him our engagement news. I had already seen he responds better if I tell him at the station with only a few concerns about our age coming into the conversation. His biggest threat was 'You have to tell Renee' but otherwise he was happy.

I phoned Renee, she took it really well. More worried about when and where the wedding would be and details. We promised to tell her all those sorts of things when we had decided ourselves.

Both Edward and I wanted the trip to Volterra out of the way before finalising any plans

Telling the wolves and families ended in another Bonfire to celebrate. The wolves have a good attitude to weddings amongst the supernatural. They know vampires mate for life and the wolves have imprinting, it gives them a different take from normal humans on things like young marriage. It's not like we will ever get any older!

Charlie came down to join us at the bonfire as we said last goodbyes before flying out.