Well I just took a painfully long time didn't I? I hope you didn't forget about me! Stuff just got in the way and then the mood to write Edward slipped away and I had to fight to get it back. But hey guess what? 8 people told me to go on! So I love you guys.

Now this chapter gets it's own music. I don't know how many of you are actually listening to it, but that's not the point.
Everything by Lifehouse
Hands On Me by Vanessa Carlton
Set Fire to the Third Bar by Snow Patrol feat. Martha Wainwright
She Is by The Fray
Animal I have Become by Three Days Grace
Diamonds and Coal by Incubus(Slightly ironic band title huh?)
Iris by Goo Goo Dolls
I'm Still Here by Goo Goo Dolls

Dedicated with IMMENSE love to Edward's Little Vampire, IncomCorporation, Slimjimjerky, Midnight Freesia, and anyone else who has given me a shout out or reviewed. This chapter wouldn't be happening without you guys!

Read on loves!

She looked at me with all the resolve and love in the world in her eyes. I couldn't let her become a vampire, but I really couldn't let her jump out of a second story window.

I was mad.

I was mad at the Volturi for giving her this fear, I was mad at vampires, I was mad at myself, and I might have even been a little upset by her choice. It was like she didn't trust me to take care of her. But the chance for me to give my side of the argument was yet to come.

I grabbed her bridal style and jumped out of the window and landed silently on the ground. It still felt so good to have Isabella back in my arms.

"All right then, up you go," I said in displeasure as I helped her up onto my back.

Once her arms were locked around my neck I took off on the familiar path to my house. For the first time in almost a year I was really running. There was no sensation comparable to having Bella on my back while I was running. That was true freedom.

While I was running I contemplated on what my family would do and tried to improve my mood.

They're going to side with her. Half of them would change her because they love her and half of them would do it to stop me from moping. Spectacular. But I dare them to go up against me in this. No one cares for Bella the way I do. No one understands what this means. I can't damn her.

Either way much of this choice was still up to me and under no circumstance was Bella going to be anything other than human. She didn't deserve to be a vampire. She didn't break the heart of the one she loved and she didn't kill people. Of all the reasons that I had for keeping her a human, the deepest was that I couldn't put her through the physical pain. I wouldn't be strong enough to sit by her for three days and listen to her scream for death. I loved her too much for that. I know what leaving did to her, I couldn't bite her. As she would beg for death, so would I. I remembered her screams from the ballet studio. They ripped my mind apart then and they still do now.

I tried not to shudder beneath her remembering it, but I couldn't stop myself. There was a small part of me that was rejoicing that Bella wanted to give her soul up and be with me for forever. I was beginning to form violent thoughts against that part of me.

She softly kissed my neck, as if she knew exactly what I needed. "Thank you." She didn't know how thankful I really was. "Does that mean that you've decided that you're awake?"

She laughed her whimsical stunning laugh, "Not really. More that, either, way I'm not trying to wake up. Not tonight."

"I'll earn you trust back somehow. If it's my final act." I wished that I could be in as good a mood as she was. And part of me was, but I wasn't siding with him right now. I was more scared for what the future would bring for us. What this night would bring for us.

"I trust you. It's me I don't trust."

"Explain that, please," I said as I slowed down. I could hear the river behind the house but I couldn't hear my family. How could she trust me and not herself? She didn't mess up, I did.

"Well…" she had to fight to find the right words, "I don't trust myself to be…enough. To deserve you. There's nothing about me that could hold you." Utterly absurd and completely wrong and impossible! Would I ever understand why Bella could never see herself properly? I doubted that I would.

I stopped and reached around to help her down from my back. I quickly pulled her into my chest and locked my arms around her. Her arms weaved around my back as she held me tightly. Her warmth was so beautiful and soft.

"Your hold is permanent and unbreakable, never doubt that." I breathed in her scent again, letting the comfort burn down my throat. I loved her more than anyone had loved in all of history. There is no force in the universe that could take her away from me. Even if she ran away from me now, she would still hold me. I would run after her and never let go. Standing there, it once again felt like the world had stopped and just let us be who we were. That was the feeling that I wanted for eternity. The feeling that we were just two souls who loved each other; that our genus didn't matter.

"You never did tell me…" I murmured into her hair.

"What?" she asked looking up at me.

"What your greatest problem is."

"I'll give you one guess." She reached her small hand up and touched the tip of my nose. She sighed her warm breath over my face.

Guilt.

"I'm worse than the Volturi. I guess I've earned that." I nodded knowing that she was right. I hoped from some strange reason that I was forgiven, but I guess I was wrong. I don't think I ever wanted her to forgive me. You want her to forgive you more than you want to hold her in your arms. Don't kid yourself. You know you'll fight for that forgiveness with everything you've got. My whole body tensed accepting the truth of everything around me.

"The worst the Volturi can do is kill me." She talked as if her death was nothing. Was she not there for the past three days? Did I not make myself clear? Then again, if her death is nothing compared to what I can do, then I deserve my own death. "You can leave me. The Volturi, Victoria…they're nothing compared to that." Her voice was fragile and filled with her own hurt. I prayed that she couldn't see the misery that was etched throughout my body.

I hated myself for what I did. Pure undiluted hatred and fury at myself.

"Don't. Don't be sad." She could see it. She touched my face and it reminded me that she still loved me. Her soft hand made me feel safe.

I pulled a half smile to make her feel better. "If there was only some way to make you see that I can't leave you. Time, I suppose, will be the way to convince you." I whispered it even though we were alone in the forest. It felt like such a private place.

"Okay," she agreed with her own half smile. My mood wasn't improved, but hers was and that was all that mattered.

"So—since you're staying. Can I have my stuff back?"

I laughed remembering what I did. "Your things were never gone. I knew it was wrong, since I promised you peace without reminders. It was stupid and childish, but I wanted to leave something of myself with you. The CD, the pictures, the tickets—they're all under your floorboards." I remembered standing in her room with everything of hers and mine in my hands. Originally I had planned to take it with me and destroy it, but I couldn't. It was as if I knew I was going to come back and that she would need it again. Like, if I left it behind that I could still watch her when I wasn't there. Plus, how rude would it be to take back presents?

"Really?" It was encouraging to see how happy she was by this. I knew that once we got back to her bedroom that she would want to pull everything out. I was excited to see her smile again about it.

"I think…I'm not sure, but I wonder…I think maybe I knew it the whole time." She looked away deep in thought but wrapped her arms back around me.

"What did you know?" Her mind kept jumping tracks on me. I had gotten slow while we were apart. I had always prided myself on how quick I was and Bella definitely tested that. I loved her mind. I loved her.

"Some part of me, my subconscious maybe, never stopped believing that you still cared whether I lived or died. That's probably why I was hearing the voices."

Wait, what? I had to pause for a human moment and take in what she just said to me. "Voices?" Her mind was such a strange place. I was now worried about what she would reveal to me. Did my leaving drive her to insanity?

"Well, just one. Yours. It's a long story," she clarified as if it mattered.

"I've got time," I answered deadpanned.

"It's pretty pathetic." I wasn't sure of my expression but it made her sheepishly continue. "Do you remember what Alice said about extreme sports?"

"You jumped off a cliff for fun," I said just as dead as before. I really didn't want to know where this was going. I had a bad feeling about this and an overwhelming sense that I would hate myself even more when she was done.

"Er, right. And before that, with the motorcycle—"

"Motorcycle?" Why did I not see that coming? This is my Bella after all she never does what I expect her to do. I told her to stay safe, and she almost kills herself. Typical. And now a whole new set of worries about her past rushed through my mind. These deadly habits stop, tonight. I am her only deadly habit. Great Edward, just depress yourself more. I think you could muster up a little more self-pity. I don't think Jasper can feel it from the house!

Bella might have been right when she said I had split personalities.

"I guess I didn't tell Alice about that part," she said bringing me back to the issue at hand.

"No."

"Well, about that…See, I found that…when I was doing something dangerous or stupid…I could remember you more clearly. I could remember how your voice sounded when you were angry. I could hear it, like you were standing right there next to me. Mostly I tried not to think about you, but this didn't hurt so much—it was like you were protecting me again. Like you didn't want me to be hurt." She gauged my reaction before continuing. "And, well, I wonder if the reason I could hear you so clearly was because, underneath it all, I always knew that you hadn't stopped loving me." I could hear the conviction in her tone, but that wasn't what caught me. Even the fact that she told me that I lived in her heart and her mind didn't affect me at that moment.

Nope, yep, I do hate myself more now. The self-loathing was contorting my face and clenching all my muscles. It was possible that I would throw my fist through a tree trunk when next I was alone.

But wait…if she could still hear me when she was in a bad position that means that I did a good thing in protecting her, right? That I took care of her so well that when I'm gone she knew what to do? Yeah, her thing to do was nearly kill herself out of desperation to connect with you. This is your fault, I hope you know that.

"You…were…risking you life…to hear—"

"Shh," she interrupted me. I was about to blow a gasket, to put it roughly. I don't know how much more I can hold in.

"Hold on a second. I think I'm having an epiphany here."

I waited as patiently as I could and held my mind back from chastising me even more. I was curious to know what she would say next to make me hate myself more. The sarcastic Edward was opting for the vampire/car collision again.

"Oh!" she said slightly excited.

"Bella?"

"Oh. Okay I see."

"Your epiphany?" I didn't know how much more I could take. This was a form of her wrath, but a strange form indeed. Keeping me waiting in the silence of her mind and inadvertently punishing me by her feelings and past actions.

"You love me."

"Truly, I do." I couldn't help but smile at her pleasant thought. It wasn't what I expected, but it was what I needed. I could be with her all of her life, and I still would have no understanding of how her mind worked. I guess that's okay, never a dull moment.

Her face lit up and her warmth swelled as she looked up at me. I couldn't help but kiss her with all the love I had. My amazing Bella had once again found me in the darkness of my mind. I was falling victim to my thoughts and she came in and saved me. I loved this woman more than blood. I loved this woman more than life. I loved her mind, her body, her heart, her clumsiness, her everything. Truly I loved her. I could say it a thousand times over and it wouldn't be enough to fully encompass how much I cared for her. Even her illusion of me loved her entirely.

It felt so good to kiss her again. I felt the forest slip away from me along with some of my worries.

"You were better at it than I was, you know," I told her earnestly.

"Better at what?" she said surprised.

"Surviving. You, at least, made an effort. You got up in the morning, tried to be normal for Charlie, followed the pattern of your life. When I wasn't actively tracking, I was…totally useless. I couldn't be around my family—I couldn't be around anyone. I'm embarrassed to admit I more or less curled up into a ball and let the misery have me. It was much more pathetic than hearing voices. And, of course, you know I do that, too." I had a self-conscious grin on my face. But it felt so good to tell the whole truth to her. She knew how I felt and wouldn't love me any less for it. When my family would talk to me I would try to sweeten up the bitter truth, but I didn't have to any more. We really were one in the same while we were apart, and that was good.

"I only heard one voice." I laughed at her playfulness and stepped forward holding her tight to my side. She held me tightly back.

"I'm just humoring you with this. It doesn't matter in the slightest what they say," I said crossing the last line of trees for my front yard. I could now hear them verbally and mentally. They were excited that Bella was coming to see them and that we had made up. Alice had just finished explaining to them everything that happened in Italy.

"This affects them now too." Can't she see that she was already a part of the family? I felt like if she wasn't there that there wouldn't be any Cullen's at all. We all felt like we wouldn't be a full family without her. Some distant corner of my mind knew how awkward they all felt when we were gone. Each of them had grown accustomed to her and without her the world was a little less fun for them.

"Carlisle? Esme? Rosalie? Emmett? Jasper? Alice?" I said as I walked in the front door with her. I heard all of them respond but Carlisle was next to us first.

"Welcome back, Bella. What can we do for you this morning? I imagine, due to the hour, that this is not a purely social visit?" Carlisle was charming and pleasant as always.

She nodded, "I'd like to talk to everyone at once, if that's okay. About something important."

"Of course. Why don't we talk in the other room?" Carlisle walked us towards the rarely used dinning room. It was ironic because the first time we really used it was when I had first been attracted to Bella and we had to decide what was going to happen. Even then there was the vote that I just change her and be happy. But this wasn't making me happy.

As the rest of my family walked into the room and took their seats they began to guess at what Bella needed to talk to them about. Alice already knew of course, but she wasn't letting me in. She was giving me specific details on the Porsche I was to buy her. This was hardly the time for it.

Bella seemed a little surprised by the smile Rosalie gave her. Rose was finally getting it, Bella was here to stay and she was mine. I finally saw the real difference between Rosalie and me. She was willing to give up Emmett to be human, and I would never trade Bella for anything in the universe. I could handle being a vampire as long as I could have Bella. Without her, nothingness had more meaning than me.

"The floor is yours," Carlisle motioned when everyone had taken their seats. She swallowed hard and I knew she was nervous. I grabbed her hand securely under the table. Just because I didn't like what she was doing didn't mean that I couldn't still support her, even if I was the opposition. I had a hard mask on though. I was daring all of them to side with her instead of me. This wasn't their decision to make, no matter what Bella says.

"Well, I'm hoping Alice has already told you everything that happened in Volterra?" started Bella.

"Everything," said Alice. 'You knew this was coming Edward. It had to come. Stop being such a butt and accept that she loves you more than she loves herself.'

My favourite sister was now my least favourite sister. I never thought that would happen, but when it came to Bella, all rules were off.

"And on the way?" she asked with meaning.

"That, too" Alice chirped proudly. I hadn't heard the story but I could see in Alice's mind what it was. Great she promised to change Bella. So this is her fault.

"Good. Then we're all on the same page." She sighed and settled into her speech. Her confidence was nice, even if it was misdirected. "So, I have a problem. Alice promised the Volturi that I would become one of you. They're going to send someone to check, and I'm sure that's a bad thing—something to avoid." She looked to all of them and then to me. I knew I had an unpleasant look on my face, but she didn't cower from it. Even worse was that everyone was agreeing with her. They weren't scared of the Volturi like she was, but they really didn't not want those type of vampires in this region for all our sakes. "And so, now, this involves you all. I'm sorry about that. But if you don't want me, Then I'm not going to force myself on you, whether Alice is willing or not."

'How could we not want Bella? We have always loved her. Poor thing must be so confused about us.' Esme's thoughts were nice but not good. She opened her mouth to verbalize her point but Bella stopped her.

"Please, let me finish. You all know what I want. And I'm sure you know what Edward thinks, too. I think the only fair way to decide is for everyone to have a vote. If you decide you don't want me, then…I guess I'll go back to Italy alone. I can't have them coming here." I didn't even try to hide the growl in my chest. There was no way in hell that I was sending her back to Italy because my family didn't love her. There was no way in hell I was sending her back to Italy for any reason. But that's my Bella, always being the brave one.

'She already fits into the family. Giving us all the chance to voice our opinions. She will be a nice addition.' First my mother and now my father. My scowl was etched through my marble skin down to my bone.

"Taking into account, then, that I won't put any of you in danger either way, I want you to vote yes or no on the issue of me becoming a vampire." She did not just smile at the word 'vampire'. God this girl is impossible! There is a reason that we are the creatures of nightmare. Still just as backwards as before.

I could hear their minds already forming opinions and none of them surprised me. But I had to throw my knowledge onto the table before something irreversible was done.

"Just a minute." She tensed up and glared at me. I squeezed her hand reminding her that this was a democracy, her idea, and that I loved her. "I have something to add before we vote." She audibly sighed as everyone turned their attention to me. Like she thought I would go down without a fight. "About the danger Bella's referring to, I don't think we need to be overly anxious. You see, there was more than one reason why I didn't want to shake Aro's hand there at the end. There's something they didn't think of, and I didn't want to clue them in on it." I was very proud of the idea and plans that I had worked up. I knew that at least my brothers would see my point of view.

"Which was?" I loved it when I could surprise Alice. I still liked Rosalie more though. She kept running images of a vampire Bella through her mind and it made only half of me sick.

"The Volturi are overconfident, and with good reason. When they decide to find someone, it's not really a problem. Do you remember Demetri?" Bella shuddered lightly proving that she did remember. I didn't like reminding her of that dark place, but I needed too. "He finds people—that's his talent, why they keep him."

'What a lame talent' thought Emmett.

"Now, the whole time we were with any of them, I was picking their brains for anything that might save us, gathering as much information as possible. So I saw how Demetri's talent works. He's a tracker—a tracker a thousand times more gifted than James was. His ability is loosely related to what I do, or what Aro does. He catches the…flavor? I don't know how to describe it…the tenor…of someone's mind, and then he follows that. It works over immense distances. But after Aro's little experiments, well…" I shrugged satisfied that my point had been well proven. My family had all caught on a while ago so I kept explaining for Bella's sake.

"You think he won't be able to find me." Bella had caught on and I knew that she wasn't pleased with the loophole.

"I'm sure of it. He relies totally on that other sense. When it doesn't work with you, they'll all be blind." Alice and Esme were disgusted by how smug I was, but how could I not be? I was protecting Bella; it was what I was made for.

"And how does that solve anything?" She got it and yet she didn't. I knew she was thinking of the family as a whole and not just of herself. I was only thinking of her because I knew my family could handle themselves.

"Quite obviously, Alice will be able to tell when they're planning a visit, and I'll hide you. They'll be helpless. It will be like looking for a piece of straw in a haystack!" I was relishing the thought of the pathetic Volturi and Emmett was of the same mind as I was. He was never good with authority and he would protect Bella just like a brother.

"But they can find you." She was still thinking of the whole and not the part.

"And I can take care of myself."

"Excellent plan, my brother." Emmett and I reached out and fisted each other in pride. He was glad because he might get to beat some 'Italian butt' and it would protect Bella.

"No." Rosalie did not want them here. She wanted this finished now and wanted to make it up to Bella and I.

"Absolutely not," Bella agreed flatly.

"Nice." Jasper could respect the need to protect the one you love. He would do the exact same thing if it were Alice.

"Idiots." Alice was even less amused at being a tool in my plan. 'Or you could just accept fate and stop being a jackass!' she yelled back at me. Becoming a monster wasn't fate and she knew that.

Esme was fuming mad. She could only glare. She felt like I was trying to take her daughter away from her. The annoying part of me was rejoicing that she was already a daughter to her. I still hated that Edward.

Carlisle was still weighing the possibilities of my plan in his head. He knew the Italians best and was curious as to how they would react. He kept his opinion secret from me wanting to hear everyone else's first.

"All right, then. Edward has offered an alternative for you to consider. Let's vote." Bella turned to me first.

"Do you want me to join your family?" She phrased it exactly like that on purpose, I know she did. This wasn't about her joining the family; this was about her wanting to be a monster.

"Not that way. You're staying human."

"Alice?"

"Yes." Suck it up Edward and stop fighting what you want.

"Jasper?"

"Yes." He betrayed me! 'Sorry man. But she makes you happier than I have ever known you to be. I want you to have that forever. But I don't want to see her die like that; I understand your point with it. And I'm scared of what Alice will do to me if I say no.

"Rosalie?"

She paused for a moment looking at us. "No." Bella began to move on and she stopped her. "Let me explain. I don't mean that I have any aversion to you as a sister. It's just that…this is not the life I would have chosen for myself. I wish there had been someone to vote no for me." Bella accepted her response. I knew what it meant to Rosalie to have the chance to say no. I was glad that she could do it for herself. She was still my favourite sister at the moment.

"Emmett?"

"Hell yes! We can find some other way to pick a fight with this Demetri." Both my brothers had betrayed me. I wasn't just pissed anymore, I was enraged. 'Dude, I love her like a sister. Things are just more fun when she is around and you know that. I'm bored of playing with the rest of you. All of you cheat after all this time.'

"Yes, of course, Bella. I already think of you as part of my family." Esme's vote was no surprise

"Thank you Esme." Bella's body had relaxed more and more with everyone's vote but it tensed back up when she faced Carlisle.

"Edward." Carlisle said aloud. 'Everyone is right in choosing with her. She needs to become one of us."

"No!" I growled.

"It's the only way that makes sense. You've chosen not to live without her, and that doesn't leave me a choice." I dropped Bella's hand and pushed away from the table snarling as I left the room.

I couldn't stay in that room full of traitors. Even though Rosalie had voted no, she was still a traitor. There was a part of me deep in my mind that was rejoicing that she was going to be with me forever. I punched him in the face. I really hated that corner of my mind right now. I knew that I wouldn't be able to hold this fury in for much longer out in the forest. I grabbed the new Samsung TV off the wall and ripped it in half. Emmett yelled at me in his mind but I didn't give. I was screaming in my head. I didn't fight for her life for two years just to have her throw it away! I left her for no reason now! Doesn't she even love me? She can't make me go through that. Isabella has no idea what she is talking about. I can protect her from a nuclear attack if I needed too. I refuse to let her become a monster like me.

"I guess you know my vote." Carlisle sighed heavily knowing how upset I was. 'We did this for you son.'

Now I was pissed and enraged and enthralled. They did this for me?! If they wanted to do something for me then they would have told her no! Am I the only one concerned with her life? I actually like human Bella. I don't think she needs to be improved upon!

"Thanks." I heard Bella's worried voice. I wanted to stop scaring her, but I couldn't. She had never seen this side of me and I hoped she never would. This was the dark side that she protected me from. "That's all I needed. Thank you. For wanting to keep me. I feel exactly the same way about all of you, too." Wanting to keep her? What like a pet? "Come; let's study the newborn Bella! Let's see how many of her loved ones she can kill on one hour! Let's see if she is a big of a monster as her boyfriend! He was the one who did this to her!" I grabbed on of the halves of the TV and crushed it to a ball. Using my full strength felt good and relieved some of the tension.

"Well, Alice. Where do you want to do this?" Bella just added all the tension back.

"No! No! NO!" I roared. I raced back into the room at top speed and stared down at her. She was only going to see me and hear me. My family didn't matter. I'm not even sure they are still my family. I hardly noticed as Esme staggered back from next to Bella to be behind Carlisle. "Are you insane? Have you utterly lost your mind?" I yelled my loudest.

"Um, Bella. I don't think I'm ready for that. I'll need to prepare…" Alice was terrified of killing Bella and was even scared of the way I was acting now. No one had ever seen this. I wasn't even this mad that night in Port Angeles a year ago. At least then I had one direction for my rage. With everyone attacking me from all directions I couldn't do anything but explode.

"You promised," Bella reminded her around me. Acting like I wasn't there only made me more furious.

"I know, but…Seriously, Bella! I don't have any idea how to not kill you."

"You can do it, I trust you," Bella tried to encourage her around my arm.

A loud snarl ripped through my chest and out of my mouth filling the room with the dark sound. I could see everyone back away and Alice shook her head in panic. Bella seemed to be the only one not phased. The deep corner loved that she could stand up to me in my darkest time. I punch him in the face again.

"Carlisle?" Bella turned to look at him. No, she wasn't going to ignore me any longer. I roughly grabbed her chin and forced her head around to look at me as I put my other hand up to stop Carlisle. Even in this rage filled moment my touch didn't break her. I still had control over some part of me. I loved her too much to hurt her. That was the reason for all of this. I loved her too much to watch her throw her existence away on me. In the dark recesses of the world people were begging my kind to bite them. This wasn't a black hole in a major city, this was my dinning room.

"I'm able to do it. You would be in no danger of me losing control," he said completely ignoring me. Something was wrong with how those words registered in my brain. I knew Carlisle would say them before he did, and yet there was something horribly wrong with it.

"Sounds good." I was holding her jaw just tight enough that it was difficult to understand what she said. But her dark brown pools started into my onyx eyes. I could see the horror of the look on my face and really tried to stop, but I just wasn't done yet. But I knew that I wasn't hurting her and that was what was the most important. And I still couldn't make sense of why this was so wrong. I knew it would come up, but there was still something out of place.

'Edward! Stop this ridiculous behavior you're hurting her. Can't you see that this is what she wants? This is her way of protecting everyone even you. She doesn't want you to be put in a deadly situation. Why can't you accept that she wants to be with you forever? She wants you as much as you want her. It will only hurt her for three days and then she will be fine. The Bella you love will still be in there. Think of all the things you could share if she wasn't breakable. Think of it, your Bella holding your hand for the next hundred years. She'll never wither, she'll never age. You won't have to watch as she slowly dies. She is doing this for the both of you. You'll never have to say good bye again.' I wanted to block Alice. I wanted her to be wrong. I wanted Alice not to care. I wanted to not care.

But I couldn't. This almost needed to happen. But she doesn't need to be in that pain just yet. There is still a little more of human life that she can have.

'Just let him bite her, bro,' Emmett added. That was it! I now completely understood what was wrong. Somewhere in my head I knew that Bella would always be changed, I didn't need Alice's visions to tell me that. I think I knew that even before I met her or possibly before she was born. What I didn't intend was that it would be anyone but me turning her. The only person in the world who was strong enough for it was Carlisle, but that wasn't right. She was my love, my life, my everything. I wanted my venom in her veins. I wanted us attached in just one more way. I wanted to be bound to Bella in every possible way for the rest of ever. I wanted to be bound to her from the start of time to the end of it.

But I couldn't put Isabella through that pain. At least not yet.

"Hold on. It doesn't have to be now," I said through a locked jaw. I understood my mind, but that didn't stop the anger boiling in my stomach.

"There's no reason for it not to be now," it was still hard to understand her but I didn't even think about it. I have spent so much time deciphering her sleep talking that this mumble meant nothing to me.

"I can think of a few." There was almost sarcasm in my voice, but not quite. I was serious about this and she needed to know that.

"Of course you can. Now let go of me." I forgot I was holding onto her face so tightly and quickly let go only to cross my arms across my chest in a manly fashion.

"In about two hours, Charlie will be here looking for you. I wouldn't put it past him to involve the police."

"All three of them," I had to fight to hold back the laughter from that. My body didn't want to deny it because it would be the first natural true laugh that would touch me in the longest of times.

"In the interest of remaining inconspicuous, I suggest that we put this conversation off, at the very least until Bella finishes high school, and moves out of Charlie's house."

"That's a very reasonable request, Bella." Finally Carlisle was siding with me. 'Very reasonable son. I'm glad to see that you are cooperating.'

"I'll consider it," she said tensely. I knew that she didn't want me to win, but in no way was this victory. Merely a timeout to be addressed later on.

"I should probably take you home. Just in case Charlie wakes up early." Or you decide that you need something else from my vampire family, I thought dryly. I still wanted some time for just Bella and I to be together. We had been apart for so long that I wanted to keep her all to myself for a year to make up for it. I love her, what can I say?

"After graduation?" she asked my father

"You have my word." I knew that Carlisle's word was as good as any deity. He never went back on his word with any of us. I admired that about him.

"Okay. You can take me home."

Silly Bella, you are home, with me. I punched that Edward in the face again. He just wasn't getting the message.

But Bella would. I wanted to be the one to change Bella, but I had a few conditions to be met first.

Good gracious, what will he do next!

So my lovely readers, I have one request other than please review. I have a poll on my page about what I should write next. Please pop by and click the buttons. Just half a tick to do it and I will do what you want! Or at least what the majority of you want. I will probably start work on 'it' next week.

Quote of the Chapter: "Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot." D.H. Lawrence.

Are you seeing a pattern in these quotes? Good. I thought you might. I'll put up the ones for the rest of the chapters next time since I know it won't be a long chapter. Don't worry I already have it started so it shouldn't take nearly as long as before. Like I said, sorry about that.

I feel like an ass for not responding to all of your reviews. I just get so caught up in the rest of life that I forget who has gotten a response and who hasn't. Please accept my apology for my behavior and I promise to return them this time and maybe with a preview, should I get one ready soon enough!

Love you all!
Jingles for the Storm.