That long anti-climax thing...otherwise known as the second half of Breaking Dawn. This one's shorter, I promise!

Chapter 11

Jasper continued to look worried and confused for the next week, despite Alice's reassurances that nothing was going to happen. It probably helped that there were no humans or even human scents on the island, but Bella seemed mentally more in control than any other newborn Jasper had known. And he'd known a lot of newborns.

'It just shouldn't be possible,' he mused again, a week after Bella had woken up. They had all admitted – most of them with barely concealed smiles – that Bella had taken to vampiric life like she was born to it. Already it seemed like she'd been awake for months rather than days.

'Stop trying to rationalise it against what you know,' Edward said, sounding snappish.

'Don't be mad. He's expecting exactly what I worry might happen,' Bella chided. Edward was never going to get tired of listening to the new music in her voice.

'Thank you,' Jasper told her. 'It's not that I want you to be newborn crazy, I just have never met anyone who wasn't.'

'Carlisle wasn't,' Edward butted in again.

'I would contest that,' the vampire in question said, appearing in the living room. 'You were not even born then Edward, but I spent many of my first years in what one could consider less than a sane mentality. The first months were the worst, of course.'

Bella turned still red eyes on her soon-to-be father-in-law. 'But you were stable enough to avoid humans, right?'

Gold eyes met hers and Carlisle came to sit down in a spare chair. They had mostly congregated in the living room since that first night. Contrary to Emmett's catcalls and innuendos, Bella and Edward were not spending all of their time in the bedroom. Emmett seemed disappointed by the fact, though that might have been more because he'd clearly lost a bet with Jasper over it.

'Yes, that is true,' Carlisle admitted. 'But until I learned to feed from animals, I spent several weeks nearly insane with the thirst. You did not seem bothered by it as I was.'

Though Jasper was worried that Bella was suddenly going to go crazy, Carlisle had spent the week intrigued by the conundrum that was their new family member. Bella thought it was more amusing than anything. She'd spent the first day apologising that she wasn't…crazy.

'Alice brought this up before, but maybe that's a gift? I mean, can control be a gift?'

Jasper shrugged, as he had the night before when Alice had mentioned it. 'It's not one I've encountered before, but then, before I met Alice I didn't know a vampire who could see the future. It's always possible. If so, it's a pretty good gift, darlin',' he told Bella.

'Yeah,' she agreed. 'I'm not complaining.'

'Me either,' Edward told her, cuddling her hard body even further into his lap. Since Alice was sitting in Jasper's, Bella seemed to be okay with the blatant show of affection in front of the family.

'Since we've settled that,' Rosalie cut in from her place near the door, 'it's probably a good time to say that Emmett and I are leaving tomorrow. We're going back to New York.'

'Must you go?' Esme asked.

'This island was never made for eight of us, no offense Esme,' the blonde told her mother. 'It's too crowded and you don't need us.'

That much was true. 'If you'd prefer,' Carlisle nodded.

'And we're leaving too,' Alice cut in.

'What?' Bella exclaimed.

Alice smiled. 'Oh, you don't need us here, and Rose is right: this island isn't big enough. We need to go to the mainland to hunt anyways. You two should have some alone time, I think. Jasper and I want to see some more of South America since we're here. We can all meet in Vermont in the fall. In a few months, Bella, your eye colour should be just as golden as ours.'

'But my control might not be. I mean, we won't know until I test it.'

'Then you can test it. There are plenty of remoter places along the coast Edward can take you to. But I don't see a problem. Seriously,' Alice said; exasperation evident in her voice. She'd been saying the same thing all week, after all. 'I think by Thanksgiving you'll be fine at the house. And it's not that close to the neighbours anyways. With all of us there to hunt with you, we'll manage. It'll be nice to be together there.'

It would be, Bella agreed. 'Okay. Yeah, okay, I'm good with that. What about…what about Charlie?' she asked, voice catching on his name. She'd been wondering it all week, but hadn't wanted to ask.

'That's one of the things Jasper and I need to take care of. We'll handle it.'

'Okay,' Bella whispered so low a human would not hear. 'Okay,' she repeated.

'Bella?' Edward asked.

'I'm okay, really. I just…I knew it was coming, but it's still hard to know Charlie's going to have to deal with that.'

'It's the best way,' Esme said, coming to sit down on her other side. She laid a motherly hand on Bella's back. 'It will keep him safe.'

And that really was the whole point. Not just safe from Bella, but under the protection of the wolves and safe from the Volturi. 'I know,' Bella agreed. She leaned against Esme, grateful for her presence.

'Jasper and I will take care of it,' Alice repeated.

'Thanks,' Bella said, not quite sure why. It was too late to change things now, anyways.

'We'll go with Rose and Emmett, if someone can take us?'

Carlisle nodded. 'I'll take you over to the mainland. Esme and I can hunt while we're there.' He turned his golden eyes on Edward and Bella with a smile.

Emmett snickered.

In the early hours before dawn, they said goodbye to the others and watched them disappear across the ocean towards Rio.

'So, alone time, huh?' Bella said.

'Carlisle and Esme won't be back for a day.'

Bella danced away from him, revelling in her new grace. 'Whatever shall we do?' she wondered aloud, a second before Edward tackled her into the sand.

With Jasper, Alice, Rose and Emmett gone, things were certainly quieter. Carlisle and Esme were a known presence, but in the evenings they made for good company, and during the day Edward would take Bella to various corners of the island so that they wouldn't bother his parents.

It seemed to Bella like paradise. They had not talked about what had happened in Bolivia, and Bella was very happy to continue that way. Most of it was only vague memories of pain and fear and she didn't want to hold on to those as the last moments of her mortal life. What mattered was that she was here now, with Edward, a vampire, and they would have their eternity together. Ensconced on a private island leagues from the nearest human, Bella felt safe. There was enough game to keep her and Edward fed, and every week or so Carlisle and Esme would take off for the mainland to hunt. Bella suspected very little hunting was actually involved. Edward had explained that the island was not quite large enough for him to be outside the distance where he could read his father's mind. Bella really didn't care what the reason was, she was just happy they had 'alone' time once a week. There was no one to kick up a fuss about how loud they were being. And Bella had discovered she was actually pretty loud as a vampire. Edward had been nonplussed by that and told her she would have been as loud while human too, if they'd ever gotten that far.

It didn't matter. It didn't matter that they had done things out of order and that her change hadn't happened on Edward's or her terms. Bella didn't care about any of it.

They had been on the island nearly two months, though Bella hadn't been paying much attention to the days. She had discovered that a vampiric quality was to have an innate sense of time passing, but it didn't really matter if time passed or not. So she was rather surprised to return with Edward to the house one evening to find it lit with candles and far too many voices.

'Surprise!' Everyone cried when they walked through the door.

'What?' Bella asked.

Alice smiled. 'It's you birthday, Bella. Did you forget?'

'No,' she said, because of course she couldn't forget things now. 'But why does it matter? I'm never going to actually be nineteen right?'

'Too bad,' Alice shrugged, 'we're celebrating anyways.'

There really was no arguing with Alice. And there were very few ways this birthday could end as badly as the last one had, Bella told herself.

The others had returned from New York and, apparently, Chile for the occasion. There were no silly decorations or cake this time, blessedly, but there were presents.

Rose and Emmett had brought her a gift from Tiffany's. Bella made a face at colour of the box, but she was rather surprised to open it and find a very simple – though very expensive – diamond earring and bracelet set. The earrings were studs and the bracelet was a simple tennis design. They were rather understated for Rosalie's taste, but clearly her pseudo-sister knew Bella better than she'd thought.

'Thank you, Rose. Emmett. It's a beautiful set,' Bella said honestly. Edward helped her put the bracelet on as Bella changed out her earrings. She'd been wearing only simple studs, the same one's she'd had on since before her change.

Jasper produced another book – a hardbound second edition of Gone With the Wind – that Bella couldn't wait to read. She hadn't read the book in years. Alice had gone for clothing, of course. It was a beautiful dress of hand painted cotton from Argentina in nearly every colour of blue imaginable. It looked perfect for island wear. It was only when Alice cocked her head to the side that Bella took a closer look. The print was beautiful, but as she looked closer she realised it was covered with a repeating pattern of stylised Es and Bs as well as interlocking hearts.

'You had this made?' Bella asked.

'I found this little shop that creates patterns. I thought you might appreciate this more than an entirely new Prada wardrobe.' The way she said it made Bella wonder if the Prada wardrobe wasn't already sitting in the house in Vermont. She'd worry about that later. There was always Christmas.

'Thank you,' Bella said and meant it. 'This will be perfect for the next couple of months here!'

'Well, I'm not sure you really need to worry about clothes, since we're leaving again in a few days, but your choice!'

Bella hadn't quite become comfortable with running around the island completely naked. The bikinis Alice had magically produced the morning Bella woke up from the change had come in handy. Though more than one of them had ended up in…pieces.

'You'll have the island to yourselves for a while,' Esme announced. 'Carlisle and I have discussed things and we think it's time we headed back to the States. Carlisle would like to take up that position they're holding open and it will be nice to get properly settled in the house.'

'Oh, well…I mean, of course!' Bella stuttered, as much as a vampire could. 'Of course you should go. I'm so grateful you stayed here as long as you have. Edward and I will be fine on our own for a bit. We can come up to Vermont for Thanksgiving, right? That was the plan.'

'That's the plan,' Alice agreed. 'I see nothing wrong with the plan.'

'Great. I should probably, well, make a test run to the mainland soon, right?' Bella asked, trying not to let the fear show in her voice.

Edward didn't look at all concerned. 'I think we can try that tomorrow, if you'd like. We can take everyone to the pier and then head down the coast a few miles. The wildlife is significantly better on the mainland.'

Bella's eyes lit up. Already the red was fading. They were now an interesting colour of burnt orange. Edward thought that they'd be at least amber by Thanksgiving and it would be safe enough, by appearance, to travel. As long as they could make sure Bella wasn't going to attack the first person she came across.

'Okay. Tomorrow. Right.'

'Or we could wait,' Edward suggested.

Alice seemed very unconcerned when Bella looked at her. 'No, no, we should try. Just…somewhere really remote.'

'Yes,' he agreed.

'Right, now the last gift!'

'What about Edward's?' Rose asked.

'I already gave it to her,' he winked at his sister. Emmett wolf-whistled rather convincingly.

'Emmett,' Esme chided. 'Here you are, dear,' she said, handing Bella an envelope.

Envelopes could hide the most expensive things ever, Bella had learned. She was right. Inside was the paperwork for a new car. 'You and Edward will need something to drive in Vermont.'

'Thank you both,' she told her pseudo-parents. 'This is great.' It was; it was a proper, safe, normal 4x4 in dark blue. What other students might drive. There was no need to be ostentatious and stand out.

All in all, it was one of the least painful birthdays she had had. It would also hopefully be the last. At least until, like, she turned fifty. They could celebrate that.