~~~~~~~~~Chapter 10: Beginning~~~~~~~~~~

So here it is, the end of the story. Thank you to everyone who has been reading all this time, and I hope you enjoy it.

Bella's POV:

I stood in the shower, the scalding hot water dripping down my back. I was using the rough terry washcloth to try and scrub all of the blood off of my arm and leg, but I still felt like Candy's blood was on me. I could still smell it, although I knew that it was entirely gone.

I was going against my nature, not feeding off of humans.

All these years, Edward and the Cullens, they fought the very core of what they were to be what? Closer to each other?

I wasn't about to abandon them, but it didn't make any sense. We are vampire.

We were made to feed from humans.

But that's taking human life, whether or not you kill them.

I thought of Candy, her face losing its color as I slowly drained the blood out of her body with my teeth. I remembered a bodyguard pushing me off of her, and calling an ambulance, then calling his boss. How dismayed he was. How he shoved me out of the club.

And then I began to sob. I didn't care that Emmett would hear me, or if the whole hotel heard me for that matter. He was always there for me when I was at my most vulnerable anyways. I threw myself against the wall of the shower, leaving a large dent in the tile and slid down, hugging my knees, feeling the hot water pouring down my cracked porcelain skin.

"I'm a killer, I'm going to hell." I sobbed

I crashed my body against the wall, creating a larger dent in the tile.

"I'm a killer," I was almost screaming at this point.

Suddenly, the bathroom door slowly creaked open. Emmett stood in the middle of the bathroom staring at me. I didn't care.

"Bella, what the hell?" He eyed the dent that I made in the wall.

He slid the door open and sat next to me in the shower, putting his arm around me. I looked at him.

"I'm a killer, I'm going to hell." I couldn't say anything else.

I laid my head on Emmett's chest and he stroked my hair.

"Bella, you didn't kill her, and you are not going to hell. And everything will be all right. I will make sure of it, I will protect you, just like I know Edward would want me to, forever."

It stung when he said Edward's name. I wondered if he saw us, if Rosalie saw us too. What they would think of the whole messed up situation, but bigger than that, I knew that he was right. It felt right being here with him, and I still needed his protection, even as a vampire.

He moved his arm, his wet clothes clinging to his glorious arm muscles. He eased my hands off of my knees and pulled me up. He turned the water off and I just stood there, water cascading down my entire body. He grabbed a towel and handed it to me.

" Get yourself decent. I will be waiting," he said as he walked out of the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

I wrapped the soft towel around my body and tied it in a knot just above my breasts. I combed my fingers through my wet hair, wringing it out to make sure that all of the excess water was gone. I slowly opened the door and walked over to the bed. Emmett was lying in bed topless, with his arms behind his head. His eyes were closed, and he almost seemed like he was daydreaming. I pulled the covers back, not taking an eye off of his arms, or his toned chest. I sat down on the bed and pulled the covers over me. Emmett opened his eyes.

"How are you doing?" he asked, still staring at the ceiling.

"I'm ok, I guess. I mean if you would actually look at me when you are talking to me instead of staring at the ceiling like I am some kind of social leper."

He turned his head to look at me, his golden eyes piercing mine. It made me sad that I wasn't as true and just to the Cullens as Emmett was, but was he even given a choice?

"Isabella, you are stunning. I have always hated vampires with red eyes, but the make look amazing and mysterious and sexy all at the same time. I am in love with you."

It took me awhile to think about what I was going to say. I wanted to blurt out that I loved him too, but I didn't want to say anything irrational because my feelings were being so heavily influenced by everything that has happened this evening, would I still love him when we went back to Forks? Yes.

Ever since I met the Cullens, I was strangely drawn to Emmett. I felt closer to him than I did to Alice. I never told anyone, and I pretty much denied it from myself for the last 18 years.

"No, Emmett, you love my vulnerability. You love the fact that I need protection all the time just like Edward did." His name didn't hurt anymore. It was as though I was instantly over everything that happened.

"No, Bella, I am in love with you. Why do you think I have taken such good care of you since I met you, advocated for you when we were going to move away because Edward was scared of killing you? Do you know how many times Rose and I fought because of you? Because she thought it was so wrong to bring you into our family, but to me, being with, it just felt so right, so natural. I didn't care if you were a human, you could have been a werewolf for all I cared and I still would have fought for you. I think that fate brought us here, we have eternity now, to be with the people that are our real soul mates, forever."

He lifted the covers up and hovered above me, his perfect arms holding up his body. I slowly undid the knot in my towel, and slipped it off, throwing it on the floor. He stared at me, his eyes looking at every inch of my body. I wasn't embarrassed, and I wasn't scared like I was my first time with Edward. Things were different.

"You are so beautiful," he murmured.

He leaned his head down to kiss me. And I gladly kissed him back.

Emmett and I held hands as we walked up to the Cullen's house. Carlisle called him the last evening that we were in California and wanted him to talk to the whole family about what we had found. Alice opened the door for us just as we started up the stairs and flung herself at me.

"I missed you guys!" She was squealing.

I looked at Emmett, wondering why Alice wasn't freaking out about seeing us hold hands.

"Come on, everyone is in the living room waiting." She interrupted.

Emmett grabbed my hand, I pulled back hesitant.

"I have a feeling this will all work out" he whispered into my ear and took my hand again.

We walked into the living room. Jasper looked a bit surprised, but no one was freaking out like I thought they would.

"So, what did you find in Los Angeles?" Carlisle asked patiently.

"Well, Jaymes is still clearly controlling the California area. He is still running the feeding dens with his mate, Jessie."

Carlisle nodded.

"Bella met her singer there." Everyone looked at me. At that moment I wished that I could change my eye color so that the red wasn't as bright as it still was. I was embarrassed and I turned my head away so that they couldn't see my eyes.

"Did she kill her?" Carlisle asked Emmett, respecting my wishes.

"No, but she was hospitalized. She worked at the den, and after talking to Jaymes it seems like he was ok with it, but he really doesn't want to see us again."

I turned my head back to the rest of my family.

"Ok, then Los Angeles is out of the question." Carlisle said.

"Doesn't anyone want to know why we are holding hands?" I asked, no longer ignoring the purple elephant in the room. Alice stood up.

"Bella, we are curious as to why this came about, but we aren't going to fight it. I saw your wedding to Emmett. You guys are going to be so happy together. We just want you to be able to find a little bit of happiness, both of you, after what happened to Edward and Rosalie, and if that means with each other then we aren't going to stop you. It may be strange at first, but we are vampires, we are strange creatures by nature."

Emmett squeezed my hand and smiled. This was my fate, and I would let nothing come in the way of my happiness with Emmett, forever.

Carlisle cleared his throat.

"We still must abide by the condition that the Volturi set. Although we were not able to save Edward, the Volturi are still requiring that we turn the human that Nessie told, or else they will kill him. They have requested that you do it Bella, as you were Edward's partner, and you have a close relationship with the human. We will do what Edward did so you don't have to bite him, but inject him with your venom."

"No" I murmured, I knew full well whom the human was that I had to turn.

"Bella, if you don't, the Volturi will kill Charlie, and very possibly our whole family. We have never seen anyone turned that was older than I am, so it will be interesting to see how he turns."

I turned and looked at Emmett who simply shrugged at me.

I shuddered at the prospect of having to turn my father, Charlie Swan, who already knew about most of the crazy things in the world.

Maybe we could just run away to Transylvania or something where the Volturi would never find us?

Oh, who am I kidding the Volturi always find us.

~The End~ (or is it?)